Where's the ffa these days?

[Mazzi_Elixar]

Ok....Jedi Knight 1 and 2 use to be my favorite games. I could always find a server where it was a total ffa and chaos and it was great. I love fighting multiple players at the same time...it's such a rush. But now here comes Jedi Academy....when the game first came out I could go find a ffa server and actually have a ffa match. There were occasional duels wich were cool, but most of the action was everyone-verses-everyone and it was beautiful.

I took a break from the game and played some other games. After a couple months I decided to start playing Jedi Academy Multiplayer ffa again. After trying to find a server all day that actually has "free for all" and comming up short, I decided to post this forum asking.........

 

IS THERE ANY SERVERS IN THE WORLD THAT HAVE TRUE FFA'S ANYMORE?

 

Every ffa server that I go to everyone is either dueling or farting around. Whats up with that? Don't tell me everyone actually gets enjoyment by comming in to a Jedi Acadamy server and doing nothing but jump off the walls and stand in one place. And when i see somone with their saber out and they act like they want to fight, and I fight them, it is considered laming? LOL...Last time i played this game laming was hitting people with their saber down...not actually playing the game the way its supposed to be played.

I mean come on....there are "duel" servers for people that want to do nothing other than have one-on-one fights. But Noooooo......half the people that want to do nothing but duel come to a ffa server and ruin the beautiful thing that was once "everbody verses everybody". The other half of the ffa server population is people that just want to fart around and chat. This awsome game is all of a sudden the most boring multiplayer game I have because nobody likes fighting multiple enemies anymore.

Anyone play a ffa match in old school Unreal Tournement? Or Quake? Or Doom? Remember that feeling of everyone is a target, and you are targeted by everyone? That rush that you have 3 or more players shooting you at the same time and somehow you manage to kill them all? Did you ever stop, take a bow, and challenge just one player to a one-on-one fight? No!..You didn't! Cause everyone is trying to get kills as fast as freakin possable so they can win the map! Jedi Acadamy "WAS" like those games except you get to kill with a lightsaber. It was great!

Now I have problems just finding somone willing to ....you know...actually play the game....and fight me. I'm running around a map for 5 min....then I finally find a group of players....and they are all standing in a group doing nothing. WTF!? And when I actually find somone that wants to fight it always has to be a 1-on-1 duel. So then I have to wait tell they finish their dule with who freakin ever. Free For All People! That means every one verses everyone in complete heart rushing chaos. Duel Server: That means a server for people that just want one-on-one fights.......sheesh.

If I ever get enough money to make my own Jedi Academy FFA server, I am taking the right to DULE off....I like the occasional dule every once in a while....but dule abuse leaves me no choice. But lol...with my luck with the players these days....they would come in the server just to jump up and down and chat since they couldnt dule.

So is there any true ffa servers out there anymore? Otherwise the only way I can play the type of game I want to play is to play the bots. And thats pretty flippin sad people.

[TK-8252]

This has been discussed many times... all have ended in a lock. We don't need another one of these threads.

[Amidala from Chop Shop]

Cut him some slack, it's his first post and he is sincerely asking a question. Some of us know exactly how he feels.

 

The answer to your question is yes, there are still some "genuine" Free For All servers around, but they are the minority. Most servers running the FFA game in Jedi Knight games are actually "FFA dueling" servers, often with a lot of chatting and role-playing (not real RPG in the true sense, more like kids playing make-believe) going on. They are just as you described, and yes, it makes Jedi Knight games totally eccentric oddballs compared to virtually every other FPS action game.

 

That's why most of the old-school true-blue FFA players have left in disgust for real FFA games like UT2k4 demo, Call of Duty, Halo, etc. (in fact, almost any other FPS game you could name), leaving the dueling\role-playing\chit-chatting types (many of whom are too cheap to pay for Star Wars Galaxies) to loiter on "FFA" servers in JK2\JA.

 

Once you find a real FFA server, add it to your Favorites and avoid the pseudo-FFA servers. How do you spot the fake-FFA servers so you can avoid them? One way is to avoid servers that have Force powers disabled (has a tic-tac-toe with a red slashed-circle-over-it symbol after the server name) AND are saber-only (looks like a crossed-swords symbol). Those are almost always fake-FFA servers, especially if they have "admins" that are bossing everyone around like hall monitors for breaking one of the many many rules on those servers, and "sleeping" those who aren't paying attention to them.

 

You don't list where you are located, but there are "genuine" FFA servers both in North America and Europe. If you still can't find any, send me a private message and I'll give you some names\IP addresses.

 

Another idea is to start playing Capture the Flag (CTF), which is pretty much free of the dueling\role-playing\chit-chatting\"I hate lamers" whining types. They whine about other things (uneven\unfair teams, pull-whoring, rocket-spamming, incompetence, etc.).

[Druid_Allanon]

You can try Chop Shop. Great place that is.

[TK-8252]

Ah, my new favorite Chop Shop server: ASTEROIDS!

[kolusiem]

hey Mazzi_Elixar! i know how you feel, find a JKA Siege server with 10+ players in if you want some good fraging, i love siege and everyone plays, people hardly ever chat, everyone gets on the with game and its alot of fun and no-one stands around and chats

[Crow_Nest]

*Sigh*

 

Well you know since JA came out, all the rules went upside down. People laming, more whining because of the laming/spamming, ignore your warnings and stuff.

 

Not like the JO days anymore.

[Radd]

My major complaint is people limiting the force powers you can choose from, horribly unbalancing the game in the process, or going saber only or guns only. It's difficult to find a server where it' free to use guns or sabers, and all the force powers the game comes with.

[Kurgan]

I agree, people jack up the settings, removing force powers at random, and messing with the force regen time, THEN they have the gall to complain that the game is "unbalanced."

 

Or they use (abuse) admin mods causing people to call the game, making people hate it even more and driving them away.

 

Of course JK2 and JA both have admin mods and in JK2 it's arguably worse...

 

 

Whenever I host FFA it is ALWAYS true FFA. I have never hosted (yet) a force power disabled FFA.

 

I figure there's enough of those out there that people don't need one more force disabled saber only server.

 

Mine is strictly "no rules" (except I don't care for killtrackers!).

 

I too when I'm looking for a public game (rarely these days since it's so hard to find a good one that isn't top-heavy with rules) I avoid sabers only and force disabled right off the bat. If I see any hint of an admin mod being run I also avoid those (chances are it will only take 30 seconds for the admin to start sleep/slaying me continously for "laming" somebody).

 

Spread the word! Get those no rules servers up!

[Druid_Allanon]

Unfortunately, Kurgan, your server's always too laggy for me. I can't enjoy myself there.

[Crow_Nest]

Originally posted by Druid Allanon

Unfortunately, Kurgan, your server's always too laggy for me. I can't enjoy myself there.

 

FFA in his server seems fine for me, its only siege that is very laggy.

[Kurgan]

Sorry to hear that.

 

I don't always host Siege though, you should check it out later today and I should be hosting FFA (grab the bonus pack if you haven't already as I may be hosting that too!).

 

 

The whole "whiner" issue thing won't go away if you go back to JK2 though. Both games are plagued with the whiner mentality. If you do something the admin doesn't like, he uses his admin mod to torment you. If the other players don't like what you do, they vote kick you or whine to the admin. It never fails, spoil sports are in both communities and (most sadly of all) many of them run servers. This is why no-rules servers are needed more than ever.

[Darth Kaan]

I have often wondered why more people that like FFA don't give Team deathmatch a shot. Our clan server runs SO Team deathmatch 24/7 and it's an all kills are legal, no whining server. We run Xmod and the server stays full.

 

Honor whiners rarely join but when they do, they never last/stay long as the regulars police them up quickly. For people wanting to play, It's a much better atmosphere than FFA.

 

Oh well, to each their own!

[Prime]

Try the Chop Shop servers. That is where I spend most of my JA MP time. Some good fights there...

[Kurgan]

Yeah, it's sadly neglected gametype.

 

You have Duel, Duels in FFA, and... ummm... uh... admin mods?

 

 

Just goes to show the imagination and variety of some admins.

; p

[Cosmos Jack]

This subject is going to go on forever and the game isn't getting any better in MP. "Kurgan" why don't you make a permanent :STUCK: thread that tells all about this problem. So people will stop making new threads for the same old thing.

[Kurgan]

Yeah but then nobody will read it. ; p

 

If I had a dime for every topic posted that needed a sticky I'd be a millionaire... but there's only so much room up there before folks start complaining because other topics get pushed to page 2 and you have to scroll to see non-stickies!

 

 

PS: My server is up right now with Team FFA rotating (and the JA Bonus Pack so grab that). See IP in sig below... !

[Darth Kaan]

Originally posted by Prime

Try the Chop Shop servers. That is where I spend most of my JA MP time. Some good fights there...

 

I have tried it and it's fun no doubt. Personally though, I can't get into a game all the time where saber damage scale is set to 5 and where the force regentime is so fast people never run out of force pool.

 

Nothing wrong with that, I just don't get into it a lot. Those that do have a lot of fun to be sure. :-)

[Amidala from Chop Shop]

Originally posted by <-KRT->Dhart

I have tried it and it's fun no doubt. Personally though, I can't get into a game all the time where saber damage scale is set to 5 and where the force regentime is so fast people never run out of force pool.

 

Nothing wrong with that, I just don't get into it a lot. Those that do have a lot of fun to be sure. :-)

You are the only the second person to complain that the Force regeneration is too fast. The other is probably the best all-time Chop Shop FFA player (JK2 and JA), so....

 

How about this: I changed the FFA settings to the same as the CTF server. Saber damage is 4x (I really think the single-saber needs it to balance the other saber types, and for sabers to balance against the range and power of gunners) and Force regeneration is 2x normal. Dismemberment changed to 50% probability.

 

People who have played on my server should try it and let me know what you think.

[Kurgan]

I haven't been to your server for awhile Amidala, so I can't say... whatever works for you works.

 

But I do recall that 5x saber damage seemed excessive (maybe with force regen so high it balances out better)?

 

The key is that with 2x the saber seems about balanced with guns. With 5x, the saber seems more powerful. It shifts the balance a little too far in the sabers only direction.

 

And with the number of 1 hit kill moves increasing drastically each time (especially in Duel where you don't have shield pickups), isn't 5x simply overkill? Eventually you get to the point where any swing becomes a one hit kill, regardless of where it hits a person. I suppose that's sort of realistic (not like the movies of course, where people have survived glancing blows and hand dismemberments), but c'mon... it's too much.

 

If you want to encourage people to use only sabers, that'd be a good way to do it, using 4x and up (+fast force regen).

 

But then the thing is the community has so many "saber purists" out there that already play this way, this just encourages more people to play without guns and take up sabering.

 

Me, I prefer to use all the weapons, so 2x damage is just right, great for fast duels, great for sabers vs. guns, etc. 3x is pushing it, but that's probably as high as I'd ever go.

 

That's my opinion. With ForceRegentime I use 200, the default. I prefer to force (pun intended) people to manage their resources instead of simply spamming one move over and over (and then whining how the game is nothing but spamming). It also makes Force Boons actually worth something strategically, rather than just pretty graphics.

 

If a person were to choose some number BETWEEN 0 and 200 for the "ideal fun setting" I don't know what it would be. Maybe 150 is good, I dunno. I know 200 works and I know that 0 doesn't work (the only time I change it to zero is if I want to test something and want to just save time).

 

One place I really think messing with forceregen (also disabling certain weapons or powers) is unwise is in Siege, where certain classes have faster force regen than others, for the sake of balance. I admit I use 2x saber damage in Siege, but again, since it's not a duel and it's guns vs. sabers and the Jedi are so weak, it seems applicable. 2x damage works everywhere pretty darn well.

[RpTheHotrod]

Problem with increased saber damage...the duals sabers become extremely overpowered.

 

Highest defense (which makes NO sense...you would have more defense having a 2 hand grip with a single, than a 1 hand grip on two seperate sapers...less strength in the arm...simple truth is, it would be harder to defend with 2 sabers than 1 saber)

 

and since it's two sabers...and they swing wildly, all you gotta do is button mash and run through crowds and you get all the kills. Takes no aim at all, and one lil touch will 1 hit kill.

[Kurgan]

Not necessarily, "one lil touch" will only do 1 hp damage (if idle damage is on).

 

They have to swing and hit flesh to do damage that's what we're talking about.

 

A duel will just be shorter with saberdamagescale yes, but 2x duels are actually quite fun.

 

Or do you enjoy waiting in line for long periods of time while two people hack away at each other with Nerf Bats while they heal over and over?

 

High saber damage prevents people from Drain/Heal spamming all day long and making the duel take forever.

 

Though yeah I probably wouldn't go higher than 2x for Duels unless there's a super long line (which I have seen before).

 

 

The whole idea of increasing the damage is that instead of having a couple of 1 hit kill moves (which will never get any stronger) you can have more one hit kill moves, to mix it up. That way you don't have people spamming the same moves over and over, which everybody complains about.

 

Now if you jack up forceregen you're just going to have more spamming. At least if most moves are one hit kills you can still have some variety.

[keshire]

I'd like to see an admin mod be bold and disable FFA dueling. Dueling should go in dueling mode You don't see people FFAing in Duel mode.

 

Also, I'm liking the way Movie battles and OJP are taking the whole damage thing. Ways are being put into avoid the damage so that all damage can be cranked up to lethal levels.

 

I think all the guns need to be lethal too. One or two hit kills. Rocket launcher should have the explosion be bigger and I'd just pull the normal blaster out unless its on par with the others.

 

The reason the two new styles get those instant kills is the fact that half the time the sabers are being swung at head height. Its an animation problem not a damage one. The only way to solve that is either take out the location damage or go through and do specific damage per saber move.

[Amidala from Chop Shop]

Originally posted by keshire

I'd like to see an admin mod be bold and disable FFA dueling. Dueling should go in dueling mode You don't see people FFAing in Duel mode.

g_privateDuel "0" disables duel challenging during FFA. That's the way it is on my FFA server (even though many people don't like it, too bad). I used to have an automated server message that said "Dueling is for duel servers, this is FFA". Two people dueling is two less people participating in the FFA. It's distracting to people trying to play FFA (I assume that's the game they came to my server to play). Yes, I am a FFA purist: full weapons, full Force, all kills are legal, no dueling, no whining.

 

Originally posted by keshire

I think all the guns need to be lethal too. One or two hit kills. Rocket launcher should have the explosion be bigger and I'd just pull the normal blaster out unless its on par with the others.

xMod2.6 allows control of gun damage. When the next version (with certain bugs fixed) comes out, I will make the bowcaster a 1-hit killer like it is in single-player, and increase the damage of the E-11 (blaster), flechette primary fire, and DEMP.

 

Originally posted by keshire

The reason the two new styles get those instant kills is the fact that half the time the sabers are being swung at head height. Its an animation problem not a damage one. The only way to solve that is either take out the location damage or go through and do specific damage per saber move.

g_locationBasedDamage "0" turns off location-based damage. JA Plus Mod 1.8 allows control of damage for each saber move. My FFA server currently has it. I increased the single-saber damage and decreased the staff and dual saber damages. It also allows a choice of single-player-style damage or multiplayer-style damage.

[Master William]

I dunno man, I am so tired of JA, I almost hate it now... it sucks so damn hard now, I have been playing way better Star Wars games like KOTOR and SWG, and JA feels like a piece of crap now... All I know is that the same kind of persons make their huge posts in threads like these, so blah blah blah as usual...