=VG= Skiddles

Some weapons take time to "warm up". What you are experiencing is part of the game.

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I am so pleased! In recent weeks this community has embraced what I was trying to say. I see veterans leading squads, teaching, helping. It's F'ing awesome! The best part is I see more and more new names playing. Our veterans are working to grow this community and I love it! Thank you guys and you know who you are!

Went through a mid-life crisis. Not that big of a deal! I spent weeks, months trying to work out what to do. Then someone who I know only a little said something and it hit home in a huge way. "Do what you want but make F'ing sure you love to do it!" For me, it meant giving away the need to have more and discovering how having less pleases me. I focus on what I need not what I want and the result is I want less and less every day. I worked my ass off for 40 years and lost the lot to an evil wife that planned her exit from the marriage for a year. She got all her ducks in a row and blew me up. It nearly killed me until I understood it was her that wanted everything. NOT ME. I'm happy with the friends I have here and in my life. I don't have a garage full of cars anymore or the fancy house on the best street. I'm happier for it! My advice, do what earns you the lifestyle you need, not what everyone says you should have. Make bloody sure you love to do it. Happiness, for me at least was found in loving everything I have, not loving what I don't.

Gone Buttlefish'in - James Newton Howard

When Blizzard joined the server to change the map he made comment to CAS about the camping which was, for the most part, ignored. The APC team and SL made comments to CAS about their gameplay which was also ignored, laughed at. "A kill is a kill." AL Basrah has a broken spawn point which is exploited a lot, but someone has to watch the spot until the palace is neutral. IMO CAS knew what they were doing was wrong and had their "fun" at everyone else's expense. My disappointment stems from the fact the CAS pilot is a veteran player who knows better and is often critical of others be it for gameplay, lacking skills, or just being new to the game.

Disappointing Map: Al Basrah Server Population: When I joined 8 and grew to 18 near the end. A tough map with 8 players. When I joined there was a CAS squad, an APC squad, and an INF squad with a couple of people in it. I opted to join APC. As you can imagine, it was back and forth cap move to the next just to lose the previous one. It went on like this for a while until the population grew. There were a lot of new players as well as a few seasoned ones. At one point in the match, a member of the APC squad said in chat, "that should send them back to base" The SL asked and the player explained he had put a round into the CAS to send them back to base because all they were doing was stealing kills. I wasn't impressed and felt it a very wrong thing to do. (no admins on at that time) It was only a couple of minutes later that the same APC player that was putting a "heat" round into CAS to force them to return to base noticed that the next map would be impossible for the team we had. So he got on Discord to ask for a map change. Wasn't long before an Admin joined and CAS right away reported the CAS shooting. The player was warned and the behavior stopped. A short time later, while defending a capped flag a spandril showed up and I was pumping heat rounds into it to destroy it. A couple more shots would have taken it out and BOOM, CAS flew over and took the kill. I asked CAS why and they said "a kill is a kill". I said, "And you wonder why you were getting shot with heat rounds!" The match continued and we were on the second last flag. I was moving up from the refinery after I had been defending it when we lost residential. I thought it odd because we had CAS up and would have easily taken out anything trying to cap it back. Two ACP's raced to residential to recap it, CAS nowhere in sight. A humvee arrived to help cap and agreed to defend it. I moved up to apartments to help CAP because the cap wasn't moving. The image is what I saw when I arrived. CAS was camping the broken spawn point. I know we are all here to have fun but in this match, CAS was having all the fun at the expense of every other player in the game. CAS kill count was 245 at the end of the game. I thought back to the warning that was handed out wondering who should have been warned! IMO this is disappointing especially when it was a seasoned pilot at the controls who with regularity complains in-game and in TS about the behavior, lack of skill, and the gameplay of others.

Hi Binary, There are lots of reasons why but I don't, and I refuse to believe it difficult to change. I have already seen changes! Veteran players are helping new players a lot more. I've witnessed it and I think it is "f'n" awesome. It was a few days ago when a "newbie" joined the squad. I think it MAD leading. The newbie didn't have a clue. Didn't know how to do anything. MAD told him some basics and the rest of the squad jumped in and helped him. In that 1 hour match, the "newbie" had the support of the whole squad. We all explained, pointed out where to look, how to use the controls. He didn't get everything right the first time but he tried and at the end of the match, you could hear in his voice how overwhelmed he was by the support he got from strangers. So different from the normally toxic world of online gaming. When the match ended I felt empowered! I helped to make a great PR player, one day. For me, it didn't matter if we lost the flag, got pushed back a flag, what mattered was giving this new player the support and understanding needed to grow our player base. Please don't misunderstand. I am not trying to stop your enjoyment of the game. I was sharing my experience since returning to PR and VG after a 8-year break. Things changed since back then. Since coming back, a steep learning curve for an old man like me. If it were not for players like Zee, Whiskey, and Alucard to name a few, I would have lost interest out of sheer frustration. Players like 22, Ranger, Volod are so toxic to new players. There, I said it. All accomplished players but do nothing to promote the game or players. Just here for fun and when others get it wrong, scream bloody murder. I think most here will attest to the fact that when I came back I SUCKED at the game. Some might say I still do. There were so many changes, I was overwhelmed. For new players, the task of playing PR on VG with its strict rules is daunting at best. There are no games like this with such a strong presence of rule enforcement. I think new players quickly become overwhelmed and move on. And that worries me with respect to the future of PR. I think if we like this game so much we need to start promoting it. Be less selfish about having a game to dominate while "bitching" about newbies. We all want to play with TOP players. We won't have them if we intimidate them with rules and not help them to understand them I strongly agree that a training server would help. Do you know of any? Is there some magical server that doesn't come up on the list we can send people to VG boot camp? Binary, I am not asking you to stop enjoying the game. Just understand if we don't grow the player base you will be here flying CAS over an empty battleground wondering where the infantry is. Mate, one in ten matches, just one in ten. Lead a squad. Teach. If everyone does that, VG will have the best PR players period. B Positive not A Negative

I know I am just a player here. Not much weight nor reputation yet to be respected. So I am just gonna put this out there because my gaming experience on VG tells me it is the right thing to do. I want Zeee to be an admin. Not that he can kick and ban people but because he knows the game, the maps and when no one else is around this guy can keep the server populated not only because of map choice but because ZEEE picked it. Zeee is here all the time and when is not, he is missed. I have learned so much from him. He is my go to guy when not flying cas which he does much more than I like him too. Such a great squad leader. He embraces new players, teaches. He is everything my post about nurturing PR was about. Make this exceptional player and man an ADMIN. Truth is, he does more to support this game than you recognize. ZEEE for admin!

I want to thank everyone for accepting my post as being constructive. I never intended it to critical of anyone or group. One thing I have learned since making the post is just how hard a job it is being an admin and me asking you lot to do more, .... well, you do more than enough to make VG what it is. But! Now, this is where things get sticky and shit sticks like glue. Please understand me here, I'm just calling things as I see them. There are admins here that are genuine admins. They understand their role, treat it with respect, and do an over the top job! So much love for you guys keeping the server honest, on track, and never lose sight of the VG vision. Wrong of me to ask more of you and you know who you are. The ones here day after day working out the balance between player base and maps to load. Try to play the game and help in the game and still manage your role as an admin. Today I was really disappointed by what was said in TS. Ranger spoke up, said he didn't like new players trying to force admin to change how they play the game. WOW, I am not trying to force anyone to do anything! I am simply voicing my opinion about the future of the game we love to foster its future and in truth, if we don't grow our player base we won't have one. PR has been in decline since dev's moved to build the squad. Grow the PR player base! Nurture it, grow the skills by teaching new players, not kicking them. If we don't, it will be us that kills this game. love you guys

RANGER, you miss the point, again. I don't fly because of lacking ability and the fact I have a 300+ ping. I don't need a better PC and it isn't about who loads first. Maybe you should re-read the post. You make a great point. INf squads don't do the right thing. yOU make MY POINT! Being a veteran player, what are you doing to help? From where I sit, you like to put the blame but what I ask of you is to rise up and work to fix the issues. Get in that squad thats doing the wrong thing and help. Stop bitching about them. You are an accomplished player and respected. Teach!

I am humbled by the positive reception to my post. In truth, I hesitated for a long time before pressing post in fear of my words and thoughts would be upsetting. Once again the VG community rises above the rest. You guys are simply, "THE BEST".

Sorry I missed it. Forgot to set my alarm and by the time I got here, it was over. Now I have learned that it didn't go off due to low numbers. Will there be a do-over this weekend?

Hello everyone. It is my hope that this post is received as constructive and that it is NOT intended as a criticism of anyone or group. I think we need to change the way we treat new players. I understand that the VG server is not a training server and we expect people to play the game to their abilities. Meaning, if you don't know how to fly, DON'T! However, I think we are too harsh sometimes and have too great an expectation of new players which often results in warnings, kicks, and bans. I am not saying that when this occurs that it is not justified, but I do think we should do more to develop the player base. I often hear it said, "they can go elsewhere to play". Well, I ask you where is this where you speak of? VG is the only populated server on my list when I search. I believe that we need to do more to "grow" the community, develop skills, and foster better players. Better for them to learn from the best, no? Here is an example of what I see as the wrong thing. I don't recall the map or the layer but do recall that it was decided on in TS. 18 players on the server. The game starts and by the time I am loaded the CAS squad had 7 people, most of which either admins and veteran VG players. It was locked. Tank squad had 4 players, again mostly consisting of admin and seasoned players. TRANS squad had two players and much like the other squads filled with admin and seasoned players. 13 of the 18 players were in heavy assets squads leaving 5 for INF consisting of names I didn't recognize as veteran players. As the game played all the talk on TS was about how useless the INF are, how they were not doing the right thing. I think instead of complaining, get in there and show them, help them rather than standing at the base waiting for your turn to fly or a plane/helicopter to spawn. We expect players to select kits based on the squad's needs. Is it not fair to say that admins and veteran players should select/create squads based on the team's needs? CAS as I understand it means, "close air support". My experience is that CAS does not function in that way. More often than not, CAS squad are just "kill whores" and don't often function in what their name suggests. Especially true for helicopters on Jabal as an example. Infantry is struggling to cap DAM while CAS is over East and West killing everything they can when they should be helping support infantry trying to cap the flag. I worry that if we as a community do not help grow the player base we will not have one to play with. I would like to see our seasoned players spend more time leading squads, teaching and helping players understand the game, how it's played, develop them rather than hoard favored assets map after map after map. I know I learn a lot when the experienced players SL and I'm sure new players will appreciate you sharing wisdom and experience rather than handing out warnings, kicks, and bans. Positive re-enforcement, not negative will grow the community, I think. I pledge to SL more often when I see new players in the game. I don't consider myself a very good SL but it must be better for new players to get some direction, are made familiar with server rules and helped rather than get no direction at all. Well, that's my two cents. Skiddles

Am I missing something? Is the event on and if so where can I DL the maps?

TEDF, I am sorry for the lack of motivation you feel. I for one love and respect every effort you make for the rest of us to have fun. Don't let trolls that criticize get you down. They are children with no idea of what is involved in creating events. Love your work, your selfless passion in making gaming fun for all of us.

First and foremost. If I team killed you, I am so very sorry. I am humbled by how the VG community has made me feel so welcome. Forgiven my mistakes and provided me with leadership to become a better player. A shout out to Whiskey Mike, Zeee. Connor, m8, so many here who care. MORE names than I can recall and names so cryptic that remembering them is lost. I want to say THANK YOU to everyone in the VG for making me feel so welcome. Forgiving my mistakes and I made some huge ones. Playing a young man game at the age of 61. I've never felt more welcme.

I would like to play in the British INF squad if I am not too late. Cheers

Great Event! Had a blast!

I am very keen to take part in the event so I hope there is still room. I've downloaded the maps, put them in the right place, and pray it all works.

Hi, I brought this up in TS but thought I should make a post as well to see what the community thinks, Is it possible to introduce a pre-game "Briefing" period at the start of each match similar to Deployment? The quick loaders seem to have a big advantage in claiming assets and in some cases are at the first flag long before the team is even in-game. It might help to reduce the base rape issue at the start of the game. cheers, Scriddles

Current: Chrysler 300C It would have to be the favorite that I currently own. Want: 1966 Dodge Charger Had one in the early 80's and simply loved it. Sold it because of fuel cost. Looking back, dumb move. Dream Car: Porscha GT3