OCR TF2: New Server forthcoming - new server IPs and other stuff

[A Random Tiger]

I'm surprised that the demo/soldier kills have been increasing at a fairly even rate.

Soldiers are leading by 200k, but they're both around 3 million deaths

[Vivi22]

The announcement of this crafting system kind of makes me wish I didn't discard every duplicate item I've ever unlocked.

[Secret Agent Man]

I wonder if they'll do anything with the levels of items in this case.

If so, I know where my level 100 huntsman is going.

[chivesontheweb]

The announcement of this crafting system kind of makes me wish I didn't discard every duplicate item I've ever unlocked.

Pretty much this, although we'll find more in the long haul so it's not too bad.

[A Random Tiger]

I did that until maybe a week ago.

Glad I started keeping them now

[Powerlord]

I wonder if they'll do anything with the levels of items in this case.

If so, I know where my level 100 huntsman is going.

I doubt it. Valve has said that the random levels on weapons were a bug; I doubt they'll be rewarding people who kept them.

Pretty much this, although we'll find more in the long haul so it's not too bad.

Did anyone else notice that the random weapon drop rate went up a few weeks ago? Now we know why.

Edit: So, I'm thinking it's high time we actually change our map cycle around instead of just talking about doing it.

Right now, it's:

koth_viaduct

cp_granary

cp_dustbowl

pl_badwater

cp_well

ctf_2fort

cp_yukon_final

cp_gravelpit

pl_goldrush

cp_badlands

cp_steel

ctf_turbine

cp_fastlane

I've seen quite a few people complain about ctf_2fort. And before you say I'm the one complaining, I like 2fort... it's dustbowl and turbine I don't like. The current maplist is also heavy on 5-point CP maps. We could swap one of those out for something else... maybe another koth map?

I know some people have been requesting custom maps, and I personally wouldn't be opposed to those, as long as we limit the number of them. Any maps added to the mapcycle will also be added to the rtv and nominate lists.

Edit 2: I've changed the order that the maps are in. I've been meaning to move dustbowl and goldrush apart for some time and hadn't done it until now. In the process, I've also moved some additional maps in between the 5 point CP maps.

[Kiyobi]

The announcement of this crafting system kind of makes me wish I didn't discard every duplicate item I've ever unlocked.

This. DX

10chars

[A Random Tiger]

I'd love to drop Well.

Or atleast change it to CTF Well.

I know I'm not the only one who doesn't like that map.

[Vivi22]

I'd love to drop Well.

Or atleast change it to CTF Well.

I know I'm not the only one who doesn't like that map.

I just quit out of it right now. Mostly because the server emptied in a hurry, but I'm also just sick of some of the CP maps. Well and Badlands in particular.

[Super-Duper Sombrero]

I can't stand Well. Something about it just really kills the fun for me, but I can't quite place it.

[EdgeCrusher]

I don't mind Well, but CTF well would be more fun.

[ParanoidDrone]

I don't mind the concept of 5CP maps, but I agree that Well/Granary/Badlands get a bit old after the umpteenth time. My favorite one on the list right now is Yukon, actually.

Actually, I think the reason the maplist is getting stale is because we've played all the maps a million times by now. With the Soldier/Demoman update on the horizon and the obligatory new maps (including an official Valve one, according to the original blog entry for the update), we should be getting a reasonable amount of new maps to alleviate that blah feeling. In the meantime, though...

I'd love to see 2Fort and Turbine gone. Truth be told, I'd be alright with keeping 2Fort since it's one of the iconic TF2 maps, but Turbine is just ugh. Ditto Well (CTF), but Sawmill's good.

Same logic for Dustbowl and Gold Rush -- neither is a stellar example of good mapping, but they're popular and iconic enough to be worth keeping. Besides, we could always use them to fill up the server on a slow day.

I'm this close to asking for Hydro to be added, but I've never had a good round on Hydro ever.

A map I do want to see added is Pipeline. It's on the nominate list, but not the rotation. o_O

Customs: I'll reiterate Aerospace and Glacier from last time. Also Freight, since it's a 5CP map and I think some new ones would help alleviate the feeling of "Ugh, another one?"

(Fun Fact: Firefox recognizes umpteenth as a word.)

[The Mutericator]

I'd love to see 2Fort and Turbine gone. Truth be told, I'd be alright with keeping 2Fort since it's one of the iconic TF2 maps, but Turbine is just ugh.

See, I STILL have no problem with 2fort. I'm not sure if it's because I don't mind repetition or like CTF-turned-stalemate-turned-deathmatch or because I haven't logged as many hours as many people have, but I really don't mind 2fort in the slightest. So it bugs me a bit to see everyone suddenly try to RTV the minute we get in there - the map isn't bad, and I realize it's overplayed on a lot of servers, but considering how small of a time slice it gets compared to all of the maps as a whole, I really would prefer to see it stay.

[ParanoidDrone]

My main beef with 2Fort (and CTF/5CP in general, I guess) is that it's incredibly frustrating when one side or the other doesn't seem to be even trying. Whereas with A/D, Payload, etc., BLU just needs to push and RED just needs to stall them, in CTF/5CP maps, both teams have to attack and defend at the same time, and both teams need to be more even than usual to have a really enjoyable match. Otherwise you end up with stalemates or steamrolls depending on whether your team is incapable of pushing forward or doesn't bother to defend the point they just capped. (Or if the enemy team does the same thing.)

[bonzai!]

The best time I ever had on 2fort, both teams decided to go completely on the offensive, and then it was a race to see who could cap the intel 3 times. No turtling, no snipe offs, just epic sieges of each others bases.

Most of the time on 2fort, people either ignore the objective completely (sniperfort), or they only make an effort to defend the intel. Which I don't mind, I'll build a sentry and eat dinner for the 30 minutes. I think in Turbine, there can be a little less turtling, but then again there's always people who just want to Huntsman snipe in the vents. I like the CTF maps, I just hate how people play on them sometimes.

[Garian]

This is why when Powerlord and DS aren't around Brushfire and I set tf_ctf_bonus_time to ridiculous numbers, like 300 or 600 (5 and 10 minutes, respectively). There is so much less turtling and then it's critfest after the first cap which is always hilarious!

[atmuh]

I don't mind the concept of 5CP maps, but I agree that Well/Granary/Badlands get a bit old after the umpteenth time. My favorite one on the list right now is Yukon, actually.

Actually, I think the reason the maplist is getting stale is because we've played all the maps a million times by now. With the Soldier/Demoman update on the horizon and the obligatory new maps (including an official Valve one, according to the original blog entry for the update), we should be getting a reasonable amount of new maps to alleviate that blah feeling. In the meantime, though...

I'd love to see 2Fort and Turbine gone. Truth be told, I'd be alright with keeping 2Fort since it's one of the iconic TF2 maps, but Turbine is just ugh. Ditto Well (CTF), but Sawmill's good.

Same logic for Dustbowl and Gold Rush -- neither is a stellar example of good mapping, but they're popular and iconic enough to be worth keeping. Besides, we could always use them to fill up the server on a slow day.

I'm this close to asking for Hydro to be added, but I've never had a good round on Hydro ever.

A map I do want to see added is Pipeline. It's on the nominate list, but not the rotation. o_O

Customs: I'll reiterate Aerospace and Glacier from last time. Also Freight, since it's a 5CP map and I think some new ones would help alleviate the feeling of "Ugh, another one?"

(Fun Fact: Firefox recognizes umpteenth as a word.)

abcba maps are the best kinds of maps but imo well is the worst one mostly for the setup time

im not sure how you can like 2fort and dislike turbine turbines the best ctf map in the game right now its the only one that gives you the freedom of an open space both 2fort and well are too confined

and ctf sawmill is the worst ctf map in the game because not only is there so much empty unused space that no one ever goes to but also the intel rooms are waaaaaaay too confined

if you dont like ctf how could you possible nominate aerospace even 2fort is better than aerospace not to mention making people download a 50mb ctf map takes a decent amount of time and will more often than not kill the server

but yeah ill say this for the 30th time

why is goldrush after dustbowl

and why arent they just maxrounds 2 instead of 40 minutes i highly doubt anyone wants to play a 3rd round of either if there was a roll that went fast enough to warrant a 3rd round

[ParanoidDrone]

I didn't say I liked 2Fort, or if I did, that wasn't what I meant. I tolerate it more than Turbine for no rational reason, but that's it. (Unless you consider the grandfather clause to be rational.)

As far as Sawmill goes, consider what class I like to play as. Now consider why "empty unused space that no one ever goes to" is a plus for me.

I like Aerospace mostly because it's refreshing due to novelty and because in my (admittedly limited) experience on it, I've never seen it die to a turtlefest. The bases are simply too permeable.

[A Random Tiger]

but yeah ill say this for the 30th time

why is goldrush after dustbowl

and why arent they just maxrounds 2 instead of 40 minutes i highly doubt anyone wants to play a 3rd round of either if there was a roll that went fast enough to warrant a 3rd round

I've changed the order that the maps are in. I've been meaning to move dustbowl and goldrush apart for some time and hadn't done it until now.

And as far as 2fort goes, I don't think I ever play it seriously.

[atmuh]

oh ok

[Powerlord]

im not sure how you can like 2fort and dislike turbine turbines the best ctf map in the game right now its the only one that gives you the freedom of an open space both 2fort and well are too confined

Turbine isn't more open than 2fort, it's less open. 2fort has two/three routes through the center area between the bases; Turbine doesn't. If one team can lock down the center room in Turbine, it becomes extremely hard for the other team to do anything without resorting to building ubers and hoping you destroy all the sentries. IMO, Turbine would be a much better map if the center box areas were nobuild.

In 2fort, you'd have to lock down the bridge, above the bridge, and below the bridge.

2fort also has alternative routes into the other team's base. There's not really just a single chokepoint like Turbine has, because Demos, Soldiers, and Scouts have alternative means of reaching the second floor.

but yeah ill say this for the 30th time

why is goldrush after dustbowl

It isn't any more, see the mapcycle on the previous page.

and why arent they just maxrounds 2 instead of 40 minutes i highly doubt anyone wants to play a 3rd round of either if there was a roll that went fast enough to warrant a 3rd round

I changed that before, people hated it, it got changed back.

[miyako]

5CP maps are the best kind of maps because except for the engineer every class is viable on it and there is no lame spam fest going on for 10 minutes like on payload or A/D maps.

PL and A/D maps (except gravelpit i guess) just encourage turtling for the RED team and BLU ends up trying to push through RED's defense for the duration of the round, usually through a narrow passageway that becomes the center of attention for every explosives class to just spam (mostly the demo). This makes it incredibly boring (oh boy look at me I can toss stickies at a chokepoint and detonate them) as BLU has to have reliable medics (lolteamwork) to uber unless RED has a bad class composition with no combat classes (in which case its a steamroll which is just as boring). Scouts become useless due to sentries limiting their movement (part of why valve made the sandman oh boy).

Well is an okay map but the problem with it is that it's tough to push that second (or fourth) point because there is a resupply cabinet right there for the defending team and there are only two ways inside their fort. It makes it very stalematey.

2fort is boring because the bases are so well designed for the defenders (narrow, closed in halls/rooms, defenders respawning RIGHT NEXT TO YOU when you're attacking). When the attackers first set foot outside they will have to a) dodge enemy snipers shooting at them, cross the narrow bridge and fight through the spamfest (or die to snipers while trying), c) go through sewers (you still might get your head blown off unless you go through the sewers through your own base which takes 5 minutes of walking). Not to mention in a pub no one really cares about winning in a CTF map. The games also always play out on 2fort where one team will be consistently attacking and the other will just be turtling in their base. After awhile the people who try to attack will get frustrated dying and respawning over and over and will stop attacking and will just go engineer or sniper and just play defense and both sides will eventually end up playing defense (stalemate). Cept valve tried to fix this by introducing critboost when the intel is capped (oh boy)

And the people that complain about badlands/granary being played too much should also be complaining about dustbowl/goldrush/badwater since they are also just as played (if not MUCH more since people just auto rtv when one side wins a couple of rounds)

[atmuh]

Turbine isn't more open than 2fort, it's less open. 2fort has two/three routes through the center area between the bases; Turbine doesn't. If one team can lock down the center room in Turbine, it becomes extremely hard for the other team to do anything without resorting to building ubers and hoping you destroy all the sentries. IMO, Turbine would be a much better map if the center box areas were nobuild.

In 2fort, you'd have to lock down the bridge, above the bridge, and below the bridge.

2fort also has alternative routes into the other team's base. There's not really just a single chokepoint like Turbine has, because Demos, Soldiers, and Scouts have alternative means of reaching the second floor.

most people play ctf as just dm and in the case of 2fort its really hard to get into an open area where you can just deathmatch because the bridge is narrow and fighting underwater is just weird

once you go any further youre in the opposing cramped base which more often than not is crowded by sentries

[Vivi22]

And the people that complain about badlands/granary being played too much should also be complaining about dustbowl/goldrush/badwater since they are also just as played (if not MUCH more since people just auto rtv when one side wins a couple of rounds)

Bull poop. I don't like playing Badlands a lot because I just plain don't enjoy the map. In fact, I'll generally leave the server when it comes up now, or if I stay, I'll usually leave after a round. I have almost never played a round of badlands I enjoyed, and a lot of the times I do suck it up and play it lately it seems to be a steamroll.

On the other hand, I actually enjoy dustbowl, goldrush, and badwater so I could play those all day.

[FireSlash]

How about this:

koth_viaduct

cp_granary

pl_badwater

cp_dustbowl

ctf_sawmill

plr_nightfall_c

koth_harvest_final

cp_gravelpit

ctf_premuda_b1b

pl_goldrush

cp_badlands

pl_hoodoo_final

cp_steel

cp_egypt_final

This leaves in most of the "popular" cp maps, but buffers them more. It also adds two customs in, and we can swap those two out as we get tired of them.

I also removed 2fort AND turbine.. there's always RTV.