Anyone Else Having A Hard Time Keeping Server Pop Up? - Rust

Hey guys! First off, yes I know a huge update is coming and they'll be changing everything so people will come back to the game. I get it. However I'm curious if any other server owners are having a hard time keeping the population up? I don't know if I'm doing something wrong but my server was hitting cap (75 players) every weekend for the past couple months but now I'm having a hard time hitting 30 people it seems. I'm curious if pop itself is just on the decline as people are waiting for the big patch, or if by moving my server from community to modded a few weeks ago kicked it in the nuts. Thanks in advance!

It's not just your server. For the reason you guessed, although probably less the community to modded I am guessing. [url]http://steamcharts.com/app/252490#All[/url]

Well it's good to know it isn't just me lol. I have zero doubts all the pop will fly back with the next major update so for now this hungry server owner will try to hang on until then lol. Thx for that chart!

There's definitely less players but there's constantly more and more servers. I think there's over 5000 servers now, if everyone spread out at peak hours then that would be 5 players per server... There's simply too many servers and the players are too paranoid about admin abuse and stupid stuff that they mostly imagine. Not to mention people will tend to swarm to a freshly wiped server. Right now I don't really think there's any way to win when it comes to server population.

Yeah, I'm hoping when the patch comes we'll get hit up. We've been around for as long a Rust hasn't been a browser game. We've had over 2000 unique logins on the server so I know we live in a ton of peoples history. Hopefully when pop comes back, people will to this server too.

People swarm the fresh wiped servers and then rage quit as soon as they get raided.

The old branch isn't being updated anymore. Most people got tired of "current" Rust's gameplay and are waiting for major developments. It was happening in January, so it's no surprise that it's continued to happen. And since major development is now focused on getting the experimental branch up to the level of the old version, the population has gone to play games that are actually fun for a while until Rust has something new to offer. And boy is the experimental branch going to deliver.

[QUOTE=NoodlyMaster;44924506]People swarm the fresh wiped servers and then rage quit as soon as they get raided.[/QUOTE] THIS ^ Other factors: - Its summer.. While this is irrelevant to lots of geeks, normal people get outside more and use the computer less - It's the end of sessions, exams, etc. for most students and kids so they get less play time, some are even forbidden to use their computers - The patch that was announced to get out "last week" every week for the past 2 months still isn't out. Lots of players are waiting for it. - The game even though is in alpha is getting "old", so people are more easily bored/discouraged when they get raided/killed/etc. The amount of servers is totally irrelevant... 200 or 200 million empty servers doesn't matter, what's relevant is the amount of servers with people in them. Pop easily dropped by 50-60% in the past 2 months even with the new players getting in...

It's not summer everywhere in the world. Not everyone is in school. When were you told that a patch would be out in a week and who told you? They were lying. The game isn't getting "old", that's just you being dramatic. The game is being entirely rebuilt from scratch, just be patient like the rest of us.

As the others said, rust play definitely down in general. I've been able to keep a half decent rate of new players joining in and playing by adding building kits and other things I usually wouldn't, just to keep the game play interesting, but even that gets a bit boring. I'm waiting for our mod to be updated which is going to add some interesting new features, will help to change the gameplay dynamic a bit and hopefully keep the current players interested and engaged

Perhaps its because your a bad server Admin? I Avoid most servers that iv had bad experiences in. With the rust population dwindling i'm sure many people are doing the same. Hence your low server pop.

Not to sound full of myself but I assure you that isn't the case. The guys who still play on the server have been there for months, through multiple wipes, and they refuse to leave because they love how I run things.

[QUOTE=almosttactful;44950913]Not to sound full of myself but I assure you that isn't the case. The guys who still play on the server have been there for months, through multiple wipes, and they refuse to leave because they love how I run things.[/QUOTE] You don't, if people want to keep ignoring the chart showing a steady decline to less than a 1/3 of where it was at peek, there's not much you can say to explain it.

[QUOTE=Sievers808;44934151]It's not summer everywhere in the world. Not everyone is in school. When were you told that a patch would be out in a week and who told you? They were lying. The game isn't getting "old", that's just you being dramatic. The game is being entirely rebuilt from scratch, just be patient like the rest of us.[/QUOTE] Exactly. When the new update comes out people will swarm to the game. I personally cannot wait for it and I am excited for Garry's work.

I know what bothers me the most is the hacking, it's pushed me to the point I wont log in until new development is in place.

[QUOTE=Schooldya;44952553]I know what bothers me the most is the hacking, it's pushed me to the point I wont log in until new development is in place.[/QUOTE] It's on its way. EAC will be a big help, might take a little while to get it all keyed in but cheaters will be a thing of the past soon enough.

EAC will help, but is not 100%. But people will think twice to use hack.

[QUOTE=GalegO;44952616]EAC will help, but is not 100%. But people will think twice to use hack.[/QUOTE] You might be surprised at how effective it is. At the very least we'll see a lot more instant retribution when someone cheats because EAC will get them instantly and then I'm sure VAC won't be far behind. Sooner or later people will get tired of buying copies of the game over and over again, too... And EAC will get more and more specialized for Rust as time goes on. You're right though, there will always be some that slip through. Luckily they'll probably be seen most often on the official servers which I tend to avoid anyways.