NS2News.org Poll: How important are mods to your everyday NS2 game?

PelargirPelargir Join Date: 2013-07-02 Member: 185857Members, Forum Moderators, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Squad Five Silver, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Silver, WC 2013 - Silver, Forum staff
edited March 2016 in NS2 General Discussion
Controversial issue lately, your replies would help me making a new http://ns2news.org/ article (possibly). Please explain your answer.
(Examples of mods: NS2+, CompMod, Shine Administration, etc)

Crosshairs are excluded in this poll.
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Comments

  • FrozenFrozen New York, NY Join Date: 2010-07-02 Member: 72228Members, Constellation
    edited March 2016
    I started playing without any of the things, but I never would again unless the vanilla game was massively changed towards compmod.

    I'll play NS2 Classic for sure. I'm about to. I don't appreciate not having NS2+ but its not gamebreaking for me in the same way. (Except health bars, the circles literally kill me)
  • NordicNordic Long term camping in Kodiak Join Date: 2012-05-13 Member: 151995Members, NS2 Playtester, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Shadow
    I have tried to avoid servers that do not have ns2+, in the past. Not having ns2+ has been extremely upsetting, but it does not stop me from playing.
  • WellWell Join Date: 2006-10-04 Member: 58054Members, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow
    edited March 2016
    Mods improve tons of gameplay elements and do it fast without UWE. One or small team of mod developers can fast add new features with good players feedback. Can fix any bugs rapidly.
    But UWE team need more time to fix or change something in UI, like a terrible exo's UI which switch off by one click in NS2+ or Fade blink motion blur.
    I don't really understand why all NS2+ features still not integrated in vanilla.
  • DC_DarklingDC_Darkling Join Date: 2003-07-10 Member: 18068Members, Constellation, Squad Five Blue, Squad Five Silver
    Many mods are filled with personal preference. What one finds better, another finds it not so.
    Vanilla on itself has improved a lot over the years. I see less issue with playing vanilla then it used to be.

    Also mods themselves also have bugs. Understandable, but just like mods fix stuff in vanilla, it has happened that vanilla had stuff fixed which mods still had broken.
  • IeptBarakatIeptBarakat The most difficult name to speak ingame. Join Date: 2009-07-10 Member: 68107Members, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Diamond, Reinforced - Shadow
    edited March 2016
    A vague poll considering mods have different impacts depending on their type, but for gameplay improvements/balance mods they're simultaneously needed but also a detriment to improving the vanilla game.

    The base game is a bit lacking to say the least, people ask for specific features but feel the devs aren't listening or adding them fast enough. So dedicated community members mod the game to improve the overall game experience, now that their issues were solved by a community mod people stopped talking about them for the most part. Forward to this scenario where the biggest modders in the game pull their mods to show their frustration of the issues they've been dealing with, people who've depended on the mods to improve their gameplay experience are once again slapped in the face by vanilla, which doesn't have a lot of the features they've grown accustomed to because they have relied on modders to add it for them.

    So it's safe to say mods are integral to NS2 because UWE and the community have become reliant on them.
  • CalegoCalego Join Date: 2013-01-24 Member: 181848Members, NS2 Map Tester
    edited March 2016
    As an ex server-op I remember Shine too well for me to answer anything but that they're essential.

    Shine (and it's many plugins) and NS2+ are the power team behind a SIGNIFICANT amount of what pub players don't even realize happens. I don't know that I wouldn't be playing if not for them, but I definitely never would have started my own server, maintained a community, or help continue maintaining communities after i gave up my own server.

    Basically, if you play on anything but a vanilla server, you can thank @Person8880 for all of the Administration tools that Shine does in the background.

    It's pretty safe to say I would have lost a lot of interest in the game without the QoL brought by NS2+ for my own personal game experience. Add to that the numerous bugfixes that have gone into NS2+ before going into vanilla.
  • amoralamoral Join Date: 2013-01-03 Member: 177250Members
    ... fucking alien vision, and crosshair and hitsound.

    at this point i'm really loving the accuracy box after a death too.

  • Cannon_FodderAUSCannon_FodderAUS Brisbane, AU Join Date: 2013-06-23 Member: 185664Members, Squad Five Blue, Squad Five Silver, Reinforced - Shadow
    Missed NS2+ last night, not used to the need to press G to chuck weapon. I can live with not having the mods, but they make life so so so much better when playing the game. There are just so many QoL changes mods bring (and customising) that the vanilla game doesn't. We also need to remember, UWE sometimes doesn't change elements of the UI etc... because it is alot of work to ensure it works for all resolutions supported. Where as a mod is under no such obligation. ie. Mods are installed at the user's peril, if it breaks your game, you can uninstall. But for the base game this is not an option.
  • MoFo1MoFo1 United States Join Date: 2014-07-25 Member: 197612Members
    Nordic wrote: »
    I have tried to avoid servers that do not have ns2+, in the past. Not having ns2+ has been extremely upsetting, but it does not stop me from playing.

    Same here. The worst part of it for me is having to constantly change my mouse sensitivity.
  • littleevilwolflittleevilwolf Join Date: 2013-01-17 Member: 180231Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    edited March 2016
    MoFo1 wrote: »
    Nordic wrote: »
    I have tried to avoid servers that do not have ns2+, in the past. Not having ns2+ has been extremely upsetting, but it does not stop me from playing.

    Same here. The worst part of it for me is having to constantly change my mouse sensitivity.

    Haveing to change my mouse sensitivity and my fov everytime i switch teams sucks so
    much.
    Having to turn on alien vision after doing anything on aliens is annoying.
    The fact there is so much fog and mist/holograms everywhere is distracting.
    The background noise levels r not constant and with no way to turn it off on vanilla. I could keep going but the only reason I'm playing right now with out mods is to get better for my team I play for, and to play with friends...
  • AbsurdonAbsurdon Germany Join Date: 2015-02-09 Member: 201274Members
    NS2+ improves the gameplay alot. mods like compmod or the pubversion of it (think it's ns2 tweaks or smthn like this) fix bugs only days after they got implemented in vannila while vannila still has them even months later (random facing direction after spawn)
    mods like skulks with shotguns or faded contribute to a variety in gameplay like different gamemodes provide in other games (not mentioning combat here which even made it to an own game , huge mistake if u ask me)
    custom alien visions like huzes or crazys improve the visual apperance alot especially back then when we had fanta av.
    sure some stuff might be controversial like the option to turn of viewmodels in ns2+ but they were nice to have features, but features like the lowlights which back than gave us the little bit extra performance we wanted.
    most of these features where not implemented in mods cause a single person thought hey let's have that but because it's needed.

    playing vanilla lately just made me aware of how much rly nice features there are cause of mods like ns2+ and are totaly missing in vanilla while some are "nice to have" others are more like "wtf! y are they not in here?"

    imho the game is playable without mods but way more enjoyable with 'em
  • MOMOhandsetMOMOhandset uniteds tates Join Date: 2016-02-29 Member: 213668Members
    august 2014, ns1 gathers finally met their fate when after 2-3 consecutive weekends of nobody showing up (myself included). finally, after almost 7-8 thousand hours of ns1, both competitive and pub play, i thought i was finally done with this genre.

    a year later, i was gifted ns2 over the holidays and i haven't picked up another video game until last week. honestly i wouldn't be playing this game in the first place if it wasn't for the ability to revert so many superfluous additions to the game. ns2+ reminds me of the absolutely manditory NineLegends knife gaming pack which allowed me to enjoy ns1 from the mid-late 2000s to late 2014. i watched the ns1 competitve community slowly evaporate right before my eyes; ns2 feels HEALTHY in comparison, the balance changes in comp mod, which constantly introduce new nuances and build orders to the meta game are dream come true. i really hope my experiences playing ns for the past 2 months continue, i've met many amazing friends and people from all over the world and i love you all so DEARLY. hope we can play some GrEAT GAMES s00n
  • ArchieArchie Antarctica Join Date: 2006-09-19 Member: 58028Members, Constellation, Reinforced - Supporter, WC 2013 - Supporter
    edited March 2016
    although i should have voted for the one below im retrospect i suspect it innumerates the one below aswell, i would still play without those mods because first and foremost it's a game i've always played through shit and through fun, sif let some rands running the current UWE tell us how we're going to enjoy a game we have played since release and prior to that 2003.

    Mods enhance the faults in the gameplay that the original dev team never bothered to fix, it's almost not playable and very frustrating without delicious features that are situated withen mods such as Mendasps NS2+ and xDragon's compmod, that and i like to play with ice's LMG which i have uploaded so it works client-side, hell i even run some local private mods such as crosshairs and other goodies that are yet to come.

    Not sure why you even bothered to split people up into categories, that's pretty rude. Although i will come off as militant, these positions sway every-second, but i'll never side on people who disrespect community leaders and modders,
  • YojimboYojimbo England Join Date: 2009-03-19 Member: 66806Members, NS2 Playtester, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Shadow
    I'd say more noticeable difference without NS2+ for me is;-

    Team sensitivities, really frustrating having to fart about in options everytime I change teams.
    Alien Vision defaulted to ON upon spawning after death.
    Low lights option, this dramatically helped my fps whenever I played vanilla maps, you can really feel the pinch when joining large player count servers.
    Endgame stats, really useful to me in determining which tech was researched first, player accuracies, how much resources our commander spent on meds, ammo etc etc.

    In the end I would like to surmise. Yes NS2 is playable without mods. Is it as fun without them, definitely not.

  • sotanahtsotanaht Join Date: 2013-01-12 Member: 179215Members
    I probably wouldn't play without minimal alien vision, and I suck without my custom crosshairs. I really miss the NS2+ scoreboards (both post game and on death) though. The quake hitsounds and auto-alien vision are about the only other features I cared about. Regardless, I've still played plenty of good games without it.

    I don't touch game mode modes, from CompMod to Combat, and I avoid LF and hells servers as much as possible due to their balance mods.
  • KasharicKasharic Hull, England Join Date: 2013-03-27 Member: 184473Members, Forum Admins, NS2 Playtester, NS2 Map Tester, NS2 Community Developer
    There wasn't an option for what I truly believe...

    NS2+ has many things that I consider vital to the game, without them I can still play, but my enjoyment of the game is significantly lessened.

    Mods like NSL, Compmod, Last stand etc, are fantastic mods and I play them regularly, they offer different ways to enjoy NS2, without them the lifespan of NS2 would be lessened in my opinion.

    Other mods (NS2 tweaks for example) fix many of the issues NS2 has and makes the game noticeably more enjoyable.

    So my answer would technically be "They contribute to a better NS2 life experience, I could and would play without them, but the time I put into NS2 would be significantly less"
  • TyrwingTyrwing Sweden Join Date: 2015-11-23 Member: 209435Members
    edited March 2016
    No point playing the game anymore without ns+ and compmod. It is just a boring, unbalanced and broken mess.

    EDIT: Trying the vanilla game again was just a painful and terrible experience, like cooking a hamburger with rotten meat. It is still a hamburger, but would you eat it?
  • AeglosAeglos Join Date: 2010-04-06 Member: 71189Members
    Tyrwing wrote: »
    No point playing the game anymore without ns+ and compmod. It is just a boring, unbalanced and broken mess.

    EDIT: Trying the vanilla game again was just a painful and terrible experience, like cooking a hamburger with rotten meat. It is still a hamburger, but would you eat it?

    That's unfair. Stale food sure, but not rotten food.
  • TyrwingTyrwing Sweden Join Date: 2015-11-23 Member: 209435Members
    edited March 2016
    Aeglos wrote: »
    Tyrwing wrote: »
    No point playing the game anymore without ns+ and compmod. It is just a boring, unbalanced and broken mess.

    EDIT: Trying the vanilla game again was just a painful and terrible experience, like cooking a hamburger with rotten meat. It is still a hamburger, but would you eat it?

    That's unfair. Stale food sure, but not rotten food.

    It might as well be rotten. I did try to give vanilla a chance again but there is no pull. I KNOW it is the same game, but there is just nothing fun about it any more. And it makes it even worse knowing that it could be - therefore rotten.

    The fun of competitive 6v6 ns2 is just insane, sadly a lot of people on the forums will never experience that. But it pretty much beats any game I have ever played in terms of actual fun.
  • YojimboYojimbo England Join Date: 2009-03-19 Member: 66806Members, NS2 Playtester, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Shadow
    Until this matter is resolved, I shall take up rotary flying on Arma 3 with my new Thrustmaster Hotas X or rift grind with my Wizard on Diablo 3.

    As saddening as it is, there are other games out there. Ciao.
  • Live_FeedLive_Feed Join Date: 2010-07-15 Member: 72419Members
    Really disliked the vanilla experience in NS2 recently that i almost stopped bothering to play it. Luckily, the Mutiny server has a version of NS2+ running. Really drives home how horrible the vanilla game is compared to all the utility and standard that NS2+ provides.
  • LaPalidaLaPalida Join Date: 2004-09-01 Member: 31182Members, Constellation
    edited March 2016
    I think I'd still play but may stop eventually if the game is too broken. The mods definitely improved the game (esp NS2+).
  • LokiLoki Join Date: 2012-07-07 Member: 153973Members, Forum Moderators, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Squad Five Silver, Squad Five Gold, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow, Subnautica Playtester, NS2 Community Developer, Pistachionauts
    edited March 2016
    Dont really use any mods like ns2+ play on servers than run them ofc but I dont use it.

    Though I do play LS / SWS etc but I feel this poll is mainly about NS2 + and the compmod
  • _INTER__INTER_ Join Date: 2009-08-08 Member: 68392Members, NS2 Playtester, Reinforced - Shadow
    I regard NS2+ as an integral part of NS2, despite it being a mod (thanks Mendasp). Apart from NS2+ I don't use any other modifiction. This is not reflectable in this poll.
    NS2+ honestly should be integrated for real.
  • JektJekt Join Date: 2012-02-05 Member: 143714Members, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow
    Yeah Shine is pretty amazing. People have been forgetting about that one.

    Server administration is impossible without it.
  • xDragonxDragon Join Date: 2012-04-04 Member: 149948Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Gold, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Shadow
    Erm I mean shine certainly adds a lot (much of it behind the scenes stuff you didnt list), but you listed a lot of features that are actually in vanilla lol.
  • SupaFredSupaFred Join Date: 2013-03-03 Member: 183652Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Silver
    edited March 2016
    xDragon wrote: »
    Erm I mean shine certainly adds a lot (much of it behind the scenes stuff you didnt list), but you listed a lot of features that are actually in vanilla lol.

    True, but it's done better in Shine. I don't think we should compare the usefulness of Shine and the pulled mods as they serve different purposes and are all very useful.

    Calego has a point about Shine being taken for granted too since, for everyone but server ops, there is no easy way to tell if a feature is provided by Shine or if it's in vanilla.
  • radionautradionaut california Join Date: 2013-01-22 Member: 181192Members, Reinforced - Supporter, WC 2013 - Gold
    NS2+/Comp & NSL Mods have made NS2 incredibly fun and worthwhile! i'm not too interested in playing the game right now in it's current state, and already miss playing gathers in that familiar 6v6 competitive environment with friends.

    over the last few years, aside from the occasional classic arcade game and console emulation here and there i haven't really played much of anything but NS2.
    hope things can be resolved soon, because i just re-installed something called 'Planetside 2' :|
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