Arma II - multiplayer questions

[Valkyrie101]

I'm getting a (halfway decent) PC soon, and I want Arma II - but I want to know what the multiplayer community is like? Are there a lot of players, and how's the overall standard of play?

On a vaguely related note, should I get the original, the expansion or the complete edition?

 

[cainx10a]

The community seems to be more oriented towards Co-op (PvE) rather than PvP, and there are quite a few active servers out there, and you won't have any trouble finding a server with a minimum or 3/10 players to 50+, though I believe you will have to bust your nut to get acquainted with the community, as it really feel tight-knit compared to other games, so tools like teamspeak/ventrilo are handy.

 

[Valkyrie101]

I'm fine with co-op. Does the community tend to play with the expansion?

 

[cainx10a]

To add up to what Ser Zombie said, check out www.armaholic.com ... and check out the Ghost Recon: Island Thunder, and my personal favorite the Seal Team Six campaign by the talented Sick1. These mods will require maps, skins, and weapons pack to be downloaded, and should provide you a much greater challenge than the OA + DLC campaign.

I personally find ARMA 2 to be annoying, mainly because of the bushy landscape, they always seem to hide behind dem tall grasses. Chedakis tsssl.

 

[maturin]

The community is highly fragmented, although you can do fine in any niche with some effort.

Almost every plays OA, and almost all of them play in CO mode.

Public MP has a habit of being crap, and many good servers require mods, ranging from just ACE to a long list of addons that must be just so.

Co-op is king, but there is organized, large-scale pvp as well.

And the highest quality MP is always in private squads and locked servers.