- Added ELO-ish player skill ranking system.
- Server Browser can be filtered and sorted by skill level.
[...]
- new default crosshairs (mostly the same as before, but with a bright pixel-wide dot in the center now)
Nice! These small things can be as important as new abilities and balance changes.
Getting all lifeform upgrades after 1 research, given enough biomass, sounds very smart. But you STILL have to research them extra? That doesn't make sense to me. Also, where is the res supposed to come from? Poor Aliens (literally)
Not sure I understand why the exo beacon got put in.
You equipt most of the team with exos and they leave base to kill hives without any base defence then that should be punished.
Not sure I understand why the exo beacon got put in.
You equipt most of the team with exos and they leave base to kill hives without any base defence then that should be punished.
yeah no more make marines beacon so exos are alone and can be taken out.
Here is a great idea, if we already are going with exo beacon why not put in ARC beacon aswell!
then as soon we have a bilebomb or even skulk biting exo or arc they get back to base safely and everyone can weld everything so no marine units ever can get lost! But wait make MACs beacon aswell that way no one needs to do anything after a sucessful push, just beacon and go to next target
your counterargument is stab? that attack animation that keeps you locked into a set direction for half a second?
also, 9 biomass
my saying it's pointless, is that it disappears after a bit, and it triggers on your first attack.
it'd be different if you could trigger it mid combat by tapping vortex again, but no, you probably need to use it in conjunction with stab, otherwise you'd be disorienting yourself even more than your opponent and not really doing enough dps to warrant adding a new tool to the box.
There is way too much being changed over the last couple of patches/updates. Stick to the idea's you had instead of fully changing the game every x months!
Alien commander, why would anyone need or want that!? The extreme asymmetrics between rines and aliens was what made it awesome!
Added biomass :?
Exo beacon :?
Furthermore there is too much nerfing going on, which is a logical consequence of the "balance update" that didn't do much good and actually made it so there is no balance at all.
And last but not least hitreg/netcode is still extremely bad, bullets hitting aliens through walls are common even with a 40 ping!
All in all this is making me sad as the game is going downhill and I really want to (love to) play it
Honestly, I feel like this game has become too much of a complicated mess to fix. It's only going to become more cumbersome and complicated to balance and fix the previously existing complications.
Ultimately the devs need to stop treating the game as if it's still in Beta.
These endless changes that are arguably unneeded are getting out of hand. Games already under 1,000 players. Devs need to stick to the core game and make minor tweaks here and there.
Thank you to UWE for keeping at NS2. I realize it hasn't been the runaway success that many of us, and no doubt most of all UWE, had wanted. It shows real dedication that you are releasing these hefty updates despite the dearth of players. However, I think the momentum required for building and sustaining a large player base has dissipated into stagnant inertia. After this upcoming patch you should stop and, aside from releasing a new map or small tweaks every so often, just put NS2 on to the back burner and focus your considerable collective talents on a new game. Perhaps NS3?
Only played a couple of rounds thus far. Mostly everyone was put off by not having any working first person animations, which made it very difficult to play Skulk and Lerk effectively. That might have been one possible reason for people feeling that things felt "floaty".
Can't repro, guessing that's a server mod. Can you check on an official server?
But that combined with new alien movement makes for frustrating gameplay. I am getting tired of relearning movement every 3 months
Fade was the only alien that had any kind of movement tweaks done to it this patch.
Skulk movement was tweaked this patch. The initial jump feels very sluggish when using the same method I used in 251. I only find it effective to start my walljump chain from a wall now.
Only played a couple of rounds thus far. Mostly everyone was put off by not having any working first person animations, which made it very difficult to play Skulk and Lerk effectively. That might have been one possible reason for people feeling that things felt "floaty".
Can't repro, guessing that's a server mod. Can you check on an official server?
Yeah, worked fine now.
Except that I didn't manage to play a game in full length thus far because either my connection was dropping in the worst of all possible ways or the game crashed after a few minutes when I tried the OpenGL renderer. Something about 700+ memory leaks in the animation graph…
Skulk movement was tweaked this patch. The initial jump feels very sluggish when using the same method I used in 251. I only find it effective to start my walljump chain from a wall now.
I'm finding my skulks sticking to every bloody surface it nearly touches. Feels like that beta skulk that was too touchy-feely with the environment.
Yep, no idea what Squel like a pig is saying or if we're playing the same version or he's on 253 with a fixed physics™ mass™ momentum™ engine™, skulk HP nerfs and skulk movement are in the crapper right now, marines have the equivalent of weapons 2 at the start vs skulks in 252? If nerfs/buffs were done that way I wonder what the reaction would be. I feel as if fades are gonna be incredibly frustrating to play against and as for a while with the new vortex, I'm not even sure if vortex saves more energy and it's useful pre stab since stab is on biomass 9 anyway. Also lol @ skulk upgrades on a whip, alien comm now has to spend 45 tres just to make the skulk scale with biomass upgrades, maybe fast leap will be the new OP strat off 2-3 RTs.
I'm legitimately wondering if someone actually play tested these changes, and approved of them? did the design team actually ever play the game, or was it judge pure theorycraft?
I dunno why people complain. I played several matches yesterday and it was all intense fight without one side being OP.
Alienvision is too bright though.
damage indicators appearing where you landed the bite half a second ago even with a ping of 50
so basically if you aren't playing in slow-mode you will be left in the dark as to whether or not your bites actually landed because the damage will pop up late in a place that isn't even rendered on your screen
meanwhile marines just point & click and random 300 pingers do their damage a second before aliens get to react to shots being fired
I'm legitimately wondering if someone actually play tested these changes, and approved of them? did the design team actually ever play the game, or was it judge pure theorycraft?
I wanted to come into this patch thinking good vibes but man, the more I play of this patch the more it feels like 240 all over again, 90% marine win rates here we go. Every single aspect of alien play has been nerfed in some way, shape or form, not like a tweak here or there, all of it, at the same time, with a few gimmicks and a reshuffle of the upgrade tree which is flat out confusing to just about anyone.
MouseThe Lighter Side of PessimismJoin Date: 2002-03-02Member: 263Members, NS1 Playtester, Forum Moderators, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow
It seems that 252 has taken the approach of adding more features to fix existing problems.. all the while attempting to juggle the balance numbers based on data from 251.
But that combined with new alien movement makes for frustrating gameplay. I am getting tired of relearning movement every 3 months
Fade was the only alien that had any kind of movement tweaks done to it this patch.
You guys have definitely screwed the skulk over somehow to the point it's unplayable. Accurate movement is impossible now and I'm biting all through the air in hope of actually connecting with a marine.
damage indicators appearing where you landed the bite half a second ago even with a ping of 50
so basically if you aren't playing in slow-mode you will be left in the dark as to whether or not your bites actually landed because the damage will pop up late in a place that isn't even rendered on your screen
meanwhile marines just point & click and random 300 pingers do their damage a second before aliens get to react to shots being fired
Please read the OP
This build will be buggy.
The good news is you won't have to live with it for long.
p.s. even in previous patches damage numbers are one of the very last things drawn to confirm a hit.. stick to clientside effects like blood and crosshair hit indicators.
Once again I would consider performance in general unstable. Everything from server tickrate to FPS, and ping seem fine. However ingame there is a general stutter, input is different (lag), and things are much more difficult to hit (I don't think I've become a bad overnight). I noticed this on DX9 and DX11.
While not following all this patch stuff it is very disappointing coming online only to see that the game has effectively gone back to a beta state.
Comments
Getting all lifeform upgrades after 1 research, given enough biomass, sounds very smart. But you STILL have to research them extra? That doesn't make sense to me. Also, where is the res supposed to come from? Poor Aliens (literally)
Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuummmmmmm...
You equipt most of the team with exos and they leave base to kill hives without any base defence then that should be punished.
whhhyyyyyyyyy
yeah no more make marines beacon so exos are alone and can be taken out.
Here is a great idea, if we already are going with exo beacon why not put in ARC beacon aswell!
then as soon we have a bilebomb or even skulk biting exo or arc they get back to base safely and everyone can weld everything so no marine units ever can get lost! But wait make MACs beacon aswell that way no one needs to do anything after a sucessful push, just beacon and go to next target
also, 9 biomass
my saying it's pointless, is that it disappears after a bit, and it triggers on your first attack.
it'd be different if you could trigger it mid combat by tapping vortex again, but no, you probably need to use it in conjunction with stab, otherwise you'd be disorienting yourself even more than your opponent and not really doing enough dps to warrant adding a new tool to the box.
Alien commander, why would anyone need or want that!? The extreme asymmetrics between rines and aliens was what made it awesome! Added biomass :? Exo beacon :?
Furthermore there is too much nerfing going on, which is a logical consequence of the "balance update" that didn't do much good and actually made it so there is no balance at all.
And last but not least hitreg/netcode is still extremely bad, bullets hitting aliens through walls are common even with a 40 ping!
All in all this is making me sad as the game is going downhill and I really want to (love to) play it
Whats with using it offensive, to get behind a group of marines you would otherwise need to engage frontal?
Ultimately the devs need to stop treating the game as if it's still in Beta.
These endless changes that are arguably unneeded are getting out of hand. Games already under 1,000 players. Devs need to stick to the core game and make minor tweaks here and there.
Thanks alot guys
xxx
Skulk movement was tweaked this patch. The initial jump feels very sluggish when using the same method I used in 251. I only find it effective to start my walljump chain from a wall now.
Alot
Could you be any more descriptive? How long have you played?
Yeah, worked fine now.
Except that I didn't manage to play a game in full length thus far because either my connection was dropping in the worst of all possible ways or the game crashed after a few minutes when I tried the OpenGL renderer. Something about 700+ memory leaks in the animation graph…
Yep, no idea what Squel like a pig is saying or if we're playing the same version or he's on 253 with a fixed physics™ mass™ momentum™ engine™, skulk HP nerfs and skulk movement are in the crapper right now, marines have the equivalent of weapons 2 at the start vs skulks in 252? If nerfs/buffs were done that way I wonder what the reaction would be. I feel as if fades are gonna be incredibly frustrating to play against and as for a while with the new vortex, I'm not even sure if vortex saves more energy and it's useful pre stab since stab is on biomass 9 anyway. Also lol @ skulk upgrades on a whip, alien comm now has to spend 45 tres just to make the skulk scale with biomass upgrades, maybe fast leap will be the new OP strat off 2-3 RTs.
like the last horrifying ones. =/
exo beacon? are you serious?
is there - some day - a status where we can call the game "finished"?
and the game mechanics will not change within a year 2 times?
that would be great...
Alienvision is too bright though.
damage indicators appearing where you landed the bite half a second ago even with a ping of 50
so basically if you aren't playing in slow-mode you will be left in the dark as to whether or not your bites actually landed because the damage will pop up late in a place that isn't even rendered on your screen
meanwhile marines just point & click and random 300 pingers do their damage a second before aliens get to react to shots being fired
I wanted to come into this patch thinking good vibes but man, the more I play of this patch the more it feels like 240 all over again, 90% marine win rates here we go. Every single aspect of alien play has been nerfed in some way, shape or form, not like a tweak here or there, all of it, at the same time, with a few gimmicks and a reshuffle of the upgrade tree which is flat out confusing to just about anyone.
(that's masochism)
You guys have definitely screwed the skulk over somehow to the point it's unplayable. Accurate movement is impossible now and I'm biting all through the air in hope of actually connecting with a marine.
Please read the OP
This build will be buggy.
The good news is you won't have to live with it for long.
p.s. even in previous patches damage numbers are one of the very last things drawn to confirm a hit.. stick to clientside effects like blood and crosshair hit indicators.
While not following all this patch stuff it is very disappointing coming online only to see that the game has effectively gone back to a beta state.