Oswald Rant: Locked and Loaded

Comments such as, “You guys suck,” “Didn’t you test these weapons,” “So much for skill, the mod caters to n00bs and luck,” seemed to flood the Urban Terror community with the release of Beta 2.5. There were some changed made to numerous weapons, that were not very well received by some in the community.

As SID continues to develop Urban Terror, some would contest the mod will never be as “good” [and I use that term lightly] as it was back during Beta 1.27. Yeah, remember that version? Everyone using the UMP45 and spamming like there was no tomorrow. There have been many changes not only to the mod, but most notably the weapons.

Beta 2.3, 2.4 and 2.5 all introduced new characteristics to the weapons. Some gamers feel they are being cheated, because they need to relearn a weapon. In the case of 2.5, we reduced the effectiveness of the machine guns, which makes “lucky” headshots a bit more prevalent. This is a characteristic we are looking at removing and making skill play more of a factor.

Some “old school” gamers are under the impression the development team must listen to them, just as some clans have moved on because they were not receiving the attention they felt they should because of their tenure in the league. In effect, the development team should listen to everyone who plays the mod, the new gamer, the old schooler, admins and clan members. It is mod for the community, by the community.

During the hiatus SID is on, we have seen many of the negative weapon comments subside and the real colors of the community come shining through. Many gamers continue to support the mod and understand that there are changes constantly happening.

After coming out of this hiatus, weapons will be tweaked and modified, based on comments we see from the community, in an attempt to “finalize” their characteristics. Does this mean they will never change? Of course not. It does mean the community will have some input as to how the weapons should act and feel.

As the team continues to say, we do take an active interest in our community and feel by doing so lines of communication are much better. The development team enjoys talking to those who continue to support the mod and want to see it improve. For your patience and support, we thank you.