How do I make my server popular?

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Edge100x
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How do I make my server popular?

Post by Edge100x »

The browser

Battlelog applies any filters that the player selects and then "randomly" shows up to 300 servers to the player that meet the criteria. There is no sure-fire way to control whether a client sees a particular server, but you can adjust the server to meet the criteria that more people want. For instance:

* Make sure that you have the region set correctly.
* Consider running in hardcore or infantry-only mode: http://www.nfoservers.com/forums/viewto ... =70&t=5905.
* Consider including "NFOservers.com" in your server title, since many players search for servers from companies they like. Also, consider including words like "n00b", "hardcore", "infantry", "air maps", "1000 tickets" -- anything that a client might search for.
* Consider setting the player limit low, at least until the server fills, in order to get players that choose the "1-5 free" option. You'll get to 24 or 32 faster than 64. Using the auto-player-limit-adjuster on the Easy setup page may also be helpful here.
* Consider starting with settings compatible with the Quickmatch defaults with no filter (including running it as a standard 32-slot Conquest server), then performing further tweaks after the server fills.
* Select a popular game mode and map combination, at least until the server fills, and then tweak them. Also look at popular servers for other settings that might be popular, such as hardcore mode or certain ticket counts.
* Increase your ticket count through the "Easy setup" page, such as to 200%. Many players quit at the end of a round, so having longer rounds can help you to build the player count.

If your server isn't showing up in Battlelog at all, try changing your server name or even resetting its GUID (global identifier).

To retain players and encourage them to add your server to their favorites, make sure that you administrate the server well, have a reasonable configuration, avoid doing anything that might lag it (http://www.nfoservers.com/forums/viewto ... =70&t=5908) or crash it (http://www.nfoservers.com/forums/viewto ... =70&t=5904), and encourage player feedback and participation outside of the game.

Quickmatch

Advanced players find servers through the browser, and over time players add servers they like to their favorites lists, but the "Quickmatch" feature can be important to establishing initial server popularity. We don't know everything about how "Quickmatch" chooses which servers to use, but we do know a few things about what it seems to look for:

* Servers with players in them. Generally, the more players, the better. If a server is almost full, it will be most likely to receive new Quickmatch players.
* Servers that match the player's chosen filter criteria in Battlelog. If the player hasn't chosen criteria, it looks for <32-slot TDM, Rush, and Conquest servers, per DICE employee JBRipley at http://battlelog.battlefield.com/bf3/fo ... 7715516807.
* Servers that are deemed to be closer to the target client base. That is, QM assigns each player to a "ping site" -- the site with the best ping for him or her -- and only selects from servers that are assigned to the same site. This setting can be adjusted through our "Easy setup" page.

Quickmatch might also look at the client's pings to candidate servers, in which case, changing your server's location might make a difference; it's possible that your chosen location is too far from large groups of players, or that you're in a city that has too many other similarly-pinging servers to compete with.
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