Game has never felt this empty

[Cosmo]

Before people pull up the steam charts and epically prove me wrong, hear me out.

It could very well be a case of "old man yells at clouds", but this game feels worse than ever in my opinion, and it has nothing to do with ICO update, at least in my eyes. It is purely just the total community of the game it seems. I don't have a thousand or more hours in this game, but I have been playing off and on since 2019. At the point the game is at, it feels like there is hardly any teamwork compared to what it used to be. It is so uncommon for me to play with people who are communicative and willing to work together. And this is across many many servers. I mean even that one server that has "teamwork required" in the name, has some of the least amounts of team play i've seen across the multitude of occasions I have joined that server.

I don't want to say that any of this is new. I recall my frustrations with people creating a squad and then leaving back in 2019, but these issues appear to have become more prevalent than ever. I have seen people complain about the state of the game, yet they are always met with a smug "well actually steam charts says its never been played more, case closed". I have an issue with this because it just totally sweeps aside all discussion about the game. Sure there are more players now, but it feels like there is significantly less communication going on, in the game where communication and working with a team is a major selling point.

I have alot of nostalgia for this game, the community it had and the moments I had within it. My opinions on the ICO has no bearings on my stance, I have my problems with some of the additions, however overall I enjoy it. But this game that is supposed to have team work and collaboration between Squads and combined arms has never felt so lonely.

I could just be a loser and the only one thinking this. But for a long time I have been noticing how many times it takes a grand effort to even get people to start communicating, and playing in a group. More often than not the Squad is fanned out with 1-2 guys half a map away, and everyone else is spread out going solo.

[NerzJansch]

Ico made all longstanding groups and experienced players leave since they finally realized offworld wipes their ass with feedback. Why waste time on a product catering to people that wouldn´t know tactical games if you threw them at their head while being ignored and bugs that were fixed three versions ago being reintroduced? The game has only degraded since, performance issues, community problems, fanboys, plain morons and "hurdur steamchart" geniuses (ignoring that 10k of those steamchart players are bots on hidden servers) have done their best to drive away the last leftovers that tried powering through the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ and incompetence.
I´d rather play Arma 2 at this point, still feels smother and runs better than this joke of a game

[Cosmo]

I think the concept of the ICO is good, and I do find the changes they brought to weapons to be nice.

I believe that many people who hate the ICO but yet subscribe to the concept of realistic shooters have never actually shot a gun after hiking a hill. It does indeed take a second to catch your breath to steady, let alone after sprinting for a long time.

I do see the issue with building a large player base and then implementing a huge gameplay change, as that does tend to alienate players who would ride or die Squad from the beginning.

To me it is a little petty though, people complain about ICO and yet they dont seem to acknowledge that everyone else is experiencing the same gun play changes

The performance issues are annoying. I had an old computer that worked well in 2019, and that is where I gained a decent chunk of my time in the game. I actually built a whole new computer to play games like squad a few months before ICO came out, now i'm back to experiencing 40 fps and frame dips again.

I feel like alot of people also skip over the part where before the ICO there was that huge gap in time where nothing was being developed for the game. I wanna say this was around roughly when the Australians were added. Even before ICO there were certainly some issues when it came to the devs doing anything at all.

[Holden]

Originally posted by Cosmo:

I believe that many people who hate the ICO but yet subscribe to the concept of realistic shooters have never actually shot a gun after hiking a hill. It does indeed take a second to catch your breath to steady, let alone after sprinting for a long time.

No - this isn't what "ico haters" says.

I don't get this - why everyone assumed that we complaing about weapon sway when stamina is low???? It quite opposite- we complain that aimimg is bad WHEN STAMINA IS FULL.


Did you tried to shoot when you are have full and calm breath, with pumping adrenaline ?
If stamina is a metrics of tiredness/breath control etc - then even as a non trained soldier sway doesn't exist, aim is more snappy etc.

Hell, increase effects when stamina is low imo. But make more rewarding for those who work heavly with stamina


In my view ico lovers - are mindless junkies who just play for playing. Not to gain anything from it other than self satisfaction that they can cope with usless mechanics. Those are exacly the ppl who don't use mics, think, use map or try to coordinate. Thus the effect you are seeing.



(Oh and btw - numbers of players are in decline for 5 months in a row now - game is NOT interesting anymore for the reasons above)

[Holden]

Originally posted by Cosmo:

I feel like alot of people also skip over the part where before the ICO there was that huge gap in time where nothing was being developed for the game. I wanna say this was around roughly when the Australians were added. Even before ICO there were certainly some issues when it came to the devs doing anything at all.

I'm not sure how long you have been following Squad development (i dont think you did long enough or played much before ico - based on your arguments). This gap was simply a shift in OWI's leadership (new CEO from mobile games background, then they have been bought out etc.)

I'm not sure how this fits to your arguments at all - this kinda make sense that they won't do much during this period.

[bakepotatou]

squad has to be the most unrewarding experience per the amount of work put in.

[Rat Rider]

Teamwork has decreased, it used to be a surprise when someone was not trying to communicate and work with the team, now I am often surprised when people do it in a competent way.
That said there are still lots of great players!
My suggestion is for experienced players to squad lead more and when doing so to never accept stupidity and people who do no want to work together. kick them.

[Cosmo]

Originally posted by Holden:

Originally posted by Cosmo:

I believe that many people who hate the ICO but yet subscribe to the concept of realistic shooters have never actually shot a gun after hiking a hill. It does indeed take a second to catch your breath to steady, let alone after sprinting for a long time.

No - this isn't what "ico haters" says.

I don't get this - why everyone assumed that we complaing about weapon sway when stamina is low???? It quite opposite- we complain that aimimg is bad WHEN STAMINA IS FULL.


Did you tried to shoot when you are have full and calm breath, with pumping adrenaline ?
If stamina is a metrics of tiredness/breath control etc - then even as a non trained soldier sway doesn't exist, aim is more snappy etc.

Hell, increase effects when stamina is low imo. But make more rewarding for those who work heavly with stamina


In my view ico lovers - are mindless junkies who just play for playing. Not to gain anything from it other than self satisfaction that they can cope with usless mechanics. Those are exacly the ppl who don't use mics, think, use map or try to coordinate. Thus the effect you are seeing.



(Oh and btw - numbers of players are in decline for 5 months in a row now - game is NOT interesting anymore for the reasons above)

1.) I believe I assumed that was the reason because when you have full stamina and steady your breath, its fine. Is it perfect dead on accurate like a robot? No. And that stays true to real life, even if you're calm as ever you are still holding an object that has weight, your muscles arent perfect and you will have very mild amounts of sway. And scopes will only exacerbate this through their magnification.
2.) Don't we all play games, to play games? I cant really say I see people who are, what I will describe as "more casual", sticking around with this difficult system (in their eyes). I feel like the situation is a bit more deep than "ICO players are the problem, they liked ICO in the first place so clearly theyre stupid and the cause of it!"

[Cosmo]

Originally posted by Holden:

Originally posted by Cosmo:

I feel like alot of people also skip over the part where before the ICO there was that huge gap in time where nothing was being developed for the game. I wanna say this was around roughly when the Australians were added. Even before ICO there were certainly some issues when it came to the devs doing anything at all.

I'm not sure how long you have been following Squad development (i dont think you did long enough or played much before ico - based on your arguments). This gap was simply a shift in OWI's leadership (new CEO from mobile games background, then they have been bought out etc.)

I'm not sure how this fits to your arguments at all - this kinda make sense that they won't do much during this period.

I can't say I have been on the ball when it comes to Squads development, however I have played this game since 2019, albeit not as much as others. My point still stands that there was a drought of content that the community had to deal with. The point of bringing it up was to say that even before the ICO Squad had some issues, particularly nothing being added at all for a very long time, and people still stuck around. The fact that people stuck around has no bearing on the transition the studio was going through.

Simply saying my argument doesn't make sense, doesn't all of a sudden make it illogical.

[Cosmo]

Originally posted by bakepotatou:

squad has to be the most unrewarding experience per the amount of work put in.

I feel this heavily. In the matches I stick around in, I put in alot of work for minimal gain. I think this goes for any game where the actions of the group matters more than the individual. I think that's the great gamble whenever you play a game thats dependent on others. You alone cannot dictate your enjoyment of the game.

[Cosmo]

Originally posted by Rat Rider:

Teamwork has decreased, it used to be a surprise when someone was not trying to communicate and work with the team, now I am often surprised when people do it in a competent way.
That said there are still lots of great players!
My suggestion is for experienced players to squad lead more and when doing so to never accept stupidity and people who do no want to work together. kick them.

It is unfortunate how it has declined. Also they made a tweet recently about how in Squad "teamwork isnt just encouraged, its demanded" and then looking at the current state the game is in. It's unfortunate. I do find your idea of attempting to "be the change you want to be" very good. I feel like its much better to strive for this than to just throw the keyboard and go "welp the game is dead". Although people can choose to not play it if it affects them that much.

[Holden]

Originally posted by Cosmo:

Originally posted by Holden:

No - this isn't what "ico haters" says.

I don't get this - why everyone assumed that we complaing about weapon sway when stamina is low???? It quite opposite- we complain that aimimg is bad WHEN STAMINA IS FULL.


Did you tried to shoot when you are have full and calm breath, with pumping adrenaline ?
If stamina is a metrics of tiredness/breath control etc - then even as a non trained soldier sway doesn't exist, aim is more snappy etc.

Hell, increase effects when stamina is low imo. But make more rewarding for those who work heavly with stamina


In my view ico lovers - are mindless junkies who just play for playing. Not to gain anything from it other than self satisfaction that they can cope with usless mechanics. Those are exacly the ppl who don't use mics, think, use map or try to coordinate. Thus the effect you are seeing.



(Oh and btw - numbers of players are in decline for 5 months in a row now - game is NOT interesting anymore for the reasons above)

1.) I believe I assumed that was the reason because when you have full stamina and steady your breath, its fine. Is it perfect dead on accurate like a robot? No. And that stays true to real life, even if you're calm as ever you are still holding an object that has weight, your muscles arent perfect and you will have very mild amounts of sway. And scopes will only exacerbate this through their magnification.
2.) Don't we all play games, to play games? I cant really say I see people who are, what I will describe as "more casual", sticking around with this difficult system (in their eyes). I feel like the situation is a bit more deep than "ICO players are the problem, they liked ICO in the first place so clearly theyre stupid and the cause of it!"

1) guns when body is rested don't behave in this way - I can tell you that from years of real life experience - that's the point. Having muscles in arms and core lets you stabilise gun nearly like a robot with very tiny sway. Changing targets also much quicker without sway and tilting gun. You have belt, stock pressed to arm and cheek wield that ensures maximum stability and ico is not representing it at all


2)play for playing means only act of playing but without ability to be better at everything game has to offer. Players play this game like COD/BF currently. No map, no communication etc.

[Holden]

Originally posted by Cosmo:

Originally posted by Holden:

I'm not sure how long you have been following Squad development (i dont think you did long enough or played much before ico - based on your arguments). This gap was simply a shift in OWI's leadership (new CEO from mobile games background, then they have been bought out etc.)

I'm not sure how this fits to your arguments at all - this kinda make sense that they won't do much during this period.

I can't say I have been on the ball when it comes to Squads development, however I have played this game since 2019, albeit not as much as others. My point still stands that there was a drought of content that the community had to deal with. The point of bringing it up was to say that even before the ICO Squad had some issues, particularly nothing being added at all for a very long time, and people still stuck around. The fact that people stuck around has no bearing on the transition the studio was going through.

Simply saying my argument doesn't make sense, doesn't all of a sudden make it illogical.

So as you can see instead resolving current problems - we got new ones. Regardless if there was updates or not - OWI is focusing on new things rather fixing old problems - and this is massive issue with developments and studios image

[Cosmo]

Originally posted by Holden:

Originally posted by Cosmo:

1.) I believe I assumed that was the reason because when you have full stamina and steady your breath, its fine. Is it perfect dead on accurate like a robot? No. And that stays true to real life, even if you're calm as ever you are still holding an object that has weight, your muscles arent perfect and you will have very mild amounts of sway. And scopes will only exacerbate this through their magnification.
2.) Don't we all play games, to play games? I cant really say I see people who are, what I will describe as "more casual", sticking around with this difficult system (in their eyes). I feel like the situation is a bit more deep than "ICO players are the problem, they liked ICO in the first place so clearly theyre stupid and the cause of it!"

1) guns when body is rested don't behave in this way - I can tell you that from years of real life experience - that's the point. Having muscles in arms and core lets you stabilise gun nearly like a robot with very tiny sway. Changing targets also much quicker without sway and tilting gun. You have belt, stock pressed to arm and cheek wield that ensures maximum stability and ico is not representing it at all


2)play for playing means only act of playing but without ability to be better at everything game has to offer. Players play this game like COD/BF currently. No map, no communication etc.

1) Well I cant attest to "robot" levels of steadiness, prob because i'm just weak , but on a more serious note the amount of sway when rested feels right to me. But then that is entirely subjective.
2.) Thanks for clarifying. I agree, it sucks seeing so many people just not helping their squads and spread out so heavily on the map.

[Rhyagelle]

Originally posted by Cosmo:

I think the concept of the ICO is good

The only correct thing to say.

The concept of ICO is good. The execution, however, was terrible.

[Pvt.Donger]

your not wrong about it falling off way before the ico. for me it was the 2.12 update and then 5.0 lack of performance and ultimately the ico but... when i first started playing early 2019 everyone was very serious and if sl said your name, you were going in that logi and heading back to base. now its probably a hate crime to force someone to do a logi run.