A Heavy Update 8/19/08

Nineaxis

Quack Doctor
aa
May 19, 2008
1,767
2,820
The truth is:

noupdate1.png
 

00000000000000000000000

L4: Comfortable Member
Jul 9, 2008
175
23
Aww Wtf. I know all of the updates come out a day later for me cause I'm in Australia, but I was expecting to see the sandvich, or the new gamemode today, just like all the other ones every other day. it's now Tuesday and there's no new stuff. D :<
 

00000000000000000000000

L4: Comfortable Member
Jul 9, 2008
175
23
Valve are pretty funny... coming Monday-ish That made me feel a bit better :p I can just imagine some person who skipped school to keep refreshing that site until they got it, lol.
 
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A Boojum Snark

Toraipoddodezain Mazahabado
aa
Nov 2, 2007
4,776
7,674
Eh... I'll have to wait and see, but I sure hope this doesn't take the game the wrong way and fragment the community even more, like what Combat did in Natural Selection.

Also: "...having a Medic or a Health dispenser-building Engineer on your team can be a crucial element to success." Is it just me or does that seem curiously worded to hint at an engy unlockable that is replacing the dispenser, or a dispenser that does something other than healing?
 

Inqwel

L6: Sharp Member
Jun 2, 2008
308
59
A Boojum Snark said:
Also: "...having a Medic or a Health dispenser-building Engineer on your team can be a crucial element to success." Is it just me or does that seem curiously worded to hint at an engy unlockable that is replacing the dispenser, or a dispenser that does something other than healing?
I noticed that too...

However, I feel a little disappointed by this new mode. Lets just hope valve had enough sense to make arena battles have multiple spawn rooms instead of Gold rush part 2.
 
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Vander

L8: Fancy Shmancy Member
Feb 16, 2008
506
215
Said in Heavy voice, "Who's crying?!?"

I for one am pleased as punch they are devoting this much attention to the game we all love.

Bring on the support Valve!
 

FaTony

Banned
Mar 25, 2008
901
160
OH MY GOD! LUMBERYARD! Now i can finally delete all hl2 ep2 forest content from my pl_robbery map and make it tf2 style! And also finish the park in tc_street...
 

Chilly

L6: Sharp Member
May 3, 2008
326
127
This game mode is very much like Rocket Arena 2 and 3 for Quake, which was immensely popular and fun. I suggest waiting and seeing if you like it or not, since it makes really dynamic battles. People keep calling it TDM, but anyone that played RA2 or RA3 and also played Q2 or Q3 TDM should know there's a huge difference. It's all about risk/reward with each life, which makes things a lot more interesting.

I may be partially to "blame" for this new game mode since I sent this email to Valve a while back...

Anyway, I'm saddened that Hydro isn't played all that often. I really think it's one of the best maps and have been increasing its playtime on our popular server. One idea I had to give it a fresh feel would use a Rocket Arena 2 or 3 game mode. I'm guessing you're familiar with these Quake mods since they were quite popular back in the day. I think the Clan Arena concept would work great for Hydro and require minimal work to accomplish.

Basically the entire map would be opened up, including the spawn areas, to form one large fighting area. All players would be randomly spawned, perhaps assigning certain spawns to each team so they're spread out a bit. Players would then fight in sudden death mode until only one team has players left alive, and that team would get a point. The game would go for 15 rounds or some other large odd number.

The main drawback to this system is that people don't like waiting for respawn all of the time. Rocket Arena 2 had one solution, which was to make spectator areas where players could mess around while watching the action through windows. Obviously this would require significant map updates to make spectator areas and connecting halls/teleporters.

The other better option would be to try forcing players toward one part of the map. This could be done by randomly enabling one of the control points. So, say a round lasted 6 minutes. Give players a short amount of time to just kill each other and then at 4 minutes randomly enable one of the control points. The control points would need to be neutral and would have to cap VERY slowly, perhaps taking up to 1 minute with a single player on it. This would force players to move toward one location on the map or risk allowing the other team to win.

An additional suggestion would be to remove or reduce the amount of health around the map. This would increase the value of a good medic while really making players think twice about rushing in as scout by themselves.

The strategy of this game mode would be somewhat dynamic, and should appeal toward the competitive community. Teams would have to weigh the cost of fighting alone and spread out to prevent CP captures by the enemy vs communicating and meeting in one area and fighting as a team. Individual class strategy would be affected since heavies would be extremely useful but move very slow for a map as big as Hydro. Lightweight classes would have to avoid enemies in many cases until they find teammates to stick with, which also promotes teamwork.

I hope you like this idea even if it's not realistic to make the change. I know RA2 and RA3 were insanely popular back when I played them, so perhaps it would do the same for Hydro.

Do I get a cookie for pinning it down including the single delayed CP and reduced health? :)