Rule of thumb? Never, EVER join empty or nearly-empty servers and you'll be okay. I've had especially bad desync experiences with Fragnet's empty servers. They're hosting a ton of empty, desynced servers that have no reason to exist.

Haven't been able to log into the server for around an hour or so as of 11:30 AM EST.

I'm not entirely certain about there being no cheaters... I landed my huey in an obscure location near Black Lake the other day, went AFK for a few minutes to eat some chili I'd been making, and came back to discover that someone had killed me. Just to be safe, I thoroughly scoped the area out before landing, and there were only ~15 or so players on the server at the time. Could just be horrible, horrible luck on my part, but it makes one wonder.

1.8.2 is working smoothly, but I have to confess that I'm personally pretty disappointed by the lack of a side chat channel, especially since I never managed to get direct chat working properly. I guess there's still Teamspeak, at least. In any case, it's nice to see some new content roll in for a change.

A week? Two, perhaps? Three, by off chance? I'm struggling to find official info on this.

Anyone want this pristine tanker helmet I found? I don't see them too often, so I thought it'd be kind of a waste to let it go.

By chance, does a dude named Joris ever play on the server? I'm seeing several Europa servers on my Commander server list, so I'd like to be certain I have the one. The IP address seems slightly different from the one you've mentioned on the forums.

I'm guessing everyone's stuff was deleted during the server transfer business to Steam. Shame. :P

I have a tent for trade if anyone happens to have a SMERSH vest. I'd prefer both the backpack and the vest, at the moment.

Haven't seen you in a while, Vinyl. How's the server these days? Couldn't find yours, although I did find 3480 among a few other public hives.

Who gives a damn about the M4? It's not as if it's that uncommon. They spawn all the damn time near heli crashes, and heli crashes tend to spawn predictably in certain areas of the map. The weapon itself is an inaccurate piece of shit by comparison to the AK 101, at that. I'd be more upset about losing something cool, like the new SMERSH vest or the new SMG.

Maybe it's intentional, but it's kind of annoying infuriating to have to search through every obscure nook and cranny for information on new items / features / et cetera whenever they're implemented. "Items added: SMERSH vest" ...And that's it. It doesn't detail whether or not it's possible to wear SMERSH vests over existing vests, since they're so low-profile. It doesn't mention where they spawn, although I'm tentatively assuming they're exclusive to heli crash sites. It doesn't mention how many slots they have, and so on and so forth. There's next to no detailed information. Why? I mean, really. Why?

Can anyone actually confirm whether it's possible to wear SMERSH vests over existing vests -- for instance, high-capacity vests?

Could just be me, but it feels as though weapons sway more these days than they did in the past. Do my weapon attachments and the respective conditions they're in affect sway at all? For instance, is my damaged AK plastic stock causing my weapon to sway a bit more than it otherwise would with a higher quality stock?

Looking for a pristine AK plastic stock in Normal. I'll give you my Longhorn and some ammo.

Seems like pristine / worn AK plastic stocks are rare. Out of the ten or so AK 101 rifles I've come across thus far, I haven't found a single stock that isn't damaged or badly damaged.

Edit: Nevermind. My character apparently had some kind of fracture or something that didn't show up via a status message. Morphine solved the problem.

I don't generally KOS, but I do want to test my AK 101 out...

Maybe it's just misfortune on my part, but it seems as though AK 101 mags are much more uncommon than AKM drum / box mags. I server hopped through at least eight or so empty servers and didn't find a single magazine in Balota, although I did find enough AKM ammo / mags to start a small war. That's pretty ridiculous. :/

Well, that just isn't true at all. Plenty of Fragnet's empty or near-empty LAX servers, for instance, can -- and will -- wipe your character if you join them, and they're showing up as legit stable branch servers on browser lists.

Avoid empty fragnet servers. Most of them aren't connected to the central hive, even though they're on the server lists as plain as day. Only a handful of other servers have connectivity issues.

Sounds trustworthy enough to me. Incidentally, I'd be more than happy to "give" you some of my ammunition, as well. It's unfortunate that your benevolent soul plays on hardcore, though, because I'm usually on normal servers. ;)

Not during off hours. Generally speaking, closed barracks doors are a good indicator that the area hasn't been server hopped.

I've tried jails, barracks, the air control tower, and the tents in Balota on countless empty servers. Again, maybe it's just breathtakingly bad luck on my part. Shame, since I wanted to test my AK 101 out with a few full-auto sprays.

Hating me with all your guts doesn't have a great deal to do with the abysmal spawn rate of AK 101 mags. I'd imagine players that don't server hop are having a relatively tough time finding any ammunition at all. :P