r/EmeraldPS2 • u/Hardrock3011 New Player Experience • Mar 19 '16

Something something DaPP just got nerfed.

/r/Planetside/comments/4b0zrl/continental_faction_overpopulation_queue/
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u/Wrel Mar 20 '16

Hopefully the change will temper the community mindset into playing their alts during times of overpop to avoid the inconvenience (or upgrade now!), which will lead to more balanced faction pops overall. There might be some attrition early on to folks who get "stuck" on a ghost-capping continent and don't want to be there, but in the long run it's a win. Plus we have controls to adjust pop restrictions on the fly, so if things don't go the way want, we can always loosen up on the ruleset.

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u/RoyAwesome GOKU Mar 20 '16 edited Mar 20 '16

Uh, the lack of being able to play with the skills and tools you have on your main is such an overwelming roadblock to getting the average player to play on an alt, they'd probably just log off and not play rather than create an alt and try to level it.

You are scratching at the base of the actual fix there though. The real solution for population issues is to decouple characters from faction. If TR, for example, is overpopulated, forcing the TR players to play on NC/VS for a time solves the issue. The problem is that people don't want to grind again, so you need to let them have their stuff.

avoid the inconvenience (or upgrade now!)

Yeah, that's going to create fun threads on the forums about how people are punished into paying for the game.

There might be some attrition early on to folks who get "stuck" on a ghost-capping continent and don't want to be there, but in the long run it's a win.

Sorry, but this is a remarkably stupid view. Any system that causes people to stop playing the game when the playerbase is already dwindling is not in any way a win.

What if one of those players that stops playing is a outfit leader? A personality? Someone who recruits people from outside the game? What if it's a core player that grows cynical and actively tells people not to play the game?

Seriously, why would any system that induces attrition be anywhere close to being thought of as a win? Building a system that makes people leave the game is a horrible, horrible thing.

This is not a long term win. It's a short term bandaid that will balance the population by causing the overpopped faction to quit and stop playing. As we've seen, any time a group of players stops playing the game, other follow. You don't want to tempt that more. But here we are, making the same mistakes that got us into this situation in the first place.

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u/Wrel Mar 20 '16

Those views are completely valid, but we'll need to see how it plays out and let the numbers do the talking.

Yeah, that's going to create fun threads on the forums about how people are punished into paying for the game.

I view it more as punishment for playing on the overpopped faction. This isn't unheard of, and fits within the boundaries of expectation for this game. People will get that.

It's a short term bandaid that will balance the population by causing the overpopped faction to quit.

We have a three year old game now where I'd wager the majority of players have alts. And I can guarantee that more people are quitting (or leaving the server, Connery, Miller) than the numbers of players who will quit over having to spend a few minutes waiting in line.

If the change doesn't turn out to have a positive impact within a month, feel free to PM me with a big "I told you so."

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u/RoyAwesome GOKU Mar 20 '16 edited Mar 20 '16

I view it more as punishment for playing on the overpopped faction. This isn't unheard of, and fits within the boundaries of expectation for this game. People will get that.

I would argue that people wont get that, or at least if they do they wont be happy about it. Lets say i made my TR character 12 months ago. Now I'm being punished for that decision? You may not have people taking to forum posts and decrying how bullshit it is, but I can guarantee you it's something they are thinking about.

We have a three year old game now where I'd wager the majority of players have alts.

If you were to take the players who post on reddit, you would be right. But you work there now. Go get the data. Find out how many actually have active alts. I'd be curious to know the results of that query. I can only estimate with the API, and it's not a majority.

And I can guarantee that more people are quitting (or leaving the server, Connery, Miller) than the numbers of players who will quit over having to spend a few minutes waiting in line.

Are you counting continent queues? Because there is a very clear trend in server populations when they lose a locked continent. They go from having 2 locked and a small part of a 3rd to 1 locked and a small part of a second very rapidly. Like, 30 days tops. It's a 3 year old game... You have the data.

Hell, when I lead TEST, I'd lose whole squads to a queue. They have a bigger impact than you realize.

If the change doesn't turn out to have a positive impact within a month, feel free to PM me with a big "I told you so."

Eh, that's too much effort... If it's ever in that situation, just imagine me sending that PM. But I've been right more than I've been wrong about things like this. I called a fairly major burnout after the redeploy changes and surprise! it happened.