Is it actually possible to play online?

[schmedes3 10]

Ok so out of a few hundred servers, most have >5 people in them. Out the of the remaining, there are a bunch with a password.

Forgetting all that, I finally find a hold/ctf/team server with a good population and an ok ping. I connect. I finally spawn after the 20 minute bezerk intro. Time to go kill some people.....oh I have to spawn at the main base. Ok, let me drive...oh no vehicles/oh it takes 10 minutes to drive. Ok let me fly...oh there's no helicopters/oh I guess I'll just halo jump and let the helo crash. Or I can just respawn and then just spawn somewhere else.

So I finally make it to the front lines, eager and ready. I die as the new guy next to me FF's me. Oh well, I'll just spawn again...oh, I can't carry an rpg? Oh well, hope I don't run into any tanks.

So I spawn again and my town is being captured by a tank. Great, I guess I can shoot at him to distract him? It doesnt matter anyways as by this point I've been on the server for 10 minutes and it's time for me to lag out/for the server to lag out/for the server to drop connection/for the round to end.

I've been "playing" since 230pm est. I have spent 10 minutes actually playing and the rest of the time trying to find a server/spawn/get into the action.

Anyway to fix this? I could hop right into a game in ARMA 1 or even OFP and play away. I'm not having any fun trying to play this game and I'm pretty pissed now that I've seemingly wasted my money on something that doesn't provide any fun factor.

[walker 0]

Hi schmedes3

There is something wrong with the way you are looking at the server browser, reorder your view by number of players.

Most days top 10 servers are 50 plus players; plus a two or three 100 plus player servers though they do tend to be full. The majority of public servers are ~30 player servers. It is a mix of public and locked servers but most of the visible really big servers are public. The other small servers you are seeing below the 30 20 and 15 player servers are personal client servers often playing the multiplayer campaign and small coops between 2 to 8 friends or family.

As I said you need to use a little common sense with how you order your view in the browser, it does tell you how to do it in the manual, you may wish to read it but to put it simply click on the heading to order the view by whatever view you wish remember it can order in both directions eg if is an alphabetical sort can begin zyx... or abc...

You may be happier playing on some of the CTF servers to begin with there is usually 3 servers in the 30 player range playing CTF most days.

Your 20 minute intro in Berzerk I have never experienced. I am guessing you are multiplying by 40 in a Platonic Rhetorical fashion to get over and emphasize your frustration at a 30 second intro. If that is not the case and it really was 20 minute wait, which server were you on and what beta version of the mission was being used when you experienced this? I am sure you will want to see it improved.

ArmA is hard if you have never played it before. I suggest you practice a lot, most veteran ArmA players can beat the ArmA AI on veteran level; there is also a higher than average number of former and serving Military who play ArmA; so they are a cut above the COD l33t and playing against them at first is a little daunting. I also suggest you read, absorb and employ Dslyecxi's ArmA II "Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures Guide"

http://ttp2.dslyecxi.com/

I must admit, like a lot of veterans, the first four weeks of ArmA II coming out has been a bit like shooting fish in a barrel with all the former COD players comming in and not knowing any basic tactical skills or even the diference between cover on concealment.

http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/ArmA_II_Hints_and_Tips#The_difference_between_cover_and_concealment

So I may have been one of those slotting you a lot over the last week. I was racking up so many top three place slots on the leader boards of public servers it was embaressing, I even had one of my fellow clan members accuse me of being l33t which was very embaressing, (l33t is normaly an insult in ArmA cirlces) thanfully most of the former COD players are now learning so I am now returning to my usual sub top ten place on the boards.

Berzerk is a team game it is about which side wins not who scores the most points; so which weapon you have is not really that important. If you have not got AT tanks in town are easy to kill with smoke and a satchel charge or mine. You should also consider taking AA to take out enemy helicopters. You can also full fill the role of suppressing the enemy with an MG or protecting the AT team or driving a vehicle or capping spawns as part of the assault team. In Berzerk you need to choose your spawn point with care; consult the map while in the killed penalty phase. The MHQ if being used properly is often a safe place to spawn of course you are always safe to respawn at the base and can spawn an individual vehicle from the command tent there, if none of the base vehicles is left. There is a Basic guide to Berzerk here:

http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Basic_Guide_to_Berzerk%21

It will help you feel less lost.

You might also consider joining a clan.

Big clan servers are private and do not even show up in the browsers as they are both hidden and locked; it keeps the riff raff out. You get on them by joining their clan. Most clans that are recruiting run a public server for that purpose; in fact many of the big public servers are clan recruiting servers which they run to spot and train potential recruits in their clan ethos and to populate their ban lists, by spotting TKs, griefers and the like as well as gather intel on cheats etc.

Some clans ask you to volunteer as admin on their public server as part of joining their clan others admin their public server from their senior members. Others rely on occasional visit admin combined with logging scripts.

Most of us are having fun hence the increasing size and number of ArmA servers and the increasing number of ArmA players but I know the sheer size and complexity of ArmA is a real culture shock for those who have only ever played in the shoebox or corridor prison of all other FPS. I hope this post helps.

Kind Regards walker

Edited August 9, 2009 by walker

[Roe-31stMEU- 10]

Join a Unit/Clan/Squad/whatever you prefer. Unless you got time restrictions or odd hours or somethin and cant commit to somethin like that, completely understandable.

[hund 0]

Even if you do have time restrictions, joining an outfit is never a bad idea. Some outfits have rules about member participations and all that, but some others are just jolly social clubs centered around gaming. It's all about picking the right one.

EDIT: And I see Mr. Walker had yet another chance to further his anti-COD jihad :D

[walker 0]

Hi Hund

It is not a Jihad it is a crusade but honestly you know I am not PvP a killing machine. Heck I am usually near the bottom on Zeus in PvP, yet during the first few weeks of ArmA II's release I have been racking up top 3 numbers on public PvP servers.

Largely I blame it on the complete failure to understand the concepts flanking and suppression things directly attributable to the negative training of shoebox and corridor prisons of games like COD.

But there are lots of other simple tactical failures: snipers who do not move after a kill, people who hide in a bush while firing repeated shots, soldiers who hide behind a single brick wall when some one who is shooting at them has a 7.62 round automatic weapon or above. People failing to be covert in the patrol circle of the capture zone; imaginary zone about twice the distance of the coloured circle zone in PvP hold games like Berzerk where players aproach the capture zone. People who stand in the middle of the road blazing away, tanks that wonder around urban environments like they have not a care in the world, helicopters that hover high above the objective, I managed to kill a Huey with an RPG yesterday; people who loiter in the capture zone when the enemy prep fire is underway. It really has been like shooting fish in a barrel for the first few weeks but they are getting better.

I think it takes a while to throw off the negative training of shoebox and corridor prisons of games like COD but a lot of the new players are

Kind Regards walker

Edited August 9, 2009 by walker

[galzohar 31]

While COD teaches a lot of things wrong, I don't see how you can say COD players don't know the difference between cover and concealment. In COD not only there is a difference, that difference is excessive, to the point where some brick walls will not protect you from 9mm. So if anything, COD players should go "WTF how did that wooden fence stop my bullets?" and be correct about it. Have you even played COD? (COD4, that is, the only one I played)

I wouldn't blame other games for the bad behaviors you see in this game. Most of those behaviors are almost as big of a problem in other games, not just in Arma 2. It's the "let me just walk around a bit and shoot some stuff" attitude, which is a problem for Arma 2 gameplay, but also for other games. It's not something they "learn" in other games, it's something they do because that's how they see gaming in general.

While the intro in berserk isn't 20 minutes, it is annoying. Just like any other intro. Sure it can be cool the first time (though tbh I usually don't enjoy the intros even the first time), but after that it gets really annoying to watch the same intro over and over again. Also the fact that new joiners can only spawn at base even though there are already other bases captured simply means you're going to press esc->respawn to kill yourself as soon as you join unless there just happened to be useful vehicles waiting for you in base (not common) or you actually care about your kill:death ratio (which you shouldn't if you're playing a HOLD game with no team score for kills/deaths).

Sniper moving after a kill is not necessarily smart. A static pixel is much harder to identify as a sniper than a moving pixel. Most sniping spots in Chernarus do not have anything that even resembles a good sniper escape route, not to mention even if you did escape, where would you go? You still need to get kills at the objective so your team can cap it. Staying static as a sniper in Arma 2 is often prefered to constant position switching. Sure eventually they will find you, but the end result will often still be better than if you got 1 kill, then moved, got spotted and killed.

[schmedes3 10]

I appreciate the idea of looking for an outfit to join, the thought honestly never crossed my mind

As far as reordering the server browser, I seem to sense some sarcasm, especially in light of the "how to use cover and concealment" advice.

I've played video games for some time now, I'm pretty sure I'm aware of how to click the server browser so it show's highest to lowest. The highest was 68-72 people which I always lagged out of after 5-10 minutes of game play and the next highest was 30 and it was chenarus revolution. There's barely any pvp servers that have any people playing on them on a Saturday afternoon that are good. I found a decent 30 man and played for a while, but then I had to reconnect to it twice because I lost the option to change my load out. I would re-spawn with an ak47 and 1 mag and that would be it.

As far as arma being a hard game/not COD. I've played since OFP, I'm aware of the concepts of cover and concealment and I understand this game wants to be "real." However real has it's limits as it is a video game and at some point, I just want to have fun. If I wanted real all the time, I would re-enlist and ride in a c-130 and then a humvee to the front lines. When I want to play video games, I don't want to wait for an intro, wait for a spawn timer, wait for a vehicle and drive/fly to town or a re-spawn timer because I had to kill myself to spawn somewhere else.

Just frustrated as I spent more time waiting/looking for a game rather than actually playing. Once I actually find a good server, I have a blast. It's finding the good ones that's so hard.

[hund 0]

Right then, so what kind of outfit would be your kind, Mr. Schmedes?

- Hardcore realism or shits and giggles?

- Dedicated membership or jolly pirate club?

- English or regional language?

- PvP, coop or a bit of each?

The squad pages have quite a lot of options, but it's a good place to browse through what is available. However the people who are advertising are in the business of attracting new members, so half of what is in any description will be bullshit.

I'd personally prefer to browser around and play a few games on different servers, and then when you hit it off with someone, there ya have it.

[Bad Pilot 0]

Sometimes when you want to play, everyone else is out surfing, having a BBQ, watching a soap, sleeping, working or having sex. It's just the way it is sometimes. When there's nobody about, I think to myself, hell I should go outside. Or be nice to the gf :D.

[{sas}stalker 10]

snip

galzohar, seriously mate don't waste your time on it, he's (walker) just trolling.

on a side note walker there's an excellent article here that proves your point LINK

[Oh_Heck 10]

I haven't played much by way of pvp yet. I actually enjoy the coops, and being in a squad that helps even more, with squad nights, and their desire to play in a structured fashion.

But it seems you've joined our happy community of players just as they released a god awful patch...1.03, which has introduced a host of different problems. I think this has affected the player population somewhat, though it was never at numbers like you would see with CoD4(10k server), etc. Very different demands with this game, both in gameplay, and in hardware to play it.

Best advice I can give you right now, is find a good squad to join, with active players interested in the type of gaming you are into.

Lets hope that BI gets their shit in order and gets this game optimized so it can attract more gamers, to fill up those 0 player servers.

[Raznor09 10]

even better yet, you dont have to join a clan if you dont want to. just get a mic and TS and vent then go on a clan server that is public and start chatting and working with the clan members. there better yet join there teamspeak server or vent server and chat. and if you become a regular some will even let you play on there private server with just them and some other regulars and thats when you get the best game play. i am not apart of a clan but i play with alot of them, almost as if i were apart of them. some of the good ones that i play with normally are the 506th PIR, 1stID, 7th air cav, SPARTA, WBG. these kind of clans have good server and usually have private servers, so get talking to them, show them that your a teamplayer and not an asstard and they will welcome you to join there tactical game matches, where like i said, you will find the true greatness of this game. my name in game is super6-4 so if you ever go on any of these servers, you will prob find me there, the clans and i would be more then happy to play with another who plays properly.

[OberSchutze 19]

He also plays on my server :P good to see you on here Super.

[Raznor09 10]

ah yes the 20th SFG is also a recommended.