Dropships on Duststorm

Discussion in 'Mapping' started by LordDz_2, Dec 7, 2011.

  1. vipervicki

    vipervicki Member

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    I made a vanilla server months ago, when the vets were still playing in full force because of the complaining of some about custom maps or gimmicky maps. I had it up for months..it stayed empty, no one was interested.

    VIPER only has 4 fun maps on with the rest regular commander maps and a couple of infantry maps.

    The majority of people that play atm, like the fun maps, VIPER is geared for those who play not for those who don't. When the tide changes, so will VIPER. So for right now having 4 fun maps on a server with over 30 other regular commander maps is not going to ruin anything and it will give the players that do play, maps they enjoy.

    EPIC has broken maps on their server, I don't I see a point in having a map on that is broken no matter how good the map is.
     
    Last edited: Dec 28, 2011
  2. Trickster

    Trickster Retired Developer

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    The thing is, it's not just about the fun maps Vicki. It's all very well saying: "Well, we only have Rainbowroad, Octagons, Modoon and Empirescup", but when the maps in between are District, Escort, Money and whatnot, and people use maps like Mvalley/Cyclopean to just spec and take a break, then that's where the problem lies. And after those maps are done, the cycle restarts.

    And the fact is, no, no-one will be interested in playing non-gimmick-map servers, that's all the players want now. But it's all they want because, that's all that was being played when they joined Empires. And the players who would have stayed if they were playing regular maps, didn't stay, whilst the players who enjoy gimmicky maps, did stay.

    It would annoy people if those maps got removed, we would lose players, but I believe after a few months, the playerbase would rise, we'd get better players who wanted to play properly, and everything would just be better in general.

    I genuinely don't mean this as an insult to you or VIPER. I know you don't like those maps, and I know how much hassle you get from people who demand those maps. You're in a catch-22 situation. Take them off, your server goes empty. Leave them on and we end up with this situation we have now. But something has to be done, because things are just deteriorating further and further. I hit my limit in about September, after playing Empires nonstop for 4 years with absolutely no breaks. I just couldn't take it any more. Something has to change, and as the owner of the only Empires server which gets populated, you're in the best position to do something about it. You are basically in control of the game itself when we (the devs) aren't releasing.

    As for EPIC server, I'm not aware of any broken maps, but if there are any, I can fix/remove them. But it would make no difference anyway. As long as I refuse to put gimmick maps on, the server won't get populated, and I'm fine with that.
     
  3. vipervicki

    vipervicki Member

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    you're right trickster I don't like them at all, thats why I only allow 4 of them but and they are all commander maps altho not traditional ones.

    I believe many vets left after we were relaesed on steam. They didn't like and still don't like playing with new players. Everyone is blaming a few maps on vets leaving but from what I see and hear on my server is more complaints about playing with inexperienced players, if a fun map comes on once every 10-12 rounds, if that much (which is how I have it set)they can just chat in spec during that time, but the way I see things is the community gets more frustrated with playing games with those that are not experienced than anything else.

    also you mention a line up of distirct, money, escort, those are a good porprtion of defualt maps and then when a custom map comes on they have something to say about how bad it is.

    I see no solution, because no matter what map is on, there is going to be a group that won't play it or will complain about it, except maybe for the exception of slaughtered. I have heard negative complaints about just about every map empires has including mvalley, cyclopean and the rest.
     
  4. flasche

    flasche Member Staff Member Moderator

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    the problem is, empires was never meant to be supermario kart. look at what game it emerged from - bf42. its style clearly has warhammer and battletech all over its face. those players are long gone with some rare exceptions, whats left is some kids with adhs.
     
  5. vipervicki

    vipervicki Member

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    if the maps are the issue and not that vets left due to an influx of newbies which lead to poor rounds, before all the mario cart type maps appeared, why didn't the vets just play on EPIC or my vanilla server? There were enough vets to populate another server that had regulation maps.
     
  6. flasche

    flasche Member Staff Member Moderator

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    its not only the maps, that would be too easy ofc. they are just mosaic tiles in the big picture. idk when you did put your vanilla server on, but this didnt only just start.
    this is a creeping process since years ...
     
    Last edited: Dec 28, 2011
  7. LordDz_2

    LordDz_2 Strange things happens here

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    You want certain maps removed from one server, so that the people that like them will leave the game, while at the same time, there is a server which doesn't have those maps, but you refuse to play on it because......?

    Just go fill up the EPIC server and be done with the whining.
     
  8. vipervicki

    vipervicki Member

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    it was up before the steam release, not sure how long before, but I left it up for quite a few months. I put it up after a discussion in spec about how the vets wanted a server to play hard core empires and were tired of some custom maps etc, it had Vanilla in the server name to distinguish it from other types of servers. I could do that again I would be happy to and add any custom maps requested by vets, but I doubt that would bring them back.

    But I am happy to say, many players have returned lately, which I am glad to see that, which prompted me to make another change in VIPERs mapcycle file. Those 4 custom maps will be played alot less now, they way I edited the file. Which is my way of tyring to please the newer players and hopefully keep the older ones from leaving again.
     
  9. Trickster

    Trickster Retired Developer

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    The problem is Vicki, that the players who aren't Vets, who like those shitty maps, vastly outnumber the people who don't. They didn't used to, but because of the high frequency of these shitmaps appearing, it tipped the balance further and further towards the shitmap area, so we have more players who like shitmaps than those who don't. It was a cascading effect.

    I just don't know how it can be sorted. It isn't your fault, it's the playerbase. It used to be the loud minority, but now it genuinely is the majority. I won't level the blame at specific players, but we all know of a certain player that camps in spec frequently, and can command the attention of a lot of players. And he does this frequently, on proper maps, and then gets people playing the shitmaps. You can do all you want with the mapcycle, but the fact that people will nominate them in at the exact moment they can speaks for itself.

    I understand you're trying your best, but as it stands, it's fighting a losing war.

    So I ask you Vicki. If we got a decent patch, if we went on a PR patch, would you (assuming all other major server owners agreed) agree to totally remove them for 6 weeks, just after the release. Because, if for 6 weeks they were totally gone, 100% gone, and every server came in on this, I genuinely think we'd end up with a bunch of new players who would prefer Empires, not Gimmickpires.
     
  10. vipervicki

    vipervicki Member

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    I would never do anyhting to harm the community or empires as it was intended. I agree to do that, when that patch is released, but keep in mind we run the risk of losing the newer players and vets not returning or staying and ending up with even less than we have now.

    But if you feel this will bring back expeirenced players and help the community grow I agree to it.

    I did feel like people were blaming me, not you in particularly but I kept reading of the shit maps on VIPER..blah blah

    I have the same maps as EPIC with a few additions, and I just give the playerbase what it wants at the given time or we would have no one playing.

    As I said before, the vets just left, they didn't populate EPIC which has no gimmicky maps, so I truly believe the fun maps are just a small part of it, I remain in my belief many left becuase of the in flux of new players and they found it frustrating to keep having lousy rounds.
     
  11. w00kie

    w00kie Mustachioed Mexican

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    remember that right after the patch lots of serious custom maps should be in a playable state again. Like tropicvendetta etc.
     
  12. Grantrithor

    Grantrithor Member

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    Or get broken even further :(
     

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