The State of the Arena: Some Things to Consider

Okay this has been bugging me for awhile now and I have finally decided to make this post. My main point is that, by creating the Official Deathstar Server you guys have just about killed the Arena. The Deathstar Server attracts all of the players who go online. This isn't necessarily a bad thing on its own (the Deathstar is even my favorite map), but it has literally sucked all of the players out of the Arena, and this is terrible! Don't get me wrong, the Deathstar server is great, but I like to play other maps too, and I can't do that if the Arena stays at 0/24 all day.

Very rarely will the Arena be full nowadays. I don't know if you guys have noticed this, but its blatantly obvious. Creating more popular servers will decrease the number of players in each server. Recently players have been picking Official Server, .Com, and Official Deathstar over the Arena. There simply aren't that many players left around to sustain 4 popular servers. Maybe it will be better during the summer, but still.

I cannot stand Official Server because the lag makes me have to aim a few inches ahead of the enemy to hit anything. The Official Server just plain sucks in my opinion, and I think that all of the Arena players should boycott it so that the Arena can have more players. I also dislike .Com because of the mods, which I think unbalance everything.

Another thing, If you guys HAD to go and make the Official Deathstar, then WHY ON EARTH did you use the server that used to be the old Arena. Now, all of my Arena stats are in the Official Deathstar Server. Maybe this was an excuse for a stat reset, but I think that the new Deathstar Server should have went with the new IP. It just makes sense.

I wouldn't care so much about what server was what if it weren't for the strange lag that the new Arena now has. In the Official Deathstar server (the old Arena) my ping is usually under 100. In the current Arena its around 120-140. Now, it may be the new hosting location (I have no idea where it is now), but even back when the Arena was in Seattle, I still had less lag than nowadays. I don't think its just the ping either, because I used to play in the Arena just fine a year or so ago with a 130 ping. This server has something strange about it. Occasionally it will not let me join. I just says joining, and when the timer reaches 1 minute, it fails. This is happening to just me either, other players have experienced the same thing.

You guys should take the Deathstar Server down completely, or at the very least switch the IPs of Official Deathstar and the Arena. I would much rather have the Deathstar in the the IP slot of the shity/laggy server.

death star sucks. The perfect map for noobs.. very easy to spawn kill, easy to stay in ur base SAFE for using recons...the damn hallway is impossible to pass when there are 2 snipers and some grunts on the other side (be it rebels or empire) and you DIE TOO Much. And i have NEVER stayed a full map of DS CTF....just my opinion.

DS SUCKS
DS SUCKS

DS SUCKS

DS SUCKS

DS SUCKS

DS SUCKS

death star is okay on GCW but on clone wars it really sucks because the back doors open and if you're playing as the rebels dark troopers camp on the power generator things and they get rage and the precision pistol and then the rebels can't get the flag. Then it took me and like 3-4 other players to kill th dark troopers.

From those of us keeping track of statistics, the attendance in ALL the SWBF2 PS2 servers has been down drastically in recent months. The remaining players tend to congregate in the OFFICIAL SERVER. The Arena was empty long before the Death Star server went on line. Like it or not, overall the Death Star is the most popular map world-wide and so far the overall attendance looks good. If it goes back to the old Arena format it may just empty out again as people go to OFFICIAL SERVER.

If you are really that serious about playing SWBF2, then get the PC version ($7-$20). There are many more active players and servers, some up to 48 slots.

I think that the total amount of players is down, but they are also being dispersed more over the servers. What I'm saying is that all of the Arena players should not play in Official Server. That way the Arena can have 3-4 of its players, which gives it, at the very least, an opportunity to fill up. I am fully aware that the Arena was often empty before the Deathstar Server was made. Even if the Arena was empty before the Deathstar Server came about, Official Deathstar has made the problem worse, the Arena is emptier for longer now.

Also, it wasn't me who criticized the Deathstar map and thats not what the problem is (I even said that it is my favorite map in my original post). That was not at all what I was trying to say, and the others that posted after me just don't like the map, maybe they didn't even read what I wrote because that has nothing to do with this.

I am that serious about SWBF2, and thats exactly why I wrote all this. I am that serious, about the Playstation version. All of the clans and talented players that I know are on PS2. I know nothing about the computer version or its players. Essentially it is a different game entirely. I don't care about more active players or servers, I care about playing this game for this system. I might as well play any other 3rd person shooter if I was simply looking for people to play with for that matter. But, I just don't want too. I care about the PS2 community for this game, and moving to the computer won't solve the problems here, it'd be just like getting a new game.

There are similar posts in the Arena server blog on GameTracker and it looks like people are getting the message. There was a jump in Arena's attendance last night and it's still going strong today.

I agree with Mike and partially with Verga. Verga, I think it depends because sometimes there are actually good players who fill up that map and dont play cheap.....but thats RARE.

Mike wrote:

Okay this has been bugging me for awhile now and I have finally decided to make this post. My main point is that, by creating the Official Deathstar Server you guys have just about killed the Arena. The Deathstar Server attracts all of the players who go online. This isn't necessarily a bad thing on its own (the Deathstar is even my favorite map), but it has literally sucked all of the players out of the Arena, and this is terrible! Don't get me wrong, the Deathstar server is great, but I like to play other maps too, and I can't do that if the Arena stays at 0/24 all day.

Very rarely will the Arena be full nowadays. I don't know if you guys have noticed this, but its blatantly obvious. Creating more popular servers will decrease the number of players in each server. Recently players have been picking Official Server, .Com, and Official Deathstar over the Arena. There simply aren't that many players left around to sustain 4 popular servers. Maybe it will be better during the summer, but still.

I cannot stand Official Server because the lag makes me have to aim a few inches ahead of the enemy to hit anything. The Official Server just plain sucks in my opinion, and I think that all of the Arena players should boycott it so that the Arena can have more players. I also dislike .Com because of the mods, which I think unbalance everything.

Another thing, If you guys HAD to go and make the Official Deathstar, then WHY ON EARTH did you use the server that used to be the old Arena. Now, all of my Arena stats are in the Official Deathstar Server. Maybe this was an excuse for a stat reset, but I think that the new Deathstar Server should have went with the new IP. It just makes sense.

I wouldn't care so much about what server was what if it weren't for the strange lag that the new Arena now has. In the Official Deathstar server (the old Arena) my ping is usually under 100. In the current Arena its around 120-140. Now, it may be the new hosting location (I have no idea where it is now), but even back when the Arena was in Seattle, I still had less lag than nowadays. I don't think its just the ping either, because I used to play in the Arena just fine a year or so ago with a 130 ping. This server has something strange about it. Occasionally it will not let me join. I just says joining, and when the timer reaches 1 minute, it fails. This is happening to just me either, other players have experienced the same thing.

You guys should take the Deathstar Server down completely, or at the very least switch the IPs of Official Deathstar and the Arena. I would much rather have the Deathstar in the the IP slot of the shity/laggy server.

When I originally posted this, I expected someone with authority, namely Grizz or Sho, to read it, and give me at least a little bit of feedback or explanation.

So...?

My main question is just about the IPs. They put Official Deathstar where the Arena was (in New York), and they put the Arena in Seattle again I think. I think it should be the other way around, the stats and lag are just all screwed up.

Welcome back Mewtwo (a.k.a. Darth Spam), haven't seen you in a while and the forum's were getting too quiet.

{DSB}Mewtwo wrote:

PS.Good job with the modded/glitching server Pyro and i believe Ace helped you some.

Thanks. A while back Ace, Sho and I were all collaborating on creating SWBF2 PS2 servers with more than 24 players using Astro's Enhanced Server Manager, but we couldn't make it work. Plus the fact we have a hard enough time getting just 24 players.

But after that attempt I haven't seen nor heard from Ace or his mod server. Does he still play, perhaps using a different name?

Hey Pyro, Ace does still play. He is in MNC currently, and he uses the same name I believe.

A couple corrections, FEAR is not a new clan, and it is not my ISP causing the problem. I live on the east coast, thats why it affects me. You have the same ping probably because you live the same distance from each server. The difference for me is ridiculous. But for you it is equally slightly laggy if you know what I mean. It appears to be standard for you on both servers so it is acceptable.

But I'm not even talking about that! The Arena used to be in Seattle and it was fine with me, not as good as it was in New York, but I was still happy to play in it. The current Seattle server is worse than the old one. I want to know why this new Seattle server is not used for the Official Deathstar instead of the old, good, Arena.

Yes, and I am in the Northeast, which is why the NY server is so good compared to to Seattle one. You are pretty far from both servers so it does not really matter for you, since they both appear to be about the same to you.

{DSB}Mewtwo wrote:

Btw is JJ now [FEAR]=JJ=[/color]

No, that would not be me, I have no clue who he is. My gamer name is {STR}JJ', and that's what it always will be.

YO! Darth Spam....

{DSB}Mewtwo wrote:

Mike wrote:

Yes, and I am in the Northeast, which is why the NY server is so good compared to to Seattle one. You are pretty far from both servers so it does not really matter for you, since they both appear to be about the same to you.

Well that is true

JJ' wrote:

No, that would not be me, I have no clue who he is. My gamer name is {STR}JJ', and that's what it always will be.

I should have known since you have that signature ' in your name.

If you must color code everything could you at least use colors that show up better against the forum's background?

Red and especially Blue are hard to read (for us graybushes anyway). How about Yellow, Orange, Cyan or Violet? (Pastels are so warm and cheerful ).

And don't be using all Indigo now either.

PyroJockey wrote:

YO! Darth Spam....

{DSB}Mewtwo wrote:

Mike wrote:

Yes, and I am in the Northeast, which is why the NY server is so good compared to to Seattle one. You are pretty far from both servers so it does not really matter for you, since they both appear to be about the same to you.

Well that is true

JJ' wrote:

No, that would not be me, I have no clue who he is. My gamer name is {STR}JJ', and that's what it always will be.

I should have known since you have that signature ' in your name.

If you must color code everything could you at least use colors that show up better against the forum's background?

Red and especially Blue are hard to read (for us graybushes anyway). How about Yellow, Orange, Cyan or Violet? (Pastels are so warm and cheerful ).

And don't be using all Indigo now either.

Wow, a lot to get to. I'm glad y'all are so interested in the survival of the servers.

Well, here's the skinny. I made a new Arena server in Seattle for a few reasons:

I had a theory about the stability of the Seattle location compared to the other cities that have hosted the Arena server before. The city we had the best run with was Seattle. The original Official Server that was a favorite of Apocalypse back in the day was in Seattle. They seemed to be the most stable server farm with a good connection for most people. And a REALLY good connection for me.

And I created a brand new server instead of moving it cuzz the price went down. hehe
I was just going to let the old Arena die at the end of its billing cycle. But an idea was born...

The SWBFII OFFICIAL DEATHSTAR server was an Apocalypse idea, well mostly Grizz.
We knew a server that just had Death Star CTF would be super fun and really popular!
You never have to wait for the best map to come up in the rotation. It's always playing!
You HAVE to admit it IS the most popular map for this game just like Pyro said.

And I knew it would prove a point. All the haters of Death Star always complain about how long the matches are, not playing any other map for hours, blah blah blah.

Well, the Arena has a timer for each map. We added the maps peeps actually requested and mixed it up. Then I completely removed all Death Star maps from the Arena server as suggested.
The result....


The Death Star server has between 15 to 24 players most days during peak hours.
And the Arena stays EMPTY for 3 or 4 days straight.

I posted this a awhile back when I realized it (seems relevant now):
When you go anti-noob with the settings to please the "vet" players, you get rewarded with an empty server.


We'll see how the summer goes.... But the bottom line is we'll probably just go back down to the one server: The Arena with all of the Death Star maps. Probably ditch the timer but also get rid of a few maps so it gets around to the Death Star quicker.

It looks like my theory wasn't correct on the Seattle thing. Plus, I figured out some other stuff. So at this point, I don't really care where it ends up as long as it ain't New York.
The Death Star server is actually in Chicago.
That's as far east that I'll allow the server to get from me.
So, maybe we can move the new Arena to Chicago to remove a variable in the comparison and we can see how the summer goes like that??

Oh yeah, Good to see ya back Mewtwo. All hail Darth Spam!

vergamaton wrote:

death star sucks. The perfect map for noobs... blah blah blah ...and you DIE TOO Much. blah blah blah And i have NEVER stayed a full map of DS CTF....just my opinion.

That's it right there. We need MORE noobs for this game. Not less.

Most of you "elite vet" players have moved on to other games.
I'm making a server that appeals to ppl that can actually play a whole map and don't care about kill/death ratios. Not concerned with .com'ers and their e-peens. No offense. I'm sure it's decent for your size. It's just that..... no one gives a f*#%.

Thanks for the reply Sho! It all makes sense now.

And yes I totally agree with you the old Arena server in Seattle from back in the day was awesome. I loved that one. I don't know why its so different now, maybe something changed? Maybe there was a reason they lowered their price?

Oh and make sure you don't get me wrong, in all my posts I never said that I hated the Death Star, in fact I love it. I just had all these questions because I was concerned that the actual Arena was always empty.

And idk why I thought that Official Deathstar was in NY. I mean, looked up the IP and it said NY. Maybe thats just wrong, its weird though.


I really like the sound of the plan for the Summer. Chicago and no timers. Maybe it will be full daily again.

Once again I love the Deathstar map, but I love the Arena server as a whole more. I want it to be full and have a great connection at all times. Your reply gave me hope though so good job.

The deathstar is horrible, specially without a timer. All youre doing is encouraging more fucking spawn camping, home base camping, lame tactics, horribly long map times, not to mention more times than not the other ctf servers along with this one have the same fucking map going. HOw are the noobs going to learn if you keep the same bullshit going? Do you WANT them to be douchebags? Is this what you people are going for? I mean honestly, I dont know what you people are lacing your weed with.

AURORUS wrote:

HOw are the noobs going to learn if you keep the same bullshit going?

I'm curious, how would you suggest teaching the noobs?