As there are always discussions about playing 4on4 instead of 3on3, to turn off the runes, and especially the No-Hook-Rule, which lead to time consumung arguments and delays on the server I thought it was the best to write down the reasons behind the different specifications.

3on3
Often people want to play 4on4 (I guess they are sued to it from TDM) and refuse to ready up until we have 4 players in each time. It might be a odd number for a team game but it has several advantages. Firstly the existing QW community is not that big. It is already difficult to get normal 4 on 4s going. By reducing the members necessary the possibility the a game will happen will be increased. Secondly it will be much easier for newcomers to form a team, because finding 2 more people to play together with is much easier then finding 3 more (pretty obvious). Furthermore, it makes teamplay much easier if you do not have to coordinate too many other team members, but you still have a certain flexibility for different playstyles (totally defensive with all 3 in homebase, defensive with 2 in homebase and 1 attacking, balanced with 1 in homebase, 1 attacking and 1 supporting or aggressive with 1 in homebase and 2 attacking, and probably several other scenarios).

Timelimit: 15
I just find it to be a good mean value between the game lengths of 2on2 and 4on4. It is long enough to make a comeback but short enough to play a quick game

Teamoverlay On
It is just a feature people are used from other games like Q3/QL. It facilitates the coordination of the team and makes it easier for 1on1 players who are not used to read too many teambindings to play some casual games

Nohook
I am aware that QW CTF had a big scene in the past and that this kind of CTF was played with runes and hooks. But, if you look at the situation from an objective point of view the hook only serves a nostalgic purpose and has only disadvantages in the current situation. Given the size and the activity of our community the (re)introduction of a mod that differs so fundamentally in its movement and physics can only be detrimental to the health of the scene as it would take away players from the already played mods (1on1, 4on4). More likely though, it would just fail. There are still servers running with the old maps and the old CTF and nobody plays on them

When you go through the sign-ups for the Thunderdome tournament, you will see that 55 of the 114 players (roughly 50 %) are in one of the two rookie division. This means those players have a lot of catching up to do be it in 1on1 and especially in 4on4. On the other hand side, you have the players who almost exclusively play 1on1 and 4on4, because that are the 2 main game types we have in QW at the moment.This means, you have players at the bottom who are focused on improving to catch up and players who are focused to stay on top. If you now start CTF with hook, the CTF games they will play will almost have no learning value. They will not improve their movement, quite the opposite, their movement for 1on1 and 4on4 will even get worse, as they will have to use a total different style. They will have to start to aim out of situations and angles that will not happen in DM. This will hinder most DM players to casually play a round or two because they would not able transfer the skills they learned in DM. They would need to almost learn a complete new game, that would slow them down in their development as DM players.But to allow and encourage people to casually play CTF is a big part of what this is all about.

Runes on
The runes are a feature which make CTF in QW unique, but do not alter the gameplay of it in a way that it is too different from “normal” QW, unlike the hook (exception is the Haste rune, but it is only 1 out of 4 runes and it does not change the gameplay itselfs it just accelerate movement and rate of fire of some weapons). Furthermore they add some depth to the game, as the runes are not only modifiers, they can also have a tactical purpose: denying the opponent access to them, swapping them with team members, playing the role which is most appropriate for your rune.

Friendly Fire on
This setting also led to some discussions as it is turned off in QL/Q3. They reason I want it to be turned off is that people who come from other games and start with CTF does not take on a habit of running into the line of fire and develop tactics that would be absolutely terrible in 4on4. I am not totally set on this part. If Friendly Fire Off would lead to an improved gaming experience, this rule could be changed.

DMM3
It just fits better to the overall game type. There would be just to much rape games with DMM1 and the resource management would slow the games down.


Some final words
The CTF as it was played few years ago does not exist anymore. If you want to play it like it was, nobody is stopping you from gather few players and play CTF with hooks. But this is not what we want to do. We want to establish CTF as a living part of the QW community. We want it to be a gateway mod for players who come from entirely different games. You cannot start QW with 4on4, 1on1 can be really frustrating, but CTF always offers some satisfying moments. Even if you are new to the game. If you know the basics you can play defender. You will once in a while frag an attacker or help another defender. But this potential is lost, when a) they one has to learn a complete unique playstyle, not known from any other game (there goes your easy access to QW), and b) when playing this mod will almost do nothing for a player in terms of improving in QW in general.

Again, you players who complain and want to play QW CTF the old way you had years to try to revive CTF and you did not. Nobody is forcing you to play with us. But this is the way we have decided to try it. We also do not want to discuss about, that playing without hook is not real or to q3-ish. We do not want to try it out, we already have. The suggestion that those who want to play with the hook should be allowed to and those who does not should just not use it is also invalid. The primary reason we meet on the server is to test maps if they are suitable for what I suggested.

I hope this clears some things up.

Thanks for reading

n|x