I don't claim to know exactly how it all works. For example, the number of players one continent can handle....etc. But couldn't queues be eliminated through the use of counter? Instead of putting everybody in a queue, waiting until all factions have the same number, then letting them enter the continent. Couldn't this be eliminated by the use of faction locks? 1. Don't know about everyone else but I have toons in all factions. Create toons in all factions. 2. The counter. It never allows any faction to have a lot more players of than others. Set it for player increments of 5, 7...whatever. When one faction gets 5 or 7 more players than the other factions, that faction 'locks' until the other factions catch up. When all factions are equal the counter resets. 3. Login. Once logged in you get the character selection screen. Players have a choice here. If you had your heart set on playing your TR but they're locked, you can choose from the other faction(s) that aren't locked and boom you're right in the game. Or, stick with your TR and enter a queue until the faction counter resets. I have to imagine this would be no where's near the 15 ~ 30+ minute queues we've been seeing. Again, I don't know how this all works. I am not a programmer. I don't know the max number of players one continent can handle before another continent has to be opened. I do know I like the big battles. I'd rather play the game where there's 50, 75, or even 100 players(not knowing continent limits) in each faction, than only allowing a certain number then dumping the rest onto another continent where we're seeing numbers like TR30%, VS21%, NC 16%. where the game play is basically already a given. Not to mention, depending on the numbers, boring. Just a idea.
If I recall correctly, in Planetside 1 there was no such thing as a "Faction Balance Queue". The only "Queue" that existed, was a "Maximum Population Queue". Meaning that if your faction showed up with less available manpower than the enemy, you could easily be outnumbered 2:1, 4:1 even 10:1 or more. Anyone who's a Planetside 1 vet was used to participating in fights they had no chance of winning. Players simply participated because if you were the "underdog" force, you'd get significant bonus EXP perks. So for some players... there -was- incentive to go to fights where you were outpopulated because of the extra EXP you'd get - if you were able to survive the grind. The problem with Planetside 2 is that the game was designed to be a "permanent 3-way battle royale" game mode. Back in Planetside 1, the style of the game was designed more around "conquest". Meaning that on the regular, it'd be a 1v1 between two factions on a single continent. And a 3-way fight was a rare situation. Everything in PS2 was designed to be as "balanced" as possible in terms of territory because it's a constant 3-way war. Because to win an alert in PS2, all you need is a 1% territory margin over the other factions. In Planetside 1? ... You had to conquer 100% of the continent to capture it - which could take hours. Today's modern PS2 players already have absolute meltdowns about "overpop zerging". You can constantly hear them complain about it in /yell chat daily. Especially the VS players. Not a single one of those PS2 players would be able to handle original PS1 asymmetrical conquest, as there was always a potential for a significant population disparity.
