Case for Removing Carts on Hightower (w/ Poll)

[Jesus saves at Walmart 0 / 331]

Who am I?

 

Hello everyone, I'm Jesus saves at Walmart. I previously was an admin and a leadership member for Prestige Gaming's (pG's) TF2 servers before they merged with EGO, and I've come back to TF2 after a few years' break. I exclusively played Hightower, and I was able to get to rank 38 on the pG server playing primarily Heavy. 

 

However, when pG merged with EGO, the servers became desolate, and I found GFL's Hightower server through an old friend, Lord Exor (previously Spawn Camping Heavy). I really enjoy the server, and I'm eager to rank up and play on the server. However, the server has the potential for even greater success, and all it would take is to remove the carts on the vanilla Hightower server.

 

Why Remove the Carts?

Removing the carts on Hightower would strictly benefit the server. My reasoning is below.

 

1.) Carts disrupt the flow of the map.

As a 24/7 server, there is no time incentive to capture the points. Thus, assuming the points are never captured, it is fair to assume the server is a limitless TDM server. However, when carts are captured, they immediately disrupt the players' fights on the server, scramble the teams, and force the map to reset. I argue that it is incredibly unfun to have a fight interrupted by the capturing of a cart, and having the match restart and teams scramble simply hinders people's enjoyment. Removing the carts would maintain the TDM nature of the server and provide minimal interruptions to gameplay, which is what people play Hightower for to begin with.

 

2.) The majority of players dislike carts

Because it is a 24/7 TDM server by nature, whenever a cart is in the process of being captured, players complain and prioritize killing the person capturing the cart. Whenever a cart is successfully captured, an overwhelming majority of players express their dissatisfaction, condemning the person capturing for doing so. In addition, several people disconnect from the server whenever a point is captured, which is an indication that capturing the point is ruining their experience on the server. I've spoken with several people on the server, and it is accurate to say that the majority of players would approve of the removal of carts. If carts were to be remove, not only would it make the players happier, but it would increase player retention and make people more likely to return to the server in the future.

 

3.) No carts is healthier for new Hightower players

From my years of experience on Hightower servers, it is a general consensus between experienced Hightower players that the purpose of the server is TDM, not to play the objective. However, newer players are not aware of this generally understood fact, and they understandably start focusing the objective on the server. This is often met with harassment by the experienced players, which ends up making the new players upset and often leave the server, never to return. If carts were to be removed, this conflict between the player base would cease to exist, and newer Hightower players would be more inclined to stay and return to the server.

 

4.) The server is not a stock server, so removing carts does not violate the server's purpose

I spoke with Mejilla about removing the carts recently, and one of her arguments against removing the carts was that the server was intended to be a default server with no modifications. However, this is not true because the server is already modified. Random crits are disabled and bullet spread is normalized on the server, so it is not a true stock server. Additionally, I would argue that because random crits were removed to improve player experience and competition, it is not only logical but necessary to remove carts for the exact same reasons.

 

5.) The removal of carts provides the server with an identity

Prestige Gaming's Hightower server was well known for its lack of carts and competitive atmosphere, which allowed for a dedicated subculture to form and thrive on the server for several years. The players were able to separate pG's Hightower server from other servers because the carts were absent. If the carts were to be removed from your server, then that would help separate GFL's server from other generic Hightower server. Standing out and having an identity would improve the server's overall popularity and encourage players to return to the server in the future.

 

Closing Remarks

I know this was a massive wall of text, and I tried my best to make it legible. If you read to this point, thank you. Feel free to reach out to me at all about this issue.

 

- Jesus saves at Walmart

 

 

 

Edited November 5, 2019 by Jesus saves at Walmart

[Liloz01 1,256 / 19,835]

 

HT3 incoming without carts, rtd, etc.

[Ben 2,378 / 31,861]

[K4 da bae4 18 / 980]

hightower 2 doesnt have carts and is a cooler map  92.119.148.1:27015 check it out

[Toxic 291 / 0]

I mean, Hightower without carts is essentially just a FFA where you can screw around with stuff. (Hightower 2) I'd say just leave it how it is since we already have a server like that! (read above)  

Edited November 5, 2019 by _Toxic_

[Jesus saves at Walmart 0 / 331]

I would like to say that Hightower 2 is not an argument valid for this, because Hightower 2 has RTD, and is not a fair or competitive environment, nor is it as popular as Hightower 1. If I wanted a RTD server, I would play on Hightower 2, not 1.

 

39 minutes ago, K4 da bae4 said:

hightower 2 doesnt have carts and is a cooler map  92.119.148.1:27015 check it out

It also has RTD, which is not a true TDM. Nor is it as popular.

Edited November 5, 2019 by Jesus saves at Walmart

[Pedro 249 / 6,080]

It seems like we are at a stand still, but alas we have a solution! As Liloz said there will be a third HighTower server coming with no carts and no rtd. Stay tuned for more updates.