An Open Letter To EA/Dice From StrafeRight

[sR Craig]

It's quite obvious that this patch was not ready to go. I know for a fact many of the GSP's advised strongly against releasing it just yet as it was not at all stable and/or ready to be distributed to the public.

Yet you (EA/Dice) insisted pushing this out the door. And for what? Coop? Humvee air drops? Squad jumping? While the server builds have been unstable since day one and the red name bug has yet to be solved you give us this patch that could very well be the end of BF2 for our community?

Meanwhile, GSP's are reporting mass cancelations of public ranked servers due to server instablility (read: CRASHES), CAL teams are disbanding over the squad jumping fix(which in our opinion is an exploit and SHOULD have been changed a long time ago) and seem to look the other way and talk up BF2142 at every opportunity (anyone notice the E3 coverage?).

I have a very strong opinion that we may see a hotfix for this patch but that EA is about ready to wash their hands clean of BF2 in any way, shape or form of support and continued patches and turn all of their efforts over to BF2142. What else can we assume given this turn of events? How does the past 6 months worth of patches make it look like you at all care about the game server hosts and providers when you have yet to fix the biggest issue on everyone's box...crashes.

Before you assume I'm just some random intraweb troll who just wants to vent (which I may be I guess but I digress...) take a look at the servers we host @ strafeRight. Our 24/7 Karkand is the #1 ranked server in the world according to Game Monitor and our 24/7 City Maps is ranked #9 as of this morning (click on 'server list' in my sig). We're serious gamers and have proven that we have a formula for building and maintaining great communities and server atmospheres across game platforms and gametypes (CS, CSSource, WoW, CoH/V). But it is our only choice if we don't see some serious support, and soon, to discontinue supporting this game...and completely abandoning BF2142 before it even happens.

Now that's not a threat...we're just a blip on the radar, I understand, but if I'm willing to take such measures (and believe me, I'm a very patient man) it is a safe bet so are many, many other hosts/communities. If you turn the hosts against you by lack of server support you're going to turn away a vast majority of FPS gamers that rely on said hosts to have servers up to play on.

I hope this finds its way to the right people because when it works, BF2 is a great game, possibly one of the 10 best FPS games in history given the vast gameplay experience and competitive feel. We'd love to host servers for this game for years to come but at this rate, we cannot justify the resources to support a game that makes our servers look bugged and our community wanting more from their experience...especially with things like UT and Quake Wars around the corner.

-Craig
straferight.com
craig -at- straferight dot c0m

[=GzR=Damager]

Re: An Open Letter To EA/Dice From StrafeRight

very nice to see .. I frequent your 27/7 Karkand server as of the last month or so and it would be a crime to see it go away.

Simply take that last patch off and run it the way it has been as of late .. I will be there without this damn patch

[Strega]

Re: An Open Letter To EA/Dice From StrafeRight

Well said Craig, thank you.

[menace-uk-]

Re: An Open Letter To EA/Dice From StrafeRight

The letter is a waste of time no 1 at eas will care about this persons trouble or the community he is trying to build:cry:

I bet there are loads of people who feel the same way

All i know is i am getting QW:ET and while BF2142 sounds good i am hesitant to buy it because of EA's lack of support and poor patches in BF2

[IndianScout]

Re: An Open Letter To EA/Dice From StrafeRight

letter has already been forwarded to DICE along with my first draft of the bug report...

[sR Craig]

Re: An Open Letter To EA/Dice From StrafeRight

Thanks for the kind words...and thanks for the forward Indian (hope things are well with you buddy...been a long time :))

We want to play by the rules, we don't want to roll back to previous versions as there are at least a few positive gameplay related fixes in this latest patch and we do not want to put our GPS in a postition to be frowned upon by EA as they are required to patch ASAP after patches come out in their contract.

But you can't have a house without a foundation. In this case the cornerstone of a good server is first and foremost the server itself. We own a rack full of dedicated servers in McLean, VA that we use to host our 4 competitive teams and public servers for Source, CS and BF2. We're not new to this 'hosting' thing at all and understand if you're pings aren't good, and your servers crash, you're doomed.

It is my honest hope to see someone at EA see this and realize we (meaning all of us here in the community) really do care about BF2 and would like to see it go on as the strong game experience we all know it can be.

I've got much better things to do than to flame...haha, hell, I put out enough flames on our boards all day long :-0 and sure don't need to start my own in someone esle's backyard, but I just cannot sidle idle anymore and watch this great thing we call BF2 erode away day after day until it is eventually nothing. We're builders at straferight, not destroyers...and we want to build BF2! By the way, thanks to Tbf2 for hosting such a great place.

[Kos'aaK]

Re: An Open Letter To EA/Dice From StrafeRight

Very well put Craig, hat down.

[Miniman]

Re: An Open Letter To EA/Dice From StrafeRight

i dont like 24/7 maps - jsut fro point racking, and theres no variety. its the map where you get serious jet and tank hogs.

back on subject, 1.3 is the buggiest patch yet, which is dissapointing because it seems like it was delayed the longest. did they even test it?

[The_Misfit]

Re: An Open Letter To EA/Dice From StrafeRight

I won't debate the SL hopping issue, but your letter rocked, much like your Infantry Maps server that I frequent - including a couple hours last night.

Thanks for your support, and you are right on.

My biggest concern is a trend I see developing. With older games, UT99, Q3, ED, '42, etc.. it seemed the time between introduction of the game and any sequel was much larger than what EA intends with BF2 / 2142. Previous games gave time for patches, mods, clan involvement, etc...

From what I've seen, it looks as though EA has said FU to clans, and to dev support over time with their games. Now it looks like its all about churning out the next title as fast as you can.

In basic business terms, in order for them to get a good ROI on 2142, they'll need to maximize sales when the game comes out. If the market they intend on tapping into is BF2 players, what better way to push them into another game then to have them somewhat unhappy with their current choice, even if it is one of their own titles? Or perhaps slow down dev support on the game so that clans / mods / etc.. move on.....

I wished I wasn't right about their intentions, but until I see something to convince me otherwise I will stick to this idea - and its a shame.

[« R²» HKS]

Re: An Open Letter To EA/Dice From StrafeRight

On average our server crashes 3 times per day. The average punter doesn't understand. They blame us, think we have a crappy box or bad connection when it has nothing to do with that. Its crappy code that hasn't been fixed. We pay a premium for a dedicated box and only run 1 instance of BF2 so we can provide large 64 player maps with fully functional BR without any lag as well as a separate server for VOIP. This costs us a lot of money per month, $260.

If the server happens to crash at the wrong time of day or should I say night then it might not fill again till the next day, also due to the silly minimum players needing to start.

The server stability is a complete joke, I agree 100% with you. Improved server stability was claimed and was at the top of the list in patch 1.22. Are you kidding?

Patch 1.3 is yet again full of bugs and instead of concentrating on fixing these important bugs you keep messing with the game adding, so called "features", nobody asked for. We are already having problems with the vehicle drops. Commanders are exploiting this feature more than any other exploit that ever existed before and this is only day 1 of the new 1.3 patch. I can't believe you allowed these vehicle drops to be placed on uncaps like the carriers. The commanders are waiting for a heli to spawn then dropping them on the heli before the heli can take off. They are dropping them on the runway, before a plane takes off or whilst it is taking off. Again this is day 1 of this great new feature.

Now squad hopping is gone the game has slowed to a snails pace. You are forever walking over the map, its become boring, if a commander would only drop a vehicle where its needed rather than on a heli, runway or lone sniper. Squad leaders to play the way you seem to have intended are now being heavily penalised, yeah that inspires teamwork! To play a SL properly in 1.3 they are likely to score 2 points and do nothing for the whole round and get no reward for doing so and its extremely boring.

I can also see servers being dropped like a ton of bricks at a rapid rate as the support or lack thereoff and the game being dumbed down so much, changes being made that were never asked for and vast gameplay changes between each patch to where we are today, which is a totally different game from where it started.

[=GzR=Matrix1]

Re: An Open Letter To EA/Dice From StrafeRight

Craig, I have to agree with Damager on this one. We both play on your servers and I have to admit your servers are by far better than some I have played on. This patch i have yet to play so I can't say much about it too long enough to download with the EA downloader down last night ( Nice program *sigh*) If they can't support the bandwidth why even have it. Support is the key to a successful business. If you don't understand that EA you will have some big issues down the line. All I could say is it would be a CRIME to let the poeple that buy your products down. Be Smart fix the Sh**t.

[DeadlyMACD]

Re: An Open Letter To EA/Dice From StrafeRight

BF2 deserves at least another 6 months to a year of support and at the very least a final patch that solves some long standing problems. The upcoming realease of BF 2142 however shows that EA and DICE feel they must compete with QW and Unreal Tournament 2007 now for fear of losing momentum and market share. In my opinion the market will be flooded with online fps games this fall and it will be interesting to see how the Battlefield 2 community splits up.

Counter Strike
Battlefield 2
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
Unreal Tournament 2007
Battlefield 2142
Armed Assault (the sequel to Operation Flashpoint, I might play this one, http://www.armed-assault-zone.com/news.php)
Call of Duty

[imported_Deliverance]

Re: An Open Letter To EA/Dice From StrafeRight

Well written letter my man, tho i fear it may well fall on deaf ears we can but try.

I can assure you, and further to his letter, Strafe Right is not the only community being dissilusioned by EA/DICE

Im a server admin for 50Klicks (www.50klicks.com ) and tho we may not be a well know community, we have well over a 1000 members, and probably the same number frequent our 3 ranked servers regularly (which as im sure you know, ad's up to alot of money) All that money comes from donations from our members, and if they stop enjoying the BF experience, they stop playing. If they stop playing they stop donating. No money = no servers, No servers = .....you get the idea. I may be making it out to be a bleak outlook, but EA/DICE by no means do themselves any favours.

Booster packs and new (unwanted) features to try and increase the longevity of the game (the sales figures are very poor, ive seen them) when all it would have taken was a couple of new maps to keep people interested. But alas, that obviously doesnt fit EA/DICE's current business model.

I suspect very highly that we may end up going down the QW route, as many of us simply wont even bother buying BF2142 based on EA's current attitude toward its customers, and its (apparent) inneptitude when it comes to producing relatively bug free code (lets face it, entirely bug free code is an enigma, a myth, it doesnt exist). Im by no means in a position to make a decision on the future of our community as im merely a server admin, but its people like 50K and Strafe right which form the backbone of the community and as sad as it is, EA dont care. They really dont care.

[Papi4baby]

Re: An Open Letter To EA/Dice From StrafeRight

Great letter, like you said me myself just a blip on the radar, but i feel the same way, im probably moving on to QW and once you start to add blips together it will be alot. This is the worse patch ever. Sorry DICE i know you probably work hard to get it out, but honestly it is complete crap.

P.S. A way to fix the commander dropping stuff all over the place they should make it that he can only drop stuff when requested by squad leaders.

[Rambo-82(NOR)]

Re: An Open Letter To EA/Dice From StrafeRight

Good letter Craig!!
im never gonna leave the Battlefield series..
-its better to be a general in one game ,than a Sergeant in three, if u know what i mean!