Calling it Quits

[ArtifeX]

I've put up a post on my site that marks the end of my JK2 gaming. Give it a read and let me know what you guys think:

 

http://www.oculis.org/asc/guides/retirement.html

 

I won't repeat anything it says here, but the skinny of it is that I don't think this game's current incarnation is worth my time anymore.

[zenroth]

Sorry to see you go, never really knew you to well, but you seemed like a good enough of a person. I do agree with what you said on your site though which is one of the other reasons I remain in 1.02.

[Kerbit]

I was really looking forward to that combo guide, too...

 

Thanks for all the help you've given us all, ArtifeX. Shame to see you go.

[tempest8008]

Sorry to see you go, you Georgian phreak...

 

Maybe when you're out in the backwoods chopping up some lumber so you can put your '82 Camaro up on blocks you'll think of us.

 

I still pray for a new patch too.

 

www@ravensoft.com

 

That's the email address for Raven, for anyone who wants to write to them re. the game.

[fitzwilliamd]

ArtifeX,

 

I thank you for your valuable contributions to the JK community. Your creative and insightful analysis of game elements was second to none. What a great loss.

[ArtifeX]

The combo guide would have been useless upon its completion anyway, as the normal lightsaber swings aren't effective whether they're chained together or not. Just learn the Saber Throw/Pull/Kick and Pull/Backstab combos and you'll win 95% of your matches.

[Xzzy]

you tried NF fighting?

 

You seem like a bells and whistles kinda guy so simple saber swinging may not appeal to you but I find myself looking for NF servers more and more, and having more fun at it.

 

About the only complaint I have about NF is people who spam kicks, but find decent players (decent as in their entire fight isn't a script) and I can have a lot of fun trying to exploit breaks in an opponent's defenses.

 

Blue stance is oddly popular on NF servers too, someday I shall have the capacity to spank a blue with red.

[Bluezman]

Sorry to see you leave ArtifeX. I was also looking forward to the Combo Guide.

 

I do understand your reasons, though. I just know that I would have a long way to go until I would be anywhere near you. So still if I would master the mentioned (cheap?) moves, I'd still need some training to really master them.

 

I find myself more and more in NF Servers. Despite the seemingly bigger variety in FF servers (whoa, all those force powers!) it comes down to very few variations in tactics. On NF servers it is somewhat better, unless you have kick spammers, which is mostly less common than pull/backstab spammers in FF.

 

However, I'll keep checking your server, still hoping to see you in motion some day. I'm from Europe so my pings on your server are too bad for playing, but just for the feel of it (whoa... ArtifeX server...!) I also keep praying for a new patch.

[Blank1234]

have you thought about playing any other game modes?

 

Pull/saber slash is really only effective in duels. It's a serious waste of force in CTF/FFA/JediMaster servers, especially when guns are enabled. 30 damage is laughable when you're getting bounced around for 80+ with rockets, and flak cannon rounds.

 

Granted, JK2's ctf is a poorman's CTF compared to TFC or Quake and whatnot, but it's a nice change of pace if your burnt out on those other FPS games (IE, me ).

 

Oh well, just a thought.

 

Blank

[Deadly Shadow]

Sorry to see you go ArtifeX. Whether people love you, or hate you, it is undeniable that you have spent a lot of time and energy helping the entire JKII community. (Even the (SC)

 

As usual, you are completely correct, in everything posted in your article; I do hope Raven takes notice. (I will send a copy of it to them, just in case.

 

A quick question, when you discovered the saber toss combo, was that the final straw?

[ArtifeX]

I've been thinking about adjusting my server setting to no force in the hopes it would change the gameplay somewhat, but you'll still have the problem of the backsweeps being used to finish 80% of the fights. With the low normal damage, you can afford to even miss the backsweep a few times without having to worry about getting killed by a counterattack.

 

There's also the issue of backsweep scripts, though they never really caused me a problem.

[Xzzy]

I don't think I've been backstabbed even once on the NF server I frequent.

 

Again, the far larger problem on NF is kicks. Can be fixed in server config but it does come with a hefty price.

 

Wonder if raven will ever realize that the biggest problem with their game is the undefendable tactics. Waiting for the jk2mp SDK since I secretly doubt they will.

[AgentScully]

ArtifeX i believe that most of your complaints about current saber duels can be alleviated by playing on one of our 6 Darkside servers. They are currently the most popular of the Duel Servers, and yes they are NO FORCE and NO KICKS. And most importantly there are rarely any backstab/backsweep spammers on our servers. Sure people use the move to occasionally finish people when they are vulnerable, but most of the fighting consists of cunning, strategic battles involving all sorts of combos, so it actually seems like saber fighting. If you want to join the Darkside community, which is growing by the day, drop by http://www.darkstats.com and join the Forum. There is a lot of great people there, a lot of which are great fighters. I'm sure you will find that the Darkside experience is just what you're looking for in the current 1.03 world

 

[Darkside]ReVeNaNt

 

-Darkside Administrator

[leelink]

I can understand why you dont want to play any more. I havent played in a week and might jump on for an hour or so tonight, but I know I will be disappointed in the end. I have faith that another patch is on the way and I will be glad to play when that patch arrives. Really, once you have mastered the just kick, and backstab there is no reason to continue playing. you can beat anyone with just those two moves. Sure we still find others who can beat us, but thier beating us with those same exact moves, with slight variations of cheapness thrown in for good measure. When I play I want to have to think about tricking and luring my opponent into making mistakes. I want to have counter moves. right now All I have to do is get one backstab move in. Not that hard once you've mastered it. I am still hoping that this game will be what it can be or that someone will make a mod to correct the multiplayer flaws this game currently has.

[shmacdonald's]

unfortunatelly i doubt that there will be a patch. n00bs just loooooooooooooove the fact that they can be experts at this game in less than 5 minutes and get tons of kills with pull+backstab or chainkicking. since people who enjoy these 1-hit-kill tactics greatly outnumber those of us who'd like to see a fair game, patching it would be a huge mistake, business-wise.

 

the only thing you can really do is just find a bunch of people who dont do any cheap moves and enjoy some damn good lightsaber dueling.

[K_Kinnison]

personally, it jsut shows the limits of dueling. If all you want to do is become the top dog, your going to be dissapointed when you find out how to reach it.

 

you really need to start playing the other parts of the game beside duel. Team FFA, CTY. Or better yet, put away the saber and pull out a gun. be a Merc. and laugh at the Jedi trying to chase you down to backstab you while you fire rockets at them

[Twins of Doom]

personally, it jsut shows the limits of dueling. If all you want to do is become the top dog, your going to be dissapointed when you find out how to reach it.

 

ya, the most important part of the game is to have fun....if that's how you have fun then do it that way

 

but ya kicked my ass a couple times on your server (yes, it was the pull/backsweep) and i'm sorry to see ya going

[Dak_iSuk]

ArtifeX,

I know this may sound harsh or perhaps even ungrateful, but it may bee your just desserts that you’re so fed up and are quitting. Aside from Raven (who bears 99.99% responsibility) I consider you the reason force matches have become what they are. Almost everyone I meet online and in real life that play JK2mp know and follow the techniques you outlined in your websites saber and force guides. These guides practically beg people to exploit the overpowered moves and not to bother learning anything else. While those methods are perfectly understandable for “competitive players” such as yourself, I bought the game to for leisurely fun. Now the only time I (and others I’d wager) have any fun in duels is when I find folks on a server who agree “lets not overuse pull/push + backstab so we can pretend we bought a game worth the 50 bucks”. While I never thought in a million years I’d support a “withhold of knowledge” I do believe JK2 would have been better off without your guides. But all who have posted here are absolutely right that you have contributed massive amounts of time and effort to the community…and you are owed gratitude for that! And perhaps, if you’d never published your guides, someone else would have and the jk2mp world would still be the backstabbing monster it is. I will now brace myself for the furious retort from your throng of followers and loyalists..

[Kerbit]

Dak_iSuk - You have a very valid point. If ArtifeX hadn't published his guides, maybe certain moves wouldn't be so popular, with everyone doing them.

 

However, just because people didn't read them in ArtifeX's guide wouldn't keep this from happening. People would find out, if only on forums and through clans or chat, or just seeing it's effectiveness and mimicking it. We'd just have a period of an elite few knowing it and exploiting it.

 

ArtifeX donated a great deal of his time to those guides. They're a treasure for this community. I've played a lot of games and read a lot of guides. Few have rivaled the care ArtifeX put into his. If you look around at some other JK2 guides, most just regurgetate the manual, and while some give some insight into some acrobatic moves, honestly, they suck.

 

While ArtifeX came off as a cocky essobie sometimes, he had more right than anyone. He knew his stuff, inside out. He didn't have to share that with the world. I think the JK2 community benefited more than they'll ever know from the guides.

 

While I think ArtifeX is overplaying his "retirement" too much, I still think we are losing a valuable community member. ArtifeX donated a lot of his time and effort to us, and I had hoped to see his guides continue. While I'm sure the topics he didn't cover will be explained sooner or later, the community is losing something important.

 

I'm probably coming off as a Artifex loyalist. I'm not trying to, as I most certainly am not. People come and leave the game every day, but ArtifeX has left a permenant impact. Few people can say they've done that. While I don't think that anyone's desire to stop playing a game should be as dramatic as ArtifeX has chosen to make his, I think we should all take a second to thank him for what he has done.

 

I have no good way of wrapping this up, so I'm just gonna leave it there and go to bed.

 

.k.

[Spidey]

Aritfex

I understand how you feel. I myself stopped playing JK2 multiplayer right around the time that 1.03 got released. I am just sick of all matches becoming either DFA fest (1.02) or Backsweep (1.03). Just not fun anymore.

 

Sure I can resort to those moves and get my score up. But what's the point.

 

So for now, I am more than happy playing Morrowind on my computer. If there is 1.04, then maybe I will give it a try again.

[gravioli]

Originally posted by K_Kinnison

Or better yet, put away the saber and pull out a gun. be a Merc. and laugh at the Jedi trying to chase you down to backstab you while you fire rockets at them

 

Playing as a Merc can be great fun, but your not going to be able to laugh at a Jedi who is doing the pull+backstab/backslash. He'll just pull your weapon away, then knock you down and do the backstab/backslash. And guess what? As a Merc, there is NO counter. Not fun at all.

[Twins of Doom]

Originally posted by gravioli

 

Playing as a Merc can be great fun, but your not going to be able to laugh at a Jedi who is doing the pull+backstab/backslash. He'll just pull your weapon away, then knock you down and do the backstab/backslash. And guess what? As a Merc, there is NO counter. Not fun at all.

 

sure there's a counter

 

use a different weapon (they can't pull faster then you can shoot)

or shoot from out of pull range

[Captain_Ego]

Artifex, with all your leet skillz, you forgot to mention kicks

. Leet duels become kicking matchs now more than anything else. Pity i never got to kick your ass, only kick the as of your whining fu minion.

[CobraKai]

bye.

 

btw- I like your server now that its NF. Even tho when I kick the ass that I do I get called a scripting f*g on it. WTF is a script anyhoo? Oh well, I play for fun. Others play for pride.

[Ono-Sendai]

I just realized that I look at these forums more than I play. Think I've played once this week. Used guns too. Yawn.

 

Hope that 1.04 will fix the boringness.

 

Artifex has gone to a better place. I do not mourn his loss.

 

(Besides, it's a game!)

 

Ono-Sendai