Suggestions that would make Arma II / AO more popular

[metalcraze 290]

Generally when I look there are 1500 to 3000 people online playing ArmA II or AO. Need to add a zero to that.

Not really no. Unless those people won't be kids who can only play Warfare and Domination because they suck at organized coop.

1. Smooth the player movement, especially collision detection, around doors and walls and such

Yes.

2. Develop more learning aids, the game is hard to learn, and mostly people are left to search forums to figure out what things do

Complete bootcamp missions. And ArmA2 does have the manual. Jeez it isn't that hard. "Cadet" mode is already dumbed down as it is.

Fix bugs. Fix bugs. Fix bugs. Fix bugs!

Yes.

I've already mentioned that the game should automatically install addons required to join a server and completely manage that aspect of the experience

Addons can easily weigh gigs. Each clan modifies them to their liking. It is impossible to do something like this. Use your hands to install them, don't be lazy.

5. Implement some sort of multi-player achievement tracking system and combine it with some sort of public player profile. Anything from "kill 10 enemies" to "successfully transport troops". Motivate people to go online!

Hahaha are you kidding? Achievements are idiocy that should've never appeared. Add the stupidity like "Kill X enemies" and watch kids ruin your games because they will be running around like morons trying to kill enemies blowing your cover, grabbing your transports. Play Battlefield if you want something like this.

6. Create and promote some faster paced multiplayer modes, e.g., with respawn near squad, with action concentrated on key objectives. AAS fits the bill, but there needs to be more things like that.

No. This isn't Battlefield. Also respawn was the worst thing to ever happen to the OFP-ArmA series.

7. Develop some game play modes and shared maps that consolidate Arma II and AO online so that players with either product can play online on the same server. This is so that the online community does not fracture.

Addons giving lots of new features or making something differently that a game without an addon doesn't have is nothing new. And making them compatible will be impossible. Buy an addon.

8. Eliminate any regional problems that prevent players from joining the same server, such as problems around language/translation that keep German players off English servers and such.

Huh? What do you mean? I play on english and german servers just fine with the same language/translation and I'm from Ukraine

What you suggest is to dumb down the game so it will be more accessible. The whole point of it is not to be accessible to keep all rambo-wannabes away. If you want dumbed down ArmA go play Dragon Rising.

Edited August 12, 2010 by metalcraze

[Jelliz 10]

The steam achievements are wrong in content, "Shoot 100 seagulls" is not what the game is about.

How i see it, the achievements found in the game(not implemented), looks more like test achievements. I cant possibly imagine that they would have a achievement involving seagulls in a mil-sim. It seems that they have just tested it and decided to leave it out for now.

[metalcraze 290]

"Work together as a team": Complete a mission while staying within 50m of your group leader.

You absolutely don't understand what team-work is do you? It isn't about running close to each other. Team leader may as well order you to stay in the house, while he will go forward to check out the situation. And blam - no achievement for you.

The whole problem with achievements and the biggest reason why they should never be in ArmA is that they make people trying to be more LEET than the next guy - this is the exact opposite to a teamwork. ArmA is all about sacrificing that perfect headshot to not give away the position of your squad if the circumstances require it.

I really hope BIS will never never listen to such people - that will ultimately be the death of the franchise.

[Darkhorse 1-6 16]

You absolutely don't understand what team-work is do you? It isn't about running close to each other. Team leader may as well order you to stay in the house, while he will go forward to check out the situation. And blam - no achievement for you.

The whole problem with achievements and the biggest reason why they should never be in ArmA is that they make people trying to be more LEET than the next guy - this is the exact opposite to a teamwork. ArmA is all about sacrificing that perfect headshot to not give away the position of your squad if the circumstances require it.

I really hope BIS will never never listen to such people - that will ultimately be the death of the franchise.

Couldn't have put it better myself.

[Pulverizer 1]

Yes, if BIS added achievements, each and everyone of us would instantly turn into complete idiots. I don't know what the exact mechanics behind this are, but I know it would happen for sure. And then, the game would die. Why, you ask? Well, because it would be more popular of course, that's why! Derp!

"Target T-72"... Pfffft you crazy? Look at that huge flock of seagulls 11 o'clock low!

[polar bear 10]

You absolutely don't understand what team-work is do you?

Unless you think that real world armies know nothing about teamwork it would appear that your opinion is at odds with the way things are: Real world militaries dole out loads of achievements. I think it's a sensible thing to debate WHAT the achievements should be, but that's different than debating THAT they should be.

The guy who wrote the counter-argument to the 50m thing doesn't really understand achievements. You don't get one every round. It's just something you have to get around to doing once in your entire playing career.

They amount to objectives that encourage desirable behavior, but that doesn't mean it's behavior you have to implement EVERY mission. In fact it's commonplace for there to be achievements that could not possibly be earned at the same time.

Edited August 12, 2010 by Polar Bear

[tyler4171 10]

Unless you think that real world armies know nothing about teamwork it would appear that your opinion is at odds with the way things are: Real world militaries dole out loads of achievements. I think it's a sensible thing to debate WHAT the achievements should be, but that's different than debating THAT they should be.

The guy who wrote the counter-argument to the 50m thing doesn't really understand achievements. You don't get one every round. It's just something you have to get around to doing once in your entire playing career.

They amount to objectives that encourage desirable behavior, but that doesn't mean it's behavior you have to implement EVERY mission. In fact it's commonplace for there to be achievements that could not possibly be earned at the same time

Achievements in a GAME do not bring about desirable behaviour especially not things like "Kill X amount of enemies" or "Destroy X Vehicles" that encourages idiots even more. All this would do is attract acheivement "whores".

[Pulverizer 1]

That's called setting up a straw man. Let's say for counter-argument's sake that there was only one achievement "Have no friendly fire accidents in 10 missions". Would that be so bad?

[HyperU2 11]

It's simple to be popular, you just become a carbon copy of the dozens of other FPS's out there. Thousands will flock to AMRA and I'll leave.

[Pulverizer 1]

Yes, that's very nice, but what's your point? That there's no room for improvement in Arma, so the only route to gain popularity is to dumb it down or change it to something completely else? That's obviously false.

[HyperU2 11]

It's obvious what's popular and ARMA's few inconveniences have little to do with that.

[Pulverizer 1]

No one excepts Arma to take on the really popular games. That's not at all what this discussion is about. Did you even read anything but the thread title?

[HyperU2 11]

Oh I see now that it changes depending on where you're reading.

Suggestions that would make Arma II / AO more popular

[AntalopeAUT 10]

The whole problem with achievements and the biggest reason why they should never be in ArmA is that they make people trying to be more LEET than the next guy - this is the exact opposite to a teamwork. ArmA is all about sacrificing that perfect headshot to not give away the position of your squad if the circumstances require it.

I really hope BIS will never never listen to such people - that will ultimately be the death of the franchise.

+1.000 Kudos...Perfect explanation

Edited August 12, 2010 by AntalopeAUT

[tyler4171 10]

That's called setting up a straw man. Let's say for counter-argument's sake that there was only one achievement "Have no friendly fire accidents in 10 missions". Would that be so bad?

No, but for counter-counter arguments sake, ahs there ever been a game that has an Acheivement like that? :)

[polar bear 10]

It's obvious what's popular and ARMA's few inconveniences have little to do with that.

I challenge that claim. I think the much disparaged average gamer is smarter than you're giving him credit for, and is ready to be challenged by something more than a WASD run and gun FPS. I think a break through is possible whereby ArmA grabs a significant chunk of the gaming world away from those who think that gamers are stupid. In my view it's possible to make the game far more accessible without taking ANYTHING away from the game play, from the realism, or from the extensibility of the platform.

The purpose of this thread is to try and gather up from the expertise of many those ideas that would improve the accessibility of the game WITHOUT sacrificing the things that make ArmA better.

I knew it would be a controversial topic when I posted it but I believe it's a discussion that needs some air: The notion that this game CANNOT be made popular is stifling.

Edited August 12, 2010 by Polar Bear

[Gunter Severloh 3948]

I never really saw the point of achievements, I mean what would qualify the achievements,

BIS games isn't run n gun its a sandbox custom game military simulater, and when you throw the

idea of achievements in there then the point of earning something isn't relevent til you have something

overall that everyone else is participating in like a tournoment, its really whos the best man on the totem pole,

and BIS games dont have anything that allows for that because that not what BIS games are about.

If you want rank go join a squad or clan, or realism military unit that has em, if you want a caeer

with achievements then a squad, clan, or realism unit would be ideal.

On another note if one wants achievements so bad then learn to edit and script and make missions

that have them, but dont tarp the whole game with them and turn them into a COD frag fest, last

thing i want to see is I pawnedd you, or u been pawednd or childish idiot remarks like that, personally

people that say remarks like that ingame should be punched in the head, one reason I dont play those

games, their for kids who cant handle the time,patience, and vast community of addons, mods, and scripts and the like.

now for a good suggestion to add my 2 cents to what the topic is about to make it more popular, word of mouth

is like a disease, and so are good movies on utube, that define how the game is played.

[HyperU2 11]

I challenge that claim. I think the much disparaged average gamer is smarter than you're giving him credit for, and is ready to be challenged by something more than a WASD run and gun FPS. I think a break through is possible whereby ArmA grabs a significant chunk of the gaming world away from those who think that gamers are stupid. In my view it's possible to make the game far more accessible without taking ANYTHING away from the game play, from the realism, or from the extensibility of the platform.

The purpose of this thread is to try and gather up from the expertise of many those ideas that would improve the accessibility of the game WITHOUT sacrificing the things that make ArmA better.

I knew it would be a controversial topic when I posted it but I believe it's a discussion that needs some air: The notion that this game CANNOT be made popular is stifling.

I don't believe for a second that your average FPS player wants to spend 10+ minutes driving across a map with no contact. But I love the size of it.

[whisper 0]

As usual, as soon as the word "accessibility" is thrown around, the elitism crap shows its ugly face.

A2 crowd smarter than usual FPS players? BS

More teamplay / tactics on A2 average server? I urge you to go test public ones where everyone runs alone with its uber Sniper(or TI) / AT equipement in a tank doing is own business without a once of coordination, communication or anything. The only difference on these servers with basic COD servers? Scale and speed of game. Everything else (teamplay, realism, yadaa yadaa, you name it) is on the same level on public servers, whatever the game.

More teamplay / tactics on A2 closed / clan servers than on other games closed servers? Most elitists here wouldn't survive the amount of teamplay and tactics needed on competition on other games, and still I see these elitist comments on "we don't want COD kiddies here!!!111"

Shame....

I don't believe for a second that your average FPS player wants to spend 10+ minutes driving across a map with no contact. But I love the size of it

And so what? This game is opened, free enough to permit anyone to make a gamemode where driving 10+ minutes without contact is not needed, and this without losing much scope and scale. And without touching your own precious gamemode where you want this type of long drives, on top of it! All the best of both worlds.

@metalcraze:

Addons can easily weigh gigs. Each clan modifies them to their liking. It is impossible to do something like this. Use your hands to install them, don't be lazy.

For your edification :

http://forums.bistudio.com/showpost.php?p=1715343&postcount=40

BIS is working on this very feature. It's probably the most important feature for the future of this game, imho. Nothing impossible, quite the contrary

Edited August 13, 2010 by whisper

[HyperU2 11]

As usual, as soon as the word "accessibility" is thrown around, the elitism crap shows its ugly face.

A2 crowd smarter than usual FPS players? BS

More teamplay / tactics on A2 average server? I urge you to go test public ones where everyone runs alone with its uber Sniper(or TI) / AT equipement in a tank doing is own business without a once of coordination, communication or anything. The only difference on these servers with basic COD servers? Scale and speed of game. Everything else (teamplay, realism, yadaa yadaa, you name it) is on the same level on public servers, whatever the game.

More teamplay / tactics on A2 closed / clan servers than on other games closed servers? Most elitists here wouldn't survive the amount of teamplay and tactics needed on competition on other games, and still I see these elitist comments on "we don't want COD kiddies here!!!111"

Shame....

And so what? This game is opened, free enough to permit anyone to make a gamemode where driving 10+ minutes without contact is not needed, and this without losing much scope and scale. And without touching your own precious gamemode where you want this type of long drives, on top of it! All the best of both worlds.

@metalcraze:

For your edification :

http://forums.bistudio.com/showpost.php?p=1715343&postcount=40

BIS is working on this very feature. It's probably the most important feature for the future of this game, imho. Nothing impossible, quite the contrary

You should make a game mode like that, I'm sure the popularity will soar. You seem like the kind of person I'd love to encounter on a server. :rolleyes:

[ryguy 10]

A2 crowd smarter than usual FPS players? BS

You're right. Ever been in an AAS match as someone gets in a 5 person tank and starts driving off? Even if you type in the chat, "Wait up, I'll gun for u", they'll just take off without you. In every other case, you need to be in a clan to be involved in any sort of teamwork. It's actually pretty sad to see all the possibilities of using combined arms and the fact that no one is even scratching the surface of the possibilities in Arma 2.

Unfortunately, there is evidence of casual gaming becoming more and more popular so I wouldn't count on the popularity of Arma 2 rocketing. But it seems so far that BIS isn't having a tough time surviving anyway even though I'm no CEO ...

[Cotala Studios 10]

I beg to differ. I think it's a niche product because of:

1) Unplayable performance on low to mid-range gaming PCs on most game situations

2) Bugs and CTDs

3) Warping units in MP

4) Stupid AI that has zero iniative for anything else but getting their ass smoked

5) Clunky and unintuitive controls

Absolutely NOT because it's too "realistic" or "hardcore". It isn't, unless you argue that CTDs and single digit framerates make the game more hardcore.

read the sig man, you simply need to know how to set your game settings :)

[whisper 0]

You should make a game mode like that, I'm sure the popularity will soar. You seem like the kind of person I'd love to encounter on a server. :rolleyes:

Ever played AAS? Count the time you spend from your spawn point to objective....

And this has nothing to do with popularity, I was pointing out that 10+ minutes drive are not a necessary signature of ArmA2 gameplay. Far from it, in fact the necessary signature of ArmA2 is more on the line with "you can do whatever you want". Certainly not fixed, immuable gameplay. With this state of mind (that OFP gameplay should be this and that and nothing else) back in OFP days, certain things like CTI/Warfare wouldn't have seen the light.

As for going personnal, please elaborate. I'd be quite amused by your assumption about my playstyle. So, what type of a gamer am I? :)

[polar bear 10]

I don't believe for a second that your average FPS player wants to spend 10+ minutes driving across a map with no contact. But I love the size of it.

That's not necessary most of the time in many of the ArmA game modes either, only some people like that in ArmA. In CTI people try pretty hard to respawn in a base near the action, in a lot of domination servers the game's been modded to have parachute flags you can go to and jump straight into the action, and obviously AAS is fast an intense.

There's nothing wrong with enjoying the 10+ minute drive across the map I'm just pointing out there's lots of other ways to play ArmA without doing that if it's not something you want to do.

That's one of the things I really like ArmA: There are so many different ways it can be played, it offers something for everyone. I find I enjoy playing many of the different modes, depending on what sort of mood I'm in.

[b00tsy 28]

read the sig man, you simply need to know how to set your game settings :)

Ha! I have a similar PC, just need to buy a bigger Gcard (hopefully next month). I can even get 15 to 20 fps with a 256Mb Gcard on normal/low settings. Even AA & AF are set to normal, only resolutions is set to low.