The Evolution of NS
Mindmeldme
The Evil One Join Date: 2002-10-27 Member: 1637Members
The Evil One Join Date: 2002-10-27 Member: 1637Members
So now that I've got a couple more games under my belt I feel credited enough to post my thoughts on how NS has changed since it started. I got in on the forums before 1.0 was out and I played for around a year straight. I had some router issues so for 2.0 roughly to 3.0 I wasn't playing much at all. At 3.1 I was able to get in more consistantly and have been playing into 3.2 now.
To begin I still really enjoy NS. It's really different from all the other CS clones and meat grinders out there and I still love playing. I can't wait for NS 2 and I will be paying for it happily when it arrives. However I've noticed that NS now is far different from when I started. Obviously some changes will always be needed along with balances however it seems like it's gone to far to me. For a long time people complained that Marines were to dominat and always winning. At times I could agree and argue that Marines did seem to be winning to often. However I had played Kahraa almost as much as I did aliens and I do personally think things were pretty balanced, especially if the kahraa had some decent team work.
Now I would almost argue that the kahraa are a bit on the winning side. I can say a lot of skilled players seem to be on that side as I remember blink and lerk flying being hard skills to master and now I see them used excellently by many players. As good as that is and as nice as it is to really be challanged seeing a lerk kicking out gas within 3 minutes of a game starting strikes me as a little one sided. I now see fades 5 minutes into a game and I remember that being a huge deal and taking far longer then now.
I can say I understand the arguement that some players do not have an hour to play one game but I can counter that not all games were that long. A lot were 20-30 minute games but I personally thought the bast ones were long games with both sides gaining and losing ground. I thought that really showed the difference from all the other meatgrinders out there. Now however games are over in 10 minutes a lot of the time. Especially if the Kahraa have a decent team working together. I have always said a Marine team is only as good as it's commander, and the commander is only as good as his team. It truly comes into play now as I've seen teams nearly wiped out and Commanders shaking thier heads because they can't get anything done.
Personally I think the game is moving to fast, only in that lerks and fades are showing up far sooner then they used to or probably should. Gas is a huge advantage if used correctly and can completely stop a marine team. If used properly you could block a whole section of the map useing it well in a corridor. Just keep spamming and no marine can survive the walk without med packs. Certainly nice to see people able to go Fade so quick now but thier killing capacity is simply unprecedented now with blink in the hands of a skilled player. I saw one player 30 and 1 after a 5 minutes as a fade. Now I was impressed because he did excatly as the Fade was designed when I was reading on it years ago. Blinking in and killing one marine and blinking out before the return fire is to great. The Fade is not a tank like the Onos is and people always whined when they died because they didn't realize this. Now skilled fade players can truly hamper a marine team it seems.
I can argue to that marines should be getting more weapons to combat this such as shotguns and HMG's and in some cases they do and that's all a Commander issue. However it seems to me like it's a more middle section of the game coming on right in the beginning. Perhapes I haven't played enough yet to truly get a feel for the time line of a normal game and I've played with some bad teams. However seeing lerks and fades so quick in and seeing Kahraa able to dominate maps seems to me like things have moved to far to speed up games and make things more balanced.
In the end all I can do is keep playing and working toward better marine teams, maybe then I'll see some more balanced games from my perspective. At least i don't see Onos before 20 minutes or so into a game.
To begin I still really enjoy NS. It's really different from all the other CS clones and meat grinders out there and I still love playing. I can't wait for NS 2 and I will be paying for it happily when it arrives. However I've noticed that NS now is far different from when I started. Obviously some changes will always be needed along with balances however it seems like it's gone to far to me. For a long time people complained that Marines were to dominat and always winning. At times I could agree and argue that Marines did seem to be winning to often. However I had played Kahraa almost as much as I did aliens and I do personally think things were pretty balanced, especially if the kahraa had some decent team work.
Now I would almost argue that the kahraa are a bit on the winning side. I can say a lot of skilled players seem to be on that side as I remember blink and lerk flying being hard skills to master and now I see them used excellently by many players. As good as that is and as nice as it is to really be challanged seeing a lerk kicking out gas within 3 minutes of a game starting strikes me as a little one sided. I now see fades 5 minutes into a game and I remember that being a huge deal and taking far longer then now.
I can say I understand the arguement that some players do not have an hour to play one game but I can counter that not all games were that long. A lot were 20-30 minute games but I personally thought the bast ones were long games with both sides gaining and losing ground. I thought that really showed the difference from all the other meatgrinders out there. Now however games are over in 10 minutes a lot of the time. Especially if the Kahraa have a decent team working together. I have always said a Marine team is only as good as it's commander, and the commander is only as good as his team. It truly comes into play now as I've seen teams nearly wiped out and Commanders shaking thier heads because they can't get anything done.
Personally I think the game is moving to fast, only in that lerks and fades are showing up far sooner then they used to or probably should. Gas is a huge advantage if used correctly and can completely stop a marine team. If used properly you could block a whole section of the map useing it well in a corridor. Just keep spamming and no marine can survive the walk without med packs. Certainly nice to see people able to go Fade so quick now but thier killing capacity is simply unprecedented now with blink in the hands of a skilled player. I saw one player 30 and 1 after a 5 minutes as a fade. Now I was impressed because he did excatly as the Fade was designed when I was reading on it years ago. Blinking in and killing one marine and blinking out before the return fire is to great. The Fade is not a tank like the Onos is and people always whined when they died because they didn't realize this. Now skilled fade players can truly hamper a marine team it seems.
I can argue to that marines should be getting more weapons to combat this such as shotguns and HMG's and in some cases they do and that's all a Commander issue. However it seems to me like it's a more middle section of the game coming on right in the beginning. Perhapes I haven't played enough yet to truly get a feel for the time line of a normal game and I've played with some bad teams. However seeing lerks and fades so quick in and seeing Kahraa able to dominate maps seems to me like things have moved to far to speed up games and make things more balanced.
In the end all I can do is keep playing and working toward better marine teams, maybe then I'll see some more balanced games from my perspective. At least i don't see Onos before 20 minutes or so into a game.
Comments
I would say that when the skill level on both teams is even, aliens will win more. But I also see good players stack rines a whole lot more than alien, so this tends to balance out.
As for the game being more fun in the 1.x days...I don't know, I think its a whole lot better now. Maybe I had more fun back then, but that's because the game was new, not because it was better.