Low XP Level Server

(Anti) #21

Lets not derail the thread with name calling please

(SockDog) #22

To be clear, this isn’t about assessing skill. It’s more to give new players an opportunity to play the game with other new players. If I thought for a second it would be respected I’d just suggest naming a server as “New players only, join if Level < 10”. The point is to give new participants in the alpha/beta an opportunity to try out the game without having more experienced players tearing them a new one.

(en2ie) #23

Yeah this would be important, it was a rough time in those first few hours.

The matchmaking system is a must, and in theory should solve this issue - and make for fairer matches too. Naming a server like you said would only work if there were alot more alpha testers to actually fill the server.

(meat) #24

[QUOTE=Ashog;438363]just ban the sort of pricks like strychzilla and leestyle from alpha altogether - problem solved.

stupid kids.[/QUOTE]

Pricks I think not, they both know my skill level and they both beenn cool about it.

The stacking can make it to tough to play sometimes, and a way to shuffle the teams definately needs to be implemented.
A vote to shuffle the teams randonly would help, in the absence of a admin shuffle.
Of course the true problems are xp whores who would never vote for a shuffle, its not in there nature.

(montheponies) #25

Agree with the principle but in practice it’s hard to populate one server never mind two…something for the future sure, but for the moment it would just potentially deplete an already small playerbase.

(SockDog) #26

How about the playerbase depleting because they’re being turned off the game? IMO it’s better to foster an environment where players can get a grip on the game first then deal with skill issues later than have them give up in the first couple of hours. Worse so if they do it because they think the game is broken.

I’m also not saying you need to force new players onto these servers, just that they have an option to do so.

(Scrupus) #27

I would suggest that pub/low-skill players play more on the objective server and let the more comp interested players roam on stopwatch - maybe we could even fill up both of them a bit better. Right now it seems that everyone plays on stopwatch, it is very often full with 16 players but even then the objective server doesn’t fill up - and I’m pretty sure there are more players than that ready to play (at least sometimes).

Playing stopwatch is fine from time to time, but would like to play more on objective as well. And quicker to play through all the maps, 4 x 2 stopwatch rounds takes a bit too long.

(Nail) #28

I’d just like to be able to learn the maps, impossible now as you can’t do it alone, which is how I spend most server time, or there’s 2 people on who say don’t do the objectives, we’re trying things (lookin 4 hideyholes) or the server is full and in UK
hell, I’d settle for a drawing and an explanation of events for each map, at least I could plan routes that way

(Mustang) #29

[QUOTE=Scrupus;438419]I would suggest that pub/low-skill players play more on the objective server and let the more comp interested players roam on stopwatch - maybe we could even fill up both of them a bit better. Right now it seems that everyone plays on stopwatch, it is very often full with 16 players but even then the objective server doesn’t fill up - and I’m pretty sure there are more players than that ready to play (at least sometimes).

Playing stopwatch is fine from time to time, but would like to play more on objective as well. And quicker to play through all the maps, 4 x 2 stopwatch rounds takes a bit too long.[/QUOTE]
Well stopwatch has spawn waves and no overtime, not to mention it’s more fun than plain old objective, so of course it’s more popular.

(MrEd) #30

[QUOTE=SockDog;438417]How about the playerbase depleting because they’re being turned off the game? IMO it’s better to foster an environment where players can get a grip on the game first then deal with skill issues later than have them give up in the first couple of hours. Worse so if they do it because they think the game is broken.

I’m also not saying you need to force new players onto these servers, just that they have an option to do so.[/QUOTE]

As Anti has mentioned this is a major area of discussion amongst the dev team atm. The current terminology is a green zone that allows familiarisation of players with the game before being unleashed on the wider community. There’s also been talk of ski trail style ratings or SP like difficulty ratings so if players want to throw themselves,down a black run or play Nightmare! mode first time out they can go for it.

However, there will always need to be an element of self restraint in any community and all Alpha testers should consider whether their behaviour is contributing to building a thriving community or harming it.

(chippy) #31

Scramble function.

Having yet another server when it’s hard enough to fill one server, let alone two is pointless at this stage in my oppinion. We need more players for justify that need although I can see why it would be a good idea.

(RasteRayzeR) #32

I guess a nub server could be nice, but we still have a problem : we can barely fill one server at best (dixit Kendle if I remember right), so creating a second server … meh.

But it should be done anyway. Worst case, it stays empty or can be used for tracking bugs without getting shot all the time, best case we get the players that would normally just rage quit after an opening 10 deaths spree on the current server to fill up a second server, which is good for ECHO.

So … lets do it !

(SockDog) #33

There are plenty of people invited so the important question here is why are they not playing (maybe SD should do a survey of all those in the Alpha)? I don’t think this is the whole or even a major reason why but I expect it is a factor and one that will be more important as the testing expands to wider (and lower) skill levels.

(Kendle) #34

For the final game I’m sure the match-making feature SD have spoken about would be good for finding servers nearer our skill level, but for Alpha this seems like a waste of effort on SD’s part.

If you’re getting owned on the Alpha servers you could blame the difference in skill level, or you could blame the lack of class balance.

RTCW (yes, that pesky game again) was my first ever online MP game, I got spanked real hard to begin with, but I didn’t give up, because playing Medic or Engineer enabled me to contribute without needing to be a good shot.

In DB the classes are just not needed in the same way. Playing Medic is less rewarding, both for the person playing Medic, and for the team, because his functionality has been undermined by health regen + fast gibbing + poor revive shield. Same for the F/Ops, he’s not needed as an ammo station because we have ammo racks.

If we took out ammo racks and regen, and buffed the Medic’s revive skills, these classes would instantly become more rewarding to play even for those with poor shooting skills.

XP balancing or any other mechanism is simply plastering over poor game design IMO.

(SockDog) #35

Having the ability for full release servers to limit people by xp, rank or whatever seems like a logical feature. This doesn’t have to be throw away work. Also, they could just create a server name saying don’t join if over Level 10 and leave it up to us not to be dicks and ignore it.

If you’re getting owned on the Alpha servers you could blame the difference in skill level, or you could blame the lack of class balance.

RTCW (yes, that pesky game again) was my first ever online MP game, I got spanked real hard to begin with, but I didn’t give up, because playing Medic or Engineer enabled me to contribute without needing to be a good shot.

In DB the classes are just not needed in the same way. Playing Medic is less rewarding, both for the person playing Medic, and for the team, because his functionality has been undermined by health regen + fast gibbing + poor revive shield. Same for the F/Ops, he’s not needed as an ammo station because we have ammo racks.

If we took out ammo racks and regen, and buffed the Medic’s revive skills, these classes would instantly become more rewarding to play even for those with poor shooting skills.

This is the problem. It could be either but you need people to be playing at all skill levels to balance the game properly. That’s going to be tough to do if they just give up after an hour of play. The point is to encourage people to play, both in the test phase and also when they first pick up the game on release.

(Kendle) #36

If you paid £90, like I did, to be here, you’re an idiot if you give up after getting spanked a bit.

If you were invited, SD invited the wrong person.

I agree that it wouldn’t be wasted effort in the long run if the final game is going to include such a feature, I’m just saying it shouldn’t be necessary right now.

Do SD have stats about who’s played when? If so email the people who haven’t played for a month (or a week or whatever) and ask them why?

(luQx) #37

health regen doesnt really undermine the medic it takes like 20-25 sec. to regen to full hp

(Humate) #38

I imagine, its mostly to do with pc performance.
But I agree that the skill difference could be a factor.

(Patriotqube) #39

I havent been playing for a while for because ive been on a 60+ hour week for quite some time, so my small sparetime is used with family.

sorry :slight_smile:

(pulley) #40

Makes sense for me! Not all of us are on high samurai medic level XD
Invite more players :slight_smile: