The Daimyo
03-21-2001, 05:41
I think that it would be in all of our best interests if we could see this issue addressed. What I am talking about here is the need for new options, rules, and other controls that would make playing the game online a much more enjoyable experience.
I've discussed this matter with several of you all here, and we all seem to agree on it and what is called for.
The current list of gripes and problems that can be found in over 100 posts made within the last year could be easily remedied by the game's makers if they address it in the upcoming patch and the expansion.
I think that there has been some mention of added features and game types, but I don't recall anyone mentioning a new set of pregame/ingame/postgame controls being added that would allow for the following:
Chat Room Controls to allow players to control what they see on the screen, i.e. language filters, spam filters, etc. - Also it would be handy if you could call up the other chat room controls via a popup meni rather than having to remember them all or write them down.
Game Hosting Controls that allow the game's host to arrange the players who join the game by how that host see's fit. Also, a "boot" option is needed. Sometimes players just don't understand a polite "please leave" or "switch sides please", or they are just being stubborn and it ends up holding up the whole procession.
Game Setup Controls are also very needed. Hosts should have the ability to restrict/allow players unit types, the weather types they want to have (seasons don't cut it, especially if you have 8 players with 16 units each, if it rains everyone's stuck playing out a slideshow of a 5 minute game that takes over an hour to play in real time).
This would also make it much easier for hosts and players alike to assure each other that the rules are set and won't be "accidently" circumvented. No more monk rushes!
Player Ping-O-Meters (latency measure) in the rooms, all rooms. This feature is widely used on almost every match-up online gaming service, and it does wonders. It allows players and hosts to see what the other players are pinging at so that they can set up their games for the best speed and playablity.
This keeps things going smoothly, and players with equal or relative pings can play together or find faster players (PC's + connections I mean) to host their games.
Just having the host's ping doesn't go the full distance here, especially considering how the game works online.
You can have the fastest host on the planet but the game's only going to play out as fast as the slowest player who joined the game is going to send packets back and forth to him and everyone else.
Chat Rooms Interface - It's a visual mind bender when the chat area window fills up with 30-40 people trying to talk all at once. It's also very hard to get your own chat & game areas to fill up with players. Everyone tends to congregate in the main room, so it tends to get quite mad in there.
Solution? I think that the whole thing needs to be restructured, the windows, the fonts, the lists, the controls, you name it.
[/list]
This game is about to get a whole lot more popular, when the expansion is released, and presently the online servers and interface is incapable of handling more than 150 players (heck more than 50!) at once. Sure it can do it technically, but it's not pretty and it's a pain in the ass from a users standpoint.
We will alienate new and old players alike if we continue to go off into our own prvate rooms and clicks, in our desperate search for a good match. We shouldn't need to make out lists upon lists of refined and fair rules that we want others to play by just to keep things fair and interesting. These options and rules should be a part of the game online as they are in one form or another offline.
Any other suggestions? Ideas?
------------------
The Daimyo
Miaowara "Kakizaki" Tomokato
@ http://www.planettotalwar.com
I've discussed this matter with several of you all here, and we all seem to agree on it and what is called for.
The current list of gripes and problems that can be found in over 100 posts made within the last year could be easily remedied by the game's makers if they address it in the upcoming patch and the expansion.
I think that there has been some mention of added features and game types, but I don't recall anyone mentioning a new set of pregame/ingame/postgame controls being added that would allow for the following:
Chat Room Controls to allow players to control what they see on the screen, i.e. language filters, spam filters, etc. - Also it would be handy if you could call up the other chat room controls via a popup meni rather than having to remember them all or write them down.
Game Hosting Controls that allow the game's host to arrange the players who join the game by how that host see's fit. Also, a "boot" option is needed. Sometimes players just don't understand a polite "please leave" or "switch sides please", or they are just being stubborn and it ends up holding up the whole procession.
Game Setup Controls are also very needed. Hosts should have the ability to restrict/allow players unit types, the weather types they want to have (seasons don't cut it, especially if you have 8 players with 16 units each, if it rains everyone's stuck playing out a slideshow of a 5 minute game that takes over an hour to play in real time).
This would also make it much easier for hosts and players alike to assure each other that the rules are set and won't be "accidently" circumvented. No more monk rushes!
Player Ping-O-Meters (latency measure) in the rooms, all rooms. This feature is widely used on almost every match-up online gaming service, and it does wonders. It allows players and hosts to see what the other players are pinging at so that they can set up their games for the best speed and playablity.
This keeps things going smoothly, and players with equal or relative pings can play together or find faster players (PC's + connections I mean) to host their games.
Just having the host's ping doesn't go the full distance here, especially considering how the game works online.
You can have the fastest host on the planet but the game's only going to play out as fast as the slowest player who joined the game is going to send packets back and forth to him and everyone else.
Chat Rooms Interface - It's a visual mind bender when the chat area window fills up with 30-40 people trying to talk all at once. It's also very hard to get your own chat & game areas to fill up with players. Everyone tends to congregate in the main room, so it tends to get quite mad in there.
Solution? I think that the whole thing needs to be restructured, the windows, the fonts, the lists, the controls, you name it.
[/list]
This game is about to get a whole lot more popular, when the expansion is released, and presently the online servers and interface is incapable of handling more than 150 players (heck more than 50!) at once. Sure it can do it technically, but it's not pretty and it's a pain in the ass from a users standpoint.
We will alienate new and old players alike if we continue to go off into our own prvate rooms and clicks, in our desperate search for a good match. We shouldn't need to make out lists upon lists of refined and fair rules that we want others to play by just to keep things fair and interesting. These options and rules should be a part of the game online as they are in one form or another offline.
Any other suggestions? Ideas?
------------------
The Daimyo
Miaowara "Kakizaki" Tomokato
@ http://www.planettotalwar.com