Granting ftp access does not do much b/c there is nothing in there anyone would be able to change. For example the nade length times. They are determined by mathematical formula within the plugin itself, a plugin I made. The only way to change it even if someone other than me wanted to would be to have the source code, edit it and recompile. They would also need to be careful to use a compiler version that is <= the current version running on the server and >= the original compiler fore the code. They would also need to have all the current native function and custom extension sets. Yes for something like that it is easy for me to make the change (when I am not on my laptop). However, explicitly in the case of the fire nades they are the main thing that holds zombies back in escape maps. Without there current times escape maps would be impossible. I do though plan to implement some new nades and then reduce the fire nades to balance this out. However, I got to actually program these things.
Take for example the idea of having particular maps only enabled on some days. It is not as though there is a setting for this an entire mod to manipulate the mapcycle would need to be created. Maybe the map plugin we used a long time ago had an option like this but we had to remove that plugin as it was found to the the cause of a strange glitch where the server would freeze up for a split second whenever a player joined. This highlights yet another issue with trying to change particular things. Just because a mod does exist to do XYZ does not mean that said mod actually works or works without causing problems in the server. The usual solution is for me to reprogram or make said mod myself. This takes as you can imagine a shit ton of time.
As for other things like the sword blocking half your screen. I had not heard anyone complain about that bring a big problem. If there had been a thread made I could change it for a different model or make it so that you can opt out of the mod when your on the map. There is a lot of stuff I look at every day so unless you make a big thread complaining about it or pm me a few times I am not going to know how urgent an issue it is and fix it.
One issue I see is that some of you feel that the issues you bring up are ignored or that particular things are not being worked on. I will say that one issue with that is that many major changes are discussed heavily in the clan section of the forums so that we can figure out exactly how we want the changes to ultimately take effect on the server without people freeing out at something that is just an idea and not a solid decision. Perhaps one way to resolve these issues if for me to create some sort of tracker like trello or something that users can post issues to. Not only would it help the clan and I to keep track of things that people want done to the servers but also let you all know what is being worked on and a more general idea of priorities. Trello also has an upvote feature so we can get an idea about how much support a particular idea has. For those that do not know wtf trello is see: https://trello.com/b/91ApENY6/ns2-cd...opment-tracker
Now as for changes I am going to be back in the states this month and hope to already start pushing out major updates to ZM by the end of the month. These range from gameplay updates to redoing the entire ranking system from scratch and resetting the ranks at that point.