Quake Live is just a nerfed version of Quake 3 that has been altered to make it easier to play for the xbox generation (IE people who won't put time and effort into something to get good and develop their skill). So what do they do? Quit or download a hack.
Proper Q3 is still better but unfortunately it has died off in favour of 'free' Quake Live and other more up to date games like the battlefield franchise and MOH series. It also suffered badly with cheaters, and still does as Evenbalance stopped supporting PB for Q3 in around 2006, not that PB was much use but at least it was a little bit of a deterrent! Servers rely on good admins to catch the hackers but most dont have them as it is very time consuming. Also, ID have turned off the master servers so really you can only play if you know where to go and how to set Q3 up for the particular point release and mod that a server is using. But it can be done if you try
I have played Q3 since it was released on PC in late 1999, and can honestly say it was well ahead of it's time, and even by todays standards the physics and speed of the game are sublime.
Quake Live does a part decent job of emulating real Q3 for the likes of me but I think the overall design brief was that it was never supposed to be Q3. But many 'proper Q3' fans such as myself find it near impossible to tolerate and I personally prefer not to play it if I have the choice!
Indeed I have started to play something else now rather than play QL! Tribes Ascend which is actually very good - but all of the tribes 1 players are spitting blood over it because its not 'proper tribes'! I tell you what, some people are just too set in their ways!
Also, as the QL community realised fast - theres one big problem with games like Quake, and thats the fact that they are so easy to hack at. As with Q3 before it, QL is rife with cheaters as it is the perfect type of game to exploit wallhacks and aimbots, and unfortunately there are whole communities writing and selling such hacks. PB is next to useless against a custom code C++ hack, just as it has always been to be honest.
Unfortunately until the gaming community accept that intrusive anti cheat software is the only way to eradicate cheaters I dont think it is something that will ever be fixed. I personally dont understand why people do it, but I bet there are forum members reading this right now that play QL and cheat. Yes it really is that prolific. That's just the sad truth of it
However, I have to say that playing Tribes Ascend has been a breath of fresh air and I havent seen any cheaters yet. I heard it was too hard to code for because of all of the variables involved and most of the weapons are not hitscan. I have also heard that the few who do cheat get caught out pretty quickly as it's super obvious - unlike Quake hacks that incorporate humanised aiming/tracking, user defined accuracy (so its not so obvious) and smart wallhacks etc. Wallhacks are next to useless in Tribes as all the maps are open outside spaces with only small areas of indoor rooms and as mentioned only a few weapons are hitscan.
I run my own Q3 server, running the Threewave mod but its only populated by the hardcore few who I have known online for years. Such a shame really because QL will never ever be as good as proper Q3 and its associated mods (OSP, CPMA, Threewave, RA3, Defrag etc etc). But maybe, just maybe, I am a wee bit biased on that subject
If anyone wants to try a bit of Q3 Threewave CTFS, my server is public so feel free to connect. You will need Q3 on point release 1.32 and Threewave 1.7.
There are other Q3 servers about, and if you use a site like Gametracker you can get a look at the point release (server protocol) and mod they use. Maybe I am too set in my ways and QL is really the way forward, but I am actually liking the challenge of Tribes at the moment, and its free to play!
As for Q3 and TA on steam, check the game forums in Steam as there are loads of posts with how to guides.
Cheers
