Anyone finding heavy Marine win bias?
Schupac
Join Date: 2013-02-18 Member: 183159Members
Join Date: 2013-02-18 Member: 183159Members
Post patch, I'm 7 games in across 3 servers. So far 7 marine wins. I've played aliens 5 times and marines 2. The aliens seem completely unable to take a hit. As I understand it Marines got some improvements to their tracking in the last patch, but it's seeming far too easy to kill skulks as a marine and almost impossible to survive any normal confrontation as a skulk.
As a marine, I am now walking around fearlessly, confident I can gun down a skulk probably before they even bite me. As a skulk, I am finding it impossible to get a kill without giving tricky ambushes or having a 2:1 numbers advantage. This is something that might be solved later in the game, but in every game I've played so far the marines are significantly ahead by the 5 minute mark. The aliens can't even get to end game tech to see how Onos' will compete. When I see groups of 4-5 skulks facing off against 4-5 marines, it's rare for the aliens to get more than 1 kill.
Normally I'd assume it's me not adjusting, but on all the server's I've played on, the game chats are full of players are complaining about the balance. I'm having trouble thinking of how the aliens are supposed to be adjusting - should we be going 30-40% gorge and using those little buggers to armor up? Should the aliens now play conservative and rush evolves? Or is the balance just a messed up post patch? I just gave up for the night because it was so consistently lopsided it wasn't fun. Feeling very frustrated right now.
As a marine, I am now walking around fearlessly, confident I can gun down a skulk probably before they even bite me. As a skulk, I am finding it impossible to get a kill without giving tricky ambushes or having a 2:1 numbers advantage. This is something that might be solved later in the game, but in every game I've played so far the marines are significantly ahead by the 5 minute mark. The aliens can't even get to end game tech to see how Onos' will compete. When I see groups of 4-5 skulks facing off against 4-5 marines, it's rare for the aliens to get more than 1 kill.
Normally I'd assume it's me not adjusting, but on all the server's I've played on, the game chats are full of players are complaining about the balance. I'm having trouble thinking of how the aliens are supposed to be adjusting - should we be going 30-40% gorge and using those little buggers to armor up? Should the aliens now play conservative and rush evolves? Or is the balance just a messed up post patch? I just gave up for the night because it was so consistently lopsided it wasn't fun. Feeling very frustrated right now.
Comments
I still do well as a skulk, although the movement changes make the dance of death a bit frustrating now. People just need to practice skulking more in general. It's still similar to before: learn how to wall jump, walk if you think marines are within hearing distance, try to flank using alternate routes, try to track accurately vs juking marines, move in small packs if you don't feel confident alone, etc.
Concerning win ratios, marines do seem to win more often lately. I partly attribute this to the fact that most alien players want to try out the new gorge features. Earlier, there were about five battle gorges on my team who mostly used babblers to attack instead of shielding the offense-oriented classes. Khamms prioritized gorge tunnels over some essential upgrades and the tunnels weren't used to great effect either. I'd give it a week or two before win ratios balance out again. By then, I hope alien players will learn to make better use of the new features or the excitement will die down and aliens will play the game in earnest.
Most people are playing around with the new toys
Getting gorge tunnels immediately is a big mistake and too many gorges on a team is also a recipe for disaster
My guess is marines are winning because they are facing 1/2 the aggression and aren't seeing many advanced lifeforms
As a side note; Marine build order didn't change at all so there's nothing to screw up
I second this notion. Its time aliens finaly had to play how they are designed to, as Kharaa and not Zerg.
they never were "zerg"-like. play ns1 b4 u post. this patch is a complete unbalance that the devs and PTers have worked with for a while.... which is sad, it only took 10 min for ppl to find immediate faults.
I'm with you on that one. It's absurd that aliens are struggling with their one main advantage: mobility. Now, marines out run them? Come on.
Right now there are loads of new players and lots of people learning the game. Expect lopsided games for a few weeks before it settles down.
As for the changes to skulk movement- it seems in line with how skulks should be played, using hit and run/ ambush tactics. If a marine has a clear los on you at distance you should expect to be dead
The changes to skulk movement are a slap in the face to alien players, and were totally unnecessary. I think I'm done with NS2 now until they do something about this, because it's simply no fun anymore to be at the receiving end of a constant marine pounding.
Yeah, well welcome to last month++ for marines.
It does feel like the balance has shifted. But maybe the Aliens were just spoiled. We'll see.
Give it time, people will adapt.
Altough you use a much friendlier tone
Give it a few weeks to really see how it pans out.
edit:
For reference, you simply skip out on early obs/phase gates, and do bare minimal direction of your pub marines to ensure they build RTs. So long as you start your advanced armory early enough, it's self explanatory how to have armor 1 + exos out at 6:00.
The first three games I played I did feel some dicking around but as a whole it did feel like people were really trying.
Perhaps it has something to do with server size. Maybe they didn't balance with 24 in mind? Perhaps everyone posting should comment on server size/skill levels/n00b content and any other variables so we can have a more clear picture of what's actually going on.
Good point! Just out of interest, what server size do they test with?
I prefer 18 because pub servers are not full all the time.
ns2 stats doesnt seem to be working properly atm, is it for you?
Agreed. I walked into Shipping from Logistics on Tram and 4 skulks were just standing still mezmerized by the 9 rail guns that were blasting into the place. Exo's weren't even moving. I literally walked up behind them and 1 shot blasted all 4. It was silly.
I don't think there is a balance issue yet. People are just playing. Aliens were actually letting marines go into the gorge tunnels while the exo's would just wipe the hive.
It will get serious again over the weekend I expect. But it is ridiculous how fast you can get a team of 10 railguns and not need a welder. Exo's are so fast now