Valve Maps's Progress Thread

[Goz]

I agree completely. The server's rank has been dropping non-stop, and it does not appear to be slowing down...

In fact, we're close to the ranking we started a month ago....

At the very least something new (and I stress new a lot) needs to be added to the server.

For example, a vote scramble option. Please, we need one.

Valve Maps cannot go down again. I know I've seen people idling, but we need even more people than that.

Once upon a time, I joined a server full of "e's" "eG's" and "eGo's" the server had no crit and no spread on, most of the players were better than me, i favorited the server (insert clich? line here) it was all I ever asked for, I don't post much, or at all :# But i've been following this thread for three+ days, Why you ask? Because I LOVE Valve maps, best server ever<--Fact

Please keep crits and spread off, Pyro says please.

Sorry, but the way things look, we need quickplay. (at least for now) School's coming back and not everyone has time to play anymore, and the people who do have time don't even know the server exists. Quickplay will get new people in here who could potentially become regulars on Valve Maps.

In addition, most of our regulars on Valve Maps are gone nowadays.

 

[WyrmMage]

I like crits..... Why does it seem im the only person who does like crits... I guess Im just too noob. I also have been trying to idle more on both mesa and valve maps. Sorry I cant be more help guys :'(

 

[Kazoo]

At the very least something new (and I stress new a lot) needs to be added to the server.

For example, a vote scramble option. Please, we need one.

Valve Maps cannot go down again. I know I've seen people idling, but we need even more people than that.

You should suggest that through the Drop Box, if you haven't already.

I like crits..... Why does it seem im the only person who does like crits... I guess Im just too noob. I also have been trying to idle more on both mesa and valve maps. Sorry I cant be more help guys :'(

You're not the only one. I like enabling crits better, though I am fine without crits.

Don't worry. Any help is appreciated.

 

[WyrmMage]

You're not the only one. I like enabling crits better, though I am fine without crits.

Don't worry. Any help is appreciated.

Yay Im not alone. Also just started using gamings idle thing. Dont know if its worknig right but i think it is.

 

[Kazoo]

Yay Im not alone. Also just started using gamings idle thing. Dont know if its worknig right but i think it is.

Yeah, it appears to be working. It shows you're online right now!

Thank you very much for idling!

I've been idling all night, so I'll be turning off my laptop soon.

 

[Kazoo]

We now have Quick Play.​

I got a reply to my suggestion and have been informed that Quick Play was added earlier today. I also got confirmation that crits and spread are back on.

Now, this Quick Play won't perform magic over night. So keep idling! Start up the server whenever possible with a group of friends! And have fun!

 

[Dead Tom]

I will throw this out to everyone that is idling. As many of you know that server in particular attracts people that are looking for a game. Once two or three people are in spec, idling starts to cause more harm than good. Quick-play only really becomes effective when there are active players usually around 6 players will start getting it on its feet. With 8 (2 in spec 6 playing) is the lowest amount of players required to jump start a server.

 

[opscomm]

Quick-play only really becomes effective when there are active players usually around 6 players will start getting it on its feet. With 8 (2 in spec 6 playing) is the lowest amount of players required to jump start a server.

But that is good, because all we have to do is get 6 people who are in vent at the time to go from server to server filling, assuming there are already people idling. Like I said, rankings don't lie, look at them. They pretty much are crying out for quick play. Also, we've started up foundry with 4 people. It's better than having to get 20 people from eGO or who are regulars in there. It does not get recruits.

 

[Dead Tom]

But that is good, because all we have to do is get 6 people who are in vent at the time to go from server to server filling, assuming there are already people idling. Like I said, rankings don't lie, look at them. They pretty much are crying out for quick play. Also, we've started up foundry with 4 people. It's better than having to get 20 people from eGO or who are regulars in there. It does not get recruits.

Every server with the exception of Blackmesa can and has Quickplay. The only times it wont work on Valve Maps is if someone wanted to play tc_hydro, arena, or any of the special event maps. If there are 20 some eGO members in Foundry see if some don't wanna go play on Valve or Mesa. I'm not against quick play, I am stating though that when you have 6 in spec its not the same as having 6 playing.

 

[Goz]

We now have Quick Play.​

I got a reply to my suggestion and have been informed that Quick Play was added earlier today. I also got confirmation that crits and spread are back on.

Now, this Quick Play won't perform magic over night. So keep idling! Start up the server whenever possible with a group of friends! And have fun!

Hopefully this'll save VM for the time being.

Dead Tom's right though, instead of idling, we should actively be filling the server.

 

[Kazoo]

I think idling at night should be continued, though if some people can play, that'd be great. And I agree, playing with a group of friends and being active about it will help fill the server.

And maybe the Quick Play is already working its magic. I took a look at the game tracker page, and there are a lot of pubs playing!

And Black Mesa is doing pretty good as well.

 

[oey192]

I agree with Dead Tom. At this point, too much idling will only hurt all the servers that have Quickplay.

Also, valve has some algorithm for ranking servers when it comes to quickplay. It is different from Gametracker and I don't have a firm idea about how it works, but it takes into account some score that it has assigned to a particular server and also factors in how well the server has been doing recently. We were, for a few days, able to get 2fort so high in the quickplay system that it stayed full for 3 days straight (during the week!), only emptying to apply an update, and then for another 2 days.

It will be hard work, but if we actively play on a server, we can get its quickplay rank spiraling up out of control. The more people who play on it, the higher the rank will get, which will make it easier to fill and easier to get more people playing on it more, which will cause the rank to go up more ad draw more people to it etc.

Just don't expect it to be easy.

 

[Dead Tom]

I agree with Dead Tom. At this point, too much idling will only hurt all the servers that have Quickplay.

Also, valve has some algorithm for ranking servers when it comes to quickplay. It is different from Gametracker and I don't have a firm idea about how it works, but it takes into account some score that it has assigned to a particular server and also factors in how well the server has been doing recently. We were, for a few days, able to get 2fort so high in the quickplay system that it stayed full for 3 days straight (during the week!), only emptying to apply an update, and then for another 2 days.

The algorithm takes into account the number of players in server, averages of players in server from history, total players allowed in the server, pings of server to player pool, as well as the score you mention.

Our scores for all the servers with the exception of Blackmesa should be fairly high, so if we meet the other factors getting players sent to our server shouldn't be too difficult.

 

[Kazoo]

Good news! It may not be much, but Valve Map's rank has stopped dropping and went up instead! (Again, by very little, but it's a start!)

 

[WyrmMage]

And We also got to do heavy laughing at the same time. Epic win eh kazoo.

 

[Goz]

Good news! It may not be much, but Valve Map's rank has stopped dropping and went up instead! (Again, by very little, but it's a start!)

At the very least we've halted VM's downwards spiral. If we can keep this up, maybe we can go back to competitive play.

 

[Kazoo]

And We also got to do heavy laughing at the same time. Epic win eh kazoo.

XD Yes, that was epic.

At the very least we've halted VM's downwards spiral. If we can keep this up, maybe we can go back to competitive play.

Yup.

 

[Kazoo]

Good news! The current rank is 1198. This is about a 100 ranks above our lowest rank of 1297!

And also, we've had people on almost all the time. Especially yesterday (Saturday)! At one point, people had to wait to get in the server.

 

[Goz]

Good news! The current rank is 1198. This is about a 100 ranks above our lowest rank of 1297!

And also, we've had people on almost all the time. Especially yesterday (Saturday)! At one point, people had to wait to get in the server.

It would seem that quickplay's made VM super popular now.

We're even rising in rank.

 

[Kazoo]

More good news! One week later, we moved up 200 ranks in a week. Valve Maps is currently ranked at 994. We are in the triple digits again!