The wonderful yet frustrating world of PR

[[RGG]Firefokker]

I was wondering if anyone else is having the same, slightly schizophrenic experience with PR as I seem to have:

One one side, PR is the desktop solider's dream come true. I don't know how long I have been looking for this type of game where realism and proper teamwork are the key; with some hefty disappointments on the way (ARMA ACE, for example. Theroretically a great game, but the engine is such a pile of **** it almost had me axe-murder my PC on several occasions).

The potential for a realistic warefare experience is awesome, especially in combination with Mumble. I used to thoroughly enjoy Airsofting when still living back in the UK (at Fireball near Birmingham, if you ask), so proper squadplay is where I get my kicks.

Thing is, playing PR is a bit like a lottery: You can be lucky to find a squad with a good SL and like-minded fellows, and it is great fun even if your squad has to operate in isolation. If the squads manage to co-ordinate properly, and armour, infantry and air assets combine to give the other team a pasting, it is online gaming at its best.

But for the moment at least these 'happy sessions' seem to be pretty rare, much to my eternal frustration. Most of the good servers like UK Warefare, Tactics & Teamwork, or the 10th Community are perpetually full at the times when I get some time to play, others don't use Mumble or the teamplay experience is entirely random.

Finding a clan of like-minded fellows isn't easy either for the casual gamer like me; reading the requirements for tournament entries, for example, is outright scary! I like a good game, but won't really quit my job and divorce my wife to make the time for months of training and dress rehearsal for a major tournament game.

So, I suppose my question is if anyone else shares my frustration with PR, would be nice to know I'm not alone...Any offers for clan membership to get reserved server slots would also be greatly appreciated

Cheers all, let the bitching an moaning begin...

[CAS_117]

Why I play PR? Consider the results of my first real-life Airsoft outing:
-> Slipped disc from poncing around all daywith G36/grenade launcher strapped to chest
-> Bruised nose from diving to the ground while aiming low, with nose meeting rifle stock
-> Carbon monoxide poisoning from getting fogged by own smoke grande
Virtual warfare is far less painful I find...

You are really uncoordinated...

Edit: I agree with everything you said pretty much.

[$pyker]

I agree and im sure many others do about the part of finding a good squad is hard. There's not really anything you can do about it unfortunately.

[Cheditor]

I completley agree with you, i actually gave up pubbing on my own for about 3 weeks at one point due to a string of horrible team mates. But gave it a go and found some CATA guys which had a fun game with. they left then a few rounds later and had an amazing game with two UKWF guys and 3 other squad members. It can be a completley random event of if you have a good game. Personally try to find a server that has good admins, nice player groups and then try to get to know them. You will find you are then with the people you know are good at team work etc.

[[RGG]Firefokker]

You are really uncoordinated...

Yeah, that's pretty much the lesson I took away from that as well...

I got better though, on the second outing all I did wrong was shooting a teammate point blank in the arse 'cos his ID armband had dropped off....so I hold myself blameless for that.

[Sinn_Ah_Taggh]

I agree with most of what you wrote.
Thing about PR is that it is a doubble edged sword,on one side its the most faboluse teamwork oriented game ever,but on the other side its a game of random players that either gives you grief or teamwork.

I simply love it when my squad gets teamwork oriented playres and we kick *** or an hour or two.
Thats when the game exels and shows its true potential and delivers intense firefights,CAS and the occational JDAM

But when all you are left with are egosentric,simpleminded shitkids thats when the famouse shit hits the fan.

But still i play,for hours and hours just to get that once-every-5 or 6-round-teamplay action
The thing i love the most about PR is that you seemingly never finnish your training.
There are allways something new to learn or discover and makes for endless versatilety on a mod that is,despite beeing made out of such a limited and outdated engine,the most fantastic thing since the internet

[Cheditor]

I got better though, on the second outing all I did wrong was shooting a teammate point blank in the arse 'cos his ID armband had dropped off....so I hold myself blameless for that.

Yeah its annoying when you shoot friendlys purely because they walked in to your fire or there was no one to blame and they decide to have a moan. Worst players are the dead players who are walking casually holding their AEG, talking (not supposed to when your dead) and not actually having their hand up when theres a fire fight around em.

[spawncaptain]

But for the moment at least these 'happy sessions' seem to be pretty rare, much to my eternal frustration. Most of the good servers like UK Warefare, Tactics & Teamplay, or the 10th Community are perpetually full at the times when I get some time to play, others don't use Mumble or the teamplay experience is entirely random.

I learned that playing on any other server is only frustrating and time wasting. It's better to wait for 10 minutes, just clicking on the server and hoping that the 64/64 changes to 63/64. It's way better than playing with tards that are not using their mics and are running into machine gun fire with their snip0r k1tz, yelling at you for not reviving them. And you can listen to the relaxing menu music while doing that.

[TheLean]

Finding a clan of like-minded fellows isn't easy either for the casual gamer like me; reading the requirements for tournament entries, for example, is outright scary! I like a good game, but won't really quit my job and divorce my wife to make the time for months of training and dress rehearsal for a major tournament game.

Yeah, this pisses me off too. I would gladly join a clan if they realized Regular Life always comes first and PR second. No, I cant come to chopper extraction training today because i have work to do, should not be an issue. However, I do think it is pretty easy to get a good pub game on, you just have to know your servers and remember which players plays serious and who doesnt.

[AnRK]

I was wondering if anyone else is having the same, slightly schizophrenic experience with PR as I seem to have:

Split personality disorder isn't anything to do with schizophrenia contrary to popular belief

[Pure_beef]

Welcome to the internet. I agree with you!

[Masterbake]

While some clans and the tournament might expect plenty of hours input from you there are plenty of casual clans that just want members for occasionaly public play and chatting over TS etc.

Although you won't get the same teamplay and results as from more dedicated gamers, you'll have fun with like-minded people. Check out the clans forum on here if you're looking for one.

[[RGG]Firefokker]

Split personality disorder isn't anything to do with schizophrenia contrary to popular belief

Ah, I see. Me, myself and I were debating the issue, but did not manage to reach a mutually agreeable conclusion....

[ganja420]

Split personality disorder isn't anything to do with schizophrenia contrary to popular belief

actually, we all got split personality, or else we wouldnt be talking and discussing with our self
on topic though. everyones whining about this, but i really cant say ive seen any higher numbers of randoms then before. there will always be new players, great thing is that they either get better or stop playing. so just have patience, like Cain said here i think. the new players are the backbone of this community, and will eventually blossom to fine gents like the rest of us i was a total noob when i first started too, Tk ing and stuff because i had no clue what i was doing. but thanks to some fine gents from t&t among others i quickly learnd my way around.

[Outlawz7]

Meh it's the PR curve, the start of releases is always 'whats this for' and 'how do I do/get this' and the end is lots of spam, silliness and frustration. And somewhere in those two are the peaks where everything is as it should be.

[Kruder]

the requirements for tournament entries, for example, is outright scary!

Being a tournament participant for almost 18 months,you are wrong about the requirements.

1)All u need is a mic.
2)and accomplishing boot camp training(which lasts only about 1 hour)


after these two done,you guarantee your place in a battle as a reservist at least.Which means,people who attend to squad practices(again once a week ,0.5h-1.5h) gets priority compared to the ones who didnt, that is IF there are more players signed up than available slots for the squad,which happens less then half of the time...

Again,its not mandatoryto join the battles themselves,you just post that you cant make it to battle etc. All is fine...

But then again,you can only have 2 matches in 4 weeks at max,and sometimes -although very organized-,some matches could be boring.For example people had to sit in an AA for an hour,or drive a truck and deliver supplies to people who need it for whole match etc.

Another option is joining a clan's Teamspeak serveror mumble server,and befriending with ppl,this way you could have gamemates and you could comm. with them by exchanging your stuff...

[Gand877]

Being completley new to PR (it's been about a week now since I started) I can see exactly what your saying. Although i've found that the majority of the time i've usually found some great squads and SL, although there were a couple which were plain terrible. T&T and UK Warfare seem to be the servers to go to for a good pub match and i've already had more fun with this mod than any other online Shooter i've ever played.

Plus even though i'm a complete noob when it comes to this game i've not had one complaint from any SL or other players, so as a new player i can't say i've been shunned or alienated. I think this due to sticking to these few select servers and I completley agree with spawncaptain in regards to this.

[Orthas]

I completely agree with what people have said, not all squads are equal. Also Kruder is exactly right that tournament only pretty much requires you to have mic (and I refuse to play with people without mics in pubs also) and being able to commit some time to it in practices.

I play quite much in public servers but seldom with random people. And no, I'm not member of any clan. I just tend to know quite a few people with whom to play with and keep in contact with them via Xfire etc. When you do find good players, the most important thing is to get to play with them again. Usually I've found that when I'm leading, the other half of the squad doesn't matter so much if there's 2 teamwork oriented trusty guys.

And if any of the new or older guys need a (supposedly) proper squad to play with, feel free to be in touch.

[[RGG]Firefokker]

Being a tournament participant for almost 18 months,you are wrong about the requirements.

1)All u need is a mic.
2)and accomplishing boot camp training(which lasts only about 1 hour)

Glad to hear it! I was just digging around in some of the propaganda threads for previous tournaments, I suppose they exaggerate somewhat with the level of commitment required and all that. From what you say one doesn't have to be Delta-trained to qualify after all, which sounds promising. Wouldn't even mind being given 'menial' tasks like truck driving or manning AAA, even being a small cog in a well oiled war machine should be fun.

I guess the message to take from all of your contributions is to keep at it, get to know people and try to team up with them as regularly as possible. Tools like Teamspeak, Mumble and X-Fire obviously help a lot, but if I run all three simultaneously Punkbuster gives me the finger more often than not.

Playing with real-life mates is obviously extremely helpful as you all know each other from the start, unfortunately I accidentally got my old Airsoft gang (who would be exceptionally qualified for this) into EVE a few years ago and now they spend their evenings mining rocks and talking about PvP in 0.0 space...good game and all, but a life-sucking monster if you are not careful.

Ah and before I forget:

i was a total noob when i first started too, Tk ing and stuff because i had no clue what i was doing

I'll have you know that I have been playing BF mods since the good old Desert Combat days, and roughly know which way round to hold the mouse most of the time . And I only TK in realy life, see previous posting above...

Anyway, thanks for all the comments, hopefully see you in-game soon.

>FF

[Durandal]

They key is to get your real life friends to play. Can be tough, but work on em for long enough and they'll cave in.