Recruit Difficulty is still too difficult, esp for random matchmaking

[Lowlight]

Ok, after matchmaking this game for the past couple days, this stuff is brutal and frustrating. I'm a veteran of many similar games, but the constant wipes on Act 1, Recruit difficulty are completely unlike anything I ever saw on L4D2 or the like.

I think the biggest reason I have seen so far for this is that the game does a VERY poor job of communicating when an endless horde swarm has to be pushed through. Teammates just shoot and shoot til they die and get swarmed. The Director also seems to have no concept of when a newb team is actually failing, but rather just piles on the boss monsters til the inevitable end. There are also a lot of useless guns in play (ie: sniper rifles, which are useless in a game tuned like this. Even a sidearm pistol is better when its just endless horde after endless horde).

If the devs do not do something to encourage new players to develop and succeed, this game will be completely dead before the first DLC even drops (RIP those who paid extra for the pre order btw...). Beginners will quit in frustration before they have the cards and know how to become veterans, etc.

[alex1234950]

Sniper rifles have its position in the game. You will feel the game much more easier when you learn more about the game. However as you mentioned, the game design is very poor.
Bad design of hints for running through mission that will spawn infinite zombies.
Bad design of special enemies appearance.
Needs to learn how to avoid some specials, learn how to disable alarms on the internet.

[Mazzle Dazzle]

I started and wiped over and over on recruit and yes it was very frustrating at first, however once I learned about the game I loved it. I made a post almost exactly like this on how the game felt like it was impossible even on recruit.

Snipers are valuable but you pretty much don't use them for anything but mutations, and you use your sidearm for everything else. Don't use high powered sidearms like a revolver or a deagle if you are using a sniper as you are better off with a clearing weapon to complement your primary.

The door alarms seem unavoidable but basically if you make a bunch of noise a ridden will attack it and disable the alarm. You can blow up birds so your team won't set off alarms.

Worst case scenario, you can take breakout, melee knife and battle lust and be largely invincible regardless of what you do on recruit difficulty as long as you stab some ridden here and there. Scar tissue helps a lot too and halves a bunch of damage.

[ErikaLol]

Grab a Tec-9 or Glock Auto for your secondary as a sniper, pull out the sniper for mutations as state above. Recruit gets much, much easier as you get more cards and learn the mechanics of the game.

[Lowlight]

Originally posted by Kayama:

Grab a Tec-9 or Glock Auto for your secondary as a sniper, pull out the sniper for mutations as state above. Recruit gets much, much easier as you get more cards and learn the mechanics of the game.

Ok. So how do I get my random teammates to do better? Again, it seems like the game should be communicating these concepts ON THE EASIEST LEVEL, not forcing randos to consult an open source wiki on things like pushing through endless hordes.

[Mazzle Dazzle]

Originally posted by Lowlight:

Originally posted by Kayama:

Grab a Tec-9 or Glock Auto for your secondary as a sniper, pull out the sniper for mutations as state above. Recruit gets much, much easier as you get more cards and learn the mechanics of the game.

Ok. So how do I get my random teammates to do better? Again, it seems like the game should be communicating these concepts ON THE EASIEST LEVEL, not forcing randos to consult an open source wiki on things like pushing through endless hordes.

Well it does pop things up telling them things about alarm doors. It even says that you should run on 1 1-4. It warns about birds, it tells you you don't have to fight the ogre.
I can't really say it's the games fault the average gamer doesn't listen to the numerous times the game tells you things. People also don't pay attention and do things like accidentally run into or shoot birds and open alarm doors. If you have a bot, they mark the cars, they mark the birds, the medkits, etc. It tells you about trauma.
I never used a wiki, and I often teach newbies how to play and builds to use early on so they don't either. I try to help everyone I play with. It's a complex game and you have to learn some through trial and error.

[Xuhybrid]

It's not that it's too difficult. It's just that everyone playing baby difficulty is awful at the game, for obvious reasons. Not knocking them, just spitting truth.

[Lowlight]

Originally posted by Xuhybrid:

It's not that it's too difficult. It's just that everyone playing baby difficulty is awful at the game, for obvious reasons. Not knocking them, just spitting truth.

I guess after 10.4 hours, one gets really good at it then? Do you upgrade to not baby difficulty at that point? Hopefully I will get matched with those highly experienced randos soon. Thanks!

[Xuhybrid]

Not that it's any of your business but i've played 30-40 hours on Xbox GamePass -.-

[Avs]

Originally posted by Lowlight:

Originally posted by Kayama:

Grab a Tec-9 or Glock Auto for your secondary as a sniper, pull out the sniper for mutations as state above. Recruit gets much, much easier as you get more cards and learn the mechanics of the game.

Ok. So how do I get my random teammates to do better? Again, it seems like the game should be communicating these concepts ON THE EASIEST LEVEL, not forcing randos to consult an open source wiki on things like pushing through endless hordes.

You don't.

What you should be doing is playing behind them and covering them. This way you can keep them alive longer and they won't die as much. This also helps you figure out how to play better by simply playing defensive and keeping your awareness high, while learning the map by observing from the back.

Once you've beaten recruit difficulty, then play veteran. That's where all the experienced players are playing so they can earn more supply points.

If you can't at least do this, you probably aren't ready for veteran. Also a large part of the difficulty is really earning enough supply points to get the good cards so you can actually do damage. Play a damage deck too, don't try and be a doctor or some support "build" without the best cards available.

It's really about you OP, not about your teammates in recruit.

Also, assuming you can't carry them in recruit, the only other way is for you to speak up. Tell people what to do in a nice way, and be a leader. Even just calling out mutation spawns is better than nothing. Or calling out alarm cars or birds.

Make no mistake, you CAN beat recruit as yourself if you play AROUND your teammates instead of trying to rely on them to perform up to your expectations. Do you have to work harder? Yeah.

Play solo offline if you think they are really holding you back. Maybe the bots are better.

[Lowlight]

Originally posted by Xuhybrid:

Not that it's any of your business but i've played 30-40 hours on Xbox GamePass -.-

Fair enough.

[wienercat]

Originally posted by Avs:

Originally posted by Lowlight:

Once you've beaten recruit difficulty, then play veteran. That's where all the experienced players are playing so they can earn more supply points.

Nah the experienced people are playing Nightmare not Veteran

[Knee]

it’s a matter of map knowledge, when you know how to deal with specials and know where the horde triggers are you should be able to handle recruit fairly well, even with no cards, but lots of stamina helps

[Bullied by Pigeon]

This has to be a clickbait.. if u cant handle recruit either persevere and learn or give up and move on..

[Emiya Muljomdao]

yeah i mean after middle of act 2
its unfair and almost impossible to win
especially when u go into water, u just die
wth

[Wulfen Hyde]

Originally posted by Emiya Muljomdao:

yeah i mean after middle of act 2
its unfair and almost impossible to win
especially when u go into water, u just die
wth

Act 2 has some ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ water you can walk off into or be tossed into by AI that is bad design, but even act 3 is possible with nothing but bots on recruit. Hell the bots are smarter than random players in recruit half the time if not more, and the bots are dumb.