A Foundry Server Recommendation

[Guacamole!]

EDIT: Thanks to Avo, we have a survey where you can give your input on what should happen with the Foundry server: click here!

---

Many of the regulars of the 24/7 Foundry server love the server because it has an enjoyable competitive environment, and the people who populate it are both skilled and friendly. However, I have been discussing with quite a few Foundry-regulars recently and we are generally enjoying the Foundry less and less. A significant portion of this distaste is because it is always the same.

As anyone who has played on the Foundry can attest to, it is a stalemate-heavy map, which often ends in sudden death because teams simply cannot get past the brick wall that is the other team. I believe Valve designed this map purposefully to be this way (consider the "Dead Heat" achievement: "Play through a back-and-forth battle for 15 control point captures.")

Foundry has been one of the few servers since the IP change that has not suffered as much (and has succeeded in becoming the 3rd most popular eGO server), and I believe this to be significantly influenced by the strong community of regulars on the server. If Foundry were altered to the enjoyment of regulars (and others in the community), this server would excel.

I propose that Foundry be repurposed as a 5CP rotation server with a collection of good, fun maps. I have suggested list of maps below. I know that eGO leadership has been hesitant to make changes to Foundry that would affect its Quickplay eligibility (such as no crits/no spread). This change however would not affect the server’s Quickplay status while making the server generally much more appealing.

Since custom maps are not allowed in Quickplay, I have divvied the Valve 5CP maps into three categories for play: Yes, Maybe, and No. I will not give too much explanation here on how I made these decisions, but I am happy to discuss with anyone further what my thoughts on these maps are.

Yes:

• cp_badlands
• cp_coldfront
• cp_foundry
• cp_gullywash_final1
• cp_process_final
• cp_snakewater_final1

Maybe:

• cp_fastlane
• cp_granary
• cp_yukon_final (I’m strongly in favor, but some disagreement on this one)

No:

• cp_5gorge
• cp_freight_final1
• cp_standin_final
• cp_well

I love playing on Foundry these days almost entirely because of the friends I have made there, not because of the gameplay itself and this is a disappointing state of affairs. I believe that this change would make the server more enjoyable and reinvigorate the eGO community.

I am posting this here to get public feedback on the idea. What are your gripes, suggestions, and concerns?

 

[Rawburt]

I say Egypt

 

[Insomnia Princess]

I'm leaving this here for public discussion but I'm also going to copy it over to leadership so we can chat about it. Thanks for the well thought-out proposal.

 

[Adam]

I am mad Steel isn't on this list.

 

[noblenote]

I love this idea, but not exactly on board with the maps.

I propose we have all of the valve 5CP maps on the rotation, and have a vote system to pick the next map.

 

[OKeearns]

I support Guac.

 

[Nix]

Mmmm......CP Rotation.

We've tried it before, and the reason it didn't work is because the ranks were too low to start with. We need many people to dedicate themselves to this cause if you really want to kickstart the server.

 

[Insomnia Princess]

How many of the rest of the Foundry gang have you guys already talked to about this?

 

[Versed]

I cannot speak for previous servers but one of the biggest problems we had over the last year with rotation servers it the map choices. Basically a few maps were popular then one that everyone hated would come on and blam, dead server.

As for your suggestion I think it would be great and is worth a try. I don't much care what maps are used but I think going with what the overall (in all of TF2) are the most popular CP maps would be a good start. If that list is the ones you suggested, awesome.

 

[catch22alex]

I'm on board

 

[Pandawaffle]

I support this, not because I am getting tired of Foundry, but because I think it will bring in more players as a 5-cp rotation. If we can grab players on their favorite map (provided that map is something bearable) they might stick around because of the above-average quality of play we've come to expect on Foundry.
I wouldn't mind putting Foundry into the rotation multiple times within one cycle if other regulars are attached to the map.
Question though: if the server was changed to 5cp, would it just be called "eGo 5-CP ROTATION" or would there be an opportunity to put in a more personal tag on it? I think that might also bring in more players.

 

[Versed]

I'm on board

Your face is a board.

Also, I nominate Gorge... ermergerd.

 

[FireHazard772]

I mentioned this with the CS divisions' recent server change, but I think what would help with each division that uses gameservers is having a rotation server, and if it starts to die down you select a map or two that were popular and make a server out of that. (But this is if there are server changes being considered)

 

[Blankward]

I like the idea, and I like all of the maps listed under the "yes" category. I still enjoy Foundry as a map, but I guess it is getting a little stale after all this time.

I'd definitely recommend taking the time to poll as many of the Foundry regulars as possible, in any way possible. If it's the regulars that keep the server alive, it's the regulars that need to hear about it. We've lost a number of regulars since the IP change because they weren't warned beforehand.

 

[Insomnia Princess]

I support this, not because I am getting tired of Foundry, but because I think it will bring in more players as a 5-cp rotation. If we can grab players on their favorite map (provided that map is something bearable) they might stick around because of the above-average quality of play we've come to expect on Foundry.
I wouldn't mind putting Foundry into the rotation multiple times within one cycle if other regulars are attached to the map.
Question though: if the server was changed to 5cp, would it just be called "eGo 5-CP ROTATION" or would there be an opportunity to put in a more personal tag on it? I think that might also bring in more players.

We can decide what to name it, if a change were made.

 

[Johnny_Joe]

Well this is not really a problem exclusive to Foundry, but a problem inherent in all 5CP maps in full pubs. It's almost always going to be one of two match outcomes, blitz or sitz, that is to say you'll have 30 second steam rolls thanks to naturally occurring team switching/stacking OR conversely 30 minute stalemates where there is very little sign of match progression or even an outcome.

5CP maps greatly favor fast moving mobile classes (Scout Rush imminent captain!) and when one team has quickly won 4 or 5 matches by using only 2 to 3 classes, it's bound to make the other team, no matter how "autobalanced", switch to a static and immovable defense which includes a good amount of Sentry stacking. Both of these outcomes make servers clear out extremely fast, one because it seems futile to defend, one because it seems futile to attack. And when both these options are gone, the disconnect button looks extremely pleasant.

5CP maps are great a choice for competitive due to the nature of the core combat classes and their inherent mobility and agreeability with blitzing, if using 6v6 as an example, or on the highlander side of comp, there is only one engy, one scout, one of every class making mass rushes (or mass sentry walls) impossible by default.

In a pub with no class limits and less (not to say none) coordination and communication than higher level play, a good 5CP match is extremely hard to get and make it feel fair for both sides and even harder to make players want to play after a half hour long stalemate that followed 4 blitzes.

This idea is so odd because it doesn't solve the natural problems of 5CP maps in what we hope will be full servers. I would rather see a Payload rotation due to the inclusiveness of that game mode. If full (and more importantly frequently full) servers are the clear objective, my opinion is that 5CP maps are not designed to have high player retention which again, is the outlined goal.

 

[armypoilce]

Your face is a board.

Also, I nominate Gorge... ermergerd.

"___" ma lady

 

[Ledzo]

Process.

 

[Mobilize]

Just make sure you talk to the foundry regulars before making this change, changing the server from the regulars favorite map to the regulars favorite map +4 is something that might not always fly, as seen both in the past (though, at this point, most things have been) as well as in the popularity of the thousands of servers out there that are dedicated to one map (2fort, badwater, goldrush, dustbowl to name a few).

This could be a great decision, but it could also kill off the community that frequent the server. Before making this change, please consider how much of the playerbase is there just for foundry, and how much is there for the competition, the people and solid maps.

 

[Ezekiel]

Have we ever had a successful rotation of any kind?