I live in europe too and I can't say I share your experience. Maybe you have bad settings in your server browser? Most of the EU servers I want to play in are full whenever I load up NS2.
So you're telling me that currently, there are loads of full servers for you now? When I checked just over an hour ago, there was 700 people online, and with my filters (pings no higher than 90), I had that number of rooms. Did you filter pings? Anything over 90, as a maximum, is no good to me. I don't wish to play with delay or lag.
There is no denying though that EU time, 700 players, or 2K peak (later in the day) is an incredibly low number.
Again, I want the game to survive and I want it's popularity to grow, but so far, things are looking bad. Also, I want good performance on this game and UWE seriously need to tone down the atmospherics, like 10x.
You can't fault UWE for the lack of players.
Performance issues, yeah, maybe, but it's a brand new game.
Crysis 3 comes out soon, and I bet it destroys people's computers even harder than NS2 does/will.
You are overly restrictive on your ping settings. This is the server browser right now at 4:40am eastern time (US). This is about an hour off of the LOWEST online activity time according to steams activity chart.
The entire top page is full servers, with several more extending below where the page ends. Granted, I wouldn't be able to play on MOST of them. There are usually about 1-3 servers that meet my prime criteria, and another 1-3 in the acceptable range at all times. For me that's a nearly full 20man server with <70 ping for ideal, and a 20-24man server with <110 ping for acceptable, with no mods or other problems.
Are you trying to play at 9 in the morning? Well, there's your problem. Try 9 in the evening and there will be plenty of games going. It may not be huge but NS2 isn't dead, not at all.
I have a similar computer and it's unfortunate how badly it performs late game in some areas and situations but they're working on it. In UWEs defense there are a lot more entities and systems in play in NS2 late game than most other games but in the end it doesn't really matter why, FPS drops in a shooter is always a defect and they're working on it. Remember that the game is built for max 16 players, above that and you're doing it to yourself. No UWE server has more than 16 slots. It's also an ideal number for gameplay reasons, it's not simply a limitation for performance reasons.
I too dislike atmospherics but that's a very unfair complaint to make. You can just turn it off along with bloom. Though I definitely see how it could discourage new players with the bad first impression, if you don't stay long enough to go through the options in a PC game you're no true Scotsman!
The price really isn't high and it has been on sale already. I'm sure were will be free weekends and more sales to come.
Also in Europe. Getting a game in Europe in the morning is tricky, there's normally one or two completely full servers and the rest empty; but you can normally find a good East coast US server. In the evening I have no problems finding a good populated server.
As for performance, the devs know, they're continuing to work on it. Given how NS2 played back in Alpha compared to now I'm fairly certain that it's going to get better. They know what they're doing, it's just a limitation of time and man power that they have (mostly time, I don't need to be told of mythical man months ).
You are overly restrictive on your ping settings. This is the server browser right now at 4:40am eastern time (US). This is about an hour off of the LOWEST activity time for the US.
The entire top page is full servers, with several more extending below where the page ends. Granted, I wouldn't be able to play on MOST of them. There are usually about 1-3 servers that meet my prime criteria, and another 1-3 in the acceptable range at all times.
Yes, we have plenty of players. What, does he want the entire playerbase of LoL or Minecraft on this game? God that would be awful.
Hmm, quite the offensive everyone seems to put against me. I guess I'm the bad guy for expressing my concern for a game I enjoy/enjoyed.
Shame I have to pick times in the day to be able to play. An to note, my ping is not overly restrictive.
Also, why compare NS2 with Crysis 3. :S This game suffers from poor optimisation, nothing more than that. Crysis 3 will undoubtedly aim to push hardware at the expense of higher realism.
Post a picture of your server list, sorted by best ping of course. If you don't find at least one server to play on, there must be a problem on your end.
Sorry, but most people have a job. Maybe you should try to play NS2 at afternoon. Even games with higher player count have many empty servers at this day time. Get real.
Although I do agree that performance is no where near good enough, and I do share the opinion if it does not drastically improve it will be the death of the game, the picture you used is unfair and was created to further your point.
@Squishpoke I did sort by best ping in that picture.
Maybe I'm just too used to seeing popular games, where you could come on at any time and instantly jump into a game. This game just gives me the same feeling a popular but abandoned 5+ year old game would.
Not to worry. I'll go on later in the evening then. And the reason I complained about atmospherics, is because it is hugely unrealistic, looks horrible and encourages people to turn it off, because it is not visually pleasing. All I wanted was the for the game to look and perform better, not turn down settings to minimum like competitive players would do to gain advantage (not saying that this is the case here though, I would just like better atmospherics, instead of CS 1.6 smoke clouds lol)
At the times I want to play NS2 all my fav servers are always full and not seldom I wait for like 30 mins until I get a slot. Just this sunday me and a friend decided against playing together because its virtually impossible to get on the same server.
In my browser (ping<80) there were only like 10 or 15 empty servers.
You have to consider that NS2 has more of a "mature" crowd which means most people have to work(or like me pretend to work while actually posting in forums)
@Squishpoke I did sort by best ping in that picture.
Maybe I'm just too used to seeing popular games, where you could come on at any time and instantly jump into a game. This game just gives me the same feeling a popular but abandoned 5+ year old game would.
Not to worry. I'll go on later in the evening then. And the reason I complained about atmospherics, is because it is hugely unrealistic, looks horrible and encourages people to turn it off, because it is not visually pleasing. All I wanted was the for the game to look and perform better, not turn down settings to minimum like competitive players would do to gain advantage (not saying that this is the case here though, I would just like better atmospherics, instead of CS 1.6 smoke clouds lol)
Like I said, the game has plenty of active servers and almost always a few with exactly the conditions I want. I'm sorry you have UK pings, but this game isn't dead, far from it.
For what it's worth though, I've been pointing out how this is probably the best and most unique shooter I've played in at least 10 years to everyone who will listen.
At the times I want to play NS2 all my fav servers are always full and not seldom I wait for like 30 mins until I get a slot. Just this sunday me and a friend decided against playing together because its virtually impossible to get on the same server.
In my browser (ping<80) there were only like 10 or 15 empty servers.
You have to consider that NS2 has more of a "mature" crowd which means most people have to work(or like me pretend to work while actually posting in forums)
Thanks for a reasonable response. Judging by many of the posts, I was under the impression that NS2 had less of a mature crowd.
Seriously though, look at that picture I posted. Really at 9 in the morning, for a game which is like 4 months old, I'd atleast expect a few thousand on. An about the price, I know it's not necessarily expensive, but if people check the playerbase for NS2 and then see nearly £20, they may think of spending it elsewhere.
Again, I'm just concerned because I like this game. I don't see why others are giving me attitude.
Considering how new NS2 is, it's cheap.
NS 2 is $24.99
MW3 is still $70 here.
Read my above post.
Besides, kiddies love COD games. Run. Shoot. Die. Spawn. Shoot. Killstreak! Yay! lol. This is precisely why I prefer games like NS2 and I wish others saw the light.
Seriously though, look at that picture I posted. Really at 9 in the morning, for a game which is like 4 months old, I'd atleast expect a few thousand on.
You are comparing apples with oranges. This game:
- is an indie game. (Not one with a marketing budged of millions.)
- has a higher complexity than the default COD casual shooter. (Most people don't bother to learn it.)
Even if the devs would make it completely free to play, you will not see thousands of players in Europe at 9am. Because most players don't like that they need to use their brain in a game.
Seriously though, look at that picture I posted. Really at 9 in the morning, for a game which is like 4 months old, I'd atleast expect a few thousand on.
You are comparing apples with oranges. This game:
- is an indie game. (Not one with a marketing budged of millions.)
- has a higher complexity than the default COD casual shooter. (Most people don't bother to learn it.)
Even if the devs would make it completely free to play, you will not see thousands of players in Europe at 9am. Because most players don't like that they need to use their brain in a game.
Seriously though, look at that picture I posted. Really at 9 in the morning, for a game which is like 4 months old, I'd atleast expect a few thousand on.
You are comparing apples with oranges. This game:
- is an indie game. (Not one with a marketing budged of millions.)
- has a higher complexity than the default COD casual shooter. (Most people don't bother to learn it.)
Even if the devs would make it completely free to play, you will not see thousands of players in Europe at 9am. Because most players don't like that they need to use their brain in a game.
This is true, however from a Free to Play weekend I'd only expect a small rise, not thousands. A free to play weekend would at least encourage people to play it and perhaps get interested.
4 disagrees lol. Nobody wants their niche filled with a populace. Oh well, not to worry. Thanks for those who contributed and used the forum properly instead of aiming up at me as if I was the enemy and I was slating the Holy God that is NS2 (which I wasn't). I'll just play at later times because the game is almost dead at any time in the morning in the UK.
Seriously though, look at that picture I posted. Really at 9 in the morning, for a game which is like 4 months old, I'd atleast expect a few thousand on.
Again, I'm just concerned because I like this game. I don't see why others are giving me attitude.
A few thousand, at 9am in the UK on a weekday? You may have confused NS2 with a AAA blockbuster title with a significant/EA-level marketing budget, and built-in fan and competitive following from a recent prequel, rather than a semi-niche (if incredibly fun) HL1 mod from over 10 years ago.
Especially with the acknowledged current performance levels of the Spark engine, which tend to be off-putting for those with midrange or older systems.
The attitude being given by many is not due to a lack of love for the game, but for the unrealistic expectations you appear to hold, and that you continue to express bewilderment at reality not matching them.
This is true, however from a Free to Play weekend I'd only expect a small rise, not thousands. A free to play weekend would at least encourage people to play it and perhaps get interested.
True but they need to fix the performance issues many people have before having a free weekend.
No one would buy a game that doesn't run smooth on their system.
This is true, however from a Free to Play weekend I'd only expect a small rise, not thousands. A free to play weekend would at least encourage people to play it and perhaps get interested.
True but they need to fix the performance issues many people have before having a free weekend.
No one would buy a game that doesn't run smooth on their system.
I am bewildered. So what, it's a weekday. There is over 60 million people in the UK and a shit ton more in Europe lol.
Nevermind. This thread has no purpose now anyway. I'll play the game later when there is more people online. An triple-A title or not, for a game this unique and this new, I didn't expect such low numbers. However, it has revealed to me that the majority of Steam players are DOTA 2 players, TF2 hat traders or people too stupid to learn the magic that is NS2.
Point. Click. Shoot. Die.
As opposed to actually thinking.
(Note I play CSGO, which is not easy, especially in comparison to COD games )
Speaking of which, if anyone isn't annoyed by my comments, feel free to add me on Steam - Captain Baldy
Join Date: 2013-02-05 Member: 182834Members
Comments
There is no denying though that EU time, 700 players, or 2K peak (later in the day) is an incredibly low number.
Again, I want the game to survive and I want it's popularity to grow, but so far, things are looking bad. Also, I want good performance on this game and UWE seriously need to tone down the atmospherics, like 10x.
Performance issues, yeah, maybe, but it's a brand new game.
Crysis 3 comes out soon, and I bet it destroys people's computers even harder than NS2 does/will.
http://i.imgur.com/hgcYJwk.jpg
The entire top page is full servers, with several more extending below where the page ends. Granted, I wouldn't be able to play on MOST of them. There are usually about 1-3 servers that meet my prime criteria, and another 1-3 in the acceptable range at all times. For me that's a nearly full 20man server with <70 ping for ideal, and a 20-24man server with <110 ping for acceptable, with no mods or other problems.
I have a similar computer and it's unfortunate how badly it performs late game in some areas and situations but they're working on it. In UWEs defense there are a lot more entities and systems in play in NS2 late game than most other games but in the end it doesn't really matter why, FPS drops in a shooter is always a defect and they're working on it. Remember that the game is built for max 16 players, above that and you're doing it to yourself. No UWE server has more than 16 slots. It's also an ideal number for gameplay reasons, it's not simply a limitation for performance reasons.
I too dislike atmospherics but that's a very unfair complaint to make. You can just turn it off along with bloom. Though I definitely see how it could discourage new players with the bad first impression, if you don't stay long enough to go through the options in a PC game you're no true Scotsman!
The price really isn't high and it has been on sale already. I'm sure were will be free weekends and more sales to come.
As for performance, the devs know, they're continuing to work on it. Given how NS2 played back in Alpha compared to now I'm fairly certain that it's going to get better. They know what they're doing, it's just a limitation of time and man power that they have (mostly time, I don't need to be told of mythical man months
Yes, we have plenty of players. What, does he want the entire playerbase of LoL or Minecraft on this game? God that would be awful.
Shame I have to pick times in the day to be able to play. An to note, my ping is not overly restrictive.
Also, why compare NS2 with Crysis 3. :S This game suffers from poor optimisation, nothing more than that. Crysis 3 will undoubtedly aim to push hardware at the expense of higher realism.
Unnecessary attitude.
@Squishpoke I did sort by best ping in that picture.
Maybe I'm just too used to seeing popular games, where you could come on at any time and instantly jump into a game. This game just gives me the same feeling a popular but abandoned 5+ year old game would.
Not to worry. I'll go on later in the evening then. And the reason I complained about atmospherics, is because it is hugely unrealistic, looks horrible and encourages people to turn it off, because it is not visually pleasing. All I wanted was the for the game to look and perform better, not turn down settings to minimum like competitive players would do to gain advantage (not saying that this is the case here though, I would just like better atmospherics, instead of CS 1.6 smoke clouds lol)
In my browser (ping<80) there were only like 10 or 15 empty servers.
You have to consider that NS2 has more of a "mature" crowd which means most people have to work(or like me pretend to work while actually posting in forums)
Like I said, the game has plenty of active servers and almost always a few with exactly the conditions I want. I'm sorry you have UK pings, but this game isn't dead, far from it.
For what it's worth though, I've been pointing out how this is probably the best and most unique shooter I've played in at least 10 years to everyone who will listen.
Thanks for a reasonable response. Judging by many of the posts, I was under the impression that NS2 had less of a mature crowd.
Seriously though, look at that picture I posted. Really at 9 in the morning, for a game which is like 4 months old, I'd atleast expect a few thousand on. An about the price, I know it's not necessarily expensive, but if people check the playerbase for NS2 and then see nearly £20, they may think of spending it elsewhere.
Again, I'm just concerned because I like this game. I don't see why others are giving me attitude.
NS 2 is $24.99
MW3 is still $70 here.
Read my above post.
Besides, kiddies love COD games. Run. Shoot. Die. Spawn. Shoot. Killstreak! Yay! lol. This is precisely why I prefer games like NS2 and I wish others saw the light.
I already know of this.
Current: 661 Peak: 1,964 Natural Selection 2
You are comparing apples with oranges. This game:
- is an indie game. (Not one with a marketing budged of millions.)
- has a higher complexity than the default COD casual shooter. (Most people don't bother to learn it.)
Even if the devs would make it completely free to play, you will not see thousands of players in Europe at 9am. Because most players don't like that they need to use their brain in a game.
Which is fairly impressive given:
This is true, however from a Free to Play weekend I'd only expect a small rise, not thousands. A free to play weekend would at least encourage people to play it and perhaps get interested.
A few thousand, at 9am in the UK on a weekday? You may have confused NS2 with a AAA blockbuster title with a significant/EA-level marketing budget, and built-in fan and competitive following from a recent prequel, rather than a semi-niche (if incredibly fun) HL1 mod from over 10 years ago.
Especially with the acknowledged current performance levels of the Spark engine, which tend to be off-putting for those with midrange or older systems.
The attitude being given by many is not due to a lack of love for the game, but for the unrealistic expectations you appear to hold, and that you continue to express bewilderment at reality not matching them.
No one would buy a game that doesn't run smooth on their system.
I am bewildered. So what, it's a weekday. There is over 60 million people in the UK and a shit ton more in Europe lol.
Nevermind. This thread has no purpose now anyway. I'll play the game later when there is more people online. An triple-A title or not, for a game this unique and this new, I didn't expect such low numbers. However, it has revealed to me that the majority of Steam players are DOTA 2 players, TF2 hat traders or people too stupid to learn the magic that is NS2.
Point. Click. Shoot. Die.
As opposed to actually thinking.
(Note I play CSGO, which is not easy, especially in comparison to COD games
Speaking of which, if anyone isn't annoyed by my comments, feel free to add me on Steam - Captain Baldy
Well they don't.