Serious A HL2RP² Critique: Why I no longer enjoy it as a rebel main

[Sneedsformerlychucks]

Can someone summarise the lore of the server in its current state? Genuinely curious and interested in seeing what’s wrong with the server

Combine are curb stomping the rebels.

Rebels don't want to unify.

Combine have gear restrictions. OTA Still *Usually* clap rebels.

Rebels complain, A thread happens population dies. An event happens people come back.

Gear/Infantry wise the rebels have the better kit now-adays. But the combine's use of combined arms tactics usually shit on the rebels. An AK isn't going to stop an armoured airborne death machine that was evented for the sole purpose of destroying/combating tanks.


Anyway the rebels use the same zerg tactics repeatedly get spanked hard and then whine.

 

[Powley]

there's nothing wrong at all.
we're just moving through different states and periods.

imma hit you with the mf find out ic, for your own fun

I mean from what I’ve read so far why would it attract players to play in downtime from what I’m reading?

Combine are curb stomping the rebels.

Rebels don't want to unify.

Combine have gear restrictions. OTA Still *Usually* clap rebels.
Rebels complain, A thread happens population dies. An event happens people come back.

So it’s suffering from ww3 syndrome in a sense of events play and population slowly dies down. Is there like an overarching story worth following and investing in or

 

[Sneedsformerlychucks]

I mean from what I’ve read so far why would it attract players to play in downtime from what I’m reading?



So it’s suffering from ww3 syndrome in a sense of events play and population slowly dies down. Is there like an overarching story worth following and investing in or

There kind of? is an overarching story but it seems atleast from a non-combine POV that the staff/server is gearing towards more story/events aimed at the Combine players with rebels majority being left out / behind. For example there's been numerous off server events for the combine and maybe 1 sign up off map event for rebels *dunno if it effected us directly*

@Appetite Ruining Kebab is basically the messiah/saviour of the rebels oocly aka he's the one who for the most part gives the rebels most of their stuff. *Romanian guys this map deserve credit too ofc* Can't express enough gratitude to him for his dedication to those of us who aren't combine mains.


TL:DR the story goes basically as such. City 17 is gone. City 24 fell recently. City 45 fell, City 2 is believed to be gone *Unconfirmed* after a brief stint in the swiss alps which resulted in a combine victory as most of the maps have with the exception of C24, Prison, And a few I can't speak for asheville, But yeah you get the picture.

 

[Powley]

There kind of? is an overarching story but it seems atleast from a non-combine POV that the staff/server is gearing towards more story/events aimed at the Combine players with rebels majority being left out / behind. For example there's been numerous off server events for the combine and maybe 1 sign up off map event for rebels *dunno if it effected us directly*

@Appetite Ruining Kebab is basically the messiah/saviour of the rebels oocly aka he's the one who for the most part gives the rebels most of their stuff. *Romanian guys this map deserve credit too ofc* Can't express enough gratitude to him for his dedication to those of us who aren't combine mains.


TL:DR the story goes basically as such. City 17 is gone. City 24 fell recently. City 45 fell, City 2 is believed to be gone *Unconfirmed* after a brief stint in the swiss alps which resulted in a combine victory as most of the maps have with the exception of C24, Prison, And a few I can't speak for asheville, But yeah you get the picture.

I mean, if half the player base truly feels like their storyline is neglected then they won’t play, that’s if the rebels make up half the player base.

While events are great players should also try to make their own little events in charavter, although that’s not an excuse to neglect half the player base

 

[Sneedsformerlychucks]

I mean, if half the player base truly feels like their storyline is neglected then they won’t play, that’s if the rebels make up half the player base.

While events are great players should also try to make their own little events in charavter, although that’s not an excuse to neglect half the player base

There's alot of smaller things going on that people aren't happy with but I don't want to go into it too much for fear of being jumped on.

 

[Subeh]

Rebels don't want to unify.

 

[Powley]

There's alot of smaller things going on that people aren't happy with but I don't want to go into it too much for fear of being jumped on.

Just go into it, if they jump on you I will assemble circlejerks to jump on them

 

[Subeh]

I will assemble circlejerks to jump on them

 

[Powley]

I leak your Instagram to several parties

 

[Numbers]

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'.

just want to say that this bad "server formula" is the one style of HL2RP that has produced continuous engagement for up to seven months now

previous formulas had you waiting easily around four months or more before you got to do anything, within a limit and a trillion auth restriction layers

now we restrict these very few items:

-bio locked guns to help retain the combine aesthetic to combine only, encourages them to use their pulse guns more

-no 150 armor harry fantasies, literally only requested for ego

- infinite vendor on the combine side which is subject to discussion since limiting them makes the faction easier to reward and limits s2kpatrols

despite everything else being restricted only by your imagination, and it seems to be the only thing rebels can fixate on - literally every fucking day it's:

"why are these guns locked!"
"can I have 150 suit with alaric model?"
-i neglect to mention the vendors here because you already know my stance on them above

these are the most prevalent queries I get nearly every day, grossly outnumbering whatever else people ask for, and I guess denying these is evidence of a combine biased staff team

just earlier I authorized @FreeSpy a concept for taking down airborne combine targets with some effort and buildup for the rebel side (it was creative and imaginative) but i dont see this being mentioned anywhere in the original post - maybe because it hasn't been executed yet, but I imagine he spoke to some relevant rebel party when he brought the idea up

instead of the formula, this original post is the culmination of what's actually wrong with this iteration - the collective who can't stop pointing fingers at other people whenever their paranoia tells them they're being "worked against" - i literally just had to remove a staff member for this exact mentality, a "combine main" staff member who was using a helicopter to nuke rebels in this "combine biased staff team"

the irony of my own post here is, I can't actually accuse people for fingerpointing.. without pointing some fingers myself, but it has to be said:

i think the players need to calm the fuck down with their myriad demands of events, gear changes, devving, because the staff team is a skeleton crew that can only deliver these demands at a calmed pace without getting hit by consequences like these essay threads that fearmonger over the server population, which in turn make the staff team do something hastily and lead to another problem


what's especially ironic is that I've seen some event team members complaining about a lack of rebel events, demanding some be made, and using THAT as an arguing point for server stagnation or perhaps combine bias in staff, biggest fucking oxymoron I've seen considering you have the power to make your envisioned solution happen

 

[Deleted member 4609]

I think I am about done with HL2RP. The mere thought of joining the server is repulsive to me at this moment. There are the people that are trying different initiatives in order to try to make the experience a tad better on the server and then you have the moaners that keep cycling to the same boring and exhausting drama. Making accusatory remarks and other crap.

I have been making an emphasis on focusing on the roleplay aspect of the server this season, and as much as people would likely to believe this map has been about roleplay, the majority of it has been about Shoot to kill. Actually, I think that is what the past couple maps have been about now that I think of it. Raid that. Kill them. Buff us. Infinite that. That is not to discredit those that have made an effort to setup something up on the server, such as the Fisherman fishing the fish, Rogue Cop Tavern and the Merchant Stalls.

At this rate just rename the gamemode to HL2FPS. It has been made evident on the forum, private messages, and various discords that people are here to shoot other players and hold little interest in roleplay in its self.

this was my sentiment for bailing out too, and I don't blame you if that's how you feel whatsoever, I thoroughly enjoyed playing and I think we completely fucking nailed the right formula on the 2nd and 3rd maps after some teething issues in terms of the RP/combat balance, but a good few people drove the nail in deeper and deeper that I think the mindset was/still is too far gone to change anymore

 

[Alexander The Great]

I mean from what I’ve read so far why would it attract players to play in downtime from what I’m reading?

In the beginning, i stayed away from the forum 100% of the time, and relied only on gameplay ingame
there were always periods and different states the server went through with many changes,
BUT it does not mean what is written in the forum will be your experience.
the words in the forum, is 99% exaggerated final mood, that came to be after a person has squeezed out every drop of his hype for hl2rp, and it became natural and stale to him, like the current room at home you probably are sitted at rn.
(the positive in that, is that we can expand, suggest, and improve. The negative, is that we share a final mood, if negatively, is very powerfully critical.)

Ingame, I often experience the exact opposite of what blabbers around, cuz its very dynamic and not black n white as written here.
it's just that certain discomforts in the end, which you still see the ''current game affairs'' spoken of here, do appear, but it isnt as brutal as written here
but still doesn't mean you cant enjoy lavishly what exists now.

hl2rp is EONS better than what it used to be in the past, it's p much peak hl2rp era rn

it's not that total garbage dumb that some words around may describe it, we're humans, we make changes, and react to them.
in the end, its still a server / gamemode where everything lives from players, you enjoy it to the best, and when you get tired of eating the same food, you take a break frmo it. then come back when you feel like eating some more.




try it, i gurantee you'll enjoy it.
there are still about 50 players daily at peaktimes.
just when you go playing, enter wtih a positive assumption, cuz we often stumble upon what we expect, and blind to what we do not expect.

 

[Blitz0012]

Can someone summarise the lore of the server in its current state? Genuinely curious and interested in seeing what’s wrong with the server

The lore isn't the problem at all. It's quite good, it's more-so the maps that tend to cause trouble if not something to do with the player base.

We've been cycling through different maps with different premises. Here:
1. Asheville - No idea about this one, joined after it.
2. Metro - Big tunnel network under destroyed City 17. Decent for RP but S2K was varied, certainly an interesting environment for HL2RP. Not sure how Combine felt.
3. City 24 (Geneva) - Rebels besieged the City, at first was a middle ground between City RP and Rebels, though most citizens either stopped RPing or joined Rebels at some point. Eventually devolved into purely S2K between the sides but the ending event was a banger. I think @Provingmedusa might have a good clip from that. C24 was certainly interesting but the S2K was a tad drawn out at the end. I think the best part was the brief ceasefire in which Combine and Rebels could have occasional chatter and the occasional breaches of that were interesting. Map was alright in some areas but it just came down to S2King over chokepoints half the time. Bridge was cool.
4. Boreas (Alps) - Map was cool looking, had a rally race. Alright for S2K in some areas but overall the situation was a bit rubbish. Combine sitting at the bottom of the valley was a major issue, they could only get to their base by walking past the Rebel one so they eventually just stopped going outside as they'd always get S2Ked or ambushed. In the few bunker raids on the Rebels, they usually got smashed because the bunker was all chokepoints and could be instantly won with a smoke grenade at times - Bunker was usually too big for the amount of rebels to defend properly (especially since half of 'em flagged off), so bunker fights ended in about 20 minutes and weren't all too interesting for both sides, though I heard the OTA had a decent time.
5. Ineu Valley (Romania) - We're currently working for the Reorganised Romanian Free State to capture the town of Agora (which is currently trying to be neutral). Combat tends to be good, wide open terrain is nice for ambushes though potentially too good for snipers (other than a couple over issues that admins fixed). S2K only really tends to get boring when we're fighting over the factory because it's just chokepoint sim again and no one wants to be the guy to run in first to instantly die. Agora neutrality has certainly been nice RP, it's had conflict and been tense at times but also gave a lot of room for merchants to do stuff - also brought back the occasional Rebel and Combine chatter.

As Alexander said, things are pretty close to peak hl2rp.

Might not be 100% accurate here, I'm only one dude and got a meagre one perspective. I'm sure others can add on.

 

['77 East]

We've been cycling through different maps with different premises. Here:
1. Asheville - No idea about this one, joined after it.

You missed:

(1) Depot
(2) Apoc

 

[Komchan]

The lore isn't the problem at all. It's quite good, it's more-so the maps that tend to cause trouble if not something to do with the player base.

We've been cycling through different maps with different premises. Here:
1. Asheville - No idea about this one, joined after it.
2. Metro - Big tunnel network under destroyed City 17. Decent for RP but S2K was varied, certainly an interesting environment for HL2RP. Not sure how Combine felt.
3. City 24 (Geneva) - Rebels besieged the City, at first was a middle ground between City RP and Rebels, though most citizens either stopped RPing or joined Rebels at some point. Eventually devolved into purely S2K between the sides but the ending event was a banger. I think @Provingmedusa might have a good clip from that. C24 was certainly interesting but the S2K was a tad drawn out at the end. I think the best part was the brief ceasefire in which Combine and Rebels could have occasional chatter and the occasional breaches of that were interesting. Map was alright in some areas but it just came down to S2King over chokepoints half the time. Bridge was cool.
4. Boreas (Alps) - Map was cool looking, had a rally race. Alright for S2K in some areas but overall the situation was a bit rubbish. Combine sitting at the bottom of the valley was a major issue, they could only get to their base by walking past the Rebel one so they eventually just stopped going outside as they'd always get S2Ked or ambushed. In the few bunker raids on the Rebels, they usually got smashed because the bunker was all chokepoints and could be instantly won with a smoke grenade at times - Bunker was usually too big for the amount of rebels to defend properly (especially since half of 'em flagged off), so bunker fights ended in about 20 minutes and weren't all too interesting for both sides, though I heard the OTA had a decent time.
5. Ineu Valley (Romania) - We're currently working for the Reorganised Romanian Free State to capture the town of Agora (which is currently trying to be neutral). Combat tends to be good, wide open terrain is nice for ambushes though potentially too good for snipers (other than a couple over issues that admins fixed). S2K only really tends to get boring when we're fighting over the factory because it's just chokepoint sim again and no one wants to be the guy to run in first to instantly die. Agora neutrality has certainly been nice RP, it's had conflict and been tense at times but also gave a lot of room for merchants to do stuff - also brought back the occasional Rebel and Combine chatter.

As Alexander said, things are pretty close to peak hl2rp.

Might not be 100% accurate here, I'm only one dude and got a meagre one perspective. I'm sure others can add on.

I'd say something I can guarantee:

If this iteration had been done in the past, before the Gmod/Hl2rp general decline, you'd be guaranteed to be max pop 24/7 from multiple timezones.

 

[Sneedsformerlychucks]

Don't get me wrong, Having independent/third party groups is fine and can be great for RP, But as I've harped on time after time we're fairly along into the Uprising at this point and still little to no effort towards an alliance or unity has been done because some people prefer "The drama" which Is fine at the end of the day rp is rp, I guess I'm just a little disappointed as it seems every option these days as far as hl2rp goes the rebels are just disorganized cells even when the opportunity to be a united front arises people always choose to be dis-unified tribes.

It would be nice however to get a little more RP as opposed to S2K But personally I feel like that genie has been released from the bottle as early as metro I can remember being a fresh spawned character I went out of the station on my way to rebel station with just the clothes on my back and a water in my inventory I got stopped by two guys one had a gun and they tried to "Rob" me, And I was fine with that given it was RP, Only thing is when we started talking/negotiating a CP ran in and blasted everyone in the room killing us all in milliseconds. City 24 seemed like it was just S2K. Brief breather. S2K. OSC Yamming propaganda, OTA Raid. and as dreadful as it was on Apocalypse (We often complain about the combine being OP on current map) But back there the rebels were fairly organized atleast in my POV we still though the combine were beating our asses 9/10 you would go into battle against cops with MP7s and get stomped to death this matched with the grimdark feel of the map made for a really powerful setting while the current map has had really interesting things such as the Emergents, the Bucharest state and the agorans It just feels like things have taken a more S2K turn and yeah S2K can be fun here and there but I almost loathe it being the norm that it is.

(Please pardon my rambling sorry.)

 

['77 East]

still little to no effort towards an alliance or unity has been done because some people prefer "The drama"

actually the first real effort towards one stalled because it consisted of @Subeh showing up thinking that they could pull everyone together after being on-and-off the server for a while, then stopped showing up after people went "no we don't want a merger with you leading everything"

these were multiple groups of people who disagreed with it, mind you.

would they still want one? perhaps, in the end it comes down to leadership and that's why harry and @Powley managed it back in the day - because practically everyone trusted them in some form, they made good decisions because their second-in-commands questioned people, they took genuine input and had been around from day one.

subeh showing up trying to drag everyone together felt a bit too much like twar doing the same on the original c24 map in clockwork, except that was through a BMD monopoly and stalled, and became an ammunition embargo out of spite. here, it was one person trying to usurp dozens of different groups that were far older than his character & couldn't come to a consensus about how things were being handled.

 

[Tinbe]

Is there like an overarching story worth following and investing in or

Here are the main story beats I've come across all the maps:

1. Depot was set in dried Azov sea. It involved freeing the prisoners as to avoid the lot of them from being stalkerized, and dealing with a massive Combine structure built on top of a lighthouse. It got to do its thing, but vort players teleported inside the base of the lighthouse to dismantle the Combine thing afterwards.

2. Apocalypse was set in the outskirts of Odessa. It involved a bunch of smaller and larger Combine structures, most of which rebels failed to sabotage to the point one massive spire. Until the very end, where an old Strider was made to go buckwild so rebels could evacuate. There was also a secondary plot involving a Gonarch - with vortigaunts failing to negotiate due to Combine intervention, and Combine failing to kill it due to the intervention of a strange Manta intervening. Vortigaunts later put the pieces together and told rebels there is a Controller in a misty city.

3. Asheville was set around Odessa. It involved aforementioned misty city with streets abandoned to localized, but considerable Xenian growths. Both sides ended up making contact with the Controller underneath the city - host to large swathes of Xenians enslaved to the Controller's will. Eventually it drove out the rebels and Combine to lay claim to Odessa, while the people it harried off were sent back to where it all began.

4. Metro wss set in the ruins of City 17. The surface oftentimes had roaming Gargantuas and radiation storms that made it difficult to stay topside for prolonged periods of time. The underground involved a strong zombie infestation unlocked by the vortigaunts' efforts, as well as whispers of the death due to some spooky shadow thing's presence. A search party full of vorts and humans alike looked at the site of infestation, but former got gradually worn down by some kind of psychic dampening effect. Combined with the many injuries sustained by said search party, they cut their losses and pulled out - slaying a headcrab-possessed headcrab vortigaunt in the process. Ultimately it was the Combine whose massive raiding party captured the culprit after considerable casualties. They had captured the Kingpin alien.

5. City 24 was set in Geneva. A little more straightforward, the place was put under siege by Lambda. Bunch of smaller - but important nonetheless - objectives were completed, and a fuckton of fighting eventually resulted in rebels taking over the Palace of Nations. To everyone's dismay, however, the Citadel in the mountains opened a portal. Brief as it was, it provided reinforcements. This was preceded by an even greater shock. As if a ghost back to haunt everyone, Breen's voice sounded throughout Geneva (cloned with Elevenlabs AI, if I recall correctly).

6. Boreas was set in the Alps. A research station manned by a skeleton crew of Lambda scientists bolstered by the rebel players coming to aid them in their projects. The ultimate plan involved teleporting the Citadel out of Earth. The first attempt failed, as the Citadel wound up returning across the mountainrange. Severed of its many power cables, but still ultimately intact. The second attempt led to the Citadel being teleported to Earth's orbit, though I can't recall if it was due to unexpected error or willingful sabotage.

7. Ineu is set in the outskirts of recently-liberated Bucharest. The main concerns of this setpiece involve two factions; merchant town of Agora, and tech-obsessed Emergents. Time will tell what larger motions will happen here.

Mind you, these are mostly from rebel/vort perspective, as Combine's had a bunch of their own things going on in each map, and I only had a fraction of those experiences under my belt.

 

[constantdisplay]

i like s2k but i am here for rp and events and lore which is why i just want s2k to be balanced enough that it doesnt have to be a constant topic of discussion and override everything else. hopefully stuff like the sniper changes help w this, and the rebel contracts def look like they will help with rp on the rebel side

 

['77 East]

Until the very end, where an old Strider was made to go buckwild so rebels could evacuate.

The original intention was to wake up a bunch of synths (including the Strider) to demolish the tower but as a result of eventrunner/server lead confusion they both happened, the spire was destroyed after it had already been used to relay the message and in the meantime everyone else evacuated.