CTF Suggestions + Some Lobby ones

Allow me to introduce myself. I love CTF. I love factions. AND I HATE PRISON! XD. I've played on this server for several years now, own Iron rank, earned millions in factions, played both pre update and post update in CTF. I'm only lvl 0-3 nowadays, but that'll change soon enough. I've compiled a couple of my complaints/suggestions for improving my favorite minigame, and during the writing expanded this to include a few server wide questions. Let the essay begin!

Start Timer:
Either shorten this to 5 seconds, or have players warped to their team colors when at like (20/24 players). Warping would require blocks in inventory to change team colors too.
I'd also like to be teleported for a few seconds (2) to the flag, showing where it is... Or maybe a map? Sometimes you haven't played a map before and can't figure out where the flag is.

Customization:
Allow for players to unlock and change their helmets, leggings, and boots. Their chestplate would remain team colors, as would their name for identification. Adding the abilities to change these cosmetics would add individuality and give players more to strive for. Different rarities could be have, with maybe the most expensive being either golden or chain, which can have slight damage reducing capacities.

Defense Encouragement:
Playing defensive is important in CTF. But nobody wants to do it. Mostly since there's less action and the few ones you do have alot larger stakes. My proposition is perhaps there's a small bonus 5-10% on kills, assists, or just time spent rewards for people playing defense. Just enough that on an average game they make close to what offensive players get.

Voting: [ADDED] (click to vote system)
I would like to see voting done in something like a book, or maybe different paper held in your hands. This would help more people to vote, as using /vote 1 I often find myself forgetting which number corresponds with each map name.
[New] or remove voting entirely in favor of random maps?

Wait Lobby:
While in the waiting rooms, I'd like to be able to press <tab> and see ranks either beside or abbreviated next to players names. I was just playing a game with Vislo (owner) or whatever his name is... And I'd keep forgetting it! So I'd try to <tab> to figure out how to spell it but found it difficult since ranks weren't there.

Veteran Support:
Since Vislo (owner) said that old friends lists have been backed up, that made me wonder if the dev team had also kept the old shop upgrades? If so, it would be nice to have a lobby display, coin transfer, or cosmetic for those that had played before the update, because eventually that update will become the norm... And it's a bit bumming to realize that after grinding for a few hours those Strong "Toes" (feet) as I liked to call them are now standardized (A good thing! But heartbreaking for those that just earned those).

Rank Rewards:
Ranks are great... in games like factions... where they DO something. Now admittedly, this is coming from someone who had gotten Iron bought for him in factions (only to have life get in the way, factions reset, and I even forgot their username :( I'm so sorry!), but some form of minigame support would be a nice incentive for people that don't play factions, prison or whatever. Some xp boost, maybe 5% more coins? Nothing broken or anything, just a little show of support for those that donated.

Friends Merge:
This was already brought up by someone else to Vislo but here's a reminder: merge the new friends list to player's old one. And maybe add an unfriend all command. /friend remove all?

Map Creation Improvements:
As someone who had tried to build a map submission, there are some more things I would have liked the rules to expand on. A minimum distance between the two flags would be good. This would also serves as a guide for some idiot (myself) who forgot how long it takes to walk blocks, and tried to build a 3000x100 map... :(. Another thing is the paths/leave base "2 ways to leave base ( Side / Underground Entrances )" should be either a minimum of 2 ways, or only 2 ways. This should be clarified.
It would also be cool to see player's rewarded for creating maps, such as a lobby display.

[New] Lobby Parkour Improvements:
Ben's house is a fun parkour... It just sucks that it doesn't teleport you to the start when you fall like the normal parkour.
It would also be neat to time the parkour. I'd be curious to see what my best time was and how close I am to beating it. Also maybe add a few checkpoints throughout the normal parkour?

[New] Respawning:
If the gamerule autorespawn could be set to true would help decrease some lag. When I die, I tend to drift off in one direction until I update my client... This might very easily be a me problem, but removing the you died screen would be a quality of life update anyway.

Oh hey! You read this! WOW. Thank you. I'd love to hear some feedback, some more suggestions. H*ll if you just want to hate me go ahead! It improves my visibility!!! XD

 

@BlockyBeach Thanks! I'll edit it and add another one I've been thinking about :D

 

@Ankh Thanks for giving your thoughts!

Distinguishing teams was a worry I had with customization, even if it was just pants or something might be nice. Chestplate would need to be team color, and along with the colored name tags I thought it might be fine... It'd be something that would require in game (minecraft) testing.

I love your idea of voting! Couple that with voting abilities in hotbar and I think a lot more maps would be chosen!

As for Defense (Also one of my main points to me) the issue is I really don't know what would be the best way of going about it. Buffing kills I don't really think would be the way to go as there may be games when you can only get 1 kill by camping. So I guess I was really trying to suggest a simple +10 coins/minute while within 40 blocks of flag or something? Plus maybe a larger reward for recovering a flag? As for winning the game, on most maps I've found (in the ~50 games I played) there usually is a winner (except for sand fortress 2? (castle?) or whatever that map is called). It would take like 5-10 minutes but It would still happen.

Either way, thanks so much for reading this and even giving some feedback!

 

@ehoeian Yep! Great point there. Now I thought they had did this, or are people just leaving during gameplay? I've played a couple games with uneven teams so this feature might have already been added???? I don't know :D I'll update after I play some more

 

New thought: What if you closed off the team base during the count down - and allowed people to run around? Then warp them back in once the timer's out? (No items)

 

@10sec Good thoughts! I guess my idea was really just to try to show players where their flag is, how to get to it via spawn, and give players with faster internet something to do for the 10 seconds can't move period. It exists to let players load in the map (that's fine) and since that means they have to be in the game to do so I've been brainstorming for ideas.
Another suggestion might be to move the ctf lobby into the game map (think hypixel walls or farm hunt) but that removes map voting, one of CTF's features... Idk looking for suggestions :D

 

Another idea, maybe add some music? Even a minecraft disk would be better than nothing (and easy for players to disable)
Show what team a player is on in tab (in lobby).

I'm just sitting in the waiting lobby for over 10 minutes and adding random stuff to my list :D