Humorous, With Attention To Mana

[Lumix 1]

Alright.

So I am actually writing this to Mana (and I want you to pay close attention to the responses of the so called "donator community" that troll Lotus.) As an admin for the Lotus servers I understand that your primary concern is making sure the servers are running and that botters/hackers/cheaters are dealt with swiftly.

But that is not my problem, any admin in their right mind would kick and ban a cheater no questions asked.

So here is where I begin my complaint, and I am trying to keep it as formal as possible with such an informal community. I do find the Lotus TF2 servers as being some of the best around, one can only handle so much 24/7 2Fort or 24/7 Gold Rush et cetera, but the donator community that troll the Lotus Clan servers in TF2 are some of the most asshole people I have ever had the chance of playing with - especially on Stock Maps #2. Yes, I do complain quite a bit when in game and it usually becomes worse around the same that the one entire team is a team of donators doing every lame trick in the book and having no common courtesy whatsoever - all they care about are stats and making it miserable for any random puggers that come through.

So I am going to give you an example from tonight that has really left a bad taste in my mouth that I wonder if the Lotus Clan's reputation is worth being tainted by your donator community for, and the examples is as follows:

I log in, teams are stacked (obviously), play a few rounds, never get out of the spawn because of all the spawn raping. At some point its 10 puggers versus 15 donators that play regularly. So I opt to initiate a strike against the donators by going into spectate - not even 10 seconds after that one of your admins/donators initiated a "kick Lumix for spectating." At this point I just laugh, get booted, come back and laugh again because this is the douchy stuff that is a regular occurrence on Lotus Clan 2. So, I shut up for the most part and just play - low and behold my demeanor is calm and I am actually playing better what-do-you-know. About the time we pushed, US puggers, pushed the donators to the last point, I see someone initiate a ban with the verbage of "Ban Lumix for complaining and coming back daily," (not the exact verbage but very close.)

So Mana, I dont know how you are or how you handle these matters, or even if you care at all. But I will weigh YOUR response and your response only regarding Lotus Clan on TF2. I suspect in the future if nothing is done about this problem now that those puggers that brought a community to your servers will cease to be - I for one will not be returning to ANY Lotus Clan server; they are good, but they are not the only ones that are out there and frankly all Valve games are phase games to me.

-Lumix

[Spartan_0214 18]

Sorry, mate. We get a little annoyed at people who sit in spec as opposed to play on the servers. If you're sitting in spec, that's a slot on the server that a potential player may want to play on. Someone who won't just sit in spec and complain about teams, but rather do something about teams by going medic or trying to get the team to communicate. Unfortunately, sitting in spec rubs us the wrong way, so we kick you. I try to only kick so that you can come back relatively quick. Kinda try to get the point across that the server doesn't like that behavior. You seem to not understand this. So, either start playing on the opposite team, or join any of the multitudes of Lotus Clan servers. There are four Stock Maps servers in the US alone, a few 24/7 servers, and a handful of Arena servers.

I am the one that voted to kick you for the reasons above. I did not, however, initiate the ban. They hardly ever work anyway, despite the fact that it's only a 30-minute ban, not a perma-ban.

I would also like to remind you that there were a good deal of Lotus members on the team. That was not just donators that wanted you off the server. Those were bona-fide MEMBERS that wanted you off the server.

[+Henry Spencer 117]

Most donators are douchebags, myself included. I don't call BS votes though, because heyyyy, we've had people banned for that shit before!

The only time spectating for any length of time would be considered "bad" in my book is when the server is at max capacity, i.e. 16 vs. 17. People do it all the time to wait for a spot to free up on the stacked team. /shrug

Stock 2 has been especially shitty for the past few months, ever since phantom and his merry band of faggots migrated from Stock 1 to 2.

[Victoreem the V of doom 30]

Most donators are douchebags,

Stock 2 has been especially shitty for the past few months, ever since phantom and his merry band of faggots migrated from Stock 1 to 2.

Thats correct jimmy!!! 2 points

[Melissia 7]

Hell, if the team is communicating-- whether through text or through talk-- I'll not try and switch back to the other team if I'm autobalanced. But most of the time it's only the team with donaters that's actually communicating. The other team is just a bunch of noobs running around with their heads cut off (nowadays, quite literally).

[Graedus 9]

It's really not that hard to beat the "stacked" team... Let them waste their kritz on the doors when they open and then charge out with a few ubers. Like Melissia said, it just takes a little communication. I'll stick on the "bad" team if people are communicating and actually trying.

...I still need my eyelander D:

[Orange 0]

Lumix>lol all you get is a simple sorry. Anyways, good try in getting some "justice"

[+Henry Spencer 117]

What sucks about being on the non-stacked team is on CTF maps, people cap the intel twice, then hang onto the 3rd for 35+ minutes. Even though I'm always on the stacked team, this is annoying as fuck because I don't really give a damn about my rank, and killing mostly defenseless people still stuck in their spawn isn't that appealing, although it seems to be for everyone else (even on 2fort!).

[Paul Bunyan 13]

Well I haven't played in a long long time, or even been to the forums, but I see nothing has changed.

Still people complaining, and nobody giving a shit. Cheers!

[Victoreem the V of doom 30]

The other team is just a bunch of noobs running around with their heads cut off (nowadays, quite literally).

Just to clarify, Melissia means that she went around cutting peoples dicks off and collected them for her scrap book now currently on display somewhere on the interwebz. Not people who have been owned by the "eyelander".

No thanks necessary

[Spartan_0214 18]

What sucks about being on the non-stacked team is on CTF maps, people cap the intel twice, then hang onto the 3rd for 35+ minutes. Even though I'm always on the stacked team, this is annoying as fuck because I don't really give a damn about my rank, and killing mostly defenseless people still stuck in their spawn isn't that appealing, although it seems to be for everyone else (even on 2fort!).

This is more for the engineers than anything. We would dominate the map regardless. The retaining of the intel makes it easier on the critical engineers on the team to not have to rebuild every round.

[Melissia 7]

No, if the other team actually organized and did things intelligently, you'd have a better game. It isn't a matter of it being stacked insomuch as people not sucking and actually participating as a team (you know, Team Fortress 2?). I know I've been on teams that were whipping the "stacked" team's ass for several hours.

[Oww My Nose 19]

ya. it's a bitch to get your shit almost all up, then win the game, then have to re-do it hoping for better competition next round (even though you know there won't be any)

[TheKiller3K 0]

Seriously the other team just needs to cooperate and actually work as a TEAM !

but i know sometimes we do camp spawns but all you guys have to do is have one good uber charge and then your free

[kuttlewug 28]

At this point I just laugh, get booted, come back and laugh again because this is the douchy stuff that is a regular occurrence on Lotus Clan 2.

If this has occured before for you why did you go back(clearly several times) to the server? You must have known you'd just get more pissed off going back?

[Mana 3,867]

I have ever had the chance of playing with - especially on Stock Maps #2.

Stock #2 has no crits, no random damage and it's not even that popular. Out of all our servers it's current rank seems to be around #11. So there's 10 Lotus servers before Stock #2 that are more popular. But Stock #2 was never really too popular, due to it having no random damage and no crits.

At some point its 10 puggers versus 15 donators that play regularly.

I seriously doubt that there were 15 donators, not that lucky. Infact I even get a message in "ERROR" logs when donator/admin count goes over 16 (servers are 16vs17 max). If I actually saw the donator count being at 15 then I could come up with some fun plugin ideas like "15 donators vs 18 non donators".

So I opt to initiate a strike against the donators by going into spectate - not even 10 seconds after that one of your admins/donators initiated a "kick Lumix for spectating."

10 seconds? Well, that is indeed a very short time, but I do personally hate people who waste slots by going into spectate because they can't work as a team. At that point might as well disconnect and have someone else join, perhaps that someone else will have better skill and show the other team how to lose if you can't.

So Mana, I dont know how you are or how you handle these matters, or even if you care at all. But I will weigh YOUR response and your response only regarding Lotus Clan on TF2. I suspect in the future if nothing is done about this problem now that those puggers that brought a community to your servers will cease to be - I for one will not be returning to ANY Lotus Clan server; they are good, but they are not the only ones that are out there and frankly all Valve games are phase games to me.

We have a bunch of TF2 servers, and if this is only a problem on one server then it's not something that I can do much about. In any case, donors can only change team once in 20 mins or so. Also, this can be the one server that has a challenging team which you can bring your friends in and play against. If there's truly 15 donators on and playing then you can rest assured you won't get auto balanced into their team.

Again, I would be pretty happy if "having 15 donators on Lotus servers" became an actual problem, and I would even be motivated to come up with a way to improve the situation .

[Melissia 7]

Besides, it's not like it's an unbeatable team.

[Spartan_0214 18]

I seriously doubt that there were 15 donators, not that lucky. Infact I even get a message in "ERROR" logs when donator/admin count goes over 16 (servers are 16vs17 max). If I actually saw the donator count being at 15 then I could come up with some fun plugin ideas like "15 donators vs 18 non donators".

15 donators vs 18 non-donators? Pshaw, I'm game. Most of the time I play TF2, even if I'm not playing during "Stacked" times, I'm not really trying. Actually working as a team w/ the regulars? I'm up for it.

[+Henry Spencer 117]

There was a day last weekend where it ended up being 15 donators on a team during a round of Steel vs. an ever dwindling number of pubbers. Once the server died completely (i.e. it was like, 2 vs. 15), we all invaded one of the 2fort servers.

[Mana 3,867]

There was a day last weekend where it ended up being 15 donators on a team during a round of Steel vs. an ever dwindling number of pubbers. Once the server died completely (i.e. it was like, 2 vs. 15), we all invaded one of the 2fort servers.

If that truly happens and keeps on happening then autobalance immunity can simply be disabled if team count is 5vs15 or server is under XX players.

Or autobalance immunity could be change to the point system when teams are really uneven, then donors would simply have a lower chance of being balanced, kind of like people who are doing well points wise, but above them.

[Melissia 7]

That sounds like a good idea actually. If people start ragequitting in force and aren't replaced by new players joining, autobalance is about the only way to ensure that people who join in don't immediately quit when they realize that it's stacked so much against them.

I don't really call it stacked teams when the numbers are even, but sometimes it ends up that they just aren't.

[Mana 3,867]

Some awesome effects could be added like lightning hitting the people who will get autobalanced and maybe even sparkles and stuff.

Also explosions.

Or maybe something as simple as "jointeam auto" being sent to dead people in spec/full team if the other team is at 5 players.

But I prefer sparkles. Though even before that I must be shown that this does happen often enough to warrant looking into.

[Melissia 7]

It doesn't appear to happen that often from my memory. I mean the server being emptied. It does occasionally, though.

[tbhe 2]

Lumix, you are about 98% correct in your assessement, and it's not a unique experience (sadly).

Most donors are dicks, mainly because they know they can get away with it. That being said, I just had a similar experience on Stock #2.

My advice: return the favor. Be a dickhead (and if possible, dominate them, it makes them rage harder). This also tends makes you smile and laugh.

Normally, I'm in the "arguing on the net is for retards" camp but the opportunity to get panties in a bunch is just too much to pass up...sometimes.

I've worked this out in a simple but easy to understand formula:

level of douchebaggary = ((# of donators) + (temporal vicinity to 8PM EST)) ^ Lotus clan members on the same team * C

Where C is the fact you're on Stock #2, of course. Usually I define C as 10^4095. Anyways, a little contrived but you get the idea.

My other, more pragmatic advice: stay away from Stocks #2, stick to #3 or one of the other great Lotus servers! Let the scrubs and douchebags douche up Stocks #2.

[Victoreem the V of doom 30]

Actually most of us aren't douche bags. Some are assholes, dicks, fags, and cock munches.

Your ability to dominate any donator worth his salt is probably a fluke.

...and the 15 v 18, donators vs scrub...YEAH DIS ROX DO IET