Admiralbumfluff

So I have noticed the difference in certain mission types and player participation.

I thought maybe its best if the playerbase could throw ideas my way so I can run the OP's that YOU are interested in.

BUT all that being said.

I still think that it's a good thing that Ahoy's flagship is evolving. We need that in order to keep people interested and coming back for more ArmA.
 
I think the direction of the evolution is the crux of the issue as this is the point that Ahoy will have to be careful with. and I am more than happy to support a jump forwards, just want to make sure it's in the right direction.

Thank you @Ryko for dedicating so much time to this though and for taking things into consideration when they have been put forwards by the players.

BUT all that being said.

I still think that it's a good thing that Ahoy's flagship is evolving. We need that in order to keep people interested and coming back for more ArmA.
 
I think the direction of the evolution is the crux of the issue as this is the point that Ahoy will have to be careful with. and I am more than happy to support a jump forwards, just want to make sure it's in the right direction.

Thank you @Ryko for dedicating so much time to this though and for taking things into consideration when they have been put forwards by the players.

Ah, yes. I remember.
 

Using Zeus needs some polishing.
 
Not a fan of Zeus's being unable to do anything but Zeus when in the slot and being unable to use Zeus without messing in the "u" menu when in different slots.
 
I know there is that thing that kicks Zeus's in I&A3 but I prefer it's simplicity. This is much too locked down and difficult to do anything with. Case in point, I made a thing in Zeus, left Zeus to deal with something. Boom. It's all no-longer in my Zeus menu.
 
For some reason the admin tools are in the u menu ?? No idea why as scroll wheel makes so much more sense. It's easier to activate and allows you to still be in the game whilst doing admin stuff.
 
Back to the Zeus slots. What if we want to play but have to do admin or zeus things ? There is no provision for that as you cannot play whilst in one of those slots. AI can't see you, you don't show on map.
 
I honestly think 4 is over complicated far too locked down to be any fun. This kind of restriction is what you get on the MSO or game night missions when they have a purpose and a set objective.
 
I'm sorry to be such a Negative Nancy but there are so many issues and so many needlessly complicated bits of it that if 4 ever does go live it will make it so much less fun to play and less engaging for an audience that is not a bunch of dudes into their paperwork. Our playerbase and our appeal to a large base of the ArmA players is that we are NOT 77th JSOC. If I wanted to play like that I would go to their server.

BUT all that being said.

I still think that it's a good thing that Ahoy's flagship is evolving. We need that in order to keep people interested and coming back for more ArmA.
 
I think the direction of the evolution is the crux of the issue as this is the point that Ahoy will have to be careful with. and I am more than happy to support a jump forwards, just want to make sure it's in the right direction.

Thank you @Ryko for dedicating so much time to this though and for taking things into consideration when they have been put forwards by the players.

BUT all that being said.

I still think that it's a good thing that Ahoy's flagship is evolving. We need that in order to keep people interested and coming back for more ArmA.
 
I think the direction of the evolution is the crux of the issue as this is the point that Ahoy will have to be careful with. and I am more than happy to support a jump forwards, just want to make sure it's in the right direction.

Thank you @Ryko for dedicating so much time to this though and for taking things into consideration when they have been put forwards by the players.

I haven't played a lot of IA4 to give very specific opinion, but after trying it out a bit it's giving me feel a bit confused overall.

About the positive stuff:
-I really love the idea of backpack/vehicle locking, it's fixing one of the problems that's been following IA for a while, which is people messing with your stuff without your permission. I believe most of us in the past experienced some pointless and annoying arguing with people related to that situation, which sometimes even ended with giving up on playing more that day. (I love arma and games overall for giving us possibility to escape from every-day troubles, and I don't feel like having to deal with more of them virtually.)
-New revive system. Feels much better than the previous one and I think it's less buggy when it comes to reviving (I don't recall any situation where I wasn't able to revive someone. In the old revive system problem with reviving is more like everyday situation.) After being shot down you don't end up thinking "Not again..." and can actually hope to get help from someone and enjoy another chance instead of respawning over and over due to lack of medics around or having to deal with 'revive bug' yourself. The only thing you can miss from old revive system is being able to carry/drag someone. In some situations really helpful or even necessary. Still hoping to get it back one day. (#BlameStan)
-Possibility to play other faction than NATO (it brought the feeling of something new to enjoy/use).

For me the new Reward system is the only thing giving me mixed feelings. As @Xwatt mentioned, it has a lot of potential to fix the problem with side mission rewards and people fighting over them. I also think the system should include only vehicles, without any additional gear to purchase (about that below).

Now the negatives:
-Limited arsenal. Unlimited arsenal (kind of unlimited) is one of the main things you love IA for. It gives you the ability to approach the ongoing mission however you want, in your own style. You can easily change your style wherever you get bored of it or when you need to. There's a lot to choose from. That's why I don't like the idea of including any gear in the reward system, feels like they just took away some freedom from you. The only place where gear limitation fits and works well from my perspective are zeus missions. For IA it can get quite monotonous.
-Groups and roles is the thing that confuses me most. Every time I look at the groups panel it feels so illegible, and I just end up reading whole group panel few times in a row just to figure out which role is free to take. Maybe that's just the lack of colors and specific style to make it a bit more readable, but I guess that could be changed.
-More points for being in the area of operations. It feels like it would reward players for choosing more aggresive playstyle, which can lead to a bit of greedyness when it comes to points. I just imagined how it would work for friendly armor. Once you spend some time in the armored squads, you realise quite fast how easily it is to lose any vehicle if you get too close, AI is unforgivable once they spot you (especially now when the AI became more challenging). Whenever you think differently on another day and another approach, they quickly remind you how wrong you were this time, again. Sitting a bit away from the mission area is a common thing to anyone who tries to make some good use of the vehicle as they try to support friendly infantry. Being greedy for points can push many people too far and and they will just end up losing helpful assets. Also, freedom when it comes to playstyle feels a bit like a tradition, something that shouldn't be changed.

I would love to see a good mix between old IA3 and positive aspects of IA4. That could be something to make public server even more enjoyable, bringing a bit of freshness without unnecesary changes to something that works just well. I believe I could get used to the IA4 the way it is now if I had to, but the question is, do I want to? At the moment - not really. That's not something I would get back into every day with some excitement.

BUT all that being said.

I still think that it's a good thing that Ahoy's flagship is evolving. We need that in order to keep people interested and coming back for more ArmA.
 
I think the direction of the evolution is the crux of the issue as this is the point that Ahoy will have to be careful with. and I am more than happy to support a jump forwards, just want to make sure it's in the right direction.

Thank you @Ryko for dedicating so much time to this though and for taking things into consideration when they have been put forwards by the players.

I've been generally quiet when it has come to giving my opinions about I&A4, but I think now is the time I adress certain things. I want to start by saying that I've been around since late 2014, and i've played through and witnessed the development of both I&A2 and I&A3, so my opinions and viewpoints may be drastically different to someone who has just played I&A4 for the very first time.
 
I want to begin with starting on the ethos of what Ahoyworld, and more specifically Invade and Annex is. Invade and Annex has always pride itself on being casual, open and as least restricitve as possible, so you can join in, play for 10 minutes, 20 minutes an hour or six, and all gear is at disposal to you (except a few class restricted Arsenal restrictions) and powerful assets such as tanks that can be obtained through playing side missions. Moreover, you can play how you like, be it lonewolfing or in a squad. And it has worked. It's what has differentiated us from the likes of the 77th, and I believe is the main reason why a lot of us aren't just playing there. I believe that I&A4 has took the ethos Invade and Annex was founded upon, and has threw it away.
 
Before I begin the negatives, lets begin with the positives. There are many things I love about I&A4. The increased difficulty, this makes playing boots on the ground so much more intense and enjoyable. The locking of vehicles, which tackles the issue we've had for years of people stealing hunters etc. The ability to play as different factions, (The Beta where we played as CSAT was one of the best experiences i've ever had.) Lastly the purchasing of side rewards, im still a bit hit or miss on it, but overall it sorts the issue of people fighting about "I did this side mission the reward should be mine." and the ability for all players to revive each other is amazing, as crappy medics no longer matter as much.
 
Now the negatives. Let's begin at base. You go the arsenal and see a lot of the gear you are accustomed to is missing. Uniforms, Weapons, Scopes. You think to yourself "I'm only here for 15 minutes I just wanted to quickly jump in, kill some guys in the AO and leave, but now to get what the gear I really want I have to grind points to get it" granted it's not a lot of points, but it just really shoots players who come here for casual gameplay in the foot, and it just takes away from what I&A should be. All weapons available from the start, except gear that is restricted to certain roles such as marskmans, autoriflemans etc. it really starts to begin to feel like a call of duty or a battlefield, where your gear is restricted behind a paywall of points where you can only get acess to it once you "kill the bad guys" or help your team.
 
Groups. I understand why it is the way it is, but enforcing a structure on a playerbase that is known and prided on being casual just won't work. There needs to be an understanding that people just want to lonewolf, and should be able to make their own squad and do that, as our ethos promotes allowing players to have their own freedom in an otherwise casual environment. Being tied to alpha, bravo, charlie won't help anything, as players who come to Ahoyworld looking to play alone will lonewolf anyway, regardless of the structure. We aren't the 77th, we don't make you stand in little cute lines at base with your squad, you should be able to ask on side chat if anyone wants to play seriously, then you make your own squad or you can make a squad with just yourself in, we don't need to enforce teamwork, that's not who we are, you should be able to have the choice to play in a group with yourself  or with other people looking for serious gameplay, there needs to be a choice. I'd reccomend just keeping the I&A3 grouping system, it promotes everything we believe in, and I really don't think anyone wanted or asked to be tied to a squad. I understand there are custom squads, but I believe right now they are blocked, but I believe they don't allow for custom naming or anything of that sorts.
 
Mission Area. I understand you get you more points if you are in the mission area, and less if you are camping on a hill outside of the AO. But why should we force people to have to be in that area to get more points? It's I&A, we are supposed to let people play how they want, it's a casual environment, if you want to sit on a hill and have no tense encounterments than you do you, if you want to run straight in the middle of the AO go ahead, why should we restrict the reward people get depending where they are? some people enjoy laying back on not being neck deep in the action, and that should be fine, we let people decide how they want to play around here and that is fine. we welcome all people and all playstyles, that's the Ahoyworld way.
 
Framerates. Much worse than I&A3. I'm not an expert or anything but I believe there is just so many scripts and such in I&A4, that optimising for it will be an absolute nightmare. I think I&A4 is just trying to use so many scripts and functions, that it is just absolutely going to tear apart the frames. It was at a point last night where someone was asking to make a zeus mission and they were denied, because the frames were so poor. Frankly I think Zeus missions is what keeps a lot of the players excited about I&A, and if the frames were to be so poor that we can't make them, it's just going to detract overall from the players experience.
 
Now for some more admin/Zeus stuff. Being unable to use some achilles functions due to the fact it's for "Anti Script Kid measures" is pretty lame. Such simple things such as holding control and left clicking to controlling units and many more achilles functions and such being unavaible, just makes zeusing in I&A4 so bad, to a point where I really don't find using Zeus in I&A4 intuitive anymore. I'd much rather scrap all of these script kid measures to have some of the core achilles functions back, and we have pointed this out to you Ryko, but you seem adament against it. You need to understand that if a public mod/spartan is enquiring to you about this, it's most likely because it's actually constricting them from doing their role properly. I know you are a understaiding person @Ryko, so I hope you will take this board. Moreover other things such as the admin menu not on the scroll wheel and being in the U menu isn't great, and the admin tools being very, very stripped down compared to the I&A3 admin tools. Lastly the teamkill messages are gone, but you did say you would look at putting this back in. Using Zeus is so flawed in I&A4, and it has a few times made me doubt what's the point in having it.
 
I'll conclude by saying this. Ryko you are an admirable character, but I&A4 just isn't what Invade and Annex prides itself on being. It prides itself on being casual, least restricitive as possible and accomodating to all play styles. I&A4 takes our ethos, and throws it in the bin. We aren't the 77th, and we shouldn't be taking steps to shove teamwork down peoples throats, and we should instead turn our focus to what has always made us stand out, our casual and enjoyable environment. For me, I&A3 is the peak of what our ethos is right now, but I&A4 is soon to be the destroyer of our ethos, unless serious change is made. It's overcomplicated and doesn't need to be. Just take what I&A3 is and work on it, and just add the features that make it enjoyable, such as what I said in the third paragraph.
 
I hope you read and take this on board @Ryko, and you can see as a veteran I&A player how passionate I am about this.

Using Zeus needs some polishing.
 
Not a fan of Zeus's being unable to do anything but Zeus when in the slot and being unable to use Zeus without messing in the "u" menu when in different slots.
 
I know there is that thing that kicks Zeus's in I&A3 but I prefer it's simplicity. This is much too locked down and difficult to do anything with. Case in point, I made a thing in Zeus, left Zeus to deal with something. Boom. It's all no-longer in my Zeus menu.
 
For some reason the admin tools are in the u menu ?? No idea why as scroll wheel makes so much more sense. It's easier to activate and allows you to still be in the game whilst doing admin stuff.
 
Back to the Zeus slots. What if we want to play but have to do admin or zeus things ? There is no provision for that as you cannot play whilst in one of those slots. AI can't see you, you don't show on map.
 
I honestly think 4 is over complicated far too locked down to be any fun. This kind of restriction is what you get on the MSO or game night missions when they have a purpose and a set objective.
 
I'm sorry to be such a Negative Nancy but there are so many issues and so many needlessly complicated bits of it that if 4 ever does go live it will make it so much less fun to play and less engaging for an audience that is not a bunch of dudes into their paperwork. Our playerbase and our appeal to a large base of the ArmA players is that we are NOT 77th JSOC. If I wanted to play like that I would go to their server.

@GamerbugUK but what about the running pistol?
Never leave home without a running pistol.

@Lindi the real question is why does any of this matter ? 🤣

A good point indeed. 
 
I saw this brewing a few days ago on the server. Heated discussion for sure, but I thought this would have been squared away by now.

@Lindi the real question is why does any of this matter ? 🤣

@Lindi the real question is why does any of this matter ? 🤣

With all due respect, this is the biggest pile of bs I've come across on this forum in a loooong time

Hello AhoyWorld,
P!NK's Rules of Combat
1. Run towards the gunfire
2. Kill the enemy
3. Save as many comrade's as possible
Hope to be saving many lives on this server

Why is it a worthless mission?

I've been playing with you for some time so I decided to create my account here. Hello everyone!

If I am online I tend to take a dim view of that, but if I am not there there isn't much i can do really...

I move that we remove all reward vehicles. That way nobody steals them.

(I'm only half serious btw!)

Locking vehicles to certain people is possible.  But it's the "who were in that side mission" part that's the problem.  A heli flies over filled with guys, does that count?  What about a guy that just drove through the side mission without killing anyone?  Or a guy that only killed 1 person?  Or a guy that sat back waiting for everyone else to clear the sidemission and then just swooped in to secure the objective?  Or a sidemission that's up for 2 hours and a guy shot a few enemies in the first 10 minutes of it being up and then just went to do something else?  Or a guy that really wanted to help and was there for the entire duration of the side mission but couldn't find a single guy to shoot? 
 
The problem isn't really making a system, it's making a system that's fair and takes all of the above mentioned things into account.  Making such a system is next to impossible. 

I really like the idea to spawn ground vehicle rewards at the side mission first and then, after ten minutes or so, move them to base if nobody took them. Sounds like a simple yet effective improvement to me.
Sure, it doesn't cover every eventuality, but as this thread shows it's safe to say that it's practically impossible to cover every eventuality.

If I am online I tend to take a dim view of that, but if I am not there there isn't much i can do really...