Death to the Kharamander
hf_
Join Date: 2011-06-10 Member: 103639Members
Join Date: 2011-06-10 Member: 103639Members
I know pre-launch this topic was discussed ad nauseum, but I think it's time to revisit with all of the "Balance Test" changes floating around. If you want a truly asymmetrical experience, it's time to get rid of the alien commander.
It never really made sense, and it seems all of the balance efforts recently have gone into reworking how the alien side works -- obviously since aliens acquire team res, they need to spend it on something, so UWE keeps rethinking the upgrade path for the aliens, what the kharamander does and how he/she influences the game, etc. At first it was a "cosmic gardener", but now the Balance Test changes requires much more micromanaging from the alien side, and the whole biomass thing is overly complicated and doesn't make any sense.
Removing the kharamander will simplify alien gameplay and work within the tenets of Natural Selection being an asymmetrical game, in addition to heightening the role and importance of the gorge, which I believe will bring better balance to the game (less aliens out on the field harassing marine shit).
This would also mean axing cysts. Alien structures would no longer require infestation to build on, but once the structures are built, infestation sprouts out from them, infecting nearby areas. This would alert marines as to when an alien base is present or nearby. This would also eliminate the annoyance of cyst building wars, where marines are constantly killing cysts, and kharamanders are constantly rebuilding them.
It never really made sense, and it seems all of the balance efforts recently have gone into reworking how the alien side works -- obviously since aliens acquire team res, they need to spend it on something, so UWE keeps rethinking the upgrade path for the aliens, what the kharamander does and how he/she influences the game, etc. At first it was a "cosmic gardener", but now the Balance Test changes requires much more micromanaging from the alien side, and the whole biomass thing is overly complicated and doesn't make any sense.
Removing the kharamander will simplify alien gameplay and work within the tenets of Natural Selection being an asymmetrical game, in addition to heightening the role and importance of the gorge, which I believe will bring better balance to the game (less aliens out on the field harassing marine shit).
This would also mean axing cysts. Alien structures would no longer require infestation to build on, but once the structures are built, infestation sprouts out from them, infecting nearby areas. This would alert marines as to when an alien base is present or nearby. This would also eliminate the annoyance of cyst building wars, where marines are constantly killing cysts, and kharamanders are constantly rebuilding them.
Comments
You should also think about, how Aliens would do tech and especially how to use the specific structureabillities(Ink against arcs)
I'm guessing you didn't play NS1, which had no Alien commander, in all honesty the aliens never missed a commander, the gorge filled the role much better, laying down upgrades and structures.
Also about overlay vision, it's not that useful, because like any person you have your figure planted on the map button, which allows you to see the whole map in one go.
Also biomass is piss easy, it's used to unlock upgrades... simple, unless you come from a non strategy gaming experience, though still pretty easy to understand.
Also funny how a concept's implementation can make or break it
I get that we are trying to make the kharamander work, as it is one of the few major departures from NS. My point is that in trying to make the role work, we are inventing overly complicated systems to make it interesting, and those systems are only adding to the steep learning curve that exists within this game.
If we want this game to succeed long term, NS will have to keep adding and interesting new players. Making the game intuitive and less intimidating to someone unfamiliar with NS seems like, to me, a good way to build the player base. However, it seems UWE approach is to copy-cat LoL by appealing to competitive players who like strategy games by means of creating these grandiose tournaments. NS is not solely a strategy game, most of it is FPS (only one player per team has the commander role), thus, we need to be appealing to FPS crowd.
I think there have to be better ways to innovate NS2 over its predecessor other than continually revamping the kharamander to the point where it's extremely difficult to pick up for newbies. Just my two cents.
also don't think dumbing it down anymore will ultimately appeal to anyone, but step by step tutorials would be mega helpful. w/ New bot system, seems like they're on the right path.
I do agree, as I'm sure we all do, that new content will help bring in more peeps and please us who've been playing a bit
to be fair, Khan changes only effect one.person a game. when we talk about learning curve we almost always talk about how the grunt experience is, because that is the predominant experience for the majority of players.