Pickup survey results are up!

[Word]

In my opinion, the game won't die anytime soon, but I would abolish pickup altogether in favor of open 6v6 fortress until the game is updated a little and gains more popularity again. But obviously there'll still be a need for something like pickup, so have you already considered something like a parallel system, e.g. at least 4 players are needed for each team and organize as if it was regular pickup while the rest (sweepers or wings, depending on their skill) has no access to center and defense positions unless the other two unlock them? Would the ability to lock positions improve anything?

Sometimes I think the game needs a bigger variety of, and more 'gripping' sound (which doesn't mean it should adapt to "Legacy"), perhaps more translations, witty center/console messages in certain situations (this is something I enjoyed a lot in CTF when I was new and thought the server would shout "JAILBREAK!" whenever I got the flag - it just seemed more rewarding; imagine the MCP's voice would say that out loud!) and the likes (this is what the 'ordinary' community should concentrate on, as long as there still is a community), and more light/explosion effects if the developers have time on their hands - nothing that really changes the smooth gameplay but enriches the whole experience nonetheless and makes it more competitive with more modern games (even though most of us like it the way it is, of course), and optically/acoustically even less repetitive.

[Soul]

Why don't all you noobs who play LoL recruit some people to the game

[misterplayer]

Why don't all you noobs who play LoL recruit some people to the game

They call it snake and have no interest. I've tried

And i played tron today, and it was boring without pickup. Don't abolish pickup :c

[Nanu Nanu]

We went into a pickup tst server to wait for 8 to play "srs" and it felt no different from CTF. Sitting around till enough show up so you can play a proper match. It shouldn't really be the same for fort I suppose, but tst isn't entirely fun without a full server. Often I will play just because I see there's almost enough people to start a pickup match, and afterwards I will want to play more tron, be it public fort or whatever mode. Anyway I do see tron being a bit less active while pickup is down.

[Venijn]

(I'll read all the posts later)

for now I'll just say: one major issue with our [fortress] community is that we aren't able to run parallel servers of the same game mode. Sure, sometimes you'll see 2 sumo bars populated, but I've "never" really seen two fortress servers successfully populated at the same time (unless there's a war going on in one), even back when there were several good options. That's why 6v6 public fort is an issue, because you'll find 12 people playing and up to 10 players spectating. "Ughhh why can't WE play, 9v9 is much better". I mean, sure, potter is in that first server so it's a LITTLE less fun to play in the other one. But you can play with potter tomorrow! or in a couple hours! (is potter still active? idk.)

If we get into the thought of 2 parallel 6v6 public fort servers, the step to a 3rd and 4th isn't that huge, and that's when we can start expanding for real. (I don't see it ever working out though )
But if we can get that going, I think players will start coming.

(Like I said, didn't read (or even skim through) your wonderful posts right now, this is a random insert, I'll catch up later.)

A good point, but I think part of the decline can be attributed to the social aspect of the game, which has changed too. Some players won't even bother going into a server unless one of their friends is there, and then they will just have a conversation throughout, regardless of what the other people in the server are doing. That in itself reduces the competitive edge, but some previous posts have tried to offer solutions to that.

Even pickup has been affected, it's less and less competitive because everyone is friends with everyone, and it's turned into more of a casual thing. The way pickup was when i first got involved, was THE high-end, really serious, intense matches, which I watched for some time before believing I was good enough to join.

I'll even admit that I am sometimes led to servers depending on whether one of my brothers is in there, and I'm sure the same applies for many. That is an aspect of the game which we can't change. I'd love to come online though and see 4 6v6 public fort matches ongoing.

Also, there are many casual fort players, who come and play whent hey feel like it. No clan, no Ladle, no friends, just game time (and they have been getting better and better.) If we could retain those people longer, then the game would be doing better. They should be our primary target.

[jedi]

fu all I want my pickup back! I can't play fort! I'm pickup player! free pickup!!


goodbye I'll see you on the 5th june again
sw1ss

[orion]

I rarely play pickup but checking Browser armagetron looks like boringland

[ogo]

The last couple of days I've seen Megafort busier than in a long time, with 3 new people trying fort during the games I played, each to varying success

I've played some tst, which is quicker and easier to organise than when done through pickup. Without the start_new_match command it was less competitive, but not a bad start all things considered

Remember that we're using this period to try and establish something new, not just delete pickup. We've had some good suggestions coming through from Gonzap, Venom and Sine amongst others, for pickup alternatives. Are there any programmers/server-nerds who'd be willing to take some of these ideas and convert them into working servers? I fear we might not get very far if we don't have the people who can make these suggestions happen involved in this discussion

[Vogue]

I've seen people who never play pickup but were in fort/sumo all day. Definitely looking positive.

[sinewav]

Yes, the main problem right now (and this is community wide, not just Fort/Sumo) is the ratio of players and developers (or people who maybe can help but don't have time, like myself). Too many players and not enough people who are interested in server mechanics and such. But here is the thing: we don't need pickup or even the code to have successful, serious matches. The players can do that all by themselves and that is what everyone needs to remember.

If I get time next week I'll look into a test server.

[DaGarBBaGeMAN]

Oh no!!! Swiss is gone - tron is dying ((

[hawk]

Since pickup has started my affinity for fort has slowly declined. If the teams are unbalanced it is hard to get through the entire match and it became a bit too focused on just starting a pick up match because casual fort was not good enough for some reason even though that is what drove me to fort in the first place. I really like Gonzap and sine ideas( I think those are the ppl who said this) of having public servers that can go into a "pick up mode" with random teams. I think it would solve a lot of the big issues I saw eith pickup. I know its not a too helpful post but I am glad to see people trying to fix an issue in this community and would like to through my two cents in because, as tak said if we all list our complaints or issues we can try and find a solution to the majority of our problems.

Sorry for rambling


Hawk

[Snxpflash]

Organized Fortress will always be the more attractive option and thus the more popular one. So far, only real fort iv seen on the grid has been clan battles.. Which really does not qualify as 'public fort'. I for 1 would love the idea of public fort if people still took it seriously.. however that is never the case. Iv noticed, even when Pickup is thriving.. there are still a lot of people in public fort servers... even more so then right now when Pickup is down. But.. I digress

[Rhythm]

So, something I'd like to bring to people's attention... I'm one of the newer players here, and I learned how to play fortress in pickup. I know I pissed a lot of people off when I first started, but I was lucky enough to have someone in the same room with me as I learned.

I guess, I don't see pickup as the problem. I see people's attitudes as the problem, and the limitations in teaching new players. I'd like to see people's time go into making this game easier to learn and being more open and friendly to newer players.

[Magi]

So, something I'd like to bring to people's attention... I'm one of the newer players here, and I learned how to play fortress in pickup. I know I pissed a lot of people off when I first started, but I was lucky enough to have someone in the same room with me as I learned.

I guess, I don't see pickup as the problem. I see people's attitudes as the problem, and the limitations in teaching new players. I'd like to see people's time go into making this game easier to learn and being more open and friendly to newer players.

I agree with the attitude part, I understand you can only do so much to teach new players, and at the same time you know how to play and want to play serious, but if people intend on seeing the fort community grow and not die, we may need to suspend players less, explain things thoroughly to them, act like nice people. People tend to come back to a server if the people there are nice and tried to help them. Terms like torp, nph, bottle, grind; new players don't understand these, maybe take some time to explain to them, I don't know, but getting mad at people for not knowing how to play the game won't help us any.

I talked to a person today from fast track about his fort and sumo experience, he said he likes sumo sometimes and that it can be fun, but when I asked him about fort he said he was scared to play because he knew he wasn't very good and people were mean to him about it. Fort simply has an atmosphere around it that scares new players away. We need to try and change that if we want newer players to play.