Failhorse wrote: That somehow the no random crits makes it harder to pop and stay popped. Partly due to the style of player that will join. Partly everyone turning "clicky" and wanting to play with specific people who only play on slaybox 1.
Slaybox 1 has a more robust map lineup. Including Hydro, Doublecross, Pipeline, and 2fort.
The name (obviously.) Could I vs II really make a difference?
random crits.
Otherwise identical.
Its all of the above really.
Its harder to pop a
pub no random crit server because it attracts comp players and the two simply don't mix well a lot of times. The pubbers just want to have fun and play for 1hr or 2, while the comp players want to practice and be serious and generally only play for 30 mins or so before leaving to join their team in matches. Comp players are also 90% of the team stackers on the slayboxes, and that just crashes the server faster for the pub players which are our majority. If you notice while there aren't any comp players and everyone in the server is a regular, it does fine. However once people start joining who take the game too serious it starts to die. Same thing happens to SB1 when people act too serious, all the regulars start leaving and the server dies 10 mins later. The difference is SB1 has random crits which makes the over all experience way less competitive and serious.
The map lineup is another reason why SB2 doesn't do as well imo. While Badwater and Upward are awesome for popping a server, generally regulars have already played them 30mins before the last change. Hydro, Pipeline, 2fort ect are all
NEW maps to me, and I'm sure a lot of other regulars feel the same. I haven't really played on non-critsandvich servers for nearly 2 years, so they're very fresh to me. Which kind of goes back to scaring the regulars off SB2 I think, I don't wanna be stuck playing Badwater, Goldrush, Badlands, Badwater again, Upward ect ect all night. Ofc it all depends on what people vote for, but again, the no random crits attracts comp players, so we're generally stuck on whatever they vote for, which is usually some 5cp map or Badwater and since they don't generally stay too long, by the time we've made it through 2 or 3 maps, a new wave of compers have joined and we're back on the same 3 maps again which helps attract more comp players. This again, shoos off the regulars, and they're the reason the server stays full, not some 18 year old comp player with a chip on his shoulder. I feel Maps like Hydro and 2fort scare off the comp players, while attracting more of our regulars (Wow, Hyrdo? I haven't played that in years!)
While the name could have something to do with it, I feel the
people have MORE to do with it than anything. A server is only as good as the company it keeps, at least to me. While I don't really have a problem with most of the regulars around here, there are some assholes who only play in SB2 or SB1 that I'd simply rather not play with. On the other hand there are some people who I'd rather play with, and in my case most of those people only play on SB1, so of course I'm going to join SB1 over SB2 if I see them playing. I think thats the biggest point that needs to be made, people enjoy playing with other players who are fun to play with, not a group of people who sit in a vent server, team stack, generally don't say anything and who take the game too seriously. Not that I'm saying we should ban all the people who do this (or that we shouldn't stop team stacking) but that they are a contributing factor for why it can be harder to pop servers and gain new
active members. If someone new joins SB1 and no one is talking, everyone is serious and bitching about everything, they're not going to have a good time or come back. If they join and see everyone joking, giving out items and having a good time, they to will have a good time and are more likely to join the community.
All this said, I don't think the return of random crits will fix the problem, at least not at the start. The return of random crits will scare off some comp players, but from there we will have to build a community on SB2 ourselves if we want people to play there regularly. SB2 needs a Fingerman basically, maybe we should clone him or something.
Harri wrote:I voted yes. But, seriously. I've never had an issue with poping SBII. Just get in there and invite some friends. Or make an event in the Admin steam group or community group.
Yes, but keeping it popped is the problem. I remember we popped SB2 like 3 or 4 times in one day last week, and each time we left to eat or whatever and came back it was empty again. I got up today did some stuff, joined SB1 and left about 2 or 3 hrs ago. Right now its still full and has quite a few of the people I would join a server to play with. So again, Server is only as good as the company it keeps (Note, not necessarily aimed at the people here, its more about those people who play on the servers but aren't active members of the community or care about it)
