A few vets and I have been thinking about bringing more awareness to the server by doing like a Rookie Version of the NSL Shoutcasting, perhaps we can call it "Pub/Rookie Casting"?
It's quite entertaining to watch rookies battle it out and learning from those honest mistakes we all did back then, but also see them improve! It's like watching little league soft-ball games
I've actually begun streaming games from spectator to help this along, as well as practice shout casting myself. It's fun and casual banter, while still being informative to any rookies who happen to be watching. And just like the rookie's we're watching, we're learning too
DFA, is there possibly a way to add players to a list that would disable them from using certain weapons? Like rifle, bite gun, fade swipe etc? That way you could simply disable vets who abuse the noobs instead of banning?
To my knowledge, there is no way of doing this. It also came to our attention that if we let the vets play in limited field roles, they end up filling half the server and taking slots away from the rookies that are supposed to be learning.
Also I'm afraid to join now as it sounds like some admins are very liberal with the ban hammer, I would hate to get banned because I got 3-4 kills in rapid succession - circumstances come into play and there have been times where I was commanding, some skulks rush in and then I notice there is a vet skulk coming in eating IPs and everyone who spawns to end the game so I hop out of the chair, whip out my rifle and kill the vet skulk and his 2-3 buddies who were eating the IP so that the game doesn't end at 1:30. This is something I was talking about when I said I would just defend base when a noob commands too. Is this something ban worthy? For that brief moment I was stomping noobs but I feel it was a necessary action to try to allow everyone on both teams to have a good game.
Can admins maybe give warnings to vets to let us know if we continue abusing noobs we will be banned? That way those of us who truly want to help won't get mistaken for someone just beating on noobs for fun.
As far as I know, all the admins have been giving out warnings in almost every instance before activating the banhammer, and in most cases you wouldn't even get noticed unless your KD starts to look pretty lopsided. Furthermore, in that scenario the vet skulk chomping your IPs is the one who should be getting the ban, so that you can just stay in the chair and keep commanding. Worst case scenario, if something went awry and you did get banned on accident, you can just post again in here and I'll get it fixed for you. So really you have nothing to worry about.
Basically what Haplo said. If you had less than 100 hours, the only reason you might get removed is if you had an insanely high KD and an admin decided you were either a vet smurfing, or simply displaying enough natural aptitude to graduate to a regular server.
I also don't see your name on the banlist, and I know that the server did get taken down rather abruptly last night, so I think that's more likely the culprit. Try connecting again, and if you are still locked out, come post your ID in here and we'll look into it.
Just commanded an awesome game on the server. As aliens we were confined to 2 hives for about 35 minutes before we finally broke through and took warehouse. Lots of great teamwork and communication among the rooks. Unfortunately the server crashed before we could seal the victory, but I really think the server is doing a good job of introducing the rookies to the game.
I think I left spectate about 10 minutes into that game, but the way it was going for aliens I thought they didn't have a chance. That's what so great about the rookie servers though. You can't really predict the winner in the first 5, 10, or even 15 minutes like you can on most regular pub servers for most games now.
What's really enjoyable about these servers though is watching brand new players at the start of the night go from wasting literally all of their ammo on one skulk and still not killing it, to winning an engagement against two skulks by the end of the night. I commanded a marine team last night and at the start I had to tell most everyone "run to observation, defend that rt", "phase to elevator", etc., but by the end of the game (which I think was over an hour long) those same players were checking their maps and going where they were needed without me saying anything. If my experience is anything to go by, I think we should do our best to promote this "noob server" because it really seems to be making an impact.
Last night was a blast! So proud of the rookies we played with. I rarely see such solid teamwork in pubs, and it came from the newest members of the community! Although not everyone was a crack shot or a particularly effective lifeform, they all listened to the advice on offer and gave it their all, even if they died over and over (whereas most would rage quit). These guys never stopped fighting where most would concede, and we got to see some great comebacks as a result. Big thanks to the Veteran Marine Comm's too for delaying arc's till very late in the game. It helped stop the rookies being overloaded with information.
The tips from spectators were awesome too, reminded me of the tips you get on loading screens in most AAA games, and I saw rookies immediately changing their play styles as a result and almost everyone seemed to enjoy themselves
We need more places like this
P.S. Blarney, that match was still far from over, I'd just taken over command of the marines :P
Is there a chance we could see more noob only servers? I'll be up for commanding some games there and helping out new players.
Looking into cloning the server now. In general though, I think that 'rookie only' should have been an optional serverside variable from day 1, along with an increase of rookie tag duration. Our noobs only server has been hugely popular, but it's also a ton of work and I think it's too little too late to save the game.
Had to take all of our servers down when they dropped 261 on our heads. Server started experiencing some major latency problems afterwards, we are leaving noob server #2 offline to reduce load while we investigate.
Update: Decided to instead take the main DFA server offline in order to run both Noob Only servers while we get the connection problems sorted. There are enough 'normal' servers out there.
need devs to set up more rookie friendly servers that actually keeps players with over so many hours to not be able to join during these crazy steam sale. get Adkins for the servers... the community would be willing.
Anyone running a Rookies Only / Learning server in the EU? Didn't see any in the server list.
Would be willing to give some advice (from roughly 250h of non-competitive play) or hop into the comm chair for a while.
Thanks to everybody who does this sort've thing. Personally I stopped playing ns1 not too long after steam came out...and have not even really played many FPS games at all in years so I am mechanically rusty as hell in addition to being new to ns2 (I can't even seem to bh anymore doh) and being able to learn this against and with other newbs is great. No magic rambos doing it all for or against my team, people answering my stupid questions, nobody yelling at me because I died with a suit, it's a good atmosphere to learn the game.
So, I was playing on the server and got kicked, no reason was on the popup or anything. Now anytime I try to join the server, it's auto-kicking me?
I am still well under 100 hours on my account, but I noticed it happened right after I bought the Shadow Reinforcement thing.
There happens to be a misconception that badges = skill, so the chance may be that maybe they thought you were a pro player getting ready to pubstomp or something.
Not for the faint of heart, mind you. I commanded an hour game where at one point we had 7 RTs and complete map control. Only to lose it to an insane Onos train. Ah, the joy of commanding rookies.
There are some great people in this community, but after weeks / months of monitoring these servers, both Haps and I have become extremely bitter and disgusted by the behavior of most of the vets out there. I can probably count on my fingers the number that have responded agreeably and complied after being warned or having the rules explained when we catch them.
On the other hand, it's sickening how many have ignored the name of the server, ignored our warnings, and are now ignoring the recurring motd warning/rules or simply smurfing in order to rookie-stomp. Even better, there have been several occasions where a vet has started arguing or insulting us after being issued a warning, trying to defend their 'right' to play on the server and complaining that there's nowhere else to play, etc.
As a result, we've taken a much more heavy-handed approach to our administration of the noob servers. We don't bother giving out warnings any more, for starters - as stated, we were just ignored the vast majority of the time, and arguing with selfish/entitled pricks isn't how I like to spend my free time. The name of the server shows up in the server browser and every time you open the scoreboard, and the rules display in the motd upon loading and at regular intervals afterward unless manually dismissed. There's really no legitimate excuse for not knowing.
So here's how it generally works now: We check the web interface at regular intervals and watch for any unusually high KD ratios, typically 4:1 or higher. Then we check the steam profile and look at hours played - if over 100, ban. If the profile is set to private, we generally try an ID lookup on Hive, and if we can't find any data, we ban. If a steam profile hasn't been set up or has less than 1 hour of NS2 played, that's usually indicative of a smurf, and we ban.
If they have an inordinately high KD and less than 100 hours, we'll usually watch them for a while to see if it's a fluke or a recurring pattern. There are people out there who are legitimately new to the game, but they have enough raw talent / innate skill that we figure they don't really need the benefit of training wheels and can start playing in regular rookie friendly servers right away. So if they are consistently dominating the other rookies, we ban, though generally in these cases we'll explain that they are being forcibly graduated to normal servers.
So I'd guess that you fell into the last group Snake7, or were mistaken for a smurf. You should take that as a good sign, because apparently you are picking up the game mechanics much faster than your peers and you're ready to move out of the kiddie pool. :P
Just ban them if they're a problem. If they're clearly not new, or even if they are and still wrecking people. Ban them from the server, it's for low level play.
Just ban them if they're a problem. If they're clearly not new, or even if they are and still wrecking people. Ban them from the server, it's for low level play.
Would be their problem if they don't, unless they happen to follow the rules set. With these being noob (newbie) only servers, if they feel they can just go in and pub-stomp and not have something done about it, they can't be too smart to begin with. Which would still be their problem now ours.
Comments
I was thinking about this too. I was trying to get @Ollj to do it early on. I think he's got some pretty good commentary.
I enjoy watching the noobs play. The back forth is enjoyable and more often hilarious.
To my knowledge, there is no way of doing this. It also came to our attention that if we let the vets play in limited field roles, they end up filling half the server and taking slots away from the rookies that are supposed to be learning.
As far as I know, all the admins have been giving out warnings in almost every instance before activating the banhammer, and in most cases you wouldn't even get noticed unless your KD starts to look pretty lopsided. Furthermore, in that scenario the vet skulk chomping your IPs is the one who should be getting the ban, so that you can just stay in the chair and keep commanding. Worst case scenario, if something went awry and you did get banned on accident, you can just post again in here and I'll get it fixed for you. So really you have nothing to worry about.
Basically what Haplo said. If you had less than 100 hours, the only reason you might get removed is if you had an insanely high KD and an admin decided you were either a vet smurfing, or simply displaying enough natural aptitude to graduate to a regular server.
I also don't see your name on the banlist, and I know that the server did get taken down rather abruptly last night, so I think that's more likely the culprit. Try connecting again, and if you are still locked out, come post your ID in here and we'll look into it.
What's really enjoyable about these servers though is watching brand new players at the start of the night go from wasting literally all of their ammo on one skulk and still not killing it, to winning an engagement against two skulks by the end of the night. I commanded a marine team last night and at the start I had to tell most everyone "run to observation, defend that rt", "phase to elevator", etc., but by the end of the game (which I think was over an hour long) those same players were checking their maps and going where they were needed without me saying anything. If my experience is anything to go by, I think we should do our best to promote this "noob server" because it really seems to be making an impact.
The tips from spectators were awesome too, reminded me of the tips you get on loading screens in most AAA games, and I saw rookies immediately changing their play styles as a result and almost everyone seemed to enjoy themselves
We need more places like this
P.S. Blarney, that match was still far from over, I'd just taken over command of the marines :P
Looking into cloning the server now. In general though, I think that 'rookie only' should have been an optional serverside variable from day 1, along with an increase of rookie tag duration. Our noobs only server has been hugely popular, but it's also a ton of work and I think it's too little too late to save the game.
Update: Decided to instead take the main DFA server offline in order to run both Noob Only servers while we get the connection problems sorted. There are enough 'normal' servers out there.
23.94.11.53:27015 Same name (ToS Noobs Only - Learning Server) Los Angeles CA server. (West Coast USA)
To those that sent me a message about admin, I'll get back to you soon.
Will definitely be dropping in there
Would be willing to give some advice (from roughly 250h of non-competitive play) or hop into the comm chair for a while.
Thanks to the commanders too.
I am still well under 100 hours on my account, but I noticed it happened right after I bought the Shadow Reinforcement thing.
There happens to be a misconception that badges = skill, so the chance may be that maybe they thought you were a pro player getting ready to pubstomp or something.
On the other hand, it's sickening how many have ignored the name of the server, ignored our warnings, and are now ignoring the recurring motd warning/rules or simply smurfing in order to rookie-stomp. Even better, there have been several occasions where a vet has started arguing or insulting us after being issued a warning, trying to defend their 'right' to play on the server and complaining that there's nowhere else to play, etc.
As a result, we've taken a much more heavy-handed approach to our administration of the noob servers. We don't bother giving out warnings any more, for starters - as stated, we were just ignored the vast majority of the time, and arguing with selfish/entitled pricks isn't how I like to spend my free time. The name of the server shows up in the server browser and every time you open the scoreboard, and the rules display in the motd upon loading and at regular intervals afterward unless manually dismissed. There's really no legitimate excuse for not knowing.
So here's how it generally works now: We check the web interface at regular intervals and watch for any unusually high KD ratios, typically 4:1 or higher. Then we check the steam profile and look at hours played - if over 100, ban. If the profile is set to private, we generally try an ID lookup on Hive, and if we can't find any data, we ban. If a steam profile hasn't been set up or has less than 1 hour of NS2 played, that's usually indicative of a smurf, and we ban.
If they have an inordinately high KD and less than 100 hours, we'll usually watch them for a while to see if it's a fluke or a recurring pattern. There are people out there who are legitimately new to the game, but they have enough raw talent / innate skill that we figure they don't really need the benefit of training wheels and can start playing in regular rookie friendly servers right away. So if they are consistently dominating the other rookies, we ban, though generally in these cases we'll explain that they are being forcibly graduated to normal servers.
So I'd guess that you fell into the last group Snake7, or were mistaken for a smurf. You should take that as a good sign, because apparently you are picking up the game mechanics much faster than your peers and you're ready to move out of the kiddie pool. :P
Yep, that's what we're doin.