the so called "Official Mode"

[Eagleshadow]

Hi there, long time trackmania fan here, played ever since the first game.

I finally bought the Trackmania2, played on the first track a bit, and got a bit confused with official mode and all. But no worries, i quickly googled the official wiki and learned all about how it works, and how it allows for one official attempt every 5 minutes, but nowhere did I find the answer to WHY is such thing in game at all? I feel like I'm playing some limited-trial version of the game that has limitation to only allow you to officially race every 5 min.

I was at first thrilled about being able to race against other people's replays on every map, I was like "omg Nadeo best company ever I'm so glad I bought the game" - but then the discovery of official mode came like a slap to the face.

So, does anyone know why should this official mode be a good idea or necessity?

In my opinion, every single time you play a map should be official. I can't see how community didn't make a revolution about this already, I think every single player would agree with me on this, or am I missing something here?

[seeba]

This is a good question. There have been already several discussions about the solo-mode (especially when the game was released and in Beta), however in my opinion, your arguments are better than those a few months ago.

I can only make assumptions why it is how it is.
One would be that the tons of tries would absolutely kill the server, and the lots of replays consume too much disk space.
Another possibility is concerning the reward you get for a medal time. Maybe the sense behind this is to ensure that the player has "mastered" the track and is able to perform his good run more than once - so the normal mode would be to learn the track until you are able to drive it at any time when necessary.
Of course, it can also be something completely else or a mix of both assumptions - only Nadeo knows (perhaps even they don't know why they were doing it ).

Just to throw in my personal opinion: I'm fine with this timer, because it forces you to concentrate on this singly attempt and it creates a certain need to bee good. Otherwise, one would have to wait.
Of course it would be more comfortable to just try an official race, fail, try again and so on until you have done it. But I guess, 90% of the really good times would be luck. Many good times nowadays are probably luck too, however the percentage is probably less high

I hope you can understand my point of view (both literally because I'm not a native speaker and argumentative), if not, feel free to ask

[babsolune]

well...
before you had to spend money (coppers) to get access to official records, right?
now, you just have to wait to access to official mode and then it gives you money (planets)

and more... as you have just one try/5min, you have to be really more focused on your run =>the more you are focused, the more you progress

[Eagleshadow]

One would be that the tons of tries would absolutely kill the server, and the lots of replays consume too much disk space.

I'm nearly certain it wouldn't kill the server. Replays are ridiculously small files so sending and receiving them is almost instantaneous and wouldn't create any significant server load. Think of it this way: If Arenanet can run guildwars 1 (and soon 2) servers free of charge, and still be profitable... and that's a freakin mmo, requiring million times more bandwith... then Nadeo shouldn't have any server problems either.
And regarding disk space, only your best replay is actually kept on the server, and it automatically overwrites the past one, so that's not the problem either.

But I guess, 90% of the really good times would be luck. Many good times nowadays are probably luck too, however the percentage is probably less high

That's actually a good argument. But personally, I tend to freak out when in official mode since I'm nervous by nature and I always end up just crashing somewhere even though I did the track with gold or platinum medal multiple times in practice mode, where I can relax and perform optimally.

[seeba]

before you had to spend money (coppers) to get access to official records, right?
now, you just have to wait to access to official mode and then it gives you money (planets)

You also did get coppers for medal times in TMF
And - I might be mistaken - the first attempt was free, wasn't it? However, of course, I nearly never got a good score in a single try

And regarding disk space, only your best replay is actually kept on the server, and it automatically overwrites the past one, so that's not the problem either.

Hm...True with that one
Concerning the servers, I think it's kind of a question of budget. If you're able and willing to pay enough, then of course this causes no problem.

But personally, I tend to freak out when in official mode since I'm nervous by nature and I always end up just crashing somewhere even though I did the track with gold or platinum medal multiple times in practice mode, where I can relax and perform optimally.

Same for me.
But isn't it always like that in life - when you do your A-Levels, your driver's license etc...

[Eagleshadow]

Concerning the servers, I think it's kind of a question of budget. If you're able and willing to pay enough, then of course this causes no problem.

Well for a company that brags about selling 10,466,184 game copies ) ...

But isn't it always like that in life - when you do your A-Levels, your driver's license etc...

yeah, you cant even play games to escape real life anymore btw I also failed my driver's license test on the first try lol

[Timmeh7]

Well for a company that brags about selling 10,466,184 game copies ) ...

TM Forever has 10,466,184 players but most of them play the free TM Nations. I've read somewhere in here that United was sold 500.000 times.

The official mode is just another opportunity to compete with each other and the timer just makes it harder.

[wiidesire-2]

@threadstarter here is my story:

I was a big fan of Tm2. I bought every magazine ( even from france and poland) and made collections threads, about the information in it. Waiting till the release was a big pain for me, but when I finally get into the alpha all things changed.The solo mode and other things ( promised things( for example more blocks)-> not implented in game) made me nearly stop tm2

I am 300 of the world in tm2, I don't say tm2 is no fun, I really enjoy it sometimes, but mostly it is horrible if I see what they did to my beloved game


First of all the online servers are all crap. I just see fullspeed map shit or mini short maps

Can't find any nice, skilled server with time attack or even better with rounds. When I want to play singleplayer, it is always a big pain, because I have to wait 5 min for every offical time, and when I crash I'm so angry, that I just stop playing.

You know I'm not a freak, which plays computer games 24/7 to be first in the singeplayer list ( which apperantly top 10 must be)


Additionally I can't find a reason about this *** timer, it also destroys the whole planet system. Most servers have way too much planets, because everbody don't know what to do with planets and they just spend it to the servers. And also tournaments for winning planets are useless...


Would be nice if Hylis or anyother developer could write me any good reason why the timer is great.




I suggest everyone at the moment not to buy the game, because you should wait till the timer is removed and till finally good online servers are there.

[seeba]

I don't really want to argue about your point of view as it is valid for you.

But I can't live with that statement.

I suggest everyone at the moment not to buy the game, because you should wait [...] till finally good online servers are there.

How do you imagine the existance of "good" servers without wanting to have players? This is in my opinion a paradox.

First of all the online servers are all crap. I just see fullspeed map shit or mini short maps

I guess this is supply and demand. Probably, most players like them, otherwise they would not frequent these servers.

Maybe you should find people who think the same - there are lots for sure - and open a server with maps you like

[riolu]

You know I'm not a freak, which plays computer games 24/7 to be first in the singeplayer list ( which apperantly top 10 must be)

I guess you have no clue what you are talking about. You don't have to play 24/7 to be first in solomode. That 5 minute timer has been implemented to give those players an advantage, who can actually drive constantly good times. In TMUF, it was different tho. Players without much skill can still drive great times (with a lucky shot obviously) when having tons of coppers. Now, with that timer, the percentage of having a lucky official run has been decreased, thats why the times on loltracks like A03 are still beatable (but only when you have a lucky run ;O ).