Ive had it! (yes this is a rant thread)

[QuaaK..!]

So, i just looked at my time played on NS2 and it says 278 hours.
I feel like i know all the aspects of the game (even commanding) and i just cant take it anymore.
I cannot comprehend exactly what it is but this game sometimes makes me wanna jump off a cliff.

My first problem with it is that whenever i play or whatever side i play i always feel like im playing the underpowered race. Its kinda hard to describe, but something is off with it.
As marine i often have alot of problems hitting aliens. Not that i cant aim, but some shots really dont seem to register even if youre spot on. I get that problem especially on the lerk.

The other thing about this game is...it gets old really fast.
Theres not a ton of tactical flexibility. Every round plays out exactly the same.
Marines always go for fast phasegates, then welders, then shotguns, then the whole rest.
Aliens have a bit more ineresting starts due to different upgrade paths, but theyr playstyle doesnt differ much (except for shade hive first)

From what i experienced there are basically 2 ways a game can play out.

1. One team gets roflstomped into the ground and has not even got the slightest chance at countering anything.

2. You actually have balanced teams and might get an interesting game.

in all those hours of gameplay ive maybe had 20 good games like no2.
Now i dont know how many games i exactly played, but id say a few hundred for sure.

Imho the problem with the game is it has no midgame or the midgame is just too short.
Its mostly a question about who gets more onos/exos first, and you just get overrun pretty fast.
The best matches i had were the ones that took over an hour to play. Back and forth taking bases and losing some. But im having less and less of these epic games lately and the frustrating ones take over by now.

imho they should try and switch the gameplay to a longer midgame. Make endgame units more expensive, and i mean....alot. Draw out the midgame. I know its hard to balance a game like NS2, but the goal for a successful multiplayer fps should be "easy to learn, hard to master"

ATM it feels more like "hard to learn, even harder to master" and alot of players these days dont wanna focus on just one game. NS2 is really the worst game to play casually. Im not saying get the cod audience, but imho alot of imbalance on the servers comes from ppl who dont play it every day of the week, and therefore cannot compete with hardcore veterans.
These casual players are eventually gonna vanish and what will be left are maybe 150 ppl actively playing the game.

just my opinion, no need to get angry or calling names.
if you have something constructive to say then go ahead.
if not just save your time and do something else :)

[Razor_Edge]

how big of a server are you playing on? you will see a variety of strats on smaller games 6v6.

as for the mid game yes it is quite short but the main draw is RTS/FPS combo if one team fails to have the res required to sustain the mid game they will lose.

it is very unforgiving and there are no handicaps for a bad team unfortunately.

[GrimreaperNLD]

awsome thread i totaly agree.

[X-rayCat]

Well nothing new! :) They actually made game simpler than NS1 to get the learning curve easier. Epic games are epic cause they're rare, but you can find servers where are there more epic games going on. The only thing they should add to the game is "balance team option" that force teams to be almost even based on skill of the player.

You could also try competitive games or atleast gathers on www.ensl.org - a whole another new dimension of this game.

[Whiskey_inthejar]

something in the registration is ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up
you can feel it by getting shot and not being able to escape

[QuaaK..!]

another thing that happens to me alot. I get killed by skulks in 1 hit. Now i know that it is not possible for skulks to kill marines in 1 hit, so my guess is that he actually hit me 3 times but the server wasnt fast enough to process those 3 bites to my machine, so all i get is the last bite and then i die.

to answer some of the previous questions.
I usually play on 18 or 24 player servers.
I dont bother with less because marines tend to lose quick if they dont have atleast 7 players on each team.

Someone mentioned i should play gather matches.
Could try, but ive seen what some veterans in this game are capable of, and im nowhere near that sort of skill in this game and i dont plan to invest that much time playing it to get good at it. Id say im pretty average in NS2 and i might be wrong but my guess is that average is not good enough for competitive play :)

[Razor_Edge]

TBH all i am seeing is excuses, thats not a bad thing you have found out this game isnt for you.

i would recomend playing on 6v6 servers, even though the games may end quick you will play more and gradually learn when to expect the lifeform explosion.

[Wales Grey]

Mad at video games? Please seek psychological help, or stop gettin mad at games.

[Marq]

Hmmm I was like you OP but I simply stopped playing and check back occasionally for updates but not seeing much to really pick up the game again. Look at the peak now it is around 900ish players. And that is one small portion of the day because before and after the peak there are less people playing. Either way this game is balanced for experienced players and if you look at the Balance mod that will be put in the vanilla game you can see the changes forced will be the last nail in the coffin. Ignore the people who tell you how they think they game should be played (6v6) because if that was the case those servers would be more popular and would not clear out so fast. Some of the players are basically trying to make NS1 again and it seems UWE does not care about the fun factor as much as comp balance and dry nerfed game play. Oh well.

[Metu_el]

Ever played chess? You know, that board game which is around since the Middle Ages. Basically you could say it gets old very fast, too, if you look at it the wrong way: Two sides, which have to kill the king (or last CC in NS2 terms). You move your figures to the other side of the board (= map) to succeed at that. Every figure (= loadout/evolution) got its own pros and cons. It's the same over and over again. Hell, there are even basic tactics, which most players tend to use almost all the time at game opening.

But look at it closer and you can see, that every figures action does has its individual impact on the gameplay, considering the way you use it. In detail it suddendly becomes much more varied. Same goes for NS2. Sure, there are basic build orders and only a limited number of maps (chess on the other side only has ONE "map"), but even though every game plays out slightly different.

Okay, you could ignore that fact, fine. Keep saying it is repetitive, but please show me any online multiplayer - or any other computer game - which isn't basically the same thing every time you play it, if you cut out the corners! Sure, it's another thing, if you don't like the basic concept of the game. But why would you then spend almost 300 hours on it in the first place. Hell, most games don't even get me to play it more then 30ish hours, so basically this is a big pro for NS2 game design. Sure, everything gets boring after a specific amount of time. Either move along or try to make the best out of it and keep on playing.

And yeah, I would suggest, too, that you look for smaller servers. Everything above 18 players runs the risk to become a simple zerg rush. This game was clearly designed for 8vs8. That's the amount of players, where the tactical versatility of NS2 shines. Bigger games would need bigger maps for not ending in a big clusterf***. Look at the Battlefield series with its 32 or even 64 player amount. It doesn't play as well when there is a smaller population. So it's the same problem vice versa. Or the other way around, the 4 player coop games, which have mods to push the playerlimit up. Games will become much too easy this way.

İlk olarak QuaaK..! tarafından gönderildi:

My first problem with it is that whenever i play or whatever side i play i always feel like im playing the underpowered race. Its kinda hard to describe, but something is off with it. As marine i often have alot of problems hitting aliens. Not that i cant aim, but some shots really dont seem to register even if youre spot on. I get that problem especially on the lerk.

Sure, the hitreg can be a pain in the *** sometimes. But it's not only an engine problem. In most cases the own internet connection does play a major role. A bad ping can mess you up good in every other online game as well. Perfect hitreg you will only get in singleplayer games.

As for the feeling underpowered part. Well, the discussion goes on since this game is being played. It basically comes down to the assymmetrical design. Both sides are meant to have some major drawbacks compared to the other one. Get used to them and act accordingly. It is much easier to get used to a team vs. team game, where both sides have the same kits, even though the names most of the time will differ or they have slight tweaks in DPS, accuracy and so on, so you don't see the commonness at first glance. NS2 will never be balanced to the point, where everthing will be fine for everybody. I admit that. But that's what makes this game so challenging and fun to play.

I once more refer to chess. Imagine, when both sides could only beat the opponent on squares of their own colour. Does that make chess less appealing? I don't think so. It will be more of a challenge and therefore not as repetitive as it is now.

As for the stacking problem. Yeah, this is a major flaw in this game. Mostly it's due to two facts: The assymetrical gameplay itself AND the small playerbases with a relativly high amount of competitive players. Pubstomping and stacking winning games is around as long as there are online multiplayers. People are douches, when it comes to being the winner. It's more of problem with the human mankind, not a partcular game. In NS2, there is just a slightly higher chance, you will end in a stacked server, then in other games, cause its population is considerably low.

I like your suggestion about ramping up the costs for endgame units though. That way, there won't be as many early onos rushes, which end many promising games much too fast. I like balanced midgames myself. But there aren't as many players out there, who appreciate a 60 to 90 minute game. Or they simple ain't have the time for it. It would scare away the casual players, who just want to play a short round or two before they go off to dinner/work/whatever.

Well, long post here. Read it or not...

[Insubordination]

You can thank UWE for pandering to the smallest possible audience in the world. It's combination of an already tiny professional comp community and people with super charged computers.

[› |2es-)!(-]

İlk olarak T1000 tarafından gönderildi:

You can thank UWE for pandering to the smallest possible audience in the world. It's combination of an already tiny professional comp community and people with super charged computers.

Only takes a $700 computer to run this game well. With that said, they are still working on increasing performance.

As far as catering to their professional comp scene.... I don't get that either. It makes no sense since their playerbase is so small they need to cater to the larger playerbase, everyone else.

[Marq]

^Probably because most of their balance ideas comes from comp players or a few old players. There is no medium to communicate with players who play the game casually and for fun. These are the people that make the bulk of the population though the number is decreasing so at least people are voting with their time. UWE consists of a few devs and most have nothing to do with the balance. The lead dev is already brainstorming concepts for another game. The rest are just coders, bug fixers, create assets etc etc.

The balanced had been handed off to one dev and a balance team that consists of comp players and very old players who want to make the game tailored for them and refuse to accept outside opinion unless it aligns with what they want. It seems fun and enjoyable game play is not a factor they consider. In the end it is UWE's choice so it is all on them. When people like this handle the balance for the game what else can you expect other than odd changes that caters to the comp scene? Part of it is because UWE really wanted to make NS2 a popular e sport game that they kept taking opinions from comp players even though it is not working out. Can't have it both ways I guess. Time and example has shown UWE does not care about the majority so why should you care?

[Whatsadexter]

Well they plan to remove armory healing armor and change up alien movements with bhop. Which I doubt most will know about or can even do except for the pros. Next patch is soon so I guess we will see how it boils down. Would not be surprised if the patch catered to NS1 vets and comp players though since that is the trend.

[› |2es-)!(-]

İlk olarak Whatsadexter tarafından gönderildi:

Next patch is soon so I guess we will see how it boils down. Would not be surprised if the patch catered to NS1 vets and comp players though since that is the trend.

seems that is exactly what is happening, which is pretty disappointing.

[Whatsadexter]

^And like you said it does not make sense. Why cater to a miniscule percentage of the playerbase when the game is losing players at a fast rate? They have been doing so since release when it is obviously not making the game anymore popular. Oh well if they want to alienate and disconnect from average players that's fine by me.