I see the skills as a means to an end, not an end in themselves. If I’m playing on a server with XP enabled and I get level 1 soldier using the flamethrower, I would consider taking a panzerfaust as the skill means that I might be more useful to the team with it (as it happens, I’m rubbish with the panzer . . . but the point stands). Or if I’ve got level 4 engineer, I’m going to make use of it by being less cautious around potential minefields and so hopefully avoid getting shot as I pick my way carefully through them. But the benefits they afford are rather small, so I wouldn’t do anything that might be detrimental to the team in order to obtain them. On the other hand, if we’re attacking on Fuel Dump and I’m in contact (via TS, say) with another engineer, and one of us has level 3 but the other is a few points short, we’ll arrange is so that whoever hasn’t got level 3 goes to blow the axis command post - if you’re playing with these ‘prizes’, you should make use of them in the manner that most benefits your team. To me, the advantage of ETPro is not intrinsically that there is no XP, but that you won’t find players playing for the XP. But there are campaign servers which don’t seem to suffer much from XP-whoring (such as the SD server - it’s one of the things about it that means I’m happy to continue playing there). On the other hand, I see basicallyno advantage of a campaign over objective or (better yet, for heightened tension) stopwatch mode.
XP whoring ruining games?
hahaha this is one hilarious story…
As for the servers where XP doesn’t reset, could you please give me a few IP of such servers ? Thanks!
one of those servers is: thegameserver.com 69.57.132.85:27961
There are some regular players on that server that play trying to get the objective, as they know the XP doesn’t reset.
Well I could start a post here that’s longer than your average Microsoft EULA, but I’ll make my point and won’t bother defending it, since this whole subject comes down to opinions, not facts, and thus everyone has a different view about it.
Yes, I also dislike xp-whores. But there’s a difference between wanting xp fast and whoring. For instance, I play field op alot lately, and getting xp quick at the beginning is important. I can be of MUCH more assistance to the team if I’m lvl2 signals, which means I can do more airstrikes/artillary (important mostly on players with few players) or give almost twice the amount of ammo packs (important mostly on servers with lotsa players).
Ofcourse one should never lose focus for the objectives, but like the other guy said you should make full use of the xp you (can) get. If you don’t like xp go play quake.
What a ridiculous thing to say! It’s for the very reason that I prefer “team” games that I play ET. Where does “rewarding the player” fit into the ethos of a “team” game?
If all I cared about was MY performance (which is all an XP whore does) then I’d play Quake, not the other way round.
What I hate is seeing a n00b Neer comes in and defuses a teammates dyno to plant his own.
I usually TK the bastard on the spot and send him directly to limbo and initiate a kickvote.
VERY VERY LAME to get points that way.
What a ridiculous thing to say! It’s for the very reason that I prefer “team” games that I play ET. Where does “rewarding the player” fit into the ethos of a “team” game?
If all I cared about was MY performance (which is all an XP whore does) then I’d play Quake, not the other way round.[/quote]
if you like team games and don’t like xp then go play RTCW.
xp is a vital part of ET and is what makes ET well… ET.
there are lots of alternatives out there where you have teamplay and no xp, like the mentioned above
What a ridiculous thing to say! It’s for the very reason that I prefer “team” games that I play ET. Where does “rewarding the player” fit into the ethos of a “team” game?
If all I cared about was MY performance (which is all an XP whore does) then I’d play Quake, not the other way round.[/quote]
xp doesn’t reward players, it rewards “good” players. this is a good thing for competition purposes.
I can’t believe the game’s a few months old now and people still have that mis-conception.
XP is a points system, nothing more, nothing less.
I’m a Medic, I have 2 dead team-mates in front of me. One is the Engy, who if I revive him, wins the game, the other is a Soldier who won’t. XP gives me EXACTLY the same points whichever I revive.
I’m an Axis Engineer on GoldRush. I build Truck Barrier #2. I get EXACTLY the same XP for doing it before the Allies have even stolen the Tank as I would if I did it after they’ve got the Gold and are past Truck Barrier #1.
XP rewards me for performing a function, and THAT’S ALL IT DOES. It doesn’t reward “good” players, it rewards players for doing “something”, regardless of whether the “something” needs to be done, regardless of whether it’s in the team’s interests to do it, regardless of how important it is.
It absolutely has NO place in competitve games. On publics maybe, where teamplay is limited, it may have a place, though I’m finding it detracts from team-play more than it enhances it, because too many players play for their XP rather than the team. I know that probably doesn’t apply to most here, because people that don’t play for the team don’t usually care enough about the game to post on forums. But then 99% of people who play ET don’t post here.
Maybe one off the mods can make it so that certain objectives only give exp when certain other objectives are dun. Truck barier after bank is blown or maybe even after truck is stolen wich would make the final part of map much more interesting, guncontrols after first tug is loaded, truck after gold is stolen etc.
Oh, in case I forget, had another one last night. As an Allied Engy I planted at the main door on Radar. Another Engy came up and plantred about 15-20 seconds after me. I explained in team-chat that my plant was about to blow the door and we didn’t need his, to which he replied “Why should you get all the points?”. I could fill several pages with such examples.
On the subject of stealing uniforms:
I usually play c-ops, and, if given the oppertunity, I will steal an enemy uniform, if just for the XP. Of course, first I decide whether the chance of getting TKed or caught in the act is worth the XP, but I usually decide it is.
Even if I do loose it almost immediately, the guy who caught me will probably have already found the body and shouted ‘enemy in disguise’, thus making everyone else on their team nervous.
It’s all entropy. 
Anyway, my point is that unless gathering XP actually is damaging to your team in some way, there’s no real problem with it OMO. So taking every oppertunity to stel uniforms is fine, but defusing others’ dyno is just evil. :bash:
Kendle seems to me that you just have a problem with bad players. Don’t judge the xp system for that. When played as the game should be played the xp gives an extra dimension to the game imo.
That some people can’t help but fucking it up is their problem, not the game’s…
Actually no, though I can understand why you’d say that.
Example: GoldRush, my favourite map. When I win a round of GoldRush it’s like winning a war, not just a battle. The sense of satisfaction is enormous and the reason I love ET. But…I’m getting tired of Axis Engys who are more concerned with building Barriers than they are with defending the Tank (and Allied Engys more concerned with blowing them up than they are stealing the Tank). GoldRush is all about the Tank. Without it Allies CANNOT win. Simple. But always, straight from spawn, you’ll have Axis Engys running off to build the Barriers, especially Truck Barrier #2. Why? It doesn’t need to be built, but they get 10XP for it, it requires no skill, and they’re unlikely to meet any resistance doing it. So they’re doing it purely and simply for the XP. Do you really think Axis Engys would bother building Truck Barrier #2, from spawn, if they didn’t get 10Xp for doing it?
I could fill several pages with other examples. Like most people I loved XP at first. But now I can only see it as a distraction. If it wasn’t there people would have no incentive to do unnecessary things. It doesn’t promote team-work. It rewards a player, individually, for performing a function, regardless of whether it’s required or desirable. You can’t blame it on bad players cos it’s there to be used and abused by everyone.
Kendle - but if the players were good enough, then they’d realise that there was no purpose served by putting up the truck barriers. XP may encourage bad play at times, but with players who are not distracted by the lure of ‘free XP’, it adds a nice touch to the game. IMO.
yeah… what he said 
once again kendle you prove my point. It’s bad players you have a problem with, not the xp system
yeah… what he said
once again kendle you prove my point[/quote]
Strange, looks like the 2 of you just agreed with mine.
That depends on how you look at it.
Does the xp system make players xp whore when they should do the objectives. -or-
Do bad players that xp whore make you dislike the xp system.
What if players would play like they should and try to do the objectives etc etc, would you still see the xp system as the big boogy man?!
Does the xp system make players xp whore when they should do the objectives. -or-
Do bad players that xp whore make you dislike the xp system.
I’d say it’s a bit of both, actually. XP serves to make some players care more about irrelevant things than winning the map, but this is not universal. And in a game with only those who will not be so swayed, it adds a certain fun element (it doesn’t really add another tactical dimension, but it gives players the feeling that they are achieving something, which helps to create a nice atmosphere - the team that are being beaten don’t feel entirely frustrated). But it is important that the players don’t just run off after this ‘other achievement’, as some evidently do.
So I guess that I have mixed feelings about XP. But if the players are those who would be swayed by the thought of getting more XP, I’m not sure that I’d want to play with them anyway. I think that the ETPro server Kendle has in his signature has good gameplay primarly because it doesn’t have players that would be XP-whores on (they’d rather go and play on an XP-enabled server), rather than because the players who play there would be XP-whoring, but instead play well because it’s turned off.
True that it can improve atmosphere, but it DOES give other tactical gameplay. I play entirely different when lvl3 field ops or engineer than when I just joined the game. It’s all about making full use of your abilities. I’m not saying that the game changes completely but if you do utilize xp to it’s fullest then changing tactics is often the way to go