Alongside with the purge, we also have some exciting new features in pickup2.
New Add System
You know how annoying it is to never get a scout spot because you got a slow computer?
You know how annoying it is when one team gets two demos and the other team none?
You know how annoying it is to heal a soldier who is playing the class for the first time?
Don't worry! Those horrible days are over.
With the new add system people add to the pickup using !scout, !soldier, !demo or !medic.
(If you prefer you can also use !add scout etc.)
When you are added as a non-medic class you can at any time change to another class.
But as per usual, when you are added as medic you cannot change away from medic.
New Skill and Balancing System
One of the big problems in the old pickup2 was the balance of the teams. The thing is, how could the bot possibly balance the teams when it didn't know what class people were going to play? I mean, even if it puts one demoman into each team, it could not know if they would actually get to play the demoman class.
With the new add system, the bot knows exactly what class each person is going to play. This makes for much better balancing. Furthermore the skill system has been completely revamped, together with the new balancing methods this should result in more even teams.
Just to give a little idea of how it works: If a great demoman, a great scout and a great soldier is added, then the bot will make sure to put the demoman on a different team than the scout. (Obviously that is more balanced than demoman+scout vs soldier.) There was no way to make this kind of balance with the old system.
It will take a little time for us to fill up the new skill database, so the balancing probably won't be great within the first week.
Give it some time.
!friend for everyone!
If you are added as medic you can now always use !friend on one other player.
I hope this doesn't imbalance the teams too much.
The !foe command has been removed.
Requesting an Invite
Now it is no longer possible to invite someone yourself. Instead you can request an invite by using the following command:
!requestinvite nickname etf2l-profile-url
Example: !requestinvite F2 http://etf2l.org/forum/user/576/
The admins will be notified about your request. If the person cannot join after 24 hours then your request was rejected.
Make sure to read the requirements of pickup2.
Please do not toy with this command: Only use it once for every person you want invited.
Mercy
There are some people that almost never get a warning or a ban. And when they finally do it is usually due to bad luck (family emergency, sudden lack of internet connection, computer crash, etc.). If you get banned, the admins can now show you (!)mercy. This means that even though you will remain banned, you can still add as medic. And every time you play a pickup as medic, 6 hours will be removed from your current ban. Consider it community service! :]
Mumble
We will use Mumble 1.2 instead of ventrilo. To see server details type !mumble in the pickup channel.