5 years ago
Dodgy servers
Want to know if people are having trouble playing the game atm, trying to play ranked here and I keep ending on bad servers that make me lag out of existence. My ping is fine, I checked if I joined wrong server but I didn't
Want to know if people are having trouble playing the game atm, trying to play ranked here and I keep ending on bad servers that make me lag out of existence. My ping is fine, I checked if I joined wrong server but I didn't
@DoYaSeeMe Battlefield Heroes had both a ''play now'' button and server selection that didn't negatively effect player retention. In fact, it was hugely popular over 6+ year lifespan and successful both with the amount of engagement from users during events but also the amount they earnt through cosmetic microtransactions from those events. This has been proven to work.
On a side note.. Price shouldn't be compared nowadays but players from BFH would spend 5 bucks back then dressing your character with millions of combinations making your hero completely unique.. with an average user spending $20 (4 characters) unlike your current Apex model of 20 bucks for one which you get a set outfit from about 50 options, excluding recolours, with everyone still looking the same. It's just lazy of Respawn, especially when cosmetics are their main content. Anyway, back to the server points.. xD
If there are to many people on the closest server then you could either wait or join the next closest to you. Again, that's your choice. I would also argue that when you meet players in specific regions knowing where they're from (very likely closer to you than the current method) you'll not be in the closest server all the time when playing with friends with all of you making compromises. MY and THEIR compromise, not some algorithm fudging it for all like sticking at home Russians, Turkish, frankly all over.. on my team when i'm in UK.. Either the game is dead (apparently not the case) or their algorithm isn't perfect leading to a bad experience. So let me make the decision and give the power to the user.
Where's the source that the dedicated servers are increasing? I also think having people stay in the server 24/7 is just a bad excuse. While it's possible, in thousands of hours playing both BFH and DirtyBomb, i have never once encountered someone staying in a server 24/7. You'll surely get the regulars there but unlike crafting and such in an mmo there's no reason to be logged in when you sleep and if those dedicated to the game are grinding higher ranks 8hrs a day compared to your casual 1 hour a week player then give them the slightly better ping if they're prepared to wait for it... One size obv doesn't fit all when everyone complains about servers.
Who will likely notice? The guy who lives and breaths the game 12 hrs straight grinding pred or some guy playing 30 mins a month? Keep the automation there for the casuals but SBMM or no SBMM, ranked specific and normal servers could benefit us all. Not likely given Respawns history of implementing new things..
@DoYaSeeMeBahrain complaints don't make sense as i have London selected and still get connected to other data centers after a small wait.. Germany often.
I'm just using BFH as an example and there are plenty of others that were successful but if using both instant and server select worked then and on more recent titles then it should now as it's using the exact same method of combining different ways to join the same servers. Nothing really difficult for them to do.
If anything, automated should be improved with more players to draw from and it should be in a better position to give a more stable experience overall. This can also be said with broken rank mix we currently have.
Which then begs the question, why is it so crap for most now?
Also why does it matter what computer power is needed to run the game? I'm not just talking about dedicated servers (there are various ways to cover that cost anyway) but what about manually selecting servers?
So not having a server select is a core part of the game that can't be touched now?
@DoYaSeeMe You said it yourself. ''game servers don't waste resources on handling lobby stuff and matchmaking, they need all the power to process the matches they hold''.
It would be interesting to see these articles of how not having a server selection (with the current automated system still in place too) leads to a better experience and if they need updating that with our team mates missing or high ping players in match, general stability ect.. The only thing that could be said from the users point is increased engagement but engagement and enjoyable engagement are two very different things.. Just look at our quests or ranked splits.
So far, you said having it will mean separate ques - I have given an example how that's not the case.
Lead to a bad experience - Will generally make it better with closer proximity players.
Cost of servers - I know ways they can cover that cost so you should know more than i and it's not like they're begging for change here if they have to fork some of that themselves.
People exploiting staying in the same server 24/7 - There is no need or benefit in Apex unlike other games.
Increased waiting times leading to less engagement and ultimately less money spent on passes and content. - I gave you an example of how that's not the case, actually quite the opposite.
Most important part.. People will have to wait - Only if they choose to.
There are also potential fixes to problems i outlined earlier like ranked and SBMM giving user a choice how they want to play.
That last part of it being a core part of the game they can't touch now is rubbish. They won't, not can't..
I have shown every excuse you made to not be the case but not once have you come up with a solution yourself. All we get is ''It's fine, they made the best compromise..'' and why people understandably get frustrated when it's clearly not fine and the person who advertises himself as being knowledgeable on such matters comes up empty handed with just reasons as to why they can't when time tested examples prove otherwise.
I agree automating as many steps as possible is generally a good thing but when it's the ONLY option to play.. one size doesn't fit all and is by far the most common complaint for this game.. servers and stability. Excluding audio.. 😛
Well, what I think happens is that when lobby servers are at maximum capacity, they pass new players / queues to the closest data center, which also needs to be under a certain ping value (e.g. 100ms). Bahrain is probably too far away from all the others, so players there have to wait or manually connect to other data centers. London is probably a couple of ms away from Frankfurt and these 2 are some of the biggest and busiest data centers in Europe. Probably the same can be said about the US data centres, that's why you end up playing in different locations.