Ok so i've just finished another night with a massive underpop and guess what - we lost - badly. There was not much fun to be had. The population has declined so much (like 40% over the last year) that only one continent is open now - and as the population balancer is around 2 factions rather than 1, it often leads to a faction with a significant underpop.Guess what their chances are ? All we ever hear is 'we are aware of the problem' and yet ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ever gets done about it. So I got 15% extra XP for being cannon fodder on the rare occasion that I actually managed to kill someone ? Excuse me if I don't jump at the opportunity. You really need to take a step back and understand what needs to be done to retain people - for everyone, no matter what the situation, to feel they stood a chance and most of all 'enjoyed' their session. I'm a paying member and have been for years as nothing out there is quite like PS2. It's a crying shame to see it going down the pan - which it really is right now - but then your retention stats will prove that point and you don't need me to tell you. Do something - ANYTHING - it's time to be bold while you still have any pop worth considering.
I agree with OP, time matters and I believe the game is well past a sustainable population. Whoever up high allocates resources at DBG has to decide between putting more into PS2 now or just milking it till the end. The devs can only do so much, and they are clearly doing everything they can with DX11, NSOs, new weapons, and perhaps Oshur - the original game devs I'm pretty sure are gone so there's no hope for buffing ping differences and other core game problems. If you have constant low pop, it is somewhat fixable by playing more than one faction with the added benefit of enjoying whatever is unique to it. A big problem is when entire servers are constantly low pop, or when the game becomes ever more of a seasonal thing. Off-peak hours I'm highly reluctant to log in and instead went back to Overwatch since the low pop PS2 player experience is absolute garbage, and I don't say that lightly, due to the same old unresolved problems: cheating, ping wizards, and other nonsense (hitbox detection, RoF issues, audio problems, long standing bugs, some balance issues, etc.). A lot on reddit mirror my own experiences and observations with PS2.
The game IS kind of old. It's doing ok for a 6 year old game that seems to introduce more bugs with every patch. Plus they are adding the new 4th faction soldiers who can choose to play for the low pop faction, so they ARE planning to do something about it.
But when ? That's my point exactly - ONE continent open now during Prime Time, which magnifies the imbalance even more. For too long now we've had double-team and population issues (i'm not even going to mention the cheats) and yet nothing new is even attempted to stem the Plexit. By the time the mythical bots are introduced - they may be the only population left.
There is usually a base connection without anyone fighting there. Sometimes when im getting zerged i pull a sundy and go take a point at such a bse and this starts a small scale fight that can be more fun.
I do hear you, and I usually log in to the underpop faction. I have 6 characters, on Connery and Emerald. I used to log into all 6 for the subscription certs, but now, usually, just 1 or 2 factions. Whoever is underpopped. I guess I like playing the underdog, and feels good when I can actually make a difference. One of the things I truly love about PS2 is the 3 faction scenario, throwing mayhem into the mix. You always have 2 teams {factions} against you, regardless of pop, your faction is the minority of total pop. I've never seen a faction with 50%+ of the pop, even though it might have happened. There are always opportunities, but they might not be exactly what you want, like an even pop fight at a base. One of the things I love about PS2 is that you are not locked into doing any particular thing, it's a sandbox, and there are people doing things they enjoy. Don't disparage them. If Joe just truly enjoys building a base and running round in his Ant, that's cool. I like to visit bases, sometimes as a safe haven, and try to give kudo's to the guys doing that, etc. If I see guys trying to flank, or do something opportunistic, I try and support them, etc.
NC and TR under 20%, VS over 50% on a Saturday Night. Made most NC players log off and play other games. At least that's what our Discord looked like. Not really fun when every battle you are at have 3-1 population camping your spawn room. https://i.redd.it/yyhse60rmrq21.png
