Capture the Flag Discussion Thread

My assertion is that the teaming up won't stop until it's no longer profitable to do so. I don't think that random teams will stop this. People in certain groups already team up cross-team in the event that they aren't able to join the same team, I see no reason why this would not continue with random teams.
I agree with your opinion that reducing the reward from 4 to 2 plat is a good idea, that closes the gap quite a bit between the winners and the losers and gives people less incentive to team up to make sure they take the winner spots for kills/heals/caps for the 4 plat. It gives them more reason to just play, which is what the system needs. That may be a satisfactory alternative to removing the reward altogether, I'm not sure if it would stop the behavior or not.

I think the de-trammelization is a minor issue. The trammelization people mostly complain about is how it's completely instanced and risk free, that isn't changing.
Multi-account stuff needs to be out, period. I don't see any positives that come from allowing people to bring multiple accounts into CTF. If it's a case of people from the same household playing from a single IP, they can be cleared on a case by case basis. This already happens so that they can have more than three accounts on the same IP, I don't see why clearing them for CTF can't be a part of that process.

We've been fighting as teams and against teams, since long before there was any reward at all. While I know some of my friends from Beta were like "are we getting trophies yet", very many more were like "hell yeah, that was fun. who cares about reward". Teaming up won't stop, at all, ever. I would be happy to place monetary bets that if/when there are random teams, players getting teamed up with players they don't like, will quit the match/lobby or just do poorly intentionally (to avoid AFK gumps/jail if that gets patched in). I really don't care who's on my team but I know without a doubt there are bitter ass nerds holding grudges that they can't let go even for the love of the game. This has been seen many times on other shards with random team CTFs. I highly doubt the core motivation to team up for the win is the whopping four platinum. While it may be a minor incentive to attend and do your best, no one is making a killing at it and they just simply can't because of the frequency of the events. If we had 10 CTFs a day and could daisy-chain them like people do with Champ Spawns, I might agree with your concerns about "profits" from CTF.

As for de-Trammelizing them, unfortunately there will likely never be a patch that allows players to dragon-bomb the events or cause grief in any tangible way other than playing the game better with their friends. I'm sure if you're creative you can dream up new and interesting ways to shit on the events and make more things for Telamon to code out to keep the games fun for those of us that enjoy them. While I fully understand that some players feel that risk free shard hosted events are a detriment to the activity in the world, they need to understand that they are never going away. UOR has been committed to its goals and will likely continue to be. One of those goals are automated events like CTF, Tournaments, etc. While most of us enjoy a world where you take risks at every turn, it's nice to have some things and some times where you can just have some fun without worrying which guild is going to be dicks because being dicks IS the game they want to play.

Obviously multi-account needs to be out, that's not even a point worth discussing as everyone is on board with the restriction, even the guy people accuse of abusing it.

Is the hiding skill disabled during CTF?

I know it is while holding the flag, outside of that I'm not sure.

You get the same message when not holding the flag. Disabled.


I would like to see it enabled for us Orcs templates. Would open door for more diversity.

I would love to see hiding/stealth available in CTF but NOT for flag carriers.

I think the biggest takeaway from all of these...let's call them "discussions"...is that people would like to see some variety at the very least.

I am not sure what that will entail coding-wise as I have never even bothered to look into CTF Code, but assuming its doable I would say we just pursue different types of matches. Hell, make it a different type of match every day of the week even. If it takes a long time to do it, the players will just have to have fun with what we've got in the meantime. If its doable and Chris is willing to tackle it then great.

It'll get done in its own due time and we will all, myself included, just have to learn to be a little more patient.

Be cool to see a progressive CTF system for variety. (Push forward to capture successive flags with your team. First team with all the flags wins.)

^ Day of Defeat style (Half-Life mod)

You don't take the flag anywhere when you capture it, you just touch it to change to your team.

Map would basically be:

Blue Spawn -> Blue Home Flag -> Blue 'Alamo' Flag -> Combat Zone 1 - Combat Zone 2 - Combat Zone 3 <- Red 'Alamo' Flag <- Red Home Flag <- Red Spawn

You push back and forth on a map for territorial control. You get extra bonus for capping all of them (map would need to then reset) and slowly as time passes a score is given for every flag controlled.

If you do it that way I think there should be a safe room like the hythloth map currently has. If not, one team will be killing people as soon as they spawn.

To that end... You could even implement that if you kill a teammate, you loose a kill point. Which would make it less desirable to kill a teammate while keeping the balance of having Purple pots.

I like the part where it says "[Blue Healer] I was killed by Juxtapose!"

What people aren't realizing is that there are players who's sole purpose in this game is to grief everything the can possibly grief. If snapdragon was here she would join every single game and just purple pot her own team for shits and giggles.

Oh, kill her you say? You just lose more points.

If something like this was implemented and I didn't like the way my team was playing I would probably just resort to killing teammates for the lulz.

Anyone that's played GTA has at one time or another stopped playing the campaign and just gone on a killing spree out of boredom. If you think this won't happen in CTF then you're naive. If you think this will make CTF fun (getting constantly killed by enemy teams AND your own team) you're naive. Being able to kill your own team is not the answer.

Purple pots need to be either taken out completely or you need to realize that dexxers really can't do much without them. I have absolutely no problem staying alive on my mage against dexxers that are chasing me. Stun, chug, and reactive armor. A heal mage is even better, just ask Pax.. stun, bandage, chug. Purple pots are what allow dexxers to bridge the gap. There's a big reason why you don't consistently see dexxers in field pvp, most competent mages can put them down with little problem.

Also, from what I've seen, you have at best 3 dexxers in all of CTF (who are never on the same team) using purple pots consistently and properly. I rarely, if ever, see a mage sneaking a purple into their drops.

Cynic instead of providing the problems all the time. Join in and offer solutions..

Like this

* Loosing a kill point if you kill a teammate.
- Spawn time increased to 30 second wait
- 2nd offense spawn time increased to 1 minute
- 3rd offense kicked from game


Keep purples in but damage everyone.. This shouldn't even be debated anymore..

I've given a fair ratio of solutions to problems already. Re-read all my previous posts.

I'm not listing problems with how the current system works, I'm listing issues with ideas that are being brought up to change how things currently work.

The way CTF is modeled now compares to how it's run on other servers, there's a reason why this current model exists and not the mechanics which are being asked for in this thread.

Also, when you create ideas for how to change how things currently work you also have to try to put yourself in the shoes of someone who wants to grief it and how easier you're making it for them.

If I were a griefer I would still kill team mates even with the solutions you suggested. I still accomplish the same goal of screwing my own team over. I kill them, I kill them some more, and continue doing so until I get game kicked. Now how do you suggest what signifies a team mate kill? If I ever damage a team mate and then he later dies am I credited with his death and incur a penalty? (If so, this is too harsh and purple pots would be retarded for anyone to use) Will I be credited with killing my own team mate if I do the most damage to him? (If so then I'll just run around with an energy bolt and land it on a team mate when they are low on life thus not being credited with the most damage but I effectively killed my own team mate). Worst case scenario I'll just run around and only kill a team mate that's carrying the flag. I get to do this 3 times before being kicked, right? Most games are won by a small margin of flag caps, killing a team member carrying a flag 3 times can be a game ender for that team, especially if it's a turtle game.

Purples and being able to damage your own team mate in ANY way should continue to be debated because while you think this is the answer there are those that know this is not.

I welcome you to play CTF more often and realize that what you're asking for is not the answer. I play CTF just about every single night and I've seen you in there twice. I really hope you don't hold such a strong opinion to change things when you're only participated less than a handful of times. You have a group you play with, after your PK runs it doesn't take much to join a game with that same group and see the difference.

Much of the risk of throwing a purple pot was taken from the game since it can't cause you to take a murder count or damage an unintended target in CTF It's a fair point. They probably shouldn't be allowed. But I suppose in my opinion there shouldn't be instanced pvp events without outside interference in a felucca only UO server anyways. At this point people just load down their item limit and throw them at last target for the duration of the game.

It's just another way to throw money at the game. When the event was designed as a no looting area, I imagined that players that couldn't afford to risk it all in pvp could show up and take part. Instead it's the super wealthy that come and use equipment that they'd never let out of their bank. And I suppose I prefer an era of UO where pvp wasn't won by the wealthy.

It seems pretty clear that it will stay this way anyways. These arguments were all made months ago. So, enjoy. At this point it's probably like playing that game at the arcade where you hit the gopher with a rubber mallet.

You have a desire to see PvP in it's original form and I respect that opinion.

I will disagree that this is a wealthy mans game. While the use of runics and purple pots being chucked everywhere certainly do help, it's not the end all be all of CTF PvP. I've been playing my mage more often lately and Pax plays nothing other than a mage. The only person who consistently plays a dexxer and uses purple pots is bart. Bart also doesn't use the highest available runic either, he uses a verite, which is a glorified agapite. Agapite weapons have been made widely available to all for a very small price. If you stand in the lobby you would even see that the majority of runics being used against Bart are ones his crafter has made. The other dexxer that we play with is almost done with his mage whom he'll be using as well.

I play every night against people who have agapite through valorite runics, it hurts, but it's not a game ender for me. It's in my humble opinion that groups with more mages than dexxers tend to succeed the most. Playing a mage in CTF takes 1 of each reg and pot, no wealth is needed here.

I recently purchased a valorite axe and had my fun in CTF with it for 3 days. Now I'm back to playing my mage.

It was suggested somewhere that future changes to CTF could include an option for all players signed up the choice to regulate the use of magic items.

Yeah, I really do look forward to CTFs the way they used to be, just like field pvp.


Mage only.

/end sarcasm

I ordered a set for your whole team. Expect the shipment to arrive shortly.