The Survival Of CTF

Thank you for bringing attention to this, I completely agree that this is a problem which needs to be fixed. It's sad to see a game with so much potential being pushed aside. The CTF concept is so unique in the many special classes that are exclusive to Brawl. The majority of the current player base is made up of old McPVP players or people who have been around for a while in general. You are not seeing the new generation of Minecraft players coming in, which is important in order for the server to continue to grow.

 

This goes along the lines of Dmack's evolution thread in which I voiced my opinion on already: https://www.brawl.com/threads/77434/

That out of the way, I fully agree with this post. Honestly, a lot of what you mentioned stems from past missteps and oversight that has not been reversed. Below I want to comment on some points I found to correlate.

This is simply a huge issue with CTF. Casual is what is left of the traditional McPVP server which was not a great idea and I question why this was left to occur. Regardless of speculating this point, there is a distortion of what CTF actually is - especially for newer players. I've argued this point in-game quite often because it is extremely frustrating. CTF is advertised literally as "Capture The Flag." Okay great. PvP, classes and team-oriented gameplay are also promoted (or at least assumed in a CTF server and rightfully so). Players join into a casual server. Or, mentioned as what the Brawl community considers "normal" gameplay. Huge issue here.
CTF is promoted as an actual CTF server, though players join into something quite the opposite. Selective PvP, sometimes targeting those who actually try and play the game, cliques, etc. Yes, casual has become more of a hangout for regulars and that is NOT how the server is promoted. Often as a result, new players are going to become frustrated and leave. Same goes for older members who rejoin after time off. Now, I'm not saying that always happens, but trying to get a similar point across. Brawl CTF has a bit of a distorted meaning.
When it comes to a competitive scene, it is far too difficult for new players, and returning old members, to know this exists. Brawl CTF split in two different paths, yet promotion of the server never changed with it.

I could be completely wrong in saying that, although it is what I have personally seen.

 

The main issue here is that team-focused gamemodes on Minecraft are rare, so most people will end up just going for kills. To fix this with in-game mechanics would be extremely debilitating for player freedom, but there are 2 ways to fix it in other ways:
1) In-game pointers and tutorials: For example, when a new player joins, they'll be taken through a 1 minute or so scripted tutorial cutscene to explain the basics of the game such as the flag, the roles, and the classes. In addition to that, a proper guidebook would be useful, one that goes in-depth into everything and is available to read in the server hub as that's the only place players will have time to go through it.
2) Bigger media coverage. What separates CTF from games like Overwatch and Valorant is that players buy those games knowing what they're going into. Obviously Brawl can't lock CTF behind a paywall, but the idea that players can educate themselves on what they're getting into by watching videos and stuff still stands. It won't help people who find Brawl through random searching for MC servers, but a successful media presence would bring in enough players who know how the game works to make up for the casuals and then some. CMS already spearheads this movement with their match broadcasting (if CMS still exists that is, I haven't kept up to date on them), but they could also possibly make edited videos of match highlights and even tutorials, which would attract the attention of people who don't spend enough time on Youtube to watch an hour long vod. Having individual creators making CTF content too would also help, they generally get more people attached to their content than a big group will.

 

I do want to make a follow up since it has been over a month since this thread was posted (also taking into account Dmack's post).
What is being done/discussed to rectify this topic? Specifics would be useful.
Lately I've noticed a significant decrease in player count and when there is a decent game going, it lacks competitiveness. Now I completely understand the "Brawl normal." Though, as I referred to above, Brawl CTF is simply not promoted with what the gameplay and game modes actually are. That point aside, I think it would be of use to have an update as to what some thoughts/discussions are after two threads

 

bro, is CTF dying? mysterious. wonder what's causing that

it's time for Inspector Troggo to investigate

 

Perhaps I've been gone too long, but does CTF have to be entirely competitive? Games like League of Legends and overwatch, both with very specific goal-oriented gameplay, have casual players. There are those that play only for kills, just like in CTF. I can speak for myself in saying I'm not always up for the rush of getting to the flag, capturing, recovering, etc. Sometimes I'd like to just headshot or heal.

If the goal of the server managers is to turn CTF into a more constantly competitive game, it will alienate newer players who haven't grasped the concept of how to be competitive. I suppose if that isn't as much a concern as keeping the playerbase we have right now, reducing the number of credits gained for kills could give the incentive to play for the goal more than for the kills. Also (and this would fall onto the mods' laps) warning those that play more casually (I'm specifically referring to the instances when an enemy is in the flag room, not playing the game and just chilling). However, I feel this would strangle the gamemode further by once again alienating the group of people who decide they'd like to play CTF a certain way that doesn't fit the mold of a competitive scene.

Am I missing something? Is CTF attempting to move over entirely to competitive play?

 

The underlying discussions here aren't really about making CTF competitive again, rather what has been done to contribute to the consistent decline in players (new & old). In recent weeks, I've noticed consistent times of 10-20 players online and sometimes even less. Saw the server at 3 players online at a typically busy time. That aside, the main concept here is the instability of Brawl CTF. Competitive nature of the game has gone down the tube. I understand playing a bit more casually (as you referred to headshot/heal), though Brawl CTF has turned into a odd inter-twining of team PvP/CTF and hangout server - a far cry from McPvP days where everyone just battled and had fun doing it. The vision of the server isn't clear and evolution has stagnated for quite some time.

As previously mentioned, new players join and leave quickly as a lot is presented all at once. I referred to the issue of how CTF in general is promoted - team PvP with classes and a goal of capturing the flag. Seems straight forward. Except, what is presented on Brawl CTF differs from assumptions based on promotion.

Point here is Brawl CTF has become a bit of a weird mix of gameplays with no clear vision. A learning curve presented to new players for what is considered "normal" further drives any potential new life away. This point was brought up in the following thread: https://www.brawl.com/threads/77434/

Hope that clears any confusion up, in my mind Brawl CTF has become too complex with little-to-no evolution.