It's been long enough, bring it back! (Event)

[GregRocks]

I think it's been long enough to re-ignite this discussion.
Resume the use of the event server!

Player population is back.
Yesterday and today, the server is up to 80 players. I don't see how player pop was ever a factor in this decision, considering most if not all deployments only took some of the server offline for an hour or two MAX. Even then, if you had a 20 player deployment, that's not 20 people LESS on the main server, it's 5 or 10 less. Most players in a deployment join straight onto the event server, and get off before transitioning back to main. Also, player population is no excuse to severely downgrade the quality of events.
All this being said, during prime time, player population is no longer an apparent issue, not nearly as bad as it was in the months before removing the event server from use.

Quality of deployments
In doing this, you've severely downgraded the quality of deployments. Full server deployments are fun occasionally, but I don't think anyone can argue that they're better than single battalion or single regiment deployments. Some of the highest quality events I've ever participated in were select-group deployments, which had stories that would only work with a small number of people, where exploration and full attention to the small aspects of the event was possible due to the small number of players. Events with no set-up time, and a huge player-base are hard to pull off, and almost impossible to pull off well with plenty of roleplay for everyone to do unless you're a master GM, or have a HUGE team that's all on the same page.

No more set-up time
Tying into the quality of events, having only main-server deployments also removes any reasonable amount of set-up time. Once the server loads in, everyone is impatient to get the event started, and having people stand in formation for more than 30 minutes starts to severely kill the mood. Game Masters are forced to rapid set-up, and almost never ever has a fantastic, very well executed deployment been done with no set-up. Some events also require on-site creativity on the part of the helpers to help them flow smoothly. They can't always be squeezed into one dupe. Having been an Admin here, and Game Master on other servers, set-up time is very important.

Everyone MUST participate
Part of the charm of having an event server for deployments is that people could choose to not participate in events they had no interest in. Not everyone wants to join a laggy map and fight endless waves of droids, especially not when the entire server is deploying. Sometimes players would rather stay on the main map and participate in the passive or active RP already happening on the base. Sure, I guess players could leave, but I don't see how forcing players to either do something they don't want to do, or leave the server is a good idea either. There have been a few times where I decided to stay back from deployments to take part in main-server shenanigans. 

Server performance
Full server deployments, without fail have poor performance. This is why full server deployments were rare, and always very planned out with plenty of GMs lined up to help. Not only are they hard to pull off due to the player count, it's hard to not lag out the server while having plenty of droids for everyone to fight, unless you have a VERY linear path that everyone is forced into where you can very carefully control the entity count, but let's be honest, those are really never fun. Also, when a new player joins during a deployment, can't get trained, is lagging out and has NO clue what to do, do you think they're more likely to stay? Or leave to a server that they can actually participate in?

All of this to say...
This post is not an attack on the ability of Game Masters to make a fun and compelling event, but limiting events to this extreme measure also limits that ability significantly. I understand the original reason of player population, which I disagree with fundamentally regardless, but it's no longer an issue. The ability to do smaller-scale, higher quality deployments is a MUST for event quality. After the incredibly repetitive shoot-em-ups for the entire server, the events get dull, and drive people away to play on more interactive servers.

Also, with the event server in use, no one has to worry about disrupting main-server on-goings by hosting a deployment, pissing off everyone that was actively doing something.

What does everyone else think?
I realize there has already been a post about this, but that was a month ago, and this topic should remain fresh in everyone's minds. I don't mean to step on toes, but I joined back 36 hours ago, and without fail everyone I've spoken to has disagreed with this decision. Myself included, I was astounded when I heard this! But what are everyone else's thoughts? If you agree, but have a different reason, why do you agree with me? If you disagree, and think you have a compelling reason why it should remain out of use, please tell! I'm interested.

[Xaze]

Last Battalion of the month deployment we dropped down to 25 peeps on main. This isn't the first post. please look at the previous posts regarding this topic you want answers to the rest. 

We are actually pretty close to bringing back event imo. 

 

- I do want to note - 

There is a policy currently in effect. During an event if we hit 100 players the event team is suppose to deploy the largest battalion to the event server. This has yet to happen :)

Edited May 22, 2023 by Xaze

[Pythin]

On 5/21/2023 at 4:44 PM, Lovestruck said:

I think it's been long enough to re-ignite this discussion.
Resume the use of the event server!

Player population is back.
Yesterday and today, the server is up to 80 players. I don't see how player pop was ever a factor in this decision, considering most if not all deployments only took some of the server offline for an hour or two MAX. Even then, if you had a 20 player deployment, that's not 20 people LESS on the main server, it's 5 or 10 less. Most players in a deployment join straight onto the event server, and get off before transitioning back to main. Also, player population is no excuse to severely downgrade the quality of events.
All this being said, during prime time, player population is no longer an apparent issue, not nearly as bad as it was in the months before removing the event server from use.

Quality of deployments
In doing this, you've severely downgraded the quality of deployments. Full server deployments are fun occasionally, but I don't think anyone can argue that they're better than single battalion or single regiment deployments. Some of the highest quality events I've ever participated in were select-group deployments, which had stories that would only work with a small number of people, where exploration and full attention to the small aspects of the event was possible due to the small number of players. Events with no set-up time, and a huge player-base are hard to pull off, and almost impossible to pull off well with plenty of roleplay for everyone to do unless you're a master GM, or have a HUGE team that's all on the same page.

No more set-up time
Tying into the quality of events, having only main-server deployments also removes any reasonable amount of set-up time. Once the server loads in, everyone is impatient to get the event started, and having people stand in formation for more than 30 minutes starts to severely kill the mood. Game Masters are forced to rapid set-up, and almost never ever has a fantastic, very well executed deployment been done with no set-up. Some events also require on-site creativity on the part of the helpers to help them flow smoothly. They can't always be squeezed into one dupe. Having been an Admin here, and Game Master on other servers, set-up time is very important.

Everyone MUST participate
Part of the charm of having an event server for deployments is that people could choose to not participate in events they had no interest in. Not everyone wants to join a laggy map and fight endless waves of droids, especially not when the entire server is deploying. Sometimes players would rather stay on the main map and participate in the passive or active RP already happening on the base. Sure, I guess players could leave, but I don't see how forcing players to either do something they don't want to do, or leave the server is a good idea either. There have been a few times where I decided to stay back from deployments to take part in main-server shenanigans. 

Server performance
Full server deployments, without fail have poor performance. This is why full server deployments were rare, and always very planned out with plenty of GMs lined up to help. Not only are they hard to pull off due to the player count, it's hard to not lag out the server while having plenty of droids for everyone to fight, unless you have a VERY linear path that everyone is forced into where you can very carefully control the entity count, but let's be honest, those are really never fun. Also, when a new player joins during a deployment, can't get trained, is lagging out and has NO clue what to do, do you think they're more likely to stay? Or leave to a server that they can actually participate in?

All of this to say...
This post is not an attack on the ability of Game Masters to make a fun and compelling event, but limiting events to this extreme measure also limits that ability significantly. I understand the original reason of player population, which I disagree with fundamentally regardless, but it's no longer an issue. The ability to do smaller-scale, higher quality deployments is a MUST for event quality. After the incredibly repetitive shoot-em-ups for the entire server, the events get dull, and drive people away to play on more interactive servers.

Also, with the event server in use, no one has to worry about disrupting main-server on-goings by hosting a deployment, pissing off everyone that was actively doing something.

What does everyone else think?
I realize there has already been a post about this, but that was a month ago, and this topic should remain fresh in everyone's minds. I don't mean to step on toes, but I joined back 36 hours ago, and without fail everyone I've spoken to has disagreed with this decision. Myself included, I was astounded when I heard this! But what are everyone else's thoughts? If you agree, but have a different reason, why do you agree with me? If you disagree, and think you have a compelling reason why it should remain out of use, please tell! I'm interested.

Whens the last time you got on the server? 

[GregRocks]

3 hours ago, Pythin said:

Whens the last time you got on the server? 

I've been active the last few days.

[GregRocks]

On 5/22/2023 at 8:51 AM, Xaze said:

We are actually pretty close to bringing back event imo. 

I'm happy to hear that! Thanks.