#TeamJadeQuarry
Possible solution to the WvW queue issues: Queue Prioritization.
I had the very same idea just yesterday. I don’t see any downsides to it. But you’ll get those people who transfer daily saying it’s not fair to them. Which it isn’t, but that’s the entire point.
It would also help if you could see your real position in the queue.
ooh! I like this idea. Give priority to the vets and discourage the bandwagoners
I don’t think this is a solution to queue times.
Here’s a better idea that wouldn’t take near as much work for anet. Close off transfers to servers with queues longer than 30m and then if you don’t like waiting in line, transfer to a less populated server.
^
Alternatively, let everyone have free transfers as often as they like, but restrict WvW access for 72 hours (or until the end of the cycle, whatever).
I don’t think this is a solution to queue times.
Why not? It dramatically blunts the effects of bandwagoners while still giving those bandwagon people a chance to get in, especially if they remain loyal to the server and accrue time there. It gives the server greybeards (and new players to the game) prioritized access, so those folks will be able to more quickly get into WvW when there are queues.
I usually try to find fault with my own ideas, and the only one I can think of in this case is coding the prioritizations and the possible introduction of errors to the queue system. Testing could be a challenge depending how they have their system set up… I’m assuming there is (or would need to be) a variable for when they started on the server as well as a flag indicating whether or not they’re originally from that server… if not, we’re talking a DB change which is always adventuresome. Basically…
If home_server_flag = ‘Y’, your queue position would be at the end of those others in the queue with the same flag set to ‘Y’.
If not, then your date_joined_server would be used such that you’d be entered after the above group, after people with a date older or equal to yours and ahead of people with dates newer than yours.
Hmm… ok, maybe it’s not all that complicated actually. This is of course at a pseudo-code level purely in my head, I don’t know their code or setup.
#TeamJadeQuarry
The problem is this.
Say I’m a new player. I purchase the game after its been out a while. I now cannot play wvw at all because all the regulars get to skip the line ahead of me.
The point of a queue is to put people in a line that moves forward. Not to put people in a line and have the back of that line move backwards based on snobbish attitude of people with so called seniority.
This idea is not good. It is barely thought out. While the spirit of goodness is there, the execution is failure. 1 week lockouts I can get behind. Alienating people with some sort of seniority rule I cannot.
The problem is this.
Say I’m a new player. I purchase the game after its been out a while. I now cannot play wvw at all because all the regulars get to skip the line ahead of me.
The point of a queue is to put people in a line that moves forward. Not to put people in a line and have the back of that line move backwards based on snobbish attitude of people with so called seniority.
This idea is not good. It is barely thought out. While the spirit of goodness is there, the execution is failure. 1 week lockouts I can get behind. Alienating people with some sort of seniority rule I cannot.
You didn’t read his entire post. Did you? He specifically mentions new accounts having the same queue priority as people who have been there for a while. So they would still have queue priority higher than people who server hop.
Sounds like a decent idea, depending on how much priority I guess.
One thing about queue times I don’t see people talking about is that the wait would be longer if people simply aren’t leaving WvW.
This would be a factor under two conditions 1) your server has an extremely large population of dedicated WvW players that put in many hours on a daily basis 2) your server has a bot problem.
The only solution I can think of on Anet’s side would be to put a hard cap on continuous hours played in WvW. For example, it could be that after six hours of continuous play a player is trasported to Lion’s Arch with fair warning of course. If the player wants to continue playing they’d have to rejoin and wait in queue if there is one. For clarity if someone were to leave WvW before the timer is up and rejoin the timer would restart.
The problem is this.
Say I’m a new player. I purchase the game after its been out a while. I now cannot play wvw at all because all the regulars get to skip the line ahead of me.
The point of a queue is to put people in a line that moves forward. Not to put people in a line and have the back of that line move backwards based on snobbish attitude of people with so called seniority.
This idea is not good. It is barely thought out. While the spirit of goodness is there, the execution is failure. 1 week lockouts I can get behind. Alienating people with some sort of seniority rule I cannot.
You didn’t read his entire post. Did you? He specifically mentions new accounts having the same queue priority as people who have been there for a while. So they would still have queue priority higher than people who server hop.
Exactly this. It’s specifically designed to prevent new players (new accounts) from being punished in any way, shape or form. The only ones that would find themselves bumped would be those that transfer in, and the longer they’re on the server the less they’d suffer bumpage down the queue.
Oh, and also, if you transfer to a server without queues you’d never wind up being bumped. You’d have priority over later transfers that may fill the queue. This does, however, beg this question… if you transfer to a server should you be bumped by new players that join your server later or should you be given equal prioritization to new players that join later… hmm, let me revise the top, brb…
Nah… nevermind.
If it’s your “birth” server, you always get best priority (enter the bottom of the queue for that group) based on the time you entered the queue.
If you transfer in, you join the queue after the “homies” by order of the date you transferred in (older dates prioritized) and the time you joined the queue (Older time prioritized, this simply covers multiple people with the same join date. For those, if you queue first you get in first.).
#TeamJadeQuarry
(edited by VOLKON.1290)
There are alot of servers without queues…
There are alot of servers without queues…
… which wouldn’t be affected by this at all.
#TeamJadeQuarry
The issue is not queue, the issue is to many people want to be on the winning server. Fix one, fix both.
That’s the general idea though. To get people to stay where they are or go to servers that don’t have queues.
I don’t think this is a solution to queue times.
Why not?
Sure, well I have a few contentions with the system. Apologies for not bothering to bring them up before.
1. Queue times will still exist it’s just that they’ve been redistributed. A real fix would reduce or eliminate the average queue length.
2. Free movement between servers is an issue when it comes to WvW population differences and queues, however I postulate that majority of these differences are actually caused by local “fair-weather players” who quit when we’re losing or join when we’re winning and not from immigrants.
3. Time spent in WvW or objectives completed could be a better measure than time spent on a server. Someone who’s swapped recently and played WvW has no doubt contributed more than a PvE player whose been on the server since release but under your system he would be punished more. Correct me if I’ve misunderstood, but this seems counter to your philosophy that those who contribute most should be rewarded with high priority in the queue.
4. It’s not nice to tell people they’re less worthy than someone else, even if it is true. A complete block on WvW for a short period is much less personal.
5. There are some details missing that could potentially ruin this system. How long does someone need to have been on a server before the priority caps? Will new players be punished?
Nothing personal meant here. Just trying to be critical.
Cheers,
Kong
The problem with your idea is that the whole point of it is to make transferring servers as painful as possible. Now I kinda agree with you on the whole people hopping on the bandwagon of the tier 1 servers, but if ANet wanted to they could just lock out transfers to any tier 1 and be done with it. Or better yet the top server and any server that is within a certain percentage of the top servers ranking. To be frank I’d support that idea because it would force people into the second tier and lower, hopefully leveling out at least the top two tiers over time, making the weekly matchups more varied at the top (rather than always being server a vs server b vs (server c or d)).
The second type of player this would effect are the large guilds which transfer to lower tiers and then cause queues all on their own. This actually happened on my server recently when we went from often having just 15 people in a map during primetime vs two full teams playing against each other. I’m much happier having to queue for 20 minutes rather than getting in instantly and seeing only the few other players who are as stubborn as myself. To be blunt I don’t see why a player who transferred over specifically for WvW should be given lower priority than the majority of other players who stopped playing when we were having out kitten kicked. Systems that specifically punish guilds from spreading out completly goes against ANets goal of having players spread out as much as possible.
What the queue needs is the ability to see what your position is in the queue, nothing more. I’m happy to sit and wait if I see that I’m 50th in the queue and estimate it will be about 30 minutes so I can use that time for something else.
(edited by Knasher.5607)
Ban bandwagoners is the best solution
Ban bandwagoners is the best solution
The problem with this is that large alliances that seek 24hr coverage by asking everyone to join them can be considered as being the bandwagon.
Or just don’t allow people who transfer to a server to participate in that weeks matchup..
The point of server transfers isn’t to cater to all the hardcore WvWvW and PvP guilds to always be on a winning server. The point is to balance populations and get well rounded time profiles for all users on a server and allow people to find their “home”.
The transfer system is being exploited.. Easy solution. Don’t let freshly transferred players participate in that weeks WvWvW. It will prevent people from switching week to week and it will give them more incentive to stay on a single server. Won’t be as much “band wagoning” and it will help to reduce queue times because people will be staying on servers and not causing massive influx in population.
I’m not crazy about prioritizing a queue, because of factors involving new characters, transfers out of necessity (guild or friends moving, lag, etc.). Why should people be punished for things out of their control? It’s a permanent penalization to all players. It would be prioritizing people based on character/account age which just isn’t right.
(edited by Kendu Kuzal.3985)
Or just don’t allow people who transfer to a server to participate in that weeks matchup..
The point of server transfers isn’t to cater to all the hardcore WvWvW and PvP guilds to always be on a winning server. The point is to balance populations and get well rounded time profiles for all users on a server and allow people to find their “home”.
The transfer system is being exploited.. Easy solution. Don’t let freshly transferred players participate in that weeks WvWvW. It will prevent people from switching week to week and it will give them more incentive to stay on a single server. Won’t be as much “band wagoning” and it will help to reduce queue times because people will be staying on servers and not causing massive influx in population.
I’m not crazy about prioritizing a queue, because of factors involving new characters, transfers out of necessity (guild or friends moving, lag, etc.). Why should people be punished for things out of their control? It’s a permanent penalization to all players. It would be prioritizing people based on character/account age which just isn’t right.
I don’t think you fully grasped the proposal. New characters wouldn’t be affected, it’s tied to accounts. New accounts wouldn’t be punished… your “birth server” priority would prevent that. It’s specifically transfers to servers with queues that would be most affected. The longer you reside on the new server the less the chance of you getting “out-prioritized”.
Not letting new transfers participate for that week wouldn’t help anything at all. Let’s face it… that’s not the week they’re looking at anyhow. They’re leaving a “losing” server to be on a “winning” server for the next couple weeks. However, if you increase the “you can’t participate” time to be multiple weeks, that’s excessive. At least with a prioritization system you would still be allowed to join even if you face a longer queue to do so.
#TeamJadeQuarry
Here’s a better idea that wouldn’t take near as much work for anet. Close off transfers to servers with queues longer than 30m and then if you don’t like waiting in line, transfer to a less populated server.
This.
1000% percent this.
The answer to “my queue times are too long?” should always be “Move to a less populated server.” Simple issue. Simple solution.
It is the only way to keep the game population in check.
Or just don’t allow people who transfer to a server to participate in that weeks matchup..
The point of server transfers isn’t to cater to all the hardcore WvWvW and PvP guilds to always be on a winning server. The point is to balance populations and get well rounded time profiles for all users on a server and allow people to find their “home”.
The transfer system is being exploited.. Easy solution. Don’t let freshly transferred players participate in that weeks WvWvW. It will prevent people from switching week to week and it will give them more incentive to stay on a single server. Won’t be as much “band wagoning” and it will help to reduce queue times because people will be staying on servers and not causing massive influx in population.
I’m not crazy about prioritizing a queue, because of factors involving new characters, transfers out of necessity (guild or friends moving, lag, etc.). Why should people be punished for things out of their control? It’s a permanent penalization to all players. It would be prioritizing people based on character/account age which just isn’t right.
I don’t think you fully grasped the proposal. New characters wouldn’t be affected, it’s tied to accounts. New accounts wouldn’t be punished… your “birth server” priority would prevent that. It’s specifically transfers to servers with queues that would be most affected. The longer you reside on the new server the less the chance of you getting “out-prioritized”.
Not letting new transfers participate for that week wouldn’t help anything at all. Let’s face it… that’s not the week they’re looking at anyhow. They’re leaving a “losing” server to be on a “winning” server for the next couple weeks. However, if you increase the “you can’t participate” time to be multiple weeks, that’s excessive. At least with a prioritization system you would still be allowed to join even if you face a longer queue to do so.
I’m completely grasping it, the newer players WILL be at a disadvantage in the queue with the proposed idea. Even if you don’t think so, the necessary algorithms would be giving priority to those characters/accounts with seniority on the server. You stated ‘The longer you reside on the new server the less the chance of you getting “out-prioritized”’. So even still, the players that transferred day one because they found out that’s where their guild was out of miscommunication are at a disadvantage to the players who “birthed” on the server. In the same instance, how do you handle an account that creates a character on the server a day after someone else transfers? Which of the two accounts has priority? If you say the person who transferred, then you are going on age within the server, which distinctly puts older accounts at an advantage. If you say the newly created account then how could you say they have server priority over a transferred account that has been there longer, even if it is a day? Where do you draw the boundaries?
This also doesn’t address issues out of a players control, such as a guild moving for reasons outside of WvW or PvP and they have to follow if they want to remain with friends. Server connection speed based on location or any of the intangibles.
The idea is good in theory, but it won’t be beneficial to all parties in several scenarios. Forgive me for disagreeing, but it’s my nature and a large part of my profession to analyze these sort of things.
Even if it doesn’t affect new players, as soon as a player transfers, then that player would be in the same situation. The elitism of it is unacceptable. Transferring servers should not prevent you from being able to make it to the front of a queue. Ever. Not everyone is a bandwagon transfer. Some people still legitimately use the system because if it so hard to find groups on the low tier servers. Your final solution to queue problems will only cause more. Transfers are a problem. But this is NOT a solution. It is a stamp of approval on elitism and entitlement.
Feasible solutions
1. Lock out WvW for the duration of a match after a transfer.
2. Lock transfers to the top tiers.
3. Don’t use a real time system for transfers to decide if its full. Make it census the server over past week. Monday morning transfers are a problem.
4. Take away commander status upon transfer. Discourage big guilds from moving.
5. Implement a loyalty buff. % discount on siege equipment or even increase drop % of badges. With a month long cap or something.
The key to this, specifically number 5, is not so much punishing people for using a system designed to improve quality of life. But instead rewarding players for server loyalty and community thinking.