DXMP is ATDM *and* CTDM at its finest. BTDM is not as well designed, but it works just as same. If I wanted to nitpick, they could've balanced it a bit more, somehow, but I understand that their focus was primarily on ATDM.
0augs is not DXMP nor CTDM. 0augs is a popular and very fun modification that by chance was possible to host in DXMP with only a small mutator and support from CTDM mechanics built in. If a shooter player comes to DXMP, the game will be new experience for him, but 100% of those players will instantly recognize 0augs as every other shooter works out exactly the same. This means that it is very easy to get new players for, and it also means that people are more likely to quit DXMP over better-designed 0aug games. The irony here is that since DXMP is not 0augs, it cannot compete against a game that is, ie counter strike series. Our developers spent money and time making multiplayer that tried to balance shooter with skill system and boost system under tiered and reward mechanics. Counter Strike spent money and time making 0augs. You see the problem.
The one and only problem DXMP itself as a while has, had, and will have, is number of players. It is actually undeniable proof that covers all of our issues that we experience as symptoms.
1) more players = more coders = more anti cheat development; more new content; more bug fixes; potential ports to newer engines
2) more players = more smarter players that can improve the Skill and Quality of the playerbase; that can keep noobs at bay through variety of means
3) more players = more leader-type individuals with clan leadership skills, with community event skills. This leads to better help tutorials, social core websites, far more clan wars and boosts competitive element in the game
If you put a lot of people in a small room, most of them will be dumb, but the ones that aren't will be able to eventually take reason-driven control of the situation once above a certain critical margin. DXMP has been steadily under this margin since its launch.
also:
hey wrote: I thought that they'd host a good server
edit: I also apologize for the massive threads of criticism that I've brought to your forums as of late. There actually isn't much to say, as everything is both obvious and simple to understand. The sheer mass of my posts is simple propaganda that is designed to sway the opinion of masses, and exclusively to counter propaganda from two primary sources: Phantom & Co, and by a certain noob. You will not bother to read our posts, but you will catch certain keywords of interest and they will stick to your mind. There is no particular discussion, flame war, or personal conflict happening. Fear tries to convince you that I am a bad person and kill deus ex off; I try to convince you that a player, who has been talking metabolic end product to me and my friends for 10 years for no reason other than the fact that we can kill him in an online game, is talking out of his hind region. Likewise, Phantom does not have to come here to counter me or defend himself: he has 2-4 players registered on these forums that do it for him, indirectly and through propagandistic means such as creating ATDM group on Steam or trying to chew me out of the game.
What happened to Anax in his server was not something you could predict, or estimate. No. It was *loving* obvious that it'll happen!
edit 2:
I guess all I do is point out issues, without sufficient focus on solutions. From recent and also more extensive experience with the developments in this community, I don't think we have lot of those solutions left. If someone suggests something, it usually is crippled by a swarm of related issues. Like, lets say, we need to advertise DXMP on steam more aggressively. Thats a solution, right? Well, you will use time and energy to attempt to draw in player-resource. So you both start using practically finite resource and it will cost you at the same time (in the form of that time and effort). When that resource comes to DXMP, they see all other issues, and they are less likely to return no matter how much more time and effort you spend. Hence, you have given your own resources, and you have spent the resource you were trying to get.
Core issue is that game is old, bugs and such just pertain to it and it will not be a problem to create better maps or even textures or whatever. Core issue is underlying all of that. One solution would be that we port it using all available people that can and are willing to do something about it. In DXMP, attempts to put such team together have all effectively failed.
Another solution would be to beef up old game and engine in order to downplay it as something both retro and hip, hoping it'll appear nostalgic or otherwise cool somehow. As our coders have determined, it'll still take extensive work that is not reasonable to attempt with only a very few people. Again, attempts to assemble larger groups have failed, for several reasons.
If someone wanted to do something, then Alex, Allan, DejaVu, and a certain guy that was almost done with porting Deus Ex to ut2k4, have left you with breadcrumbs to follow. And if you are lucky, they may still be interested in doing something with you, to some extent or other.