What is the history of ToJ and Unreal?

Mostly_Harmless

Mostly_Harmless

Tribe of Judah Unreal Tournament Chapter Co-leader
I was pondering about this today....I know ToJ got started with sc bw, but how did ut get into the picture? Did ToJ start with ut 99 or 2k4? Has this chapter ever been really popular or always small like now?
 
I can't vouch for the full history of it, but when I got here in 2004 the chapter was well-established. We had an Onslaught server and some of the people played UT99 Invasion. I was into TDM and for a while, when the Team Warfare League ladder was the "place to be" within the larger community and there was still prize money to be won in UT tournaments, we fielded a 2v2 team. It was an attempt to get more TOJers into the non-vehicular modes and introduce them to the thrill of competition.

We did quite well for a while, but with a series of team losses due to other commitments (Killerah left for school and missions work, Shagz was very busy with work and DJ commitments, James left to focus on his martial arts, and ColdSteel was still on dialup at the time) we had difficulty reliably fielding a team on match nights, and after a string of forfeits we put the team on indefinite hiatus. I started focusing more on solo dueling and my other competitive teams with Lordz of Brooklyn, and after my first few years of college, and the disappointment that was UT3, I too found myself with little time to focus on gaming and quit. I still putter around on Quake Live occasionally, but I've never had the time to make a full return to my One True Gaming Love, UT2004.

After the competition team folded we did maintain a DM and TAM server for a while, but I ran out of funds and had to shutter it as well.

I think at the height of UT2004's popularity we had about a dozen members with varying schedules, so that we never *all* got together at once to play. Prime time weekday nights, we'd have maybe three or four people on at a time.
 
kraniac said:
I can't vouch for the full history of it, but when I got here in 2004 the chapter was well-established. We had an Onslaught server and some of the people played UT99 Invasion. I was into TDM and for a while, when the Team Warfare League ladder was the "place to be" within the larger community and there was still prize money to be won in UT tournaments, we fielded a 2v2 team. It was an attempt to get more TOJers into the non-vehicular modes and introduce them to the thrill of competition.

We did quite well for a while, but with a series of team losses due to other commitments (Killerah left for school and missions work, Shagz was very busy with work and DJ commitments, James left to focus on his martial arts, and ColdSteel was still on dialup at the time) we had difficulty reliably fielding a team on match nights, and after a string of forfeits we put the team on indefinite hiatus. I started focusing more on solo dueling and my other competitive teams with Lordz of Brooklyn, and after my first few years of college, and the disappointment that was UT3, I too found myself with little time to focus on gaming and quit. I still putter around on Quake Live occasionally, but I've never had the time to make a full return to my One True Gaming Love, UT2004.

After the competition team folded we did maintain a DM and TAM server for a while, but I ran out of funds and had to shutter it as well.

I think at the height of UT2004's popularity we had about a dozen members with varying schedules, so that we never *all* got together at once to play. Prime time weekday nights, we'd have maybe three or four people on at a time.
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Wow, Thank you for sharing this. I think the only active ToJers we have now are me, danny, (sometimes tek) Coldsteel, bobert, and mustang88gt. With me and Danny being by far the most active.

I am shocked to hear that you found ut 3 to be dissapointing. What exactly is your problem with the game? I don't find much wrong with it except for little things that don't really matter much anyway and dosen't effect the gameplay. I know a lot of people LOVE 2k4. I never played it. I used to be hardcore about ut 99, but I tried the demo of 2003 and I couldn't help but hate it, so naturally I thought 2k4 would be the same. I will admit that ut 3 is somewhat of a failure community wise. I do blame Epic for realeasing it unfinished and also for being slow to patch things, but also the fans because people never gave it a chance to begin with and of course epic isn't going to fix the little bugs if people refuse to buy the game. It's really upsetting. We might not see a ut 4 thanks to the stubborn community we had with ut 3. If you ever want to give it another chance, I am a harcore dueler. I just love duels. I'd be more than happy to play with you. Thanks again for your input : )
 
There was talk about an Unreal Tournament chapter in mid-2000.

Our Unreal Tournament Chapter has always been, on average, smaller than other chapters, but it's also incredibly persistent. The UT chapter also tends to be more cohesive (for lack of a better term), featuring a small crew of dedicated players who are familiar with one another and get along well.
 
I can't really boil my dislike of UT3 down to one thing. But if I had to pick one main reason I don't like it, it's because they drastically dialed back the amount of tricking possible. It's not a bad game, but it just doesn't compare in depth of movement possibilities to a game like UT2004, Quake, or Warsow.

Another more practical reason is that the Linux version never materialized, and I don't run Windows if I can help it. UT2004 and UT99 both had fantastic Linux support, and I think the reason Epic broke that trend is because by the time they were working on UT3, Gears of War had already been such a financial success for them that they hadn't much incentive to give the love and attention to their PC series that it desperately needed. I don't remember who said this first-- it might have been Tek-- but the best way I've heard it said is that UT3 felt like a tech demo rather than a game. All the art assets are there, the game engine is there, but the amount of time spent on ensuring well balanced maps/weapons/pickups was obviously minimal.

PC shooters in general are becoming a dying breed, and arcade-style deathmatch shooters like UT and Quake lost most of their popularity to more realistic shooters since the release of Counter Strike and its ilk.
 
kraniac said:
PC shooters in general are becoming a dying breed, and arcade-style deathmatch shooters like UT and Quake lost most of their popularity to more realistic shooters since the release of Counter Strike and its ilk.
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I know what you say is true, but I already have no shortage of reasons to dislike Counter-Strike. :(
 
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