Hello,

Some of you might've noticed that Retro-HV configs, as well as the entire Retro wing in the matchmodes menu are now gone from the servers. It struck me when I realized that the vast majority of modern competitive L4D2 community has no intelligent guess about what could Rotoblin be, hence why they've started playing normal Retro or EQ Retro.

Rotoblin was and still is Confogl's counterpart for the original Left 4 Dead. The last official version is 0.8.1, the last non-official 2.0, and the first L4D2 version will be 3.0.

So what is Rotoblin 3 on Hyper-V servers? It's basically a renamed Retro-HV. And for those wondering why have I decided to go with this rebranding, I'll try to sum it up briefly.

The well-known Retro config is part of the Promod package. Promod author(s) take care of its development and direction. So when Sir decided to make his [Retro]spective cup, he discovered that "vanilla" Retro actually allows deadstops and has a limit of 3 hunters. Since the original Rotoblin HC, the most popular config in L4D, had no deadstops and no limit on hunters(up to 4), it has been decided to adjust the config for the upcoming cup. However, the changes made seemed extremely gameplay affecting to me, potentially able to affect the final scores in thousands of points and drastically outweigh the balance towards native L4D1 teams. And since my policy forbids me from modifying any "copyrighted" configs in any way beyond coloring/formatting of chat prints, I've made the decision to "locally fork" Promod's Retro 3.5.4 config. Thus Retro-HV was born.

Retro-HV had remained a very acclaimed config even after the cup, being ranked much higher than Promod's own Retro, even by L4D1 players themselves. Despite this, starting with version 3.6, Promod's developer has decided to take the Retro config into a wildly different direction. Some of the changes he made include removal of all helpful map props(less spawns for SI, vanilla map layout), removal of single tank control and tank lottery(back to vanilla style) and even the removal of boss % prints. I strongly disagree with the direction he's decided to take, because delving into atavism[en.wikipedia.org] is in no way making the config more "L4D1-like".

Since I've chosen to preserve both Retro-HV and the "official" Retro on my servers, the gap that 3.6 had created was too large to be covered by a simple suffix. To remove the confusion created by Retro 3.6 and to separate Retro-HV from the atavistic Retro 3.6 once and for all, the decision to rebrand Retro-HV into Rotoblin 3 was made.

Originally ProMod Retro 3.5, then Retro-HV, now Rotoblin 3. Config that will continue to evolve as a config for both L4D1 and L4D2 players. It will keep receiving modern features that enhance the gameplay experience, but will nonetheless respect crucial attributes native to L4D1.

Changelog: [Retro-HV 3.5.4 -> Rotoblin 3]

• Now uses EQ2.1 map changes. These are basically ProMod 3.6.1's changes, except for ladder choke nerfs; those are removed.
  
• Survivors now have 5 M2 shoves available before the cooldown kicks in.
  
• Tweaked the Witch's anger rate. She will now be roughly 50% times more responsive to environment changes around her.
  
• Restored Tank frustration settings to vanilla values.
  
• Completely removed water slowdown for Survivors.
  
• Witches will now spawn on all maps. Minimum distance between them and the Tank will constitute 20% from the map distance.
  
• Tweaked allowed boss spawns "windows" for normal maps and finales to better match L4D1 style.
  
• Pills will now take effect instantly.
  
• Enabled the second Tank on finales.
  
• If a Tank kills a Witch she will respawn in the same spot shortly after.
  
• All SI are now able to break doors with a single scratch instead of 3. Hunters are also able to pounce through a non-damaged door, instantly breaking it.
  
• Hunter godframes removed.
  
• Smoker godframes decreased to 0.1 seconds.
  
• Survivors will be godframed from common damage for 2 seconds while getting up from a hunter pounce.
  
• Starting spawns will be printed to the Survivors when the round goes live.
  
• Completely removed female Boomers.
  
• Chipped Hunters and Smokers will report back to their victims of the damage they've sustained.