Most played mod?

[zuiquan1]

Re: Most played mod?

well, now that you mention it....


*shifts eyes*



nevermind....

[Mitch]

Re: Most played mod?

I am not sure why we do not see more people playing the mods than we do? I can't imagine that, that many people dropped BF2 altogether for 2142. I have played 2142 and in my opinion most of the mods for BF2 are much better than 2142 could ever aspire to be.

For the past few weeks I have been trying to decide on which mods to host and I must admit its been a tough decision as they are all fun to play.

I would love to be able to host them all but right now I am currently limited to only hosting two of the mods unless I drop one of our other servers or I lease another dedicated box and that is just not cost effective based on the number of players that are currently playing the mods.

I was planning on hosting the Desert Conflict and EOD but based on what I am reading here it would appear that the top 2- mods in the community right now are PR and DCON so I may be changing the line up to DCON & PR if EOD does not do well.

The reason I went with EOD over PR as my first choice is that EOD has just released a new version and I figured players would want to check it out.

I had started a thread http://www.totalbf2.com/forums/showthread.php?t=113914 a few days before this one was started asking players which mods they would be most interested in playing and had this info been posted a few days prior to my thread I would have had my answer...

I also posted a thread with the information for both of the mod servers we are hosting if your interested in checking them out you can get the info on them here http://www.totalbf2.com/forums/showthread.php?t=114419

I know competition is tough for players however I would appreciate it if you would take the time to check out the servers and let me know what you think. You can contact me on our site at www.bfstuff.com my user name is Chronic420 or you can contact me on the forums here either way I would like to know what you think.

[imported_Rhino]

Re: Most played mod?

I am not sure why we do not see more people playing the mods than we do? I can't imagine that, that many people dropped BF2 altogether for 2142. I have played 2142 and in my opinion most of the mods for BF2 are much better than 2142 could ever aspire to be.

1 wrod, Ranks

[*FMJ*Power]

Re: Most played mod?

1 wrod, Ranks

lol, beat me to it....RANK!!!!

there are still more BF2 players than 2142. 18,114 BF2 players, 10392 BF2142 players at this very moment.

the best answer to your question is rank, pure and simple,the majority of people do not play this game for fun anymore, they play for an imaginary number that means absolutely nothing rather than having fun and enjoying some of these very skilled developers hard work and time.

you'll find more balance, team play and just pure fun in mods than you ever would in vanilla but its almost blasphemy for most BF2 players to even think of playing a server than isnt ranked. the perfect example of this are the hack fake "rank" mod servers. they are always full, usualy the last one standing for most mods, chasing off all the legit servers and its not because those are good players or quality servers, its because they are newbs that actually think they are getting vanilla rank points.

EA figured out how deal with those pesky developers asking questions, simply destroy a entire genre moding communities fan base by one simple addition, RANK. i think i can honesty be that harsh and say they DESTROYED the mod fan base when you look at the numbers. youll be very lucky to ever see more than 1,000 mod players online at one time, very lucky.

[Mitch]

Re: Most played mod?

Yea I kind of figured that would be the answer I would get. While I agree that ranks have definitely impacted player interest in mods, I think we are all too quick to use it as a blanket excuse.

Until my recent interest in the mods, I was one of those gamers that always played on ranked servers. However after I played some of the mods I found myself loosing interest in vanilla BF2 so I began looking for servers that were hosting the various mods and much to my disappointment there did not seem to be very many servers to choose from and most the servers I did find usually had no players on them and yes that is partly due to players misguided infatuation with ranks.

Now with that said I think the other part of the problem is the lack of follow thru with supporting them mod once it is released. It appears to me when reading the forums that there is plenty of support and hype for a mod when it is being developed and when it’s initially released but then you don’t really hear much about after that unless there is a new version or patch released. I also noticed that when a new mod is released quite a few server will be setup to host it but then after a few weeks or less the server is gone probably due to lack of player interest. It stands to reason that a community or clan that is paying good money every month to host a server would want player traffic on it However if we are going to develop and maintain player interest and support in the mods then we as server owners are going to need to play a major role in the success or failure of the mod base for this game.

As for the ranks you know the old saying “If you can’t bet them, join them”? I thin it applies here perfectly. I mean if players want global ranks and stats then why not develop a system that will allow all the mods to report player stats to an alternative ranking system? I know there are alternative ranking systems available for Bf2 and some of the different mods however most of them seem to be very specific and do not posses the ability to support all the mods or player ranks on a globally. I have some ideas on how to develop and deploy a system like this but my background is in server/network administration and security, so I do not posses all the skills necessary to develop something this complex on my own. However based on the mods I have seen I am sure there is plenty talent in the community to pull something like this off Yea and before you answer it not as easy as it sound or we can’t do that, I fully understand the complexity of what I am suggesting. However I don’t think the technical aspects are biggest obstacle to achieving something like this but rather getting all the mod communities to work together to develop and manage it so that it will work and function with all the major mods.

I am not pointing fingers at anyone as I am guilty of this as the next guy but its kind of frustrating because it seems that all we do on the forums is complain and blame, we never seem to discuss the cause and how to fix it. Since I enjoy playing the mods I have kind of taken up a personal mission of trying to promote and grow player base so that there is more support for the mods in the BF2 community.

Personally would like to see a cooperative effort by the modding teams and server owners to develop a joint community and ranking system that caters specifically to the mods and gamers that play them however as I mentioned previously I think the biggest obstacle to this vision is getting them to agree and work together.

Like I said, I have what I think are some good ideas but lack the resources and talent to pull it off on my own so with out the support of other server owners and the modding teams this is just another pipe dream for you all to read. I am doing what I can on my own to support the mods. I am converting a dual Xeon dedicated box in Chicago that is hosting ranked BF2 servers over to host all mod servers. The first 2- full time mod servers should be running by this weekend and If all goes well I will be adding 2- more later this month.

The problem I am having now is the community I am with has for the most part moved on to 2142 so I am being asked by the other financial supporters to cut back on the number of BF2 servers so that we can host more 2142 servers to accommodate player demand in the community. For now I have managed to negotiate with the other partners to keep 4 of the BF2 servers active on one of our boxes in Chicago. As I mentioned earlier in this post I am going to start hosting 2- mod servers this weekend and I am planning on converting the other 2- ranked servers to mods also later this month. What concerns me in all of this is if I am forced to convert the remaining BF2 servers to 2142 I will not be able to host the mods and I will most likely go looking for a new home.

The point to my endless rambling in that last paragraph was to say that if there are any communities out there that are actively supporting and playing mods , I would be interested might be looking to talk with you in the near future if 2412 continues to infect my community at its current rate. Don’t get me wrong I like the community I am with now but as it goes things change and people move on so I would have no guilt or shame in throwing my support beside a community that shares an interest in supporting the mod for BF2

Wow sorry guys, I just looked up at my monitor and realized how long this post is so I am going to stop for now.

[zuiquan1]

Re: Most played mod?

As for the ranks you know the old saying “If you can’t bet them, join them”? I thin it applies here perfectly. I mean if players want global ranks and stats then why not develop a system that will allow all the mods to report player stats to an alternative ranking system? I know there are alternative ranking systems available for Bf2 and some of the different mods however most of them seem to be very specific and do not posses the ability to support all the mods or player ranks on a globally. I have some ideas on how to develop and deploy a system like this but my background is in server/network administration and security, so I do not posses all the skills necessary to develop something this complex on my own. However based on the mods I have seen I am sure there is plenty talent in the community to pull something like this off Yea and before you answer it not as easy as it sound or we can’t do that, I fully understand the complexity of what I am suggesting. However I don’t think the technical aspects are biggest obstacle to achieving something like this but rather getting all the mod communities to work together to develop and manage it so that it will work and function with all the major mods.

No offense but I for one think thats a horrible idea....why ruin your mod with the onset of players who only care about there ranks, and not about having fun, and quality gameplay....

I'd rather have 1 server filled with quality players then 10 filled with rank en crazed jerks who ruin the gameplay for everyone else with there selfish attitudes....

If a player is so infactuated with that silly idea of ranks so much that they wont even think about playing a mod that is obviously better....well, I wouldnt want them playing my mod anyway......

[imported_Rhino]

Re: Most played mod?

As for the ranks you know the old saying “If you can’t bet them, join them”? I thin it applies here perfectly. I mean if players want global ranks and stats then why not develop a system that will allow all the mods to report player stats to an alternative ranking system? I know there are alternative ranking systems available for Bf2 and some of the different mods however most of them seem to be very specific and do not posses the ability to support all the mods or player ranks on a globally. I have some ideas on how to develop and deploy a system like this but my background is in server/network administration and security, so I do not posses all the skills necessary to develop something this complex on my own. However based on the mods I have seen I am sure there is plenty talent in the community to pull something like this off Yea and before you answer it not as easy as it sound or we can’t do that, I fully understand the complexity of what I am suggesting. However I don’t think the technical aspects are biggest obstacle to achieving something like this but rather getting all the mod communities to work together to develop and manage it so that it will work and function with all the major mods.

already been tried, and failed by both PR, POE2 etc. PR we only did kinda a small job on it with just using ABR to do ranks for servers, thou this has no "unlocks" like vBF2 has it has badges, stats, ranks etc. To be honest very few PR players care much if the server they go on is ABR ranked or not.

POE2 went really far with there ranks system, building it up from scratch. It looks impressive, and you would think even thou it still dose not have any "unlocks", it would foll a "n00b" to think it did if he took a few second look at it. But even with this really nice ranking system, and also a much more quility and polished product than vBF2 itslef, it still dose not grab the player pop it deservers.

Reason why? The "n00b" players see it as "unoffical" ranks, so it dose not calls to them as "ranks". Also the player population dose not want to stray from vBF2 for 5secs to spend downloading and trying out a mod, they would much prefer working towards there next unlock... I have talked to many ppl and tried them to get them to play PR, POE2, BB, etc etc and they all wont download it cos of the ranks. They dont see its the ranks, but when you see them afew secs later after your convo on xfire jump on a ranked vBF2 server, then you go ingame and see what they are doing, you can see its all just for the ranks...

[Mitch]

Re: Most played mod?

already been tried, and failed by both PR, POE2 etc. PR we only did kinda a small job on it with just using ABR to do ranks for servers, thou this has no "unlocks" like vBF2 has it has badges, stats, ranks etc. To be honest very few PR players care much if the server they go on is ABR ranked or not.

POE2 went really far with there ranks system, building it up from scratch. It looks impressive, and you would think even thou it still dose not have any "unlocks", it would foll a "n00b" to think it did if he took a few second look at it. But even with this really nice ranking system, and also a much more quility and polished product than vBF2 itslef, it still dose not grab the player pop it deservers.

Reason why? The "n00b" players see it as "unoffical" ranks, so it dose not calls to them as "ranks". Also the player population dose not want to stray from vBF2 for 5secs to spend downloading and trying out a mod, they would much prefer working towards there next unlock... I have talked to many ppl and tried them to get them to play PR, POE2, BB, etc etc and they all wont download it cos of the ranks. They dont see its the ranks, but when you see them afew secs later after your convo on xfire jump on a ranked vBF2 server, then you go ingame and see what they are doing, you can see its all just for the ranks...

Not really sure how to respond to your post other than to say it’s a damn shame as players have no idea what they are missing out on by not supporting the mods more. I am not going to sit here and bad mouth people that play on ranked servers for stats as I am guilty of that myself until recently. However it is pretty pathetic when you allow your self to be so blinded by stats that you won’t even consider playing something that is on average at least 10 times better than the stock game is.

I must admit after reading all the replies I have received on the different forums not to mention the responses I received from my own community concerning interest in playing the mods, I am pretty discouraged at the prospect of the mods becoming a successful part of the community in which I belong. It’s bad enough that the majority of the community moved on to 2142 but it’s even worse that the few BF2 players we have left show absolutely no interest in playing the mods.

As I mentioned in another thread I was planning on setting up 2- mods servers this weekend and then converting 2- ranked servers to mods also later this month however I now find myself having to reconsider if it’s worth the effort? With most of the community moving on to 2142 I have had to use all my influence and powers of persuasion with the other partners to keep the 4- BF2 servers running since members are asking for more 2142 servers and the only way we can accomplish that is by shutting down the current Bf2 servers or adding another dedicated box and since I don’t think anyone wants to pony up the cost of another box I have a pretty good feeling that I won’t be able to protect the BF2 servers for much longer.

I still play vanilla BF2 every once and a while but for the most part I am just playing mods now a days. I guess since it is apparent that there is really no support in my community for the mods and limited support in the rest of the gaming community for them, that I am simply wasting my time and effort trying to promote and host servers for the mods on my own. In the time that it has taken me to type this, I have come to the conclusion that it may be time to start looking for another community to join that shares the same interest in the mods as I do.

If there are any communities or clans out there that focus on hosting and playing the mods and are looking for members to support them I would appreciate it if you would let me know. I am 40 years old and I play for the pure enjoyment of playing the game. I am not really into playing in formal competitions or tournaments however I do enjoy a good friendly scrim every once and a while. Before this starts sounding too much like an application or bio about myself let me just say that based on the declining interest in my current community I would have no issues with investing my time and money in a community that actively supports hosting and playing the mods. The only thing is that I will need to talk with my current partners before the end of May so that I can leave under good terms as I do not wish to burn any bridges.

[zuiquan1]

Re: Most played mod?

You should look in into Tactical-gamer (www.tacticalgamer.com)

Its one of the best on line communities Ive ever had the pleasure to be apart of, they have an unranked server up, but I believe they also have a PR and EoD server up, and are usually quite full.....if your looking for teamwork, and a great bunch of guys I HIGHLY recommend them. he ONLY reason I played BF2 for this ling was them, if I hadn't discovered TG I would have stopped playing BF2 over a year ago.

[imported_Rhino]

Re: Most played mod?

@mitch66, it takes alot of convincing and work, but it is possible to get people to play the mods. I myself use to hate PR when i first played it, but when i had my own clan (which i left for the pr dev team in the end) i managed to convert alot of them at the time to play PR and most of them still do :)

may I suggest that maybe you set up big events that may encroage ppl to download them. Use abit of that hyping juice and alll that and really get them worked up for it. Dont work them up too far thou you may only disapoint, but work them up in a way that its going to be alot of fun, dont work up the mod cos ppl need to learn to love mods, they grow on people when they are having fun on them

[Mitch]

Re: Most played mod?

@mitch66, it takes alot of convincing and work, but it is possible to get people to play the mods. I myself use to hate PR when i first played it, but when i had my own clan (which i left for the pr dev team in the end) i managed to convert alot of them at the time to play PR and most of them still do :)

may I suggest that maybe you set up big events that may encroage ppl to download them. Use abit of that hyping juice and alll that and really get them worked up for it. Dont work them up too far thou you may only disapoint, but work them up in a way that its going to be alot of fun, dont work up the mod cos ppl need to learn to love mods, they grow on people when they are having fun on them

lol...Yea I can get a bit long winded with my replies. :)

At the risk of sounding like some kind of weird mod groupie I think the mods seriously kick *** and I want them to be successful so yea I have taken up the cause in a major way and I will continue to mention them every chance I get.

Like I said in my previous post I don't think there is going to be much support for this from the community I am currently with so I am kind of looking for a group or community that shares the same enthusiasm that I do for playing and supporting the mods.

So with that said I am not to proud to ask if there is a group out there that would like to extend and invitation I would be very grateful for an opportunity to join your community.

PS. I put a little less wind in this reply.

[*FMJ*Power]

Re: Most played mod?

as for getting more players i have to ask, what happened to EA's mod spotlight program promise? don't you all remember when they had a OPK popup when you loaded BF2, even though opk was just a demo mod at the time and they promised to do it in the future for all spotlighted mods.

then poe2 gets announced as being in the mod spotlight and i never once saw the popup in game, just the same old money grubbing 2142 advertisement ever since 2142 was released. what happened to EA's promise of spotlighting these mods and giving them a popup window when you load BF2? did they change their mind after they realized they have slumping 2124 sales and decided to put us, the real players on the back burner and just totally disregard their promise?

i loose more faith in EA's moral standings as every day goes on, it seems like they are always getting caught in a lie or just promising things they have no intention of actually doing, i mean its only a popup window but it alone could triple this weak mod playing community, i know it did for opk, and EA wont even give us that, the pop window they promised us. they would rather shove 2142 down the bf2 players throat and chase players away from bd2 rather than help the mod community.

[Elxx]

Re: Most played mod?

Dice has a habit of promising things for modders/players and just hoping that we forget about them. The Modlight is done every time there's enough modders that complain about it. If anyone recalls, the original promise was that they would provide an official Modlight server that would run the mod aswell, but of course it was yet another lie. :)

They don't care about us at all, but sometimes they get bored and throw together a few paragraphs about a random mod so they can go "LOOK AT US, WE CARE!"

Basically, modders aren't getting jack **** from Dice/EA at this point. And I think it's really cool what all these mod teams have been able to do, even with the state of things.

[$kelet0r]

Re: Most played mod?

as for getting more players i have to ask, what happened to EA's mod spotlight program promise? don't you all remember when they had a OPK popup when you loaded BF2, even though opk was just a demo mod at the time and they promised to do it in the future for all spotlighted mods.

I remember seeing the player tracking graph for OPK before and after the modlight - the mod went from a handful of players to 100+ just from that little ad
what a shame EA/DICE's attitude to this was as haphazard as with the actual game itself

[*FMJ*Power]

Re: Most played mod?

i say we all start putting up a stink and send email after email to dice about it, the only way we will get more mod players is if they follow through with their modlight promise. do they really need to push 2142 down all the bf2 players throats with that ghey popup?

id kinda think the mods yet to be released like FH2 would have developers on this bandwagon more than anyone since they stand the most to benefit from the modspotlight that EA and dice promised us, imagine a mod spotlight popup the first day FH2 is released, imagine all those players we could get but some prick at ea is too worried about loosing one or two 2142 sales they will never do it. they will just leave that stupid 2142 popup there until their next craptacular corner cutting high school drop out coding bug ridden game gets released. with the utter lack of follow through from ea its amazing that we would ever buy another one of their games again.