Servers lists information

[Ice9 10]

Total servers online: 5704

Total Altis Life: 1375

Total Takistan Life: 125

Total Epoch Mod: 1140

Total Breaking Point: 29

Total King of the Hills: 115

Total Wasteland: 372

MILITARY GAME MODES :

Invade & Annex : 105

Domination : 95

Insurgency : 75

After this, think what you want and make your own opinion about it.

Edited December 28, 2014 by Ice9

[yxman 90]

for me its no milsim anymore, there are no real coop missions out there in terms of populated server (beside invade&annex (overplayed), and a few martial missions but no servers with ppl on them)

also sway/inertia & aimbot ai + 7 hits to kill (i know armor plates but still feels incredible unrealistic), unrealistic medical system, etc...

for milsim like gameplay i prefer arma2 (also for assets)

arma3 is a walking(exhausted noise in my ear) simulator with nice graphics and fucked up dlc mechanics.

[gibonez 18]

I never knew a mil sim required shooting at dumb bots :/

TVT is still king in arma thankfully not a fan of those crappy life servers.

[dnk 13]

[TABLE=class: full]

[TR]

[TH]#[/TH]

[TH]Mission[/TH]

[TH]Games Played[/TH]

[TH]Player Time[/TH]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD] 1[/TD]

[TD] Altis Life RPG[/TD]

[TD] 97240[/TD]

[TD] 1735014:29:48[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD] 2[/TD]

[TD] Epoch Mod[/TD]

[TD] 71052[/TD]

[TD] 1062829:28:16[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD] 3[/TD]

[TD] Breaking Point[/TD]

[TD] 2321[/TD]

[TD] 348349:14:16[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD] 4[/TD]

[TD] King of the Hill by Sa-Matra (vTEST)[/TD]

[TD] 2937[/TD]

[TD] 191869:28:18[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD] 5[/TD]

[TD] battleroyale[/TD]

[TD] 12269[/TD]

[TD] 163624:39:44[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD] 6[/TD]

[TD] A3Wasteland Stratis v1.0b[/TD]

[TD] 4575[/TD]

[TD] 151500:40:05[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD] 7[/TD]

[TD] Community King of the Hill by Sa-Matra (v8)[/TD]

[TD] 2070[/TD]

[TD] 123097:36:54[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD] 8[/TD]

[TD] A3Wasteland Altis v1.0b[/TD]

[TD] 6594[/TD]

[TD] 118405:57:50[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD] 9[/TD]

[TD] Altis Life ASYLUM[/TD]

[TD] 1667[/TD]

[TD] 100445:46:42[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD] 10[/TD]

[TD] Stratis Wasteland by Sa-Matra (v13)[/TD]

[TD] 505[/TD]

[TD] 97035:16:55[/TD]

[/TR]

[/TABLE]

Better than just looking at servers.

KOTH/Wasteland are as milsim as you make them. You can get in a squad and play it fairly seriously with a small group over TS in the larger server, or you can just pub it and play Arma-style BF4/COD. Breaking Point and Epoch can be similar, just with a zombie theme.

Seems like there's a ton of interest in the game still, that's what's good. About 1.5 years since the alpha release, and we still have tons of full servers. The Arma 2 populations weren't nearly as healthy at this point in that dev cycle, if I remember it right. It also probably had a similar breakdown, with DayZ, KOTH, and Life mods making up the lion's share of play time.

Edited December 29, 2014 by DNK

[andersson 285]

Well... I guess I'm not alone thinking BIS 2035 theme was not the best decision? OFP, Armed assault and A2 was immersive as vanilla as I could relate to the guns and factions. But I don't recognize the prototypes and mash-ups in A3, so I simply do not play vanilla anymore. Luckily we have mods like RHS and CUP but it makes all vanilla servers by default out of the question for me.

Edited December 29, 2014 by andersson

[anthariel 165]

Well, the 2035 theme was not so bad, unfortunately, BIS did not push things thoroughly, We would have had warships, carriers, F-35, compensating for weapons on vehicles, bipods, a real medical system. I will not reopen the debate, but one year after the release of the game, we have no real addition exclude the DLC Helicopter, brings ... two helicopters.

I sincerely hope that the extension and Marksman DLC are correcting this lack and bring many vanilla servers ( like the alpha of A3 ).

[SnR 1]

Each year a similar thread appears to re-evaluate Arma's MP position. "I say again" to those disgruntled about life, join a group to experience the games true worth.

[das attorney 857]

Well, the 2035 theme was not so bad, unfortunately, BIS did not push things thoroughly, We would have had warships, carriers, F-35, compensating for weapons on vehicles, bipods, a real medical system. I will not reopen the debate, but one year after the release of the game, we have no real addition exclude the DLC Helicopter, brings ... two helicopters.

I sincerely hope that the extension and Marksman DLC are correcting this lack and bring many vanilla servers ( like the alpha of A3 ).

That's how I see it too.

As a mission maker, why bother trying to make a game mode with AI that can't drive properly and slow down the server, when you could just make some a game mode that doesn't need to rely on the AI?

Much more practical to make it player centric (like Wasteland or Altis Life) and cut AI out of the picture.

Also, so many broken/half finished features. It looked really promising with AI divers and underwater combat, but the reality is anything to do with underwater is so broken, it's not worth considering to put in a mission.

It's worth remembering as well that there hasn't been a revolutionary mil-style game mode in ages. Modes like domination and Insurgency are ports from Arma and Arma 2. Maybe people are bored of playing the same modes for 5 or 6 years. Personally, I never liked the CO-OP COIN missions where players spend their time taking pot shots with their thermal scopes at AI running around with AKs.

[vegeta897 13]

Those stats don't convey the implication you're making unless you can show us what the server stats would look like if those game modes didn't exist. Would more military oriented servers exist if the others didn't? Would BIS have the funding they have to make Arma 3 great if it didn't attract the players on those servers?

Show me proof that the existence of these mods and game modes is actually the cause of a decrease in the amount of servers you want to see. These stats do not prove that.

[luki 53]

In guess you should look at all this from another perspective. Some time ago we had 2000-3000 players online, now we are at 33000.

[danius 13]

Yeah these statistics seem very, very incomplete to me. You are only considering PUBLIC servers running game modes with no barrier to entry (mods). The vast majority of people looking for COOP/MILSIM experience are doing so on heavily modded clan or private servers. There are so many coop operations going on at any time, they're just not occurring on public servers. For those types of coop Invade & Annex and Domination are really you're ONLY options. Public servers lend themselves to PvP type game modes (or RP game modes, I guess). If you really want an awesome milsim coop experience, join or start a group/clan and have at it. There really is no shortness of opportunities.

As an aside, I really don't understand all the hate the Wasteland gets. I find it to be a really challenging game mode and one in which military style coop tactics can do wonders for improving your success. I view it as a group of people engaging in asymmetrical warfare (we always play as indi) against roving hostile platoons. You need to work together, move tactically, complete objectives, acquire military assets for your squad, while denying assets to the enemy. I'm not really sure what's not "in the spirit" of ArmA about that.

[Grumpy Old Man 3540]

That's how I see it too.

As a mission maker, why bother trying to make a game mode with AI that can't drive properly and slow down the server, when you could just make some a game mode that doesn't need to rely on the AI?

Much more practical to make it player centric (like Wasteland or Altis Life) and cut AI out of the picture.

Also, so many broken/half finished features. It looked really promising with AI divers and underwater combat, but the reality is anything to do with underwater is so broken, it's not worth considering to put in a mission.

It's worth remembering as well that there hasn't been a revolutionary mil-style game mode in ages. Modes like domination and Insurgency are ports from Arma and Arma 2. Maybe people are bored of playing the same modes for 5 or 6 years. Personally, I never liked the CO-OP COIN missions where players spend their time taking pot shots with their thermal scopes at AI running around with AKs.

Totally with you,

it's ridiculous how many workarounds are needed so AI won't run over infantry when driving a vehicle, don't even want to think about underwater issues.

Same goes for stuff that's been working fine in A2 but for some weird reason it got removed/changed in A3 (ambient civilians of both genders, throwable stone "handgrenade", chopper pilots using headlights in safe mode and all those warfare buildings/fortifications, motorcycles/bicycles, just to name a few).

Maybe it needs at least one expansion into arma 3 until we see some kind of new military based game mode, even though there are some nicely done missions on the steam workshop.

[dnk 13]

In guess you should look at all this from another perspective. Some time ago we had 2000-3000 players online, now we are at 33000.

Exactly. Back in 2012, A2/OA servers with 30+ on were few, save DayZ of course. The community was nearly flatlined.

And the ones that were heavily populated were about the same as what's in OP's stats. Rather than complain about the new game modes, we should be thankful, because without them it's unlikely we would've even had an A3, and certainly we wouldn't be surefire on DLCs/expansions/A4. The series likely would've died with OA otherwise, or at least been on its last legs. Whatever you think about the current state of the game, imagine what it'd be with a third the budget...

It's worth remembering as well that there hasn't been a revolutionary mil-style game mode in ages. Modes like domination and Insurgency are ports from Arma and Arma 2. Maybe people are bored of playing the same modes for 5 or 6 years. Personally, I never liked the CO-OP COIN missions where players spend their time taking pot shots with their thermal scopes at AI running around with AKs.

Zeus? It's gone nowhere, but it was something the COOP community had been calling for since A1 at least: live mission editing with 3D placement.

There's like 20 people playing ZGM modes usually now, though. I'm disappointed, because it's something I'd like to do more often. However, there's 2 crucial issues with Zeus:

1) the AI still sucks horribly, and a lot of GMs are not as aware of how to work around this than experienced scenario makers.

2) GMs decide the quality of the game a lot, and too often totally inexperienced people take the reins. Aside from the afore-mentioned AI issues that can result, they just end up making a mess of the session.

But yeah, I otherwise agree. At the very least, a total reimagining of Dom/Evo/Insurgency is needed. Otherwise, it's private servers with private mission makers making hand-tailored scenarios.

Do note that Warfare can be fairly COOP depending on how it's set up, while also having PvP elements in addition. Of course, when you put PvP right next to COOP, the AI's failures become way more apparent and immersion-breaking.

[inlesco 233]

Totally with you,

it's ridiculous how many workarounds are needed so AI won't run over infantry when driving a vehicle, don't even want to think about underwater issues.

Same goes for stuff that's been working fine in A2 but for some weird reason it got removed/changed in A3 (ambient civilians of both genders, throwable stone "handgrenade", chopper pilots using headlights in safe mode and all those warfare buildings/fortifications, motorcycles/bicycles, just to name a few).

Maybe it needs at least one expansion into arma 3 until we see some kind of new military based game mode, even though there are some nicely done missions on the steam workshop.

Lack of content is apparent and discussed hundreds of times.

AI pathfinding and navigation will suck until it's rewritten completely at low-level. Take GTA4. Cop and civilian pathfinding is very good, they can follow /track you almost anywhere. GTA5 next-gen is the same since R* used new console tech for more calculations.

Solution? BIS must work with Google AI department pioneers! :D

[CaptainAzimuth 714]

Sa-Matra is at the bottom? Damn man, that's THEE best Wasteland. I remember dominating on those servers with my crew. Setting up an FOB and chilling. We need more interesting servers, that involve all 3 factions and players.

[spanishsurfer 58]

for me its no milsim anymore, there are no real coop missions out there in terms of populated server (beside invade&annex (overplayed), and a few martial missions but no servers with ppl on them)

also sway/inertia & aimbot ai + 7 hits to kill (i know armor plates but still feels incredible unrealistic), unrealistic medical system, etc...

for milsim like gameplay i prefer arma2 (also for assets)

arma3 is a walking(exhausted noise in my ear) simulator with nice graphics and fucked up dlc mechanics.

So what about CTI? Check this out: http://www.gametracker.com/server_info/209.160.28.31:2320/ Ranked in the top 91 percent and full of players (populated on afternoons/evenings, most of us work or go to school). The server uses every facet of ARMA 3 available and is a mix of co-op and TvT. Players are also polite, work as a team, and communicate a lot on VON/chat. Did I mention this is a public server? It takes an army of admins and mission devs but GREAT public servers that focus on Warfare in Arma do EXIST.

Edited January 2, 2015 by SpanishSurfer

[dale0404 5]

As someone as already said in this thread, to get the best out of A3 join a community. Talking of which filter "Tour" when you are next playing A3 on a Friday or Saturday night from around 20:30hrs Zulu. That's if you want team orientated gameplay and you can follow orders of course.

[yxman 90]

@SpanishSurfer its the same as EUTW (TvT with few ai pre town defense).

also 5mins+ stuck on "receiving mission intel"

[spanishsurfer 58]

@SpanishSurfer its the same as EUTW (TvT with few ai pre town defense).

also 5mins+ stuck on "receiving mission intel"

BECTI was out years before EUTW had their version of CTI (which by the way is called Teetimes Warfare). Also, BECTI and EUTW are EXTREMELY DIFFERENT. Examples: BECTI you command up to 11 AI, BECTI you build bases and structures, BECTI has a commander on each team that builds bases, defenses, leads the team, activates town, manages the cash flow, and determines what to technologies to upgrade for the team. BECTI has a full logistics system where players can airlift vehicles, ammo crates, and paradrop them onto those that need them. BECTI uses the ENTIRE map of Altis and not pieces, BECTI does not NERF any vehicles, weapons, or core gameplay components...You can load a mortar onto the back of an offroad, a submarine into a mohawk, a UGV onto a HEMMT/Mohawk, and you can research TACTICAL HUD which gives you access to your teams entire information network in 1st person mode given that you're wearing tactical glasses and have them turned on.....So yeah, not the same. :P

That bug happens on every game mode, go back to the lobby and rejoin. Welcome to Arma.

[BL1P 35]

Once the youtubers and kids find a new toy the filtered missions will revert back to how they should be.

And spanish is right there is no comparison between teetimes and CTI.