TDM vs FFA

[[BTF]Defiant!]

fun topic

Two differences

• In TDM, my death sets me back and my opponent forward an equal amount.  In FFA, if I get fragged, I can more easily come back AND unless I was fragged by my top competitor there is no benefit to my "opponent" -- the person I'm competing with to win.  Thus in FFA, you can go more "all-out".
• Perhaps more importantly, FFA is more casual where you can come and go easily with no waiting.

Each gametype has different skills.  TDMers are generally much stronger players.  You can tell someone with an FFA background, because they know the maps and have solid aim, but lack good movement.  However, don't take this to mean that an TDMer is always better.  A good FFAer can beat a "better" TDM player in FFA (i.e. I've beat top three ranked players from past TS tournies).

Sorry but I wrote this without having yet had the time to read the other posts.

Def

[adrenal1ne]

play me   

[Ghost9]

Lately I have been playing a lot of tdm.

I feel guilty playing ffa sometimes.  I mean how satisfying can it be when I've been playing Q2 for 6 years, have a high-end computer, and I'm viciously attacking some poor newbie who's playing online for the first time with a keyboard only and has "always run" turned off?

Usually they just disconnect after a minute or two anyway.

I do wish there was another map as fun and versatile as dm1, since that's basically all we play, but oh well.

[naymlis]

A good FFAer can beat a "better" TDM player in FFA (i.e. I've beat top three ranked players from past TS tournies).

i dont think you beat me or damiah in ffa

[[BTF]Defiant!]

Lately I have been playing a lot of tdm.

I feel guilty playing ffa sometimes.  I mean how satisfying can it be when I've been playing Q2 for 6 years, have a high-end computer, and I'm viciously attacking some poor newbie who's playing online for the first time with a keyboard only and has "always run" turned off?

Usually they just disconnect after a minute or two anyway.

I do wish there was another map as fun and versatile as dm1, since that's basically all we play, but oh well.

I rarely play Vanilla because of that.  No fun for them.  And no fun for me.  Someone who thinks it is an accomplishment to beat up on new players is deluding themself and should be embarassed. 

This is also why I've always pushed for skill brackets in TDM tournies.  I don't learn much by getting shutout nor do I learn anything by shutting out another player.  Same is true in life, stay in that easy job or try just hard enough to get by in school, you will not improve.

Def

[[BTF]Defiant!]

A good FFAer can beat a "better" TDM player in FFA (i.e. I've beat top three ranked players from past TS tournies).

i dont think you beat me or damiah in ffa

I've only played you once (as far as I know), it was tdm and I didn't get a single frag.  I've never played damiah.

Def

[[BTF]Gator]

i have always focused on ffa since q1.  i am completely devoid of the type of patience required to play 1v1/TDM.  i cant stand waiting in line for a game or even waiting to ready up.  Severe ADD or who knows what. 

My heart has always been in FFA.  i have always found the TDM scene to be negative too.  Not that there arent great people there, there are many.  But the negative ones are a larger minority then in FFA, imo.  i started on LANs and always had a buddy feeling with my opponents in FFA.  In my heart lives the joy of my first games where i was throwing beer cans at my opponents.  And i do what i can to keep that alive today.  The mistreatment and bad words i always came across in the TDM scene have seemed to burn me deeply, even to this day.

i do agree there is more skill in TDM, but i play for fun.  And i like to promote that buddy feeling i have always felt from the beginning.  So i will live forever in FFA.

[[BTF]Sigma]

Jolly good show, what!

[10zx]

i have always focused on ffa since q1.

[DEMOn]

Some thoughts:
TDM: mostly 1x1 players; people who optimize their settings and practice their gameplay. in short, amateur professionals or professionals.
FFA: This is being too general, IMHO.  FFA is usually made up of players who don't alter their game settings.  People who play for fun only... (that may be a very unusual concept to you 'gxers') though, there are always exceptions...
1) a ffa game with 4 excellent players is NOT ffa really, it is 1x1x1x1.   (However, this can change quickly if lower-skilled players join)
2) a mix - say 5-12 players(depending upon the map and the competition).  often this is the kind of game I get stuck in -- for example, me and Ax2grind 1x1, but with many other players on vanilla or mutant.
3) true ffa mayhem.  12+ players. (although, personally, I think 20+ is stupid and worthless to everyone playing) where an Element or Elysium can't go without multiple deaths... where a TDM player's safe zone is comprimised.

simply comparing TDM to FFA is more like apples and oranges.
As sigma said, FFA is rarely frustrating, 1x1/TDM is almost always frustrating...

Perhaps I like ffa because occasionally I have beaten Punk, Elysium, Rehash, etc...  whereas in 1x1/TDM I would be lucky to even get a frag.

back OT, why are ffa players generally much lower skilled than TDMers?  It is due to their desire to get something else out of the game.  They wish to turn it on and play... they aren't interested in competition.  There is some truth to gaining skill by playing better players, but in general, the masses on the TDM servers are playing for a different reason than the players on the ffa servers.
believe me, if you took the grenades out of the game, a good amount of players would have stopped playing q2 years ago...
long live q2 ffa!

[Remedy]

As sigma said, FFA is rarely frustrating, 1x1/TDM is almost always frustrating...

I don't see much truth to that statement, no offense to you or sigma (dunno who that is ) but TDM isn't frustrating once you get into a groove with it, yes most team players take their settings more seriously than ffa players with paks, timers, and binds but it's just to bring the game to a higher level. If we all played maps without binds or even strategies it would just be team based ffa. I play both and I find neither of them frustrating.

Sure it takes some discipline, practice and tweaking of your settings but there's lots of people around to help you with stuff like that, if you ask.

[Ghost9]

Another interesting difference between TDM and FFA is the tendency to roam more in FFA.

In organized and controlled tdm, you are trying to totally lock down a small area of the map, killing all enemies that enter your zone and supplying your unarmed teammates that pass through with weapons.  For example just watch Damiah in a dm7 4v4.  He gets in the SSG room and basically never leaves.  Controlling the lift on dm1 or the RA lift on dm2 are other examples.  Its really cool to be part of a 4-player team in control, all pulling together and sending enemy spawns to each other, unless of course you're the enemy spawn. 

It sounds cheap, but it can be pretty tough to maintain your position against 2, 3, or even 4 enemies, all aiming at you.  After all, you only have one crosshair.

[DEMOn]

As sigma said, FFA is rarely frustrating, 1x1/TDM is almost always frustrating...

Sure it takes some discipline, practice and tweaking of your settings but there's lots of people around to help you with stuff like that, if you ask.

outside of teamsay binds and weapon drops (both of which I think are PART of TDM) and gl_modulate settings (because gl doesn't have the same brightness on every client) I consider all other game modifications cheating(ports, mods, movement hacks(nosteps, noclipstairs), double/triple jump binds, cl_maxfps, etc...)... so I refuse to do that myself.  But that is my choice and my handicap.
I know I would never be good enough at 1x1/TDM play to ever consider it other than mostly frustrating... and because of that, it is NOT fun to play.  If I could play as good as Sean, then maybe I'd feel differently... perhaps I can be reborn as you in my next life.   =)

[DEMOn]

Another interesting difference between TDM and FFA is the tendency to roam more in FFA.
It sounds cheap, but it can be pretty tough to maintain your position against 2, 3, or even 4 enemies, all aiming at you.

[Punk_FAS]

Isn't it odd that most of the best players, Purri for example, seem to be nice guys?  And the wannabe's always are the ones with the poor attitudes.  I think attitude plays a big role in gaming, if you're not having fun, and trying to "own" the other guy, you're going to do worse.  I think being friendly, enjoying what you do, and not having any alterior motives other than just to focus, and play well, and enjoy yourself, is key in playing at the peak of your potential.