It is, after all, a solution many people (myself included) have proposed separately.
And one you're unlikely to see. If they'd wanted it "hidden" in Pocket D, I'm sure they've have just put it there. They want it visible, in many zones. You'll just have to learn to accept that, or continue tilting at windmills.
Dec out.
That's a fallacious argument. All you do is have the doors on the existing buildings be zone entrances to the AE zone, which is nothing but the interior of the building. The existing building models in the various zones stay exactly where they are, and people still come in and out of the building just like you see now.
My argument was fallacious? My argument against removing the buildings from the zones and putting it only in Pocket D or its own similar zone? Or the OPs?
I actually agree with your statement, but that isn't what was on the table.
EDIT: Wait. You mean cram it all in one zone and have the buildings just be entrances to the zone? Uh, no. You think it's crowded NOW....
Dec out.
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My argument was fallacious? My argument against removing the buildings from the zones and putting it only in Pocket D or its own similar zone? Or the OPs?
I actually agree with your statement, but that isn't what was on the table.
EDIT: Wait. You mean cram it all in one zone and have the buildings just be entrances to the zone? Uh, no. You think it's crowded NOW....
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Obviously you've never seen a second instance of a zone pop 
Your intellect is far too weak for your arrogant tone.
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EDIT: Wait. You mean cram it all in one zone and have the buildings just be entrances to the zone? Uh, no. You think it's crowded NOW....
[/ QUOTE ]
That's not a bad thing. Cap the AE zone to 30 players or so, and a new zone will reinstance. Just keep going up the dial for the quietest rooms.
@TURGENEV - Freedom Server / IRON / B.A.N.E / HORDE
Turg Fiction: Ghost in the Machine Acts III & IV coming 2012!
Turg Fiction: IX is now LIVE on Architect Entertainment!
I never said I wanted AE *in* Pocket D, just that I'd like it to be its own separate zone in the same manner *as* Pocket D is now.
TargetOne
"If you two don't work this out RIGHT NOW, I'm turning this invasion around and going home!" - Emperor Cole
Leave the buildings (shoot, leave the lobbies).
Make the elevator invoke a zone-change to the AE proper.
And yes... spawn new instances as population goes up. Also, if it's large enough (say, the size of Pocket D, or larger) it can accomodate more people.
"City of Heroes. April 27, 2004 - August 31, 2012. Obliterated not with a weapon of mass destruction, not by an all-powerful supervillain... but by a cold-hearted and cowardly corporate suck-up."
[ QUOTE ]
Leave the buildings (shoot, leave the lobbies).
Make the elevator invoke a zone-change to the AE proper.
And yes... spawn new instances as population goes up. Also, if it's large enough (say, the size of Pocket D, or larger) it can accomodate more people.
[/ QUOTE ]And the upper level doors would go directly to the separate zone? I use those to enter directly on the playing level.
As long as I can still people watch from the main lobby, this would be fine by me.
I just discovered the upper level doors yesterday - very nice feature.
I think having them all point to the same "instance" which can spawn additional instances makes some sense - but what happens when you exit?
[ QUOTE ]
I just discovered the upper level doors yesterday - very nice feature.
I think having them all point to the same "instance" which can spawn additional instances makes some sense - but what happens when you exit?
[/ QUOTE ]I just remembered/realized, you can see the exterior zone from the upper windows, too. So they CAN'T make it a separate instance.
Oh well, it was a good idea while it lasted.
I, myself, moved to Skyway or such. Works great. Not very populated.
Then again, I'm not on Freedom, so I don't know if that works for everyone...
August 31, 2012. A Day that will Live in Infamy. Or Information. Possibly Influence. Well, Inf, anyway. Thank you, Paragon Studios, for what you did, and the enjoyment and camaraderie you brought.
This is houtex, aka Mike, signing off the forums. G'night all. - 10/26/2012
Well... perhaps I was premature about that whole 'signing off' thing... - 11-9-2012
I agree with OP and what others have stated as a good way of dealing with broadcast spam. I resubbed a few days ago to see what the commotion was about, and the AE spam in broadcast is HUGELY annoying. It drowns out CCs and ppl looking for sewer teams. Personally, if they don't do something about this soon I won't renew my subscription.
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I agree with OP and what others have stated as a good way of dealing with broadcast spam. I resubbed a few days ago to see what the commotion was about, and the AE spam in broadcast is HUGELY annoying. It drowns out CCs and ppl looking for sewer teams. Personally, if they don't do something about this soon I won't renew my subscription.
[/ QUOTE ]
Really?? Even more annoying then listening to people spam stupid comments about costume contests participants or the incessant spam for Sewer farm teams? You have a pretty thin skin then my friend. Making threats about leaving or not renew a subscription will lend your argument little weight.
Personally, I feel that they should have spread the starting contact out out to the various zones so that every toon did not start AE in Atlas. It still means that all level 1 toons would start in GC or AP, but the higher level toons would be sent to a suitable zone for their level. It could potentially reduce the amount of spam on the Broadcast channels or the lag due to population concentrations. But I guess the cow is already out of the barn so to speak.
"The only thing to crave is Immortality, and Death is the last rube to cheat."
They trained the Rikti to drop Fire on people, but they won't let them write (Censored) on their spaceships because it is obscene!
[ QUOTE ]
I agree with OP and what others have stated as a good way of dealing with broadcast spam. I resubbed a few days ago to see what the commotion was about, and the AE spam in broadcast is HUGELY annoying. It drowns out CCs and ppl looking for sewer teams. Personally, if they don't do something about this soon I won't renew my subscription.
[/ QUOTE ]
One fix the devs could make would be to make any broadcasts from inside the AE building stay local to the AE building. They did something similar for /local chat in Pocket D.
The lag in Atlas could be fixed by further optimizing the way information is transmitted to the client. Currently the server seems to send data about other characters to your computer when you come within about 150 yards of them.
Since you can't see inside the AE building there's no reason to send data about characters in there to characters outside the building. Doing this would remove the huge "lag spike" you see when you approach the building when it's crowded.
The data wouldn't be sent until you actually entered the building.
Another way they could "fix" this would be to move the interior of the AE building to a location, say, 200 yards below the ground. This is where most building interiors are actually located. You can see this by selecting a team mate who's inside a building -- you'll see they're far below you. They've also played this trick with the "quiet" room in AE -- it's not really where you think it is, it's actually many yards below that.
They probably don't want to move the AE interior below ground because one of the nice things about AE is that the interior is actually where you would expect it to be -- you can look out the windows and see the zone around you.
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I agree with OP and what others have stated as a good way of dealing with broadcast spam. I resubbed a few days ago to see what the commotion was about, and the AE spam in broadcast is HUGELY annoying. It drowns out CCs and ppl looking for sewer teams. Personally, if they don't do something about this soon I won't renew my subscription.
[/ QUOTE ]
One fix the devs could make would be to make any broadcasts from inside the AE building stay local to the AE building. They did something similar for /local chat in Pocket D.
The lag in Atlas could be fixed by further optimizing the way information is transmitted to the client. Currently the server seems to send data about other characters to your computer when you come within about 150 yards of them.
Since you can't see inside the AE building there's no reason to send data about characters in there to characters outside the building. Doing this would remove the huge "lag spike" you see when you approach the building when it's crowded.
The data wouldn't be sent until you actually entered the building.
Another way they could "fix" this would be to move the interior of the AE building to a location, say, 200 yards below the ground. This is where most building interiors are actually located. You can see this by selecting a team mate who's inside a building -- you'll see they're far below you. They've also played this trick with the "quiet" room in AE -- it's not really where you think it is, it's actually many yards below that.
They probably don't want to move the AE interior below ground because one of the nice things about AE is that the interior is actually where you would expect it to be -- you can look out the windows and see the zone around you.
[/ QUOTE ]Many people kept complaining that they can't see out any of the buildings, so the devs finally added one that you can. And we are seeing that, as expected, it causes lag for many people just like WW's does. (I like it, myself. It's fun to people watch from inside the Atlas Park AE lobby.)
I think putting a "can I actually see that" filter would be likely to INCREASE the data load, because it would have to constantly calculate line of sight, and figure out which ones you could or couldn't see. As it is, there's a short lag during the spike of the character data being sent to your system when you get close enough, then you can continue as normal. People with systems that continue to lag after that because they can't handle the extra characters have already had to find workarounds so they can avoid the WW spikes. They will have to apply them to AE buildings, too. (I used to have such a system. I know what a pain it can be.)
Devs,
How hard would it be to move AE into its own separate zone, similar to Pocket D, as some on the forums have suggested?
This would have the effect of eliminating the AE-induced lag now found in the most popular zones (Atlas Park, anyone?), as well as the AE-related spam flooding broadcast chat. Further, it would allow additional instances of AE to spawn whenever the building's population exceeded a preset limit, as now happens in any heavily-populated zone, so that AE itself never becomes overcrowded.
(If the devs feel it necessary to have separate AE's for heroes and villains, I'm sure that could be arranged.)
This would seem to solve two of the more common complaints about AE in one fell swoop. So what of it, devs? Is it possible without a major rewrite?
TargetOne
"If you two don't work this out RIGHT NOW, I'm turning this invasion around and going home!" - Emperor Cole