Lets discuss respawn times

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Lets discuss respawn times

by resuni » Tue Sep 17, 2013 11:54 pm

I'll admit to being a frequent complainer of respawn times. In fact Baulbish caught me in the act today, who then told me they were set to default. I've heard many people (both regulars and non-regulars on CSN) complain about the respawn timers, so I decided to start a thread about it to get some discussion going and maybe even make a change.

The main annoyances I want to address are:
  • 20 second respawn timer when on defense on attack/defend or payload (then Blu pushes the cart in the pit because half of red is waiting to respawn)
  • Respawn timer adding seconds on koth when your team takes the point.

I'll start by saying I do understand the purpose of respawn timers, so I do not suggest removing them completely. Instead I suggest to shorten them drastically. I know of a server that gives the attacking team an almost instantaneous respawn time; then the defending team has a respawn time of something like 3 seconds. I'm not exactly certain how this would work on 5cp and koth maps, but on pl and attack/defend I think it would be great. On the server I know of that has implemented this, you get into some pretty intense battles at the final point because of it. Anyone have any thoughts on this?
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Re: Lets discuss respawn times

by LegendarySurgeon » Wed Sep 18, 2013 8:25 am

NuclearWatermelon wrote:

Stop Whining

The mills of the gods grind slowly, but they grind exceedingly fine.

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Re: Lets discuss respawn times

by Punisher » Wed Sep 18, 2013 9:02 am

That would be awful, the respawn times are there to balance the maps. If respawn times were near instant for blue then what would the point of the sentry gun to lock an area down if the attackers could just constantly suicide in, there would be no point in building up uber since the downside of dying is negligent. Picking people off would be pointless, the only people worth killing would be those at the front lines since the only downside to dying now is to walk back. Just don't throw your life away and respawn times shouldn't bother you.
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Re: Lets discuss respawn times

by Beartato » Wed Sep 18, 2013 9:16 am

Personally I like the longer respawns, even though it's no fun to watch the action for as much as 35 seconds (happened to me last week).

On a map like Barnblitz or Upward, you really do need those long red respawns to have a chance when attacking. Even with the long respawns, it is usually a long stalemate on those last points. Faster respawns would just result in more red victories, which would also mean more games would run until the time was over. I don't think that'd be a great idea since a lot of people don't seem to enjoy those stalemates.
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Re: Lets discuss respawn times

by Thret » Wed Sep 18, 2013 10:15 am

I agree with Beartato and Punisher.

For the initial points on an attack-defend/payload map the shorter BLU's respawn time is the less significant RED's kills become because of the idea of zerging sentry guns and such. Conversely, for the final point, regardless of BLU's respawn time, the shorter you make RED's the more advantage you give the defenders. The respawn times may seem long but I imagine the people complaining have never played the clusterfuck that is short spawn time/ instant spawn servers.
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Re: Lets discuss respawn times

by Failhorse » Wed Sep 18, 2013 6:14 pm

Respawn times are default. They've always been default. If we change them it'd de-list us from quickplay.

Case closed.
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Re: Lets discuss respawn times

by resuni » Wed Sep 18, 2013 6:26 pm

Failhorse wrote:Respawn times are default. They've always been default. If we change them it'd de-list us from quickplay.

Case closed.


Well, then I guess that settles it. It just seems like, even though the respawn times are default, they're often times unnecessarily long. Based on the discussion here, even if quickplay weren't an issue, it wouldn't be a popular idea to make them shorter anyway.
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Re: Lets discuss respawn times

by Maringue » Thu Sep 19, 2013 10:01 am

resuni wrote:The main annoyances I want to address are:
  • 20 second respawn timer when on defense on attack/defend or payload (then Blu pushes the cart in the pit because half of red is waiting to respawn)
  • Respawn timer adding seconds on koth when your team takes the point.


Spawn time is very important. Have you ever noticed that maps that normally stalemate like it's their job don't on our servers? That's because the map was originally designed with dynamic respawn times based on where the objective currently is.

Max respawn time is 25 seconds (5 seconds worth of you watching yourself die, then 20 of you staring at the clock). However, this will frequently drop to 10 seconds for certain parts of the map, depending on what team you are on. Respawn times make it harder to cap objectives further from your spawn point so they are critical to map design.

Also, instant or even reduced respawn times turn you into a shitty player. Longer respawns force you to learn not to die as much.
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Re: Lets discuss respawn times

by Failhorse » Thu Sep 19, 2013 10:29 am

No one here is taking into account the respawn wave formula. if you were red on last point in Dustbowl. Doesn't mean you will wait 20 seconds. You might notice sometimes it's only 10 seconds (Really 15) TF2 has a wave timer system in as well. The first X amount of players hit that early wave and spawn in 10 seconds. The rest wait the 20 seconds. Resets every minute.

You will never see modified times on the slayboxes. They break the game. Last points on Dustbowl and Goldrush are perfect examples. Both maps Blue has a long way to travel to get to the point. Negates the quick respawn. Red is spawning on the point, so they have to wait longer. On both the max respawn time for red is 25 seconds. If you had to walk so blue you'd get back to the last area in 17 with the 5 second for kill cam.

pro-tip - don't throw your life away.
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Re: Lets discuss respawn times

by Beartato » Thu Sep 19, 2013 5:45 pm

Thret wrote:I agree with Beartato and Punisher.

For the initial points on an attack-defend/payload map the shorter BLU's respawn time is the less significant RED's kills become because of the idea of zerging sentry guns and such. Conversely, for the final point, regardless of BLU's respawn time, the shorter you make RED's the more advantage you give the defenders. The respawn times may seem long but I imagine the people complaining have never played the clusterfuck that is short spawn time/ instant spawn servers.

I enjoy playing on a 30-person fast respawn cp_dustbowl server from time to time.

Those times are when I want to spam pills at heavies to kill his two fully charged medics since the only way to play 30-person fast respawn cp_dustbowl is with a minimum of three heavy-medic combos. It's a total clusterfuck, as you said.

Honestly, it's a very niche server setup.
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Re: Lets discuss respawn times

by resuni » Thu Sep 19, 2013 7:37 pm

Failhorse wrote:No one here is taking into account the respawn wave formula. if you were red on last point in Dustbowl. Doesn't mean you will wait 20 seconds. You might notice sometimes it's only 10 seconds (Really 15) TF2 has a wave timer system in as well. The first X amount of players hit that early wave and spawn in 10 seconds. The rest wait the 20 seconds. Resets every minute.

You will never see modified times on the slayboxes. They break the game. Last points on Dustbowl and Goldrush are perfect examples. Both maps Blue has a long way to travel to get to the point. Negates the quick respawn. Red is spawning on the point, so they have to wait longer. On both the max respawn time for red is 25 seconds. If you had to walk so blue you'd get back to the last area in 17 with the 5 second for kill cam.

pro-tip - don't throw your life away.


I guess after hearing all this explained, the respawn times make a lot more sense.
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Re: Lets discuss respawn times

by WET BUTT DISEASE » Wed Oct 16, 2013 5:43 pm

resuni wrote:I guess after hearing all this explained, the respawn times make a lot more sense.


just do what i do: run in borderless window and alt tab when you die and check FB/spotify/your oven or whatever
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Re: Lets discuss respawn times

by Beartato » Wed Oct 16, 2013 8:29 pm

You need to alt-tab to check your oven?
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Re: Lets discuss respawn times

by WET BUTT DISEASE » Wed Oct 16, 2013 11:09 pm

Beartato wrote:You need to alt-tab to check your oven?


dude those ribs i made yesterday were awesome

i got drunk off ribs

i am rib man
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Re: Lets discuss respawn times

by Beartato » Fri Oct 18, 2013 4:52 pm

Drunk + ribs. So much envy from this guy here. ;~;
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