Best thing after one round : stable fps, i started with 60+ and ended at 40+ which is a huge improvement! Worst thing : the stable fps are useless because now i get micro freezes lol
-The cyst-placing red/green light is silly and much harder to see than the cyst-no-cyst placing.
-I'm still having mighty trouble deselecting things. Drawing waypoints all over the place.
-The key-layout system is still bonkers. Doesn't accept "1" as "1" if I've bound <weapon1> elsewhere than "1". I'd be interested to know if I'm alone with this. Also, cannot bind stuff into 1,2,3,4 etc. with crouch when my crouch is left shift.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Kouji_SanSr. Hινε UÏкεεÏεг - EUPT DeputyThe NetherlandsJoin Date: 2003-05-13Member: 16271Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue
<!--quoteo(post=1937013:date=May 18 2012, 04:27 PM:name=Floodinator)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Floodinator @ May 18 2012, 04:27 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1937013"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Also I laughed my Ass off as I chaced 2 Marines from FC to SUB with a phantom onos, just great!<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> That would be awesome stuff for a video, too bad Fraps and NS2 both like the CPU so much. Man I wannah see that :D
I'm hoping the removal of mini cysts and automatic ceiling/wall infestation will eventually lead to infestation that is somehow not dependent on cysts.
<!--quoteo(post=1937085:date=May 18 2012, 10:00 PM:name=Wheeee)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Wheeee @ May 18 2012, 10:00 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1937085"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->"Fixed bug that allowed you to use shadow step while stabbing."
WHY all semblance of skill is gone.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Lol.
Just yesterday I started to learn this move, thought it was pretty nappy, kinda like a high risk high reward attack.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->"Fixed bug that allowed you to use shadow step while stabbing."
WHY all semblance of skill is gone.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Maybe this one could use a bit of the famous "it's not a bug, it's a feature!" treatment. Stab and shadow step were actually working well together, making both kinda useful. The only problem was the huge range on stab, it was sometimes looking pretty silly from the marine perspective.
I might just not know how to use it yet, but there seems to be a bug with the current skulk wall jumping mechanism, or whatever increases speed.
I was just running around on an empty map, white barring the jump as I went along (only on the floor, never a wall), and I would randomly go from the speed of 7.5, shooting up to 11 and over, after which it would slowly decrease back to 7.5. This would happen completely at random it seemed. I would be jumping for maybe 2 minutes, all the time going at 7.5, then suddenly off the next few jumps my speed would increase, then nothing again.
<!--quoteo(post=1937103:date=May 18 2012, 02:26 PM:name=Yuuki)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Yuuki @ May 18 2012, 02:26 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1937103"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Maybe this one could use a bit of the famous "it's not a bug, it's a feature!" treatment. Stab and shadow step were actually working well together, making both kinda useful. The only problem was the huge range on stab, it was sometimes looking pretty silly from the marine perspective.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> It was obviously a bug because you had to switch back and forth between attack modes to do it....and there was no reason not to do it over the primary attack if you used it in that manner. It near instagibs marines without a real chance for much retaliation is the problem; there's no reason to shadowstep-slash rather than shadowstep-mantis because mantis will always be better once you get decent at it, and it doesn't take a lot. It was purely a mechanical skill that involved little other than the mechanical aspects of it. Fades could shadowstep-mantis in, shadowstep out, rinse and repeat over and over, rewarding them for knowing how to do something only moderately difficult in its mechanics.
<!--quoteo(post=1937107:date=May 18 2012, 02:43 PM:name=Imbalanxd)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Imbalanxd @ May 18 2012, 02:43 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1937107"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I might just not know how to use it yet, but there seems to be a bug with the current skulk wall jumping mechanism, or whatever increases speed.
I was just running around on an empty map, white barring the jump as I went along (only on the floor, never a wall), and I would randomly go from the speed of 7.5, shooting up to 11 and over, after which it would slowly decrease back to 7.5. This would happen completely at random it seemed. I would be jumping for maybe 2 minutes, all the time going at 7.5, then suddenly off the next few jumps my speed would increase, then nothing again.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Maybe they made a frame perfect bunnyhop..? I dunno, were you turning or anything special at all?
<!--quoteo(post=1937100:date=May 18 2012, 01:15 PM:name=SabaHell)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (SabaHell @ May 18 2012, 01:15 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1937100"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->We're all human. Give Hugh a break.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I didn't mean this as harshly as it sounded. I literally meant "what's up with this?" as in "which did they actually implement?" Do meds/ammo use armory energy or CC? In the video it says CC, but why would they add energy to armories if not for this purpose?
<!--quoteo(post=1937085:date=May 18 2012, 04:00 PM:name=Wheeee)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Wheeee @ May 18 2012, 04:00 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1937085"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->"Fixed bug that allowed you to use shadow step while stabbing."
WHY all semblance of skill is gone.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Sorry, what was skilled about that? Any time you could do it, you could have blinked and used swipe 2 or 3 times instead. The only reason stabbing works is because the range is enormous with interp/tickrate issues, and nobody can consistently shotgun a fade doing it.
I really don't see how "pushing 2 buttons in sequence every time I see a lone marine" can scale very well with player skill...
The NS equivalent was using Focus with swipe, and it was fair because you had to use an upgrade slot and money to get Focus. It scaled better with player skill by virtue of the simple fact that <b>it wasn't stab</b> - it didn't slow you down as you performed the attack, so it could be used against good players as well as bad ones (lagging players as well as those not lagging). It also couldn't reliably done off 1 hive, because the game didn't have shadow step, and getting a sensory chamber earlier was a risky strategy (where in NS2 the fade gets "focus swipe" automatically no matter what tech path your team chose). What a messy design!
<!--quoteo(post=1936909:date=May 18 2012, 05:23 AM:name=Kouji_San)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Kouji_San @ May 18 2012, 05:23 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1936909"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->The change logs are always posted on <a href="http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/" target="_blank">the main page</a> alongside a topic in this forum. It's a big one from what I've seen. Most likely it'll go online today, probably alongside a change log video as well :)<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Why isn't the changelog prepared along with the publicly released build and posted at the time of release? Is it literally written after release? Somebody ought to know what changes are being released when they do it...
<!--quoteo(post=1937136:date=May 18 2012, 06:49 PM:name=internetexplorer)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (internetexplorer @ May 18 2012, 06:49 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1937136"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Sorry, what was skilled about that? Any time you could do it, you could have blinked and used swipe 2 or 3 times instead. The only reason stabbing works is because the range is enormous with interp/tickrate issues, and nobody can consistently shotgun a fade doing it.
I really don't see how "pushing 2 buttons in sequence every time I see a lone marine" can scale very well with player skill...
The NS equivalent was using Focus with swipe, and it was fair because you had to use an upgrade slot and money to get Focus. It scaled better with player skill by virtue of the simple fact that <b>it wasn't stab</b> - it didn't slow you down as you performed the attack, so it could be used against good players as well as bad ones (lagging players as well as those not lagging). It also couldn't reliably done off 1 hive, because the game didn't have shadow step, and getting a sensory chamber earlier was a risky strategy (where in NS2 the fade gets "focus swipe" automatically no matter what tech path your team chose). What a messy design!<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
it was skilled because you had to pick and choose how to do it, set up spacing, think about escape routes, and expose yourself to fire while your stab went off. if you were good you didn't have to run away after every stab. was it too easy to hit marines? maybe. that's not a problem with the interaction between stab and shadowstep. i don't see how you can justify blinking in and swipe 2/3 times as more skilled than stab/shadowstep. that just boggles my mind. you're saying that it's unskilled because marines can't hit fades doing it. well, marines can't hit fades regardless of whether they're stabbing or swiping. you're argument boils down to somehow removing the ability to shadowstep while stabbing will somehow make stab more useful or scale more with player skill. terrible argument.
Marines are ###### again... Nah seriously aliens are cool we all want to see these alien changes going on, but marines are getting more and more painful to play, Marines should be a real menace against aliens, I mean seriously its the ###### future and marines have machine guns that don't do ######? how come that a skull can kill a fully suited marine with 2 bites, but a marine has to shoot almost a full round of bullets to kill this tiny dog...
Also how come marines doesn't have thermal vision, or some sort of blinking technology but aliens an ancient lifeform do? I mean humans can space travel, but military equipment got obsolete?
The Khara, Kahara, kh... aliens have a biotic weapon system that disables 99% of the human nano tech available to these future marines. Which is why they don't just whip out the death laser and cut the entire refinary in half.
2:40 of the changelog-video mentions a replay-feature, any elaboration on that? If it is strongly tied to a specific build, it makes me think of a packet-recorder for the client, is that a correct assumption?
<!--quoteo(post=1937136:date=May 19 2012, 12:49 AM:name=internetexplorer)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (internetexplorer @ May 19 2012, 12:49 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1937136"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Sorry, what was skilled about that? Any time you could do it, you could have blinked and used swipe 2 or 3 times instead. The only reason stabbing works is because the range is enormous with interp/tickrate issues, and nobody can consistently shotgun a fade doing it.
I really don't see how "pushing 2 buttons in sequence every time I see a lone marine" can scale very well with player skill...
The NS equivalent was using Focus with swipe, and it was fair because you had to use an upgrade slot and money to get Focus. It scaled better with player skill by virtue of the simple fact that <b>it wasn't stab</b> - it didn't slow you down as you performed the attack, so it could be used against good players as well as bad ones (lagging players as well as those not lagging). It also couldn't reliably done off 1 hive, because the game didn't have shadow step, and getting a sensory chamber earlier was a risky strategy (where in NS2 the fade gets "focus swipe" automatically no matter what tech path your team chose). What a messy design!
Why isn't the changelog prepared along with the publicly released build and posted at the time of release? Is it literally written after release? Somebody ought to know what changes are being released when they do it...<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
stab step did require some skill, as you had to plan the distance and direction of your shadow step. Good marines dodge the stab with strafe jump. I really liked it the way it was.
<!--quoteo(post=1937159:date=May 19 2012, 12:44 AM:name=player)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (player @ May 19 2012, 12:44 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1937159"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->2:40 of the changelog-video mentions a replay-feature, any elaboration on that? If it is strongly tied to a specific build, it makes me think of a packet-recorder for the client, is that a correct assumption?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
player, this is what you seek: <a href="http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/forums/index.php?showtopic=118547" target="_blank">http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/forums/in...howtopic=118547</a>
<!--quoteo(post=1937193:date=May 18 2012, 08:06 PM:name=Squeal_Like_A_Pig)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Squeal_Like_A_Pig @ May 18 2012, 08:06 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1937193"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->The whole Fade stab / shadowstep conversation is a bit moot, because stab is going away entirely, soon.
--Cory<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
:O I've had a few fades try to take me down with it, but they really just end up dancing around in front of gunfire before being repelled back into the void. I don't recall ever being killed with it.
Well since it doesn't look like they intend to put up an official feedback thread I suppose this is the best place to post it :s
Let me preface this feedback with the fact that I loved NS1 to death and I only post this criticism with the hopes of making NS2 just as good (if not better) than the first someday.
This patch was disappointing for me in several aspects. But before I detail those, I will say that one thing above all else was a huge step in the right direction this build: Thank you for removing hive-sight from infestation. That alone is a monumental balance change for the better.
Alright, so my criticisms/suggestions: <ul><li><!--coloro:#FFA500--><span style="color:#FFA500"><!--/coloro-->Cysts and Medpacks<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--> being changed to energy from the hive/armory instead of t-res/p-res was completely unnecessary. I think you'll find both are utterly spammable now and there's very little thought or care you need to put in to be able to spam them, and there is very little consequence for doing so. Additionally, the marine commander will have nothing but offensive tech (weapons) to spend his p-res on now, and aliens will have lost yet another t-res sink. Both of these are bad. I really have trouble seeing the logic behind this change other than to brute-force structure energy into being considered "important" (which it still will not be). Meds and Cysts are certainly things that you DO NOT want to be spammed so forgivingly.</li></ul><ul><li><!--coloro:#FFA500--><span style="color:#FFA500"><!--/coloro-->Performance.<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--> I can see the performance improvements this build, but only under the following circumstances: that the game has just started and not a single structure or cyst has been dropped yet. No less that 3-5 minutes into the game I am back down to 10-20 FPS in combat as if there were no such improvements made at all. I imagine the new cyst infestation didn't help much this patch...but overall it's going to take a lot more. Like, a lot more to improve performance at all(client and server). I have a 2.8ghz i7 and a gtx 570 right now and I hope to upgrade shortly to a 2600k but honestly I have doubts about performance doing well with that either. I know it's a work in progress, as always, but I wanted to cry a little when I logged on to play, super excited to see the fruits of this 2 week long "performance push" only to see little to no change, and to have the game continue to be unplayable.</li></ul><ul><li><!--coloro:#FFA500--><span style="color:#FFA500"><!--/coloro-->Onos stomp.<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--> The onos in general is plagued with balance issues- it really feels that while you may have removed Devour this go round, you've effectly made it's counterpart not only AoE with a MASSIVE range, but just as lethal and just as frustrating. A single onos can bring a badly losing alien team back around to a crushing victory just because of how imbalanced it is. He seems to completely revolve around being nothing more than a stomp-bot cappable of making it's appearance a mere 7-10 minutes into the game. And the "tech explosions" only excacerbate this issue when you suddenly have 2-4 onos appearing on the field at once.</li></ul><ul><li><!--coloro:#FFA500--><span style="color:#FFA500"><!--/coloro-->The new Menu <!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->- This definately looks like a Work-In-Progress so I'll just list what I would really call the essentials that need to be added: Server sorting by player count/ping/tickrate ect, Mouse sensitivity and volume figures (not just a slidebar), MORE KEYBINDINGS! seriously, fsfod's Menu Mod has keybindings for all vocalizations in-game (medpack, ammo, heal me etc), team joins, and more and that alone is why I find the current menu un-usable. A Favorite Servers list would also be nice ;)</li></ul>
Issues I've seen persist from patch to patch:
<ul><li><!--coloro:#FFA500--><span style="color:#FFA500"><!--/coloro-->Tech points need to be re-thought.<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--> They serve virtually no purpose and have very little impact on the game other than "I guess I can spare 15/40 res now, might as well put a backup down".</li></ul><ul><li><!--coloro:#FFA500--><span style="color:#FFA500"><!--/coloro-->Crag Hive is still far too dominating.<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--> There is no variety or unpredictability in the alien tech tree path. Shade, and from what I've heard, Shift just do not compete on any level with Crag Hive.</li></ul><ul><li><!--coloro:#FFA500--><span style="color:#FFA500"><!--/coloro-->25 starting p-res. <!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Why is this still in the game? It should be at the most 10 so you can get an early gorge out if you so choose, but this is not NS1 anymore and having that much p-res at the round start is just not justifiable (for either team).</li></ul><ul><li><!--coloro:#FFA500--><span style="color:#FFA500"><!--/coloro-->P-res sinks<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--> - this is a problem mostly on the alien side, the gorge buildings are free now and there is not a single p-res sink for aliens. That means that the res timings for each player are not staggered whatsoever and this is what leads to the "tech explosions" of 3-4 fade/onos etc. Aliens need p-res sinks.</li></ul>
sorry for the wall of text, and thanks if you've read this far :)
Comments
Worst thing : the stable fps are useless because now i get micro freezes lol
-The cyst-placing red/green light is silly and much harder to see than the cyst-no-cyst placing.
-I'm still having mighty trouble deselecting things. Drawing waypoints all over the place.
-The key-layout system is still bonkers. Doesn't accept "1" as "1" if I've bound <weapon1> elsewhere than "1". I'd be interested to know if I'm alone with this. Also, cannot bind stuff into 1,2,3,4 etc. with crouch when my crouch is left shift.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Try binding to !,@,#,$ etc.
Woooot? Not realy, where is the skill for the fade now?
Need to check that.
208 seems very balanced, atleast I had some great games, with lots of hive/onos losses included.
Also I laughed my Ass off as I chaced 2 Marines from FC to SUB with a phantom onos, just great!
That would be awesome stuff for a video, too bad Fraps and NS2 both like the CPU so much. Man I wannah see that :D
I'm hoping the removal of mini cysts and automatic ceiling/wall infestation will eventually lead to infestation that is somehow not dependent on cysts.
WHY
all semblance of skill is gone.
WHY
all semblance of skill is gone.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Lol.
Just yesterday I started to learn this move, thought it was pretty nappy, kinda like a high risk high reward attack.
Then the next day I read that it's a bug. xD
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Med/ammo packs cost now Command Station energy.
Ammo/med packs cost now armory energy.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I swear they don't proof read these, even when the patch notes appear a day after the update.
I swear they don't proof read these, even when the patch notes appear a day after the update.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
We're all human. Give Hugh a break.
WHY
all semblance of skill is gone.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Maybe this one could use a bit of the famous "it's not a bug, it's a feature!" treatment. Stab and shadow step were
actually working well together, making both kinda useful.
The only problem was the huge range on stab, it was sometimes looking pretty silly from the marine perspective.
I was just running around on an empty map, white barring the jump as I went along (only on the floor, never a wall), and I would randomly go from the speed of 7.5, shooting up to 11 and over, after which it would slowly decrease back to 7.5. This would happen completely at random it seemed. I would be jumping for maybe 2 minutes, all the time going at 7.5, then suddenly off the next few jumps my speed would increase, then nothing again.
actually working well together, making both kinda useful.
The only problem was the huge range on stab, it was sometimes looking pretty silly from the marine perspective.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
It was obviously a bug because you had to switch back and forth between attack modes to do it....and there was no reason not to do it over the primary attack if you used it in that manner. It near instagibs marines without a real chance for much retaliation is the problem; there's no reason to shadowstep-slash rather than shadowstep-mantis because mantis will always be better once you get decent at it, and it doesn't take a lot. It was purely a mechanical skill that involved little other than the mechanical aspects of it. Fades could shadowstep-mantis in, shadowstep out, rinse and repeat over and over, rewarding them for knowing how to do something only moderately difficult in its mechanics.
I was just running around on an empty map, white barring the jump as I went along (only on the floor, never a wall), and I would randomly go from the speed of 7.5, shooting up to 11 and over, after which it would slowly decrease back to 7.5. This would happen completely at random it seemed. I would be jumping for maybe 2 minutes, all the time going at 7.5, then suddenly off the next few jumps my speed would increase, then nothing again.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Maybe they made a frame perfect bunnyhop..? I dunno, were you turning or anything special at all?
I didn't mean this as harshly as it sounded. I literally meant "what's up with this?" as in "which did they actually implement?" Do meds/ammo use armory energy or CC? In the video it says CC, but why would they add energy to armories if not for this purpose?
WHY
all semblance of skill is gone.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Sorry, what was skilled about that? Any time you could do it, you could have blinked and used swipe 2 or 3 times instead. The only reason stabbing works is because the range is enormous with interp/tickrate issues, and nobody can consistently shotgun a fade doing it.
I really don't see how "pushing 2 buttons in sequence every time I see a lone marine" can scale very well with player skill...
The NS equivalent was using Focus with swipe, and it was fair because you had to use an upgrade slot and money to get Focus. It scaled better with player skill by virtue of the simple fact that <b>it wasn't stab</b> - it didn't slow you down as you performed the attack, so it could be used against good players as well as bad ones (lagging players as well as those not lagging). It also couldn't reliably done off 1 hive, because the game didn't have shadow step, and getting a sensory chamber earlier was a risky strategy (where in NS2 the fade gets "focus swipe" automatically no matter what tech path your team chose). What a messy design!
<!--quoteo(post=1936909:date=May 18 2012, 05:23 AM:name=Kouji_San)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Kouji_San @ May 18 2012, 05:23 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1936909"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->The change logs are always posted on <a href="http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/" target="_blank">the main page</a> alongside a topic in this forum. It's a big one from what I've seen. Most likely it'll go online today, probably alongside a change log video as well :)<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Why isn't the changelog prepared along with the publicly released build and posted at the time of release? Is it literally written after release? Somebody ought to know what changes are being released when they do it...
I really don't see how "pushing 2 buttons in sequence every time I see a lone marine" can scale very well with player skill...
The NS equivalent was using Focus with swipe, and it was fair because you had to use an upgrade slot and money to get Focus. It scaled better with player skill by virtue of the simple fact that <b>it wasn't stab</b> - it didn't slow you down as you performed the attack, so it could be used against good players as well as bad ones (lagging players as well as those not lagging). It also couldn't reliably done off 1 hive, because the game didn't have shadow step, and getting a sensory chamber earlier was a risky strategy (where in NS2 the fade gets "focus swipe" automatically no matter what tech path your team chose). What a messy design!<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
it was skilled because you had to pick and choose how to do it, set up spacing, think about escape routes, and expose yourself to fire while your stab went off. if you were good you didn't have to run away after every stab. was it too easy to hit marines? maybe. that's not a problem with the interaction between stab and shadowstep. i don't see how you can justify blinking in and swipe 2/3 times as more skilled than stab/shadowstep. that just boggles my mind. you're saying that it's unskilled because marines can't hit fades doing it. well, marines can't hit fades regardless of whether they're stabbing or swiping. you're argument boils down to somehow removing the ability to shadowstep while stabbing will somehow make stab more useful or scale more with player skill. terrible argument.
Also how come marines doesn't have thermal vision, or some sort of blinking technology but aliens an ancient lifeform do? I mean humans can space travel, but military equipment got obsolete?
I really don't see how "pushing 2 buttons in sequence every time I see a lone marine" can scale very well with player skill...
The NS equivalent was using Focus with swipe, and it was fair because you had to use an upgrade slot and money to get Focus. It scaled better with player skill by virtue of the simple fact that <b>it wasn't stab</b> - it didn't slow you down as you performed the attack, so it could be used against good players as well as bad ones (lagging players as well as those not lagging). It also couldn't reliably done off 1 hive, because the game didn't have shadow step, and getting a sensory chamber earlier was a risky strategy (where in NS2 the fade gets "focus swipe" automatically no matter what tech path your team chose). What a messy design!
Why isn't the changelog prepared along with the publicly released build and posted at the time of release? Is it literally written after release? Somebody ought to know what changes are being released when they do it...<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
stab step did require some skill, as you had to plan the distance and direction of your shadow step. Good marines dodge the stab with strafe jump. I really liked it the way it was.
player, this is what you seek: <a href="http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/forums/index.php?showtopic=118547" target="_blank">http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/forums/in...howtopic=118547</a>
--Cory
--Cory<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
:O
I've had a few fades try to take me down with it, but they really just end up dancing around in front of gunfire before being repelled back into the void. I don't recall ever being killed with it.
Btw, demo recorder is sweet. Nice work uwe ^^
Let me preface this feedback with the fact that I loved NS1 to death and I only post this criticism with the hopes of making NS2 just as good (if not better) than the first someday.
This patch was disappointing for me in several aspects. But before I detail those, I will say that one thing above all else was a huge step in the right direction this build: Thank you for removing hive-sight from infestation. That alone is a monumental balance change for the better.
Alright, so my criticisms/suggestions:
<ul><li><!--coloro:#FFA500--><span style="color:#FFA500"><!--/coloro-->Cysts and Medpacks<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--> being changed to energy from the hive/armory instead of t-res/p-res was completely unnecessary. I think you'll find both are utterly spammable now and there's very little thought or care you need to put in to be able to spam them, and there is very little consequence for doing so. Additionally, the marine commander will have nothing but offensive tech (weapons) to spend his p-res on now, and aliens will have lost yet another t-res sink. Both of these are bad. I really have trouble seeing the logic behind this change other than to brute-force structure energy into being considered "important" (which it still will not be). Meds and Cysts are certainly things that you DO NOT want to be spammed so forgivingly.</li></ul><ul><li><!--coloro:#FFA500--><span style="color:#FFA500"><!--/coloro-->Performance.<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--> I can see the performance improvements this build, but only under the following circumstances: that the game has just started and not a single structure or cyst has been dropped yet. No less that 3-5 minutes into the game I am back down to 10-20 FPS in combat as if there were no such improvements made at all. I imagine the new cyst infestation didn't help much this patch...but overall it's going to take a lot more. Like, a lot more to improve performance at all(client and server). I have a 2.8ghz i7 and a gtx 570 right now and I hope to upgrade shortly to a 2600k but honestly I have doubts about performance doing well with that either. I know it's a work in progress, as always, but I wanted to cry a little when I logged on to play, super excited to see the fruits of this 2 week long "performance push" only to see little to no change, and to have the game continue to be unplayable.</li></ul><ul><li><!--coloro:#FFA500--><span style="color:#FFA500"><!--/coloro-->Onos stomp.<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--> The onos in general is plagued with balance issues- it really feels that while you may have removed Devour this go round, you've effectly made it's counterpart not only AoE with a MASSIVE range, but just as lethal and just as frustrating. A single onos can bring a badly losing alien team back around to a crushing victory just because of how imbalanced it is. He seems to completely revolve around being nothing more than a stomp-bot cappable of making it's appearance a mere 7-10 minutes into the game. And the "tech explosions" only excacerbate this issue when you suddenly have 2-4 onos appearing on the field at once.</li></ul><ul><li><!--coloro:#FFA500--><span style="color:#FFA500"><!--/coloro-->The new Menu <!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->- This definately looks like a Work-In-Progress so I'll just list what I would really call the essentials that need to be added: Server sorting by player count/ping/tickrate ect, Mouse sensitivity and volume figures (not just a slidebar), MORE KEYBINDINGS! seriously, fsfod's Menu Mod has keybindings for all vocalizations in-game (medpack, ammo, heal me etc), team joins, and more and that alone is why I find the current menu un-usable. A Favorite Servers list would also be nice ;)</li></ul>
Issues I've seen persist from patch to patch:
<ul><li><!--coloro:#FFA500--><span style="color:#FFA500"><!--/coloro-->Tech points need to be re-thought.<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--> They serve virtually no purpose and have very little impact on the game other than "I guess I can spare 15/40 res now, might as well put a backup down".</li></ul><ul><li><!--coloro:#FFA500--><span style="color:#FFA500"><!--/coloro-->Crag Hive is still far too dominating.<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--> There is no variety or unpredictability in the alien tech tree path. Shade, and from what I've heard, Shift just do not compete on any level with Crag Hive.</li></ul><ul><li><!--coloro:#FFA500--><span style="color:#FFA500"><!--/coloro-->25 starting p-res. <!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Why is this still in the game? It should be at the most 10 so you can get an early gorge out if you so choose, but this is not NS1 anymore and having that much p-res at the round start is just not justifiable (for either team).</li></ul><ul><li><!--coloro:#FFA500--><span style="color:#FFA500"><!--/coloro-->P-res sinks<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--> - this is a problem mostly on the alien side, the gorge buildings are free now and there is not a single p-res sink for aliens. That means that the res timings for each player are not staggered whatsoever and this is what leads to the "tech explosions" of 3-4 fade/onos etc. Aliens need p-res sinks.</li></ul>
sorry for the wall of text, and thanks if you've read this far :)