Why did I restart playing FAF regularly-also remember URC?)

[sasin]

I just read the whole thread on why people stopped playing FAF regularly with some interest after taking ~2 years off and just recently deciding to come back to the game. I started writing a reply, but it got really long and I figured it might merit it's own thread if anyone cares #nostalgia.

Not gonna lie, it's making me question my decision, and it's really sad to see that in the 2 years I was gone, all of the big names that I loved to watch and learn from have essentially lost interest in playing the game. Even though I'm sure none of you know who I am (except maybe zock?), I used to love watching games with Mr. Smith, galactic_fear, that troll guy that everyone hated whos name I can't remember, and especially Mad_Mozart, voodoo, petricpwnz, zlo, lu_xun, zock, and blackheart. Also, for what it's worth, lu_xun's casts were by far the best ("scoot!!!!!")! I loved catching all of your games on youtube though, even when it was shirtless zlo in his bedroom, and it helped me tremendously as I grew from an 800 player to a 1600. Getting to the point where I could play colonel_sheppard even in a game was a huge moment for me, as was ionic telling me he was refusing to play against me on twin rivers ever again. I remember not that long before I left, there was a really epic tournament, the URC, which had all of the best players and brought some old legends out of retirement as well. It had a ton of hype and a bunch of casters, including someone doing weekly recaps and highlights (found the final on youtube, for anyone else feeling nostalgic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USgyMsbJASM). I guess I didn't realize how good we had it.

Anyways, enough waxing nostalgic, and it's a little ironic of me to do so given that I was the one who stopped playing when the game was at a relatively high point. My reasons for stopping were that I couldn't get my friends enough into the game. I think this was in part due to the number of random, little idiosyncracies that don't really make sense from a design perspective in the game, that made it really unfriendly to new players. In my opinion, complexities that add to the strategic depth of the game are good, but complexities that don't add anything other than random stuff to memorize, or that are very counter-intuitive, are really bad. I cringed anytime a friend who is new at the game would get hover-bombed, and I'd have to explain that this one unit could be microd to devstate your base in the beginning, but no you, friend shouldn't try to build a bomber, because you have to practice to get it to work and if you mess it up your bomber just does literally nothing. No, there are no other units that have 10x the dps if you micro them well, just this one random thing. /rant.

Couple that with getting the hot keys and gaz ui set up, getting all the build templates and so on, which make the game more unfriendly. Those aren't the end of the world, but it just adds that much startup cost to somone who is still trying to figure out this myriad of basics and how to counter a t2 pd creep. Ringing mass storages is key for eco. But a powerstorage is expensive and doesn't enhance your power generation significantly. Given how complex the game already is when you're new, it would have been better to simplify stuff as much as possible. As it was, it made it too much of a chore for my friends to get into it, as much as I loved it and loved doing the WWPC each week.

So, when my friends wanted to play Heroes of the Storm, I couldn't really say no, since it's a lot more fun to play with your buddies. It was my first MOBA, has a lot of strategy, I got hooked, and FA fell by the wayside.

I came back because one of my friends wanted to play a round, I did so, and realized how much I love the game and how much I miss it. It has macro strategy, creativity, and the perfect balance of team-dependence with individual playmaking. Despite what people have said in here about toxic players, I have had 100000x less toxicity in FAF than in heroes, and heroes is supposed to be the least toxic of the major mobas. Playing FA is the closest I feel to being Ender Wiggin, and with that as my heroes name, it seemed only fitting I should return. If people want to leave, then that's totally their decision, and I certainly can't be one to jduge, but I at least wanted to throw out my two cents and say that you may feel burnt out on this game right now, but I think it is extremely unique among RTSes and computer games writ large. Some of the annoyances a la map rotation and balance, while worth discussing, shouldn't take away from how beautiful of a game this really is, and I think it's worth fighting for. Maybe I needed to step away from the game for a long time to realize that. I'd like to start a discussion on concrete steps we could do to address everyone's concerns, but I doubt anyone is still reading, so maybe we should save that for another post.

Sorry for the long post!

[lextoc]

They all come back :3

[tatsu]

couldn't give this post two likes but i could like it, unlike it, then like it again so i did. welcome back!

[Mad`Mozart]

Hi :3

[sasin]

Hi :3

Oh hey Mozart. Uh, big fan.