New server 2 experiment

**FBmantis** · 11-02-2011, 02:25 PM

SL only spawning is buggy enough that we are going to turn it off now and wait for that to be fixed in a future patch.

In the interest of continuing to explore other options we are now going to temporarily try server 2 with the following setup. Current settings + reduced max player count to 42 + 80% health + no regen. This is a setup I personally really want to try out so instead of small baby steps I am just going to experiment immediately with a setup I feel may work best for BF3 here. Maybe it won't work and no one will like it but I have a strong feeling players will like it.

Why this setup as an experiment? It has been my viewpoint since day 1 that almost all of these maps were not made with 64 players in mind and accordingly at some point that will be acknowledged by the majority and the player count would be dropped. Reading the forums I feel like community sentiment is starting to move that direction but some of it is being misplaced into the type of weapons being used or damage model. That is not to say there are not issues on those fronts as well but our main problem is definitely map design. These maps were built with consoles in mind and trying to dump 64 players onto them doesn't lead to quality gameplay imo.

I really do think the player count is our main issue. I like my BF as big and epic as I can get it but I have to leave behind my preconception taught from past titles that more players is automatically better. Seine Crossing, Tehran Highway, Grand Bazaar, Damavand and even our best friend Operation Metro will play out a lot better with a reduced player count. Spam will decrease and more tactical goodness will come about if there is room to move, flank, regroup and time to think.

As for the reduced health. 80% is halfway to hardcore so it is a temp step down to see what that feels like. There have been calls to check out reduced health on one server and I have a feeling myself it will feel better.

All the details may not be perfect(e.g. player count) but please give it a try now when you can get on(it will be tough to get on). I am not sure how long this will run. At minimum today and Thurs but we may have to dial up the players again on the weekend.

To finish - this is an experiment and temporary. We will play around with other experiments at later dates. Please give any and all constructive feedback here on this one.

**Tempus** · 11-02-2011, 02:28 PM

Cool! I look forward to trying this out.

**Wicks** · 11-02-2011, 02:30 PM

Interesting I will definitely give it a go!

**draeh** · 11-02-2011, 02:31 PM

I know where I'm playing tonight.

Thanks for the experiment.

**Specterr** · 11-02-2011, 02:31 PM

should be an interesting experiment

**Ven** · 11-02-2011, 02:35 PM

will give it a go and see.....admins going to be busy on this server making room for SM's

**VoodooIT** · 11-02-2011, 02:36 PM

Awesome, these settings sound perfect for BF3.

**Arithea** · 11-02-2011, 02:49 PM

Gah, now I really wish I could play tonight.

I'll be watching here to see how it goes. That means updates afterwards, people! :P

**johnflenaly** · 11-02-2011, 02:50 PM

Will try it out, thanks.

**Twisted_Firestarter** · 11-02-2011, 02:52 PM

Thanks mantis. Much appreciated. I completely agree with you that, aside from any other issues that may exist, the maps just aren't big enough for 64 players. I find myself more often then not using Battlelog's server browser to filter on the largest maps and finding servers that have 20-40 people on them. These for me feel right. The maps are dynamic, flags can change often, it doesn't feel like a frag-fest, and there is a lot of opportunity for a squad to make a concerted effort and make a difference.

I also feel turning off auto-healing will work really well for us as it ensures that certain roles in each squad need to be filled to be effective. Tank battles typically involve attacking until one tank is damaged to almost 50% then trying to withdraw to auto-heal. Given this scenario, there isn't even much of a difference between a sniper class driving a tank and an engineer class -- this really waters down the usefulness of classes, IMO. No auto-heal will ensure that tanks that have an engineer on board will have the advantage. Two thumbs up.

**FBmantis** · 11-02-2011, 03:00 PM

Vehicle regen could still be there. The documentation on the only regen option we have to play with just makes mention of "health" with no mention of vehicles.

**Grunt 70** · 11-02-2011, 03:02 PM

+1 on the changes.

I played Op. Metro the other night on another server with only about 20 total players. It was pretty awesome. Lots of tactical possibilities with smaller group. We actually got through the bottleneck and capped their back flag, winning the round.

**Britt** · 11-02-2011, 03:11 PM

This is the exact change I would have made. Excited to try it out.

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**Greasy Mullet** · 11-02-2011, 03:18 PM

Originally Posted by Britt

This is the exact change I would have made. Excited to try it out.

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Yes, the exact changes I would have made as well. The total player count is going to be the hardest to get right but I think this number is close to correct for these maps designs unfortunatly.