It's no secret. Anyone who's been around for a while can see that our server is experience an all-time low when it comes to server utiliziation. We the admins have been discussing various things and ideas for what is wrong and what (if anything) can be done to bring our server back to a time when you could almost always find a good game on there.

Right now, day-to-day we are experincing a bell-curve effect with visitors. The US daytime hours and early morning hours are almost completely dead, with a small bump for the US night-time hours when I presume that we're running 3v3 most of the time.

We (the admins) have noticed this "lack of players" trend on other popular PUB servers as well. We don't feel that they are immune to this recent problem. However, we are not discounting that recent changes to our server could also play a roll. That is what we're trying to find out. Is there something that can be changed to attract a better overall average of players? Or is this just a sign of an aging game, with more players leaving than are arriving.

Please select one answer. I realize that there are many options, but I want to know the #1 reason that you aren't playing at IoW anymore. Feel free to respond to this thread, I will attempt to swallow my pride and be prepared to accept constructive criticism if you feel it will help.

Thanks for your participation.

BECK wrote (View Post): › We (the admins) have noticed this "lack of players" trend on other popular PUB servers as well. We don't feel that they are immune to this recent problem.

What other servers are having this problem? Sadly once I check IoW and see 0 players, I hope ANG has a spot open. 11v11 does not seem as a lack of players IMHO. Last nite I think I was up to 12v12 with spects on their server, IoW 0. Just an FYI.

Just to throw in my 2 cents, while ang is gay as hell with ff and hit boxs and noobs. One thing you never hear is the constant bitching about panzers, mines, etc as IoW all ways has. Thats one thing IMHO that makes ang so much better than IoW, if I want to rambo med and try to get killing sprees... no one bitches... If I wanta do OBJ no one bitches... Then you go on IoW, people cry about panzer, arty, teams (when they are not off by 2 or more) admins telling people to stop being panzer, pubbers are bitching about mines.

Is that the prob, no idea, but I know it's one reason I really dont like the server. I'm sure a decent number of noobs were scared off due to members in tags telling them to stop planting mines or using panzer...

@Wal

We did a research and compared more then 5 servers so we know what's going on here and there.


For me: Too busy with RL. I don't play as much as I used to, now it's more like 2 times a week then 5h every day. Even when I'm able to play I find our server empty. I always try to sit in spec or mess around alone and wait for more people but it rarely happens that someone joins me for more then 5 minutes.

I want our active server back and I'm first to populate it.

i dont rly play wolf anymore so =/ if i see ppl on i might go on for afew then i get bored

Quazi wrote (View Post): › @Wal We did a research and compared more then 5 servers so we know what's going on here and there.

Can we know what servers you are talking about? Not to mention if you know whats going on... why make a post like this... fact of the matter is, my times, when ever I want to go on later in the day... iow = 0 ang = 20's... so reguardless of what you checked out, 3 months ago when I wanted to go on at the same times... I never checked ang cause IoW had players...

EVO,#1,ANime, are just a few that I have seen with few to no players. Ang does get populated alot,but I have also seen it with 10 bots (meaning 0 players) QAW is the only one consistent...and I have even seem them empty at times.

Another thing.If we have constant bitching as you say we do,who is to blame for that?? The answer...pubbers like yourself. ANd I would imagine noone bitches on that server because they are all noobs. Noone there would no what teamwork is if it hit them on thir ass. I think thats a plus for our server. I honestly dont want a med whore on my team camping allies when they are all at the F Dump planting. Or like yesterday,a 5v5 with 4 soldiers on Oasis and the guns get blown with 25 minutes left on the time clock.

Sorry to get kinda off topic,but it kinda pissed me off with that post.

Either way,I havent been on because I have had other things to do. For the past 2 days however I have been playing a lil more and will continue to do so.

my vote was for "Found a server I like better. Nothing against IoW."
the reason is i don't really like the new settings, but i still play if there are enough people online. it's kinda like the last option, the second option, and my vote mixed up.
since we're picking up more scrims, i'm playing more pro.

Well I'm done posting after this, already with the bitching about soldiers... maybe thats why pubbers like myself all no longer come to IoW.

Just an FYI, I've played on ANG, and have had FT's where we were all going for the OBJ as a FT, using FT chat, and having the classes we needed to go win.

Btw you need people on your server to have teamwork.

O and ang has 7 ppl right now, iow has 0. Be4 you knock them too much, at least they have people.

Stev0 is right - those are the servers we've been watching and they are all down just like we are. Not saying they all dead 85% of the time, but we have been watching them and noticing similar trends.

I guess the solution then Wal-Mart is to disable chat, because then no one can bitch, right? We can make rules left and right around here about conduct, but we cannot babysit everyone and censor everyone all of the time. So maybe we do have an influx of bitching and moaning - you play a part in that just like the rest of us.

I'm not sure there is a true cure for this - if ANG is so great and happy and peaceful, its because of the players who chose to play there. I guess we have a different clientel - like the Mos Eisley cantina or something - a lot of good players with attitudes and an axe to grind - as opposed to the Starbucks across the street with all the mellow people like ANG. Fault us for allowing and harboring that sort of environment, if you will.

I think we put up with a lot of shit and allowed a lot of things and PLAYERS to persist on our server for too long. Like "how dare we" kick or ban or enforce some sort of rule. Too many players with too much attitude have filled our garden full of weeds (to use Wolvies favorite metaphore ).

That was what the whole crack-down was supposed to be about. Cleaning up the server and restoring order. Unfortunately, with most of our admins and higher ranking officers are not on the server enough to truely pull off this inititve. That is our own fault. Like the old saying goes: when the cat is away, the mice will play. Lord only knows the kind of shit that goes on with even our own members that has ruined our reputation and scared away long time pubbers or new players.

Hell - just the other night, YOU (WALMART) and Jewman in full tags were publically flaming a players on your team (and a long time reg, I might add) because he wasn't as good as you or as good as you would like. He doesn't count cause he's a noob and he has no skill. That is basically the jist of what was said. Even with me there in full tags, it didn't stop you guys from flaming this guy and making him feel unwelcome. Why should he stay and suffer through a bunch of assholes who don't want him there? And this happened when I was connected.

What happens when we're not around?

Settings - pppfffft. Doesn't matter when we harbor an abusive server. That is certainly not helping.

I didn't even have a clue that there was an attendance problem here at IoW, that's how much I play. Most of my minimal computer time is directed towards my car search, which is going terribly.

Even as far away from the loop as I am, I would have a hard time blaming these issues on a new version of pub.

Historically speaking:
For any attendence bumps, we always blame it on the "setting du jour". Whether it is a change to the rotation, addition of Railgun or Radar, a custom, or an upgrade.

Looking at the votes (albiet a very very very small percentage of the et community), it seems that my main theory is looking true: There are just less players around to fill the server because everyone (myself included) has other priorities.

Too busy with real-life. Other things to do. True.

I hate the new upgrade and settings. I play elsewhere now. Didn't like the last version, but don't know about this one.I don't really play this game anymore. True.

I won't join the server if it is empty. It is always empty! True. I still check.

I don't like the people on our server anymore. It has been ruined by bad admins, bad members or bad pubbers. True, true, and true.

Personally, I think the game is practically dead. It's almost 6 years old. Most of the players capable of playing the game at a high level of skill WITH teamwork are no longer playing because of all the reasons listed.

As far as IoW goes:
I know you can't be perfect and a clan shouldn't be too discriminatory on its membership, but you guys had a bad stretch there of letting some unbelievably immature people join your clan. You had some childish members before then, but you really took it to another level about 1 year ago.

You had members who were younger than let's say 18 who could play a little earlier than others and a little later on the weekends. When given certain admin rights, they could easily get high on the power and start doing silly things when more reasonable members weren't around, like telling people how they should play, even when no rules are being broken. For example, until you changed the med settings, why should members and/or admins complain about meds, panzers or arty hos when the game allows it, and it's their server? It looks bad. The whole "a house divided against itself cannot stand" ideal seems to lend itself well to the situation.

Combine all that with the total idiocy that poses as global chat and "Voila!". You had a few members complaining more than pubbers, a few members that constantly accused people of cheating, and you had a couple of pubbers (members even?) who DID cheat and got caught, but not before they ran off part of the population.

I submit that other than maybe a couple of committed members, you have lost most of your "good" members to more important real-life issues. That's difficult to avoid. However, without a good membership base that plays consistently, if not frequently, you can only expect more of the same.

I was the biggest fan of IoW and the gameplay that formerly existed on this server. People grow and get tired of the same game. I reached a point to where I believed I couldn't get much better (not because I was great, just because I guess that was all that I had in the tank). When people reach that point in any game, they only come back for nostalgia or boredom.

Good luck IoW. I know several of you would be considered my friends in the real world, of which I am now a full-time member.

God bless you all,
J

Wal-Mart wrote (View Post): › Well I'm done posting after this, already with the bitching about soldiers... maybe thats why pubbers like myself all no longer come to IoW. Just an FYI, I've played on ANG, and have had FT's where we were all going for the OBJ as a FT, using FT chat, and having the classes we needed to go win. Btw you need people on your server to have teamwork. O and ang has 7 ppl right now, iow has 0. Be4 you knock them too much, at least they have people.

There is a GOD!!!!!!!!
I think i'll go to church more now.

Every time I have time to play on the server it is empty. Sometimes I join and hope more players joining too... but it don't happen

I'm usually busy so I only get a bit of time to play each day, and I know this sounds selfish but I don't feel like wasting that time waiting for on an empty sever waiting for people to connect...over the summer I'll help more with this