Well, cpl chose vq3, nobody was really surprised but a lot of people were dissapointed, including me. In the ensuing flamewars a lot has been said either way for which gameplay mode is better, or which should (have) been accepted for profesional play. I just thought I'd like to give my 2 cents on the subject as well :). I'm no pro, I used to play a bit of OSP but never really got too good at it when I discovered old promode in osp, and then later I heard of CPMA's bots, which actually got me to download the mod, and I was completely sold 5 minutes later.

The first thing that attracted me was the speed: instant weapon switching and faster movement. But as I got to know the mod a bit better I started liking the subtle changes in tactics and strategy even more.

Most vq3 players say that cpm is all aim and movement, no strategy and no tactics, but I believe this is mostly due to not knowing cpm well, and not being used to the speed of it. Remember, no tactical element is present in VQ3 and missing in cpm - in fact I believe more are added due to varying armor protection rates, less ammo, and map layouts, generally. The reason people believe CPM is less tactical is because the player has significantly less time to make a decision - if he takes too long, his opponent may have an opportunity to bunny away, maybe get a teleporter, or find some health, more so than tends to be the case with VQ3. Go watch a CPM demo and play it back at 0.75 timescale - it's actually amazing how much it resembles VQ3 then, it gives you some time to figure out what the player is thinking.

CPM also has a better game flow to me - the initial jousting for dominance, followed by the dominant (or 'up') player hunting the down player. How well you are able to predict your opponent's actions, and aim, determines how much you score while you are dominant. How well you time items and avoid damage determines how long you have control over the map. The down player always has to do something great to wrest control of the map from his opponent, usually by out-ninja'ing an item from him, or scoring a couple of good hits, forcing him to settle for weaker items to recuperate. CPM is only a spawnrapefest if the one player is much better than the other, and in fact the better I get at CPM the more interesting I'm finding being down in a match, it really tests your ingenuity and creativity to take control back. Being up is of course brilliant, my favourite is scoring a frag, standing dead still and waiting for the spawn sound, then trying to figure out where he is, where he's going, where is the best spot to intercept and what is the fastest/best way to get there, preferably with an item en route.

VQ3 players are rarely forced to actively hunt down their opponent, unless they are behind by a significant margin. VQ3 strategy usually solely revolves around items - just tank yourself, maybe hit a rail here or there to get a frag, and then avoid your enemy. The maps are large enough, and your opponent is slow enough that you can avoid him completely for minutes. While it's sometimes interesting to watch someone trying to outwit a hiding opponent, I dislike the hit-and-run-and-hide circle that play tends to get stuck in. Vq3 also tends to have an dominant player/underdog situation sometimes, but due to the size of the maps, the down player can usually avoid the other long enough to find weapons/armor, and then the game boils down again to who gets the next lucky rail combo.

I never felt that the weapons in VQ3 were unbalanced, until I really got into CPM gameplay. Rocket prediction is one of my favourite aspects of quake, but to me the hitscan weapons in VQ3 are just way overpowered. it's really hard to survive two straight rails. If he sees you first, and is able to just get some LG on you, there is really nothing you can do. From what I've seen it's just too hard to counter a person with exceptionally strong LG/Rail. While strong LG/rail will enable you to be a top player in CPM, you wont be the best (sorry LuGia), I've seen players with 50+- LG and rail acc be outsmarted, outmoved and outplayed. Weapon switch delays also take away an element - I know it's quite tactical to choose beforehand what weapon you should take into a fight, but due to the size of the maps and sound occlusion in VQ3, you're rarely sure exactly from where your opponent will come, until it's too late, and then you're stuck with what weapon you started with. It also limits your choices for weapon combos, a skilled cpm player will be able to do a three weapon rocket-LG-rail combo where in vq3 there is only time for rocket-rail. It just seems limiting, it feels like playing with a handicap.

This is also especially the case with movement - It's amazing to me that OSP players complain that they feel 'sluggish' in CPMA/VQ3. Imagine then going from cpm to vq3! The aircontrol movement adds a whole new dimension to the game, a whole new element of skill. It can always give you an advantage in a match, but again, this alone won't win games. I believe this is another reason for the smaller maps being popular - games shouldn't be movement only (try playing cpm on dm6).

Don't get me wrong, VQ3 definitely has its moments, and I enjoy a game once in a while - hell I'll even play osp sometimes - there just is no comparison to CPM as far as skill depth, speed and overall FUN goes, especially for duelling. VQ3 was designed to be fun on a saturday afternoon with 5 players on dm17, not for competitive duelling, as is the case with cpm. The only reason I can imagine for people trying it out and not liking it is that either they were completely raped by a better player, or they just don't like change, even if it's for the better.

glhf :)