State of the game and how we can make it better.

[Rev Cyanide]

Hi everyone,
Most of y'all know me, loved or despised, if you haven't played with me and a few of my notorious COOLINF squads since 2011, they are a lot of fun. Today was no exception with a badass round of Barracuda, did the rope assault on the supply depot and a cave water drop and shout out to Legionare-50 and the french squad for backing the "al attack". I'm in a little bit of a time in my life I can relax and play PR again regularly vice every two-weeks or so, but that won't be for long. Shout out to all the homies from years gone back, if y'all really want to talk to me, throw me a line on discord, I'm always available there and yes, I haven't posted on the forums in 4 years but I think everyone, and I checked and I never introduced myself this whole time.

I know a lot of people hold me highly as a extremely competent squad leader and I do have a touch of ego, but that's all in the experience I put on for the group of people that I cater to, and what makes it fun for me to play, and I have a few people who look for me from time to time and those people I do my best for.

But self promotion is not why I'm here. (But what would bring me on to the forums after such a long way away- last post in summer 2019) I saw this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVa5LTCcVFg and watched it and sat there and thought about it, and YES, every point this person makes is true, and it is a very well done video, and I think everyone who wants to keep PR:BF2 rolling (which is me) should watch it. The maker didn't expressly address the co-op scene very well. Taking from the messages the creator made, but it is not hard to get the server primed during the EUTZ and then roll it forward through to the USTZ, but I've been noticing that it has been dropping off. Especially for a game that is currently F2P in these economic times, but even now the play trend is dropping, it is not hitting a full 40 and staying there any more.

I have two responses to the community of PR:BF2 and VG if we want to keep the server rockin':

If the community is going to bring in new players that want the hi-tactic/squad-level game-play without the frivolous nature that the new milsim games bring, we all need to start promoting the game, via word of mouth to players outside the game to come in an see what the fun is all about. Earlier, back in the spring both Co-op servers (SEA and VG) would easily on a weekend in EU/USTZ be both 40/40, but recently that has dwindled, (I have a suspicion why that was, and I don't want to get into it). Priming the server has been more difficult as of recent, and I think the primary issue has come down to lack of promotion of the game. While true that swaths of the player base has been migrating to other games, PR:BF2 fills a niche that its simplicity makes it an attractive game, even for its age, simple controls, lack of super modern graphics, and no-leveling up gameplay or dumb loot boxes. It is a great game, and the people around it are great, and I would like atleast a few more years of PR when other games have just simply folded.

The video creator makes the spot on point that the servers are driven by their communities, and Co-op PR:BF2 is no exception. We do our best for the best gameplay and the community, VG is not plagued by bad admin practices or toxic community, its very good here, and that's why I come back and why I will promote this community if ever asked, but the need to expand the reach of VG and PR as a whole is what is needed if we are going to keep it healthy and alive.

End on that topic.

The second point, is recently the bots and maps have become more difficult which is great, and there has been times where I've had conversations with the admin team on map choices for ease of play on the co-op server with low player counts. This has been great challenge with cranking up and tuning the maps to be harder has been a good idea, however find issue with the new trend is that the there are less easy maps that can be played with ~12-16 players (Jabal, Qwai) were removed and I understand why and I agree those maps were too cake after a while but they had their place in the rotation and we could keep the server primed with those, but the community needs to work on a few maps that aren't as challenging at lower player counts so that the server doesn't stagnate, because if people see "That map is a toughie with 13 people on... oh boy... a meat grinder" some people may not join the server. I ask a few maps be created/reworked for lower player count numbers, that can still be fun to help with server priming.

That's all I got to say about that.

I have a closing thought. BF2:Vanilla was released on June 21st 2005 and EA ended ranked service June 30th 2014. That was 9 years and 9 days it was up.
As of today October 19th 2022, and June 30th 2014 it has been  8 years, 3 months and 19 days. I want to see PR:BF2 make it beyond that 9 years and 9 days and beyond to show how ever lasting of a game that this has become and how awesome it is.

That's all I got, I want everyone's feedback on the two things and want to thank everyone for their years of dedication to this game. I may go write a formal introduction post because I've never done one. It'll be great...

Ciao for now.
 

 

[=VG= 0100011000101]

who are you?

 

 

I can understand very well that it looks like PR is going to die again right now, but I'm pretty sure we still have a few years left... you came back exactly at the time when the server is empty again...this looked completely different 3 months ago. I couldn't join the server in the evening because it was full and even our pvpe server was full with 40 players at the same time.

 

I've been here for some time now and during this period PR was almost buried at least 4 times because many thought it was coming to an end. each time there was a period shortly after when pr was fuller than before and the questions for a second server arose...

 

well sure...sooner or later there will come a day when we play PR:Squad4 and think back to the old days of PR:bf2 but I'm pretty sure we still have a few years left before that happens.

recently, due to corona and the last update, there was a huge influx, it's getting less at the moment, but I think there will be a boost again in the near future (both with corona and with pr^^)

I don't think we have to do big advertising for PR either. our problem is that we have too many newcomers on the server and not enough pro's to keep the game running. there are evenings with 30 players who fail at muttrah because 75% are new and have absolutely no plan.

on the other hand, it doesn't do any harm if someone advertises and invites friends.

 

there were already moments in 2017 where I tried to win vadso with tickets at night with 3 man and just now there is another phase... to prevent this in the future, start with yourself and don't come by every 2 weeks but every 2 days...;p

 

 

[Rev Cyanide]

44 minutes ago, =VG= 0100011000101 said:

who are you?

I know I ask myself the same thing since I've never introduced myself on the forums.

45 minutes ago, =VG= 0100011000101 said:

...to prevent this in the future, start with yourself and don't come by every 2 weeks but every 2 days...;p

I'll try my best. In between jobs at the moment, but I'm able a few hours a day.

[RizlaQc]

http://i.imgur.com/NEQDjpA.jpg WHY

[=EINF= cubiksrube]

I'm happy that I got to experience PR in its prime time but maybe it has not been the same but I still enjoy the game 

[=VG= Inch]

Well said, he's been my favorite guy for a long time. Even till this day, when i was away from PR for months and came back. Very-very solid and love how you communicate through SL voice chat, get those immersion of a milsim going, even for a Coop server!

 

Hope COOLINF goes on even better in future. Cheers, you're the man!

 

- Inch

[=VG= GRNANDGLD]

Welome Back Rev....

It's fixin' to be winter in the north parts=more time inside playing PR..

If you build IT (and manage it)....THEY WILL COME!!

I promise to play more

[ZZANG1847]

I don't know who this guy is, but someone needs to fly a chopper really close to him all the time so that he can shoot it down. If not, at least get an AMTRAC and camp behind his position so he can yell at it.

 

Good to have you back buddy.

[=VG= Skiddles]

G'day Rev,

There is little doubt the player base for PR is in decline and has been for some time. The video makes strong arguments in reasoning and for me the biggest issue are new players who do not embrace the fundamental principles of TEAM play. 

I have played in your squad a few times and once you are done telling everyone how great you are, how you donated $1000's to Realitymod in the early years you get the squad on to the task at hand. You tell everyone where to stand, which way to look, teach them all the "exploits" like rearming from ammo bags rather than creates because the rearm time is faster, what kit they need at what time because you know what is coming and the direction its coming from. You walk them through the game, the map and layer. A new player may appreciate your guidance but it does take the "fun" out of the game. For you, it seems to me, your only goal is to have COOLINF as top squad. Nothing wrong in that but IMO this style of leadership does not improve the gaming experience for new players. It does not foster competition, it shows them that the game is predictable and in the end it becomes boring. You feed your ego and your post as I see it is all about the decline in a game and the lost resource feeding it. Your manor and intent has little to do with growing the game. Your motivation is solely based in you recognising the game you have mastered is in decline and you are close to losing out on impressing people with your "god" like sense of importance to a game. 

If you really want to promote the game change your style of leadership. Teach the principles on which PR was founded. Teamwork and communication. Then let them put those principles into practice and discover the game in the way it was intended. Let them to discover why PR is so much fun. If every map becomes a walk through then why bother playing? Check that over inflated ego. It stops me to joining your squad or having any association with COOLINF because nothing about it is cool with respect to fostering new players. You are all about feeding your ego and seeing your name and squad at the top of the leaderboard. 

 

my 2 cents,
Skiddles

[asko___]

Can the spawn rate of enemy grenadiers be toned down a bit? I feel like there are too many of them lately.

Yesterday on Operation Falcon std, three grenadiers were shelling our building at the same time with amazing accuracy from 150-300m (while seeing through a whole forest of course but that's nothing new). I believe they have infinite ammo which makes them even stronger. Also makes teamplay hard because in a building, if he hits somebody, everybody in the room can take damage.

[=VG= The_Polish_Guy]

I didn't think I was going to add anything but...

Of course I noticed there is less players playing during the day. There is also less players from the pacific, asian or american time zones. The last one might be connected to relatively new servers located outside of Europe which are not so tempting for EU players but are for Pacific because of the ping. That being said I still see a lot of well known faces on VG. In the past weeks a few more veteran players showed up again after a while, which is also a good sign. 

I truly believe this is just one of the many fazes PR has been through (or maybe I just hope so).

Also we can keep talking about how the new players are not good at team play and so on, but to be fair a lot of regulars are also not that good at team play. Sadly no matter how bad we want it, team play is not the only important thing in becoming a good player.

That being said we should try to make the best out of every player that shows up. If he is not good at team play maybe he can be a great shot with an AT kit or a great trans pilot. We don't have to judge ppl just by their below average communication skills (of course not everyone can or want to learn but let's try to at least find the good players in the stack of noobs).

Idk if this makes any sense to anyone but it just came out like this.

[=VG= kovac]

On 24/10/2022 at 7:47, asko___ said:

¿Se puede atenuar un poco la tasa de generación de granaderos enemigos? Siento que hay demasiados últimamente.

Ayer, en la Operación Falcon estándar, tres granaderos bombardearon nuestro edificio al mismo tiempo con una precisión asombrosa de 150 a 300 m (mientras veían a través de todo un bosque, por supuesto, pero eso no es nada nuevo). Creo que tienen munición infinita, lo que los hace aún más fuertes. También dificulta el juego en equipo porque en un edificio, si golpea a alguien, todos en la sala pueden sufrir daños.

It raises the level a bit, but nothing that cannot be countered with greater caution when taking shelter inside a building or another place (thus leaving the overconfidence for being only "bots"), I was surprised with the change (hell, what aim of these guys, I said to myself), the same subject of the manpads.