Anti-Warp Rule

[Azov]

Earlier this week there arose a debate on whether the use of anti-warp in spawn is prohibited in Trench Wars. There was significant confusion on this point, and we as staff did not do a good job of being clear on what exactly our position was on the matter. What was promised, however, was that in the coming days we would finalize our position and inform the Trench Wars community what exactly the policy would be. That policy is that anti-warp is LEGAL to be used in public, anywhere, at any time, and no player will be punished or banned for using it. However, we will restrict the ability to purchase anti-warp in safe zones only, in ships that can be equipped with it.

Historically Trench Wars had a rule prohibiting anti-warp that dates back many years ago, but it was subsequently rescinded. Staff had flirted with the idea of using bots to prohibit anti-warp in spawn areas in the last few years as a way to avoid any sort of ban or punishment; this was tested but ultimately discontinued. Afterward, some members of staff were not clear as to what the state of the rule on anti-warp was, thus confusion ensued, as was shown by the recent discussion on this topic. There have also been concerns expressed by members of the community that have wanted to see some restrictions placed on anti-warp in general. We are hopeful that by making anti-warp available for purchase only in safe zones, we can reach some of those concerns in a fair manner.

As of today, however, everyone should be on the same page; anti-warp is legal to use anywhere in public, in ships that can be equipped with it, once purchased in a safe zone. No player will be punished for using anti-warp in any way, nor will any player be banned for using anti-warp. Future considerations may require us to revisit this issue and assess whether what we're doing is working or not; if that were to happen, we will make it a community involved discussion. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, sound off below or contact the Head of the Bans Department, Left_Eye, or the Head of Public, Zreqdf.

[Fork]

Earlier this week there arose a debate on whether the use of anti-warp in spawn is prohibited in Trench Wars. There was significant confusion on this point, and we as staff did not do a good job of being clear on what exactly our position was on the matter. What was promised, however, was that in the coming days we would finalize our position and inform the Trench Wars community what exactly the policy would be. That policy is that anti-warp is LEGAL to be used in public, anywhere, at any time, and no player will be punished or banned for using it. However, we will restrict the ability to purchase anti-warp in safe zones only, in ships that can be equipped with it.

Historically Trench Wars had a rule prohibiting anti-warp that dates back many years ago, but it was subsequently rescinded. Staff had flirted with the idea of using bots to prohibit anti-warp in spawn areas in the last few years as a way to avoid any sort of ban or punishment; this was tested but ultimately discontinued. Afterward, some members of staff were not clear as to what the state of the rule on anti-warp was, thus confusion ensued, as was shown by the recent discussion on this topic. There have also been concerns expressed by members of the community that have wanted to see some restrictions placed on anti-warp in general. We are hopeful that by making anti-warp available for purchase only in safe zones, we can reach some of those concerns in a fair manner.

As of today, however, everyone should be on the same page; anti-warp is legal to use anywhere in public, in ships that can be equipped with it, once purchased in a safe zone. No player will be punished for using anti-warp in any way, nor will any player be banned for using anti-warp. Future considerations may require us to revisit this issue and assess whether what we're doing is working or not; if that were to happen, we will make it a community involved discussion. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, sound off below or contact the Head of the Bans Department, Left_Eye, or the Head of Public, Zreqdf.

Damn gj i read forums, i'll stop anti-warping now :P.

on a srs note... Keep letting me know whats going on/ what updates have happened just incase i decide to play this game again. Azov doing a great job :P

[Azov]

Thanks, Fork!

[Pardon_You]

Thanks for the clarity

[Ephemeral]

Why announce half-baked/implemented things as opposed to actually working out all the new rules? Seriously? You are going to allow a new position and/or forum pressure as an excuse to roll out even more premature ‘rules’? Christ, more ‘let’s keep tweaking small shit and hope we get it right’ instead of doing it right. For years I resisted the idea that everyone who makes TW staff was brain dead but this pretty much confirms it; apparently once someone is given “power” they simply start doing whatever idea(s) they can just for the sake of change. A endless, visionless, series of change based upon whatever the current person(s) in power things should be done as opposed to setting a vision which is good for player retention.</SPAN>

We make these ‘problems’ in Pub. First, we allow private frequent LTs to ruin competitive basing games so the ‘smart’ solution is someone thinking, “hey, I though how we can fix this, allow people to ?buy AW”. Or, “hey, let’s autowarp everyone into FR at beginning of each game” which then lead to some stupid rule about only warping sharks into safes but leaving LTs to rain bombs down on weakened FR start.</SPAN>
Half-assed solutions based upon someone’s idea to ‘fix’ shit that was not well thought through to begin with.</SPAN>

And all indications are that this has not changed. This has not been about ‘communications’ nor is it a ‘communications’ problem. (Although communications have certainly needed improvement.) It is about a lack of a common vision that is good for retaining players. It is about the horrendous myopic ‘small tweaks’ that have been forced upon Pub over the years that simply keep making it more difficult to retain players. </SPAN>

We can change personal. We can change maps. We can change ships. We can change settings. Apparently we are all too stupid to see that after 20 years this doesn’t work. What is so fucking hard about this? Pub is not supposed to be everything to everyone. Vets bored with Pub? Then go do something else. But to keep trying to force ‘fun’ into Pub is the wrong thing to do. The context of Pub should always be as an introduction to TW, not a ‘own-fest’ for ‘vets’ to make themselves feel like they are great players. And until we get some leadership who understands this simple, basic premise nothing else matters.</SPAN>
Eph</SPAN>

[Pressure]

There should be no anti-warp in TW pub, period. Why make a rule when you don't understand the dynamics of the game or how it is being affected by your implementation? I am one of the few who can easily at the snap of my fingers provoke a relatively engaging pub basing match. At this stage of the game, this is an invaluable source of gameplay especially if you want pubbers to be having fun. If I ever happen to start a game up, but become anti'd, I always will spec and cause players to lose interest.

What exactly is the rational for KEEPING anti-warp? Because by entitling other players their freedoms, you're taking away mine as a terr.

Think about what adding anti-warp to TWBD would do. This is the same idea, because basing is the heart of pub.

[Turban]

i agree to some extent with both of you, and think it would be better for the future of public, and the zone, if we were to focus on the basing aspects of the zone while making it as pure and simple as possible. it is not my call, and to be honest i believe a large(r) majority of players prefer the free style of public and all its features.

[Ephemeral]

Can anyone answer these questions about Pub?</SPAN>

1. Is there any way possible to make Pub level playing field for both new and experienced players?</SPAN>
2. If so, how?</SPAN>
3. If Pub reverts to a more basic, simple arena what do the more experienced players do go? Events? ?go base?, leagues? elim? Pub2? What needs to be done with other venues to retain experienced players?</SPAN>

So instead of trying to “fix” Pub with hundreds of forced changed into a captive audience why not find leadership who can at least TRY to answer the above questions. These questions are the root of the problem; making more ship/settings changes is not. </SPAN>

Alternatively, then give up on retaining new players. You simply cannot retain many new players and Steam, sex, or free money still isn’t going to increase TW population over the long-term if we do not address this core underlying shortcoming. </SPAN>

If there were ways to give new players (without abuse) MORE strength and power in Pub the situation would improve. It would make Pub challenging to experienced players. Something where a new players (under 10 hours play time) take twice as much damage to kill or something like that.</SPAN>
Eph</SPAN>

[kthx]

So what.. he can learn how to take twice the damage and be terrible after 10 hours and quit then? Maybe we shouldn't expect our new players to be giant pussies who quit the second that they die. Maybe lets give some people the benefit of the doubt and not try coddling them to death trying to make them stay. Yeah we are desperate as fuck for players but if we act like we are its just going to turn people off from the game. Heres an idea... go back to our roots and let people fucking learn how to play the game like everyone else here did without quitting.

[kthx]

Seriously sometimes I feel like its that pixar movie Cars here.

Some shitty town (Continuum) is old and they built a freeway past our town (newer games with better graphics) and occasionally people get lost and come play our game (new players) and staff is so fucking excited that people are in our town that we freak them the fuck out by pushing our welcome into their faces WOW YOU HAVE TO TRY THIS NEW PUB THING, PLEASE GET BACK TO ME IF YOU HAVE A QUESTION, DO YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS YET??? I mean we have a bot and a chat specifically designed to talk new people into buying a game like were trying to sell them an annuity. Anyways after awhile Lightning McQueen (Myself probably) just goes and fixes a few roads and replaces all the old lightbulbs and the town is classy as fuck again and now people come in to the town because they realize how fucking cool it is because of how old it is and how cool the population is.

[Pardon_You]

Was antiwarp drain changed, it seems bad.

Is there a spechunting rule?

[Azov]

Going to respond to a couple of questions real quick:

Can anyone answer these questions about Pub?

Is there any way possible to make Pub level playing field for both new and experienced players?
If so, how?
If Pub reverts to a more basic, simple arena what do the more experienced players do go? Events? ?go base?, leagues? elim? Pub2? What needs to be done with other venues to retain experienced players?

I really don't think there is a one size, fits all answer. Any variations we try with Pub to head toward that goal is almost always going to be met with at least one group of people who are unhappy with the changes. I think finding a medium that's satisfactory to a great majority of players will be what works. So to that end, it circles back to how to make public more of an "even" playing field. I don't know. What's even? How do we define what that would be? I think that's almost too nebulous of a question to practically answer; so perhaps the best place to start is somewhere else.

Was antiwarp drain changed, it seems bad.

Is there a spechunting rule?

Anti-Warp does not drain your energy if you have it on; however, anti-warp will significantly slow down your recharge rate if its on, but this has been true about anti-warp for quite some time now. Yes, spectator hunting and using multiple clients in the game is prohibited and can be found in the A1 square under Rule #8.

[Fork]

Ask people in pub what they don't like about the most\ what improvements they want to see\ have a poll about removing spacebux and gather a ton of information before working on what the majority don't like about pub. I know many people would like the old Lev back so simple allow this and make flag room stronger so its much harder for lev's to own the flagroom? Adding an extra wall or so around flagroom takes literally a minute to do but evaluate if people liked this change or if they didn't like the change- why and what would make them like the change.

It should be about making the majority of people happy, not just pleasing one person and pissing off everyone else. You will never know what effects ideas will have unless you just implement it and evaluate the effects... Obviously the ideas gotta be a smart one with reason behind it and addresses issues people have with pub.

For me pub has always been boring, no incentive to play, no incentive to earn spacebux... I wish I was addictive to pub believe me but noones going be impressed with me winning x3 games in a row... Shitty\ predictable rewards rewards are given after round has ended. The only time I did enjoy pub was with team speak activated and showing off in front of them guys. If twd squads were involved in pub- this would tempt me because at least there would be incentive for me to play and impress my squad instead of impressing no one (noones gonna care ATM if you do well).

I know pub is about freedom of playing basing\ messing around but I see 0 competition in pub. Some people don't like competition but I can assure you a majority do. Twd works very well and without twd this game would have had this population 10 yrs ago. Compare pub and twd... My incentive to play twd is to show off in front of my squad buddies\ do well in my squad and cause shock wins vs very good squads. That incentive caused me to become hooked to twd. Pub... Well other than becoming the richest player, there's no real purpose to really trying hard to win games. It really doesn't help I can earn money ×10 faster from dueling than playing pub- I mean that kills the only reason for trying pub basing. Perhaps if I did like squad basing then its great practise for twd basing.

I'm sure the lvl of competition could be much much increased to make it more fun. New players will definitely wanna be involved with competition once they figure out how to control their ship from completing a tutorial.

[Crescent Seal]

any pubbers even use the forums? i agree with fork. let the pubbers decide through a poll/vote. the majority of these guys dont even twd/elim/wbduel so make the changes that they want and not what a few people on forums who rarely play want. set up an in game poll and do one on the forums too and have it linked when people log on. no point investing resources and time into something that the majority don't want.

[Crescent Seal]

1. Is there any way possible to make Pub level playing field for both new and experienced players?

If there were ways to give new players (without abuse) MORE strength and power in Pub the situation would improve. It would make Pub challenging to experienced players. Something where a new players (under 10 hours play time) take twice as much damage to kill or something like that.
Eph

?? that idea is terrible. the only reason i stuck around on this game after starting in 2008 was because it was challenging and hostile. the constant shit talking and tough yet manageable learning curve motivated me to invest more time in getting better and merking the shit talking ******s. if you remove tw's true atmosphere then you lose the part of this game that has made it survive all of these years.