Anti-tankspy
Nucleus
- Joined
- Jun 1, 2017
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- Nebulae
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Based off of P&M's critique of Civil Protection (albeit im nowhere near as great of a writer as they are), I have decided to let out how I feel about HL2RP in a thread like these.
I've decided to make this thread as small as I possibly can in order to structure it to a short, albeit fruitful read instead of a long one. I'm also going to be blunt and brutally honest about everything I'm going to say. Excuse me if I sound too blunt; I don't mean for this thread to come off as a rude jab.
I tried my best, so here it is:
the problem
After speaking with @TedHatty and a few other resistance leaders, we've all came to the conclusion that the problem is not with the rebels, not with the Combine; but with the formula of the server itself. Everything that is structured within the formula makes the server feel, like TedHatty put it simply, 'a milsim/playground for combine'. The server, in its current state, feels like it's been made only for Combine players to enjoy, with the resistance existing for the sole purpose of being an easy OpFor faction.
The Combine faction has a lot of OOC advantages over its adversary; to name a few, vendors with infinite basic supplies and weapons, Airwatch vehicles, whose pilots almost always exploited the 'silent' bug, an encrypted radio frequency; I could write a hundred page book of the OOC advantages the Combine faction has, but I will keep it short and simple as to not overextend the thread.
What demoralized me personally, and in accordance with this map, is that the Combine always get an hour warning beforehand before the rebels are about to raid Agora. On the other hand, when rebels lost Agora, they were given no warnings of any impeding Combine raids. Sure, there may have been a hefty number of rebels within Agora at that time, but most of rebels go to Agora to roleplay and not S2K. We had no defenses, and we were most certainly not ready for an attack, as again, most rebels go to Agora for the sole purpose of roleplaying and trading. The last two raids, combined with the massive flak and shit-flinging I took despite the fact that what happened was out of my control, have taken away all of my energy to play and contribute actively to the server.
There's also the problem of us getting massively exaggerated reports whenever Combine players get into an ill-witted encounter with the rebels. Such things being loudly and shitflinged about on the resistance discord, again, in an exaggerated manner has done nothing but internally enforce the 'COMBINE PSYOPP!!!!' mentality, further increasing OOC strain between rebels and Combine. Saying 'X AND Y AND Z HAPPENED THIS SUCKS!!!', instead of saying the truthful 'X happened. It kinda sucked.' makes it a lot more difficult and annoying to tackle the issue.
(This is something I was told about. I'm not sure how reliable this information is) There is also the issue of any suggestion coming from 'rebel leads' being instantly shut down in the private discord chats. Each side is at the other's throat for suggesting something that is different to the current formula, particularly cell leads who have access to the staff chat, nearly everything that is suggested, particularly by rebel mains, is instantly shutdown by whataboutism from everyone else, which further enforces the mindset of everyone having the second thought of Season 2 being made solely for the Combine to enjoy and no one else. The existence of tunnel-minded leadership, the same leadership that plays only one side and acts all-knowing when it comes to the issues of the other, does nothing but inflate drama and enforce the mindset I've spoken with. The leadership of the server itself has also contributed massively to this matter.
Combine players can pull the 'simply a difference in the skill gap' card, and, I have to wholeheartedly agree, as a rebel main, this is somewhat true. Not only do most rebels lack sportsmanship, but many are engrained with the ego of an insolent, angsty 12 year old when told to do something, whatever it may be. I can recall plenty of incidents when this was the case, but again, for the matter of not overextending this thread and keeping it as short and simple as possible, I'll not mention them. I have voiced my concern about the separate cell system from day one, and said that it would case problems in the long-term. Then again, only so much can be said nor done when you're just one of the many players. This is easy to say when your way to recover from a devastating loss is to press E on a vendor and not wait a couple of days to properly resupply yourself.
I also find it a bit weird how CivPro and OTA have and are able to access the many weapons of the resistance, yet the world goes up in flames when staff know that someone has an AR2/gene-locked weapon. What's going to happen if John Bucharest S2Ks an OTA with an AR2? It is quite literally a canon part of Half Life 2 that the AR2 is in widespread usage. It is understandable that the HL:A weapons are locked away, which is lore-accurate, but why is there talk to restrict the AR2s suddenly when some people in the resistance get access to them?
Yet, at the same time, some in the Combine are allowed free-access to the high-tier Earthly weapons (AKs, G3s etc)? I also find it very fishy how the SPAS-12 was nerfed as soon as it fell into rebel hands in a wider scale. Think about it. My complaint here is not only about the action; but the mindset behind it. It's almost as if server leadership is trying to be as restrictive as possible, while at the same time, making it easy game for the Combine faction, alongside the many advantages they have over the rebels. Like I've said before, we're no longer on CityRP. No one will treat you like Freeman's half-sibling if they know you have more than three guns. Nobody cares anymore about how many or what guns do you have; this is an iteration where conflict is everywhere, and you will inevitably lose the gun you have once you start using it in combat. It is part of the server.
Each side is meant to overcome the other's strength and improve. Not absolutely curbstomp one and write a song and sing and laugh about it. Everything I wrote so far is a good way to fuck up this balance.
---------------------------------------------------
All of the above, combined with the inaction, which frustrates me the most, contribute to my willingness to not spend any of my time on the server. It just seems like the server in its current state, in fact, is just a big playground for Combine players, and specifically OTA. This is the problem. What is the solution?
the solution
There needs to be some serious consideration in reforming the formula of how the rebels, in particular work. Like @OneClassyBanana said a long time ago, the Combine shouldn't be made weaker to be equal to their adversary, but rather the rebels should have an effective counter to everything the Combine has. The world won't fall to hell if, for example, the rebels get a vendor like the Combine. You might say that the current on-server solution for this is 'trade with agora/emergents bro!!!'. I'm sorry to say this, and I'll be brutally honest, but doing both is starting to become next-to-impossible. Because of the last few raids, I've been starting to run out of valuable things to trade, due to the sheer amount of people who died. Trading with the emergents is also no longer a viable option as the NPC tool got removed, making a raid on the antlion caves unfeasible at the current time. Nothing's going to happen if you start putting more powerful basic weaponry in the stock vendor. Just because we have a Skorpion with a 20 bullet magazine capacity in the vendor, doesn't mean it's a valid excuse for Combine to have batteries, USPs and MP5/7s in theirs. You might say we have the weekly supply system for that, but it's surely understandable how grueling it is to sit on 0/0 armor for a week until you're able to request more supplies. Like I've said previously, it's quite unfair how the Combine can easily and almost instantly recover through a vendor from a loss, while most rebels need to wait a day or two to recover from something such as this.
It's also getting massively annoying how we have to switch frequencies every 0.1 second because they can easily be hijacked. All you need is a handheld radio (available on a wide scale to both factions) and zipties to search a rebel, then you have free access. This is stupid, bothersome, and to put it bluntly, unfair. I am forced to play Tetris with the inventory system with the amount of radios I have in my storage, due to how easy it is to get onto the resistance frequency. So many things are made easy game for the Combine regarding this, as they can casually listen to everything we're saying, and this resulted in us sharing important information on Discord VC (which borderlines on metagame). Seriously. Just give us an encrypted TAC of our own already.
Something also needs to be done regarding the current 'cell system'. Many people might not see this, but this is contributing the ego problem I spoke about early on. The rebels, as out and unorganized as they currently are, need a proper structure in order to function the properly. In order to properly lead rebels in their current form, you have to micromanage everything. As simple as it looks, this is quite a stressful and unfruitful process most of the time. The main reason behind this, like I've said, is that rebels currently have no structure besides the cell system. Combine don't have this problem as they exist ICly and OOCly as one entity with a shared structure. I'm not saying rebels should have the same structure as the Combine, but at least something similar to it. Controlling everything the way it currently is is very grueling and not fun.
There needs to be far more activity and elaboration on the objectives of the resistance. Ever since we've map-switched from the Alps, I still don't understand what we're supposed to be doing, only that I understood our contract is to protect Agora when I asked @Appetite Ruining Kebab about it. There is no clear way that this is put, ingame or outside of it. Most rebel mains are clueless on why they're here, only that their contract with Lambda ended.
The gameplay needs to feel more symmetrical. Each side should have an advantage over the other, and have the means to counter said advantage. To put it bluntly in a way everyone can understand: Both sides should be fucking each other up on a daily basis. Not one side should be curbstomped by the other. This is the way to achieve the balance. You lose an engagement, recover, start a new one and win, and the cycle repeats, for both factions. This is the way you're going to achieve the balance. Keeping it on one side is going to destroy that balance. Everything needs its own advantage, and everything needs its own counter-advantage.
@Northgate can confirm this, but a couple of years back, a server known as Half-Life: Warzone existed. To keep things short, it kept gameplay and combat between Rebels and the Combine symmetrical to a T. Both had encrypted frequencies, both had a structure, both had vendors, both could access the same weapons (minus the genelocked HL:A shit), you name it. And, for a time, the gameplay there felt very nice and entertaining, despite very questionable roleplay quality (which was more of a staff and playerbase issue than a formula one). I'm not saying we should do the same and arm everyone and their grandmothers with AKs and M4s. Like I said; advantage, and counter-advantage. It is that simple.
-----------------------------------------
tl;dr:
make it more symmetrical and less combine milsim, conflict on combine is much more fun than conflict on rebels
that is all thank you very much and please don't be offended
I've decided to make this thread as small as I possibly can in order to structure it to a short, albeit fruitful read instead of a long one. I'm also going to be blunt and brutally honest about everything I'm going to say. Excuse me if I sound too blunt; I don't mean for this thread to come off as a rude jab.
I tried my best, so here it is:
the problem
After speaking with @TedHatty and a few other resistance leaders, we've all came to the conclusion that the problem is not with the rebels, not with the Combine; but with the formula of the server itself. Everything that is structured within the formula makes the server feel, like TedHatty put it simply, 'a milsim/playground for combine'. The server, in its current state, feels like it's been made only for Combine players to enjoy, with the resistance existing for the sole purpose of being an easy OpFor faction.
The Combine faction has a lot of OOC advantages over its adversary; to name a few, vendors with infinite basic supplies and weapons, Airwatch vehicles, whose pilots almost always exploited the 'silent' bug, an encrypted radio frequency; I could write a hundred page book of the OOC advantages the Combine faction has, but I will keep it short and simple as to not overextend the thread.
What demoralized me personally, and in accordance with this map, is that the Combine always get an hour warning beforehand before the rebels are about to raid Agora. On the other hand, when rebels lost Agora, they were given no warnings of any impeding Combine raids. Sure, there may have been a hefty number of rebels within Agora at that time, but most of rebels go to Agora to roleplay and not S2K. We had no defenses, and we were most certainly not ready for an attack, as again, most rebels go to Agora for the sole purpose of roleplaying and trading. The last two raids, combined with the massive flak and shit-flinging I took despite the fact that what happened was out of my control, have taken away all of my energy to play and contribute actively to the server.
There's also the problem of us getting massively exaggerated reports whenever Combine players get into an ill-witted encounter with the rebels. Such things being loudly and shitflinged about on the resistance discord, again, in an exaggerated manner has done nothing but internally enforce the 'COMBINE PSYOPP!!!!' mentality, further increasing OOC strain between rebels and Combine. Saying 'X AND Y AND Z HAPPENED THIS SUCKS!!!', instead of saying the truthful 'X happened. It kinda sucked.' makes it a lot more difficult and annoying to tackle the issue.
(This is something I was told about. I'm not sure how reliable this information is) There is also the issue of any suggestion coming from 'rebel leads' being instantly shut down in the private discord chats. Each side is at the other's throat for suggesting something that is different to the current formula, particularly cell leads who have access to the staff chat, nearly everything that is suggested, particularly by rebel mains, is instantly shutdown by whataboutism from everyone else, which further enforces the mindset of everyone having the second thought of Season 2 being made solely for the Combine to enjoy and no one else. The existence of tunnel-minded leadership, the same leadership that plays only one side and acts all-knowing when it comes to the issues of the other, does nothing but inflate drama and enforce the mindset I've spoken with. The leadership of the server itself has also contributed massively to this matter.
Combine players can pull the 'simply a difference in the skill gap' card, and, I have to wholeheartedly agree, as a rebel main, this is somewhat true. Not only do most rebels lack sportsmanship, but many are engrained with the ego of an insolent, angsty 12 year old when told to do something, whatever it may be. I can recall plenty of incidents when this was the case, but again, for the matter of not overextending this thread and keeping it as short and simple as possible, I'll not mention them. I have voiced my concern about the separate cell system from day one, and said that it would case problems in the long-term. Then again, only so much can be said nor done when you're just one of the many players. This is easy to say when your way to recover from a devastating loss is to press E on a vendor and not wait a couple of days to properly resupply yourself.
I also find it a bit weird how CivPro and OTA have and are able to access the many weapons of the resistance, yet the world goes up in flames when staff know that someone has an AR2/gene-locked weapon. What's going to happen if John Bucharest S2Ks an OTA with an AR2? It is quite literally a canon part of Half Life 2 that the AR2 is in widespread usage. It is understandable that the HL:A weapons are locked away, which is lore-accurate, but why is there talk to restrict the AR2s suddenly when some people in the resistance get access to them?
Yet, at the same time, some in the Combine are allowed free-access to the high-tier Earthly weapons (AKs, G3s etc)? I also find it very fishy how the SPAS-12 was nerfed as soon as it fell into rebel hands in a wider scale. Think about it. My complaint here is not only about the action; but the mindset behind it. It's almost as if server leadership is trying to be as restrictive as possible, while at the same time, making it easy game for the Combine faction, alongside the many advantages they have over the rebels. Like I've said before, we're no longer on CityRP. No one will treat you like Freeman's half-sibling if they know you have more than three guns. Nobody cares anymore about how many or what guns do you have; this is an iteration where conflict is everywhere, and you will inevitably lose the gun you have once you start using it in combat. It is part of the server.
Each side is meant to overcome the other's strength and improve. Not absolutely curbstomp one and write a song and sing and laugh about it. Everything I wrote so far is a good way to fuck up this balance.
---------------------------------------------------
All of the above, combined with the inaction, which frustrates me the most, contribute to my willingness to not spend any of my time on the server. It just seems like the server in its current state, in fact, is just a big playground for Combine players, and specifically OTA. This is the problem. What is the solution?
the solution
There needs to be some serious consideration in reforming the formula of how the rebels, in particular work. Like @OneClassyBanana said a long time ago, the Combine shouldn't be made weaker to be equal to their adversary, but rather the rebels should have an effective counter to everything the Combine has. The world won't fall to hell if, for example, the rebels get a vendor like the Combine. You might say that the current on-server solution for this is 'trade with agora/emergents bro!!!'. I'm sorry to say this, and I'll be brutally honest, but doing both is starting to become next-to-impossible. Because of the last few raids, I've been starting to run out of valuable things to trade, due to the sheer amount of people who died. Trading with the emergents is also no longer a viable option as the NPC tool got removed, making a raid on the antlion caves unfeasible at the current time. Nothing's going to happen if you start putting more powerful basic weaponry in the stock vendor. Just because we have a Skorpion with a 20 bullet magazine capacity in the vendor, doesn't mean it's a valid excuse for Combine to have batteries, USPs and MP5/7s in theirs. You might say we have the weekly supply system for that, but it's surely understandable how grueling it is to sit on 0/0 armor for a week until you're able to request more supplies. Like I've said previously, it's quite unfair how the Combine can easily and almost instantly recover through a vendor from a loss, while most rebels need to wait a day or two to recover from something such as this.
It's also getting massively annoying how we have to switch frequencies every 0.1 second because they can easily be hijacked. All you need is a handheld radio (available on a wide scale to both factions) and zipties to search a rebel, then you have free access. This is stupid, bothersome, and to put it bluntly, unfair. I am forced to play Tetris with the inventory system with the amount of radios I have in my storage, due to how easy it is to get onto the resistance frequency. So many things are made easy game for the Combine regarding this, as they can casually listen to everything we're saying, and this resulted in us sharing important information on Discord VC (which borderlines on metagame). Seriously. Just give us an encrypted TAC of our own already.
Something also needs to be done regarding the current 'cell system'. Many people might not see this, but this is contributing the ego problem I spoke about early on. The rebels, as out and unorganized as they currently are, need a proper structure in order to function the properly. In order to properly lead rebels in their current form, you have to micromanage everything. As simple as it looks, this is quite a stressful and unfruitful process most of the time. The main reason behind this, like I've said, is that rebels currently have no structure besides the cell system. Combine don't have this problem as they exist ICly and OOCly as one entity with a shared structure. I'm not saying rebels should have the same structure as the Combine, but at least something similar to it. Controlling everything the way it currently is is very grueling and not fun.
There needs to be far more activity and elaboration on the objectives of the resistance. Ever since we've map-switched from the Alps, I still don't understand what we're supposed to be doing, only that I understood our contract is to protect Agora when I asked @Appetite Ruining Kebab about it. There is no clear way that this is put, ingame or outside of it. Most rebel mains are clueless on why they're here, only that their contract with Lambda ended.
The gameplay needs to feel more symmetrical. Each side should have an advantage over the other, and have the means to counter said advantage. To put it bluntly in a way everyone can understand: Both sides should be fucking each other up on a daily basis. Not one side should be curbstomped by the other. This is the way to achieve the balance. You lose an engagement, recover, start a new one and win, and the cycle repeats, for both factions. This is the way you're going to achieve the balance. Keeping it on one side is going to destroy that balance. Everything needs its own advantage, and everything needs its own counter-advantage.
@Northgate can confirm this, but a couple of years back, a server known as Half-Life: Warzone existed. To keep things short, it kept gameplay and combat between Rebels and the Combine symmetrical to a T. Both had encrypted frequencies, both had a structure, both had vendors, both could access the same weapons (minus the genelocked HL:A shit), you name it. And, for a time, the gameplay there felt very nice and entertaining, despite very questionable roleplay quality (which was more of a staff and playerbase issue than a formula one). I'm not saying we should do the same and arm everyone and their grandmothers with AKs and M4s. Like I said; advantage, and counter-advantage. It is that simple.
-----------------------------------------
tl;dr:
make it more symmetrical and less combine milsim, conflict on combine is much more fun than conflict on rebels
that is all thank you very much and please don't be offended
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