New [Surf] Suggest adding these new maps (and removing some others that the server wants)

[Xarbon]

Early this month, I made a post talking about how we need new maps for the Skial Surf rotation. However, I didn't specify the download links.

"Hello Skial! You know, one of the servers that goes very unnoticed by many is the Skial Surf US server. As someone who enjoys playing on that server, and someone who enjoys surf in general, I would like to note something about the server; Why is there only a few maps in the rotation? I mean, this is the ONLY surf server thats up and running, and it only has 16 maps! 16! Compared to older, more inactive servers, which has like 35 to even 100 maps, its just not a lot in my opinion. And plus, you haven't even added new maps in 1 and a half years! The same 16 maps can get boring after a while, so I suggest adding new maps to the rotation so we can get a little bit of diversity! There are maps like telstar, overlook and maybe even mesa that the server wants! Like I said, we need some diversity! Please can you consider adding new maps to this server? Thanks!"

The maps the server mostly wants are Telstar, Overlook, Mesa, Pulse, Whimsy, the list goes on! Many of these maps used to be in the server but have since been removed, but the server wants them added back! I'm surprised the rotation has been left untouched for 1.5 years! Here's the links to the maps down below.
https://gamebanana.com/mods/72150
https://gamebanana.com/mods/72164
https://gamebanana.com/mods/72125
https://gamebanana.com/mods/72129
https://gamebanana.com/mods/74328

The community also want surf_air_arena removed, as it has no main surf and is bland and boring.

 

[Bottiger]

i mean, you brought back crater and quack so why not the others? I get that they were unpopular, but the server has been begging for 1 and a half years? Can't you just get a map that was never on the server and that people like?

I bought back crater and quack because they were relatively new maps and new combat surf maps aren't being made anymore. The other maps that have been suggested are all like 10+ years old and were not very popular when they were running on other communities.

I understand that having "new" maps even if they are old or low quality, can make up for the game mode getting stale. However having too many maps of low quality will also drive people away. And it's not going to be new for many of the people who were around back then.

 

[poobles]

I bought back crater and quack because they were relatively new maps and new combat surf maps aren't being made anymore. The other maps that have been suggested are all like 10+ years old and were not very popular when they were running on other communities.

I understand that having "new" maps even if they are old or low quality, can make up for the game mode getting stale. However having too many maps of low quality will also drive people away. And it's not going to be new for many of the people who were around back then.

Brother it's been 1 and a half years and nothing has been added to the server, we literally suggested like a good handfull of maps that people suggested for a reason. Just because they were unpopular like 5+ years ago, doesn't mean that people won't play them again. It doesn't need to be only old maps or only new maps, any surf map is welcome, regardless of age, obviously the only thing to take into consideration is quality of said map. We don't need like 50 new maps right now, but at least give us like 2 or 3 new maps every 6 months at the bare minimum. 4 or 5 preferably. Because the same 16 maps for 18 months has gotten stale. Maybe host a poll for what the community wants to see. And that will give you a clear idea on what specific maps should added, maybe add 1 combat surf, 1 challenging surf, and 1 fun surf with alot of cool secrets like 10x. Something like that would be dope asf and would actually make skial good again

 

[Xarbon]

I bought back crater and quack because they were relatively new maps and new combat surf maps aren't being made anymore. The other maps that have been suggested are all like 10+ years old and were not very popular when they were running on other communities.

I understand that having "new" maps even if they are old or low quality, can make up for the game mode getting stale. However having too many maps of low quality will also drive people away. And it's not going to be new for many of the people who were around back then.

“new surf maps aren’t being made anymore” There are still some maps that are being made to this day believe it or not.
Here. Try surf ravine.
https://gamebanana.com/mods/504898

 

[Xarbon]

[Deleted]

 

[comfort eagle]

I bought back crater and quack because they were relatively new maps and new combat surf maps aren't being made anymore. The other maps that have been suggested are all like 10+ years old and were not very popular when they were running on other communities.

I understand that having "new" maps even if they are old or low quality, can make up for the game mode getting stale. However having too many maps of low quality will also drive people away. And it's not going to be new for many of the people who were around back then.

sovl vs soulless in one post

 

[comfort eagle]

I bought back crater and quack because they were relatively new maps and new combat surf maps aren't being made anymore. The other maps that have been suggested are all like 10+ years old and were not very popular when they were running on other communities.

I understand that having "new" maps even if they are old or low quality, can make up for the game mode getting stale. However having too many maps of low quality will also drive people away. And it's not going to be new for many of the people who were around back then.

On a more serious note, where are you getting the data that older maps aren't more popular on other communities? Why do you think skial surf is popular, where as xg/opst is dead? I sincerely doubt the larger map pool is the answer.

Also, if the maps themselves are not popular, then that's not argument against having them on the server. Some of the harder surf maps currently on rotation cause people to leave! Air arena, however, is massively popular! If all you care about is average player count/day, then you ought to just remove all other maps.

Lastly, just try adding one "new" map. If it is, as you say, then you can promptly remove it from that lil text file. You then have evidence for keeping the status quo.

 

[Bottiger]

On a more serious note, where are you getting the data that older maps aren't more popular on other communities?

We record the stats on every single map being run on tf2. We scan every single tf2 server.

hy do you think skial surf is popular, where as xg/opst is dead? I sincerely doubt the larger map pool is the answer.

It is one of the main reasons as much as you don't want to believe it.

We apply the same philosophy to deathrun, saxton hale, ff2, and surf, and it has allowed us to become the top servers in all those game modes when it used to be dominated by servers that were up from the very beginning.

We really didn't have anything unique in surf and ff2 except for this and somehow they gradually beat out servers that were entrenched in the #1 spot for years. You have to ask yourself, why did everyone stop playing Azelphur and move to our servers when they were the top surf server for like 12 years? The server does not have anything unique except for the way we run things.

 

[comfort eagle]

Why do people stop playing servers? For the same reason that lines form or that businesses die. You may be right, that your management style leads to a more stable server. However, I would just add the fact that the average number of players in tf2 has been decreasing for years, so if you're not controlling for that, I'm skeptical of your claims. Skial's success is a bit like Best Buy's success, you have simply survived. Also if you have this map data, let's see it :)

 

[Bottiger]

However, I would just add the fact that the average number of players in tf2 has been decreasing for years, so if you're not controlling for that, I'm skeptical of your claims.

Why do we have to control for that? We started off with way fewer players while incumbents like azelphur had the vast majority of players joining them for 5+ years. Why would people voluntarily leave the top server for an empty one? Why wouldn't they do that now if "xg/opst" was so superior to us?

Why would they be losing players while we gained them if not for the fact that we ran things better?

People sort servers by number of players and they almost always join the server that has more players on it. So the top servers normally stay at the top until something considerably better comes along.

 

[comfort eagle]

hey man here's a link to a good textbook on modern data science.

 

[Bottiger]

You can explain to me the logic instead of being a smartass and pasting a link to a text book.

The average number of players decreasing also affects us and in fact it affects servers the servers that weren't at the top much more.

You'd only need to account for it to prove that a top server stayed at the top because it was better. You don't need it when you started out at 0 and became the only server left while all the top servers died.

 

[Fexypoo]

ngl only maps that get played are rainbow, forbidden ways, and ravine uhhhh add more maps pls

 

[BubbleGum]

+1 Telstar is good, it would be great to have it on Skial