Lets face it, Wolfenstein didn't turn out to be what roughly 95% of us expected or wanted. While decent in it's own right, it hardly lives up to it's predecessors. Most of us play this series because of the feel, the movement and the speed of RTCW or ET. We play it because we enjoy fast paced objective based team play. What most of us expected from Wolfenstein was nothing more than updated version of this. Some new maps, updated graphics, some new models and maybe some weapon variation. What we got was an entirely different game all together. A game that more resembles older versions of games from entirely different series, rather than it's own. Collectively the vast majority that have played the Wolfenstein series for any amount of time are gravely disappointed and left to ponder the serious question of "What now?" In my mind the answer is quite simple.... re-tool Wolfenstein Enemy Territory.

Achieving this may not be as simple as it sounds but the core of what makes a great game to most of us is there, it just needs a make-over. Below I have outlined the various aspects I believe are in need of attention. Some of my ideas pertain to esports in general so if they seem a little radical for ET it's because I'm suggesting this on a much broader scope and not just for ET.


Effective Anticheat



Aside form the age of the game, the single biggest contributor to the demise of ET has been the rampant cheating. Changing your ETKEY is as easier then putting on a fresh pair of socks and a new IP these days isn't all that much more difficult. Player tracking has become increasingly difficult with PBBans removing their live banning list due to Punkbuster guid spoofing and Punkbuster itself has become more of a problem creating random unwanted lag and annoying kicks for things that seem trivial and have nothing to do with the game. This wouldn't hurt so much if it actually seemed it was effectively doing something productive.

With Foxdie and crew now working to complete antipro the solution to the biggest problem we face may finally come. I for one remain optimistic that this will breath new life into the community.

Maps



We've been playing the same tired old boring maps in competitive ET now for far too long. Massive multi-layered objective maps need to go. Dyno one wall or door, capture one forward spawn and/or command post and retrieve 1 or 2 objectives. That's all you need. Radar is an prime example of a perfectly laid out map suitable for competition. There are no single choke points. At every stage the axis must defend more than one path that leads to an objective. This keeps everyone slightly spread out and allows for multiple strategies from both sides. There are no moveable's to slow the pace of the game and no barriers that can be destroyed and rebuilt time and again.

Competitive ET is about time. It's about setting a time and then defending that time. These multi-layered maps encourage full holds and lets face it from a spectators point of view, full holds are boring and dry. Goldrush, Supply and Bremen are examples of maps that, yes are fun to play but have far too many hold points. Maps should be setup in favor of the attacking team while the main goal of the defending team is to simply slow them down as much as possible. I'm not saying the attacking team should just waltz right through, but there should be far less opportunities for the axis to recover from mistakes. Losing a barrier and then rebuilding it because you had opportunity to due to a slow moving truck or tank is lame. Maps where you have to rely on the speed of a movable object (tank/truck) need to go.


Sponsorships and Advertising



In this section I will be talking about things I think need to happen not just for ET but for all esports. When you look at actual sports these are the things you see and things I believe if incorporated over to esports, could help the industry grow.

Team Uniforms



We all know there's 100's of skins available for ET as with most games and they all offer their own unique style to the game but in all honesty this is something that's never been embraced by the competitive community. Lets face it, most of us don't care about the appearance of the game. Most every player screen shot you see is a blurry almost monotone image of something that looks like it came out of a bad comic strip. What I'm suggesting has much less to do with appearance, but rather the team and team sponsorship aspect. If you look at every team sport in the world today there is one common denominator that separates each team from the next, their uniform. Imagine every baseball or soccer game where every game or match both teams donned the same 2 uniforms every time. The same and only 2 uniforms used by every single team. The same and only 2 uniforms with no distinguishing names or numbers for the individual players and no distinguishing team name or colors. Not only does that not give the individual any form of personal prestige but it makes for a very dry spectator sport.

Competitive gaming needs to find a way to incorporate individual team branding into the matches. Whether that takes a mod or a script, teams need to be able to throw a jersey on their model with team colors, logo, possibly sponsors, a number and name. Not only will this give the players a greater sense of belonging, it'll make the teams and players more recognizable. It also creates a possible market for actual team jerseys which can generate revenue for the team. I myself have never played for the Chicago Bulls but I own 3 Michael Jordan jerseys. I could quite easily see myself purchasing and sporting a Winghaven jersey.

In game ads



Ah yes the dreaded and hated ads topic but lets face it, sponsors want to have their product displayed. Once again esports needs to take a page out of the book of regular sports. Anytime you watch any sporting event you see images of various products in the background. Usually a Budweiser sign or the latest and greatest dot com. Whatever it is these companies are paying large sums of cash just to have that logo displayed on TV. This needs to be incorporated into esports because advertisers pay money these displays, money that could be used to cover prizes and other expenses. Why waste space with random nazi propaganda posters or random command maps that server absolutely no purpose. Turn that space into a Qpad or Steelsereis ad. It's not going to effect the game play and sponsors become more interested because they're getting more ad time.

Conclusion



As I stated earlier some of these ideas are much broader than just ET. At the very heart of what needs fixed with ET is the anicheat system & a pack of fresh maps. Update these two areas & the game will survive another 6 years.


Disclaimer: I am by no means an expert on the enclosed subject matter. These are merely my ideas and are intended to inspire the reader and the community to consider them and share their own thoughts and to provoke further and additional ideas on the subject.