32 replies to this topic

[SirCannonFodder]

First, I'd like to say that I've been a long-time fan of Hawken. Like a lot of people, you had me hooked with the original WIP video, and after playing in the betas, springing for the Vanguard pack was a no-brainer.

But lately you've made a number of decisions that are so bizarre and damaging to the nascent Oceanic and Asian communities that if I didn't know better, I'd say you were intentionally sabotaging the game in those regions. You have rendered the game essentially unplayable for us, and these are the three main things that are choking the life out of it:

First, with the addition of the server browser, you decided to merge the Oceania and Asia North/South regions for Quick-Match purposes. Why you would do this when the ping gap between Oceania and Asia South is the same as between Oceania and US East, and the gap between Oceania and Asia North is the same as between Oceania and Europe, is utterly beyond me. It renders the quick match function completely useless, as more often than not it places you in a server with a ping of 250-350+. If we wanted to play on high-ping servers, we'd play on the US ones, since then at least we'd have a variety of full matches.

Second came the great server cull. While initially you provided us with at least one server for each game-type in each region (Oce., AN, AS), you quickly cut that number down to just a handful, with certain game modes being exclusive to certain regions at different times. At one point, objective modes could only be played on Oceania servers, and deathmatch modes could only be played on Asian servers, while tonight Asia North had a full selection, while Oceania and Asia South only had two and one to pick from, respectively. Now even this would be bearable, if not for the last point...

Third, server ranking has served to split up an already small playerbase into even smaller groups that are unable to play together. As you can see here, Oceania had only one populated server tonight, but due to it being rated as "Medium", I, an "Advanced" player, was unable to join. That left me with a choice of either waiting for the match to end and hoping that I'd be able to get into the next one (assuming the players don't disperse, as they are wont to do), going onto a deserted server for a gamemode I don't like, hoping that other people join, or going onto a high-ping server in a more populated region, to the detriment of my play experience. I, and most players I know, usually choose the last option, making the Oceanic and Asian servers even more desolate.

In short, Hawken is no longer generally playable in Oceania or Asia, and if major changes are not made, it will soon die here.

[Aims]

http://community.pla...ervers-help-us/

Thankyou for reinforcing what I have mentioned here. You summurised some other issues as well and said pretty much what we are all thinking. I really couldn't have put it better than you have.

It is especially frustrating because those of us still playing know how great the game is and really want it to take off, yet it seems like every time we fight harder for that to happen another wall is put up.

Edited by Aims, March 20 2013 - 06:32 AM.

[ReachH]

Now that's a travesty

[Roundlay]

This sums up my experience in Tokyo fairly accurately. Thanks for taking the time to post this.

[ArnieF4440]

+1, its been ages since I've played a decent game on Oceania. Most of the time I don't even bother and go to US west where there are a lot of games anyway, and it ends up being a circular problem. If no players are playing on Oceania, they go to another region. If oceania players are on other regions, they aren't on oceania, lol

[Shichi]

+100000000....

[bison_rr]

Has there been ANY feedback whatsoever about the oceanic/asia server issues_ I've seen many threads but they're never addressed by anyone from the dev team. Or maybe I've missed it_

At this rate the game is BARELY playable for me. I can't find any local games to play, and jumping on US servers are just jarring. Who the hell wants to put up with a minimum latency of 240+ on a game that requires such precise actions_ These aren't the days of dial-up, and it's completely unnacceptable.

[quicksilver7]

bison_rr, on March 20 2013 - 05:05 PM, said:

Has there been ANY feedback whatsoever about the oceanic/asia server issues_ I've seen many threads but they're never addressed by anyone from the dev team. Or maybe I've missed it_

At this rate the game is BARELY playable for me. I can't find any local games to play, and jumping on US servers are just jarring. Who the hell wants to put up with a minimum latency of 240+ on a game that requires such precise actions_ These aren't the days of dial-up, and it's completely unnacceptable.

+10000 to the OP.

There has been zero/zilch/no feedback whatsoever from the [HWK] team on this issue. For some reason they lost their mouths or in this case fingers to reply. It just seems that they're not bothered and don't give a d a m n about this issue.

Heck, Hughes hasn't even replied to this post:

https://community.pl...es/#entry235103

Such BOLD promises.. Should be a politician instead.

[aToastfan]

This thread and the one posted by Aim's summarize the current issues confronting Oceania/Asia players. Some developer feedback would be welcome.

[Scapes]

quicksilver7, on March 20 2013 - 05:26 PM, said:

team on this issue. For some reason they lost their mouths or in this case fingers to reply. It just seems that they're not bothered and don't give a d a m n about this issue.

Woah, woah. We have indeed replied to this issue, just in a different thread. We're also about to post an update on this very topic. Hang in there!

[[HWK]HUGHES]

quicksilver7, on March 20 2013 - 05:26 PM, said:

Such BOLD promises.. Should be a politician instead.

How so_

[raidmax21]

Glade to know I'm not alone on the current issues.

Also to add to the thread: Why are there no sort by ping on the server lists! As a player from Australia we get bad pings on any server, so sort by ping would be the most important tool. If Australia ever had some custom games servers, there would be no way in hell to find them.

[[HWK]HUGHES]

I made a general post about some of the issues people are seeing with the browser. This doesn't specifically speak to what you're seeing in Oceania and Asia but it might help for now:
https://community.pl...vs-quick-match/

The hot fix that I was brainstorming with [HWK]TJ should address issues you're seeing with this region (the one mentioned in the above link). I don't have a ETA because he's still in Visual Studio working on the fix. Essentially the problem is a result of one thing, that caused another, that caused another. We're aware of the issue and are at this very second working on it.

Thanks.

[quicksilver7]

[HWK]HUGHES, on March 20 2013 - 06:16 PM, said:

I made a general post about some of the issues people are seeing with the browser. This doesn't specifically speak to what you're seeing in Oceania and Asia but it might help for now:
https://community.pl...vs-quick-match/

The hot fix that I was brainstorming with [HWK]TJ should address issues you're seeing with this region (the one mentioned in the above link). I don't have a ETA because he's still in Visual Studio working on the fix. Essentially the problem is a result of one thing, that caused another, that caused another. We're aware of the issue and are at this very second working on it.

Thanks.

Thank you very much for your reply. Looking forward to that fix. Hopefully we'll see results as expected.

[Aims]

Thankyou very much devs for the greatly anticipated feedback we have been so desperate for lol.

It is extremely re-assuring to hear that all is not lost and you guys are indeed aware of it being a problem so that now we can work together in getting things sorted.

[SirCannonFodder]

[HWK]HUGHES, on March 20 2013 - 06:16 PM, said:

I made a general post about some of the issues people are seeing with the browser. This doesn't specifically speak to what you're seeing in Oceania and Asia but it might help for now:
https://community.pl...vs-quick-match/

Unfortunately that doesn't help much, as the quickmatch is just as likely to put us on a high-ping server as not.

[HWK]HUGHES, on March 20 2013 - 06:16 PM, said:

The hot fix that I was brainstorming with [HWK]TJ should address issues you're seeing with this region (the one mentioned in the above link). I don't have a ETA because he's still in Visual Studio working on the fix. Essentially the problem is a result of one thing, that caused another, that caused another. We're aware of the issue and are at this very second working on it.

Thanks.

I'm quite glad and relieved to hear this. I would still like to hear some sort of explanation as to why you merged the three regions in the first place, though.

[RinzlerZero]

Looking forward to the (hopefully right) solution.

[Aims]

Tonight (Friday night in Aus) is one of the few night we can hope to see full games. The one TDM lobby available to us just kicked us all out, mid-game, and has ceased to exist. There are now 0 'Oceanic' lobbies available under the Oceanic server browser filter.

[SLayTaN]

Oh no, Australia and New Zealand have no servers anymore. We are dead in the water. Back to 230+ ping sessions I guess. FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!

[Andranos]

Fantastic, Australia and NZ servers are completely gone. Last week, South asia servers were gone and now, our servers are gone. This is just awesome. Maybe next week North asia servers will be gone...