Need some advice.

Cai

Me and a few friends got ns2 a while ago, and now with the steam offer even more friends got it.
But we can never play on the same team. The servers always get autobalanced when people start leaving on the other side.
And they always do, we are not that good but with skype and a little coopartion bad players can make a decent team.

Are there any server that are password protected that runs with pre-made teams. People who actually play even if they are under a few points?
When you join a random server, with random people, most players just quit as soon as the feel it`s going to be a challenge, they have no sense of belonging to that team. They don`t loose anything for quiting, they don`t let anyone down, since everyone are just random people who gets kicked from one team to the other based on a script.

Would be nice to have a "lobby" where you can pre-make a team, and you agree on what side you play and then start the game.

Right now, to be honest, this is the best game I have in my steam library that I never play. And the same goes for 9 - 12 of my rl friends.

Best Regards.

Mephilles

I think the best way is: form a team and play against other teams

Mururmir

You might want to have a look at ENSL gathers. Those are competitive oriented matches where people can sign up to. I'm not used to it but I'm sure you can acquire somebody to talk you trough. You might be able to play some good games with your friends there.

More Infos here:
http://www.ensl.org/articles/464

Best Regards

Edit: I might need to stress the skill level here. As far as I can tell those are more experienced players but have at least a look anyway