I thought I'd weigh in with a one boot fits all diatribe and what my thoughts on the future of Arma are.
We currently run as vanilla as possible for a very good reason. We've found with numerous games that as you dilute the base you lose core players. As with any game we need seeders and the more we diversify from the standard OA offering the harder it is to get a solid footprint of players.
A2 is a step backwards and will split the players in half. We drive everyone to buy OA, mainly as it's better/less buggy and the currently supported version. Map and island wise, whilst I would love some variety, the intricacies of o/s versus installations of new maps precludes any sensible way of achieving any. So, where are we?
We have OA as standard, we can vary the nights and have infantry/air/mechanised nights. We can edit missions where we see a good plot or scenario and make it more appropriate to us. We can't really run mods and can't expect our reliable core following to do so as it will become an exclusive club.
What I get from OA may be different to others, but I'll sum it up;
1. No respawn - the idea that life is precious in game, trying to stay alive and out think the AI (which we know is getting better with newer maps)
2. Staying with someone to cover each other
3. SOME banter, when appropriate (not in the middle of a firefight)
4. People following orders in general. Not straight down the wire, but generally doing what's expected.
5. People not dithering about, it's a game, let's get stuck in whilst considering point 1. Go pick people up, go into town, get in the damn car, let's get to the fun bit!
The win would be to go for some new maps, to vary a little in terms of task, maybe a new Liberator opus is due, and we can start using Zargabad as a location.
Failing that if anyone can come up with a way of downloading and installing islands from server side I'm all ears.
For me what I want from Arma 2 OA is
1. The continued growth of the section
2. All of Benny points
3. People listing to the leader
4. More people stepping up to lead.
5. To Move forward and look to see if Arma 3 is where we want to be or is there another sim we should look at.
I love the idea of theme nights, and willing to support. Finding more map is imperative and a few of the latest one have been great and with the editing done to them they should be even better.
good post mate, i agree with it all and also am guilty of being a bit loud on comms and will in the future calm things down. But i think that having a little bit of banter to me makes the game more fun. But as pointed out certain comments at certain times can be not welcome. The direction we are heading in i think is good, while i like the idea of using Arma 2 to play the fallujah map, i think it would be a step backwards. As far as leadership is concerned we do have a core number of people who take charge but maybe we need to concentrate on getting some of the new guys to lead.
Anyhow i like this game and cant wait for for Arma 3 and a new system ;-)
Hi all i agree with most points mentioned but A2 splitting the player base in half cannot be correct after the poll results,i dont have any problems at all with A2 on my system but i know we had members with OA problems that have stopped playing OA and gone to bf2.
Keeping it vanilla is very important i couldnt agree more but on a locked server with members looking for variety and interesting missions i cant see a problem with any member struggling to drop 1 agreed addon in an addons folder [maybe im wrong here feedback please].
In reply to Tobi from another post it wasnt a case of using A2 "just to play one mission".The use of A2 would enable domination/insurgency to played on 7 islands right from the off as they are all included in the pack hence i suggested using 1 addon fallujah as it was listed in the pack and used no further addons.
As for the future at the moment i think more than one poll will be required as it seemed 14 to 3 with one guy openly willing to purchase arma 2 to continue [which is now free] may need some discussion?
Talk among players on teamspeak gives a very good indication of what people want when admins are not around,nothing out of order just what people would like to see its down to the admins to grab this by the ******** and sort a few more polls as players generally dont want to rock the boat by posting here well except one.
Thanks Logik, hopefully we aren't that scary that people won't post up, so.....to all, this is your community! Speak up!
Logik, healthy discussion is how we grew this community into what it is today so do feel free to rock away. :-)
We have got slack on open nights, but still pull in a core 5-10 players when we try which fits nicely. The option is now do we drive recruitment and add more servers or do we explore more variations on a theme.
Speak now gents
And now I'm not a computer and not a mobile, I'll add a bit more. We ran A2 for a long time and whilst it was enjoyable, it was extremely buggy. Both Lib and I (more Lib) spent a lot of time trying to add Norrin and write missions and frankly it was hard work. OA is a much more rounded engine, still buggy but generally better and the addition of the house mechanics, albeit crude, makes it worthwhile.
Whilst I would return to A2 at a very hard push, I don't see the need to other than to vary the landscape, but the variation comes at the cost of a lower quality game.
We've had a lot of discussion within and outside the forums about the way we do things and there are polls for Team Fortress, CS, BF2142 but without a core of players they never get off the ground. What the concern is becomes that by moving to A2, OA becomes redundant. People don't really play older games for anything other than nostalgia. We've reinvented CS, mother of all FPS's 2 or three times and it becomes progressively harder each time. I am open to consensus here, but I personally think we should focus on one of 2 things. Either new islands on OA and a foolproof way to add them, or new maps, which are plentiful.
You know what they say about opinions, so let's get them all in here so Toby can make a reasonable pitch at taking things forward.
I'd like to try more islands but adding them is painful from experience, unless you can give us a simple process that fits all.
QuoteHi all i agree with most points mentioned but A2 splitting the player base in half cannot be correct after the poll results,i dont have any problems at all with A2 on my system but i know we had members with OA problems that have stopped playing OA and gone to bf2.
I am glad Arma 2 works and it works for a few of us, but we have had people having issues playing Arma 2 as well. I do not think it as simple if it works for me it should work for everyone. Look at the issue that Sulky has which we have been trying to sort out for sometime and still with no luck. I am sure some have like me started on Arma 2 and we made the decision to move forward on to OA. Because IMHO while fun Arma 2 is clunky, not as player friendly and generally not as pretty and with a reduced amount of toys to play with.
In regards the members that left because of problems with OA, I am sure that we tried to help or weren't aware, but if we failed them it is something to learn from and try not let happen again. And if they wish to give it another shot then please do drop us a line and we will do all we can.
QuoteKeeping it vanilla is very important i couldnt agree more but on a locked server with members looking for variety and interesting missions i cant see a problem with any member struggling to drop 1 agreed addon in an addons folder [maybe im wrong here feedback please].
Just dropping a addon is not that simple, for example the digital compass, a few people, yours truly included had trouble getting it to work. Now that along with being a new player as well, it not the most eased in to the game approach. There was also the nightmare with ACRE, which took out the servers, and people had to reinstall the game again.
QuoteIn reply to Tobi from another post it wasnt a case of using A2 "just to play one mission". The use of A2 would enable domination/insurgency to played on 7 islands right from the off as they are all included in the pack hence i suggested using 1 addon fallujah as it was listed in the pack and used no further addons.
We played domination and have been recently but I have not seen anyone playing insurgency for ages. Especially on Official nights, one cause it unplayable on public nights. And on the private nights recently it been new missions or Domination. Domination might a good laugh on other maps but for the numbers that we have at the moment turning up I dont see all the work that would have to be done our side and client side as being worth it.
QuoteAs for the future at the moment i think more than one poll will be required as it seemed 14 to 3 with one guy openly willing to purchase arma 2 to continue [which is now free] may need some discussion?
Agreed it is great that Arma 2 is now a freebie but I am sure I have read it wont support mods. In regards to discussions I have had talks with the admins, and gather thoughts from others who have worked in this community and going backwards is not a good idea. As we have been pushing forward with Arma 2 OA and for the reasons above.
QuoteTalk among players on teamspeak gives a very good indication of what people want when admins are not around, nothing out of order just what people would like to see its down to the admins to grab this by the ******** and sort a few more polls as players generally dont want to rock the boat by posting here well except one.
I am really sorry to hear that players of this community dont feel that they cant come to me and or the admin team with ideas. I like to think that I am approachable and that I am willing listen to ideas and will try to implement ones that I feel takes us in the right direction. For example your suggestion of trying Domination. But I want to steer clear of ones that have been tried or looked at in other games which have ended up not working. Then they wont be implemented but I always try to give reasons why and be open with it.
This is all our community and we try to make it what you want but sometimes it is not possible or reasonable to do everything.
This is not meant to read as aggressive just trying to explain clearly why this and other decisions have been made.
I hope that this gives you the reasons why we are not wanting to go back to Arma 2 and the rest of the community where I am coming from with this.