gravyface

50 vs 50 then. Seriously, is that the reason for the coop focus?

Thanks fellers. @KeyCat: looks cool, I will dig into that a bit further. Why was a mod required to pull off TvT? @KBBW123: "full scale synergy with 100+ players". And why couldn't that be achieved with a TvT format? Not to get all cerebral on everyone, but why did the ArmA community gravitate towards coop as being the defacto MP experience vs. TvT? Every other shooter, tactical, arcade or otherwise is the opposite and has been forever.

Thinking about pulling the trigger on ArmA 3 on Steam, but I'm a bit wary of the multiplayer aspect as it seems to be so heavily co-op. I put a lot of hours into BF2:PR and while the engine was obviously limited, it was some of the best MP I've ever played because of the squad tactics, placing team objectives ahead of personal kills, and the combined arms cooperation that was imperative to win (you literally couldn't get to the insertion points without air transport, which required a proper squad of chopper pilots to run). But it was PvP, just on a grand scale with 64+ players. I have ArmA 2, but never got into it because all the servers were multiplayer co-op, humans vs. dim-witted bots; now this was a couple of years ago, things may have changed, but the public servers all seemed to be co-op which seemed completely mind-boggling. Hit up YouTube for ArmA 3 videos and they too seem to be all co-op. What gives?

Must be when you hit 40 then -- I'm 34 and can still run and gun with the kids (at least I think I can). ;) And all these points in favor of coop are what I like the most about Project Reality mod for Battlefield 2: - game is slowed right down; shooting from the hip is nearly impossible unless you're at melee range. - all assets are assigned to specific squads; admins will punt anyone flying a chopper who's not on the chopper squad for example. - very good cooperation/coordination between squad members and inter-squad coordination is usually ok (good squad leaders will flip channels on TS to speak with other squadies regularly). - object-based maps -- kills are really an afterthought, everyone's working together trying to take or hold objectives. - support units actually provide support, whether it's logistics/supplies or mortar teams. Seeing as there's a PR mod now for ArmA 2, I just assumed that ArmA 2 vanilla would be all that and more with an updated game engine, bigger maps, better ballistics and realism, etc. And it could very well be that way with the PR mod for ArmA 2. I'll play some single player (and create new empty mission with all assets as somebody else suggested) to get used to the game regardless; don't think I'll be able to just jump in and go from there with this one. ---------- Post added at 11:56 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:42 AM ---------- My wife and I bought OFP: Dragon Rising about a year ago for cheap on steam. Server's were pretty dead then, I imagine they're dead now. We did enjoy coop together though (mainly because she would kind of hide behind a tree and I'd get to play the hero ;) ) Obviously if everyone's playing alot of ArmA 2 coop, something has to be working: perhaps getting involved with a clan or experienced players would be the most rewarding experience. I've been in clans before, but now that I'm older, time commitment's always an issue. I'm also going to touch base with the PR:ArmA 2 people and see how things are progressing there.

Great idea, thanks. Any idea why everyone seems to be playing coop only? Coming from Project Reality where team-based (and highly-coordinated command/squad structure) "take and hold" objectives style multiplayer is the norm, I found the one or two coop games pretty underwhelming. I recall at one point I had grabbed an SUV solo, drove around aimlessly and at point blank range, mowed down a platoon of guerillas that crept up on my while I was in the drivers seat looking the wrong way. It just seemed like if that was a real squad of players, let alone a platoon, I wouldn't been hosed at that distance.

Just bought the Steam pack with ArmA 2 and Operation Arrowhead (think it was the Combined Arms deal). Having played multiplayer shooters (tactical as well as action shooters) since Doom dial-up days, I figured I could jump right in to the public servers after going through the tutorials and... wow, what is going on? First of all, all the servers seem to be coop. Secondly, I have no idea what's going on in game as far as who's who, what the objectives are, who's my squad leader, and so on. Seems to be a giant clusterf*ck. Is there a good MP FAQ I should be reading? Where should I start? Single player? I usually skip the single player, but perhaps I shouldn't?

For anyone experiencing this issue, check your DirectDraw Acceleration settings under the Display tab in dxdiag. For some reason, mine was disabled. No idea why, but I re-enabled it, and started Arma 2 1.02 no problem.