+Lerk with bite finally, now give him umbra and ranged spores as well please. +GL needs support to be effective. +Celerity, just a bit too over the top, would prefer NS1 gains over these insane speeds most players cannot even control.
-New abilities seem pointless, just adding complexity to an already complex game. -Arc trains are laughable and obviously need some redesign, sieges worked better in NS1, why redesign a working feature? -Clogs, little use not worth the clutter. Hallways are already too tight for a 32 player game, blocking fades and onos will be a major problem if left unaddressed. -Phase gates limited to power nodes restricts marines ability to insert where it is convenient. Unpredictability of PG's in NS1 was so much better. -Turrets, again more complex in NS2 and not as useful due to limited radius of attack and power requirements.
Crashes every time for me (tried 3 times), either when entering the game, or when spawning first time. Logs show some "Error: IDirect3DDevice9::CreateTexture([...]) failed (Out of video memory)" errors, so I guess that's the problem. I do have 4gb ram and a GTX460 though
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Moved Bile Bomb back to Gorge (and there was much rejoicing!).<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
...and my server will be back up soon.. and I'll start playing again.
<!--quoteo(post=1940419:date=May 31 2012, 06:11 AM:name=[R8]DJBourgeoisie)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE ([R8]DJBourgeoisie @ May 31 2012, 06:11 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1940419"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--> -Phase gates limited to power nodes restricts marines ability to insert where it is convenient. Unpredictability of PG's in NS1 was so much better.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Use a power pack. Negates the need for setting up a power node.
-shotty seems pretty useless now. Can't even reliably kill basic skulks with no upgrades in 1 shot.
-Lerk bite is too much. Maybe if he did not simultaneously receive an armor boost it would have been OK, but as it stands you do not have enough ammo in your LMG to kill the Lerk before he kills you (if he is not dodging much, which most do so it's not even close) and therefore he just auto-wins 1v1s with little effort. It's not hard to 1v2 or 1v3 even. The bit also hits really hard. Spikes are pretty obsolete and certainly not worth the 20 res to research them.
-I just reinstalled so it could have been some setting somewhere, but WHY does my crosshair move so much? when I sprint it bobs up and down, when I shoot it vibrates. That's extremely irritating.
<!--quoteo(post=1940448:date=May 31 2012, 04:12 PM:name=Comprox)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Comprox @ May 31 2012, 04:12 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1940448"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Use a power pack. Negates the need for setting up a power node.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I guess that is kind of my point, you should not have to, it does not add anything positive to the game.
<!--quoteo(post=1940451:date=May 31 2012, 04:20 PM:name=rantology)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (rantology @ May 31 2012, 04:20 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1940451"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->-I just reinstalled so it could have been some setting somewhere, but WHY does my crosshair move so much? when I sprint it bobs up and down, when I shoot it vibrates. That's extremely irritating.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> This change seems really pointless. It's just some useless aggravation for the sake of immersion or something silly. Can you get rid of it so I don't have to? :(
-shotty seems pretty useless now. Can't even reliably kill basic skulks with no upgrades in 1 shot.
-Lerk bite is too much. Maybe if he did not simultaneously receive an armor boost it would have been OK, but as it stands you do not have enough ammo in your LMG to kill the Lerk before he kills you (if he is not dodging much, which most do so it's not even close) and therefore he just auto-wins 1v1s with little effort. It's not hard to 1v2 or 1v3 even. The bit also hits really hard. Spikes are pretty obsolete and certainly not worth the 20 res to research them.
-I just reinstalled so it could have been some setting somewhere, but WHY does my crosshair move so much? when I sprint it bobs up and down, when I shoot it vibrates. That's extremely irritating.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Have you tried the new spikes? They destroy marines now!
<!--quoteo(post=1940458:date=May 31 2012, 09:30 AM:name=Ryne)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Ryne @ May 31 2012, 09:30 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1940458"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Have you tried the new spikes? They destroy marines now!<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Ah I have not really, I forgot about the damage change. Comms rarely research them early so haven't gotten the opportunity to play with them much. They should do quit a bit of damage then yeah?
lerk bite is still op! Needs the initial dmg lessened or something so that you WANT to hit and run and let the poison tick. I dunno. He is simply a flying, more tanky skulk atm.
<!--quoteo(post=1940342:date=May 31 2012, 08:20 AM:name=hakenspit)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (hakenspit @ May 31 2012, 08:20 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1940342"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I saw in other thread that umbra will be ranged in next patch, always thought it made more sense for umbra to be bombed and spores ranged. As a lerk there is not a lot of point in sitting back an using umbra as you cant offer any other help<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Duuude, what - really? That was totally my idea. <.< Where is this convo? >.>
What do people think of the no-res when dead mechanic? Honestly, I've been rolling it over my tongue and munching here and there, and I really haven't a clue. I GUESS I like it for MARINES but noooot so sure about Kharaa. Besides - while you're dead and NOT gaining res does the res go to someone else or is just "wasted"? @_@
Thank you all for the feedback so far! Please continue playing and thinking about all the changes over the weekend and post more. As far was the no res on death, the idea is simple offset the res count for each player. If you die you are not on the same track for evolution as the other players which means the whole team might not all go fade or onos at the same time and such... in theory its a neat idea, but in my experience it doesnt offset it that much.
fanaticThis post has been edited.Join Date: 2003-07-23Member: 18377Members, Constellation, Squad Five Blue
edited May 2012
From the practice match I played in yesterday, it didn't seem like no res during death made much of a difference. Aliens (team of six) still had four fades out within 30s of the first fade popping. In teams without big skill differences between the players, the differences in amount deaths between players aren't significant enough to make a difference, basically. Furthermore, once players get to the higher lifeforms, they rarely die...
It's a pretty silly concept in the first place, as it further penalizes a team that is getting dominated in the early game. Death + respawn queue should be penalty enough in itself.
Celerity is just silly, don't understand why it was implemented in this way.
Jury is still out on the new Lerk, but I don't really understand why they reverted to the bite instead of going with some of the more innovative options suggested on these forums over the past year. Personally I think properly implemented burst-fire or shotgun spikes would fit the class much better (and this is coming from a NS1 vet that has played hundreds of hours as lerk with bite in the original).
Aliens have big problems competing with marine t3 now. Jetpacks and phase gates pretty much counter everything, as the current Fade blink model (and swipe) is too clumsy to be able to handle the more agile (since b208) jetpack. Preventing the marines from building phase gates is also inordinately difficult because it only takes a few seconds to build a phase gate with nano construct (I predict huge balance problems caused by nano construct by the way, already starting to see marines abusing it -- for example to build resource towers in a fraction of the time it takes aliens to destroy them).
New skulk movement is a big step in the right direction. A lot of other good changes in the patch as well, so overall I'm positive.
<!--quoteo(post=1940448:date=May 31 2012, 04:12 PM:name=Comprox)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Comprox @ May 31 2012, 04:12 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1940448"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Use a power pack. Negates the need for setting up a power node.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> But why should we have to do that, when powernodes add nothing to gameplay in the first place?
<!--quoteo(post=1940483:date=Jun 1 2012, 03:24 AM:name=Mestaritonttu)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Mestaritonttu @ Jun 1 2012, 03:24 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1940483"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Duuude, what - really? That was totally my idea. <.< Where is this convo? >.>
What do people think of the no-res when dead mechanic? Honestly, I've been rolling it over my tongue and munching here and there, and I really haven't a clue. I GUESS I like it for MARINES but noooot so sure about Kharaa. Besides - while you're dead and NOT gaining res does the res go to someone else or is just "wasted"? @_@<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> <a href="http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/forums/index.php?showtopic=118677&st=140&start=140" target="_blank">http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/forums/in...0&start=140</a> 1st post 8th page (though link should take you there) I think bite should be a researched upgrade and spikes should be the default primary so they should swap the current format. That way lerk bite is later in the game and the marines should have an armor upgrade completed.
No res when dead is too much of a penalty for aliens who are often sacrificing a life to take down a res node or simply delay an early game marine push into a hive. I can die 10 or so times in the first few minutes of a game, defending res nodes and taking chances to help my team. Does not seem fair that those that are sitting back and not taking as many risks get to go lerk/fade/onos faster than a player doing the team based things. Taking out res nodes is a dangerous job, but if not done the marines will dominate and be swimming in res...doesn't seem fair.
<!--quoteo(post=1940361:date=May 31 2012, 04:29 AM:name=Krovakon)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Krovakon @ May 31 2012, 04:29 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1940361"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->It would seem to me that Hypermutation is designed to allow Aliens to quickly adapt to any situation they have to deal with.
IE If you're a fade and there's an infantry rush on your hive you can quickly eliminate the marines, then quickly swap to gorge and repair all the damage they just did. Then go right back into fade extremely quickly and with no res lost. While i could see it being a bit gimmicky, I personally dare say it borders the line of being overpowered.
Then again I don't believe it'll be any problem in Pub games, but I predict it will shine in competitive games.
It will allow one alien to literally do everything within a 5-10 second window. You'll no longer be forced to carefully choose your lifeform based on the specific needs. You can be that lifeform and when it has outlived it's usefulness, you can simply become something else with no penalty.
Instead of having to save up res for an onos, you can go fade, kill marines while you wait for 25 more res then go onos.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Perhaps I've judged the usefulness prematurely, those do sound like good uses, though I still don't care for it aesthetically. I'll play around with it and see if it grows on me i guess.
fanaticThis post has been edited.Join Date: 2003-07-23Member: 18377Members, Constellation, Squad Five Blue
Is it just me, or has sever performance taken a nose dive in this patch? Even the top range servers are dropping to 15 ticks during mid game and with terrible rubberbanding during lategame.
After having spent more time looking at the changes to alien khamm, just wanted to say you guys did a great job fleshing it out to provide a variety of truly viable options with interesting tradeoff decisions. I doubt early cara will stay the dominant strategy for long after more people start playing around with echo/cross-chamber play, and ability unlock timings.
The only problem i see is the 'de-valuation' of energy with the mist nerf. It seems like it might be better just to scrap energy altogether now and roll everything into tres for a simpler, tighter, and more meaningful system?
I just played 3-4 games on marine team, and the entire marine experience feels TERRIBLE.
-The shotgun is unusable. You must literally be point blank clipping into the target before you can one-shot a skulk. I had a lerk survive TWO point blank center-of-my-screen shotgun shells, while he was happily biting away. Trying to shoot at a cyst or hydra is a joke. I was in +use range of a power node, took a shot at a skulk chewing it, and did not one-shot it. It may sound like I'm complaining a lot about one-shots, but that's an indirect result of the spread being so wide. The worst thing is that if FEELS so much weaker because I am unable to do things I expect, even though I am intentionally stepping closer and trying to account for the change. In this post, the bottom left screenshot pretty much says it all. What the HELL are pellets doing that far away? <a href="http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/forums/index.php?s=&showtopic=118745&view=findpost&p=1940644" target="_blank">http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/forums/in...t&p=1940644</a>
-Lerks feel extremely overpowered. With the player able to fly faster than a marine, bob fast to throw off aim, turn on a dime, out-dps a marine with an LMG, and with the shotgun in its current state, there is almost no way to 1v1 a lerk. You can't fight, you can't run, and it is just not fun. On top of that, it sounds like their health and/or armor just got buffed in 209? Why?
-On a lesser note, I've seen clogs put to very good use by completely blocking a strategic doorway. It is very frustrating though, when two gorges block off one of your "safe" expansions first thing in the game and reslock you if you can't get grenades. I don't know if our team just didn't play correctly to counter this, or if it leans towards unbalanced. All I know is that it was really annoying.
<!--quoteo(post=1940612:date=May 31 2012, 10:36 PM:name=fanatic)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (fanatic @ May 31 2012, 10:36 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1940612"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Is it just me, or has sever performance taken a nose dive in this patch? Even the top range servers are dropping to 15 ticks during mid game and with terrible rubberbanding during lategame.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
We have noticed that - we've been helping the devs investigate this issue. Hopefully in the near future we will see some more improvements.
<!--quoteo(post=1940665:date=May 31 2012, 05:52 PM:name=elodea)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (elodea @ May 31 2012, 05:52 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1940665"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->The only problem i see is the 'de-valuation' of energy with the mist nerf. It seems like it might be better just to scrap energy altogether now and roll everything into tres for a simpler, tighter, and more meaningful system?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Maybe this is just the first step of the progess tracker entry "Energy experiments" and "Remove energy" ? I could be wrong but to me it sounds like they are trying to get rid of it or at least redesign it.
After playing a few games marines feel spot on. The team can win, not without a struggle of course, but still. Personally i have only commanded for marines, but judging by the stats, everybody was doing fine. On the other hand, the aliens feel terrible. The skulk feels kind of trippy, but i guess that's just something you get used to. The lerk bite.... I'll leave that for now, because most of the complaints about it have to do with the fact that performance is quite low for me to land any actual bites. But my biggest problem is the onos stomp. Why was it rendered so useless? When jetpacks come out, which many times corresponds with the time the onos comes out, the onos is absolutely useless. A 75 resource life form that can't do anything but be a meat shield. So why does the stomp (which was the only effective counter measure against arcs imo) doesn't affect them? Right now it feels as if marines have effective counter measures against all aliens things, but not the other way around.
These are just my 2 cents after playing 4 games with mid-low performance.
My new replacement PC just arrived. It's a freakin' monster! The old low spec one has been out of action for about 3 months. I get to play NS2 again and this time my FPS is going to allow me to aim properly! Woo!
As soon as it's booted, Steam and NS2 are going on. The fridge is stocked with beer and pizza ready for a weekend long session! :)
Seriously, this patch has given the game more depth and variety that I now play way more than I really should.
I love the alien commander changes, it no longer fills linear, and people in pub games actually want to com because they are able to feel more strategic and feel like they are impacting the game for their team.
I think hypermutation and celerity are fine, especially when confronting marine jp and gl rushes (which hurt...) and nano construct ninja phase gates.
The changes to skulk movement I think is the biggest change, as it has made playing marine a lot less depressing.
But yeah, i've noticed in the many pub games i have played that the games are longer and feel more balanced, games are like 20-30 minutes on average, and it seems that either side could win, it usually takes a daring strategy and teamwork to break stalemates, which i must admit feels awesome and EPIC when it pans out.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Nutrient Mist won't affect maturation time anymore (it speeds evolution). It's now only triggerable on targets which are evolving/researching something and won't search for the closest target in range (target needs to be clicked directly)<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Why? I thought that was the whole point of Misting? Being able to hasten the maturation of your structures and be able to build their next upgrades quicker. Comes with a built in trade off of not being able to use it everywhere, not being able to build more cysts, not being able to build more drifters. This was working so good, why the concept reversal? And why is everyone up in arms about getting rid of energy - its useful, builds up with time, doesn't rely on number of players.
Also not understanding the removal of stomp's affect vs ARCs, someone said already - but it really is just making the Onos into a giant ball of meat with a player stun effect.
And again, don't understand the separation of various lifeform augmentations. 20 res is a lot of res to spend, so they are often overlooked until requested (in pub games); not to mention 100 res is a whole lot to spend overall, and often times in late games there will still be abilities not researched (in pub games). Seems like busy work for the Khamm and annoyance for the players.
Enjoying the Bile Bomb back on the Gorge (or do when its researched).
Also enjoying the Shift Hive and Celerity (Bad Ass Spur model btw, and the Shift looks great, except when standing on top of it as a gorge I can see inside - also thinking there was sliding as it grew, maybe have it grow up instead of out?).
I'm in agreement with people saying the Hyper-Mutation is pretty useless - the quick evolution is nice, but its nothing compared to other upgrades - and can just be switched out after the fact. Maybe evolutions cost half-price with hyper-mutation?.. but that wont keep people using it afterward. It almost seems like an ability that should be on the hive, not the players.
Carapace is still way too powerful, and is always the first ability chosen.
Agree with whoever posted about death penalizing res gathering is counter productive. It doesn't reward the good players, it penalizes the already bad players. It also penalizes multiple bad players more on alien side because of the spawn system (which I have never liked : ( ). Would much prefer a true reward system with the good players getting more res per kill. Or better yet, just bring back paying for upgrades on Kharaan side -> gives them a res sink and staggers when other lifeforms pop. Strangely the two are actually very similar - the more you die the more you pay for upgrades - but I never felt punished or cheapened with that system. This system promotes laziness, inactivity, and extreme caution and it punishes the weak in the process.
Guess that's all I have right now, need to play some more.
Just thought I might post about Crashes. First time ive had the issue but get a crash (game just stalls, alt tab outt o find a report submission). Not sure what changed but first patch ive had this issue.
Although I love the changes I feel Marines lost out in this and aliens are again the default winner of most games.
Marines really need a HMG. Also I would like to see marines with custom setups. Perhaps having two open slots to upgrade into (have two bars instead of one on the armoury) So although expensive you could have a grenade launcher and a main weapon but you need to switch (as opposed to before where it was built in).
I think the aliens have good custimsation through carpace, regen etc but marines feel too cookie cutter and would be cool to have a jetpack marine running around sporting a flamethrower then swapping back to a rifle or grenade launcher.
Comments
+Lerk with bite finally, now give him umbra and ranged spores as well please.
+GL needs support to be effective.
+Celerity, just a bit too over the top, would prefer NS1 gains over these insane speeds most players cannot even control.
-New abilities seem pointless, just adding complexity to an already complex game.
-Arc trains are laughable and obviously need some redesign, sieges worked better in NS1, why redesign a working feature?
-Clogs, little use not worth the clutter. Hallways are already too tight for a 32 player game, blocking fades and onos will be a major problem if left unaddressed.
-Phase gates limited to power nodes restricts marines ability to insert where it is convenient. Unpredictability of PG's in NS1 was so much better.
-Turrets, again more complex in NS2 and not as useful due to limited radius of attack and power requirements.
...and my server will be back up soon.. and I'll start playing again.
Awesome sauce.
-Phase gates limited to power nodes restricts marines ability to insert where it is convenient. Unpredictability of PG's in NS1 was so much better.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Use a power pack. Negates the need for setting up a power node.
-shotty seems pretty useless now. Can't even reliably kill basic skulks with no upgrades in 1 shot.
-Lerk bite is too much. Maybe if he did not simultaneously receive an armor boost it would have been OK, but as it stands you do not have enough ammo in your LMG to kill the Lerk before he kills you (if he is not dodging much, which most do so it's not even close) and therefore he just auto-wins 1v1s with little effort. It's not hard to 1v2 or 1v3 even. The bit also hits really hard. Spikes are pretty obsolete and certainly not worth the 20 res to research them.
-I just reinstalled so it could have been some setting somewhere, but WHY does my crosshair move so much? when I sprint it bobs up and down, when I shoot it vibrates. That's extremely irritating.
I guess that is kind of my point, you should not have to, it does not add anything positive to the game.
This change seems really pointless. It's just some useless aggravation for the sake of immersion or something silly. Can you get rid of it so I don't have to? :(
-shotty seems pretty useless now. Can't even reliably kill basic skulks with no upgrades in 1 shot.
-Lerk bite is too much. Maybe if he did not simultaneously receive an armor boost it would have been OK, but as it stands you do not have enough ammo in your LMG to kill the Lerk before he kills you (if he is not dodging much, which most do so it's not even close) and therefore he just auto-wins 1v1s with little effort. It's not hard to 1v2 or 1v3 even. The bit also hits really hard. Spikes are pretty obsolete and certainly not worth the 20 res to research them.
-I just reinstalled so it could have been some setting somewhere, but WHY does my crosshair move so much? when I sprint it bobs up and down, when I shoot it vibrates. That's extremely irritating.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Have you tried the new spikes? They destroy marines now!
Ah I have not really, I forgot about the damage change. Comms rarely research them early so haven't gotten the opportunity to play with them much. They should do quit a bit of damage then yeah?
lerk bite is still op! Needs the initial dmg lessened or something so that you WANT to hit and run and let the poison tick. I dunno. He is simply a flying, more tanky skulk atm.
As a lerk there is not a lot of point in sitting back an using umbra as you cant offer any other help<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Duuude, what - really? That was totally my idea. <.< Where is this convo? >.>
What do people think of the no-res when dead mechanic? Honestly, I've been rolling it over my tongue and munching here and there, and I really haven't a clue. I GUESS I like it for MARINES but noooot so sure about Kharaa. Besides - while you're dead and NOT gaining res does the res go to someone else or is just "wasted"? @_@
It's a pretty silly concept in the first place, as it further penalizes a team that is getting dominated in the early game. Death + respawn queue should be penalty enough in itself.
Celerity is just silly, don't understand why it was implemented in this way.
Jury is still out on the new Lerk, but I don't really understand why they reverted to the bite instead of going with some of the more innovative options suggested on these forums over the past year. Personally I think properly implemented burst-fire or shotgun spikes would fit the class much better (and this is coming from a NS1 vet that has played hundreds of hours as lerk with bite in the original).
Aliens have big problems competing with marine t3 now. Jetpacks and phase gates pretty much counter everything, as the current Fade blink model (and swipe) is too clumsy to be able to handle the more agile (since b208) jetpack. Preventing the marines from building phase gates is also inordinately difficult because it only takes a few seconds to build a phase gate with nano construct (I predict huge balance problems caused by nano construct by the way, already starting to see marines abusing it -- for example to build resource towers in a fraction of the time it takes aliens to destroy them).
New skulk movement is a big step in the right direction. A lot of other good changes in the patch as well, so overall I'm positive.
<!--quoteo(post=1940448:date=May 31 2012, 04:12 PM:name=Comprox)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Comprox @ May 31 2012, 04:12 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1940448"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Use a power pack. Negates the need for setting up a power node.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
But why should we have to do that, when powernodes add nothing to gameplay in the first place?
What do people think of the no-res when dead mechanic? Honestly, I've been rolling it over my tongue and munching here and there, and I really haven't a clue. I GUESS I like it for MARINES but noooot so sure about Kharaa. Besides - while you're dead and NOT gaining res does the res go to someone else or is just "wasted"? @_@<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<a href="http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/forums/index.php?showtopic=118677&st=140&start=140" target="_blank">http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/forums/in...0&start=140</a>
1st post 8th page (though link should take you there)
I think bite should be a researched upgrade and spikes should be the default primary so they should swap the current format.
That way lerk bite is later in the game and the marines should have an armor upgrade completed.
No res when dead is too much of a penalty for aliens who are often sacrificing a life to take down a res node or simply delay an early game marine push into a hive.
I can die 10 or so times in the first few minutes of a game, defending res nodes and taking chances to help my team.
Does not seem fair that those that are sitting back and not taking as many risks get to go lerk/fade/onos faster than a player doing the team based things.
Taking out res nodes is a dangerous job, but if not done the marines will dominate and be swimming in res...doesn't seem fair.
IE If you're a fade and there's an infantry rush on your hive you can quickly eliminate the marines, then quickly swap to gorge and repair all the damage they just did. Then go right back into fade extremely quickly and with no res lost. While i could see it being a bit gimmicky, I personally dare say it borders the line of being overpowered.
Then again I don't believe it'll be any problem in Pub games, but I predict it will shine in competitive games.
It will allow one alien to literally do everything within a 5-10 second window. You'll no longer be forced to carefully choose your lifeform based on the specific needs. You can be that lifeform and when it has outlived it's usefulness, you can simply become something else with no penalty.
Instead of having to save up res for an onos, you can go fade, kill marines while you wait for 25 more res then go onos.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Perhaps I've judged the usefulness prematurely, those do sound like good uses, though I still don't care for it aesthetically. I'll play around with it and see if it grows on me i guess.
Yup, other tier 3 abilities are also in the works.
The only problem i see is the 'de-valuation' of energy with the mist nerf. It seems like it might be better just to scrap energy altogether now and roll everything into tres for a simpler, tighter, and more meaningful system?
-The shotgun is unusable. You must literally be point blank clipping into the target before you can one-shot a skulk. I had a lerk survive TWO point blank center-of-my-screen shotgun shells, while he was happily biting away. Trying to shoot at a cyst or hydra is a joke. I was in +use range of a power node, took a shot at a skulk chewing it, and did not one-shot it.
It may sound like I'm complaining a lot about one-shots, but that's an indirect result of the spread being so wide. The worst thing is that if FEELS so much weaker because I am unable to do things I expect, even though I am intentionally stepping closer and trying to account for the change.
In this post, the bottom left screenshot pretty much says it all. What the HELL are pellets doing that far away?
<a href="http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/forums/index.php?s=&showtopic=118745&view=findpost&p=1940644" target="_blank">http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/forums/in...t&p=1940644</a>
-Lerks feel extremely overpowered. With the player able to fly faster than a marine, bob fast to throw off aim, turn on a dime, out-dps a marine with an LMG, and with the shotgun in its current state, there is almost no way to 1v1 a lerk. You can't fight, you can't run, and it is just not fun. On top of that, it sounds like their health and/or armor just got buffed in 209? Why?
-On a lesser note, I've seen clogs put to very good use by completely blocking a strategic doorway. It is very frustrating though, when two gorges block off one of your "safe" expansions first thing in the game and reslock you if you can't get grenades. I don't know if our team just didn't play correctly to counter this, or if it leans towards unbalanced. All I know is that it was really annoying.
We have noticed that - we've been helping the devs investigate this issue. Hopefully in the near future we will see some more improvements.
Maybe this is just the first step of the progess tracker entry "Energy experiments" and "Remove energy" ?
I could be wrong but to me it sounds like they are trying to get rid of it or at least redesign it.
These are just my 2 cents after playing 4 games with mid-low performance.
Cara is still the chamber of choice at the moment, I think this needs to balanced. Shade and Shift need to be viable options also.
As soon as it's booted, Steam and NS2 are going on. The fridge is stocked with beer and pizza ready for a weekend long session! :)
I might be excited.
Seriously, this patch has given the game more depth and variety that I now play way more than I really should.
I love the alien commander changes, it no longer fills linear, and people in pub games actually want to com because they are able to feel more strategic and feel like they are impacting the game for their team.
I think hypermutation and celerity are fine, especially when confronting marine jp and gl rushes (which hurt...) and nano construct ninja phase gates.
The changes to skulk movement I think is the biggest change, as it has made playing marine a lot less depressing.
But yeah, i've noticed in the many pub games i have played that the games are longer and feel more balanced, games are like 20-30 minutes on average, and it seems that either side could win, it usually takes a daring strategy and teamwork to break stalemates, which i must admit feels awesome and EPIC when it pans out.
Anyways, keep up the good work UWE! :)
Why? I thought that was the whole point of Misting? Being able to hasten the maturation of your structures and be able to build their next upgrades quicker. Comes with a built in trade off of not being able to use it everywhere, not being able to build more cysts, not being able to build more drifters. This was working so good, why the concept reversal? And why is everyone up in arms about getting rid of energy - its useful, builds up with time, doesn't rely on number of players.
Also not understanding the removal of stomp's affect vs ARCs, someone said already - but it really is just making the Onos into a giant ball of meat with a player stun effect.
And again, don't understand the separation of various lifeform augmentations. 20 res is a lot of res to spend, so they are often overlooked until requested (in pub games); not to mention 100 res is a whole lot to spend overall, and often times in late games there will still be abilities not researched (in pub games). Seems like busy work for the Khamm and annoyance for the players.
Enjoying the Bile Bomb back on the Gorge (or do when its researched).
Also enjoying the Shift Hive and Celerity (Bad Ass Spur model btw, and the Shift looks great, except when standing on top of it as a gorge I can see inside - also thinking there was sliding as it grew, maybe have it grow up instead of out?).
I'm in agreement with people saying the Hyper-Mutation is pretty useless - the quick evolution is nice, but its nothing compared to other upgrades - and can just be switched out after the fact. Maybe evolutions cost half-price with hyper-mutation?.. but that wont keep people using it afterward. It almost seems like an ability that should be on the hive, not the players.
Carapace is still way too powerful, and is always the first ability chosen.
Agree with whoever posted about death penalizing res gathering is counter productive. It doesn't reward the good players, it penalizes the already bad players. It also penalizes multiple bad players more on alien side because of the spawn system (which I have never liked : ( ). Would much prefer a true reward system with the good players getting more res per kill. Or better yet, just bring back paying for upgrades on Kharaan side -> gives them a res sink and staggers when other lifeforms pop. Strangely the two are actually very similar - the more you die the more you pay for upgrades - but I never felt punished or cheapened with that system. This system promotes laziness, inactivity, and extreme caution and it punishes the weak in the process.
Guess that's all I have right now, need to play some more.
Although I love the changes I feel Marines lost out in this and aliens are again the default winner of most games.
Marines really need a HMG. Also I would like to see marines with custom setups.
Perhaps having two open slots to upgrade into (have two bars instead of one on the armoury)
So although expensive you could have a grenade launcher and a main weapon but you need to switch (as opposed to before where it was built in).
I think the aliens have good custimsation through carpace, regen etc but marines feel too cookie cutter and would be cool to have a jetpack marine running around sporting a flamethrower then swapping back to a rifle or grenade launcher.
Much better now.