Competitive metas imo are daunting to a new player. When I discovered GTM (2010 ish), the first thing I noticed was the competitive stock and DSL bots. Even if you google search Robot Arena 2 today you'll still find crazy stuff built by the beetlebros hanging around. When I compared these complete powerhouse machines to the lava textured box with 6 maces on it that I considered the best thing ever, it pushed me away. This is where IRL comes in.
DSL IRL is a showcase of a builder's creativity and imagination rather than a competition. It has a much more gradual learning curve that is very friendly to new users. It also doesn't require an extensive knowledge of glitches to perform due to CF and allows for easy correction of mistakes through just deleting and replacing a few components rather than having to rebuild the entire thing from the ground up. I certainly feel that this is what has brought a resurgence of new members into the community recently, including myself. This doesn't mean that DSL IRL is a n00b paradise however.
Like geese said, today's IRL standards are very high and building one takes a large amount of skill as well. Trying to fit all of the electronic, drive, and weapon systems into a bot while using only the attachment points on extenders can take some time. Along with armoring the bot and making it look nice requires even more skill and patience. This is what has kept the experienced community on DSL IRL for such an extended period of time now. While a Stock, IF, or DSL-S bot may have been an absolute nightmare to build, the only way it is worth it is if it can win. IRL on the other hand pays off once it's finished with how clean/cool/original it looks. The element of competition is not whether or not you've got the lowest wedge or the most iron spikes but rather how much everyone likes your bot which is usually affected by how much time and skill you put into it. IRL though is very loose and open which in turn makes it less competitive in general.
RA2 was made to be competitive, and ever since the beginning of this game people have constantly been trying to outdo each other. This cycle of competition encouraged more gameplay and more out of the box thinking as a result. Glitches started to arise and players flourished upon them. Bots became so vicious that angling a wedge a whole 10 degrees higher could mean the difference between winning the tournament or losing the first round. In this truly competitive state, being the champ of a tourney actually meant something. It proved that you had the superior strategy and would in turn bring a whole new wave of bots to counter that and evolve the game further. Unfortunately, we are now stuck in a state where so few competitive tourneys are held that the incentive to build better is almost nonexistent. Why spend a huge chunk of time building and polishing a competitive design when all eyes are on the IRL tourneys instead. This leads to my final point and opinion on this matter.
DSL IRL is an important meta for the survival of GTM and RA2 as a whole. It creates an even playing field for all parties that is easy to sink your teeth into but hard to master. On the other hand, competitive metas create a divide which is incentive to do better and be better as a builder as well as truly push the game to its limits at the expense of a brutally difficult learning curve. These metas are even more important to the longevity of the site and the game because they constantly evolve it. Unfortunately, these two play styles will not mix which has shown in the overwhelmingly large IRL playerbase compared to the small competitive playerbase. I feel that in order to bring a resurgence of competitiveness and balance out the sides, there has to be an incentive for people to build again. One of the three metas would have to have a frequently running popular tournament. Something like a GTMCS or a BBEANS that one truly strives to achieve.
so yea thats my take that probably could've been written better
jesus christ bean I've already read like 6 goddamn books on this thread alone! just get to the point already.
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