Is this game alive?

[catchtheball]

Hello, I am former FS1 player. I am interested in playing FS2 as it looks like it is surprisingly still alive for few years after the closure of FS1.

My questions are:

1. How is the population of the game? Are you able to get a match right away? How many games are usually going on in the main channel? Is the population enough for the game to be alive for many years?

2. How much cash do you need to spend on this game to properly play one position to the highest level of competition? I remember in FS1, it required almost more than $100 to properly fund a character.

3. How is the lag, host, and hack? Is it laggy most of the game? Is there still the East Team and West Team trying to steal host from each other? Is the hosting still a thing or is it gone and it's now server-based? Is Street Star hacking still a thing that most sneaky hackers still use? Are there still a lot of laggy and hacking Chinese people playing their own league?

4. How is the management? I see the Joycity is a Korean company that is still hosting FS1 in Korea so they must know how to manage this game properly.

5. Last question is.. to all the current players, how long do you think this game is going to last? Maybe 2-3 years?

[Zydrunas]

Hello, I am former FS1 player. I am interested in playing FS2 as it looks like it is surprisingly still alive for few years after the closure of FS1.

My questions are:

1. How is the population of the game? Are you able to get a match right away? How many games are usually going on in the main channel? Is the population enough for the game to be alive for many years?

2. How much cash do you need to spend on this game to properly play one position to the highest level of competition? I remember in FS1, it required almost more than $100 to properly fund a character.

3. How is the lag, host, and hack? Is it laggy most of the game? Is there still the East Team and West Team trying to steal host from each other? Is the hosting still a thing or is it gone and it's now server-based? Is Street Star hacking still a thing that most sneaky hackers still use? Are there still a lot of laggy and hacking Chinese people playing their own league?

4. How is the management? I see the Joycity is a Korean company that is still hosting FS1 in Korea so they must know how to manage this game properly.

5. Last question is.. to all the current players, how long do you think this game is going to last? Maybe 2-3 years?

1. There are about ~1000-1500 players that still play this game. This population is split by three servers, with the majority of the population playing in Asia.

Assuming you're from NA, you can find up to 20-30 rooms during the day and about 50-60 rooms in peak time (Weekend nights, Pro channel). With that being said, the matchmaking algorithm heavily considers ELO, so it's likely you'll be running into the same teams over and over again. Consequently, it's pretty much impossible to find a game during the graveyard hours as the ELO matchmaking and the small number of rooms make it difficult to find an opponent team.

2. In FS2, SPC'S are around $20 each, 4 addable skill slots at $4.20 each, and added attributes to clothes average out to around $20. That puts you at roughly $60 per character. HOWEVER, there is a card system in this game that will ultimately define how you play this game. If you have cards with layup range, you can attack the rim and by the same token, if you have a card with high three point shooting, you play more as a sharp shooter.

Unfortunately, due to the RNG nature of the card system, it is easier to play around your cards rather than to find cards to build around a playstyle. You can accumulate decent cards as you play the game with the achievement system, but if you want tournament level cards, you're going to have to invest hundreds of dollars on this game. The best possible card set, called SP Edition, could cost hundreds of dollars to get, with no guarantee that it would be for your position (e.g. rebounding SP set for a PG). Additionally, further improving an SP set by use of sub stat changers takes even more money. It's not unheard of for people to spend more than $1000+ on a single card set.

To summarize, I would say there is an exponential relationship with money versus your desired level of achievement in this game. If you want to be a tournament level player, be prepared to spend hundreds of dollars to compete with the best.

3. Unlike FS1, FS2 is not player hosted. The server is currently based in San Jose, CA but it will be likely moved to Dallas, TX in the next month or so. East players face a significant disadvantage over West players, as players based in the west are inherently superior at rebounding and picking up loose balls. Ping plays a huge role and can influence what position you play. However, once the server moves, most Americans should have ping under 60-70ms.

Hacks are fairly commonplace now, and it is not unusual to run across hackers every few games. Speed hacks are the most common form of hacks, as it is undetectable by the current anti-hack system in place (XIGNCODE). Skill and attribute hacks are typically detected by the anti-hack system, which is why it has fallen out of favour. In the history of FS2, there have been quite a number of hacking teams playing in the tournament and two have already won championships.

Unfortunately, the GK Team is infamous for not banning speed hackers despite overwhelming amount of evidence. They are also hesitant to ban hackers who have spent a significant sum of money on the game. Expect inaction from the GK team for this facet of the game.

4. The general consensus is that the GK team is subpar when compared to other versions of the game (TW, CN, KR). The events in this game are quite poor in terms of rewards, and often require real life money. As for the team itself, there are no GM's that are particularly favoured by the community. They are often criticized for their generic copy-paste responses and indifference towards in-game issues.

Part of the problem can be attributed to the development team as well, as they are responsible for fixing and creating new features of the game, and often times, these new features are initially buggy (but tend to be slowly refined over time). Fixes are only done every server maintenance, so a feature may be unusable or glitchy for an entire week before it can be fixed.

5. I personally think this game will last for another four or five years. Assuming the Asia server population remains strong, I definitely think the game will last.

[Retro]

if u havent played this shit till now save yourself forget about this piece of shit RUN

LOOK AT MY FORUM DATE. U THINK THIS A GAME??? RUN!!!! BLOCK THE WEBSITE FORUMS FORGET ABOUT IT YOULL THANK ME LATER BRO TRUST

[catchtheball]

Thank you for the perfect answer that I wanted, Zydrunas. The only improvement that I see is the game is now server-based. Other things stay the same or got worse..

And Retro, yes, I am leaving for good. Enjoy this game while it lasts. Thank you for your advice.

[Emperor]

Wish i knew there was a forum before lol

[Sparty]

if u havent played this shit till now save yourself forget about this piece of shit RUN

LOOK AT MY FORUM DATE. U THINK THIS A GAME??? RUN!!!! BLOCK THE WEBSITE FORUMS FORGET ABOUT IT YOULL THANK ME LATER BRO TRUST

listen to this man