To whom it may concern:

[Golden Bough]

it's on its way...

[evilarsenal]

1st

yea diablo 3 is gonna be awesome

[Golden Bough]

For the sake of brevity, i'll be short.

There is a growing discontent with how the game and its online community is being addressed. The few, elite, monarchs rule the roost, yet scare off and intimidate new players. The altitude community is dwindling!

Patches and balance concerns should fall to the wayside—instead, encourage community growth. There are the same 50 people playing all the time. You know this. And, I like the game and its players, but too many people have complained and voiced their opinion for me to sit quietly.

Reconsider clan clout: how summer-league effects OVERALL community development. Everyone should know the summer league server codes. As it stands, only the elite clan members know the codes, which has lead to a VIP server-of-sorts.

If this is out of line, and, if YOU believe things are fine, than great: more power to you. But, as a recent player, who has become a quasi-community member, I, and others feel something is awry and needs addressing.

[NomNom]

Are you serious? The password is right at the top of the summer league thread for everyone who's interested to see...
Secondly the servers are not official, they're hosted by a member of the community, everything regarding the servers is his decision and have nothing to do with the Altitude creators.
It's a private server and a private league kindly brought to you by some willing altitude players. If you don't like it, make your own.
As for the benefits of the league, it's good fun competition and as far as I can see it brings a lot of positive aspects to the game, I don't see why you're complaining.

[Golden Bough]

I am, and, are you serious!? What if you have never been to the thread? Then what? You CLEARLY have missed the point of my concern. You represent the maligned altitude community.....

[nobodyhome]

er? the summer league server is meant for playing league games only, with a side, unofficial use of being the server where teams in the league run scrimms. everybody that is part of a team in the league knows the summer league password--anyone that isn't part of the league has no real reason to go there (people are welcome to spectate as long as there is space, but to disrupt the scrimms going on? no thanks)

and as far as i know, the community is growing every day. i sure as hell know that when i sign on, a majority of the names that i see playing are unfamiliar to me.

where is this discontent coming from? who's complaining, and more importantly, WHAT are they complaining about?

[eth]

Do you know why people use passwords? I'll give you a hint: it's so all those idiots _not_ participating in the summerleague dont clog up the server and force ENDLESS /votekicks to let those actually playing into the server. Its also pretty retarded to have to /votekick when youre concentrating on winning a match. It's pretty annoying to have a lvl 30 come into the game, spawn and take the bomb I tell you.

tl;dr: Public passwords arent passwords.

PS. Also what nobodyhome said. If you dont even know what it is, you clearly have no business there.

[DubyaCapumWolfeGee]

I understand where your coming from but i dont think clans are the enemy. Theres plenty of people who play that arent in clans that have fun. Its Just that some of the vets get frusterated at times.

[Smushface]

I guess I represent the "maligned altitude community."

Clans and "passworded" servers aren't a problem. They're the solution. There's plenty of players playing in the 3 Altitude official and other random bum **** egypt servers. I know I speak for a lot of players who think that playing with new (read: bad) players in a 7v7 tbd is just not fun.

There was a post from an old timer that said something along the lines of the personal skill cap being reached by many players, and I agree. The skill gap between the top 10% of altitude players is pretty minimal. The next step beyond that is to encourage team work and that means teams and private servers. If that excludes some of the newer players then so be it. The worst thing an online video game can do is to cater to the bottom 50%.

Also if you didn't get it, I use "." to mock you.

[Kuja900]

Originally Posted by Smushface

I guess I represent the "maligned altitude community."

Clans and "passworded" servers aren't a problem. They're the solution. There's plenty of players playing in the 3 Altitude official and other random bum **** egypt servers. I know I speak for a lot of players who think that playing with new (read: bad) players in a 7v7 tbd is just not fun.

There was a post from an old timer that said something along the lines of the personal skill cap being reached by many players, and I agree. The skill gap between the top 10% of altitude players is pretty minimal. The next step beyond that is to encourage team work and that means teams and private servers. If that excludes some of the newer players then so be it. The worst thing an online video game can do is to cater to the bottom 50%.

Also if you didn't get it, I use "." to mock you.

Ahem the difference between fLb member's skill levels and the rest of the community is far from minuscule. Compared to us whatever you do is the near equivalent of flying in a circle screaming "blow up mah plane." But other than that comment you raise some good points.

[DiogenesDog]

also worth pointing out that the biggest complaint I've heard from new players is that they get absolutely annihilated when they try to play online. pushing the best players onto one passworded server also helps make the rest of the servers a little more noob-friendly.

[as red as black]

I'm sure the top 10% would much rather be playing with fellow elites (hence playing fun games on the summer league servers because no noobs go there).

lvl. 60 servers are useless because 80% of the lvl. 60s suck....

what we need is a 400,000 xp min server.....I think all "elites" and top 10% players are above that number and I think that a bunch of us would play there.

[Kuja900]

Exp minimum servers is an interesting idea.

[Kuja900]

Originally Posted by evilarsenal

1st

yea diablo 3 is gonna be awesome

Quoting for truth.

[tec27]

Originally Posted by Golden Bough

For the sake of brevity, i'll be short.

There is a growing discontent with how the game and its online community is being addressed. The few, elite, monarchs rule the roost, yet scare off and intimidate new players. The altitude community is dwindling!

Patches and balance concerns should fall to the wayside—instead, encourage community growth. There are the same 50 people playing all the time. You know this. And, I like the game and its players, but too many people have complained and voiced their opinion for me to sit quietly.

Reconsider clan clout: how summer-league effects OVERALL community development. Everyone should know the summer league server codes. As it stands, only the elite clan members know the codes, which has lead to a VIP server-of-sorts.

If this is out of line, and, if YOU believe things are fine, than great: more power to you. But, as a recent player, who has become a quasi-community member, I, and others feel something is awry and needs addressing.

Do you honestly think the community is not growing quickly becuse there are 2 passworded servers in a sea of unpassworded ones? Passworded servers that only occasionally have 10 or so people playing on them? Tell you what, when you pay for servers, you can host unpassworded league servers with whatever type of configuration you want. Until then, please stop posting this dribble on the forums (which is more likely to turn people off to the game than my servers).

[evilarsenal]

Originally Posted by as red as black

I'm sure the top 10% would much rather be playing with fellow elites (hence playing fun games on the summer league servers because no noobs go there).

lvl. 60 servers are useless because 80% of the lvl. 60s suck....

what we need is a 400,000 xp min server.....I think all "elites" and top 10% players are above that number and I think that a bunch of us would play there.

im at 100k xp.... :[

elites need another title besides 60... lvl 70 for epic flyers is what i say...

[nesnl]

Originally Posted by evilarsenal

im at 100k xp.... :[

elites need another title besides 60... lvl 70 for epic flyers is what i say...

I agree level 70 for epic flyers, but it costs 5000g for the training and possible 200g for the mount.

[TomBRowkaH]

Are you kidding me? Summer league is "elite" ?? My team has a bunch of demo users and non lvl 60s on it which I mostly let join the team because I knew them in real life or they were a friend of a friend. I wouldn't call it elite by any means.

I often see scenarios where a lvl 25 comes into one of the official servers and starts shouting orders ("GUYEZ COME ON ESCORT THE BOMB!111 U GUYS SUCK) while everyone else on the team clearly knows way more than them. Usually someone vote-kicks them immediately. I don't really think this is excessive, if the player quits the game because of this, so be it. Hopefully they've already paid their 20$.

I'm not claiming to speak for all the veteran guys, but I think most of the older players are trying to be reasonably nice to the newbs. And uh.. ferret will be ferret. That we can't control.

[mikesol]

One thing to point out - I find that it's not just level 60 players that are causing harm to these new players. I constantly see people like "Adolf Hitler" or "Nazi" or "Jewbag" or any other numerous names like that that are low levels come in and harass players.

I do agree that many of the top players are extremely disrespectful to the newer players and it makes it so people quickly leave rather than stay. However, I only notice these people being disrespectful on a few conditions

a) Ferret is in the game in which case anyone is fair game to be harassed
b) The people are bomb camping or wasting the bombs (I try and be as polite as possible and say things like "please don't waste the bombs by doing ___" or "please stop bomb camping")
c) The player is harassing other people when they aren't any good to begin with

I feel that by having the league servers you reduce the problem of having the top players harassing the newer ones. Perhaps there should be "Official Servers" that differentiate between beginner, intermediate, and advanced skill level and let players decide where they want to go?

[NastyManatee]

Originally Posted by nesnl

I agree level 70 for epic flyers, but it costs 5000g for the training and possible 200g for the mount.

And don't forget how hard it is to find Altudina of Flyer's Wrath at Airbourne Peak for epic flying training. Epic flying is serious business.

[evilarsenal]

Originally Posted by nesnl

I agree level 70 for epic flyers, but it costs 5000g for the training and possible 200g for the mount.

hahahaha

i meant like, only the best of the best can be allowed to even go for lvl 70

that'd make for a nice marker for tiers

[ryebone]

Just a couple of things others have said that I wanted to reiterate. The password to the summer league servers are in plain text, on the very first post of the thread. If you can't take the time to find it yourself, that's your loss. But why would you even want/need to be there? The league servers are for league matches. If you're not on a team, you don't need to be there. Players who have matches going on have priority, no matter what. Sign-ups for league were open for more than two weeks, as I recall. No one should feel excluded because they're not participating in the league, because they had the opportunity to join and they didn't take the initiative.

And to clarify about the clans: yes, there are clans. However, I'm under the impression the majority of league players are in their respective clans for the league season only. It's mostly an association scenario- I normally abhor fLb, for example, but for the sake of winning I'll play along and put a tag in front of my name. It's not a big deal. I'm of the opinion that leagues and clans are GOOD for the development of the game. It finally gives people an opportunity/incentive to showcase true teamwork (shielding for bombcarriers who wont waste it, leaving health powerups for injured teammates, etc), instead of the typical ratiowhoring you see in regular tbd games.

The problem is that, like others have said in one form or another, there needs to be a better indication of skill. In my opinion, right now the skill levels can be roughly divided into noob, lvl60 noob, and pro (and I mean that very roughly). The problem is that level60 is too easily obtained; anyone with half an ounce of piloting skill can reach 60, but it takes so much more to be good, or perceived as good. The general skill level has now increased to the point where being level60 is almost a requirement to be adequate. I don't know what goes on in the 1-25 server, but I think there should be additional servers for 25-59, 60+, and servers with an xp minimum. Until new measurements of skill are implemented, this is probably the best option.

The community is still small by most gaming standards. As such, this forum is an incredibly useful tool for establishing a name for yourself, especially if you're a relative unknown to the majority of the community. I strongly believe that if you post often (meaningfully), you will be accepted, even if you really aren't that good.

Last thing I wanted to say that may be a bit controversial. I wouldn't care at all if, from this day forth, no new players started playing altitude. That is, I'm completely content with the current group of players I play with now. I welcome any xenophobic backlash.

[ham]

Originally Posted by as red as black

I'm sure the top 10% would much rather be playing with fellow elites (hence playing fun games on the summer league servers because no noobs go there).

lvl. 60 servers are useless because 80% of the lvl. 60s suck....

what we need is a 400,000 xp min server.....I think all "elites" and top 10% players are above that number and I think that a bunch of us would play there.

nope, not me, i'm in the 300s and i can definitely hang with you.

luv,
moxie

[DiogenesDog]

Originally Posted by ryebone

Last thing I wanted to say that may be a bit controversial. I wouldn't care at all if, from this day forth, no new players started playing altitude. That is, I'm completely content with the current group of players I play with now. I welcome any xenophobic backlash.

but then Lam would starve and we wouldn't get any future patches to argue about!

[as red as black]

Originally Posted by ham

nope, not me, i'm in the 300s and i can definitely hang with you.

luv,
moxie

or we could just have an xp limit that always stays 1 above moxie haha

[Fatknacker]

Originally Posted by ryebone

Last thing I wanted to say that may be a bit controversial. I wouldn't care at all if, from this day forth, no new players started playing altitude. That is, I'm completely content with the current group of players I play with now. I welcome any xenophobic backlash.

Where's this Backlash you've promised

[hurripilot]

A good way to encourage new people to try the game, buy the game, and join in on the fun, would be to have a page in the game itself that outlines the control keys and has all the tips written down. This would save noobs the embarassment of having to ask other players how to do stuff like use team chat and being flamed by douchebags who think that being reasonably good at a 2D airplane game makes them better than everyone else .

Also, I think it bears repeating that the game has a mute function that is very easy to use . Muting an annoying nub or a douchebag vet can be a much more productive solution than just kicking them. Personally, I think kicks should be reserved for people who are directly interfering with the game, i.e. griefing, being the only one to vote "no" during "Start" or "Stop Tournament" votes, bomb/power-up wasting, bomb camping, etc.

[ryebone]

Originally Posted by Fatknacker

Where's this Backlash you've promised

I guess people agree with me. Ryebone 1 : Xenophobia 0

[Carbon]

Originally Posted by hurripilot

A good way to encourage new people to try the game, buy the game, and join in on the fun, would be to have a page in the game itself that outlines the control keys and has all the tips written down. This would save noobs the embarassment of having to ask other players how to do stuff like use team chat and being flamed by douchebags who think that being reasonably good at a 2D airplane game makes them better than everyone else .

There should be an overlay screen showing the keyboard and what each key does. This should be shown while levels are loading, or while waiting to spawn, unless switched off in the options. This would help new players out a little bit plus they'd learn how to take screenshots and stuff.

[Fatknacker]

Originally Posted by ryebone

I guess people agree with me. Ryebone 1 : Xenophobia 0

I nominate Ryebone for president, can we hear a few more of you campaign statements (Surely you could upset somebody if you tried )

[DevilsAdvocat]

on the inital topic: having pros play with noobs only discourages noobs... i remember maimer flying in with the piercing lazer and killing me if i dared go near his camping spot... and now im a miranda whore ^_^

I think that leaving the community at this size is probably a bad idea... lam does probably need sum $ from time to time, and we will eventually get tired of fighting the same ppl, new blood makes change... HOPE (i will be running as the democratic candidate against rye)... i will also be funding universal healthcare

vote Devil for HOPE... ironic slogan?

[tyr]

Originally Posted by DevilsAdvocat

on the inital topic: having pros play with noobs only discourages noobs... i remember maimer flying in with the piercing lazer and killing me if i dared go near his camping spot... and now im a miranda whore ^_^

Hahaha.
That exactly happened to me except it was Pillars.
Now i'm recoilless biplane user.