Server 2

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Andy5682
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Server 2

Post by Andy5682 »

Been on server #1 recently for game nights. Now numbers are poor to say the least, What makes it worse on game night & stuggling for numbers there are fifteen players on server 2 most of which had been playing on server 1. I thought the genral rule was server 2 would remain shut while game night on server 1 was operating. Surely this has a detrimental effect on the sever.

I try and support playing on server 1 when I can. But it seems it has been deserted by many members.

Either it's game night or it isn't.

Server 2 is up & running every other night of the week.

I know this has probably been discussed before just throwing my two pence in for what's if worth.

Regards,

Andy
Face
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Re: Server 2

Post by Face »

The rule as ive understood from one admin is that server 2 is only allowed to be opened up on a server one game night if server 1 is well populated.

However Ive heard from another admin that server 2 will only be closed for the first game night mission and then can be reopened after that if requested. So Im not too sure what the actual rule is.
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Wolfy_
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Re: Server 2

Post by Wolfy_ »

Here are my two cents:

Instead of talking about restricting players in an attempt to force players into going onto Server 1, we should be talking about ways in which we can make Server 1 more attractive to Server 2 players. If you start restricting Server 2, that just make some Server 2 players leave and then nobody benefits.
ashley
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Re: Server 2

Post by ashley »

Wolfy_ wrote: Sat May 13, 2017 4:06 pm Here are my two cents:

Instead of talking about restricting players in an attempt to force players into going onto Server 1, we should be talking about ways in which we can make Server 1 more attractive to Server 2 players. If you start restricting Server 2, that just make some Server 2 players leave and then nobody benefits.
We have many in the community that only play server 2 because they would like addons, for some there is no way to make server 1 attractive.
Rory
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Re: Server 2

Post by Rory »

Wolfy_ wrote: Sat May 13, 2017 4:06 pm we should be talking about ways in which we can make Server 1 more attractive to Server 2 players.
Definitely have a point there. I don't really care too much about the addons but I find server 1's gameplay very slow and boring and definitely different to number 2. I don't know if my opinion of server 1 comes from the lack thereof of experienced players ("Critical Mass") but some change in the gameplay and how things usually go in server 1 would be warmly welcomed in my opinion.

Also I do want to point out to the lots of new people who have joined in the last few months that the norm (until a few months ago)was that server 2 went down on server 1 gamenights. Server 2 didn't die when we had it down for two nights of the week before and it definitely wont now that it is a lot more popular.

In the end taking server 2 down probably wont do anything about the numbers but if one guy switched out of the 15 who play that might be worth it because server 1 is really dying at the moment and server 2 isn't going anywhere any time soon.
Eagle-Eye
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Re: Server 2

Post by Eagle-Eye »

I also noticed that server 2 was up during last Thursday's game night. To some extent, I believe this screenshot of that evening on server 1 (second mission, IIRC), can give some indication why.
Image

Obviously, this is a take of a single moment, but as you can deduce from Terox's message, several things went wrong before we got this point. In this particular instance, I believe the command to fall back had been repeated multiple times over the course of +5 minutes already.


Now, I haven't been active here for very long yet, so I won't pretend to know what the server 2 regulars' thoughts and motivations are for avoiding server 1 game nights, but comparing my own experience on both servers, I don't think the guys active on server 2 really enjoy the "chaos" (i.e. lack of cohesion, no proper comms, disregarding/disobeying commands, ...) of server 1, especially of the sort seen in the screenshot. Not saying it doesn't happen on server 2, but I find it's far less likely because everyone going to server 2 knows (or at least, should know) they are expected to focus and get their heads in the game.
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Rodi
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Re: Server 2

Post by Rodi »

There can´t be much done to make server 1 be alot more appealing. Server 1 has no way of implementing the same amount of content found on server 2. Same goes for gameplay mechanics/systems/entire overhauls like ACE3 or addons allowing for non-shitty communications like TFAR or ACRE(lets face it ingame VOIP is garbage).
You could try shutting down all the other servers, but it´s not magically making people turn to server 1 if they are not happy with content or even playstyle.
Rip Inglisch
Steven
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Re: Server 2

Post by Steven »

Zeus Community Arma3 is basically a cycle of S1-> S2-> Gone with +/- 50% that will stay on the community for a long term.
I consider S1 as an important supply of players for the community. Even though I enjoy S2 more than S1 I do try to support the S1 game server as much as I can instead of waiting during those evening on the S2 waiting room until the server opens up.
I do agree that with the guys up here that it's likely impossible to make S1 appealing due to the fact that we just don't have these addons.
We can't force people to play on S1 to play when they don't want to. Perhaps we need to change our attitude that the community isn't carried by the admins alone (which I'm grateful for that) but by every member of the community. Every person should be free to choose whether to support S1 but I would say that you atleast try to support S1 gamenights which recently really needs.
lucius
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Re: Server 2

Post by lucius »

Face wrote: Sat May 13, 2017 3:54 pm The rule as ive understood from one admin is that server 2 is only allowed to be opened up on a server one game night if server 1 is well populated.

However Ive heard from another admin that server 2 will only be closed for the first game night mission and then can be reopened after that if requested. So Im not too sure what the actual rule is.

Id be interested to know whether you asked this since the last admin meeting. The meeting minutes show we have now set this hard rule which will be automated on the server:

"will have hard 2hr rule on starting/closing S2 during game night. No restarting it before 20:30. Free to start it after that."
Eagle-Eye
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Re: Server 2

Post by Eagle-Eye »

As S1 can't be improved with mods, all that's left to improve the general experience is the game play...

Just an idea, not yet fully developed at the moment:
Don't know if this has been done and tested before, but could interest in S1 be sparked by allowing a limited number of trusted members to do random smaller and basic "ZGM" more often?
E.g. a seeder mission is running on S1 and everyone is on their merry way. While they do that, a Zeus is setting up a smaller "side" mission somewhere else. After setting (most) things up, he steps up as HQ Command retasking the troops for "a priority mission" (fi. CSAR), an opportunity (fi. kill officer) etc.

The positives imo:
- No separate scenario needed (so technically, no requirement to have an admin present either AFAIK)
- Defined missions and objectives (preferably adapted to current player count and equipment)
- Zeus operator can "enforce" a gameplay style, by "punishing" players that don't operate as they should in this community, which could improve S1 game night experience (Note: may be dangerous and in a way backfire, as an overzealous Zeus operator could easily drive people away as well, so to be used with caution)

The negatives imo:
- Selection of trusted members
- Defining a rule set for those members (do's and don'ts, can and can'ts, ...)
- Some players may not have come for ZGM's, and disregard every call or leave. On the other side, some players may leave if no ZGM is running...
- How often should this kind of ZGM occur, and what is the minimum "downtime" between successive ZGM? (end of ZGM could be marked on map corner, for future reference)
Smolof
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Re: Server 2

Post by Smolof »

There is actually another thread open that fits your post better. But since you brought it up here:

I actually think this is not a bad idea. Not just because of the missions you can do, but also to remove those pesky limitations we put on the mission. There was a time when those were needed, cause of the amount of players and trolls we had. But at the current state of the server, we should really think about giving the players some more options of what they can use and do.

One of the reasons i dont go on S1 anymore, is because i've have literally done it all. I have used all of the 4-5 classes we have on the mission, with only the one set of equipment they each have. I have done all the mission types over and over again.
But if you take those restriction out of the VAS and can place some new assets on the map, switch the spawn and maybe even put a Carrier on the sea and go from there. The options would be almost limitless.

Zeus could simply be the voted in admin. If trouble arises, just get a real admin like we used to. Dont see a reason not to try this, since we dont really have anything to lose at this point.
Layden
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Re: Server 2

Post by Layden »

Eagle-Eye wrote: Mon May 29, 2017 5:19 pm As S1 can't be improved with mods, all that's left to improve the general experience is the game play...

Just an idea, not yet fully developed at the moment:
Don't know if this has been done and tested before, but could interest in S1 be sparked by allowing a limited number of trusted members to do random smaller and basic "ZGM" more often?
E.g. a seeder mission is running on S1 and everyone is on their merry way. While they do that, a Zeus is setting up a smaller "side" mission somewhere else. After setting (most) things up, he steps up as HQ Command retasking the troops for "a priority mission" (fi. CSAR), an opportunity (fi. kill officer) etc.

The positives imo:
- No separate scenario needed (so technically, no requirement to have an admin present either AFAIK)
- Defined missions and objectives (preferably adapted to current player count and equipment)
- Zeus operator can "enforce" a gameplay style, by "punishing" players that don't operate as they should in this community, which could improve S1 game night experience (Note: may be dangerous and in a way backfire, as an overzealous Zeus operator could easily drive people away as well, so to be used with caution)

The negatives imo:
- Selection of trusted members
- Defining a rule set for those members (do's and don'ts, can and can'ts, ...)
- Some players may not have come for ZGM's, and disregard every call or leave. On the other side, some players may leave if no ZGM is running...
- How often should this kind of ZGM occur, and what is the minimum "downtime" between successive ZGM? (end of ZGM could be marked on map corner, for future reference)
I believe this option has already been explored, hence the admin ZGM slot, the main aim with that slot though is to improve the main objective and to also observe players. The idea of doing smaller ZGM missions (battlespace) has been seen to improve numbers quite significantly if the zeus is good and fair, but if they're bad it means the server totally de-populates down to like 3 people. The main reason it isn't seen too much on server 1 is because the medical system on vanilla battlespace is virtually non-existent (I'll be making a post regarding that soon).

On the point of making side objectives i would agree but only if the objective is within the main ao (similar to the side objectives on I&A which actually provide a purpose within the main objective). A bad use of this would be making the 2 objectives spread out, this means that with lower numbers (-25) the server would be very spread out and potentially unorganised. This would also mess up the current version as it spawns in the required number of ai compared to players online, meaning if squads are spread out they would have way to much contact. On that point when people zeus they generally put way to many ai or units down (compared to players), these units on top of the current units would significantly reduce server frames and would affect the difficulty of both missions.
Eagle-Eye wrote: Mon May 29, 2017 5:19 pm - Zeus operator can "enforce" a gameplay style, by "punishing" players that don't operate as they should in this community, which could improve S1 game night experience (Note: may be dangerous and in a way backfire, as an overzealous Zeus operator could easily drive people away as well, so to be used with caution)
Side note: punishing players is not something that needs promoting, it makes the whole community (especially admins) look aggressive towards new players and this is not a good image for the community, if you've been voted in as admin you should use this as a last resort and should not be punishing people but instead teaching and helping. Acting like an admin while in zeus and not being logged in can also really annoy players and might cause them to leave which is not what we want.

This whole subject is like the mod argument, it has already been looked at as such and is just a bit too risky at the moment, it could be a good feature with a large volume of players maybe +40 so that it can be managed properly with a whole command structure in place.
Face
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Re: Server 2

Post by Face »

lucius wrote: Mon May 29, 2017 5:05 pm
Face wrote: Sat May 13, 2017 3:54 pm The rule as ive understood from one admin is that server 2 is only allowed to be opened up on a server one game night if server 1 is well populated.

However Ive heard from another admin that server 2 will only be closed for the first game night mission and then can be reopened after that if requested. So Im not too sure what the actual rule is.

Id be interested to know whether you asked this since the last admin meeting. The meeting minutes show we have now set this hard rule which will be automated on the server:

"will have hard 2hr rule on starting/closing S2 during game night. No restarting it before 20:30. Free to start it after that."
no i haven't asked since that hard rule was made clear in ashley's post
Aiming is Overrated
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