Iv'e never called it a queue. To me its always been a batch drop. That means you've all been fooled by a simple trick. In my experience going back a few years with outfit members and myself all on comms we've only ever seen a system where everyone gets in at once in a batch of 30 40 50 ppl "everyone in the queue". The correct description for this would be a batch drop, not a queue. What we have not seen is a system where people progress to the front of an orderly line and those at the front get in where those at the back do not. The correct description for this would be a queue. Sure there is a number at the top telling you your in a queue but if its not a queue and its a batch drop then that's just a lie to make you feel better like musak in an elevator, surprise surprise when the elevator get to the destination EVERYONE gets out ? = not a queue. I know that the number in front of you can make you think your getting what you pay for "in membership jumping you to the front of the queue"and most people believe it and will swear that its a queue and always has been and they get to the front . . . . . but those of us with membership had never gotten in faster than non members and cancelled our membership in frustration accordingly. Sure iv'e watched the numbers shuffling round telling me and my outfit mates how far from the front of the elevator they are, but when the doors open, everyone gets out. I'm the only one i know that has repeatedly gone back into the "batch drop" or "elevator"over periods of hours to test this and would dearly like to hear from anyone else who had done the type of testing as i have and found differing results. I think its right that members should have less wait times. Great for the game, those that support it get the benefit. The system as i believe it stands is an outright lie? and is detrimental to the games ability to make coin.
Overall, the queue is just a useless thing put in place to please crybabies complaining about pop balance. The queue just deters some people from logging on, doesn't create fair fights at bases or the continent overall (due to the three way nature of the game), and doesn't actually work. Basically, as you mentioned, the queue just puts people into a "batch", based on how far apart you have applied to warp to the continent (assumption). When multiple people attempt to log on to the same faction during low pop hours, there is an imbalance created. The queue forces players to wait in separate (large) batches at the VR. I'm guessing that at some point, there are too much batches, and the game decides to release one into the continent. (Which is why we can still observe pop numbers like "15%, 21%, 64%) despite the queue. Sometimes, one faction ca even have 90% pop, which is proof the queues don't even work to "balance the pop".
I play right next to my brother and can see his screen any time, so this gets 'tested' each time we both join a queue. My findings are that it seems to work both ways: If it is a 'Max Population' queue then it seems to work as it should with 1 or 2 people warping at a time presumably as other people log off, last example of this was on Thursday evening, i was 2/16 my bro was 1/16, he warped and i changed to 1/15. If it is an 'Empire Balance' queue then it does indeed seem to warp people in batches, membership or not doesnt seem to matter when its this type of queue. For max pop queues i think they should consider having a sort of overflow system in place, say 5-10 slots. So if the max pop is 1000, and 5 members then log in to a full server, the server will allow the max pop to overflow up to 1005, but will not let any non members on until the level drops back below 1000. (or do it the other way and reduce the limit by 5-10 to create the overflow) This will allow members to almost always get straight into the action, and 5-10 players isnt going to make any difference with max populations. Members will actually be 'skipping the queue' in this case, which would be good imo for generating memberships.
The Queue can never be more than a best guess. The programmers can't account for every person's decisions at all times: 1. People in the queue quit or change their mind 2. People playing in the map you are queued for come and go on their own...not on the queues timer...this true across three factions So it's best guess. It's more complex than judging which grocery store line is best. You're in one line, has a woman ahead with a mediium load of food. You think, this shouldn't take long. Then you hear her partition her medium load into 4 small loads, each to be paid by a different credit card, and she messes up on a few swipes or pin codes...then she complains about the price for a few items. Then she changes her mind about paper or plastic. Then she answers her phone... Ya...queues...
Funny as Ogre ! Trigga, thanks for this it explains a lot. Its been ages since i did my testing and did some more today. Found it all working as it should and looked like it was max pop queue so would confirm what you said. I think whenever ive looked at it in the past it has been faction ballance. So i suppose the next question to the devs would be "can we get the system for faction balance changed so we get a benefit for being members as well?"
exactly the same thing happened to me, I was in the queue 2/5 I am coming a friend out of curiosity I invited him to the team to see if he was "subscriber" it was not, strange case the fate, from the vr step immediately on the other continent ! I had been there for 10 minutes
