Feedback Please

I would like some feedback on the maps we play in the server. I think maybe we should broaden our horizons some, you know variety is the spice of life right? However, I don’t want it to become a shit mess either. So here is the idea: we play the following maps at 850 tickets with 1.5 vehicle spawn Caspian Border, Operation Firestorm, Kharg Island, Strike At Karkand, Gulf of Oman, Wake Island, and Sharqi Peninsula. The 1.5 spawn time will make people run more conservatively with the armor and help balance it out better I think. Then we play Seine Crossing, Noshahr Canals, and Damavand Peak with instant vehicle spawn, that will keep the fight out of the tunnel on Peak and hopefully keep the teams balanced on Seine. I also think that smaller maps should run for less tickets. Not sure how many but 850 would be too many in my opinion.

What are your guys thoughts?

 

I'm a big fan of changing vehicle spawn times. I think it can have a bigger impact on the overall balance and gameplay (especially on maps that tend to get a bit lopsided) than people realize. I also agree that longer spawns should make people value their vehicles a bit more, and make destroying one at the right time affect the outcome of the game.

A few maps definitely benefit more than others.

Wake Island always turns into a mess because that damn huey is dropping squads on C every 2 minutes, as its the most tactically important flag on the map. (one of the few flags with ANY real tactical importance in the whole game...)

Oman is one of the few actual 64 player maps left, so with 48 people or less, you can fit more or less the entire team into the various vehicles. With longer spawn times, Oman should feel less like a “vehicle only” map. I think this also applies to Firestorm, though not to the same extent.

Spartoi and I have had some really good times on Damavand Peak, but they all involved bypassing the tunnel with the little bird and getting ourselves surrounded on the opposite side. Damavand is a great map wasted by a shitty decision made by its designer. The choke point being in the center promotes a stalemate and puts the other two halves to wast, so ensuring people always have a way to bypass it will likely make it a lot more fun and put those areas to use.

The tanks on Seine the only thing that stops everyone from having a Napoleonic battle on each side of the river, so keeping them in play should make it a bit less infantry focused and campy.

Most are probably against changing ticket counts and settings on a per map basis, but just like different maps call for different kits and setups, I think they can benefit from different settings. Its not changing something so fundamental as damage or 3D spotting, so I think most people wouldn't even notice. Adding a few more maps that weren't there before can also help attract new players, while the lowered ticket count on these maps would ensure they're seen as secondary skirmishes and not the focus of “Massive Warfare”

P.S. Does changing vehicle spawn really label you as “Custom” instead of “Hardcore”?

 

I would expect some resistance to changes. But I agree on all counts with Orestes here. I here the same complaints about those maps regularly and if we can mitigate the annoying features and make them playable it is all for the better. The spawn times for vehicles is a good idea all around. Yes, Bizzle - do it.

 

i agree with all those maps except wake. Personally i like wake, but the last time we ran it on the server people quit as fast as possible. Tehran highway maybe? Playing at night makes it a little more interesting.

 

I'm onboard with any spawn speed related or map changes you all want to make.

Be sure to stay in touch with the phogue.net community as there are a lot of community developed plugins that may be able to assist with changing the vehicle spawn time on a map by map basis. My understanding of how it works out of the box is that it's a setting you apply at the server level that is inherited by all maps on the map list.

 

tickets to 700 run with the longer respawn times due to more infantry based is better anyways

 

My experience with servers running fast vehicle respawn is horrible, it ruins the gameplay. But that's just my opinion

Around 700-800 tickets should be enough, it makes for longer games but not too long. I think we should also add Wake Island, Sharqi Peninsula and consider Noshahr Canals.

I could also see the server running the following smaller maps:

• Operation Metro
• Grand Bazaar
• Tehran Highway
• Damavand Peak
• Seine Crossing

With 48 people on the server you could still call it massive warfare, since that's pretty much what it would be=-COFEE I'm getting a bit tired of the server running the same 5 out of 13 maps.


**tl;dr**

• Keep vehicle respawn time at normal
• 700-800 tickets
• Add ALL the maps to the server, large conquest mode

 

So what it sounds like is we are adding some more maps!? I like where this is going. As of RIGHT now we cant change the vehicle respawn time per map anyways because procon plugins seem to suck. So whatever we will talk/look at the more later. :p

Also never Metro...never /rofl

 

We're talking about actually lengthening vehicle spawn times on most maps by 50% or so to make destroying a vehicle relevant. I just think there are certain maps that could benefit from quicker spawn times. Having the scout choppers always available on Damavand is always my first example; it should help spread the fight to either side of the tunnel.

Seconded. When Metro exceeds 16 players, it becomes a cauldron of shit. If the BF3 server documentation were a bit better and map lists could be dynamic, I'd say add it on the condition that the player count doesn't exceed 16-20. So when it comes round in the rotation, its just skipped if the server is full. I do definitely want to see more maps in the rotation though, and we'll at least a few of the smaller ones to keep people around when Close Quarters comes out.

 

I can tell you from experience that on any given day, when BF3 was at it's max popularity that we'd go from a full server, to half a server or less when the map switched to Metro.

I think there is a lot of hatred towards Metro because it represents the CoD'ification of the Battlefield series. It appeases to the CoD twitch gamers who need small, indoor, close quarters maps full of constant action to keep their ADD ridden minds content. So yeah, not sure you want to pull the trigger on that one.

BUT, I want all of you to make decisions in my absence so if you want to experiment then give it a whirl.

Spawn Times for vehicles will always be a bone of contention with BF3 players and each of them will have a different preference. I for one feel that longer vehicle spawn times is good because it adds value to the vehicles. Consider Counter Strike. If you die, you sit out for 2 minutes waiting to come back in. So you tend to value your play time and behave more cautiously. The same can't be said for vehicles if they are set to respawn as soon as they blow up. The developers impose a default respawn time for vehicles because there is supposed to be down time for players to advance after taking out vehicles. If a tank could just come rolling back in 2 seconds after it's been blown up then you've immediately devalued it and you've also devalued all the work that a band of teammates just did to take it out. Be careful in this regard. You'll never make everyone happy. Especially since we can't have variable spawn timers per map...

I also sense that some of these discussions are surfacing because the server isn't as jam packed as it used to be. Do what you feel will make the server better for US, and those who play with US. If you constantly try to reshape the server to pull in Quick Match players in what seems to be like a consistently evaporating community then you will be quickly forgotten.

Massive Warfare, its rules, its map selection, plugins and all the timers associated with everything were part of what made it popular. But I digress

You are the new majority and I know all of you will make the best decision.

Since Biz has taken extraordinary interest in maintaining the server and getting to know how it all works, I've empowered her with admin rights to do what needs to be done.

/yay