The opinion of a newbie...
CodeCowboy
Join Date: 2012-09-21 Member: 160235Members
Join Date: 2012-09-21 Member: 160235Members
I played NS1 ... alot. Loved it. I hadn't been able to play NS2 until I just won a Beta key.
I am MUCH more easily able to be an effective help while on the marines side. Having had no experience with past builds I cannot speak to the balance and skulk damage/hit boxes. However, my experience has been extreme frustration trying to be at all effective as an alien.
I understand that I will need a lot of practice, but I also really want this game to succeed... I worry that the general public who hasn't had the opportunity to play this and the tenacity to stick through the learning curve when it is sooo difficult to squeeze out a kill from the alien side as a new player.
I don't know exactly what could really be done, because from what I read in the hands of a great player skulks are brutal... so how does one balance a steep learning curve with the experienced players remaining balanced as well?
Is it a hit box issue or a damage issue or what? I feel like I should be hitting the marines I am chomping at, but they don't take damage, or at least don't die...
How can we ensure that new players enjoy being aliens as well as marines?
I am MUCH more easily able to be an effective help while on the marines side. Having had no experience with past builds I cannot speak to the balance and skulk damage/hit boxes. However, my experience has been extreme frustration trying to be at all effective as an alien.
I understand that I will need a lot of practice, but I also really want this game to succeed... I worry that the general public who hasn't had the opportunity to play this and the tenacity to stick through the learning curve when it is sooo difficult to squeeze out a kill from the alien side as a new player.
I don't know exactly what could really be done, because from what I read in the hands of a great player skulks are brutal... so how does one balance a steep learning curve with the experienced players remaining balanced as well?
Is it a hit box issue or a damage issue or what? I feel like I should be hitting the marines I am chomping at, but they don't take damage, or at least don't die...
How can we ensure that new players enjoy being aliens as well as marines?
Comments
The minor FPS improvements and optimizations we get each patch tend to help the marines as well and it's starting to add up.
Bite seems to have a good balance between range and cone now, no punishing noobs who hold Mouse1 down and rewarding players who sync their bites properly.
Skulk movement and wall jumping might still need some tweaking, as well as making Xeno actually worth something.
return ranged spores for lerks - just as supportive and FUN as umbra is currently
give fades back acid rockets - will never return for some reason
increase skulk base speed or decrease the size of the player model - seriously skulks are so slow and easy to hit even with celerity
return focus - needs to be priority 1 or 2
thats cool in a world where the default interp isnt set to 100 and you dont get shot around corners based on what the OTHER guy sees.
Keep in mind though, that the marines you're up against are by and large somewhat experienced at aiming. With the pre-order period closed, most beta opponents have had time to work on tracking skulks. When release hits, most of them are going to be staring down their barrels trying to find out where the bullets come from while skulks snack on their nanoshoes. Or something.