Decreasing playerbase

[Azarael]

There is no reason to version inferior maps.

[Mecha]

• higher skilled players focussing on lower skilled players (impression of 'farming')
• getting killed by pure randomness (stray bullets/grenades)
• nobody thaws you, you thaw all alone, which often leads to...
• ...getting killed immediately after being thawed, by enemies who 'unsuspectingly' pass by
• players abusing extremely buffed or broken weapons that kill you effortlessly, remember the M46 bullshit?
• 1 vs. 1 fights suddenly turning into a 1 vs. 12 spamming rampages
• teammates who carelessly jump right in front of you
• and occasional stacked teams later during the match.

Let me explain those. I think we are all familiar with the first point, JAM was one prime example of farming, other players had no chance to defend themselves or even react, it was annoying and to be honest, I'd leave the match in a bink of an eye, too. The second point applies mainly to grenades. How often did you get killed by Pineapples that were thrown out of random? You often couldn't even see them were they landed, this was a serious issue because any range you got caught within its explosion meant certain death. The third point is personal experience and you probably know the topic I made. Seemingly unsuspecting enemies 'just walk by' and kill you as soon as your thawing-protection wears off, while in reality they count down everything to ensure they catch you. To top that, you thawed all alone and nobody came to help you. The fith point applies to notorious abusers. There is no reason not use an extremely buffed or broken weapon that effortlessly kills anything by simple push of a button, but it's fucking bullshit to do so, really. CYLO IV and M46 are the weapons that many adore and love but I don't, those are relicts of a shitty time that reminds me of how much of an asshole people can be. And we all know the sixth point, don't we? Oh yes, the moment when a fair 1v1 turns into a fucking spamming orgy with killstreak weapons and other shit that you can't do anything about it, as if your enemies know exactly where you do the duel and want a piece of you. And it's even a legitimate strategy. The seventh point doesn't need explaination. Players using deployed weapons hate this, I'm sure of it. And the last point is what I hate at most. In the past, it occasionally happened when no admins were around. If you were on the weaker team, you're fucked no matter how well you played. Still happens now and then with the new balancer. Put all of these points together in one match, and frustration is certain. These are all events that actually happened and often enough, I see them as the major rage-makers of all time and reasons why players abandon this game.
What really drives me off is getting so frustrated that you start going through a phase in which all of your accumulated skills (like aiming, basic dodging, reaction time, fine motorics, tracking and so on) start to weaken more and more with each death, thinking your enemies laugh at you in front of their monitors. At this point I'd also give up and go play something else.

[SageOfSixPaths]

Personally I would say the visible Skill System and the maps.

[Azarael]

Farming is encouraged by the skill system, I've spoken of this problem before. A kill is worth the same regardless of whether it's a noob or someone good. If you play in a game where the average skills are high, in order to conserve your skill you MUST farm, because if you engage all players equally, the team average skill value indicates that you should be pulling a lesser K:D because you're facing better players, but you'll be penalized by the skill system just as if the average skills were 5.

[iRobot]

Nobody really appreciates being judged by their skill value. It's no different to people IRL going around with their IQ stamped on their forehead.

Does anyone have anything good to say about the system (other than it balances better than RNG gods do)?

[Ollievrthecool]

Nobody really appreciates being judged by their skill value. It's no different to people IRL going around with their IQ stamped on their forehead.

Does anyone have anything good to say about the system (other than it balances better than RNG gods do)?

I wonder what izumo's skill would be, since I never see him play. People can judge anyone by their skill. We did this to miche all the time and I see how it can get so annoying. Sometimes when I rage, I only get mad at the people with LOW skill and not with people who have higher skill than me, with 1 exception (will not name). Pilau doesn't have the best skill in the world but he still know how to play, with aim and not abusing the OP, he is pro and yet his skill is 3.xx (last time I checked).
On another note, some people just play here to relax (Bufty). having the skill might just put these people off from playing as I see many people just spectating when the server is no where near full. this is why I play DeathMatch in the morning, THERE IS NO SKILL IN DM SO IT IS FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!! When I rage in Freon, its "FUCK SAKE" at the top of my voice but when I rage in DM, its "just damn he got me" or "Good 1" or on some occasions, its "lol I never expected that"

hopfully some people will come to their sences about the skill system and agree with all these hate posts

[Azarael]

I can honestly say that visible skill is thoroughly off-putting now.

[Ollievrthecool]

I can honestly say that visible skill is thoroughly off-putting now.

I thought the skill system was ONLY used to make team-spec*Sentitel work.

[Azarael]

I was once a proponent of it, but it's now become overcentralizing to the point where my enjoyment on BW is dependent upon holding a number value. I don't always want to play in that environment and there's nowhere to go to play unranked games.

[Aberiu]

I agree that the skill system is too annoying right now.
I'd be really happy if there wasn't that scoreboard at the end of a match showing those green or red numbers. This is the only reason why I hide my skill - every time I see it I start to care about my skill too much, switch to the weapons that I know better and get really upset when I die. This ruins the game for me.

There was another thing which I noticed when I first joined the LDG servers: nobody ever switches teams to fix the balance. I've been playing on russian TAM servers before and even though there was no rules and people were able to swear and do whatever they want, they still tried to keep the matches balanced. They were actually switching.