The Current State of BZ2

[TwinShadow]

The Current State of BZ2
In my own opinion. These views are mine, and mine only. Take it or leave it, but don't criticize me for how I think on things.

Wow, where do I begin? Let's start from the beginning, a time when I first got into BZ2.

Many years ago, my cousin first showed me the game when I was at his house and I played through the first two or so missions. I thought, 'Hey, this is pretty cool, I want this.' So, later on, I managed to get my own copy and start having fun. Months later, I started to dive into the multiplayer universe. Being on a dial-up wasn't necessarily pretty at the time, but it worked for the most part. I knew nothing much about base building, any strategies or anything... I was more as a support, or wingman in some regard.

Fast forward a bit and here we are with the Starfleet Platoon Clan. I saw quite a few clan tags at the time, but its also where I met some really good friends. WhiteDove, Sonic, Kalshion, Tempest Storm, Boj-Man, and many others. During this time, I was under the name ScionCrow, which to my knowledge, was the Scion Dropship name. This was a name I stuck with for many years, until I got heavily into anime, and by this time.. BZ2 was on a dieing course. SFP became a fan club, and I readily became to be known as Shippo, from Inuyasha.

Over the course of the years, I've seen people come and go. Boj-Man dropped off the radar and I don't believe anyone heard from him. WhiteDove dropped completely off, Condor hasn't been seen in ages, etc... But some of the faithful player-base does remain, including myself, to some degree. It is understandable people do move on to other things, or real life gets in the way of things.. I've left places to never go back to myself, even former games I used to play.

Then came the day SFP closed its doors for good, only leaving an archive page for the SF Mod, and Sonic's Expansion Packs. Very few clans remained active during this time. The only one I recall that appears to still be active is the BaC clan, but I may be wrong.. Point is, only a very small handful are available, but most of the community is now made up of mostly modders and a few dedicated players.

Jumping time again to the present, we get into the state of things. So, what do I think? Hm.. its not an easy question to answer. I've thought about this over the course since 1.3 PB3 or so, and that's a couple years to think. The community state is deplorable, and its dropping fast.. The way things are is abysmal, and if things don't turn around, BZ2 will die. Nielk1 has told me a few times he hopes to try and bring the community back together somehow, but he does have a challenging road to face to attain that goal.

I enjoyed my time with BZ2, testing out UEP, and for a short while, the 1.3 Private Beta. But I'm afraid I don't really want to put forth my time again into BZ2 like I have. With accusations flying all over the place, then we have this divide between 1.2 and 1.3 just because of 'a few petty differences' to make a game more functional, it's just pathetic. I no longer think of myself as part of this community... I'm now just a simple player, someone who just plays to relive the nostalgia of a game that could have been well-done for its time. I just don't know what to think about things anymore. Why the accusing? Why DDoS'ing? Can't we all just get along somehow? Well, in a perfect world that would be possible. Sadly, this is not a perfect world... but what's happening now, could set the future of players, and the game, into a spiraling disaster.

Will I be welcomed back to beta testing? Maybe. Do I have my hopes up? No. Though the 1.3 Private Beta was interesting for a while, I don't want back in it. There are actions by certain users, who I will refrain from talking out loud, that I highly disapprove of, and I will have no trouble reporting if the time comes. Some staff even appear to a disorganized mess, if you could even call it that. Some people on staff are good people, but sometimes.. I do have to wonder. I don't even know what keeps this community together anymore... I don't know if its the mods, or the willingness to play... But it definitely has me confused.

Let's just say, what made BZ2 enjoyable is dropping fast, and I mean fatally fast. Mods have come and gone, many ideas never came to fruition, most of the work on many mods is falling onto only just a handful of people.. and people working on 10 different mods at once. I know not everyone has the necessary skills, and that is understandable, but sometimes there's just too much work that needs to be done that nothing gets released. Its a very sad state, and I'm afraid... no one will make a truly enjoyable mod to play.

I just hope something will change soon, otherwise, the downfall of BZ2 is nearing.

Again, everything in here is of my own opinion. If you don't like it, don't criticize me. I've been around BZ2 longer than most people. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, so agree to disagree if you don't like my view of things.

Does this mean I'm back? No, and far from it. I do not intend to return to regular playing of BZ2. Multiplayer just seems to contain a hostile ground that is not welcoming to new players. I'll try to lend a helping hand maybe to some specific people, but otherwise I'm pretty much done with how this community is currently.

[Zero Angel]

I agree with nearly all of the sentiments you posted here.

[Clavin12]

Perhaps the returning of people like you is what the community needs to turn around.

Many people complain of trolls tearing apart the community, but what if it's not their presence, but the lack of good people to balance them that's doing it.

Please come back.

[Ded10c]

Well said, my friend. The best we can hope to do is rise above the petty bickering of a certain few.

[Nielk1]

Many people complain of trolls tearing apart the community, but what if it's not their presence, but the lack of good people to balance them that's doing it.

It is a bit more complicated than that. Trolls troll to troll, this seems to be an ideological difference on the brink of a quasi military affair. That said, I think a lot of people are crazy on every side. Major issue being no side is large enough, hell both together aren't, to be sustained. So, go get some more people.

[index]

every single thing you said in that made sense. ive been playing for 5 days and theres trolls and people who mock others all game long

[Lionsword7]

Agreed.
I, for one, have no clue why I'm still here.
I don't even play BZ2 anymore. I just log on out of boredom.

[Clavin12]

I implore you all to resist the urge to leave. It will only make things worse for those who still wish to sustain a community.

[Nielk1]

every single thing you said in that made sense. ive been playing for 5 days and theres trolls and people who mock others all game long

Oh yea, those... They are a problem.

I was thinking more of the 'other' ones.


I am working on solutions to the complicated nature of patches and mods for the sake of getting some new people who are more invested in playing than anything else. Most ppl that get turned to this game get confused with the patches alone and drop it.

[Zax]

He returns!!! I demand signatures enabled!

[TwinShadow]

I made this post because I've been thinking about making one for a few months, but I could never figure out how to put it in words. Even now I still debate things, but by no means have I returned to actual playing. As I stated, I'm no longer really part of the community here anymore. Much as what other people say, I hadn't intended to return unless some of these 'struggles' are ironed out that everyone can agree to disagree. If people like the 1.2 patch, go for it. If people like 1.3, leave them be to their own games.

It was stated many times before, nothing is stopping anyone from having multiple installations of BZ2.

Much of the info I get were once through BZU, now this forum, and occasionally through BZ2MD. I also get occasional info from Nielk1 through Jabber about situations. I have no reason to doubt his claims, or anyone's for that matter, but time and time again.. I have seen accusations thrown everywhere, and its killing this game.

Regardless, monitoring from the backstage is what I do sometimes, to monitor the current happenings. I guess what doesn't help is that though some mods do get updated, they are updated and buggy and don't function properly.. Sometimes, that can't be helped because well.. sources aren't available and/or lost. Other times... well, that's for the user to decide.

He returns!!! I demand signatures enabled!

I don't really care if they're on or off. I actually haven't intended to put one back anyway, just an avatar and done.

[General BlackDragon]

YAy! TS! <3

*hugs*

[PCG-Oldfart]

In my own way I've been trying to keep BZ 2 alive since 2004 when I was second in command at the EAOutlaws site. Then I was crapped on so I founded the Friendly Online Gamers site and then my current team. I've even offered the game to members for free if they couldn't find it to buy. You can't make someone play a game it doesn't matter how good it is they have to want to try it.

I've started to make a video of the first few levels of IA hoping that would let my team members know that is was a good game. I just haven't had time to complete them and get them uploaded.

[TwinShadow]

I've made a couple videos myself, a couple just real basic base building for both ISDF and Scion, where-as I also made a couple while I was beta testing the UEP. Course now I don't as I focus on other things currently.

[Lionsword7]

I implore you all to resist the urge to leave. It will only make things worse for those who still wish to sustain a community.

True dat.
The problem is that it's hard to remember to log on anymore.