I know this may be an odd discussion, but is there any way for there to be a second Zeus server to be set as a modded only server, this would bring in a lot of veteran players who do not like playing unmodded Zeus.
I know that when the modded events are run, players tend to stay on the servers later than without mods, most of the time, during my active times with no one on the server when unmodded, but with modded events people were on the server most of the day.
There was a group of players discussing this within the Zeus servers channels on TS. I know this is a major task of the admins from both a server and time commitments. This could be a rotating mod list with different maps, based on older modded events, with maybe 2-week cycles, with maybe a 3-month trial.
I would love to see some people’s input on this idea.
Besides just really wanting this to be a thing, I do have a single point to make in favor. One of the main arguments against a dedicated Zeus server is that it will take people away from Vanilla Zeus, and that new people will shy away from Zeus. A dedicated Zeus server will allow for vanilla Zeus, and also quite a few of the NAK whales really only play Zeus when there is a modded event. So, having its own server will allow newer players to play non-modded event Zeus before choosing to play modded event.
I might also recommend letting some of the seasoned Zeus Operators(such as those who have hosted a NAK OPS) build small FOBs and Custom Comps for the modded maps, or just let each Zeus build there own. This is obviously more of an option now that comps can be saved.
Being able to pick which server to play on at anytime could be real nice. That being said, its would be the role of the community to switch between servers when appropriate which may or may not work. It would need to be tried to see if it’s feasible.
im gonna pick a neutral position in this and a lot off people are gonna dislike what im gonna say but hear me out
i like the idea dont get me wrong but
i understand that a lot of the seasoned players left because the big long modded event back last year got removed and the server was put to vanilla
but my reason for the neutral stand is if you look player based a lot off people can run the mods but a small percentage of the total players can not lets say out of 50 players only 6 cannot run the mods you are goin to need to find someone in those 6 people that will tune in and only play on the vanilla zeus server to make the zeus mission while the modded event is goin on dont get me wrong having two servers is great but is that really gonna help for the new players who cannot or dont want to download mods if the player base in out community is 50/50 then i rest my case here but i dont think it is i dont know what the numbers are but i just see new players join in and if i ask if they wanna play the modded event they say i cant cus of my pc and that turns me down maybe my statement is wrong but i will feel bad if i see players who cannot run the mods and they really want to but they just cant im just gonna feel bad in that operation
maybe my reason is wrong maybe not but im not gonna +1 or -1 this i just want to make sure that everyone sees the big picture for the new players as well
I’m one of those players that really only shows up when there’s an ACE event on. I’m perfectly fine with the server being vanilla most of the time. Sure, I prefer the playstyle of having ACE medical to worry about, but I also like that having a clear event time means that a lot of the people I enjoy playing with are also more likely to be on the server. If it were all ACE, all the time, I still probably wouldn’t be on much more often because my life has also changed since my peak of playing 20-35 hour weeks on the server. Heck, I even really wanted to do the Star Wars event but couldn’t because I was recovering from surgery and couldn’t sit upright without pain that week. Life is what life is. Y’know what I mean?</TEXN Voice>
The whole point of having the server usually be non-modded is so that new players can stumble in and have a good time without the hassle of mods. If you have two servers, then those new players potentially stumble into an empty server while everyone’s playing on the modded server that they either don’t know about or they can’t access because they don’t know the modlist. To paraphrase Mr. Miyagi in The Karate Kid, “Players on unmodded server, okay; players on modded server, okay; players on maybe modded server? Squish, just like grape.”
Plus, anybody can see the numbers in Battlemetrics every time there’s an event. The stats support switching out of modded to get new players in. Can’t argue when you see the playercount trendlines.
Ok, just to clarify this discussion, I mentioned this to a few players yesterday. We’ve been planning this transition for 2 months now. We even have recorded meetings where we discuss this. This change was made because the Zeus server is not getting “a lot” of traffic lately, we don’t want to waste server assets on something that isn’t really working. This RHS modded server will be the new “base” but if this doesn’t increase server traffic from the community, I’ll have no other option than to take the Zeus server down and replace it with another mission. (Which we have at least 5 alternatives currently). We made this decision with no modded maps because players just new assets to play around with, map is usually not that big of an issue. We went with RHS instead of CUP because of the size of the mods. And try to keep it simple and easy also for new players that try to join the server. This means that if this works we WON’T add TFAR or ACE 3 because that adds an extra layer of complexity which can affect players. Modded events will still be a thing and depending on the event we will decide if we do a TFAR/ACE thing or just spice up the maps and the mods. If this experiment works, we can maybe discuss in the future the possibility of having an ACE/TFAR Zeus server along with this one. (Which I really see very unlikely because the nature of the server limits its traffic).
The download size can be the difference between new players joining, finding out what they need, and joining the same day… or not.
Fresh blood is always needed to sustain a public server.
While I can’t say I like all the decisions on the surface, they’re just opinions from my own perspective, not the greater whole.
I very much appreciate the effort that went into making these decisions (mod or not, what mods and so on) and expect they will result in the best chances at achieving the goals ya’ll are shooting for.
