I'd say same reason they removed MantaRuns in UT3; Epic listened to the whiners instead of the players
My friend, I've been down this path of conversation before. While I respect you, I think it's unfortunate that you feel that way. And since I know you to be a person who can concentrate well enough to read a moderately lengthy reply... I will.
That statement seems to imply that "the players" were a group of folks during the UT2004 VCTF era who's opinions were somehow more valid, than another group of players during that era, who chose not to play VCTF online. I beg to differ. In a big way.
If there is a fundamental element to the game play that we disagree on, you might continue to play, and I might not. Even if I'm a big-time fan of CTF, and the idea of VCTF, and even if I spent lots of time thinking about it, talking about it, maybe even helping to mod for it, maybe I still don't play _That_ version online. This does not make your opinion on the topic somehow more valid or more worthy than mine.
And hell, maybe, just maybe, there were (and still are) more players who felt that this fundamental element (combined with others) was bad enough to keep them from playing, and therefore still would not be playing it now, if it had been continued.
It's entirely possible that for the game type to grow in popularity, it simply had to make serious changes to it's core elements. And yes, maybe in doing so, it would be 'leaving behind' those who were playing the other version during UT2004. IF they felt that strongly about a particular feature, maybe so. It's also possible of course that "the players" you referred to would enjoy the newer version, but you know how people are, maybe some would refuse to accept it, but that might be the price you/we pay for the evolution of the game type.
Don't get me wrong though. I still don't think that VCTF is being properly represented in vanilla UT3. While I agree that removing the so-called Manta Runs was a good call (it is, after all, why we at Chaos chose to add the Manta Meat option to our version of CTF), I don't think the path they chose was the right way to go. Not by a long shot. Which leads us right back to the same place.
I have tried UT3's version of VCTF online, and I don't find it enjoyable enough to keep me playing. So.. here we are again. There are folks out there playing, and there are those of us who really, really want to play some form of UT-ish VCTF online, but the version out there just doesn't do it for us. Some might once again believe that just because they are playing this version online, they are somehow the 'authority' voice on the topic, and those of us not playing should not be listened to at all.
Of course they are entitled to their opinion, that's fine. But it's also possible that only listening to the folks who are playing online during a certain era (or... "the players", as you put it), would be holding back the game type from becoming something with a much larger fan base.
Even now, after 2 UT versions in a row, I still consider myself a big time lover of the concept of VCTF, and would like nothing more than to be playing it online every night - but you won't find me there. Again because of the design choices they made. And I don't think I'm all that special. I believe there are probably a lot more folks out there just like me, who would be playing it, if the game type was something completely different than what we have seen thus far.
Oh, and hey... as far as the thread topic goes ....
, yeah, spider-mine traps suck. Which is why Wormbo's NoDeployables mutator is a good thing. Along with Xyx's Destroyable Deployables. Once again, good show from the modders out there. (of course, Proxies would be better than all of the above
, but life's a bitch).