So I've been playing on NA1 frequently since 2012 and it's honestly one of my favorite servers on this game, so it really hurts to see it struggle to maintain a strong player base. I have some suggestions, though I'm sure some of them are unattainable or silly, but whatever. First I'd like to explain some of the issues I've seen others have with NA1, as well as some issues I've had with it as well.
1. The rounds take forever (when 200 people are on).
A lot of us who are members of a regiment and go to line battles frequently might be used to it, but it doesn't make it any less frustrating. Often times if I'm lucky enough to have a reg member play on NA1 they leave rather quickly cause they "hate NA1" usually this is because they got shot by some pub named Vasily Zaytsev across the map and now they have to sit in spec for however long it takes for one team to kill the guy hiding in the bush.
The rounds are 7 minutes long. They have been since i made the change years ago. As was knocking it down to 8 from 10. 7 is a good balance between too long and too short.
2. The Admins are "too strict"
I understand that there are rules that have been in place since the server was still US1, and this has been argued since Mack was a young boy during Prohibition, but I think there could be some wiggle room in terms of the enforcement of some rules on the server. For instance, I've talked to a lot of the admins of NA1 over the years and I'm friends with a lot and they've told me that they enforce rules differently than others. Not that they choose not to enforce the rules, just different punishments. One admin might slay and kick for a slur, while another will perm ban with no warning. One might just slay for teamwounding every round, while another will temp ban.
The admins are allowed wiggle room depending on the situation. I allow my staff to use their discretion depending on what happened. There are limits to how far they go one way or another and there are guide lines they should follow. There are times the guide lines should be ignored and common sense taken into account.(one wouldn't slay a mass teamkiller, one would skip all those steps and go straight to ban)
As your average pub generally just gets on and play, they don't see everything nor know what is going on. Yes, you see what is going on in server and may catch incidents but you don't know the history of a person or what was happening before you got on.(or while you were away for being afk) You see a random perm ban for teamwounding and think it is wrong when the guy has been warned 3 times for teamwounding before. You just don't know it and assume the ban was unjustified.
The only time we insta banned first time offenders without warning was for slurs, and that was in the first few months of 2013. That has since been changed. The person/server is warned and after that point any one using them is ban on sight. repeat offenders are ban on sight. continue rule breaking by the same person or server wide will lead to longer bans.(aka perma/log from temp bans) after a certain amount of time i consider the warning for the server outdated and when someone breaks the rule, they/server are warned again. the person who is warned for slurs gets that one warning. their warning never expires and the next time they use a slur, they are banned. similar for other rules.
if you think someone is just abusing their power, then report it to me with the proper evidence. I will point out now a key difference between not liking something and it being justified. People seem to get these 2 confused quite often. You may think how a rule is enforced to be stupid, dumb, the worst thing on the planet but that doesn't mean it is unjustified. Someone intentionally teamkills and it was their first offense; they get slayed. There are no other incidents, factors, or prior rule breaking that would require it to be treated any harsher than it was. Same scenario but they were perm banned. That would be something to report to me about.
if you think a rule should be changed or how it is enforced, talk to vince. attacking the admin staff is not the proper way to handle it. same goes for admin complaints. rather than make things worse, just get your evidence and bring it to me via PMs here. Insulting or otherwise harassing the admin because you disagree or don't like with what they are doing will only make things worse.
3. The maps suck (some of them)
The rotation is nice, as long as you get good maps in it. For every French Farm, there is Dust2. Some of the maps are good for a small amount of people, some are only good when there is 150+,
Not too sure how to fix it since it's pretty subjective, but I thought I'd put it down anyway.
Yep, it is indeed subjective. a map you may love others may hate. and i have gone through and removed most of large maps. The largest map left is river crossing.(not my RC map) I did that about a month ago. When the pop is large enough and stays large enough, i will put them back in.(the average pop has gone up this last week)
4. Speaking of admins, where are the admins?
Now this might just be me because I go on NA1 at off times generally, but it often seems the case that when I go pubbin' with the homie Mack, he's the only admin that hops on anymore. I don't know if this is just bad luck on our part, or if the other admins are inactive, but I think the biggest way to keep NA1 populated is just by having admins there.
There are other admins who are active. I get on during the peak hours, as do a few other admins. While i have learned how to whitelist admins, that does not mean i will be adding new admins willy nilly. There has to be a need and want for new admins.(and speaking generally, a good candidate. not going to grab someone just because they applied.)
another general thought. i will also point out, throwing a temper tantrum because you were not picked at the time is in itself a good reason for you not to be an admin. people overestimate how much support they have and forget any detractors they may have then whine to me or whine about me because they were not picked. i have stumbled across a fair amount in the logs every time new admins are added over the years.
5. The melee speed is too slow! just right.
Look here tryhards, if you can't beat a pub on medium speed, maybe you should head on over to the kiddy pool (NA GFing) where they'll dress you up with a helmet and knee pads so you don't hurt yourself when someone accidentally chambers you. The server has been on medium speed forever, and I don't really see the point of changing it. Now if you wanted to talk about getting rid of cav, we have something to work with. ^.^
melee speed has been discusses before, talk to vince if you want it changed.(speaking generally, not at you salt)
6. ADMIN! THAT GUY SPAMMING ABOUT HIS MY LITTLE PONY REG IS STEALING ALL MY RECRUITS!
Now this issue is dear to my heart. Having only one message per regiment per map for recruiting is like saying you can only hire one of the guys standing in front of the Home Depot and you can't even check to see if they smell funny or not. But I digress, the one message per map rule kind of forces regiments to go in the wrong direction of recuiting: mass appeal recruiting messages as if you were trying to call them out on twitter.
Seriously, it's this bullshit: Are you looking for a FUN and MATURE regiment to teach you about the drastic changes going on in your body? Look no further than the 63e 3eVolt 71st! MUST BE 27 YEARS OLD WITH A MORTGAGE, FAMILY AND AT LEAST TWO DIFFERENT KINDS OF DOGS!
Not the most effective way of bolstering your ranks. By far the most effective way of recruiting is by personally appealing to someone in the chat, but it can kind of be like playing Russia Roulette where you hope you have someone who is actually looking for a reg, and not someone who has PTSD from the one event they went to with Fireboy in it.
So how do we fix it without turning NA1 into a giant pool of piss Bud Light? Admin discretion would be nice. When admins aren't on, the messages get spammed anyway, but when the admins are on, (generally when there is a fuck ton of people on NA1) I think it'd be nice if the admins would let people recruit as long as it doesn't become overly ridiculous.
The most effective way has been and always will be giving a good impression to someone. AKA having you or your reg slaughter people in mass while
not breaking the rules. I seen more people want to join a reg because that reg/person just destroyed half of the enemy team by themselves than a single recruitment message by it self.(which timed with killing the enemy in mass is a good way to get many recruits.) sure the standard message works, but combining it with a show of skill is better. the pub lb is a great place to recruit. the pubs get to experience what a lb is like and you get to show off your regiment.(you can recruit there. same rec rule as always.)
as for allowing more messages per map. personally, no thanks. Na1 gets enough of those as is. many people would actually like to have them be disallowed all together. if the rule was to allow more than 1, say 2 or 3, then the admins have to go out of their way to try and count every message for every regiment/army/clan/whatever. then reset that count every map. meanwhile, you do this for the 5,10, 20, whatever number of groups on the server and it adds up quick. at that point, you are just giving the admins busy work and annoying every pub(or regiment members) on the server who could care less about joining or they just want to play the game. what one admin considers to be too many messages another may think that it is just fine. you don't have a standard. then we have to make a rule set just for this so that the admins are on the same page.
the 1 message has worked. it is fair to all. It is a nice balance between the 2 sides and is a clear and simple standard to follow and enforce. There is no guessing, there is no debates about how many we should allow "right now".(as in that instance of time) the rule has to be practical to be enforced otherwise what is the point in having it? keeping track of the 1 message a map is difficult enough in a busy server. the admins are players as well. They aren't paid to sit there and just babysit. They are vol. who want to play and admin the server. you have to keep this in mind when you suggest changes. and sadly something as much as they are ideal, aren't practical. and at the end of the day, vince decides the rules and how they are enforced.
if someone/some group are repeatedly breaking the recruitment rule, make a ban request. i don't have any trouble banning a group of rule breakers.
if you want a rule changed, talk to vince. if you have an admin complaint, send it to me via PM here on the forums and bring any evidence/witnesses along.