Whatever happened to official UWE servers?

FarewelltoarmsFarewelltoarms gainesville fl Join Date: 2013-03-03 Member: 183603Members
I can't remember when they were last up (probably a little over a year and a half ago), but there used to be UWE servers that were available.

What happened to those? They got taken down obviously, but is it really that expensive to run a few 16 to 18 player servers?

I don't mind playing on the privately owned servers, but... at times the personality of those individuals and entities clashes with my own. And unfortunately, you can't really speak your mind because those people are in positions of power over you, at least when it comes to being able to play NS2. It reminds me of conversations with a school teacher or a boss. You can never really say what you want because there could be repercussions. I like the feeling of everyone being an equal, and that's what the UWE servers provided.

If the CDT is serious about getting more players back in the game, it would make sense to have an official server available for people to play on. Speaking from personal experience in other online games, I would always flock to the official public servers for the game when I was new.

Also, P.S. : The rookie tags for servers these days is kind of a joke. With the current playerbase, there is almost always a "veteran" with a 3000+ hive score on every server at all times. The rookies are not going to think that server was very friendly when they get trounced repeatedly. Plus, if that's what they experience on a "rookie friendly" server, then it's up to their imagination to envision what would happen on a non-rookie friendly server.

Comments

  • DC_DarklingDC_Darkling Join Date: 2003-07-10 Member: 18068Members, Constellation, Squad Five Blue, Squad Five Silver
    Cost surely is one thing. But no worries, they were hosted by multiplay. And multiplay NS2 servers are just bad, performance wise.

    There are still smaller (18-20) slot servers around where admins are not complete asses. Our taw servers for example are 18-20, and its against taw code of conduct to be abusive.
    While I am not fully aware of all the other servers admins behavior, not all is bad.

    As for the rookie tag, yeh.. well.. rookies get stomped a lot. That is true. Sadly there isnt much playerbase to truly split folk up on skill alone. Not many high lvl players want to play with rookies only, because it makes the game less fun for them also. its just a matter of players playing.
  • FrozenFrozen New York, NY Join Date: 2010-07-02 Member: 72228Members, Constellation
    They were useful with a higher player count, but now it's kind of pointless. They're needed for free weekends though, mostly, I assume
  • DC_DarklingDC_Darkling Join Date: 2003-07-10 Member: 18068Members, Constellation, Squad Five Blue, Squad Five Silver
    I doubt it, we have so many empty servers atm. And multiplay servers truly had bad performance. Not something you want to start in as a rookie.
  • NordicNordic Long term camping in Kodiak Join Date: 2012-05-13 Member: 151995Members, NS2 Playtester, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Shadow
    edited August 2015
    It makes me sad when people say that certain individuals personalities make their ns2 experience poorer, because I play on servers that don't have those players. They are possible to avoid and many just don't know it.

    You might be interested in these specific items from the trello board.
    Approved to do. https://trello.com/c/dgoMjaoT/595-rookie-only-servers-should-be-supported-without-mods
    Approved to do. https://trello.com/c/Pht4jIU1/757-fix-rookie-traps
    Needs approval, but is code complete. https://trello.com/c/BvQL7Qda/758-improve-rookie-system
    Not approved, not coded, but on the CDT wishlist for the game. https://trello.com/c/omeldgkh/765-block-rookies-from-cc
  • IronsoulIronsoul Join Date: 2011-03-12 Member: 86048Members
    almost everything hosted by traditional server companies don't run ns2 good. I'm currently paying $17 AUD a month for a 12 slot server and it still tanks in the middle of a match.

    So while UWE probably had a little bit of a discount, you can see how it would be rather expensive to maintain a whole bunch of badly performing servers.
  • WheeeeWheeee Join Date: 2003-02-18 Member: 13713Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    iirc the issue is that to get a good server you have to run custom hardware. ns2 doesn't run well on standard servers, used to be that a server had to be an i5/7 oc'd to 4.5ghz+ to get steady-ish performance. that's way outside the parameters of standard hosting companies
  • UncleCrunchUncleCrunch Mayonnaise land Join Date: 2005-02-16 Member: 41365Members, Reinforced - Onos
    I wouldn't be so categorical about that.

    The standard sever changes every year. What is "standard" what isn't "standard" anymore ??? Hmmm.

    Then it's up to the Service Provider to create offers that can run NS2. On my side of the world there are offers that fit the bill without a glitch for regular prices (I7). If the server can run other games, it can run NS2 as well (Some other games are no better than NS2 on that area).

    I don't think I7@+4Ghz are way outside the usual stuff. I have a server since a year now. Though i can be sad about that necessary debauchery of power because of "not polished" products. The quality clearly decreased over the years.


    Also Mods can be a little tricky sometimes. It has to go through a test/retry to see what's best. Up to the admin to care a little.

    Maybe your server is having issues because of the number of slots. What if you take 4 more slots ? Will you be on the same type of server ? Usually more slots means more power in the server. The difference is always in favor of the users.
  • NoMNoM Join Date: 2015-04-13 Member: 203407Members, NS2 Playtester
    The official servers were very underutilized, only people who desperately needed a server to play on - actually played on it. Not to mention they were missing mods many people would deem necessary such as NS2+.

    Usually you have to populate/seed a server for people to actually play on it.
  • Cannon_FodderAUSCannon_FodderAUS Brisbane, AU Join Date: 2013-06-23 Member: 185664Members, Squad Five Blue, Squad Five Silver, Reinforced - Shadow
    Ironsoul wrote: »
    almost everything hosted by traditional server companies don't run ns2 good. I'm currently paying $17 AUD a month for a 12 slot server and it still tanks in the middle of a match.

    So while UWE probably had a little bit of a discount, you can see how it would be rather expensive to maintain a whole bunch of badly performing servers.

    @Ironsoul shout out to you for providing a NS2 server for us Aussies.
  • sotanahtsotanaht Join Date: 2013-01-12 Member: 179215Members
    NoM wrote: »
    The official servers were very underutilized, only people who desperately needed a server to play on - actually played on it. Not to mention they were missing mods many people would deem necessary such as NS2+.

    Usually you have to populate/seed a server for people to actually play on it.

    Not so in the earlier days, when having mods running on the server was akin to having leprosy. Official servers were much more popular then.
  • NordicNordic Long term camping in Kodiak Join Date: 2012-05-13 Member: 151995Members, NS2 Playtester, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Shadow
    Its true. I am glad that is over.
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