These Queues...

[CRACKMASTER]

I have three friends who have started playing on this server with me after seeing my twitch streams but the odds of us getting in the game together feels about the same as winning the lottery.

My friend Mike gets off early in the morning because he works third shift, no big problem there as the queues are short/non-existent at that time. My other two friends get off work in the evening, right when the queue times are the worst, and they have a very hard time getting into the game at all. Most of the time they're ready and waiting at the reset but don't make it anyways. And if they happen to get home after the 8pm reset, it's GG for the whole night. 

As of this moment, (Saturday 9pm) I'm in a 25/30 queue simply because my computer had a hiccup and didn't reboot in time to make it high in the queue. At the time of the reset, every one of the three servers has more than 40 people in queue. I already know there's no way I'll get into the game tonight unless I stay up until 3 am, when all of my friends will definitely be in bed. On top of that, there is an error that often occurs where you'll get all the way down to 1 in the queue and it will tell you to go back to the end of the line. 

Who do I have to pay to get priority in the queue? Can we have a white list server where everyone pays to get in and has to apply so I can finally play with my friends and not have to worry about every meeting ending in shooting or robbery? Not to be a dick, but it seems like somebody is really pissing away the opportunity to make lots of money and turn this server into one of the greats like that one server every big streamer is playing on. I wonder how much money they make off the simple fact that they allow people to donate in order to skip to the front of their application queue?

Believe me I'm not a money grubber IRL either, but my god you've got at least 90 people willing to spend 8hrs on a saturday night just to get logged into your server. I'm ready to support the devs in future endeavors and especially ready to actually get in with my friends for once!

Edited March 24, 2019 by CRACKMASTER

[George Cahill]

2 minutes ago, CRACKMASTER said:

Who do I have to pay to get priority in the queue? Can we have a white list server where everyone pays to get in and has to apply so I can finally play with my friends and not have to worry about every meeting ending in shooting or robbery?

1. Read the FiveM ToS (Terms of Service) as paying for queue priority/a private server is against that. Donating to the server supports the staff pay for the server to be up and new things to be added.

4 minutes ago, CRACKMASTER said:

As of this moment, (Saturday 9pm) I'm in a 25/30 queue simply because my computer had a hiccup and didn't reboot in time to make it high in the queue.

2. This is your side issue, therfore that has nothing to do with the server not allowing you in, or the queue's problem. Simply just an accident/coincidence.

5 minutes ago, CRACKMASTER said:

My friend Mike gets off early in the morning because he works third shift, no big problem there as the queues are short/non-existent at that time. My other two friends get off work in the evening, right when the queue times are the worst.

3. I guess ya'll will have to play on a day ya'll are all free.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not trying to be a dick and I understand your pain and suffering in the situation because you are not the only person who experiences the issues. It just sucks, it really does. It is like this currently for most servers. Also if you were allowed to pay for queue priority, would that be fair? Would it be fair to the people who really cannot afford to pay and have to sit in your position while you P2W. Just my 2 cents. 

There is always a way around it, find that way. Best of luck!

[speed]

Adding additional servers has never been a money issue. We can't accept donations for access, and we wouldn't even if we could. That's not who we are as a community.

We have a certain level of quality we expect to provide to our players, and that depends on other factors such as whitelisted faction availability.

We're not going to compromise the quality of our community for the sake of growth. And that's why our queues are large enough to double our current size.

[CRACKMASTER]

More servers isn't the answer, more exclusive servers are. Why should loyal players be thrown in with the common rabble of anyone with an internet connection?

How does this possibly mean higher quality? This is quantity>quality and to top it off we're not even taking advantage of it fiscally.

It's no secret that already the higher quality players are attracted to the number 1 server rather than the 2 or 3. Server two and three is like a last resort, so that at least I can get in and play with my character at all today. Opening a fourth server would ease queues slightly but then you'd just have another 32 newbies brought in by twitch hype complaining that they can't steal cars, crying because there's no EMS to save them when they die and lose their stuff, or polluting 90% of server chatter with /ooc questions because they are too lazy to have researched it themselves. 

They're lazy because they have no relationship with the server, they just downloaded it and got in free, it's a free game and they'll treat it as such. Obviously "P2W" is against FiveM ToS or whatever, but there's got to be some creative way around it that will benefit the devs and therefor the loyal players. Maybe make server one a white listed server and donors get a priority in the application process.

IDK it's not my money and reputation at stake, but it seems to me like you have an existing core group of very dedicated people but otherwise are hemorrhaging many potential new additions to that group because they are slightly less patient or tolerant of the free-for-all state of things as they are. I guess, in a way, that is what you're trying to tell me without coming out and saying it. That being let into the little club of prioritized members is a matter of severe dedication rather than monetary transaction, which I'm cool with, but not ever being able to get a game with my friends is causing a lot of friction and I just wish there was some fast-track way I could change it.

BTW I wouldn't qualify as a "loyal player" I'm pretty new actually, but I've spent a lot of time on your server already so I'm familiar with the ins-and-outs of the daiIy experience. A lot of queue anxiety, quite a cash slog, a nice sprinkling of colorful characters, some assholes, and a brutal police force. You guys just want to get paid in effort and loyalty over time, not money. I get it, I get it, happy RPing all

 

[Kilo]

so ... what do you want? the admins to kick a player thats already in game so you and your friends can get in??? i dont get it. a queue is a queue . Simple ya it sux waiting but if your not waiting then someone else is .welcome to life.

Edited March 24, 2019 by Kilo

[Victor]

I have been playing on Badlands since June 2018 and I love new wave of newbies. I feel bit dissapointed how you view them Crackmaster. What you do not see is that same old players all day long can make server very stale. From EMS point of view, new players have been extremely fun and interesting to interact with. Many of them come with fresh ideas and mindset. I have been often on server 3 just because of that only. So in my opinion, barring newbies from server by "loyalty-priority" or donation priority queues will hurt server more in the long run.

[ValkyrieBlu]

9 hours ago, CRACKMASTER said:

It's no secret that already the higher quality players are attracted to the number 1 server rather than the 2 or 3. Server two and three is like a last resort, so that at least I can get in and play with my character at all today.

Thats not entirely true. The server's RP quality has been discussed by myself and some friends and we all agree that the ''better'' server changes. For a long time, no one I RPed with consistently ever wanted to go to server 1 because we all felt that was where most of the new people went and cluttered ooc with questions that could be answered if they had bothered to read the welcome slideshow. For a really long time, all of my friends always went to server 2 because thats where everyone knew to go in order to meet up. If 10 friends went to server 2 and I went to server 1, I would spend most of the day alone and probably grinding jobs because the RP that I was heavily involved in was in server 2. Recently that has changed and we all meet up on server 1 because one of our group has a better connection to 1 for some reason. If I went to server 2 now I would be grinding jobs as I used to do in 1. So the ''better'' server for me has changed. Its wherever you put your roots and make a name for yourself and help create quality RP with the rest of the people in that server. 

9 hours ago, CRACKMASTER said:

Maybe make server one a white listed server and donors get a priority in the application process.

While I did just sort of bash new players in my previous paragraph, this scenario that you present is flawed. While new players can be annoying when you're not in the mood to sit and answer questions, by removing any sort of new players on a server where most of the donors would frequent, you miss out on meeting new people to add to your RP experience. Helping new people is how we grow as a community both in numbers and in quality. I know I would not have had some amazing RP if I were stuck in a bubble with all the other ''regulars''. And creating a space for the privileged and popular creates a toxic environment in the other servers. ''Server 1 is whitelisted. Thats where all the cool people go and we're stuck here like leapers.'' That sounds like a terrible place to be. It also discourages good RP. If everyone believes that the good RP is all happening on server ABC, then they're more likely to be 'shitlords' in server XYZ. Good RP starts with you. 

9 hours ago, CRACKMASTER said:

Obviously "P2W" is against FiveM ToS or whatever, but there's got to be some creative way around it that will benefit the devs and therefor the loyal players.

Have you considered how amazing it is that the devs, owners, and admins do this out of the goodness of their hearts? You're encouraging them to be greedy by telling them how much money they could make if they bent the rules a little bit. A whitelisted server for donors only is sounds the same to me as P2W queue priority. They built this community and they care about it and love doing it. I don't want to sound like I'm kissing ass (too late), but lets face it. All of the staff puts in a lot of time and quality effort to keep this going for the hundreds of people that call Badlands home. As speed himself said, making people pay is not in the spirit of the community.

 

The queue sucks and thats that. I can tell you from experience that it fluctuates. This is the busiest I've ever seen it with 3 servers and 20+ queues on each, but there have also been times where at peak hours the population on servers 1 and 2 could be put together and still not be enough to fill an entire city. The admins monitor the situation and make changes as they see fit. I know it sucks not being able to play with friends, that I can also tell you from experience. The only suggestions I have are to pay attention to the time and try to get in at the server restarts. If you're not home when it happens, then happy waiting with the rest of us rabble. 

[HalcyonEnd]

I really, really dislike this mindset about 'best' servers, and regarding newer players (of which I am one, with only about 3 weeks on the server, though I did start just before the huge influx) being pollution. 

As someone who has bounced around all three servers consistently, at all times of day, and interacted with players old and new both through RP and OOC chat, I can say that while it does feel true that Server 3 has a higher population of newer players (due to no priority bumping), that hasn't lead in my experience to a severely lower quality of RP. I feel like my RP experience is pretty even across all 3 servers honestly, if anything Server 3 feels more open to finding RP because there are fewer ingrained cliques who already have a circle they want to RP with and are satisfied with that. 

OOC gets hit with annoying questions people should already know just from reading the server connection splash screen or the website, but it happens on all three servers and it can be muted. While there will be some toxic folks and Default Danny's VDM'ing, they'll get sorted out like always over time, and the other new players who want to RP and be part of the community in a real way will settle in. I've had really fantastic RP with super super new players, and I think an open mind is warranted.

The queues are what they are; as more EMS/PD get accepted and trained maybe the admin will be able to consider a 4th server if the numbers stay like they are, but all the complaining doesn't help anyone -- they are more than aware people are unhappy with queues. Adding in more whitelisting layers / applications / blahblah just creates more admin overhead and leads to a stagnant, gated community. 

[ValkyrieBlu]

6 minutes ago, HalcyonEnd said:

I really, really dislike this mindset about 'best' servers, and regarding newer players (of which I am one, with only about 3 weeks on the server, though I did start just before the huge influx) being pollution. 

I apologize if my comment came across like this. The point I was trying to get to was that the 'best' server is wherever you are creating RP. When all the people I usually RP'd with were on a different server, the only thing stopping me from having good RP was me, because I was so involved in the RP somewhere else and took the chance to make some money when I was not with those people. As I said, good RP starts with you. 

[HalcyonEnd]

3 minutes ago, ValkyrieBlu said:

I apologize if my comment came across like this. The point I was trying to get to was that the 'best' server is wherever you are creating RP. When all the people I usually RP'd with were on a different server, the only thing stopping me from having good RP was me, because I was so involved in the RP somewhere else and took the chance to make some money when I was not with those people. As I said, good RP starts with you. 

Nono you're fine! I was specifically replying to OP and many others (on Discord, etc.) who seem to have the mindset that good RP only happens on Server 1, that Server 3 is some horrible wasteland of no RP, etc.