West Coast Server Max Player Count

[Mana 3,867]

I'm reviving this discussion.

As you know ever since Valve introduced quickplay the server browser has not been used by most people. And since quickplay's matchmaking only uses 24 player servers this puts our west coast servers at a big disadvantage.

For the last couple of months I was listening to the regulars and kept the servers at 32 players despite the decrease in popularity. But now I see the same regulars are moving on to our other servers and asking their benefits to be changed over.

So I ask again. Are the west coast servers really good like this?

Let me show you this image here:

First server is our Stock Maps #3 server which has been around for years. It barely seems to get to 32 players now.

Second server is our new Stock Maps #8 server (and by new I mean really new). It barely, correction, it doesn't get empty.

Now you might ask "But why are your other 32 player servers still doing good?" And the answer to that is Location! Location matters, this is why if you choose west coast on the server browser you will not find many servers (ignoring the ones that fake this and make their EU/Central/whatever serves appear on the west coast filter).

So I have 2 main ideas now:

Switch West Coast to 24 player servers.

Alternate the west coast between 24 and 32 players. Perhaps once a week.

Anyone else have any ideas?

Be sure to post and vote in order to be heard.

[DrkEagle 15]

I like the idea of switching it from 24 to 32 every week or so. Hopefully that will get it back to it's old glory!

Wow. I just came from one of them. I didn't know you were lowering ALL WC servers, I thought just stocks 3. Anyway, such. horrid. players.

[Boyblue 0]

At 24 players the west coast dustbowl is awful. cannot keep it filled and after every round drops to 15 or 16 players.

[DrkEagle 15]

Yeah, Mana. After a week or so, how have the servers done? Maybe the Dustbowl should be raised back to 32?

[prockbp 0]

Hey everybody,

Just wanted to toss my $0.02 on this topic. I have spent over 30 days on Lotus Dustbowl servers with the majority of that time spent on the west coast servers. I am an advocate for keeping the west coast servers at 33 players. I have three observations that I would like you to consider.

- First, I have observed much less participation on the Dustbowl server since the implementation of the 24 player max. I spend the majority of my time on this server playing against bots now.

- Second, there is a huge decrease in the amount of regular players that join the server. Some of my favorite adversaries are scattered amongst other servers (non-lotus servers primarily).

- Third, the quality of players on the server has gone down. The server seems to be populated with new players only. I'm not against bringing new players onto the server, but when just one or two quality players join the server, the new people rage quit. Typically I can join the server with 20+ players and half of them will rage quit in three rounds or less. How is that good for server population? New players will stay longer if there is a possibility of them being mixed with skilled players, but the 24 player limit just doesn't give enough room to fit our regular players and the new people on the server.

I've always loved Lotus servers for two reasons:

1) There are very few rules!!!!! I F'ing hate hearing complaints about language or topic restrictions. These servers are for grown-ups, so perhaps you shouldn't be peddling them to youngsters who got this game for free and are now randomly searching for place to play through the in-game mating service.

2) No admin-nazis! I have never had to deal with jerk-off admins on these servers. Thank you.

I've been playing on Lotus servers since this game was new because of the above reasons. Thank you for giving me a great place to play!

[TIKI - ikislma 19]

It seems that it's difficult to keep the server filled when the maximum is 24 because the server rarely reaches that self-sustaining point when players join as fast as they leave. When a round ends 5-6 players will normally leave. This is true whether it's a 24 or 32 player server. However this loss is noticeable on the 24 player servers whereas it's not on the 32 player servers. I think this noticeable loss negatively affects the gameplay and as a result even more people end up leaving.....so you never seem to get that sustained full server. At least that's what I've noticed the last few days. Of course, I fully understand the importance of being listed on the quickplay browser, so maybe your plan of alternating weeks should be followed for a while. That's what has my vote.

[Mana 3,867]

I haven't set those servers up for quickplay yet. They are only available via server browser as of now.

So the actual 24 player experiment only starts later today. Probably around 6PM local time.

However, because of how quickplay uses the server player history, I have decided to do this one server at a time.

2fort west is first. Rest are, for now, 33 players max.

EDIT:

Make that tomorrow.

[DrkEagle 15]

Stocks 3 just crashed/restarted randomly on Upward :-( 2:48pm wc time