Anyone ever experience truly gross XP whoring to the point where it messes up the entire game? I guess most people will have encountered engineers defusing other engineers’ dynamite so they can gather the points for destroying an objective for themselves, or (had this a couple of times during one game) laying dynamite somewhere and having another engineer come by and quickly arm the charge you just dropped. Played one game today on allied side however where gathering XP points was apparently more important than winning the game; it was clear from Radar that allies were up against a more than able Axis team, which should already prompt allies to tighten up for the Railgun map as it usually means it’ll be hell keeping the opposing team back.
Things were already a little weird on Radar, with multiple people each planting their own dynamite charges at the front entrance (even though to my knowledge it’s only the engineer whose charge actually destroys the objective that gets the points) and then after the gate blows having half the team killed by the rest of the charges going off one by one as the fighting erupts at the front. At that point I went to the side entrance (which was still locked). Wary of mines I advance carefully and start defusing when I find a few have been planted. I’m busy with the second one when out of the corner of my eye I spot about four other allies coming to join me, I believe all of them engineers. Instead of being careful they charge forward toward the door to plant, with one stepping on a third mine dug in right before the door. Had other mines lain in the vicinity the whole group would probably have been wiped out. As it turns out the one engineer, still standing on the last remaining mine, can plant his dynamite while I start defusing the mine under his feet. As the dynamite had been planted at the door I step back, only to see the rest of the group charge in, each wanting to be the first one to add his own packet of dynamite. In the end there were three or four packets planted. The first one blows, and to my amazement I see the entire group charge forward again, pushing each other out of the way to try and be the first to build the command post. Of course there’s still a bunch of ticking charges laying there, which go off shortly after killing all players except for one who’d made it through in one piece and was building the CP.
Since the rest of Radar isn’t really the kind of map where lots of XP points can be gathered things went ok after that. Next up is Railgun though, where upon arriving at the trackswitch I find that only two or three teammates are present to defend as the tug approaches. The rest of the game - or whatever little game there was - is spent shouting for more help as it becomes clear all but those two or three are off trying to be the first to reach any kind of objective that can be built, destroyed, whatever. The Axis team meanwhile is very strong and works great as a group. Eventually those actually interested in playing the map found themselves in a situation whereby most of the team just runs off into the tunnels or to the railgun even when the axis are right at the trackswitch with the tug and are constantly raising it. Even driving the tug back is apparently less important than shoving each other out of the way trying to get to the rebuilt gun controls or to the CP. Needless to say axis finally broke through without too much effort in a few minutes, which as it happens prompts one of the most frustrating things I’ve seen yet in ET: I’d been killed when the axis broke through and was looking through the eyes of a teammate as he ran from the spawnpoint and to the trackswitch, only to witness the player in question (an engineer) ignoring the tug as it drives off in front of him toward the depot yard and instead heading for the command post. Heading for the depot yard as the tug is loaded I hear the voice over announce that a command post has been constructed and that the gun controls have bee destroyed again. Accompanied by only two or three teammates again we’re wholly unable to stop the axis coming back with the tug. They manage to drive it all the way home, where they load the second tug and make for the nearly deserted railgun with it, winning the map. Looking through others’ eyes again at that final instant I see the rest of the team is busy racing teammates for the depot yard flag and messing around the command post.
Ever had XP whoring nightmares like this? I actually thought the worst it could get was at Goldrush, where you often have teammates planting at the truck barriers and repairing the truck when the rest of the team is getting locked up at one of the tank barriers.
(nofi)
First of all it’s great to hear the cheers coming on from your own team who know what you’re doing, and indeed the thought of the enemy engies crapping themselves is pretty swell 
I think my record is about seven or eight plants there. Sometimes it’s even funnier if you get shot at that point by an engineer who then starts to defuse. Had that one time at Battery when I’d dumped a motherload of dynos at the controls in a very short time and got taken out by a single axis engineer; I was laying there on the ground with the “deathcam” pointed right at the gun controls. One of the most hilarious moments ever for me in ET was when I saw the other player looking at the field of dynamite in front of him, then whipping out his pliers and trying to defuse. I could only imagine the look on his face.