Server?

Paladin and I enjoyed the games over the weekend, and even went looking for a CTF game ourselves Sunday. We were wondering if you guys had any thoughts on getting a server of your own? Our previous clan had one, but with only 16 members(and 2 of them in Iraq) we had problems getting it populated. . .and eventually, even paid for.

Ours was a ranked server, but since we're no longer chasing ranks (I'm about to hit 20,000 points, and I think at that point I'm done with worrying about stats & unlocks), the UNRANKED servers are starting to have a certain appeal. I figure ppl in unranked servers won't be bunny-hopping, dolphin-diving, c4-chucking stat whores and will play for the love of the game and the good of the team.

Also, it would be really great to be able to play something other than EIGHT FREAKING MAPS! ! ! ! 😀

Are you guys actively recruiting and if so, what do you see as the ideal number of members?

As I said before, I enjoyed the games, and thought the GRB was the one of the most welcoming of the clans I've gamed with. The TS experience AND the gameplay were both great. . .however, Paladin, Lexx(you haven't met him yet) and I recently got burned by joining with a small clan.

The OSS (OldSchoolSoldiers) had been around for 6 years. Having fought their way to the top of their ladder, they had been one of the top clans in the game of Ghost Recon. Sadly, It seems they had burnt out by the time we joined them. Paladin and I tried for ~4 months to recruit new members and inject strategy into the clan, but it went for nothing when the clan came up short for our server payment, which is when OSS collapsed on itself. Once bitten, twice shy, as the saying goes. . .

I wanted to give you a little info on us and what we've been thru with our old clan, and try to get a sense of where the GRB is heading.

See you in Xfire,
-DocJon

I'll try to answer all of your questions. Sarge can interject as well.

We are actively recruiting. I can't say what the ideal number of members should be. We have always been semi-casual gamers. More members means more opportunities for everyone to get together. The real key is Friday Night Fights. Even when life gets in the way, we seem to manage to bring everyone together for one night a week of fun. As long as we have a solid handful of core members, I believe we can have a good time. That's what is important to me.

Where are we today? We lost a large majority of our group to WoW. This left us with a handful of members. However, the members that are left create that solid core I mentioned earlier. Even if a single person did not join, I really feel like the core group will still be there and we have a good time playing together.

As far as games go, we are tired of BF2. It really is not that interesting of a game and we are ready to move on to something else. What I see happening is this.

We are going to release the BF42 conversion for BFV. We may get a few weeks out it or nothing at all. We would like to offer a server for this release.

After that plays out, we were looking at getting a BF2 unranked server to play mods. I think we would really like to get back to the character of the WWII FPS's. Nothing out there has interested us, but we like the feel of the BF engine and we have made good friends with the Battlegroup42 guys, even helping to beta test the BF42 and BFV versions of their mods.

From there, it's open. Personally, I am excited about Quake Wars: Enemy Territory. It looks like a cross between Battlefield and Team Fortress. Considering those are my two favorite FPS's of all time, I really want to check it out. Again, this type of game offers teamwork, something I enjoy.

As for a server, we've had mutliple games running for the last few years. Recently, our donations went south and the whole Ranked server requiring 10 players finally put the server to rest. However, with a little more help, we could get back our own box and host multiple games like before. We had good luck with UT2004 ZoomInstagib on Thursday Nights and BF on Friday Nights. I imagine we could get something like that going again. There is a whole group of local LAN guys that show up for UT.

Finally. I use to think having a server was the only way to go. Now, I believe it doesn't matter as long as you are having fun playing together. Either way, that should be the focus.

I do have one question for you guys. Do you enjoy BF42 or WWII based games as well as modern?

Atomm wrote:I'll try to answer all of your questions. Sarge can interject as well.
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More members means more opportunities for everyone to get together.
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As far as games go, we are tired of BF2. It really is not that interesting of a game and we are ready to move on to something else. What I see happening is this.

We are going to release the BF42 conversion for BFV. We may get a few weeks out it or nothing at all. We would like to offer a server for this release.

After that plays out, we were looking at getting a BF2 unranked server to play mods. I think we would really like to get back to the character of the WWII FPS's. Nothing out there has interested us, but we like the feel of the BF engine and we have made good friends with the Battlegroup42 guys, even helping to beta test the BF42 and BFV versions of their mods.  

From there, it's open. Personally, I am excited about Quake Wars: Enemy Territory. It looks like a cross between Battlefield and Team Fortress. Considering those are my two favorite FPS's of all time, I really want to check it out. Again, this type of game offers teamwork, something I enjoy.

As for a server, we've had mutliple games running for the last few years. Recently, our donations went south and the whole Ranked server requiring 10 players finally put the server to rest. However, with a little more help, we could get back our own box and host multiple games like before. We had good luck with UT2004 ZoomInstagib on Thursday Nights and BF on Friday Nights. I imagine we could get something like that going again. There is a whole group of local LAN guys that show up for UT.

Finally. I use to think having a server was the only way to go. Now, I believe it doesn't matter as long as you are having fun playing together. Either way, that should be the focus.

I do have one question for you guys. Do you enjoy BF42 or WWII based games as well as modern?

Yes, more players=more ppl to game with at any given moment. It's a bummer when you feel like a game and no one else is available but pot-luck on the pubs.

I used to play a LOT of Day of Defeat(a Half-Life WW2 mod). I was looking forward to the DOD:Source release, but it seems the solid, serious players did not make the transition, and instead people now play with the sole intention of offending, TK'ing, and disrupting the game(much more so than in BF2, believe it or not!). I sure would like to find the old community again. Maybe they're still playing the OLD version. I'll have to look into it. I also used to play Firearms, another Half-life WW2 mod which I liked a lot(it had ppl dropping markers for mortar fire, bandaging of wounds, etc).

We used to play BF42( & desert combat), though mostly with a handful of friends and bots. It's only with UT2004 and BF2 that my friends and I have turned outward looking for team-oriented human players.

We're not married to any one game. We've already got an eye on Quake Wars (though I've much preferred the double-action weapons of UT, I'm willing to keep an open mind on new games). We've been playing Unreal Tournament since it's first incarnation, and we told you how we used to get together for Doom & Quake LAN parties(the first Doom & Quake, not recent releases).

We're ALWAYS looking for good mods. Development seems to have slowed down since the original Unreal Tournament days (I liked Tac-Ops, a Counterstrike clone for the UT engine), I guess because of the complexity of the newer engines. For years, I enjoyed the mods more than the commercially-released games. I hope I see more of that in the near future.

As for having your own server: for me, it was all about reducing the number of disrupting, distracting, disrespecting players. If you didn't have those players, I wouldn't feel the need to have a server.


TTYL,
-DocJon

I really think you are on the same page as us. I agree about admining a server. We ran a fairly smacktard free server in the BF42 days and it stayed busy from 10am-2am once the word got around. We switched to BFV and never recovered those numbers.

If you are interested in mods, then this is a great place to be. We live for Custom Maps and Mods. Through BF42 and BFV we constantly had events on Friday Nights for both. For the most part, there was a good turn out with these events. The key is to jump on a new mod the week it is released and promote play on our own admined server on various forums. Heck, we had whole clans who use to join us for these events. It was great fun.

Something about BF2 really ruined that. But, I do believe the mods will recover. If you are still interested in joining up, let us know. We usually talk about potential recruits in the private forums. Don't worry, we leave all the mean things we say up for you to read when you join. :-)

Yeah when I joined GRB is was because it was some cool guys doing fun stuff on a server that was always smacktard free and always full. I like to think once BF2 will support that type of gaem we'll be back as we were.

Bubbaspanky wrote:Yeah when I joined GRB is was because it was some cool guys doing fun stuff on a server that was always smacktard free and always full.  I like to think once BF2 will support that type of gaem we'll be back as we were.

And here I thought you joined GRB because you couldn't get enough of me at work.

Yeah and the fact Sarge was here didn't slow me down any, err I mean...

Hey guys, finally got around to registering and posting. I am so lazy at times. 😉

I want to say so far I really like you guys. My only concern is Atomm says you seem to be at the end of your BF2 play time and I am not even nearly there yet, I feel BF2 has a lot of time left to offer me. I do not play nearly the same amount of time DocJon does so that may be part of it. I do want to play more mods and especially new maps. I have 3 map packs installed and have not played even one yet. I also bought Special forces, which DocJon does not seem to like much. I like it a lot except not as much on the night maps. I want to play a bit more of that as well I am already ready to buy Euro forces.

I personally never liked BF1942 as much as I did Desert Combat. I guess I like the more modern weapons and faster play style. The introduction of the Helicopters really made the DC mod so much more fun. I really am a pilot by heart even though I am only so so. Those tanks though in 42 were so damn slow and the planes were dogs back then 😉 I hate the VERY limited view in the tanks, that drove me NUTS.

Anyway, we did play a LOT of 1942 and DC though. Some of those maps were so much fun!!! I loved Eagles nest, was cool to push forward in order. Same with Montecito or whatever it was called, sorry I forget 😉 Anyway that was a GREAT map! I got to say though that game wise I am not sure I like the WWI or II games as much as the more modern stuff. You guys seem to be more into the older game style.

We bought BFV and to be honest never played it much. We did at first but for some reason never got “into” it. I did like the playing tunes in the choppers though, that was fun! 😉 I HATED that diamond shaped HUD, that SUCKED! 😉

I am actually siked for the Quake Wars game myself, that looked cool. I am open for at least trying other games. As DocJon mentioned we have played a LOT of games over the years. If it is a FPS we at least tried it of not played the hell out of it 😉 We played a lot of the single player games as well.

I like the idea that you guys have one night a week you play for sure. I hope you also try to play some other days. Sarge seems like a real good guy, thanks for popping on DAT’s TS the other night man, that was fun.
I also like the other cool things you guys are into. DocJon and I have been friends a long time and have similar interests. We are both into music a lot, I play drums myself. I can honestly say I am on of the most diverse persons you will ever meet music wise. I like almost anything. I can listen to Enya then turn around and enjoy Emminem, then enjoy some classical. 😉

We are also masters of the weird humor. If you guys watch and love Family Guy you understand us. 😉

We have been hanging out on DAT’s TS and game server mainly because they always seem to have people there. We have not joined them or anything., but every night so far that we have joined them they seem to have people there and their server got full by 8PM EST. They need to work on the bad lag issue though. They also seem like a good bunch of guys. Last night we played and I really had a good time, everyone seems to be cooperating well and the game is night/day difference when that happens.
I play erratically so am never sure what days/times I can play but I like the idea of having a place to go that always seems to have players ready to go. 😉

I am far from making my mind up though. We are still looking for a permanent home and to tell the truth I just do not know what to do.

One thing about the DAT guys I like is they do not seem to really care who jumps on TS and plays with them and everyone seems to get along. I see other clan guys there. You guys maybe should consider them a second home for non-Fridays night play. No matter what group we hook up with in the end I think I will pop on there from time to time. If we join you guys maybe we can use them as a secondary type of clan place to hang out and play.

To be totally honest with you guys my main concern is I do not want to keep jumping from clan to clan. I want a permanent home so to speak. Lexx is another friend of ours that will join whatever clan we decide on, he is more of an UT player. He wants a clan that scrims and ladders. I am not into that as much. Scrims sound good as they are casual. Laddering to me is just a pain. The OSS guys were really great guys but just got burned out and I am scared you guys will burn out very soon if you are not already like Atomm mentioned.

Edited for spelling errors I caught later on 😉

Hey Paladin! Glad you were able to drop by. This is pretty long and rambles a bit. I also wrote it while "working" so if a train of thought just stops that means I was interupted by the above mentioned "work" and just forgot what I was talking about 🙂

I don't think we are at the end of our BF2 playing time, although some of us may be experiencing that occassional downswing in interest that sometimes happens. With the 1.2 patch imminent, I am thinking our playtime will increase. I also think that with new players around it brings more energy to the group and a greater desire to play. I am personally having a lot of fun playing lately, especially the CTF mod and some of the custom maps. With the mod community really starting to take off now, I see us continuing with BF2 for quite a while. I also have no money to buy any other games so I am stuck with it 🙂

We used to play on the TWL BFV ladder, first in 8v8 and then 5v5 infantry. We stopped 8v8 when it became zero fun, and enjoyed the hell out of the 5v5 infantry where we weren't getting massacred by the helos and jets the whole time. We essentially dropped it when BF2 came out, although our interest was waning at that point. We attempted to join a 5v5 infantry ladder with BF2, but we had lost so many people to WoW, and real life kept getting in the way so we just didn't have enough people to do it.

I understand you not wanting to jump from clan to clan, and can offer no guarantees based on what happened when WoW came out :? . However, we are a "no pressure" kind of place, and are now in a "rebuilding" phase. We generally do not do active recruiting but respond to people that we see that seem like they fit well with what we are about. From what I have seen of you and DocJon, I think you would fit in well.

One issue that we have had come up in the past is that when we have had a server, we have not required that everyone donate to it understanding that everyone has different abilities to pay given income and family responsibilities. Right now we don't have a server so it isn't an issue, but we have had one or two people get upset about that in the past. We do have a solid core of people willing to contribute however, and as Atomm said, have managed to have a server running multiple games in the past. The 10 player rule (on a 40 player server) killed our BF2 server more than anything. No one wants to "not play" for half an hour while waiting for 1 more player so the game can start. Once we did get the server going, it usually went non-stop for a long time.

The DAT guys were definitely cool although they had some wicked server lag a couple of times. It was good to see that not all of them were crowded onto a single team and trying to dominate everyone. We have similar relationships with a few other clans like -=NC=- (Napalm Cowboys), IcE (IronClad Empire), and Catastrophic Attack Team (CAT). We even co-hosted a server with the CAT guys for a while which worked pretty well and is where the =PBF= gatherings started.

Did I miss anything?

I think that covers it.

As far as Special Forces goes, I would be happy to play any time. I actually enjoyed SF better than Vanilla BF2.

Don't get me wrong. We do play more than Fridays. It's just more random where as Fridays are always planned. I also suspect that as more people are around, you will see other people start to show up. XFire has been a great tool in this respect.

Xfire is a huge help as it gives you both the server someone is on as well as the TS ip. Whenever I am playing I have it on to provide temptation for other people to come play 🙂

Yep, me too....

umm so :wstupid:

seriously, nothing I can say that they haven't

As for diverse musical taste, you don't have me beat, got both Eminem and Enya going here as well :-). And I am the biggest Simpsons fan (both size and knoweldge). I'm not proud, just letting you know. :-)

Bubbaspanky wrote:Yeah when I joined GRB is was because it was some cool guys doing fun stuff on a server that was always smacktard free and always full.  I like to think once BF2 will support that type of gaem we'll be back as we were.

I miss 42.

You guys try COD2 yet?

I have played the demo. I kinda liked it.

Hello all. I'm Lexx, remote friend of Doc and Palidan.

I just stopped by to read some of your posts to try to get to know you a little better. It is true, we had decided to look for another battlefield clan for quite some time, and we tend to stick together like the 3 monkeys. 😀

I was getting soured by the BF2 deal way back in Oct. Those guys in OSS just couldn't pull things together, and flat out refused any suggestions we had made. Palidan and I even setup a new website built around vWar, an awesome setup for keeping track of matches, players, stats, etc. If you've never seen vWar, its still running @ http://oldschoolsolders.co.nr .

Anyways, I like BF2, just hated the awful loading, and looking for servers, and worse, having a team ranked server that was always empty. Pal and Doc have been on the search for greener pastures, and sent me your link 🙂 I'll catch up with you all asic, but Friday nites are the worse time of the week for me, since I usually have to run our iCTF squad that nite. Is there another nite you guys play alot? I liked seeing you are open to TWL matching and scrimming. I believe that for me, helps me to take the game more seriously, but I'm strange that way 😉

Anyways, I also noticed you have a Thur nite UT2004 setup. Is this still active? I founded a UT iCTF team back in Sept/Oct when I was getting bored of BF. V^V NoneShallPass - http://noneshallpass.co.nr and we play on TWL ladders, currently 5v5, 3v3, and a couple of TAM ladders. We are doing about 50/50 on the win/loss, but the point was to get together and play UT with good friends. I have one public server in NY, and another one in Chicago just for matches. I'd love to have any of you visit anytime. We don't do any mods there except for Jailbreak (cool ass mod!). Perhaps I can catch up with you on your UT nite!

Also nice to see some of you use xfire. It was like pulling teeth to get OSS to use that. Do you have an irc channel to arrange scrims? Very usefull if you have a scrim cordinator that is 🙂

Hope to do some fraggin with you soon.

Seeya!


xfire lexx0
irc# protium.net/#vtroop

Welcome Lexx!!!! :rock:

Lexx. I think I should point out that we are a very laid back bunch. We played on TWL, but we did not take ourselves too seriously. By that, I mean we did it for the fun of playing together as a team. Win or Loose, it didn't matter. In fact, we left the league 8v8 and 5v5 when we peaked. Our last match for BFV 5v5 was ranked 8th (or 9th, it's been a while) and we challenged #1. They spanked us. But, we do not practice, we play. We've never been big on scrimming, but we like to play. Challenging for 1st was an honor for a bunch of casual players. :-)

We put our energy into custom events like mods and maps, but that is almost always on Friday Nights.

But, I could see Thursday Nights picking back up with either UT or BF2. And if you like Instagib CTF, you would love playing with the group we usually bring along. Several of them are some of the best twitch shooters I have ever played with. We also did a lot of custom maps for CTF.

Atomm wrote:Lexx. I think I should point out that we are a very laid back bunch. We played on TWL, but we did not take ourselves too seriously.  

Challenging for 1st was an honor for a bunch of casual players. :-)

But, I could see Thursday Nights picking back up with either UT or BF2. And if you like Instagib CTF, you would love playing with the group we usually bring along. Several of them are some of the best twitch shooters I have ever played with. We also did a lot of custom maps for CTF.

Yah, that would be ok too. Been so long since we TWL matched, and BF is kinda laid back, or at least its that way for me, won't miss it for a while. With basic comms, its not to hard to get on the same page, win and have phun. I did like practices and scrims tho, it puts everyone together in one place with the same goal in mind.

Hey, I'll keep a lookout for you on Thurs/Friday nites. Doesn't matter what game, but I like to do BF first, then pound some faster action in UT. I just always prefered the fast action and movements in UT. Probably why I was zero impressed with Quake4.

Later!

lexx wrote:Hello all.  I'm Lexx, remote friend of Doc and Palidan.

BTW what is this remote friend BS??? I have known you since before your son was born and you are one of my best friends!!

Putz!

😉