marine weapons/camo/silence/xeno/vortex/umbra
ben1099
Join Date: 2010-11-26 Member: 75282Members
Join Date: 2010-11-26 Member: 75282Members
MARINE WEAPONS
LMG & Shotgun - is it possible to have shotguns & lmg dmg taper downwards over distance? its strange how lerks have it but not for marines.
marines largely cant win due to the individual players not being able to aim more than anything else.
Flame and GL have no place really due to shotguns being overwhelming more useful, as the game matures lesser and lesser comms actually get GL/Flames, especially after NSL etc where people realised that shotguns was all that is needed for marines, exo/jp are just things to end the game.
Aim should be a bit inaccurate when jumping for marines as it is actually quite easy to out maneuver a skulk.
ALIEN UPGRADES
camo is not really useful now, i believe it should have ignore minimap effect IE you cant see the alien on the mini map even with scans/obs.
and (comm notifications delay) perhaps it takes X seconds to trigger a commander notifications that a structure is being attacked. so its really sneaky play. aliens gang up jump the PG and bite tgt for 5seconds before the comm sees e notification.
silence - i believe it should come with the notification delay and backstab dmg (ignore armor or 2x dmg whatever)
xeno - the suicide thing really does petty dmg, i think it should at least stun/slow/prevent healing,welding etc 33 marines are so much better than a base skulk at end game anyway
vortex - duration too short to be useful.
umbra - not user friendly , generally only useful for static objects such as power nodes, but the greatest flaw when it is available, either aliens have already won the game or that it does stack up in usability in actual combat. becomes more of a decoration ability similar to vortex/xeno
skulk bites - i believe after second hive they should inertly have mini stuns
alien comm - seriously unfulfilling role, especially in pub games, if alien team is winning he cyst, micro drifters and get upgrades. if aliens are losing, he might as well play skulk.
LMG & Shotgun - is it possible to have shotguns & lmg dmg taper downwards over distance? its strange how lerks have it but not for marines.
marines largely cant win due to the individual players not being able to aim more than anything else.
Flame and GL have no place really due to shotguns being overwhelming more useful, as the game matures lesser and lesser comms actually get GL/Flames, especially after NSL etc where people realised that shotguns was all that is needed for marines, exo/jp are just things to end the game.
Aim should be a bit inaccurate when jumping for marines as it is actually quite easy to out maneuver a skulk.
ALIEN UPGRADES
camo is not really useful now, i believe it should have ignore minimap effect IE you cant see the alien on the mini map even with scans/obs.
and (comm notifications delay) perhaps it takes X seconds to trigger a commander notifications that a structure is being attacked. so its really sneaky play. aliens gang up jump the PG and bite tgt for 5seconds before the comm sees e notification.
silence - i believe it should come with the notification delay and backstab dmg (ignore armor or 2x dmg whatever)
xeno - the suicide thing really does petty dmg, i think it should at least stun/slow/prevent healing,welding etc 33 marines are so much better than a base skulk at end game anyway
vortex - duration too short to be useful.
umbra - not user friendly , generally only useful for static objects such as power nodes, but the greatest flaw when it is available, either aliens have already won the game or that it does stack up in usability in actual combat. becomes more of a decoration ability similar to vortex/xeno
skulk bites - i believe after second hive they should inertly have mini stuns
alien comm - seriously unfulfilling role, especially in pub games, if alien team is winning he cyst, micro drifters and get upgrades. if aliens are losing, he might as well play skulk.
Comments
The shotty does taper down in damage with distance - less pellets can hit you.
If the LMG tapered in distance, then you'd make the shotgun inherently more powerful since close range is all that matters and lerks would be much more powerful (they're currently incredibly strong). I don't think we want to see this.
Lerks do not have tapering damage from distance.
It's true that you can outmaneuver skulks with good strafing and hopping, but that should only happen in an open area. If a skulk properly uses walls, he can definitely keep up. If there are no walls around, then the skulk maybe should have waited for a better place to engage the marine in (thinking of ball court on docking). Lowering accuracy introduces randomness into the game. Less random factors = more skill involved. I'd prefer that the better player wins more often because he is better, not luckier.
Alien Upgrades
I agree camo is on the weaker side now, but being invulnerable to scans might be too powerful.
I don't see an absence of notifications making it into the game. People were complaining before that there wasn't ENOUGH notification of a power node under attack. Sneaking several players onto a structure almost ensures it's going to be destroyed. I think you're underestimating the element of surprise.
Backstab damage is an interesting concept, but if you ambush a marine with silence, you'll usually get 2 bites off before a reaction. He's probably going to die anyways.
Xeno does light damage, meaning that a target with armor will take less damage. Currently, a parasite + bite + xeno will kill an A3 marine. That's pretty powerful imo. Catch marines welding each other and BAM you probably killed em all.
I think vortex just requires a tad bit too much energy or can't be switched between swipe/vortex fast enough. If you vortex players, sure it doesn't last long, but I don't think it should (what do you think the vortexed player is feeling like?) If you vortex structures, like an observatory to cancel a beacon in progress, THAT'S POWERFUL.
For umbra, you might like the balance mod approach!
After second hive, skulks get leap (really powerful dodging/repositioning). Ministuns are annoying - think onos gore.
Alien commanding is unfulfilling - totally agree. You'll often see the alien commander in competitive games on-field most of the time as well. Balance mod also has some potential fixes for this.
I really think you should take a look at the balance mod in the Steam Workshop. Sounds like a lot of how you feel the game should be is being tested already! I'm sure they'd appreciate your feedback as well.