Am I the only one that thinks even if matchmaking was implemented super-awesomely, due to the communal aspect of many NS2 servers, a large portion of the existing 'hardcore' fanbase wouldnt use it?
if the game were to go f2p (don't know if I think it should, but if it did), i'd like to see a official "minimum hours to join" server option. it already exists with mods when it isn't broken, but those require you to fully load into the server and join a team, which we all know isn't the way to go (like the old reserved slots). nobody likes taking 2 minutes to load into a server just to be kicked for not having enough hours. would be much better if it did the hour check before you begin loading.
AurOn2COOKIES! FREEDOM, AND BISCUITS!AustraliaJoin Date: 2012-01-13Member: 140224Members, Forum Moderators, NS2 Playtester, Forum staff
From my experience, 90% (of the australians/nzlanders at least) Hardcore vets stop playing every time there’s' a free weekend, for said weekend.
F2p forever would probably do more damage than good. It'll bring in a bunch of new guys and make the old guys all frustrated and stuffs and not want to play any-more.
Cannon_FodderAUSBrisbane, AUJoin Date: 2013-06-23Member: 185664Members, Squad Five Blue, Squad Five Silver, Reinforced - Shadow
@AurOn2 and the 10% left just pub stomps not because we want to, but because... well the ground lerk begs to be shot, and you can only limit yourself so much in the game before it becomes a chore to play (hence the other 90% just waits for the green tide to be over). I agree with your statement btw about 90% AUS vets stop playing for green weekends.
why not welcome new player even the game is F2P ( that if..) , they brought $$$ to Developers after all
CSGO have Veteran and Casual players , but Valve have 2 Match making is Casual play and Competitive (with Penalty is you cant play competitive mode for 3days..vv if you quit match)
And they still have Comunity Server List for player want the old fashion play , mod server . I thnk CDT on future build should creating stuff like my list above , to increse NS2 Popularity
P/s: NS2 better than COD:ghost with LOTS of DLC pack , need more Advertising
So I finally got my computer shipped, built everything up, made sure it was stable and got the game. Been having a lotta fun, for the four or five hours I've been playing. (always on the same server, for some reason. IBIS if I recall ??)
It's a steal for the price.
Sure, it took years to get a nice polish on and get the game smooth and nice, but at this point, I could see it becoming a huge thing in the gamer scene. Except for one thing, out of the 10 or so rounds I've played, I've never seen the marines win once lol. And surely it couldn't have all been my thing, as much as I had little to no clue what to do. So maybe the odds are stacked on aliens' side a little bit ??
Anyway, I dunno if I'll get the Reinforcement program after all, but for $25 so far it was definitely all worth it. At the very least I got to say a big thanks to Flayra (or whatever it was ?) for all his hard work and dedication (and his team, also.) with my money (while I have some, lol.). Had so many (years?) of fun with Natural Selection back in the days, it's the least I could do.
Pretty happy to see a pretty constant 144FPS on my VG248QE (144hz gaming monitor. highly recommended buy, @ only 300 bucks too.) with non-OC'd 4790K and single 660 at 1920x1080. (low resolution though, but it's still damn gorgeous to be honest !!!!......)
Anyway, hit me up if you wanna play a game some time, or if you wanna show me some around a bit. I'm a little confused about some of the new stuff and the new maps lol. :].......
BTW, I'd definitely pitch in $75 for the player support program (I'm pretty sure my finances allow it at the moment. Though I could definitely use a new mouse or something else for that price, too.), but I feel a bit betrayed that the team seems to be focusing on another project now. If I gave out that much purely out of good will, I would love to see every penny spent on putting NS2 on a good spot in the scene. ...... and I don't think I can have that kind of certitude with the company's current orientation.
Or am I wrong ??.....
Anyway, I'll give it some time to think. I don't think the program is closing any time soon, or doesn't appear to be, anyway. ..
You can view it as a way to give something back for all the past updates they made, to support UWE in the entirety of their new endeavors, with some skins and badges as a reward.
So I finally got my computer shipped, built everything up, made sure it was stable and got the game. Been having a lotta fun, for the four or five hours I've been playing. (always on the same server, for some reason. IBIS if I recall ??)
It's a steal for the price.
Sure, it took years to get a nice polish on and get the game smooth and nice, but at this point, I could see it becoming a huge thing in the gamer scene. Except for one thing, out of the 10 or so rounds I've played, I've never seen the marines win once lol. And surely it couldn't have all been my thing, as much as I had little to no clue what to do. So maybe the odds are stacked on aliens' side a little bit ??
Anyway, I dunno if I'll get the Reinforcement program after all, but for $25 so far it was definitely all worth it. At the very least I got to say a big thanks to Flayra (or whatever it was ?) for all his hard work and dedication (and his team, also.) with my money (while I have some, lol.). Had so many (years?) of fun with Natural Selection back in the days, it's the least I could do.
Pretty happy to see a pretty constant 144FPS on my VG248QE (144hz gaming monitor. highly recommended buy, @ only 300 bucks too.) with non-OC'd 4790K and single 660 at 1920x1080. (low resolution though, but it's still damn gorgeous to be honest !!!!......)
Anyway, hit me up if you wanna play a game some time, or if you wanna show me some around a bit. I'm a little confused about some of the new stuff and the new maps lol. :].......
Cheers !!
Blackmoon.
@Blackmoon check out my guide on steam or on the new player forum (see link in signature).
I just wanted to say that although I have not been actively playing NS2 lately, I often find myself coming back to check on the blog and forums just to see how the game and the community have been doing. It's always just a click away if there's ever a need for that gorgeious glory that you just can't get anywhere else!
It's amazing to me, that people think NS2 is 'dying'. We have one the most dedicated communities. Yes, our playerbase has gone down - but in comparison to other games released around the same time, we're doing amazing.
Just to give you guys an idea how we are doing in comparison to other multiplayer games, released around the same time as NS2 (some with MUCH higher PR budgets). For the last 7 days:
For Reference - NS2
Brink (multi platform, multi-million dollar PR):
Tribes
Interstellar Marines
ORION: Prelude
Even newer games we're doing better than:
StarForge
Tactical Intervention
Sanctum 2
...
My point is, it's really not doom and gloom. Our community is so passionate and strong, we are in a really great place to take NS2 to the next level in the future.
Ive said it before, Id like to see player figures for games like Titanfall. To say its only 6v6 + bots Ive been sat in the lobby for ages recently.
I struggle most days to get on my server of choice and that's with most of the regular players taking a break playing other games and the fact these forums are very active says were here for a good long while yet
AsranielJoin Date: 2002-06-03Member: 724Members, Playtest Lead, Forum Moderators, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow, Subnautica Playtester, Retired Community Developer
NS2 is also in a better state than ever before, with many bugs fixed etc. Its very hard to get players back to a game released 2 years ago, but i think we are doing very well compared to others.
Cannon_FodderAUSBrisbane, AUJoin Date: 2013-06-23Member: 185664Members, Squad Five Blue, Squad Five Silver, Reinforced - Shadow
I am sure I will be around til the end. After 2 years, this is still the only game I fire up (first) when I want to play something. If I can't get on a server, then I would consider other things (like reading a book or watch youtube - ISE's channel or NS2 streaming, naturally).
In addition to @Obraxis 's great observation, I'd like to point out that according to the NS2 steamchart our playerbase is up in numbers since the sale in the first part of the month. Sure, it's a sale, but quite a few people seem to have stuck around for at least this month :P And I'm still seeing green (that means they've basically just bought the game) players pretty frequently so there's definitely still a steady influx of people trying us out.
NS2's still got the mojo, yo! *funky grandpa dance*
Am I the only one that thinks even if matchmaking was implemented super-awesomely, due to the communal aspect of many NS2 servers, a large portion of the existing 'hardcore' fanbase wouldnt use it?
This is one reason why I think it's probably a little too late to implement matchmaking into NS2. The game has been out for too long using the traditional server browser system and many communities have been created around those servers. We'd either have to replace that system - a terrible idea that would infuriate most of the fan base - or build a parallel matchmaking service that only a portion of players would even use.
i think the decline in player base recently is mostly due to lack of new content, its great balancing the game but without new maps and content patches people will still get bored.
admittedly i've only given ns2 proper attention for the past year or so, despite purchasing it pretty soon after release, but i've never felt the game suffered from a lack of content
in spite of there being only 10 official maps, the game has never felt stale to me. because of the varying spawns, the commander's tech tree options, and people's innate headless chicken running and gunning, the game is always going to be dynamic. maybe it's just my lack of hours, but no two rounds ever feel the same to me. even my beloved nano rush feels fresh and new each time
sure, i'd love to see more maps (that thread about derelict looked sexy), but there's no point in releasing them if they're not up to the same standard as the 10 official. kodiak, whilst not a fan favourite, is head and shoulders above other unofficial community maps like fusion, orbital or nothing, which nonetheless see rotation in servers (no disrespect to their creators)
the official maps just seem to have a certain je ne sais quoi
Well NS2 can get stale for me if I play it too much but its like that with any game. A quick break and I'm right back into it. I do think NS2 does have a lack of content BREADTH but not content depth. 1 game mode, maybe a couple of modded servers but that 1 game mode has more depth and content than most games have with several game modes.
AurOn2COOKIES! FREEDOM, AND BISCUITS!AustraliaJoin Date: 2012-01-13Member: 140224Members, Forum Moderators, NS2 Playtester, Forum staff
Video tutorials can only go so far.
There needs to be a playable tutorial with a pre-recorded commander with a semi-general replay of your average game.
...which would need a semi-decent ai.
then, and only then, can persons unknown learn the intricacies of NS2.
well i only play 1 game really and that is ns2, mostly becuase no other games really interest me or they fizzle out within hours of play. Have to say though i do odten wish ns2 had something new to look forward to and i have played it alot at about 1600 hours
game is still fun and there is still alot of enjoyment left in it for me but there is no denying whenever there was a content patch previously the population would increase.
Comments
F2p forever would probably do more damage than good. It'll bring in a bunch of new guys and make the old guys all frustrated and stuffs and not want to play any-more.
CSGO have Veteran and Casual players , but Valve have 2 Match making is Casual play and Competitive (with Penalty is you cant play competitive mode for 3days..vv if you quit match)
And they still have Comunity Server List for player want the old fashion play , mod server . I thnk CDT on future build should creating stuff like my list above , to increse NS2 Popularity
P/s: NS2 better than COD:ghost with LOTS of DLC pack , need more Advertising
It's a steal for the price.
Sure, it took years to get a nice polish on and get the game smooth and nice, but at this point, I could see it becoming a huge thing in the gamer scene. Except for one thing, out of the 10 or so rounds I've played, I've never seen the marines win once lol. And surely it couldn't have all been my thing, as much as I had little to no clue what to do. So maybe the odds are stacked on aliens' side a little bit ??
Anyway, I dunno if I'll get the Reinforcement program after all, but for $25 so far it was definitely all worth it. At the very least I got to say a big thanks to Flayra (or whatever it was ?) for all his hard work and dedication (and his team, also.) with my money (while I have some, lol.). Had so many (years?) of fun with Natural Selection back in the days, it's the least I could do.
Pretty happy to see a pretty constant 144FPS on my VG248QE (144hz gaming monitor. highly recommended buy, @ only 300 bucks too.) with non-OC'd 4790K and single 660 at 1920x1080. (low resolution though, but it's still damn gorgeous to be honest !!!!......)
Anyway, hit me up if you wanna play a game some time, or if you wanna show me some around a bit. I'm a little confused about some of the new stuff and the new maps lol. :].......
Cheers !!
Blackmoon.
Or am I wrong ??.....
Anyway, I'll give it some time to think. I don't think the program is closing any time soon, or doesn't appear to be, anyway. ..
@Blackmoon check out my guide on steam or on the new player forum (see link in signature).
Just to give you guys an idea how we are doing in comparison to other multiplayer games, released around the same time as NS2 (some with MUCH higher PR budgets). For the last 7 days:
For Reference - NS2
Brink (multi platform, multi-million dollar PR):
Tribes
Interstellar Marines
ORION: Prelude
Even newer games we're doing better than:
StarForge
Tactical Intervention
Sanctum 2
...
My point is, it's really not doom and gloom. Our community is so passionate and strong, we are in a really great place to take NS2 to the next level in the future.
I struggle most days to get on my server of choice and that's with most of the regular players taking a break playing other games and the fact these forums are very active says were here for a good long while yet
Deadgames dont get that right?
You have no time for reading forums @Loki , don't you have maps to make
:x ^:)^
and start coding
NS2's still got the mojo, yo! *funky grandpa dance*
This is one reason why I think it's probably a little too late to implement matchmaking into NS2. The game has been out for too long using the traditional server browser system and many communities have been created around those servers. We'd either have to replace that system - a terrible idea that would infuriate most of the fan base - or build a parallel matchmaking service that only a portion of players would even use.
in spite of there being only 10 official maps, the game has never felt stale to me. because of the varying spawns, the commander's tech tree options, and people's innate headless chicken running and gunning, the game is always going to be dynamic. maybe it's just my lack of hours, but no two rounds ever feel the same to me. even my beloved nano rush feels fresh and new each time
sure, i'd love to see more maps (that thread about derelict looked sexy), but there's no point in releasing them if they're not up to the same standard as the 10 official. kodiak, whilst not a fan favourite, is head and shoulders above other unofficial community maps like fusion, orbital or nothing, which nonetheless see rotation in servers (no disrespect to their creators)
the official maps just seem to have a certain je ne sais quoi
There needs to be a playable tutorial with a pre-recorded commander with a semi-general replay of your average game.
...which would need a semi-decent ai.
then, and only then, can persons unknown learn the intricacies of NS2.
game is still fun and there is still alot of enjoyment left in it for me but there is no denying whenever there was a content patch previously the population would increase.
Edit: @Loki, Its a yes YES! 18 awesomes on the suggestion has to mean something.