What to do............

[Johnny Mullet]

This is not another "FF is dead" thread. This is a serious discussion on the game of TF and what it's all about! I have gone through the "growing pains" of many mods and know what I am talking about especially when it comes to Fortress games.

Let me say that I have went through playing many mods for many types of FPS games and in my experience, mods are a wonderful thing especially when there is a team behind the game willing to do what is necessary to make it live! We must all understand though that mods are never as populated as "Store bought" or "big name" games. Since I have gotten into PC gaming 6 years ago, these are all the mods I have played for FPS games...................

Quake 3 Arena
Excessive
Q3F1
Q3F2
Urban Terror
Weapons Factory

BF 1942
BF Pirates
Desert Combat
Forgotten Hope
DCX
BF Interstate 1982

BFVietnam
POE (PointofExistance)
BF Red Alert
HomeFront

Wolfenstein Enemy Territory
Enemy Territory Fortress

Every one of these mods never got a player-base like the original! I am going to take a prime example of a Fortress mod that was great and also free but reminds me of what's going on with Fortress Forever...................

ETF (Enemy Territory Fortress) was released on Jan 15th 2005. When the main sites (ETFGame.com and PlanetETF.com) opened in 2004, the forums were simply overwhelmed with TF players looking for something different. Sorta reminds me of this place

As soon as ETF was released, the game was downloaded thousands of times and played! There were over 1000 servers. The game was a direct port of Quake 3 Fortress and this alone lost half the players. After a few patches, the game eventually died off to a few hardcore gamers that still play on pickup matches and a few pubs even to this day.

This is what I see for the outcome of Fortress Forever. I hate to say it, but it is true. There is really no problem with Fortress Forever in my opinion. The GFX, gameplay, balance, and physics are all in place and if FF was released as a store bought game, it would be a real hit! This mod is awesome, but needs advertisement and that is what it all comes down to.......................

Advertisement

If you love Fortress Forever and what this dedicated team has done for us, then do something about it! I spent a freaking year and a half advertising ETF all by myself and still managed to keep a few pubs active on a daily basis. Imagine if 6-10 of us do the same. Maybe even more! I really want some dedication here! If you don't know how to advertise, then I will help...................

Most gamers who visit forums like this also visit other related gaming forums. Place a link in your signature to this site or a youtube vid of Fortress Forever. If you are a regular member, people will click your sig link! If you are allowed images in your sig, please use one of the great banners made from dedicated members with a link to this site from HERE and people will visit! If you have friends who play TF2 or any other FPS game............TELL THEM ABOUT FORTRESS FOREVER!

Don't go to forums to simply spam the game! This will get you nowhere! Just be natural and the clicks will come in after time.

To the Dev Team...........
I am working with a dedicated community to setup a Fortress Forever server with a "player stats" system to help promote the game. Players love personal stats and this will help boost the community since it seems to be working with the TF2 community so far. Railbait.com has 5 TF2 servers with recorded stats and so far this has been a tremendous boost on server traffic.

So like the title of this thread states.......... (What to do)

Well, now you know! Get to work! The only person doing his part so far is me and Dr. Satan so what the hell are you waiting for?

[Desyphur]

I've been recruiting guys on my steams list. They join up, and they've been playing alot.

[Private_Joker]

I just posted this in another thread, but I think it bears repetition:

Originally Posted by Private_Joker

One of the best ways to keep people in this game is to let them feel included. Especially with team games like Fortress, knowing the people you play with makes a huge improvement in your game experience.

Encourage everybody to make friends and keep them. That will create an awesome cohesive community first of all, a friendlier competitive gaming atmosphere second, and finally all of that will encourage new players to stay.

If you make friends in pub servers, add them to your Steam Friends list.

-Joker

[barronofhellion]

i have actually started to goto random tfc servers and post every few seconds try the tfc like mod for hl2 http://www.fortress-forever.com/
i never get a responce but at least im doing my part

[rannibunny]

It's so weird: I told every single one of my friends who knew TFC/TF1.5 and own HL2 to get off their asses and download FF (one actually did and keeps playing battlefield) I borrowed an old clanmate of mine my steam account (don't tell valve, their EULA probably says by now, that they now rightfully own my potential descendants or something...), so he can see the "new TFC" (he came, saw, liked, and went back to studying... lazy bum ^^)
I don't understand it, this is DA GAME! If you want insane action, TF is the place to go and I feel that FF is the best TF out there right now (I even had a clanwar by now, saw the Def Pyro and burned (he usually got me to level 1 or 2, that really hurts ^^) but there's nothing wrong with them!)

argh, I don't understand it, why won't you guys take up the weapons of your forefathers and GET THAT FLAG like you're supposed to?

[Norris]

sshhh forefathers wisper that we need to get the intelligence now!

[Dr.Uudge]

also, i think the max player needs to increase; i've been reading through several steam threads, namely tf2 - 50+ pages worth, in which valve had prevented 32 players from showing up, but as soon as the tweak/hack/plugin was out to increase it back to 32, they all became full again

i think psychologically, people tend to like big groups as a socializing environment, including fps games; there's a certain amount of players that everyone considers as "time to join number" which they feel comfortable joining; from the tf2 forums, it seems like it's above 20 for most, so that each side has at least 10; perhaps some optimization can be looked into so that max player amount can be raised to about 24~26? around perhaps FF 1.6/1.7 version? and later, perhaps even upto 32 like around FF 2.2/2.3?

[SoBe Green]

I'd focus on telling people to go to a certain server if you actually want to help. If there were more full or semi full servers not ran outside the US I'm pretty sure more people might be willing to stick around. People want to play this game but don't have anyone to play it with.

The TF2 numbers are dieing down too. Seems everyone is migrating back to CS and CS: Source.

In a month or so I think we'll be able to see the direction of this game. I'm not saying it might die in half a month. Just saying we'll see where the major "push" is at. This is holiday season for all of us great Americans and a lot of people are going to have more free time to play games. If the numbers go up we can safely say FF will be fine if it can hold out until May. If they don't well...yea I don't have to say it.

[Private_Joker]

Originally Posted by SoBe Green

The TF2 numbers are dieing down too. Seems everyone is migrating back to CS and CS: Source.

Really? Can't say I expected that...where do you see those numbers?

-Joker

[Dr.Satan]

What we really need is for clans to start up...there needs to be the competitive side to the game, b/c imo that is what brings the people!

I know that 4est is working over at UGC to get something set up and now that the 1.11 fatty is out (perfect) then I think more leagues will jump on.

On that note if any of you have access to the STA forums then sign in and start harrassing the admins to get a league going...they will eventually (I don't have access to the STA forums and can't register for some reason or I would)

Also use IRC everyone in the TF world has it...so start talking to people on IRC about FF and link to the web-site. Again harrass league admins on IRC to get motivated as well!

[Private_Joker]

Originally Posted by Dr.Satan

What we really need is for clans to start up...there needs to be the competitive side to the game, b/c imo that is what brings the people!

Totally agreed. The only thing to avoid is the arrogant clanner mentality we're all so sick of--OvO is ok in pub servers...Medic can play D if they want,
and pub nubs can still have fun as long as they're not jerks.
Other than that, clans can effectively constitute Fortress just as teams constitute any athletic league sport.

-Joker

[SoBe Green]

Originally Posted by Private_Joker

Really? Can't say I expected that...where do you see those numbers?

-Joker

From Steam. A patch with new content will cause TF2 to go back up in numbers. TF2 isn't "fading out" its just around Condition Zero numbers right now where it'll probably sit for quite awhile unless Valve releases some new content. I wasn't saying TF2 will die and FF will live if anyone felt thats what I meant.

What I mean is around the holidays people will have free time to sit around and play games. If FF gets a boost in player count around this time then its a good chance that in spring and summer we'll see a surge.

People are getting bored of TF anything again and moving back to Counter-Strike or Counter-Strike: Source. Both this game and TF2 need more content released soon or TF will once again fade away.

Or thats how I see it. TF2 will be picked up by some leagues and new seasons should start soon that will also help. FF shouldn't be too many patches away from being able to be played in a league so for those worrying I'm saying wait until January before picking out a tombstone.

[zSilver_Fox]

New content ya say?

Coming in FF v6.66:

http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/8600/penis1uj4.jpg

[Private_Joker]

Originally Posted by SoBe Green

I wasn't saying TF2 will die and FF will live if anyone felt thats what I meant.

Oh no way, TF2 will never die, at least because it was advertized so well. I just wondered whether this decrease in numbers was due to the "short attention span" of people which we kept discussing here after the FF-->TF2 exodus in October.

-Joker

[KubeDawg]

Not to dis this thread, but I never enjoyed Quake all that much. I think that if FF ever died, I would continue playing TFC/CS 1.6/TF2, and that'd be all. There's a reason why one plays only a few games for a long time. The games that are good will keep me playing em, despite tons of newer versions/games being released.

I also despise any war-themed game such as battlefield... Just too realistic, give me Commandos 2, and I'll be in heaven.

[SoBe Green]

Originally Posted by Private_Joker

Oh no way, TF2 will never die, at least because it was advertized so well. I just wondered whether this decrease in numbers was due to the "short attention span" of people which we kept discussing here after the FF-->TF2 exodus in October.

-Joker

Well that group of people has an effect on every game. Its worse in the console world than it is PC though. Most of the local game stores took down their signs for "Wanted: Used Copies of Halo 3" after just two weeks of the game being out due to so many people bring it back to trade it in for something new.

FF just doesn't have a lot of things in the game that "hook" people. I think the largest "hook" of TF2 is stats and achievements. It was announced long long ago (two years) that FF would eventually get stats but I figure that idea has been scrapped for awhile now.

I think the biggest problem with FF is the players. Every server I go in has at least two people arguing over who has the best country or why TF2 "sucks" so much. Speak one word of enjoying both games or TF2 and expect someone to start preaching the FF gospel at you. Its damn annoying. Nothing worse than a 14 year old kid crying about TF2. This message board is just about as bad sometimes. If everyone would quit crying about TF2 and just be nice to each other more people might actually want to post here or play the game.

[Johnny Mullet]

There is nothing wrong with Fortress Forever. Maybe the HW_Guy needs fixed to the pervious state and the minor other bugs fixed, but in all reality, FF is the best mod for HL2 ever.

It all depends on dedication and getting the word out! There are a lot of people who have no idea that this mod exists! Every QWTF, TFC, Q3F, ETF, and TF2 player should know that there is more "Fortress Games" out there to play and only a dedicated DEV team can make it the best!

[SoBe Green]

You must be lost. 1.11 fixed the HW. Do you even play FF?

[Dr.Uudge]

Originally Posted by Private_Joker

Oh no way, TF2 will never die, at least because it was advertized so well. I just wondered whether this decrease in numbers was due to the "short attention span" of people which we kept discussing here after the FF-->TF2 exodus in October.

-Joker

I think it's from bordem; you can only play so much, then realize there's a ceiling

http://www.game-monitor.com/search.php?game=tf2

if you go all the way down and clikc on the link to show the graph under "Search Result History:" you can see that the number of servers has steadily rised, but the players steadily decreased; people would rather run servers than actually play the game...

[Skillet]

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