Frontlines Community - Setting Expectations

[WhiskeySix]

This post is intended to set the course for Frontlines:Fuel of War at TacticalGamer. It explains what to expect immediately following release of the game, how we intend to move forward, details on what's expected of you, the player, and what you should expect from your Frontline admins. Frontlines has the potential to be a flagship game at TacticalGamer. Kaos Studios has provided a great framework in which we can share creative, team-oriented, objective-based, tactical gameplay; yet for Frontlines to achieve it's potential here, the server needs active support from you, the player (especially during the server's infancy). There's no reason that TacticalGamer can't have the very finest Fronlines server in the world!


Server Settings and Rules

When the game is first released, the server will be configured with 100% stock, out of the box settings. During this time, the relatively small admin team will be enforcing a relatively small number of server-rules (TG-wide rules such as no bunnyhopping, TKing, etc). As our collective experience grows as a community, we will expand the rule set and admin team and adjust server settings as needed. (Current Server Rules can be found here)

The Gameplay Experience

The immediate week or two following release will be somewhat chaotic. What you experience on the server during this time will NOT be what you experience on the server in a month from now. Remember that the game server (players, rules, maps, weapons, etc, etc) you played on before Frontlines has had many months, or even years to mature.

You will be playing along side players with very diverse backgrounds, play-style preferences/expectations, and experience - some will have played the Frontlines beta-version extensively, while for others, this will be the first foray into the world of First Person Shooters.

It's also important to remember that this will be version 1.0 of the game, and hotfix patches will be forthcoming. Although there was a fairly robust beta program, there will be bugs; there will be balance issues; there will be weapons and vehicles that don't work like they "should"; there will be maps you love and others you don't care for.

Hopefully, if we go into it expecting a bit of a bumpy-road, that will help mitigate some of the potential frustration that would otherwise arise.

Community Responsibilities

During the days and weeks immediately following release, it is you, the player, that will shoulder the responsibility of making the server a success. The biggest thing you can do as a player is to remember why you first joined TacticalGamer, and pass that gift along. Specific things we need from all players:

• Have fun! This is at the top of the list for a reason! It's especially important during the initial 'break-in period', that we don't take things too seriously. Don't play with a "winning isn't everything, it's the only thing" type attitude. If you hang your hopes on a great K/D ratio or final score, you may be disappointed. Instead, during those hopeless rounds where the teams seem stacked or the map seems unbalanced, find a way to enjoy the small things in-game that make it fun. (Like golf - one amazing shot lets you forget about all the triple bogeys and lost golf balls)

• Have patience! Have patience with your fellow gamers as they learn the game, and bring their different expectations to the server. Have patience with the game itself, remembering it's an initial version. Finally, have patience with the [volunteer] admin-team as we work to support the community.

• Leave your preconceptions at the door! Frontlines is a game with obvious ties to the Battlefield franchise - it shares many of the same game mechanics, objectives, and even game developers. That being said, we all need to remember that Frontlines is a completely new and totally separate game. BFx rules and SOPs will not be directly imported into FFoW. Frontlines is a new game in its own right, and we will all contribute to the development of rules that let us squeeze every last drop of objective-based, team-oriented fun out of this game.

• Give logical, fact-based feedback! We'll be developing server-rules after substantial consideration of all community feedback. If one person, after a bad day at work, has one bad in-game experience, in one moment of one round, it's not going to carry a lot of weight. On the other hand, when we see a trend, detailed by numerous, detailed, factual reports, we can begin adapting our policies. How did something spoil the gameplay? How often does that happen? Why does it happen? Are there any in-game counters?

• Educate and Build the Community! As you learn things, share them in the forums. If you perceive that someone is new in-game, give them a friendly "hey did ya know". When you find a tactic that works, don't keep it for your own advantage or share exclusively with the players in your IHS. We have no doubt that the TacticalGamer community will step up here - tactics, map guides, vehicle/weapon reviews, etc, are bread and butter of our experienced player base.

• Inspire! We want people to never forget the first time they play on TG's Frontlines server. Every time you play, you have the opportunity to make this kind of impression:

Originally Posted by Wimpinator

I always played on random pubbie servers during the vanilla BF2 days. The game consisted of the normal pub play with bunny hopping and never being in a squad. One night I was playing on a random server and 3 guys were in a squad. I joined and they were talking and actually playing as a squad. I remember that they got into a [jeep] and a there wasn't room for me. One of those guys got out so that we could run together for cover. I had no idea that level of teamwork existed in online games. I frequented that server but those guys never showed up again so I started doing the google search thing and came across threads talking about TG.

I joined a game here. The first round ended in the infamous river standoff. I had been playing BF2 for a long time and that was the first time I ever played in a coordinated defense. I was hooked from there.

I never saw those three guys again and still have no idea who they were but they totally changed the way that I looked at online games.

Admin Responsibilities

The Frontlines admin-team is made of volunteers that are here to serve TG first, the Frontlines community at TG (you) second, and themselves never. Our primary role as administrators is to police the server by enforcing rules in an unbiased and unemotional way. We're also responsible for translating community sentiment into codified game policy.

The admin-team is being assembled to have admins from diverse gaming backgrounds - to best represent the diverse player backgrounds that will be part of the Frontlines community here. As is the case with every other game at TG, if at any time you perceive that an admin is being intolerant, condescending, or disrespectful in any other way, please don't hesitate to let me know. Fortunately, we've been blessed with great volunteers stepping up, and I am extremely confident in their qualification and ability to do the job.

Longer Term Server Expectations

It will be an ongoing process, but I'm confident that in time we will have together created the best Frontlines server in the world!

[WhiskeySix]

Pre-Release Update #1

Server Status

With just 4 days to go, Kaos has still yet to release any information about hosting servers. We were hoping to have at least a day or two before release to play with the server and admin-tools, but that doesn't look like it's going to happen. That being said, we think we're prepared as we can be: we have a [beefy] server sitting ready, we have a work-around for the missing VOIP in place, our rules are in place, we've got PanzerHans locked in a room out back until he starts and finishes our scripts (kick for not being in a squad and reserved slots for supporting members), and we've got a solid release-day admin team. We'll keep you informed as we learn more.

VOIP Work-around

As I'm sure you've heard, unlike the Xbox360 version, the initial release for PC will not have funcioning VOIP. To get around this, we're going to rely heavily on TeamSpeak, and we'd like ALL of you to familiarize yourselves with the how it's going to work. If possible we will be making auto-announcements in the game to direct players to use Teamspeak. We'll also be posting our TS workaround on external sites in hopes that players can get TS setup ahead of time.

Squad Leading

Until we get the VOIP patch, and especially during the first week, the quality of our server will be largely determined by the SL's. We'd like to urge all TG players to form new squads and give SL'ing a shot. It's understood that you won't be totally comfortable with the game at first and that's ok. We're not expecting any extraordinary tactic's - all we need are SL's that know what teamwork is, and are willing to strive for it. We're not looking for superstars - just someone that will drop a "defend here" marker down and not go blindly charging into CP's.

[WhiskeySix]

Pre-Release Update #2

Server Status

The big day is here, but we've yet to hear much in the way of official information about dedicated server files. Here's what we know today:

There will be no Linux server on release. There may be one later on.

Kaos Studios & THQ will provide servers on launch date, the dedicated server files will be released shortly after launch. When we do not know at this point so please do not ask.

You'll be able to rent servers I'm assuming sometime next week, not much information has been released about this but I can assure it'll be coming soon.

We'll be sure to let you know as we find out more info. But for now, it looks like we may be playing on non-TG servers for at least the first few days. We're looking at what we can do to make the first week a little more smooth for players - keep an eye on the forums... or if you have suggestions on how we can leverage TS and "pub-raid", please make a post and share your thoughts!