Okay, I’m going to break out my first rant with what I consider an epidemic of sorts in TFC. There are two issues that are making this game miserable to an extent, and it’s a two-part problem. The first is the prevalence of Defense. Or not always the preponderance of D, but rather the serious lack of Offense. If you have ever ventured into the enemy base, you know first hand that the odds are stacked against you. First off, the D begin their job with full health/armor. They don’t need a RocketJump/PipeJump to get where they are going, they don’t have to cross a midfield with snipers zooming in on them, with potshots from the enemy O or just pesky DM’ers. They go to their spot on D, in their own base, on their own terms and set out to do their job. This is not to say D is easier than O, whether it is or not is immaterial to this argument. It is simply a fact that the D begin their task (usually) full up on H/A and with a respawn nearby if they need it. O on the other hand has to make it across the map and into enemy territory, which means they usually meet the enemy D at an already weakened state. On most maps there is no way to recharge health or armor in the enemy base. So, all this being said, in a map with a 5/D, 4/0 split things would be rather hectic. Let me clarify that I am not speaking about clan matches here, where the benefit of history together, Roger Wilco, set strats and such swing the pendulum towards giving the O a better chance... though in clan affairs the D have those same benefits.
Now, my whole focus here is game balance, which brings with it a more challenging and fulfilling game along with more enjoyment. The point I will try to make here is that the lopsided Defense heavy pubs are experiencing games that are not nearly what they could/should be. Now, from the lone Engy in the basements perspective his team might not be so D heavy. What he fails to realize is there is perhaps a DM’ing soldier on the bridge, a sniper or two, an HW guy in the RR and maybe a demo/soldier in the spiral somewhere. Not that they are all sticking like glue to some preset order, but they are NOT on O, they are spending their time killing whatever enemies they see, which makes them Defense. This becomes a problem when a full team of 9 is fielding only perhaps 2 O guys. And this scenario is not hypothetical, it’s a scene that I encounter on a daily basis on several maps. The server where I spend my time has some extremely good talent, which only serves to further aggravate the situation posed here. And that situation is this... you have 2 Offense guys trying to break through an experienced teams 7 man D. For those who play D exclusively, I cannot impart to you how futile and frustrating this can be. It’s similar to bashing your head against a concrete wall trying to get to the other side. "But", you say, "is it not our job to keep the enemy from capping the flag?". Yes, but only to an extent. This game is known as CTF, or CAPTURE THE FLAG. It’s not known as SOTEC, or Shut Out The Enemy Completely. The goal is to CAPTURE flags. It is nearly impossible to do so with a 80% Defensive team. What I am trying to promote here is some Team ’balance’. If you have ended the 30 minute map and the enemy has not scored once... and your team has not scored once... you have not had a good game of TFC, my friends. Valve, in their infinite wisdom, I assure you... did not give us 9 classes and such great maps to have shut out games. Valve has always wanted balance. Balance is key. And balance is NOT 80%D, and some token O. The best games, the most intense, and the most memorable are those where their is a great struggle between the enemy O and the other O to cap, and the two teams D to hold their flag. There is no great struggle when the enemy O has no chance. There is no accomplishment in keeping out a couple O guys with a turtled up team. Sure, if you are one of those taking up that 7th D slot, your personal score will be a positive kill ratio, while the enemies will be like -4/56. But who has done more for their team? Who has been more important to their team, and more concerned about the teams goals?
For those of you who have played Offense in any serious manner, meaning staying dedicated it to it an entire map regardless of your success, YOU understand what I am saying. I played only Defense for quite a while of my TFC days starting from the beginning. It is much less stressful. And for a long time I thought it was important that the enemy NEVER cap. But that was young into my TFC career, and when one looks at the bigger picture that is not the goal of the game. If it was TFC would be coined a STF(Save The Flag), not CTF. I see some who will say they are Team players, perhaps even wear a TPF tag, and yet NEVER, EVER play anything but D, regardless of what your team needs. Let me tell you something, if you go D when your team already has an almost D makeup, you are NOT a team player. If you’re that 3rd Engy, 2nd Sniper, etc, then you are not doing your team a favor. You do not ’win’ by defense only, and if your team did get an early lead then closed up its a poor sportsmanship issue. TRUST me, go Offense sometimes, concert your effort with one or two teammates, and you’ll feel much more rewarded then by getting the scraps that make it down to the basement every 5 minutes. That is no exaggeration, just 2 days ago an enemy Demo was taunting about how bored he was, seeing our O so infrequently down at the flag room that he was bored stiff. I encouraged him to go O, to which he laughed and said no. Now, we had constant O, they just couldn’t make it through that brick wall to reach down to him, but God forbid he should go O and balance the game. Oh, and our team WAS ahead. I’ve seen people go O until the moment their flag was touched, then they turned back onto D to lock it down. People, let me tell you something... THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO CAP! Again, the evil enemy, they are SUPPOSED TO CAP. So your team is SUPPOSED TO CAP too.
Which brings me to my next point, the 2nd problem in this issue, which is Chasing. I can feel the flames already, heh. There’s been a lot of debate over chasing of late, even as to its definition. For clarity, chasing as I use the term is NOT taking pot shots at enemy O on the way to the enemies base. Chasing is the act of an Offensive player turning around and "chasing" the enemy O back into his own base. When that O player does that, he is now effectively playing D. Offensive means you are trying to capture the enemies flag, which is difficult to do running towards your own base without said flag. Just last night, on Badlands, someone I accused of chasing shouted back "What the f**k am I supposed to do, let the enemy go by without killing him?!". The answer folks, is a very simple YES. Let him go. I ask you, is it the Defenses job to capture the enemy flag? That sounds stupid doesn’t? It’s just as stupid to have an O player turning tail and wasting time chasing and DM’ing the enemies O. You think you are stopping the enemy, but at the same time you are stopping your own teams O efforts, cause YOU are THE O. Thinking you have to kill anyone of the other color upon seeing them is a very naive and DM type attitude. You can tell a better player by the judicious use of their energies. I play Spy a lot, and it is a better spy that will pass up an easy backstab on a sniper on the enemies battlements so as to not have to waste time redisguising and, if the D is smart, alerting them by the kill icon in the upper right. It’s better to pick and chose your targets wisely. This is NOT DM, you do not HAVE to kill every enemy insight, in fact there are many times you shouldn’t.
Now, Chasing is not so much an issue in a well balanced game. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still lame, but it’s less of a problem if things are fair. When chasing becomes downright insulting is when, let’s say Blues team has that almost all D team, and their O insists on chasing. Now, I’ve been on tons of games where even without chasing we were NOT even getting touches on the flag, much less flag movement and certainly not flag captures. But then the offense felt the need to chase on top of that?! Give me a break. That creates a ridiculous stalemate that cannot be fun for anyone involved. 7 D guys splitting up the morsels of a couple of O guys every minute or so, and their O isn’t capping either since their DM’ing everything that moves. That is not TFC the way Valve intended it, I assure you. That’s a weak watered down version. Play a game with 5/D 4/0 that are doing their job properly and there is no comparison.
To you guys insistent on playing D only, get out a bit more. Play some O. Give it a fair shot, and see if after a week or so you don’t feel more fulfilled and better rounded. If you are O, stick to your job and let the other (usually and unfortunately) 6 or 7 guys in your base do theirs. You’ll both be better off. And for Gods sake, let the Capping begin!!
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