Server Hopping - Simple proposal

[Rammit (DayZ) 153]

I'm sure it is a bit of a challenge to adequately address server hopping.

 

But, as a simple "solution", what about just implementing a 5 minute wait time for spawn if you switch servers. The point being, if you have to wait 5 minutes between every server switch, at a certain point, the time spent waiting = time wasted as you begin to reach a point of parity where it is just as quick/quicker to stay on one server and move to a new location.

 

I haven't thought it out in detail, and I know it can cause the occasional inconvenience if a server you were playing on goes offline or something, but it seems it would (at the very least) diminish the amount of server hopping.

 

An exception could be: if you've not been in a server for 5 minutes or more, then you clearly shouldn't have to wait. Basically, something along the lines of (pseudo-code):

 

If leftServer == true

  start counter

 

  if (counter == 360)

    stop counter

 

  if joinNewServer

    check counter

 

    while counter < 360

      !spawnPlayer

 

    else

      spawnPlayer

 

Do you want to wait 5 minutes in order to server hop and do two minutes of looting, or would you rather just play the game at that point?

    

[ImageCtrl 719]

An exception could be: if you've not been in a server for 5 minutes or more, then you clearly shouldn't have to wait.

I never saw such a 5 minutes counter... Why I never saw it? Why you saw such a high counter?

Edited May 7, 2015 by NoCheats

[mercules 1290]

That won't stop it. 5 minutes during which people can watch YouTube, grab a drink, bio-break, or smoke is still faster than running to the next loot spawn point of "value" to them. 

 

 

The best way to stop server hopping is to remove the hive. 

[ejones7761 9]

I've been waiting for something like this for a while now. I just can't stand people who just want to get geared up server hopping, leaving no loot for the players whop want to play the game for what it is. A survival game. I just want to make sure that if you leave a private server you shouldn't be penalized.

[lrp1984 199]

I'm sure it is a bit of a challenge to adequately address server hopping.

 

But, as a simple "solution", what about just implementing a 5 minute wait time for spawn if you switch servers. The point being, if you have to wait 5 minutes between every server switch, at a certain point, the time spent waiting = time wasted as you begin to reach a point of parity where it is just as quick/quicker to stay on one server and move to a new location.

 

I haven't thought it out in detail, and I know it can cause the occasional inconvenience if a server you were playing on goes offline or something, but it seems it would (at the very least) diminish the amount of server hopping.

 

An exception could be: if you've not been in a server for 5 minutes or more, then you clearly shouldn't have to wait. Basically, something along the lines of (pseudo-code):

 

If leftServer == true

  start counter

 

  if (counter == 360)

    stop counter

 

  if joinNewServer

    check counter

 

    while counter < 360

      !spawnPlayer

 

    else

      spawnPlayer

 

Do you want to wait 5 minutes in order to server hop and do two minutes of looting, or would you rather just play the game at that point?

 

Play on a Private hive server. Very little server hopping then.

[Rammit (DayZ) 153]

That won't stop it. 5 minutes during which people can watch YouTube, grab a drink, bio-break, or smoke is still faster than running to the next loot spawn point of "value" to them. 

 

 

The best way to stop server hopping is to remove the hive. 

 

If someone would rather loot for two minutes, wait for 5, loot for 2, wait for 5, etc, instead spending that time actually playing the game... well, that's their problem :)

 

The problem with removing the hive is that there seem to be a large number of servers that suck, have shitty admins who ban you if you discover their camp (happened to me the other night, but a friend went in and stole all their shit after they said they banned me "because you looted our camp" :) ), hack, don't pay their bill and get shut down, etc, etc. Every time you switch servers, you'd have to start as a fresh spawn. That would be fine, were it not for the above which can cause a lot of server changing.

 

I've also had a hard time finding a decent server that I like to begin with. 

 

I think there is ultimately a better solution to just doing away with one of the core elements of the game (not saying my proposal is *the* solution, or even *a* solution. But, I don't think you have to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Especially, at this early stage, where there are far too many variables, unknowns, and bugs.

[randomspawn 215]

Don't worry. For now, just hop to military base near vybor and there will be so much loot you can't carry it in 20 trips. Don't implement a new timer until we figure out .56 and how the new loot economy is going to work. It might solve the issue by itself.

[newguyzombie 122]

If someone would rather loot for two minutes, wait for 5, loot for 2, wait for 5, etc, instead spending that time actually playing the game... well, that's their problem :)

 

The problem with removing the hive is that there seem to be a large number of servers that suck, have shitty admins who ban you if you discover their camp (happened to me the other night, but a friend went in and stole all their shit after they said they banned me "because you looted our camp" :) ), hack, don't pay their bill and get shut down, etc, etc. Every time you switch servers, you'd have to start as a fresh spawn. That would be fine, were it not for the above which can cause a lot of server changing.

 

I've also had a hard time finding a decent server that I like to begin with. 

 

I think there is ultimately a better solution to just doing away with one of the core elements of the game (not saying my proposal is *the* solution, or even *a* solution. But, I don't think you have to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Especially, at this early stage, where there are far too many variables, unknowns, and bugs.

find a good privat, fixes your problem.

we already had 5 minute timer, didnt change anything.

[BCBasher 2465]

find a good privat, fixes your problem.

we already had 5 minute timer, didnt change anything.

 

I've had 3-5 "good" private servers and every time I get a home set up and get myself set I find out the owner hasn't paid his bill and it goes dark.  

[newguyzombie 122]

I've had 3-5 "good" private servers and every time I get a home set up and get myself set I find out the owner hasn't paid his bill and it goes dark.  

yeah thats to bad, how long have you been playing there?

[Rammit (DayZ) 153]

I've had 3-5 "good" private servers and every time I get a home set up and get myself set I find out the owner hasn't paid his bill and it goes dark.  

I've had two public servers I was playing on go dark for the same reason in as many weeks.

[Steak and Potatoes 13480]

Seems like more of a suggestion rather then general discussion, moved.

[Evil Minion 943]

The best way to stop server hopping is to remove the hive. 

Again this one... No it's not*. Cutting all connections between servers comes with a lot of new issues. Though it's true that 5 minute timers won't do anything. As you mentioned the issue is less people jumping between servers for loot but rather jumping between servers for loot being way more effective than ingame travel between loot spawns.

 

How to solve it? What about increasing the cost for server switching to a point where this is no longe true. Also allow people to avoid this cost by scrapping their old character and starting a new one (to avoid players "getting stuck" on a particular server) and maybe on specific occasions (server restart, kicked, server full etc.).

 

*For example allowing players to join only one server per day would remove the benefits of hopping while still keeping the main benefits of interconnected servers.

[mercules 1290]

The problem with removing the hive is that there seem to be a large number of servers that suck, have shitty admins who ban you if you discover their camp (happened to me the other night, but a friend went in and stole all their shit after they said they banned me "because you looted our camp" :) ), hack, don't pay their bill and get shut down, etc, etc. Every time you switch servers, you'd have to start as a fresh spawn. That would be fine, were it not for the above which can cause a lot of server changing.

 

If a private server shuts down.... oh no... you have to start a new character. That seems much less difficult than finding a damn mag on public servers when server hoppers hoover them all up 5 minutes after the server resets. ;) "Server just reset... why are there 4 ruined mags in this barracks... oh damn it."

[newguyzombie 122]

If a private server shuts down.... oh no... you have to start a new character. That seems much less difficult than finding a damn mag on public servers when server hoppers hoover them all up 5 minutes after the server resets. ;) "Server just reset... why are there 4 ruined mags in this barracks... oh damn it."

ever heared about persistence?

 

an idea would be to increase the counter every time you switch server within an amount of time.

you switch server for the first time within 30 mins. 1 minute timer, again within 30 minutes, 5 minutes, again 10 minutes and so on

 

this would also help against ghosting, and you are still able to switch server, when you friends come online to play with them

Edited May 7, 2015 by newguyzombie

[BCBasher 2465]

yeah thats to bad, how long have you been playing there?

 

Couple days to a week or two. I play 4+hrs a day on week days and 12+ on weekends though.

 

I'm not crying or anything but I do like to "get into" a character for a bit. 

[BeefBacon 1185]

Let the server-hopping scrubs play on public. Doesn't affect me.

 

I can't think of any anti-server hopping measure that doesn't run the risk of punishing honest players.

[Red_Ensign 990]

I WOULD like to see them remove the counter when you were kicked from the last server or it reset.  it's annoying to be treated like a hopper when leaving the last server wasn't your choice.

[Nicko2580 398]

I think that if the game detects you changing servers more than x times in 30 minutes, it should just start degrading all your gear. 

Like, 4 hops within a 30 minute period everything in your inventory drops to the next level down. Another hop? Drops again etc etc until all your shit is ruined.

[lrp1984 199]

Let the server-hopping scrubs play on public. Doesn't affect me.

 

I can't think of any anti-server hopping measure that doesn't run the risk of punishing honest players.

 

I agree, those that play on public have to accept that server hoppers are there, and any system to punish them will end up punishing innocent parties as well. I've not played on a public hive since last year. I like having several different characters across different private hives that I can play with different people.

[mercules 1290]

ever heared about persistence?

 

 

If you stick something into a tent and expect it to be there when you  go back... well... you are a fool. Experience from the mod tells me that tents are most often best for temporary storage with no expectation for it to be there very long since someone will find it. 

 

Oh, but wait... with public servers and vigilant moderators kicking anyone off their "public" server I suppose people could actually keep their tent stashes safe and then hop over to grab guns/gear any time they die so they can get right back into the action.... 

 

 

The Hive system truly messes up a lot of things in DayZ. 

 

- Someone dies so they head to a low pop server, gear up, then head back to the high pop server to get into trouble. 

 

- Someone loots one high loot area over and over, such as the prison island, simply by switching to a server that recently restarted and running through it. Persistance will help a bit with that, but it will still encourage hopping so that you might hit a server where the loot hasn't been picked over recently.

 

- It allows Ghosting... even if it takes 30 minutes to log into a different server once barricading is in place you will still be able to bypass them by switching servers. 30 minutes to gain access to someone's "base" which could be full of tents of loot is not a large time investment compared to potential payoff.

- It prevents a community from forming. When I played on private servers in the Mod I would get to know the "locals". I knew who I could trust some, who I should never trust, and such. I had rivalries with specific players. There were neutral parties that I knew I could trade with but also knew I shouldn't mess with when in certain areas. Things would happen like a player killing me in a high loot area and then offering to grab what they could of my gear and fly it down to the coast because they had a helicopter hidden nearby. 

[Rammit (DayZ) 153]

I think that if the game detects you changing servers more than x times in 30 minutes, it should just start degrading all your gear. 

Like, 4 hops within a 30 minute period everything in your inventory drops to the next level down. Another hop? Drops again etc etc until all your shit is ruined.

 

Interesting idea...

[newguyzombie 122]

If you stick something into a tent and expect it to be there when you  go back... well... you are a fool. Experience from the mod tells me that tents are most often best for temporary storage with no expectation for it to be there very long since someone will find it. 

 

Oh, but wait... with public servers and vigilant moderators kicking anyone off their "public" server I suppose people could actually keep their tent stashes safe and then hop over to grab guns/gear any time they die so they can get right back into the action.... 

 

 

The Hive system truly messes up a lot of things in DayZ. 

 

- Someone dies so they head to a low pop server, gear up, then head back to the high pop server to get into trouble. 

 

- Someone loots one high loot area over and over, such as the prison island, simply by switching to a server that recently restarted and running through it. Persistance will help a bit with that, but it will still encourage hopping so that you might hit a server where the loot hasn't been picked over recently.

 

- It allows Ghosting... even if it takes 30 minutes to log into a different server once barricading is in place you will still be able to bypass them by switching servers. 30 minutes to gain access to someone's "base" which could be full of tents of loot is not a large time investment compared to potential payoff.

- It prevents a community from forming. When I played on private servers in the Mod I would get to know the "locals". I knew who I could trust some, who I should never trust, and such. I had rivalries with specific players. There were neutral parties that I knew I could trade with but also knew I shouldn't mess with when in certain areas. Things would happen like a player killing me in a high loot area and then offering to grab what they could of my gear and fly it down to the coast because they had a helicopter hidden nearby. 

No, i was talking about your sentence with the ruined stuff. it still remains after server reset. seen this several times

[Grimey Rick 3417]

What the fuck? We already HAVE this.