So You Think Allegiance Sucks?

neotoxin · Post by **neotoxin** » Sun Jul 27, 2008 8:30 pm

Hello all,

It has been increasingly often that I've heard a pilot that's been flying for longer than myself strike the phrase "Allegiance sucks now" or something of that phrase's caliber. And I'm not too unsure that many pilots who have been active longer than 6 months would also agree and mention an example of how Allegiance is on the decline. Far too long has anyone felt the same way without asking "what needs to be done to reverse the way I feel," in my opinion.

The most common reason I've heard was the lack of teamwork. People might propagate this as the increased amounts of new pilots, a lack of overall respect towards positive contribution, or a general lack of flying experience. But when it all boils down to it, a lot of people feel that Allegiance is downfalling due to the common pilot's lack of teamwork. This is a problem easily fixed, but not without a bit of elbow grease.

It is in my experience in real life that it takes either a strong leader or an asshat leader to whip the masses in to shape. But leadership can only go so far; you can have the best commander in the seat, but if people see the "key" players wandering around aimlessly then they will do the same. Leadership just doesn't stop at commanding, no. The role falls upon every pilot who actually has a clue as to what needs to be done to win the game. The long-time veterans, the ACS graduates, the CDT-A graduates, every single person who has completed an advanced course to some degree in Allegiance, your time to stand up is now.

It falls down to not the commander, but the pilot to actually get things done. If you have bad tech, don't blame the commander for mismanaging miners, take direct responsibility and command the miners yourselves. Switch to a support role, be it artillery or nanite defense, and make sure that your team knows that you are helping out in a positive way. There are a lot of int whores out there whom I see do this, and I absolutely HATE it when they join the other team simply because they use their exemplary offensive skills defensively. They are the true people who change games, the ones that truly support the prosperity of a team.

This is not to say that offensive pilots go unnoticed. Your actions are noticed by the entire team, as it's hard to avoid the big red letters scrawled across the middle of your HUD. But it's the unsung heroes that truly win the games in my opinion. It's the unsung heroes that truly build the teamwork capabilities of a team. It is these individuals who are on the decline, because too many people are too caught up in stat-boosting, HELO-boosting, or simply just going off on their own accord. We need these people to come back to the roles that they are desperately needed to fill, the roles that may not be fun at first but dammit if it isn't fun after the 35-minute mark, when you have all adv tech and possibly a shipyard to boot.

In digression, I will leave you all with this thought: Allegiance may suck right now, but you directly can make it better. Be it if you are a veteran, a noob, a developer, an @Alleg, YOU and YOU ALONE are responsible for making this game a team effort. Bring back the notion of teamwork to Allegiance, and you bring back the glory that some feel its losing.

With respect,

neo

takingarms1 · Post by **takingarms1** » Sun Jul 27, 2008 8:38 pm

People have been bitching about that in the 4 or so year's I've been around, and everyone has been saying since that time to today that allegiance is worse than it was and it sucks now and blah blah. Some people who were new back then are even saying that now. It's just common vet bitching and is basically the same kind of bs as, "when I was your age, i had to walk to school... in the snow... without shoes... etc etc"

Maybe there was a golden age when everyone was awesome and voobs didnt exist except for phrase and blah blah blah but somehow I doubt it.

mcwarren4 · Post by **mcwarren4** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 1:09 am

A big part of me thinks Allegiance has gotten better over the years rather than worse. Its all about perspective. When you are new and have a million things to learn its like Christmas everytime you log in. Once you fully get a clue as to how the game SHOULD be played you start noticing your team's mistakes. Those same mistakes have been there all along but congratulations, you've just graduated from voobdom, and now you see the mistakes too. For the most part, games are better now than they were 5 years ago. Its just that the gap in skill level from the best pilots to the newer pilots is much bigger than it was in the past. Because in the past, we were basically all voobs still learning how to play.

This is what makes squad play so important. You rarely see the usual mistakes in squad games. We invent entirely NEW WAYS TO SCREW UP! Then we laugh about it after the heat of the moment is over with. Squad gameplay is what the best of Allegiance is really made of. Just like any pickup game of basketball, football, volleyball, anything competitive really... when you mix highly skilled people with lower skilled people the lower skilled people have a great time while the highly skilled ones are often frustrated if they are competitive by nature.

I think if you log in to play pickup games you should know what you are getting before you log in. Unless someone is willing to create side vet only games this is something we will have to continue to deal with.

ryjamsan · Post by **ryjamsan** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 1:47 am

Try 8 years. you have always had the "Alleg sucks now crowd" And always will.

And to be honest Alleg is right now ,in my opinion, at the top of its game. Not every game rocks. But more rock then ever b4 IMHO.,

Very little crashing. Very little hacking. Decent games every day I play. About 50/50 but it always depends what team your on /biggrin.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":biggrin:" border="0" alt="biggrin.gif" />

MrChaos · Post by **MrChaos** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 1:57 am

ryjamsan wrote:QUOTE (ryjamsan @ Jul 27 2008, 08:47 PM) Try 8 years. you have always had the "Alleg sucks now crowd" And always will.

And to be honest Alleg is right now ,in my opinion, at the top of its game. Not every game rocks. But more rock then ever b4 IMHO.,

Very little crashing. Very little hacking. Decent games every day I play. About 50/50 but it always depends what team your on /biggrin.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":biggrin:" border="0" alt="biggrin.gif" />

SNRFS

ryjamsan · Post by **ryjamsan** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 2:00 am

MrChaos wrote:QUOTE (MrChaos @ Jul 28 2008, 11:57 AM) SNRFS

What does that mean?

carbon · Post by **carbon** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 2:07 am

It's a great time for Allegiance, I don't see any suck.

You have a great point though, we all contribute to the game we play; if you didn't kill a miner, probe an un-probed sector, nan the bomber or step up to command then shut your whine hole!

neotoxin · Post by **neotoxin** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 2:09 am

ryjamsan wrote:QUOTE (ryjamsan @ Jul 27 2008, 09:00 PM) What does that mean?

Stupid nerds really facking suck?

On topic, I just feel that Allegiance is nowhere near the low point. While this game was managed by a division of a multi-billion dollar company, no one barely knew about it, the content was minimal, and you had to pay-to-play. A small group of gamers got together and enhanced the game so drastically and made it free, that it puts Microsoft to shame. Something like that can't die easily.

It is also in my opinion that teamwork in general according to Allegiance is starting to slowly take it's turn for the worst, though. It's VERY hard with the newer pilots, as a commander of aarmstrong's caliber can easily lose to a commander of my caliber if my team shows exemplary teamwork over his. True, this can happen under any scenario, but I'm just noting that I find the newer pilots aren't introduced to the teamwork aspect of Allegiance enough. Maybe a whole week in CDT to let them know "you're on a team, listen to your commander, do as he says no matter what" would help?

zecro · Post by **zecro** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 7:27 am

TL;DR:

Prima: Allegiance sucks.
Segunda: Allegiance has always sucked.
Prima: Yes, but it definitely was better.

Anyone who knows what is going on is responsible for letting their team know what to do (not just the comm). Just assume nobody else knows.

Plaything · Post by **Plaything** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 7:56 am

if your an old timer and you think it sucks : you didnt get better

if your a newb and you think it sucks : you probably never will get better

advice for old people : the old cheese dont work, learn the new stuff

advice for the newbs : keep learning new stuff, eventually you MIGHT be better than some of the good old people /smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />

Edit: changed "advice for the newbs : keep hacking away, " with "keep learning new stuff"