I just want to start off by saying that I have nothing against llenta or anyone here in this community.  If the server did not hinder anything about how people play then I would ask you to compare how pDs did in past scrims when the tomb or crypt was modded and compare them to now . We have won more since we went unmodded then we did when we were modded. We have never won a tournament or scrim before for as long as I have been here in this clan. However since the Crypt was gone we have had pDs win against such clans as FK as well as other respectable clans in HL2 DM. Also if you were to say it was the players fault we lost then are you saying that the players had a lack of skill? I do believe that modded hinders our  players especially since mostly everyone who plays on the crypt uses the xbow.  If you would like to prove me wrong then I would ask someone in this clan who always plays on a modded server go verse another clan member unmodded. Then post the results. 

  Another thing is that the Crypt is seen as a noob server to the HL2 DM community. Some examples of that would be the fact that when we first start out we find the easiest server to play on. Thus the Crypt and old Tomb were the best bet. Llenta also said that in his post about when he first started to play he found the crypt and stayed.  It was the same with me.  I do believe that it destroys how players play in unmodded servers.

Also if it is the people that make people stay then what does it matter?

Even Dick talked about how the crypt  takes away from peoples skills when he said
     "One of the biggest things I disagree with is that the Crypt does not attract skilled players. I'm sure there are some hardcore HL2DM           players out there who would never play on the Crypt but fuck them if they are scared to have fun because they are paranoid about                     eroding their 31337 skillz."

SO I vote ummodded

To make my position more clear, I believe the Crypt settings may temporarily detract from some peoples ability to play vanilla HL2DM. If you only ever play on the Crypt and then try to go play on an unmodded server it will take you a bit to adapt. The Crypt is really not THAT different from an unmodded server. For those of us who have been around the block a few times it's not as big a deal to switch up settings, for people who are newer to the FPS genre it might take them a little longer.

That said, I actually believe the Crypt improves player ability as well - when a single hit can take you down you learn to dodge like a motherfucker. That's one of my biggest complaints since the Crypt has gone down, it's no fun shooting fish in a barrel. Additionally, a lot of vanilla DM players don't use the xbow, but when you play on the Crypt you learn to kick ass with it which of course can come in handy in standard DM.
 I also think it tends to make some of us more aggressive - you feel a lot more confident running around with lower health if you've got 10 bolts in your xbow and are more likely to try and fuck shit up because 50 health vs. 100 health isn't as big of a deal - because of this subtle change you get a lot more experience fighting multiple people at the same time, it becomes less intimidating to take on an entire room full of enemies.

There are plenty of unmodded servers out there, considering how fun and popular the Crypt customizations are it seems like such a waste to sacrifice it just to run another vanilla server.
Also, I think the reason the Crypt attracts a lot of new people isn't because it has any kind of a reputation as a place for noobs/people who suck but because many people enjoy large battles, especially when they are new to a game. When you sort the server list by players and the Crypt is up there at the top it stands out - that's how I found The Tomb back in the day. I also think we are generally pretty welcoming to new people, I know I try and give people who obviously don't know what they are doing some pointers on how to not suck so bad, I've seen others do the same thing. Obviously that wouldn't go away if we got rid of the modifications, but what would go away is the amount of people who keep coming to our server. We'd throw away our differentiation, people who come to the Crypt would find a server like every other and have less of a reason to keep coming back.

However you do  not see my point about if it takes some time to adapt then why can't people adapt for scrims. Why did pDs get its butt handed to it more then once in a scrim? I think personally it is not the fact that if people can adapt. I think people just plain out are not as good as they could be.

The Mag takes you down with one hit as well and I learn that in unmodded one would learn how to avoid that.

Also how can using the Xbow in regular DM help? It is not the same strength. 

You also talked about the amount of people being one of the main things to attract people to the Crypt. Well that will not be changed either way. I never said that the reason noobs play on our server is because of the people that play there. I said it because it is easier to play on the crypt with the mods.

You also talk about having differentiation but the crypt is not  much different then the HAX server since we have some of the same mods.
So it goes back to the kind of people that play on the server that keeps the people there. That is what kept me here when I first started to play. I started with Nate and Alow always goofing off. I loved it.

by the way Dick. I read your blog and I find it interesting what is written about the troops and the mega bases. I do  not mean to bash you or say your wrong. I respect you as a player and a person but I just do  not agree with this topic. I hope this will not hinder your view of me.

I don't know why we've gotten our butt handed to us, my impression is that not all of us are that into competitive play and that we have a wide range of skills. I know I got burned out on competitive matches years ago. Maybe we need to figure out who are strongest players are and field a team based on that. When I used to play competitively we grouped people by ability and everyone agreed that only those in the top group would play in matches against real adversaries unless we were short players. We also did lots of training and practiced a fair amount. I agree that people are not as good as they could be, some of us don't want to be as good as we can be because getting there isn't fun or doesn't fit our schedules.

Re: the xbow in regular DM - I was talking more about getting good with it and thus it becoming a more useful weapon. If you played on a server where the RPG was boosted somehow and thus became the dominant weapon used you would get a lot better with it - then when you went back to a regular server you would be better with it even though it wasn't boosted anymore. The xbow doesn't get used a whole lot on unmodded servers and experience on the Crypt is directly transferable to rocking a normal xbow. It impresses the noobs at least when you can mow a bunch of them down with it.

Re: Differentiation - I'd say the Crypt is a lot different than HAX. I don't know how the mods are different between the two but it feels a lot different to me, maybe it really is just the superxbow+the regular Crypt crowd that does it for me.

Re: My blog - I am not sure what specifically you are talking about? 

I was not referring to the change in the xbow but the change in the gameplay dynamic. the super xbow provides a force multiplier that acts as a balancing effect making 1 vs. many fights a lot more feasible. the skills developed from engaging in these types of activities in turn improve skill on unmodded servers. Back in the day when I played UT competitively part of our training would be to go 1 vs. many - you learn a different style of fighting from it.

I think you may be misunderstanding my point re: the RPG - I was not saying it should be modded. What I was trying to get at is that if you use a weapon a lot you get good at it. If you are good at a weapon that a lot of people aren't good at you have an edge on them. Modding a weapon to make it stronger means you use it more means you get good at means you are still good at it when it isnt modded. I personally find an xbow hit followed up with some shotgun action to be damn effective. xbow is also great at deterring people since they see it flying around them and bouncing off the ground in front of them. It still has its uses on an unmodded server. The larger point I've been trying to make is that the Crypt may degrade some skills to varying degrees but it also improves other skills.






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You really think our troops are lazy? That seems seriously fucked up man, do you have personal knowledge to back that up?

Dude you have a sick way of twisting things. No I think that they should not be all in mega bases. Not that they are lazy. I have family members that gave their lives for this country dude. I also was considering joining the armed forces as well. Anyway back to the topic at hand.  I have nothing against you and I even read your stupid blog that you say no one reads. Also this is your blog after all. I just do  not like the mega bases. However I am not informed and according to your blog you make them look really bad. I think our troops give their freaking lives for us and I am thankful for them. I agree with you that the people responsible for that article need to get out of their freaking offices and see for real what is going on over there. My cousin just got back form Iraq. Same with a good friend of mine. 

The RPG was an example. You used a bad example in other words. You took weapon that already did total damage and made it stronger.
The xbow does not do nearly as much damage on an unmodded server then as it does on the crypt.  Unlike an RPG.

I also agree that the xbow can be a good tool with the shoti but how can one get used to using them together on a modded server. So therefore the server would need to be unmodded to learn how to do that. The xbow  would kill the person before  you can even get the shoti out on the crypt. I do agree that the crypt takes skill to play every once in a while but most of that skill is based on either avoiding the xbow or using the xbow.

To be honest I just stated why I think it should be unmodded. I have nothing else to say because I think this got out of hand. I am sorry for those who are reading this.

One sever.