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Bill Z Bubba

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  1. Bill Z Bubba
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by BBQ_Pork View Post
    I Agree with your speculations.
    My own speculation based off of your speculation: If we are more knowledgeable about the game, we are more likely to know about how the Hide system works, and thus more likely to use it.
    I counter by stating that anyone who wishes to be hidden would ask in broadcast and gain the knowledge to do so.
  2. Bill Z Bubba
    Down to 32% hidden as per Lucky666's post. So, no, not equally split at all.
  3. Bill Z Bubba
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Catwhoorg View Post
    If you go back to the older NCsoft reports, when max concurrent and sub numbers were still present.

    The max concurrent typically fell between 11 and 14% of the subs numbers.

    Just after COV release someones (Either Cuppa or Statesman IIRC been a while) posted that they broke 200 000 subs, though it wasn't in the reported December values for that quarter.
    Going off the data we DO have, 5000 players found, 36% hidden, (at last count from other thread,) up to 7813, we'll use 12.5% concurrent, that would put us at 62504 subscriptions. Give or take.

    I can see them maintaining profitability at that level.

    EDIT: Down to 32% hidden in other thread. New subs total: 58824
  4. Bill Z Bubba
    Wow... the "no"s came in rather heavily over night.

    Current standing as of Radmind's post:

    23 Yes
    41 No

    % of players mostly hiding is now down to 36%

    Thanks, folks.
  5. Bill Z Bubba
    Thanks everyone. As it turns out, this line of inquiry was just shot in the foot. I'm very surprised that half of those responding are predominantly hidden as I honestly expected that we were a much smaller percentage of the playerbase.
  6. Bill Z Bubba
    But it would still be a WAG. It's entirely "possible" that I could do the same snapshot every hour on the hour and it could be an entirely different crop of people every hour that just happens to only play for an hour and log off.

    Such an idea fails, though, when I log in and see the same names logged in whenever I check my global channel.

    However, I fully accept that there are people that only play at certain times. And that fact does make this kind of analysis pretty much worthless for no other reason but that I don't know who of the 5000 I saw logged in tonight were logged in 5 hours ago, nor do I know who was logged in 5 hours ago that weren't when I checked.

    So I see the point that only active subscription numbers matter for the information I desire.
  7. Bill Z Bubba
    Even at 70000 subs, and 56% of the playing population hiding from searches, you're talking about 10500 people playing. Why would 85% of the paying population pay for a game they don't play?
  8. Bill Z Bubba
    Up to 10 yes and 8 no. 56% of the answering population from this very small sample.

    37 does raise a valid point, however, made clear to me when I asked in my badge channel for others to drop by... someone had returned after a long break and didn't even know about the Hidden From Searches feature. But... I can't think of any other way to determine this value other than a thread like this.

    I seriously doubt the devs would tell me.
  9. Bill Z Bubba
    My disagreement comes from the fact that we are looking at two different issues:

    You're looking at the "how does a player view the population" issue and I'm looking at the "what IS the population and what does that mean" issue.

    I have read many stories of new folks showing up and thinking things are dead. Those stories, while kind of a bummer, are irrelevant to me. My only concern is whether there is enough of a playing population to rationalize the continued existence of the servers. So far, the numbers I see don't seem to correlate whatsoever with the amount of money being dumped into the development of the game, so I'm obviously missing something.

    I'm trying to determine what that something is through hard data rather than opinions.
  10. Bill Z Bubba
    37, Noted and title edited.

    My answer, since I forgot it: Yes.
  11. Bill Z Bubba
    I can check again right now and update. I DID see Justice go into the solid grey while I was doing this. Updates in place. Change does not appear to be in any way substantial.
  12. Bill Z Bubba
    Got started an hour late due to real life issues. Took 30 or so minutes to gather the data.

    10pm CST

    Freedom Red: 401
    Freedom Blue: 793
    Total: 1194

    Virtue Red: 387
    Virtue Blue: 815
    Total: 1202

    Guardian Red: 78
    Guardian Blue: 206
    Total: 284

    Liberty Red: 52
    Liberty Blue: 209
    Total: 261

    Triumph Red: 75
    Triumph Blue: 169
    Total: 244

    Victory Red: 71
    Victory Blue: 178
    Total: 249

    Infinity Red: 78
    Infinity Blue: 152
    Total: 230

    Protector Red: 76
    Protector Blue: 171
    Total: 247

    Pinnacle Red: 78
    Pinnacle Blue: 147
    Total: 225

    Champion Red: 90
    Champion Blue: 149
    Total: 239

    Justice Red: 32 (Updating to 58 due to server crash at 11:15pm CST)
    Justice Blue: 83 (Updating to 151 due to server crash at 11:15pm CST)
    Total: 115 (Updating to 209 due to server crash at 11:15pm CST)

    Test Red: 1
    Test Blue: 3
    Total: 4

    Total player population on all servers: 4494 After update from Justice: 4588

    If we assume 5% of the players stay hidden from searches: 4731 total players
    If we assume 25% of the players stay hidden from searches: 5992 total players
    If we assume 50% of the players stay hidden from searches: 8988 total players

    I don't know how many players stay on hidden from searches. I probably never will. However, I have started this thread in the hopes of finding out.
  13. Bill Z Bubba
    Everyone, I need your help determining something.

    If you spend the vast majority of your game time using the Hidden From Searches flag, please respond to this post with the word "Yes."

    If you spend the vast majority of your game time NOT using the Hidden From Searches flag, please respond to this post with the word "No."

    I do not need to know why you do or do not use it. I do not wish to know what percentage of the time you do or do not use it unless that time is close to 50/50 in which case I will toss your result out.

    I am only seeking to determine what percentage of the player base tends to nearly always remain hidden from searches.

    Thank you for your support.
  14. Bill Z Bubba
    Quote:
    No one here has said that they wouldn't like to see more advertising across a broader spectrum. We've only refuted the argument that the company isn't doing any and provided proof to back it up.
    Fair enough. I've seen the advertising and knew it was out there. It just doesn't seem to be doing much good.



    Quote:
    That said, unless you are interested in doing this task don't have any expectations of it proving anything to anyone. People that recognize the state of the population already recognize it. The people that don't simply refuse to take the blinders off and it is doubtful the data you gather will open their eyes.
    This is true. But some topics I prefer to attack with as much fact as possible while leaving the opinion at the door. This is one of them.

    I don't know whether 7500 active players on a weekend night during prime time is healthy or not. It doesn't sound very good to me. But I want the data on hand so that I can compare it to some random night after GR goes live.
  15. Bill Z Bubba
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Forbin_Project View Post
    I see we have another case of "Sour Grapes". Dry your eyes grasshopper that stinging sensation your feeling from getting spanked won't last forever.
    Are you stating that these folks are suffering from sour grapes syndrome because you think that they care about the Razer stuff?

    If it helps, I don't care at all about the promotions. I pre-pruchased GR the day it became available fully accepting that other promotions may occur later on.

    It appears to me that you seem incapable of coming up with any kind of real response to the lack of marketing so instead make up excuses to attack the posters in question. Quite pathetic, really.
  16. Bill Z Bubba
    Not for a while. I'm in the middle of selling and buying houses and slammed at work. (I'm AT farkin work right now....)

    If I revisit the spreadsheets, I'm going to have to do it correctly and update everything.
  17. Bill Z Bubba
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Evil_Legacy View Post
    interesting. you gotta data* that basically says that at that time, victory total population is less than half the population for red side? Well if this all taken at the same time, wouldnt the relative population by definition grow through out server? Meaning if you did go ay peak time, wouldnt freedom and and virtue grow in population logged in as well as the "low pop" servers or is it that only "low Pop" server people are the only one that do beta take vacations, take breaks stay hidden etc.



    *note: available data that may or may not be complete per say.
    I would assume, probably safely so, that ALL of the server populations will be higher during primetime.

    Would it be helpful for me to check them all tonight at, say, 9PM CST? That'd be 10pm east coast and 7pm west coast. Does that sound like primetime for a Saturday night? I'll even hit the test server on both sides to see how many folks are hanging out there. That'll be 12 servers looked at.

    Or will that data be ignored by those thinking that 7500 players is a perfectly acceptable amount for a healthy MMO's population?
  18. Bill Z Bubba
    Shield's AAO buffs damage per enemy in range up to 10 enemies. In order to acheive the top tier DPS from the combos using /SD, you have to get cannon fodder and keep it around you in order to keep that damage buff up.

    DM's issue is that soul drain kills off fodder after a while.
  19. Bill Z Bubba
    No replies when actual data is posted. Hmm.
  20. Bill Z Bubba
    dm/shield or fm/shield scrapper seem to be the top dogs right now.

    Oopps, my bad. Didn't know you were going for anything. I've no clue what the non-melee ATs can dish out. If you count regen debuffs, dam-res debuffs, etc, I'm sure that some squishies out there can reach much higher "effective" dps levels.
  21. Bill Z Bubba
    Just for giggles:

    1am CST

    Virtue Red: 315
    Virtue Blue: 518
    833

    Pinnacle Red: 45
    Pinnacle Blue: 77
    122

    Victory Red: 32
    Victory Blue: 92
    124

    11 servers total

    Being nice, we'll average those three and multiple that by eleven for 3960 users found ignoring the hidden. Knowing that Freedom and Virtue are really the only high pop servers, it would probably be closer to (2*833)+(9*125) = 2791 users found ignoring the hidden.

    But it's late. People are in beta. People are on test. People are waiting for GR go live.

    While it's certainly possible that the vast majority of us stay hidden from searches, I do, I find it difficult to believe. But let's go with a generous assumption that 25% of the playerbase is hidden an we'll go with the big number of 4000 across all servers, hell let's bump that all that way to 5500 players logged in.

    Out of 120000 subscribers at last count? Only 4.5% (and again, those are VERY generous estimates) of the subscriber base is logged in on a Friday night?

    I'd be concerned if I was in charge. But I don't have the subscriber numbers. I don't know the percentage of hidden players. Hell, I didn't even get the exact numbers for every server.

    About one month after GR go live, we should check again. During primetime. Tallying up all the servers. Maybe we'll be closer to 10% of subscribed players actually playing the game.
  22. Bill Z Bubba
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Dr_Unholy View Post
    So was this hypothetical Brute Claws or the tweaked Claws that Brutes ended up getting?
    It was what claws would have been with a direct port and not what brute claws ended up as. Brute Claws > Scrapper Claws.
  23. Bill Z Bubba
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Slashman View Post
    Careful! That's akin to blasphemy around these parts...
    Well... I am a devil. Would you expect anything less than blasphemy from me?
  24. Bill Z Bubba
    Quote:
    Are you using this as evidence that servers are well populated or under populated? Actually that question serves no purpose so don't feel compelled to answer it unless you really want to.

    Every time I've seen anyone cite search numbers they get crapped on because it isn't admissible according to them. I would suspect that if it is deemed inadmissible for one side of the argument it should also be inadmissible for the other side.

    With regard to people using /hide, they have taken themselves out of the equation and serve no purpose to be counted in any sort of population assessment. That is not be mistaken with subscription assessment, which aside from keeping the game running and growing, is irrelevant to players.
    It means, quite simply, one of two things. Either server populations have dropped considerably or vastly greater numbers are utilizing the hide from searches feature.

    I will not claim to know which is the case, but nor will I attempt to pretend that this game's population is anywhere near its heyday numbers just because I can find a team.
  25. Bill Z Bubba
    Super Strength and Massive Regeneration. Drop me out of plane, I'll shatter a bunch of bones, bleed out, heal while I get up, start throwing cars around.

    Why regen instead of invulnerability? Cuz it'll hurt more.