Is ARMA2 finished?

[sulky_uk]

i sort of get what you are saying...  i think, so we need to maybe adopt an addon and give it a go?

[DrunkenZombiee]

Thanks for your comments Logik.

ARMA (in all of its forms) attracts in my opinion a different caliber of player when compared to other games. Its a more mature type of game and fits a niche market rather than you normal one size fits all FPS shooter. This means normally players are a pretty dedicated bunch of oldschool gamers (and generally a great bunch of guys) however the game itself sometimes doesn't do itself a favor as it has a steep learning curve. I think the demographic of those who play ARMA in dMw is actually very good and Toby and the other Admins before myself have done a very good job in attracting a wider audience to the game.

The maps and gametypes played in my opinion ensure that experienced and new players can play together and all people can get something out of an ARMA night. The dMw ethos is strong in the way people play the game and I am proud of the way we play as a group. I understand frustrations of some players who would like to be able to join a server of Vanilla ARMA2 with custom maps or even a custom mod and play in a small group, however this somewhat narrows the target market and makes it very hard for new players. Can I remind you that ARMA2:OA is what we are recommending everyone to buy and is the current supported game, having multiple servers supporting different game revisions is just a nightmare for the server admins and game admins as there is simply more to look after.

Can I also remind you that the Admins try their hardest to keep everyone happy in the gaming community and normally love the game they are looking after, wishing it to go from strength to strength. Every Admin in dMw gives up their time for free and often puts a lot of effort in behind the scenes promoting the game and looking after members in the community.

I am glad you are so passionate about ARMA we need players like yourself to keep the community strong, but your comments on democracy in dMw particularly the ones directed towards the admins are perhaps a bit harsh. I would like to think that there is a pretty good democracy in dMw on a whole, however there are some fundamental constraints which need to be adhered to such as the dMw code of ethics and other rules constraints such as support for games. All comments are welcomed and polls and votes are all valued feedback as we try to keep everyone satisfied.

I m not trying to start a flame-war here, nor have the final word, I just need to let you know what goes on under the hood as most of you will be unaware.

Hope to play some more ARMA with you all again soon when work isn't so mad.

DZ.

[Logik]

Sorry to ruffle the feathers on democracy guys but in any democracy you normally get 6 people telling 4 people exactly what they are going to do thats the nature of the beast im afraid. I appreciate the hard work done by the admins but cant help but feel the points i have underlined in my post have been repeated in your reply.
I think we all know arma 2 has the potential to be the tactical war game we all need its just difficult to find that game without any real map?
Oh and i certainly dont want a flame war we are here to discuss the future of DMW and arma 2 which i only seek to promote.

[sulky_uk]

i sometimes get the same feeling mate...come on tonight and voice you concerns/ideas in vent...we will be there from 2000GMT

[smilodon]

We must all recall the vote on wether to use arma 2 or not was a success in favour to use but overruled by the admin/admins? Not exactly democratic that and to say it ruffled a few feathers was an understatement.

Could you point me at the Poll in question. The only one I can see in the Arma 2 forum relates to a question by Toby about who owns which version of Arma 2. There was nothing about which version of Arma 2 people actually wanted to play. So I'm a bit confused. As far as I'm aware we have the servers that the majority of our regular player base want i.e. vanilla Arma 2:OA

[sulky_uk]

maybe we could compromise as i suggested last night.... have one server vanilla with new maps from armaholic and have the second running a mod that we all could try

[Logik]

Could you point me at the Poll in question. The only one I can see in the Arma 2 forum relates to a question by Toby about who owns which version of Arma 2. There was nothing about which version of Arma 2 people actually wanted to play. So I'm a bit confused. As far as I'm aware we have the servers that the majority of our regular player base want i.e. vanilla Arma 2:OA

I think the poll was to probe who had which version for a good reason,talk at the time was the use of arma 2 in many maps/mods because of its huge building sizes/cities which make for difficult tactical situations rather than OA,s small mud huts,not forgetting arma2 s huge industrial units of 6 stories, some people would not have got feedback from Teamspeak meetings.

[smilodon]

Indeed but that poll didn't prove an overwhelming desire to run an Arma 2 server, possibly with mods etc. So as there was no consensus it wouldn't be possible for the admins to be undemocratic about the result. There was no result other than most of us bought Arma 2 and then purchased the OA expansion. So I'm still confused. We have about half a dozen hardcore Arma 2:OA players that continue to support the server as we wait for Arma 3. I'm sure that if they expressed a wish to run an Arma 2 server and to have some mods (ACE etc.) as a requirement to join, they would say so.

As one of those players (I'm not an admin, just a player) I wouldn't mind some Arma 2 if the maps were compelling, the server and client were stable and it wasn't a major issue for Oldie to add a new server. However I would not be willing to add mods etc to join. I'm vanilla all the way. Due to having serious horrors with mods breaking my Steam install and a firm belief that mods create barriers to entering a server. Our ethos is to run open inclusive servers that encourage people to fire up Arma and jump on. I don't think a list of mod requirements would help that goal. It would drive away anyone returning to the server or thinking of giving the game a go with us.  Just my pennies worth.

[Tutonic]

Our ethos is to run open inclusive servers that encourage people to fire  up Arma and jump on. I don't think a list of mod requirements would  help that goal. It would drive away anyone returning to the server or  thinking of giving the game a go with us.  Just my pennies worth.                   

My thoughts exactly. Mods are a barrier to new players, which is why we have always tried to keep the server as 'vanilla' as possible.

[Logik]

I think you have the wrong end of the stick here smilodon at the time it wasnt a mod we wanted to run just a non standard map called fallujah,this required the use of plain old arma 2,there was no mention of a standalone Arma 2 server, ACE or any other mod,the use of the map would have meant 1 non standard island being in the teams addons folder nothing more.
As ive said before arma 2 has the large towns and cities/buildings which are used in many of the more interesting maps please dont confuse this with addons/mods.

Indeed but that poll didn't prove an overwhelming desire to run an Arma 2 server, possibly with mods etc. So as there was no consensus it wouldn't be possible for the admins to be undemocratic about the result. There was no result other than most of us bought Arma 2 and then purchased the OA expansion. So I'm still confused. We have about half a dozen hardcore Arma 2:OA players that continue to support the server as we wait for Arma 3. I'm sure that if they expressed a wish to run an Arma 2 server and to have some mods (ACE etc.) as a requirement to join, they would say so.

As one of those players (I'm not an admin, just a player) I wouldn't mind some Arma 2 if the maps were compelling, the server and client were stable and it wasn't a major issue for Oldie to add a new server. However I would not be willing to add mods etc to join. I'm vanilla all the way. Due to having serious horrors with mods breaking my Steam install and a firm belief that mods create barriers to entering a server. Our ethos is to run open inclusive servers that encourage people to fire up Arma and jump on. I don't think a list of mod requirements would help that goal. It would drive away anyone returning to the server or thinking of giving the game a go with us.  Just my pennies worth.

[BrotherTobious]

Sorry for my late reply in this matter I have been thinking hard about it and I hope that we can get somewhere from it,  I have to admit I am still very hestiatent about bring Arma 2 online for the following reasons.

• I think that the code is worse than we have with Arma 2 OA, many of the nights recently we have had comments from players that when there was a bug "Thats some good coding" Or "Who want to play a working game anyways" and from my time playing and running I remember many a night with Arma 2 being the same if not worse.
• We are having issues with out servers atm and I think adding a Arma 2 one in to the mix right now would be a mistake and a hell of a lot of work.  Once Arma 2 OA servers have been sorted we can see if changes should/could be made.
• I agree mods are limiting and we have proved this trying to get the voice one to work which had the fall out of the needed some tlc and several people had to do a full reinstall of the game.
• One of the mods that has been mentioned is the ACE which makes it more relisitic which I dont believe our players want, the way we play is together and to pick each other up, I feel if we are using ACE we will shot and then crow up.  Crowing up is something no one wants in a mission.
• We will still have the issue that we dont have missions using the reivie script that we all love so much,  I really dont like the idea of re-spawning as it just makes us closer to the run and gun type of game which Arma 2 OA is not what we play for.
• Game types we have not played insurgency unless you guys have been on when I have not been around doing it,  Domination we play now sometimes but it peoples machines have seem to have issues with.
• Also I dont think our community really shouts for this change only since Xmas have we really had any real numbers on.  This thread has helped get more people back to it.
• To really grow I think more work should be done on bring in new blood on the Sunday nights.

As for the votes and such I am not going to go back over them as I think I made myself clear why it wasnt happening then and the reasons for my decision.  Once the servers are back working again maybe we can see if we can try some mods or try a addon, and that will have to lots of stuff ticked off if that happens, but I really think that sticking with OA is it rather than going back to ARMA 2.  

My thoughts on the matter hope that helps