141 replies to this topic

[zMarsHz]

I don't know if this is the right section, however it's the only section i can post in.

 

Ra2 is a great game, it's a game we most have spent a majority of our lives playing. It's unfortunate to see but the activity is slowly dwindling downward into a vicious spiral. Dedicated admins and others are in great respect for their services and support to keep this game running. Sure my tiffs have been made, but just because we may not like each other, it doesn't mean i do not respect you.

 

I have two proposals to helping the ladder activity, and one may seem outrageous, however one not so much, please I welcome anyone's opinion on both matters.

 

1.) This has been asked several times, and I have seen this shot down a few times, but maybe they didn't come about it the right way. Why haven't we up game limit wins for QM and CM. My reasons for doing this is in part to most of us do not have time to play as much with work, family, and any social time we may see, so we have no way of doing multiple nicks like we may have once been able to. I understand "pushing" may be a problem, however pushing we always happen, no matter the win limit. In the last few months the ladder points have not been as close as they have been, and I know for my part I have trouble keeping up with work, family, and the lack of a good timezone to play in. In CM we see people making what I would call dummy clans, clans they lost the limit on, and remake a different clan, this really doesn't allow the ladder to have a healthy competiton, more then just overloading a ladder with a bunch of clans that a deleted and never used again.

 

Proposal : Up QM limit to 5-7 win limit / Up CM limit to 10-20 win limit. I feel this will appeal to more points in the ladder and could perhaps spark interest to play more games by people seeking to compete on the ladder.

 

2.) This is a bit outlandish I know, but go with me here. Allow select custom maps to be able to be played on tournamnet and clan matches only. I know a few players in the custom match scene that would team up and play Tourny/CM with this available to them, could provoke them to learn the standard maps as well and better their game. Funny Big Map 4 / TOPDOGG / Skill building with extras / Beachfront / Water Fort Oil. These maps are played a lot, and if you where to allow them as a competitive maps on ladder they may spark life into a dying ladder.

 

Proposal : Allow them to be optional for Tourny and CM only. This would effect no one who refused to play these maps for points, however it could spark life into the ladder.

 

I would rather this not turn into an argument, but more a peaceful debate on what your thoughts may be.

 

And again, if this is the wrong section, I apologize, however it's the only place I am able to post.

Thank you for reading this and you input would be greatly appreciated.

[AMadKirov]

2.) This is a bit outlandish I know, but go with me here. Allow select custom maps to be able to be played on tournamnet and clan matches only. I know a few players in the custom match scene that would team up and play Tourny/CM with this available to them, could provoke them to learn the standard maps as well and better their game. Funny Big Map 4 / TOPDOGG / Skill building with extras / Beachfront / Water Fort Oil. These maps are played a lot, and if you where to allow them as a competitive maps on ladder they may spark life into a dying ladder.

 

Proposal : Allow them to be optional for Tourny and CM only. This would effect no one who refused to play these maps for points, however it could spark life into the ladder.

I totally disagree with you here. Instead of encourage people to play these maps. we should think a way to get rid of these maps.

Edited by AMadKirov, 03 October 2014 - 12:12 AM.

[XXxPrePxX]

I agree on both points

 

Point #1 is straight-forward and logical in times of low activity.

Point #2, if possible, would only help activity in the slightest, but why not open up options to people.

[zMarsHz]

@ amadkirov - why should they be taken away? what is not fun to you, could be enjoyment for another.

 

@ prep - i figured you would agree with me on both points, i myself take enjoyment in the game as do you, and i have played beachfront quite often vs you lately, but we both are ladder players from the start, you'd most likely see my view better than anyone

 

 

[DylHole]

utilizing the control panel feature, make the game freeware

if they want to compete on the ladder, make them pay

 

+ advertisement = activity

 

it's a shame that it's all, probably too late

[rumblesom]

Hey marsh interesting proposals- I'll respond after I've had a bit more to consider them.

Dylan I hope it's not too late but for some reason I just don't think it ever will be.

[AMadKirov]

@ amadkirov - why should they be taken away? what is not fun to you, could be enjoyment for another.

 

The few "good/pro" players will be affected with this desition. Yet you can host a game and play on those maps on your own will. but most of the old mates i had back in the days left the game due the hard time they have to past to get a decent game cuz 80% of the players "enjoy" playing those games.

 

i mean do you know

 

pfcboy Created17:18 27-10-2004 (9.9 years ago)

gullag Created18:30 04-05-2007 (7.4 years ago)

faceoff Created00:16 15-10-2010 (4.0 years ago)

 

and the list of players goes on..... they have never accomplished rank 50 and bottom line is they are from back in the days when server was totally full. its not a problem for them and it is not for me but im just pointing out  what those maps have done for them.

[FReQuEnZy]

Proposal : Up QM limit to 5-7 win limit / Up CM limit to 10-20 win limit. I feel this will appeal to more points in the ladder and could perhaps spark interest to play more games by people seeking to compete on the ladder.

 

This is the only suggestion I can agree with.

[XXxPrePxX]

The few "good/pro" players will be affected with this desition. Yet you can host a game and play on those maps on your own will. but most of the old mates i had back in the days left the game due the hard time they have to past to get a decent game cuz 80% of the players "enjoy" playing those games.

 

The depths of their skill level should be of no concern to you. These players do not play to 'get better.' 

 

I fail to see how the few good players will be affected with that decision. If the (so-called) 'good' players do not like the maps, they have the option to QM (per normal) or host their own tournament game. It's not as if more options would have any real negative affect on their enjoyment as long as they don't play those maps.

 

However, a very real problem is having people create a mod map that specifically favors them or a certain country and thus, creating free wins. This is a problem that must be addressed before proposal two can be realized. 

[Shauny]

i agree with the more win on cm/ect

[ImNewButOld]

Ra2 is dead. The activity wont increase no matter what. Get over it and move on.

[zMarsHz]

@ amadkirov - I fail to see how anyone good player can be hurt by my proposal, as prep said it's on choice of them, those players never strive to better them selves perhaps because they do not enjoy the maps in qm as of now.

 

@ prep - sure the mod map could be an issue, however in the original post (I should have explained more clear) the maps that could be used would be ones checked for any unfair advantage, that's why I suggested a few like water fort oil, beachfront, ect . I know these maps have no great advantage to anyone over the other

 

@ shauny and martin - I respect that, and I am much more for proposal #1 over the latter, however I feel both could help

@ imnewbutold - obviously you had trouble reading the first post, this isn't your time to shine with negative comments, perhaps if you feel that way, uninstall, no need for you to bash ideas because you feel it's useless, there is more people than just you, and they may not share the same view, go be a negative nancy on some other thread, thanks.

 

@ Dylan - the f2p idea is a loss with me, I've tried to lobby for that a while now lol

Edited by marsh1, 03 October 2014 - 05:04 PM.

[FReQuEnZy]

The depths of their skill level should be of no concern to you. These players do not play to 'get better.' 

 

I fail to see how the few good players will be affected with that decision. If the (so-called) 'good' players do not like the maps, they have the option to QM (per normal) or host their own tournament game. It's not as if more options would have any real negative affect on their enjoyment as long as they don't play those maps.

 

However, a very real problem is having people create a mod map that specifically favors them or a certain country and thus, creating free wins. This is a problem that must be addressed before proposal two can be realized. 

 

This a well composed analysis and I agree with the reasoning.

[rumblesom]

imnewbutold I think you have the the wrong perspective. If we got 100 players returning/new that would feel like an incredible boost to activity. After reorganizing and modernizing this forum and perhaps making the game partially/entirely free to play getting a 100 player boost should be relatively easy. We're not shooting for 20,000 players, but adding even as much as 500 i think is pretty realistic. Even now. 

 

Perhaps a mod-map section could be added to the patch- these maps such as the ones Marsh mentioned could be verified as not tending to give any faction/spawn an advantage before being added. However I do not think players should be eligible to compete for HOF by playing these maps

[zMarsHz]

however josh it would not hurt the ladder to allowing those maps, clanning on these maps would make an impact in the clan games (I've talked to these players) and the clan scene is lacking hard, majority of cms are played by the same 10 people who are swapping clans, deleting clans ect. I can see a problem with the maps in the Tourny / Clan games, but those problems are minute, easily dealt with, and would serve as less a headache and more a small jump start in the clan scene, from past experiences players who tend to start to compete tend to try and better themselves, except with the select few who would bash for points, but that's another issue on it's own.

Edited by marsh1, 03 October 2014 - 05:36 PM.

[OlafxD]

aaaaaand thats topic number 100001...

 

save your own time and energy for something else, because this is no use.

if something is gonna happen then its gonna take atleast 10 more topics and 10 more months, and then its gonna last for 1-2 weeks or none at all.

 

main problem is that olaf gave up this community ages ago and doesnt appreciate any kind of help/suggestions.

people told me to be constructive, etc. but olaf is gonna be olaf, he will just do what he wants/likes, you wont be able to change him or his opinion by anything.

 

and to be real, ra2 is and was atleast for the past few years at a point where the only solution to ladder activity is f2p (the last go) - just like xwis was suffering 05 before the redirection -> redirection happend and immediately had thousand of players, not saying its gonna be the same or work out, BUT THERE IS NOTHING LEFT ANYMORE. stop the hours of work on small things which totally are not worth it, because there is noone to take use of them.

but i suppose we need them 10 euro's for a dead 14 year old game while ill be able to upgrade my windows 8.1 to windows 10 for free. but i guess thats because xwis > microsoft os.

 

josh i love your faith and commitment to the game, but its been years of the same talk and nothing really has happend yet (just some small changes which didnt affect the activity at all - or not for too long)

put that energy together with your striketeam mates and have a serious talk to olaf and REAL changes, because ive told this already once, its gonna be too late soon (if not already). wouldnt it be sad? weve all enjoyed and loved the times spending on ra2, its up to you guys.

you know can count on me playing and competing as soon as something is done

im a warrior, a commander, a destroyer. i did my job for years and continously, its time you do yours

[zMarsHz]

@ tomi - I've given up on f2p, to my understanding it's more of a pain then we think

 

these ideas are not to attract more players, it would be nice, but that is not the goal, it's to spark life into a ladder, there are more players looking at this forum / ladder than actually playing it, and if they see a spark of life in it, it may entice them to try it as well. If the idea is shot down it's shot down....that's not my call to make the decision. I feel however I've spent enough time on this forum and game and talked to enough people to feel both these ideas may work to help the ladder.

 

on a side note, how ya doing man, missed you last month with my work times, however if you feel up to qming this month i'll be on some

[OlafxD]

i dont understand how something can be a pain without even having it tried, its a pain as it is currently.

 

i dont see the point in increasing winlimit tbh (just another small change which wont affect activity/ladder at all), because the top players are avoiding eachother anyways, also the filter must then be adapated for qm because you can get out of range too fast due the huge possible range in -/+

 

you know you can invest tons of hours into little things/projects which outcome isnt worth it.

or for once have the guts and invest time on a big project like f2p, give it a go and the outcome might be huge and totally worth it.

 

im fine bro, busy with life but always trying my best to find some time for ra2

Edited by Tomi, 03 October 2014 - 07:06 PM.

[ExpaNd]

Well you mention you would have to adjust filters....However not only could you tournament match.

But if you qm and win/lose/win/lose etc....

You could have a longer good series.
Not everyone wins all of their games Sir Tomi

[Sean3z]

i dont understand how something can be a pain without even having it tried

We've tried it with TS - the results were disastrous. IMO, RA2 should stay serial enforced while on XWIS for as long as possible
 

[#1] Proposal : Up QM limit to 5-7 win limit / Up CM limit to 10-20 win limit. I feel this will appeal to more points in the ladder and could perhaps spark interest to play more games by people seeking to compete on the ladder.
[#2] Proposal : Allow [select custom maps] to be optional for Tourny and CM

#1: If everyone increases games played, this may just be equivalent to upping the point exchange values.
#2: Why not just promote 2 ladders? One for official tournament maps; the other yields to player choice.

I think we can all agree that the ladders (and activity in general) need a boost. However, I'm not sure these proposed changes alone will contribute as desired. I'd personally be interested your (and anyone else's) other ideas though.

[OlafxD]

We've tried it with TS - the results were disastrous. IMO, RA2 should stay serial enforced while on XWIS for as long as possible
 

#1: If everyone increases games played, this may just be equivalent to upping the point exchange values.
#2: Why not just promote 2 ladders? One for official tournament maps; the other yields to player choice.

I think we can all agree that the ladders (and activity in general) need a boost. However, I'm not sure these proposed changes alone will contribute as desired. I'd personally be interested your (and anyone else's) other ideas though.

 

A) RA2 isnt TS

B) it can still be serial enforced (if cheaters are the "problem" and thats how to deal with them), but the server should be for free -> give away serials for free or let them access to xwis for free and ranked games need to be verified by a serial you can attain on s-t (or whatever is possible).

i dont know what possibilities the system offers and whats olaf up to (where i see the problem), but saying you're not giving a try just because it failed on ts is pretty poor, but however the longer it waits the less worth its gonna be.

C) its gonna be a running in circle again as usual, so im done here, cba to waste more time/energy on the same over n over again

 

good luck guys

[DylHole]

tomi's right

1001 threads and I can't even think of anything other than the implementation of the control panel - which at the time was greeted with disgust ("if it aint broke, dont fix it")

but when the control panel was released, i was confident free2play would follow but ye NAH

[zMarsHz]

@ Sean3z - what about players who can't spend countless hours on the game, they're out of luck? what about players who are in bad time zones when they are able to play, they're out of luck? you will lose more player this way.....why does it seem like such a big deal to up game limit?

 

examples of this and no offense to be taken, if you do I am sorry, Mikoz was able to play 30.6 hours worth of tournament games on 3 nicks (reasons could be, more time to play, a better time zone) I was able to manage 4.7 hours worth of tournament games on 1 nick.

 

so because I have a bad time to play or can't find more free time then I'm out of luck, perhaps that's just the way I feel I don't know. it does however seem quite stressful sometimes trying to give any ideas to this game sometimes, there always seems to be a counter response of why this idea won't work.

[Sean3z]

what about players who can't spend countless hours on the game, they're out of luck?

A player with less games played, probably won't advance at the rate as someone with a plethora of games; I think that's a fairly common concept among any online game. I certainly wouldn't peg that as the core issue. The issue in this case is activity - or the current inability to get a game. Increasing the QM limit probably won't directly impact the times that people come online (IMO). It just means you can continue to play the same people (not an increase in activity).

That said, I'm not trying to imply it's a bad idea. Increasing the QM limit may be good for other reasons.
 

it does however seem quite stressful sometimes trying to give any ideas to this game sometimes, there always seems to be a counter response of why this idea won't work.

I want to stress that I'm not simply trying to "turn down" the idea. Please don't mistake my response for that of some others. I'm all for thinking outside the box and trying different solutions. I just have my reservations about the ones proposed in this thread thusfar and their ability to directly increase gameplay

[zMarsHz]

simple question. why is YR game limit higher than Ra2?

 

the answer is because activity was lower, and the limit was upped for more games to be played, YR activity at the time the 5 win rule was in place was about the same as Ra2 activity level now. makes sense to up it for that reason I would think. helped YR keep an active ladder for a while longer than anyone anticipated.

 

and I don't take your comments as negative, however from a players point of view, most everything the actual players have suggested has been shot down, and really we are the community, we do know what works best for us, with a select few (josh and jason) most admins on S-T are not active players

Edited by marsh1, 03 October 2014 - 09:23 PM.