Distension discussion

[DankNuggets]

You would be surprised actually.

you referring to the ability to crash the server? we didn't think you could really pull it off. i guess i could be surprised actually.

[kthx]

You would be surprised actually.

[E sharp]

I personally only play pub and Distension, so it being 24/7 would actually mean me playing more TW. Not sure for how many others that's the case though.

[DankNuggets]

When it affects the other MORE IMPORTANT aspects of the zone you are wrong.

Distension will never be a 24/7 event and that is pretty much a guarantee.

i love how you say "pretty much" because you have no control over it, what so ever.


B)

[kthx]

When it affects the other MORE IMPORTANT aspects of the zone you are wrong.

Distension will never be a 24/7 event and that is pretty much a guarantee.

[DankNuggets]

i'll keep it short so you can comprehend it all

Distension will never be 24/7. We don't need even more automated arenas dividing our playerbase. Why would we go through the hassle of combining all the elims again and do everything else we are going to do, only to make distension 24/7.

You're quite the thick-skulled illiterate. 24/7 with limits. WITH LIMITS. feel free to play elim and TWD 22 hrs a day, because you won't be able to play distension more than 2 hrs a day if it goes 24/7.

and who is this "we" ? YOU do not belong to any "we" that comes up in this thread. You have no control/say as far as Distension Staff. You have no role in the makings (programming) of Distension, so you aren't "wasting" any resources on distension. none.

You aren't going through any hassles to combine the elims, that is unless you've suddenly learned how to code the bot for it. They probably won't let you make the map either, so YOU probably won't contribute ANYTHING to combining the elims.

And to answer the question: "Helpful Staff" are trying make the population happy, by giving them what they want. If the people who play elim want them combined, then do it. If the people who play distension want to it on 24/7, do it.

TW Staff isn't supposed to cater to people who don't want to play a game, it's supposed to cater to people who do.

that's the difference. you don't want people playing distension, you're a troll and literally "get off" when you get people angry. which is why you persistanly troll this forum.

[DankNuggets]

Distension would ideally run 24/7 but only allow a player to play ~2 hours within any given 24-hour period. Either that or allow them to play the full 24 hours but with diminishing RP gains (based on time played) which eventually reach zero. Thoughts?

Awesome.

I think that even with diminishing RP gains, people will continue to play. I think so because I see people that are playing ships 30+ levels above mine, and I'm sure that they don't have all their ships that high. When you're that far ahead of everyone, the RP gain is supposed to be neglible, yet people continue to play as that ship.

So even if they're only getting 1 RP per kill, they look at is as 1 RP they wouldn't have if they quit playing. I think this will ease the pressure some, but not as much as jngy and others would like. That being said, I'm not sure it would "force" them to play another arena or anything like that, but that's kinda a secondary goal in limiting usage.

I think having the daily usage set at 2hrs, 4hrs, w/e works, is the ideal solution. The obsession that leads people to keep playing when they're getting next-to-nothing in RP would be squashed somewhat in that there's NO possiblity of advancing after the initial 2 hrs, whereas diminishing returns allows the minute possibility of advancement.

What it will do is translate the "I have to play every minute" mentality to "I have to play everyday" to get the maximum RP (and thus the lvl 70 RPG glory). This might have help that "secondary goal" of getting people to play other arenas, since they'll be signing on daily anyway, and would get into the habit of playing daily.

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That being said, while I probably want limited 24/7 distension more than anyone, please don't make it 24/7 until we have it working air-tight. That, or make sure qan or someone else is readily available to fix any bugs (within a couple days, not a couple weeks). 24/7 would imply that it's not a passing fad or buggy game, which is what we all want to eventually happen. I just don't want it to cause such a backlash that people turn away from it.




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Weasels are mad overpowered, maybe we should think about limiting their #'s, a la the shark limits. Lancs are overpowered as well, but they don't cloak, rocket, shoot 3x, port, then repeat.

I think the intention of limiting them by having it hard to unlock was good, but maybe naive in that we didn't think people would immediately do nothing but lame for 20 streaks, and proceed to play nothing but weasel.

That is why I think it would have been better just to make it a big combination ship/rank unlock, to assure that it wouldn't be unlocked until late in the game, when most people have already gotten the "normal" ships ranked up.

Would it be fair to take away those people's weasels until they reach a new requirement? Yes, but don't reset it so that they keep their rank/upgrades. If distension becomes even more cliquey, then it's going to be 2 terr, 2 shark, and the rest weasel/lanc before too long.

It's not that they are too overpowering in general, it's that they vastly overpower ships within similar rankings, and they are quickly surpassing the other ships in terms of rank anyway (or so it seems).

[kthx]

Distension will never be 24/7. We don't need even more automated arenas dividing our playerbase. Why would we go through the hassle of combining all the elims again and do everything else we are going to do, only to make distension 24/7.

[Stabwound]

Distension would ideally run 24/7 but only allow a player to play ~2 hours within any given 24-hour period. Either that or allow them to play the full 24 hours but with diminishing RP gains (based on time played) which eventually reach zero. Thoughts?

Oh, and as for our current situation, I'm pretty sure the bot probably resets the time played right at the beginning of the 9pm slot just because of the way the code handles resets. It's supposed to reset at a certain time (I don't know when that is because its stored in the DB and I don't have access), but it can only do it when the bot is actually running, so if that time falls somewhere between the morning and afternoon slots, it will do it as soon as the bot is started for the afternoon slot. It's possible that it actually resets at the beginning of the morning slot, but again, I can't check that and qan would be one of the few that can.

[jngy slate]

I hate how this is the only MMORPG that forces you to play at certain schedules to "keep up" with everyone else. I feel pressured and I'm sure many others feel to to play every chance I have. Even if I want to do something else I can't because distension is being hosted and I must play so that I don't get left too far behind. I wish this was hosted all the time so that I could play whenever I felt like it and really enjoyed it. I hate all the pressure.

[Peace_Maker]

I am normally able to play 2 rounds in the 2 hour session. Today there were 4 rounds played and I was able to play the first and last. This is better than no games at all. If we find the bot is not stable above 24 players I think the length of time the game is hosted could be extended. This will not effect staff wanting to host games very much because there are only so many spots for people to play. Thoughts?

[KuNi]

OK. I am really pissed off. I got in queue for 2 rounds, i know people have played longer than me, but I'm still last in the queue. It says spot has opened, then i get specced straight away. I didn't play the morning session either, but it says I have still played more that anyone else in the arena.
In a week, I will only be able to play 2 sessions a week,cause I will be back at school, and I will be in queue for half of the time. Other people can play all week, but still play while I sit in the queue for playing the 2 hours each week.
I don't know any solution to this, but maybe have the time played reset every 3 or 4 days.

Edit: after waiting in the queue for an hour and 15 minutes, I'm still not in D:

[roxxkatt]

thats because your morning applies to noone else ;D

[KuNi]

the reset must be after the morning session then, which is stupid.

[roxxkatt]

it counts the whole day, until the daily reset