Spawn Times

[SConforti]

Please everyone vote and please be nice about it.  Give your reasons why and why not. 

[crazydog]

Valve has optimized the respawn times to provide an optimum balance for each team. When a team is winning, their respawn times are reduced so that they have an advantage. When a team is losing, their respawn time is increased so they have a disadvantage. This provides for games that end, and do not go into stalemate/overtime all the time.

"Balance" doesn't mean that each team should have the same exact advantages/disadvantages that the other team has. It means that if a team is winning, they should be able to finish winning.

The reason the payload maps are becoming so unbalanced toward RED now, is because of the respawn times. If the BLU team is constantly pushing the cart, they get 2 or 3 second respawns, which helps them continue pushing the cart. Right now, they get NO reward for playing well. Similarly, both teams get no DISadvantage for playing poorly; they always respawn in the same time intervals.

The game was also balanced this way so teams could have a chance to get to the front lines. As it is now, if RED is doing a good job defending, their respawn time does not get lower, so they have a really tough time continuing their defense, whlie the BLU team is not penalized for not doing a good job, and is able to overtake the map because their respawn is 5 seconds shorter than the team that is doing better.

I have the same issue with this that I have with every item in the "Should we put this on the server" thread. If we want to have a fun server with instant respawn and 500 stickies per demo, 800 sentries per Engineer and 10 second ubercharge charging with 50 second ubers let's install another TF2 server.

tl;dr: Put the respawn times back to the way Valve optimized them.

[Gumby]

I kind of liked when defending on Gold Rush tonight, I had a 25 second respawn time, but I spawned in 10 seconds.  It was nice to still be able to play the game, and not have to sit with my thumb up my ass for half a minute while I respawned. 

[Hitman Smurf]

Before you vote be sure to read this:

Spawn times explained

Git along there, little doggies
October 8, 2008 - Robin Walker

Work on the next class pack is gearing up, a little slower than we'd like. In the meantime, I thought I'd post some answers to the common email questions we receive.

How do respawn waves work? Is my respawn time affected by my performance? Why do they exist at all?

Respawn waves occur on regular intervals, based on the map settings. Most of our maps use a 10 second respawn wave time. That 10 seconds is then modified by the map state, generally reduced for the team that controls the most capture points. Each team's respawn wave time is then scaled down if the team has less than 8 players in it, to a minimum of 5 seconds if team has 3 or less players in it. When you die, you are assigned to the respawn wave after the next one. So if the respawn wave time is currently 10 seconds for your team, you'll respawn somewhere between 10 and 20 seconds from your death. Your individual performance doesn't affect your respawn time in any way.



We found respawn waves were a good solution to several problems.

    * They provide a reward for the team that's doing well, in that if they wipe out a significant amount of the enemy team they're rewarded with a short grace period in which they can achieve objectives. Without them, we found teams felt like they'd been penalized when they cleared the enemy off the last capture point, only to have them all return immediately.
   
* They group respawning players together into squads, increasing the chances of strangers working together, or at the very least, moving to the frontline while maintaining some proximity to one another. Strangers aren't pushed together into groups when everyone respawns instantly, and we've seen that proximity to team mates is a fundamental requirement for impromptu teamwork.
   
* They provide some ebb & flow in the pacing of the battle. Without some cooldown inbetween the moments of intense combat at the frontline, many players felt fatigued much more quickly. In particular, some attack/defense maps feel almost completely static without respawn waves. That lack of progress, in either direction, was a big factor in players finding the gameplay monotonous.
   
* The spectator camera seen while waiting to respawn gives players some time to observe their team mates. This provides a minor help to teamwork, allowing players to see what other members of their team are up to. More importantly, we've seen that new players learn a lot of advanced techniques by spectating better players. This is one of the reasons why the spectator camera tries to find a team mate who's playing the same class as you.

Obviously, there are other solutions to these problems, but respawn waves do a good job across the board.

[Baltika (#9)]

I voted yes, and I find the choice of three options confusing.

Should we put the respawn times back to the way they were?
Yes
No
Leave them the way they are

huh?

I hope my vote counted that I like vanilla spawn times, and not quick respawn.

[Hitman Smurf]

I voted yes, and I find the choice of three options confusing.

Should we put the respawn times back to the way they were?
Yes
No
Leave them the way they are

huh?

I hope my vote counted that I like vanilla spawn times, and not quick respawn.

I changed the vote options, since there were no votes for no I removed it...now the choices are more clear.

[SConforti]

Yeah it was a bit confusing.  I was tired and rushed to get it up before I layed down to watch a movie.

[Gumby]

Yeah it was a bit confusing.  I was tired and rushed to get it up before I layed down to watch a movie.

Well, at least we have Smurf to clean up your mistakes...

[BearDog]

I prefer vanilla spawntimes.

[Taso]

I also prefer Vanilla, maybe more people will be satisfied with it and not get p/o'ed for having to wait half a minute to respawn...but 10 to 15 secs isn't bad either.

[Video_Master]

2 more days for voting.  so far by the looks of it, spawn times will go back to regular.

[SConforti]

We didn't vote to change it shorter.  People just commented and it was shortened.  90% of the ppl that wanted it shorter want it back.  Just change it.

[SConforti]

SPAWN TIMES ARE BACK TO NORMAL!   

[Hitman Smurf]

YEAH! 

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