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disposalist's avatar
disposalist
Rising Scout
4 days ago

Solution to the Server Browser Controversy

So from recent tweets my understanding is EA/DICE won't give us a server browser that includes official servers because persistent servers cost money and keeping empty ones hanging about just to provide a list to choose from wastes money. I can't disagree.

I think I also am beginning to understand why they want us to use the Portal Server Browser to get what we want from 'persistent' servers.

I'm going to present an idea that can make everyone happy and might even be partly what EA/DICE are intending, though I will suggest something that can bring all the community together - Official, Server Browser and Portal - and make everyone, including EA, happy.

Here it is: -
Use the Portal Server Browser, but add a "Custom Match" button.
 
It could even be also called Quick Match because it will effectively do the same thing under the hood, but I will refer to it as Custom Match here to avoid confusion.
 
A Custom Match - as activated by the button - would use the search criteria choices entered into the Portal Server Browser. Some examples covering the needs given by players and recently highlighted in DICE tweets would be: -
 
  • Include/Only/Prioritise Ranked
  • Include/Only/Prioritise Official
  • Include/Only/Prioritise Community
  • Population Limits
  • Ping Limits
  • Region(s)
  • Start of Round Only
  • Mode(s)
  • Allow Mode Repeat
  • Mode Rotation List
  • Map(s)
  • Allow Map Repeat
  • Map Rotation List
You can see this set of criteria gets extensive, so you won't want to do them every time and should be able to name and save them. You might define criteria for "Conquest European + NA servers" or "Small maps with low ping" or whatever.
 
The full Portal Server Browser would probably need more criteria to cover the more unusual custom community creations, but a subset that cannot break rules about being legit official servers would be clearly identified and up-front.
 
You can browse using this filter/criteria and it may return a list of community custom servers for you to look through if that's what you want. These servers may or may not be already running.
 
But if you don't want to join one and don't want to try and start one... Click Custom Match.
 
The game then matches your criteria with other Custom Match players and if there are enough or you've opted to include community servers you might get dropped into one, but - here's the important bit - if your criteria is within the official choices, it can spin up a server based on your criteria filling the rest of the slots with Quick Match players.
 
Quick match players apparently don't mind what kind of game (apart from Mode) they play, so this should be fine with them and gets a game going immediately rather than waiting for 63 matching Custom Match players.
 
EA gets what it wants because Custom Match servers will still 'spin up' and 'spin down' like Quick Match servers, but what spins up won't be random, it will be decided by Custom Match requests (though I imagine the vast majority of players will just click Quick Match so most servers will be just Quick Match folks).
 
The community is not split and all players get what they want and don't have to hope there's a community server running that matches their needs or sit in an empty one and wait for it to populate.
 
TL;DR: No servers exist until played. When a player clicks Quick Match they might be put into an existing server if there is a gap, or if there are enough players queuing a new server will spin up for them.
My suggestion is to add a Custom Match button. Specifying other criteria like Map Rotation and Region will match with other matching Custom Match players, but then fill up with Quick Match players.
This can include qualifying custom community servers if they meet official criteria or even non-ranked non-official ones if the player has selected to allow it.
 
What do you all think? How much should I charge EA/DICE for this trouble-shooting consultancy? Hehe

7 Replies

  • "because persistent servers cost money and keeping empty ones hanging about just to provide a list to choose from wastes money"

    It's because they don't want servers that compete with the official servers and might be used to change their careful calibrated DLC and microtransactions.

  • disposalist's avatar
    disposalist
    Rising Scout
    4 days ago

    I do not disagree that there are other strongly possible reasons for it, but I'm just working on the basis of what they have said when asked about it.

    Yes, I suspect it is also to do with wanting to push certain game modes or whatever will best drive sales of skins and whatever.

    To be honest, though, I think my solution would still work for them.

    The vast majority of players would still just press Quick Match and so there would be more than enough of them to get routed to official servers according to whatever criteria EA/DICE prefer.

    Even of the ones that use Custom Match in a Server Browser, most will be using pretty simple criteria like Ping, Region, Map Rotation and EA/DICE will still have control over most aspects.

    Making happy the ones that prefer to be a little more choosy is surely a win-win?

    As for wanting total control, why are they making so much more of Portal at all, then?

  • YUGOS_72's avatar
    YUGOS_72
    Rising Novice
    4 days ago

    eA will be already charging more for BF6 so their reason that server browser will cost them more money does not hold.

    im not buying without browser and dont see why anyone should.

    i mean, you are going to play the map that is randomly and it can take 10 map rotations until u get to map you like.

    it is funny reading all those post from people on FB,reddit and here where they are talking about skins,color of th guns,music ets and server browser is not even in their book as one of the issues

    EA won. COD players are here and our beloved game in form we know it is dead

     

     

  • MackTKau's avatar
    MackTKau
    Rising Ace
    3 days ago

    Portal is likely a response to things like Day-Z and DOTA, where the company who made the game that was used to make the mods these did not control the IP of them.

  • ApacheVE's avatar
    ApacheVE
    Rising Novice
    3 days ago

    remember GameSpy? Lets bring it back! I bet you could buy the entire codebase for Tree Fiddy and a ham sammich.

  • I don't care if EA is happy or not. I want a fu**ing server browser and im not paying for **bleep** unless I get one. Simple as that

  • Another reason a server browser and being able to join existing games just as you like is undesirable by EA is it circumvents balancing.

    This weekend the beta has a Custom Search where you can choose Modes and Maps.

    This is effectively a start toward what I suggested.

    All they need to do is add a whole bunch more criteria as I suggest above and expand it to include community servers (and whether you want to pick one from a list or just be dropped in to any that matches your criteria).

    How do people feel about it?

     

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