Frustrations with this game

Vision305Vision305 Join Date: 2013-09-03 Member: 187724Members
I have given this game about 15 tries now. Im done for now.

This seems like a mix between AVP and Quake where everyone hops around shooting and reloading (FUGLY)

All this time I thought the purpose of the skulk was to be sneaky, clever, and ambush people. They tell you not to go in to fight. Meanwhile that is all I see the pros doing?

Maybe it is because sneaking doesnt get you anywhere except dead. Countless times I will be patient and sneak up to a marine and bite him on the back twice only to have said marine HOP INTO OBLIVION, do a 180 degree turn and drain a couple bullets into me to kill me instantly!! Now Im sure one of the developers wanted this implemented so that he can have the upper hand in both range and close combat.

Is it the intention of the developers to make the skulk a sneaky, ambushing assasin? Or are we supposed to do air strikes around marines biting, running, coming back for a second bite, running away, and then coming back for the third bite?

This is nonsense and doesnt work either. Maybe 1/4 attempts will score a kill on a solo marine but usually its bunny hopping marine reloading pistol in the air and shooting again, reloading pistol and shooting again. The skulk cant even see anything as his eyes are in his mouth! and even the ALIEN vision blinds you. Yeah you can see a marine from a distance but as soon as you get in close the marine starts to disappear!! Its like magic!

Again, this behavior looks like quake. humans dont act like that. Are these humans or Power-rangers?


So what is the intention of the developers for the skulk? Is it intended that you just die 3 times to get one kill if possible? Is it intended that you hop around non stop throughout the map just scouting and not fighting anything? Is it intended that skulks be stealthy assassins? I think that a marine camping in a corner with a shotgun (1 hit ko) more of a stealthy assassin or even a marine with a rifle. Yes I know the shotgun costs resources but I rather have a 1 hit weapon than just another 4 hit alien with more life or more maneuverability.


For me the funnest thing about AVP or NS2 is playing as an alien which can climb walls and ambush people for kills. This seems to not exist in this game as everything has turned into a hop around fest so the skulk cant bite you while you reload.


What am I suggesting? I suggest you figure out what is the point of the skulk. what is the proper combat maneuver for a skulk? yeah marine players will complain about how hard it is to aim and kill a skulk not realizing that it takes about half or less of your magazine to kill a skulk and you just need to hop around when they get near you and the skulk is forced to retreat because he CANNOT see you on his screen.

But hey I know its fun for marines to out range a skulk and out maneuver them at close range.


This is why I am leaving this game. This is supposed to be the funnest part of the game which is the early phase. But sadly it is just completely frustrating to play as a skulk. You cant see, you cant bite, you cant even ambush anything. You cant even stun someone you just landed on from the sealing. As soon as they realize you are there they will start the hoppity hop hop and kill you. Thats why as skulk it is 1 bite maybe 2 then retreat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! because you are dead if you dont.


I wont be responding to your comments as I am gone. Let me know when the skulks have purpose again and can actually kill a marine they just ambushed.

Oh and maybe give the skulks a similar 1 SHOT weapon upgrade like the shotgun so they can also do what they are intended to do and wait and kill unsuspecting marines. I dont care if aliens win most of the matches in the end. The whole way to victory is frustrating when you cant even 1v1 a marine after you have bit him twice on the back.

Comments

  • CyberKunCyberKun Join Date: 2013-02-02 Member: 182733Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    Marine movement being crazy good to a stupid degree is known. Hell, just the public win rate alone shows how big that thing alone was.
  • JektJekt Join Date: 2012-02-05 Member: 143714Members, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow
    Comparing marine strafe jump to Quake? C'mon.

    Yes, it's too much. I haven't found anyone that disagrees but it's not like it's unbeatable. Early game is still the greatest part of NS2 even if the average skulk is getting juked a little too easily at the moment.
  • Warforce17Warforce17 Join Date: 2013-09-12 Member: 188154Members
    Dear Vision305,

    with the new update I found playing skulk myself reallf frustrating, especially as skulk is my favorite alien to play. After practicing a little bit with the skulk, I managed to pull through this "slump" and I am having fun with the skulk. I am not pro so you might find this tip not useful but have you tried:
    1. Early game: After the two bites switch to parasite and hit for the kill? (Armor 0) [Works the other way around too]
    I find it also very useful to anticipate where your enemy might move and try to aim for this point.
    If that does not help just avoid the enocunter or overwhelm marines with numbers.
    Hope this helps,

    Warforce17

  • dragonmithdragonmith Join Date: 2013-02-04 Member: 182817Members, Reinforced - Diamond
    @Warforce17, you can use @ commands, as the notification which I cannot get rid of tells me every time I visit my profile tells me :P
  • hartrafthartraft Join Date: 2010-07-16 Member: 72468Members
    To me I think skulks are a pack animal. Good solo skulks, While very possible to have, can be inferior to a couple of skulks. It is a team game after all.

    As for the marines, I could see technology improving greatly and future soldiers would have some sort of mechanical armour that would increase their strength, speed, stamina etc.

    It's already in development...sort of :D
    http://hplusmagazine.com/2009/03/18/i-am-ironman/

  • HeatSurgeHeatSurge Some Guy Join Date: 2012-09-15 Member: 159438Members, Reinforced - Supporter
    Arguing realism in a PC game where space marines fight space aliens which feed on randomly ejaculating nodes spread out around arbitrarily circular space locations comprised of square rooms connected with corridors.

    10/10 would read again.

    The game is pretty much fine as it is. It has problems, but a lot of them stem from how to deal with difference in skill levels in-game.

    Got pæwnæd? Suck it up princess. And try again: smarter, faster, more accurate, better. Or leave. Your choice.

    The "make me win, this is stupid" whine isn't very productive or interesting to read. Everyone hears it on a daily basis in-game.
  • AsmodiesAsmodies Join Date: 2004-06-17 Member: 29353Members
    edited September 2013
    HeatSurge wrote: »
    Arguing realism in a PC game where space marines fight space aliens which feed on randomly ejaculating nodes spread out around arbitrarily circular space locations comprised of square rooms connected with corridors.

    10/10 would read again.

    The game is pretty much fine as it is. It has problems, but a lot of them stem from how to deal with difference in skill levels in-game.

    Got pæwnæd? Suck it up princess. And try again: smarter, faster, more accurate, better. Or leave. Your choice.

    The "make me win, this is stupid" whine isn't very productive or interesting to read. Everyone hears it on a daily basis in-game.

    That's cool and all but..... if you're just going to ignore every assertion the OP actually makes, you really don't need to post. I guess if you want to tell comp players that have an issue with how buffed the rine jump is to "l2p" and stop whining you're free to do so. You're also free to... well... make yourself look stupid.

    It's not about smarter faster or more accurate, on an even playing field marine > skulk right now in close range. Saying UWe has no earthly clue what they want the skulk to do or be is what the OP is asserting, and I think that's a really accurate assertion considering how many times the skulk vs marine dynamic has been changed by drastically altering basic mechanics.

    The OP was plenty productive. You, however, were not.
  • HeatSurgeHeatSurge Some Guy Join Date: 2012-09-15 Member: 159438Members, Reinforced - Supporter
    edited September 2013
    L2P.

    You can play skulk in different ways. If you want to ambush, distract, run at marines, they're all viable alternatives for different situations, or for your personal preference. I don't quite get what the whine is about at all. Except that every other patch seems to introduce some pretty fundamental changes into the game, which is a bit awkward one year after release, but #balance. It's a thing.

    In any case, you can just go lerk 2 minutes into the game if you don't like skulk. Easy "solution" to a non-problem.
  • AsmodiesAsmodies Join Date: 2004-06-17 Member: 29353Members
    I don't need to L2p, I do pretty well. I'm still against the absurd jump boost marines got and you've done absolutely nothing to provide an answer for marines being able to negate the advantage gained by ambushing. Again it's fine that you have an opinion, but it really doesn't seem like an informed one backed up by anything but "I *FEEL* like it's fine, l2p".

    From a design standpoint it doesn't make sense. UWE themselves designed skulks to be ambushers and discourage solo marines, this 1v1 potency reverses that concept entirely. They also built aliens around mobility and marines around range and again this buff reverses that design completely. Marines become just as potent in melee range as they are at their stated intended effectiveness range, which is mid to long. So the buff has removed the incentive to ambush and has removed the advantage of closing the distance which are both entirely against how these units were intended to function.

    The game is also not "fine", the only reason aliens are still holding on in win rate is not due to w0/a0 rine vs skulk still being balanced, it's entire because aliens get a lot of potency from later mid game and end game. If a marine team wins, which they do about half the time now, they do it in the first 10 minutes by stomping the skulks out in open combat, which they are more capable of doing than ever. If aliens win it's usually around the 20 minute mark, and if they don't end it there marines turtle until 40+ minutes.

    If you're just going to lean on "l2p" when that's not even relevant to the assertions being made, then again, you're not being productive to the conversation.
  • HeatSurgeHeatSurge Some Guy Join Date: 2012-09-15 Member: 159438Members, Reinforced - Supporter
    edited September 2013
    Asmodies wrote: »
    I don't need to L2p, I do pretty well.

    You sure bræ? Because it sounds to me like you're having some personal issues with shutting down marines when ambushing and with winning against late-game aliens.

    Just a suggestion: It might be good to think about what you're doing wrong, observe people who play better than you, and generally try to do better. That is, if you care.

    Demanding to UWE to in effect "decrease the skill ceiling" (don't you just love that phrase) is kind of counter-productive to the entire game, isn't it?

    I mean, that's what you "competitive" players who "Don't need to L2P" want, right? Skulks that move really fast, marines that move really fast, everything that moves really fast, really high skill ceiling, really high reaction times, really high expectations, really high damage weapons, everything really high? Why not jumps? :-)

    And instead of abusing næbs, you're here complaining about it? I don't get it...
  • AchillesAchilles Join Date: 2013-04-20 Member: 184907Members
    This guy.

    Look dude, he's right. It's an artificial, forced way to try and balance something when there are other, and better, ways to do it that don't literally handicap a lifeform and change it's intended purpose. You don't 'balance' something by forcing players to use a lifeform in a certain way, this being a mob-zergling style team rush to ever overcome any marines, and propose that as some sort of solution to a problem. Skulks are designed to sneak and ambush, but now even the best-planned ambush with great aim is still shut down by mechanics, and there isn't a damned thing the player can do about it, regardless of how "good" they are.

    It's bad game design, and UWE should know better by now. You obviously can't recognize that, and just keep insisting that the op must be a terrible player instead. This problem has been obvious to everyone but you since reinforced came out, let me be the one to break it to you.
  • BeigeAlertBeigeAlert Texas Join Date: 2013-08-08 Member: 186657Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Squad Five Silver, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Diamond, Reinforced - Shadow, Subnautica Playtester, Pistachionauts
    Achilles wrote: »
    This guy.

    Look dude, he's right. It's an artificial, forced way to try and balance something when there are other, and better, ways to do it that don't literally handicap a lifeform and change it's intended purpose. You don't 'balance' something by forcing players to use a lifeform in a certain way, this being a mob-zergling style team rush to ever overcome any marines, and propose that as some sort of solution to a problem. Skulks are designed to sneak and ambush, but now even the best-planned ambush with great aim is still shut down by mechanics, and there isn't a damned thing the player can do about it, regardless of how "good" they are.

    It's bad game design, and UWE should know better by now. You obviously can't recognize that, and just keep insisting that the op must be a terrible player instead. This problem has been obvious to everyone but you since reinforced came out, let me be the one to break it to you.

    You're absolutely right! Next update, marines will have double jump.
  • ZaggyZaggy NullPointerException The Netherlands Join Date: 2003-12-10 Member: 24214Forum Moderators, NS2 Playtester, Reinforced - Onos, Subnautica Playtester
    That's one way to ragequit, closing topic as OP won't be returning.
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