Empty Servers?

Hi.

(I'm sorry if this question has been asked before, but I didn't know how to search for it).

I finished all campaigns from both games and dlc so I clicked Multiplayer to go shoot some people. But the problem is that all servers are empty.

There might be few servers with like 7/64 or so but 95% of them has 0 players. I check frequently and it is all the same.

I filter the game to show Deathmatch and I get 2 servers. CTF also small...

Since I can't believe no one plays ArmA2, I am looking for answers.

Where to find people to play with? Is it Gamespy that is trouble?

But then, how to search for the servers if not by Gamespy since it is integrated?

Anyway, any help would be appreciated on where to find people to shoot.

Thanks.

Check here for servers

http://arma2.swec.se/server/list

Yes, I saw that.

I'm not lazy, I can type the addresses into remote connect, but can that list be integrated into ArmA MP browser? I guess not but anyway...

Thanks.

You dont get the same amount of servers in your ingame browser ? I did post it so maybe you did check mp servers during a timezone when actually really not many players are crowded. Cant help you if you have really an ingame browser problem.

I decided to check out Arma 2 MP yesterday after a couple months of not doing so, and yes, the majority of players are confined to about 4 servers playing missions I'm not interested in playing anymore considering they're the same missions that have been played since Armed Assault, and the others are doing the same just with fewer and fewer people. Thus my hiatus has been extended it seems. Rarely these days can you find public servers offering small coops or PvP missions, which really is a shame.

Please don't take this as a dig at you personally it isn't. I'm afraid if many players have this attitude the multiplayer environment will not improve.

There are quite a few long standing clans that offer public 24/7 servers which do not contain the missions that you speak of (I know the ones you mean & I'm not going to mention them for fear of starting a flame war and sending this thread off topic).

There are many clans who create outstanding 15-20 player coops for the public community. They might not release them on sites such as Armaholic but they are out there on the servers and some great gameplay can be had with the inclusion of Teamspeak too.

I agree that whilst numbers have fallen on the public servers which offer small coops and pvp's (and yes the recent epidemic of cheating is a factor keeping numbers away), unless players such as yourself and others join these servers other players will not join either. I'm afraid it is a downward cycle in that respect. Public servers can be empty for hours but as soon as a few players join it soon gets busier as the additional numbers attract others.

Please don't exaperate the symptoms but help to be the catalyst and encourage others.

Im reading around 1500 players on peak during week days, and around 2000 players on peak during weekend days, which is slightly higher than back in ArmA2.

http://updater.dev-heaven.net/stats/history (counts deddies only)

Not sure how you fit 1500 players on 4 servers ;)

It's more like ~200 active servers at a time (active as in > 0 players)

Jman;1857691']...unless players such as yourself and others join these servers other players will not join either.

That must be it i think, i bet 99% of all players are just looking for crowded servers rather than just joining an empty one and starting a mission in the hope someone joins.

Not sure how you fit 1500 players on 4 servers ;)

Well, when I looked there were only about 3 or 4 with more than 10 players, followed by about 5 with 10 players, and then many, many others that had fewer and fewer people. This was running the latest beta with the BAF and PMC DLCs, and no mods.

But it doesn't really matter how many people are playing when you don't want to play the same 3 or 4 missions that they're playing, which is out of our control.

Well, when I looked there were only about 4 or 5 with more than 10 players, followed by about 5 with 10 players, and then many, many others that had fewer and fewer people. This was running the latest beta with the BAF and PMC DLCs, and no mods.

But it doesn't really matter how many people are playing when you don't want to play what they're playing, which is out of our control.

No mods will probably limit you in your choices, yep.

Setup a server with missions you do want to play and play on it - as soon as you have more than 0 players, you'll get players anyway :)

In any case I disagree that the missions are all the same as from back in arma1; perhaps the idea or name is the same, but many of the missions have evolved through time.

Personally i've found 'normal' missions to get boring rather soon (while there's plenty of care put in), while the 'special' missions (dynamic etc) remain fun for a very long time. IMO the investment into a good 'normal' mission wears off rather soon, where-as the 'special' missions do not.

Re empty servers and players all waiting for someone to join the server - and thus they are all waiting on eachother - vicious circle - is very known to me, seems to be generally the case ;)

IMO it's a weird story that 'everyone' would like to play normal missions, but servers only running 'special' missions.

To my knowledge usually something is being ran because there's a high demand of it,

or otherwise you could wonder why the demand is there, or why these missions are being ran instead of 'normal' missions.

In any case I disagree that the missions are all the same as from back in arma1; perhaps the idea or name is the same, but many of the missions have evolved through time.

Of course, technology-wise they're very different, but the concepts remain largely the same, and none of them follow any real storyline or goal outside of conquering the whole map. I've played so much Berzerk/Valhalla, Evolution, Domination, Warfare and Sahrani/Chernarus/Zargabad Life that each time I play it now just seems like more of the same (not blaming the makers at all for anything here, people still love playing the missions), and I have very few choices other than them.

I long for missions like the Brothers In Arms series for the FDF mod in OFP, or some good zombie coops. Sadly no one plays those kind of missions anymore at all.

Depends on timezone and on spare time players have.

True, many people are just looking to play only on servers with more than 10 or 20 players online. Maybe they think that missions with few player are not so hip & trendy? Perhaps they are only searching to hide oneself in the crowd and not beeing responsible, not making mistakes and loose the mission? Imho its much easier to find an excuse in highly randomized/skirmish missions than in those which are made with an ongoing storyline. ;)

What if all clans would release and present once a month their favourite mission through BIF/newssites?

I long for missions like the Brothers In Arms series for the FDF mod in OFP, or some good zombie coops. Sadly no one plays those kind of missions anymore at all.

I can't believe they're not out there - perhaps the public servers - but what about clans/communities?

Honestly though, if majority of the servers run the 'special' missions like Domination etc - then I can't think of much other reasons than that the server owner and his crowd prefer them.

The missions seem to be very popular, and that must have a reason.

In any case, instead of wondering about it and talking about it - my motto really is do something about it :)

What if all clans would release and present once a month their favourite mission through BIF/newssites?

I like this idea. We generally make 1-2 per month.

I've tried to run a server with old school coop missions.

The problem is players that connect can easily spoil the fun as these missions require a higher level of cooperation.

That's why dynamic missions such as Domination, Warfare, etc are popular. They allow fast and easy action, obviously today this is what "pubbers" want.

Most servers that play tactical missions are locked.

Perhaps it's just me, but when I want something I make it happen - I mean like setup a server that runs that, or find a community that runs that. Or if the missions don't exist or need conversion, i'd be working on that - or try to get interestees who do it.

If I had money of my own to spend on purchasing a server, I would, as I've said before.

Honestly though, if majority of the servers run the 'special' missions like Domination etc - then I can't think of much other reasons than that the server owner and his crowd prefer them.

Doesn't exactly help get variety out there though, does it?

In any case, instead of wondering about it and talking about it - my motto really is do something about it :)

Believe me, I am. They just aren't in releasable state yet. ;)

Problem is that when I release them, it's likely that they'll be played once and suddenly everything's back to the same 4 or so missions. Great smaller coops and PvP missions are released all the time, especially from groups like LDD Kyllikki, but hardly anyone plays them. It's not like there's a lack of selection.

Also when looking at server list ingame, remember that if you have any mods or maps, or the server has some that you dont, you may most often be able to join them but they are in yellow and far down the list, all the green servers with 0 players gets listed first, then you find the yellow servers with 10, 20, 30, ++ players below them.

Also afaik, its the european community that fills most of the servers, so playing on gmt time ca 17:00 - 00:00 will help you alot with finding a populated server.

For special missions, as mentioned, join a clan, most do 1 or 2+ missions every week.

And the guys creating the missions are usually a skilled editor so quality is pretty high.

Even the simplest go blow up tank mission, can be very entertaining with players dedicated to teamwork and using TS or Vent for comunications.

Mix in a few well thought out surprises from the editor and youll have a blast.

But make no mistake, Arma is and will never be COD similar gameplay, slow and steady is the way Arma work.

Great smaller coops and PvP missions are released all the time, especially from groups like LDD Kyllikki, but hardly anyone plays them. It's not like there's a lack of selection.

Still, the problem remains. LDD Kyllikki's missions require tactics and organization, it is not compatible with public servers where rambos randomly connect and "want some". Have you been on a public server recently? Things have changed a lot since the OFP era, we just have to live with it.

Public server attitudes haven't changed from what they were in ArmA, and I frequented public servers back then pretty much every day, playing anything from large Evolution matches to small, organized coops playing SimHQ's missions. Servers like Tactical Gamer's managed to do this on their server back then.

But I think I see the problem here - the common viewpoint of the MP community now is that public servers are full of nothing but "rambos". There are two things to say about this: 1) Organize and control your servers better. As I said, TG managed to do it with a little effort. 2) There are many, many people willing to play an organized coop on a public server. You just have to tell them that's what you want to do. Again, TG did this perfectly.

If you ask me, i wouldn't play much on public servers. It is not like A2 is one of the games where you can get a quick fix for 30 mins and then disappear.

The real reason why back in OFP public server gameplay quality was better is because of the lack of JIP.

That said, if you want to play A2 properly, buy/rent a server, or join a community that has one already and contribute to that.

@ZIpper: even TG has a semi-public server nowadays, where it is public to the point that you need to be on TS to get the password. I find that fair

If you ask me, i wouldn't play much on public servers. It is not like A2 is one of the games where you can get a quick fix for 30 mins and then disappear.

I just want to be able to hop into a small 10-player coop with a specific objective and outcome, and cooperate with my new fellow players until we reach said objective. I don't want to jump into a server where no one is talking to anyone and there is no set objective outside of "take town X and wait for orders to take town Y", which is every single public server I've tried in the last two days.

The real reason why back in OFP public server gameplay quality was better is because of the lack of JIP.

True, I'll give you that.

That said, if you want to play A2 properly, buy/rent a server, or join a community that has one already and contribute to that.

As mentioned before, I don't have the ability to own my own server. In regards to joining a community, I've been in many in the past and have yet to have more than a couple positive experience with them. My best times were with the IC:ArmA/CF:Arma 2 community. I've kinda given up on the clan front. Right now I play the occasional game with the Casual ArmA Players, or OFP with some friends.

@ZIpper: even TG has a semi-public server nowadays, where it is public to the point that you need to be on TS to get the password. I find that fair

Yup, I do too. I just never find them online. But my point is there need to be good unlocked servers, too.

As mentioned before, I don't have the ability to own my own server. In regards to joining a community, I've been in many in the past and have yet to have more than a couple positive experience with them. My best times were with the IC:ArmA/CF:Arma 2 community. I've kinda given up on the clan front. Right now I play the occasional game with the Casual ArmA Players, or OFP with some friends.

IC/CF is not the type of community i am talking about here (tournaments/ladders). Squads/Clans would obviously allow you to jump on a their server and get more ppl together faster for a quick evening game.

Yup, I do too. I just never find them online. But my point is there need to be good unlocked servers, too.

Most of the servers running the long missions available (domination/evolution/warfare) are places where there is rarely and admin. And i am actually afraid that 24/7 good public servers are really hard to find. The main reason is the absolute need to police it while admin. There is hardly other way around nowadays, and it get be frustrating for the poor lad who has the admin and can't really play because X or Y are fucking it up.

Again, evo/domination etc can be really fun to play just as smaller coop games, as long as you do it with the like-minded people.

What is the solution: in theory, there are some, in practice the real ones are: lock the server, allow only people on TS or the ones you know on, if you really wanna have a great game.

IC/CF is not the type of community i am talking about here (tournaments/ladders). Squads/Clans would obviously allow you to jump on a their server and get more ppl together faster for a quick evening game.

Yup, I understand what you mean, I just used IC/CF as an example because they're the group I've had a positive experience with. I've been in many other smaller clans I'm deliberately not mentioning the names of, and I have not had a positive experience with any of them, and none of them had a reputation of being bad when I looked at joining them.

Anyway, I don't want to have to keep this idea of being forced to join a clan if you want to hope to have a good MP experience. Everyone complains that public MP these days suck, and yet hardly anyone makes an effort to try and make it better. I'll say it again because after reading that I'm sure it's the first thing that will pop into peoples' mind - I would personally try if I had the resources to do so.

Well many new players are in the "shooter stasis" when they join. It depends on themselves how quickly they can switch from their rambo/killstats/headshot "mode" into a cooperative and teamoriented "mode". Some people are good with gameplay switching, some are slow and others can't get out of old gameplay habits. ;)

Imagine - there were no OFP/A1/A2 and you've only played mainstream shooters and suddenly you have to change your "proven method" of playing through a game mission/level/whatever....

Imho it mainly depends on how good the game itself performs in mp and on how good server admins really are eg. config server/missions, moderate people.

Public server attitudes haven't changed from what they were in ArmA, and I frequented public servers back then pretty much every day, playing anything from large Evolution matches to small, organized coops playing SimHQ's missions. Servers like Tactical Gamer's managed to do this on their server back then.

But I think I see the problem here - the common viewpoint of the MP community now is that public servers are full of nothing but "rambos". There are two things to say about this: 1) Organize and control your servers better. As I said, TG managed to do it with a little effort. 2) There are many, many people willing to play an organized coop on a public server. You just have to tell them that's what you want to do. Again, TG did this perfectly.

Both TG servers are locked, anyway you're comparing apples and bananas. TG like KH have a lot of members and an organised structure which is absolutely not the case of most public servers. There are two types of public server. These communities have a limited membership and you get the full picture when you join them. Even KH on their public server tend to play dynamic missions such as TFOR a lot.

Now you add another parameter: the language barrier. Even if you're willing to welcome players sometimes they won't understand what you want. This applies even more for non English-speaking groups.

What you're looking for is almost impossible to achieve.

We were all public server players at first and Domination etc are a good way of learning how to play the game. But locked servers offer more, that's why a lot of groups have both a public server and a private one. I know not all players on public servers are rambos, some want tactical play. Public server is just a first step.

I don't want to jump into a server where no one is talking to anyone and there is no set objective outside of "take town X and wait for orders to take town Y", which is every single public server I've tried in the last two days.

Ask their TS IP and play a side mission with them. Domination can also be played tactical.