Buffing vs nerfing and glitches.
Know pain
Join Date: 2012-09-04 Member: 157674Members
Join Date: 2012-09-04 Member: 157674Members
In patch 238 marines shot guns got a damage upgrade and in 240 the movement speed of the skulk was decreased. Lerks are now just a waste of 30 res since they have become extremely easy to kill. Lerk spikes are useless, the whole intention was to harass and attack from afar while staying somewhat hidden. Babblers are broken, I don’t know how that got past testing I mean it’s not like a little tiny glitch or something. That and the gorge now seems very easy to kill. They rail gun looks cool but that’s all it does. Are they only supposed to do damage to structures since it seems they don’t do the full amount to aliens. BILE BOMB SUCKS! It was the only effective siege weapon the aliens had, I think UWE found out it deals damage to power nodes so they took a sledge hammer to it. Now aliens have no effective defense vs mass exo’s and arc’s or the gorge has to get far too close to the marines defending them.
It’s been like this for a while, balance changes that decrease by a 1/3 or increase by 2. Skulks are now too slow, the whole point of them was to get within bite range of the marines and nerfing the core concept of them kills them.
It just seems like the devs have a hard on for marines and an example of that was 238. In 238 aliens could get both upgrades through a glitch and it was fixed within a day or two. Now Babblers for the gorge are broken in more ways than 1 but how long is it going to take to fix these glitches.
It’s been like this for a while, balance changes that decrease by a 1/3 or increase by 2. Skulks are now too slow, the whole point of them was to get within bite range of the marines and nerfing the core concept of them kills them.
It just seems like the devs have a hard on for marines and an example of that was 238. In 238 aliens could get both upgrades through a glitch and it was fixed within a day or two. Now Babblers for the gorge are broken in more ways than 1 but how long is it going to take to fix these glitches.
Comments
If you answered yes to one or both of those questions, maybe you shouldn't be playing lerk. It should be noted that while the shotgun's damage was increased its spread was made more consistent, thus no more lolwth sniping lerks from afar. Abuse this when you see shotguns. Make them pull their pistol. As soon as shotguns are on the field lerks need to tone down their aggression and start harassing and widdling marine armor so the skulks can get those easy kills.
tl;dr lerk is fine (but the tracers could stand to be toned down)
Look at know pain's post history and I am sure the answer will become clear pretty quick.
All the nerfs and buffs made were what the developers felt would improve gameplay, and ultimately are to be for the good of the game. Point being, this game is still in development and change is expected, even if you feel otherwise. Just take it in stride, things might change again.
For skulk speed, not sure if its a bug or not,but what ranged advantage would a marine have against a pre-patch skulk who was able to close the gap in a heartbeat? I cant deny skilled marines are able to do so, but i feel it's more of a reward for having the skills. Skulks needed some form of change to their play style, pre-patch they were the hyper aggressive side, forcing marines on the back foot many times too often. I think skulks were always meant to be an ambush class, relying on numbers for an offensive push, but that's just me. Like I said before, this might get changed again.
Its true, Blabbers need an AI overhaul, but it adds new content to the game. Not saying new content is always for the better, but it adds a refreshing take on NS2. Im sure the developers are on to the AI issue, just give them time to sort this out.
On Bile bombs being nerfed, I know there have been many debates for the past month leading up to now. One side saying they were fine, the other not (I'd rather avoid having this debate here).
Tldr: Give the developers time to work balances and issues please. You're expecting some form of miracle cure when these things takes trial and error to correct.
Then due tell, what is the point of a lerk? If you’re not supposed to get in close and attack and you’re not supposed to attack from afar then what good are they? And don’t say their only good use is gas and umbra.
Skulks don't cost 30 p res.
To complian and to put it into 1 tpoic rather than re-state it over many.
Have you seen NS2 stats, in patch 240 they swade about 15%.
I already stated what you should do. But, I will say it one more time for good measure: Use spikes and work on your aim. They do excellent damage and set up kills quite nicely for the skulks you should be supporting.
If you are dying to shotguns because you are trying to play aggressive and bite, it is not the game's fault. Go watch some competitive streams and pay attention to the lerks. They don't over commit and when shotguns are on the field they play a lot more conservatively and only take bites when they know they can get away safely. If you are trying to fight a shotgun marine up close and personal as a lerk, you are really playing the game wrong. You have taken your advantage, thrown it out the window, covered it in gasoline, set it on fire and just offered your 30 res lifeform up on a plate to any decent marine player.
That said, keep in mind that it is okay to have derpy babblers. Remember when people went apeshit when spit was fixed? Imagine how bad it would have been if babblers were considered "good".
They also don't fly.
You're playing Lerk wrong.
The damage spikes do is piddly, and the most you're going to do is annoy someone.
Edit:
Ranged spike damage is piddly.
Take NS2 stats and look at it in a different way. Look at only patch 240 and don’t look at all the servers. Take servers like KKG, HBZ and 156, look at servers that have several different servers up, they tend to be more accurate. Clans and teams that only have 1 server tend to stack one side or have mods to strengthen 1 side.
Um yes, that's the point of lerk spikes to annoy someone or a group of players. So many times I have kept 4 or 5 exo's out of a hive cause they were trying to figure out where I wan instead of attacking the hive.
Maybe UWE thought it was cool and that's why they added it, just like the all powerful whoshing sound from celery.
I mean, if that's the way you like to play the game, cool I guess.
Seems like a waste of 30 pRes though, considering what the lerk can do when played well.
Holy crap, four or five exos? With welders I take it, that’s like 7 or so people hitting one hive. Why not hit something squishier like the most inconvenient PG with your onos buddies?
I am being serious, if you can post a video of that I will awesome that post. Anyway, in regards to tracer rounds, I use them as health drain after a bite or two on a fleeing target.
Also, when someone says like a skulk they mean like an advanced skulk (one that costs 30 pres), which normally would get a few more kills than your starting lifeform.
Though most times it's not that simple, I've found that many times hitting an exo or a few even once will turn them about and wonder what was attacking them. This may only last for 20 seconds or so but give my team enough time to get into place. With lerk trails now any marine can see where I was shooting from and I either die or can’t give my team enough time.
The solution to your problem is to adapt your strategy.
Obviously clinging to the ceiling/walls doesn't work anymore, instead of whining about it on the forums, figure out a new strategy.
Whether or not the Lerk is under-powered is up for debate, but implying that any untoward state of balance is intended by UWE is silly.
My skulk play is actually improving. This might be simply because of practice, or because of the rookie surge. Aliens have to work together now. I haven't really got much of a problem with the way the skulk handles now. Sure they're easier to shoot, when they come at you one at a time and you've got a buddy of course you're going to kill them. That's how it should be. One skulk shouldn't be able to take out a marine pair without batting an eye, unless he gets the jump on them. Marines are generally nice enough to close the distance to you themselves if you just hang out in the right spot.
Lerk spikes are awesome. You can spike marines, then bite em as they're frantically trying to see you through the haze of spike. Hitting a marine from behind is still just as effective, finishing off a running marine is still just as effective. A lerk trying to solo a group of marines with spikes from a stationary location is going to be found faster for sure, but that's why you move around, dart in and out. After the patch I have still been able to hold up a group of marines with spikes. The fact that they can see you doesn't mean that they can shoot you. In fact, making the marines look at me helped my skulk buddies munch on the marine kneecaps without problem. WOW Team play! Amazing how effective it is!
Rail guns are quite effective, they're also fast. They can easily finish off (disintegrate) a fleeing life form. It goes through things too. That's unique to the railgun (minus arcs).
Babblers are a little derpy, but I don't think it's a glitch. They're not amazing but that's ok IMO. Gorge isn't a one man army, he's a stinkin awesome support class with Bile. Which, while we're there, still does massive damage to structures. No you can't take out a power node in one energy pool on your own anymore, which does really stink (I loved ninja gorging). But you still can take the thing down if you've got, wait for it, teamwork! Two gorges are still the perfect attack the power node team, give them an Onos to eat bullets and there goes the base unless the marines are prepped for it.
The effective defense against mass exos has always been to keep a few people harassing the exos while your team takes out the base. Exos can't be beaconed. Once the team is beaconed and the exos are alone, even a skulk can take down a lone exo, heaven forbid a gorge help him. Mass arcs are still massively effected by bile bomb. They really didn't change it that much. I think they might have increased the fire rate, feels like it to me anyhow. But you need a team to take down the people guarding the arcs.
We gave up one man alien armies in the recent patch for sure. Now we have to band together to get stuff done, which is in no universe a bad thing.
I seem to recall a mass shout out about the lack of powernodes notifying commanders sufficiently and now look! The devs listened and the powernodes virtually shout at the comm when they're under attack. People just have different ideas of what "improvement" is. Lots of things can't really be tested with a group of people who all know what they're doing. The rookie factor can only be taken into account when there are actually rookies playing.
Wait wait now marines suck so let’s make them stronger.
Lerk is incredibly effective close range.
It sounds like they've increased the skill gap, and you've been lost in the shuffle.
Prior to gorgeous, aliens won 60% of the time, now marines are winning more.
Wait on balance patches before you whine.
Gorgeous has been out for all of what, 3 days(4 if you include today)?
If you deem that a logical incentive, then it must have merit. If marine's are too difficult for the vast majority of players, then they must be made easier. Can you think of any better solution, or any cause more important than catering to the majority of players?
Personally, I hope they do it quicker than the previous Alien:marine win bias. 2-3 patches to swing things around is a VERY long time to wait for balance, no matter what side is winning.
I even made a thread asking why they were releasing gorgeous when the current game is broken.
Why would I purposely restrict my sample size when Cory was nice enough to provide the aggregate stats for the 20000 games played since 240 launched? The game might not be balanced in a fun sense yet but statistically it is in a lot better place than it was.
Area denial. Against competent players you arn't going to get an insane amount of kills but you can easily help your aliens keep the marines contained as well as assist in assaulting a location. However, in the typical pub you shouldn't have an issue going 30-0 as a lerk. Learn to spike accurately while flying and avoiding fire and learn when you can and can't go in for a bite. There is also a time and a place for spores, even with shotguns out they can be effective used at the right time.
As far as your OP goes..Babblers I agree with. Bile bomb I havnt messed with much so I really can't fully comment on it. It felt ok to me the few times I did use it though. Rail gun is crazy OP in the hands of a player that can track and aim well (against any thing but onos). Right now people are treating it like its a dual mini gun (when its not) and getting owned a fade or skulk.
Again as it's been many times, skulks speeds are generally the same, movement code was altered to prevent crazy 360 degree turns mid air to make skulk movement more predictable, however the recent "slow down" is purely due to the related bug of losing acceleration upon landing, and will be promptly fixed.
As far as lerk goes, the tracers were added to prevent lerks hiding in dark corners or rooms roosted and just camping rather unseen. While I play lerk mostly and I've accepted that was an issue, it really hasnt changed my gameplay much since I was never a "rooster" before, it's actually quite the double edged sword right now, because it also obscures marine vision someone given the thickness of the tracers. I've asked for the visuals to be turned down slightly but at the same time I also kind of enjoy how it actually can assist you as well in situations. I've had very little issue with lerk though in summation, I just focus a lil more on getting behind them or to the sides to spike them as much as I can before they turn around and point at me before I swoop away away. It's pretty much the same degree of level to go 50-1 as lerk as much as it was a week ago.
I assure you no one has a "hard on" for any particualar side, what's looked at is over all balance for both sides, cause that's what everyone who works hard to achieve that wants.
The patch has been only only a few days, and valve is pretty much closed on weekends, and that's why you rarely ever see any game updates go out on steam over the weekend, so nothing could be hotfixed until monday anyway at the earliest, it's not a matter in the least of the devs working hard to fix somethings while intentionally ignoring others.
Gonna have to disagre with the aren't going to get an insane amount of kills part. ;P
And yeah, taking on marine with a shotgun is always a risk, it's very important to utilize cover or wait til back is turned or guard is down, no one should be ever running up to a marine with a shotgun and trying to just bite him down as lerk, you're running a massive risk, and it's guarenteed you wont always win.