West Coast Payload Stocks Has Been Terrible.

[Samuel L. Bronkowitz 1]

It's been well over a month now, and the map rotation is down to two maps, and there's no voting at all. I've got to just come right out and say it: WC Payload Stocks is crap these days.

I donated because that server in particular had a great crowd, good donator privs, and ran fairly stable. It might have occasionally crashed, but when it did, it typically filled up within three minutes on most nights. So, I'm feeling kind of disappointed in Lotus at this point.

Not to mention, the automatic renewal on donations seems kind of skeevy to have appeared all of a sudden. Yes, there was notification, but it seems like desperation. If things with Payload Stocks get fixed, I might not be as inclined to cancel before that next renewal comes up. As it is now, I've played a lot less TF in the past month and a half.

[.P.u.l.s.e. 0]

That is so true, it has been such a great disappointment. I still play on it but its not even as fun as before. The same maps over and over time to change it up. Luckily a lot of good player have not given up on it. I think it do to the great competitive games that go on in there. But it is dying out little by little.

[Mana 3,867]

It is doing pretty good. Better than before the move.

http://www.gametracker.com/server_info/38.105.22.116:27015/ (#9)

I'll add 1 more map for now, in this case, pl_upward to see how that goes.

If that doesn't go so well, perhaps it will just become Badwater/Goldrush instead .

[Samuel L. Bronkowitz 1]

It is doing pretty good. Better than before the move.

http://www.gametrack...5.22.116:27015/ (#9)

I'll add 1 more map for now, in this case, pl_upward to see how that goes.

If that doesn't go so well, perhaps it will just become Badwater/Goldrush instead .

Unfortunately, I guess as a player I'm more interested in an active community of regular players as opposed to keeping mic-less hordes moving in and out based on some ranking system that doesn't matter when I look at the server list in game. I've probably spent $75 on donations to Lotus Clan this year, and I don't feel like you value the actual regular players at all.

It looks like my donator privs are paid for through the first of February, and I just went and cancelled the auto renewal. I'll keep playing on the servers until then, but suspect I might find a new "home" for my TF2 gaming after that point.

The whole point to donating is to be able to jump on and play with your friends when you want to, and they're on, but now far fewer of them are actually still on the server because it's gone so far downhill. So with fewer of the 15+ friends I would play on Payload Stocks with regularly still around, my reason to keep donating goes down too. Sure, I can usually find 2-3 of them there now, but it used to be 5-10 people most of which donated. Logistically, it just doesn't make any sense to keep going if "management" isn't going to pay attention.

[Mana 3,867]

Unfortunately, I guess as a player I'm more interested in an active community of regular players as opposed to keeping mic-less hordes moving in and out based on some ranking system that doesn't matter when I look at the server list in game. I've probably spent $75 on donations to Lotus Clan this year, and I don't feel like you value the actual regular players at all.

Not like these regulars would play on this server if there weren't lots of random players on them.

When the server got moved those so called regulars choose to play on other servers instead of helping repopulate this one.

That's the whole reason for why I changed the mapcycle to begin with, to attract new players because the "regulars" moved away.

If not for those "mic-less hordes moving in and out" you wouldn't have anyone to play with.

In the end, it doesn't matter. There's a duplicate of this server running on the TF2 beta.

http://www.gametracker.com/server_info/38.105.22.114:27025/

If Payload Stocks server becomes less popular due to more maps being added then it will be renamed and the beta server will be its successor.

I won't be having 2 Goldrush/Badwater servers on the west coast.

[Kraken 0]

Bronkowitz -

I highly recommend trying the Chicago Payload Stocks. There is a great community of regulars there.

I've settled on Payload as the most fun in TF2, and really dig the map rotation on Chicago Payload Stocks. Many players have microphones and team play is pretty good. I used to play Badwater and Goldrush servers mostly but have grown to really enjoy Upward and Hightower too. Say hello when you join and be ready for some ubers or kritzes

Mana - many thanks for your great work. If there's better servers for TF2 I'm not aware of them, and may never know because I don't need to look elsewhere

[Samuel L. Bronkowitz 1]

Bronkowitz -

I highly recommend trying the Chicago Payload Stocks. There is a great community of regulars there.

I've settled on Payload as the most fun in TF2, and really dig the map rotation on Chicago Payload Stocks. Many players have microphones and team play is pretty good. I used to play Badwater and Goldrush servers mostly but have grown to really enjoy Upward and Hightower too. Say hello when you join and be ready for some ubers or kritzes

Mana - many thanks for your great work. If there's better servers for TF2 I'm not aware of them, and may never know because I don't need to look elsewhere

I actually played on Chicago a few nights ago. It did seem like a really good crowd. It's a lot like WC Payloads was three months ago. I just made my friends on the WC server. I'll try playing on Chicago tonight if my ping holds up well enough. If Lotus/Mana wants to make WCPS a dustbowl/goldrush, just name it that I suppose. Calling it Payload Stocks just seems misleading now. Rename it, and maybe the other people I played with will move to Chicago too. Then, things might be worth my donation money again.

EDIT: I guess the frustrating part to all this is that WCPS was so much better than it is now, and it just took a serious dive. Games are cyclical when it comes to regular players, because of new games that come out, but it just seemed like during a low cycle everything got changed to seek out a quick fix. And when people returned, it wasn't nearly as good as it was before.

Edited December 15, 2010 by Samuel L. Bronkowitz