Can we take Euro Force out of the rotation?

[tpg0007]

I myself have it, but apparently not a lot of regulars do. Every time an EF map loads I notice a 50% drop in players from the previous map...

The average player base on TG is not as big as it used to be a couple of months ago, to say the least. On weekday nights you'd be lucky to get 40 players on the server, and it's really aggravating to drop from a playable number down to 20ish on a map change. It becomes nothing more than team deathmatch when you barely have 2 full squads going at it.

Armored Force on the other hand seems to have sold more.

[TG_Bubba]

We here at TG are supporting the booster packs both AF and EF. We understand that there will be a few that do not have them but we are going to support them.

[icky]

No. We can encourage more people to get it though. Both boosters have lots to offer, and we will continue to play them until the next great game replaces BF2.

[Santa]

Despite chunking out the money for the boosters, id support getting rid of them. Every single time a booster pack map comes on, the population is cut in half or worse. It does not seem enough people are taking to the booster packs, whatever their reason may be. Im sure theres plenty of poor college students that couldnt fork out the money, and im sure theres others that could just fork out the cash for a supporting membership and then found out they couldnt fork cash out to keep playing the game at the community they just started supporting. Im sure it felt like a real kick in the face to those in that situation or something similiar to it. In my opinion, it was also unreasonable to expect people low on cash to fork out the money on booster packs when the SF expansion died so quickly. I dont think we learned from our mistake on that, and the only reason the boosters have had a little bit more support is because we did a slightly better job advertising them.

What I dont understand is why we are settling for a low populated server when we know that with straight up vanilla maps, we can get a near full or even a full server on for most of the nights. We've seen recently that when we have several vanilla maps in a row, the server gets up to 60 or so players. We only have ~2 months of BF2 left before BF2142 comes out, and frankly id rather spend that time playing BF2 full scale with as many players as possible than playing sub-par maps with low population just for the sake of a change of pace, when we are of course going to get that change of pace in BF2142 and possibly tacmod.

I know the general message to the community is "Get the boosters or you cant play at TG", but i think theres a certain point where we must realize that not enough people are taking to the boosters (Not just at our community, but the entire BF2 community. There arent many highly populated servers running boosters, and definatly not many with an emphasis on teamwork and maturity) and that it is adversly affecting server population, and possibly the future poopulation of BF2142. Before the boosters came on the server, people figured it would raise the population because it was new and interesting content. Instead, it has lowered population and a reasonable assumption is that it will only become lower because people will eventually get fed up with playing so many small sided games. Also, new players searching for teamwork and such will not be as inclined to join a server with 25 people as opposed to 64.

I hope removing the boosters is at least considered in a thoughtful, intelligent way and isnt defended simply by putting up the "Get the boosters or you cant play" wall.

[icky]

The population drops because there are people on the server who don't have the boosters. That much is known. Almost everyone who is a regular at TG has them, but not many visitors do, so far. This really isn't a problem as long as we have fun playing them.

[CingularDuality]

Originally Posted by Santa

In my opinion, it was also unreasonable to expect people low on cash to fork out the money on booster packs when the SF expansion died so quickly. I dont think we learned from our mistake on that, and the only reason the boosters have had a little bit more support is because we did a slightly better job advertising them.

What I dont understand is why we are settling for a low populated server when we know that with straight up vanilla maps, we can get a near full or even a full server on for most of the nights.

Well, it's important for everyone to understand why we're sticking with the boosters. Running straight vanilla BF2, our numbers were suffering. We needed some variety. We DID learn from our mistake with the Special Forces addon. We learned that telling people that we were going to support it, and then not supporting it was a HUGE mistake. We're not going to make that mistake again. The boosters are here to give TG members some variety. We're not going to ask people to shell out money for some addons and then not support them. That disappointed a LOT of people with SF and we're just not going to do that again.

If it's a matter of cash, we've got the free TacMod that we're also supporting.

Let's not confuse Summer low server populations with the introduction of the boosters. The boosters just aren't the reason for the low numbers...

[Kilrogg]

Actually I don't have EF and the only reason I bought AF was because I wanted to drop C4 on people with the littlebird. There is obviously a lot of regulars who don't have boosters or at least one of the booster packs because the server can be full of TG people and it still drops nearly 50% when a booster map comes up.

At least consider removing some of the EF/AF maps. Some of them are ok but some aren't very good or popular. Harvest for example is never played and nobody seems to care.

Edit: The low population has nothing to do with the summer, everyone who's actually played BF2 regularly on TG in the last 6+ months knows that.

[Santa]

Originally Posted by CingularDuality

Let's not confuse Summer low server populations with the introduction of the boosters. The boosters just aren't the reason for the low numbers...

Right before the boosters were put on, every student at TG was focused on final exams and probably didnt have time to play, and thus the server population for 2 weeks was cut down quite a bit. I suppose people didnt realize that and hopped on the bandwagon of thinking that boosters would help population, but people were gone because of school, not so much because they were bored of the maps.

Im aware that is speculation, but my only proof is that recently whenever we have 2-3 vanilla maps in a row, the server almost reaches capacity and the only reason it doesnt reach capacity is because a booster pack inevitably comes on and cuts the server population in half, and its late enough in the evening by then that the server doesnt have a chance to stay alive much longer.

Originally Posted by CingularDuality

If it's a matter of cash, we've got the free TacMod that we're also supporting.

True, but it doesnt fit everyone's style. Also, in that manner of thinking, it would have been more logical to support the tacmod maps and other custom maps during vanilla play. Not only are most of those maps widely regarded as better made and funner than the booster maps, but are downloadable and not purchased. For instance, the few times we have played inishail during primetime, the server had a lot of people on.

[perry]

Originally Posted by Santa

I hope removing the boosters is at least considered in a thoughtful, intelligent way and isnt defended simply by putting up the "Get the boosters or you cant play" wall.

Don't you know that all decisions made around here are based on a coin flip performed by Bubba.

I think he uses a double headed nickle though. He's shady like that

[sordavie]

I fully support the admin's decision to run the boosters on the server. But, with bf2142 just around the corner, I think few people are willing to spend money on the boosters. So, it's unlikely we'll get many new people with the boosters. Perhaps Santa is right that we should consider how to get the most out of the bf2 server for the rest of the summer. The boosters were put on the server to keep things fresh for us; and, they have to some extent. But, the server pop. really does drop a lot when they come on after a string of vanilla maps. If running vanilla maps more frequently will bring back some of those who've taken a break from bf2 because of the boosters as well as bring new people to the community, then maybe it's something to consider before bf2 has run its course here.

[Kilrogg]

The whole "for variety" argument isn't very good anyway. I'd rather play a map I've played 10,000 times before with 60 people than play a newer map with 30

[devilman]

Originally Posted by icky

The population drops because there are people on the server who don't have the boosters. That much is known. Almost everyone who is a regular at TG has them, but not many visitors do, so far. This really isn't a problem as long as we have fun playing them.

Warning: A devilman rant.

I purchased the boosters because I had to in order to play with TG, not too pleased about that because it's such a waste of money. I have friends I've brought to the community who are going or have thought of canceling their membership because they have to buy the boosters every time they try to play.

If the boosters where fun, then sure, but they're lame. You can't expect them to be good either cause EA's intent to create them is not for people to have fun, it's so they can make their quotas for the quarter. Which in turn is why, free maps and mods are funner, built by the people for the people. Sorry for the Cheese.

Anyhow, for the record, I wasted money on all booster packs, when Euro forces comes on I drop out because it's not fun. Armored fury well, I've played 1 map since I purchased it so cant say for sure if it's fun or not. I love the other custom maps that rotate that are free, like the prison one, the the train one and the other one with the carrier... So I'm not one of those afraid of change people.

The "buy it or too bad" thing is disconcerting and certainly don't promote community spirit. May want to reconsider that, just a tip. Perhaps using a more member oriented democratic process to choose what servers support which mods.

To me it's simple. You want a full server to get new members to discover? Then keep the 64 man vanilla. To the 20 admins who love the do or die boosters, use server 2 which is always empty and mod your hearts out, if other supporting members want to play, they'll join in.

Anyhow, there's more than 1 reason as to why the booster maps kill the server.

Peace out.

[UnDeaD77]

I'll still support the boosters since I paid for them, and this is one of the few places to play them at.

I mainly just hate, taraba, and road rage like no other. I've really enjoyed rounds on harvest quite a bit, I think thats the best map that came out of both boosters.

[Lucky Shot]

Pretty much agree with Undead, I enjoy the new booster packs with a couple of map exceptions. Change is good, and I would not be able to take playing the same map over and over again. Consider me a player saved as I would otherwise play the boosters elsewhere and was disappointed to see how Special Forces fared at TG.

Lucky Shot

[jmaker]

How did this become such a polarizing topic? Everyone was complaining about playing the same maps over and over. Now everyone wants to go back to just vanilla. The booster maps made the vanilla maps exciting to play again. I think everyone's misplacing their discontent. Blame EA/DICE and not TG. Why does everyone expect them to release 6 new maps for free? Should Valve release episode 1 and 2 for free as well?

Are you guys going to complain about having to pay $50 for 2142 when it's basically just a reskinned, upgraded engine of BF2? It would be very foolish to remove the booster maps now since almost everyone has them.