In my experiences finding a game that isn't "cancerous" with a matchmaking system is a billion times harder than with a browser.
You have to click play now, pray you get into a good server, back out when it's a crap server, then click play now again, and repeat that process like 20 times minimum.. Then you might be placed in a decent game..
I know I'm the minority as most gamers these days don't care if it's 900 ping and full of toxic hackers.. If they clicked play now and got put into a game they're happy..
I just wondered.. So that's enough derailing, back on topic..
I'd be happy if they just tweaked the bars to remove the tracking assist at this point.
I'd be really curious to hear your thoughts on the "play now" implementation in ns2. I think ultimately the experience comes down to the quality of the implementation, and most of them probably aren't that good. If it picks a server similar to what you would pick yourself, then it's a huge time saver, but if it doesn't it's really frustrating if there isn't a server browser as a fallback. Give it a try a few times and see if it doesn't change your mind.
A ranking system alone probably has a chance of increasing the number of toxic players in a community. People get to wear their rank like a badge of honor... and it usually causes artificially inflated egos. But if you pair that with a good matchmaking system where you are only matched with players in your rank... then it starts to matter less. NS2 failed in that sense since they allowed this elo number to be visible to the public and didn't have any sort of matchmaking to work in conjuncture with it. If they kept it hidden and only used it for shuffle and 'play now'... it would have been better.
People get to wear their rank like a badge of honor... and it usually causes artificially inflated egos. [...] If they kept it hidden and only used it for shuffle and 'play now'... it would have been better.
OT but no, the scoreboard per-player Hive skill should not be hidden. The display should be opt-in, or barring that at least opt-out like the badges they show up alongside.
(Don't even make it possible, though, to turn off scoreboard per-team Hive skill. Several server ops when given this gun are apparently happy to shoot off their own feet.)
I was hiding behind a wall near marine spawn (shipping on Tram, in tunnels), where nobody ever looks at when exiting, obviously not in range of obs, dude spawned and walked out of base already aimed at me and killed me right away. I, of course, screamed "OMG HAXXX!!!11", but he explained that he saw my healthbar when spawning.
This sucks.
I was hiding behind a wall near marine spawn (shipping on Tram, in tunnels), where nobody ever looks at when exiting, obviously not in range of obs, dude spawned and walked out of base already aimed at me and killed me right away. I, of course, screamed "OMG HAXXX!!!11", but he explained that he saw my healthbar when spawning.
This sucks.
I was hiding behind a wall near marine spawn (shipping on Tram, in tunnels), where nobody ever looks at when exiting, obviously not in range of obs, dude spawned and walked out of base already aimed at me and killed me right away. I, of course, screamed "OMG HAXXX!!!11", but he explained that he saw my healthbar when spawning.
This sucks.
If that is true that is a bug.
I recall one time when I was spawning in Warehouse, I saw healthbar of skulk in a vent under it. So it must be true.
If Counter Strike had health bars it wouldn't be as bad as it is in NS2. If Counter Strike had a built in wall hack you could turn on or off then it would be as bad not to mention ruining the look of the game. Good thing CS didn't want to make it easier for everyone.
That is unintended behavior. You should only see health bars while for a short while after you damaged an enemy. The health bars will also dissappear when the enemy goes behind cover.
Do you have any reproduction steps? A video would be perfect.
That this has not only been considered for implementation, but implemented, pushed, then not reverted despite outcry is just depressing. I get back from a long trip away from home, fire up my desktop to play ns2 and find that casual/stubborn/crazy people have taken over NS2 development.
If i could take back my 3 extra purchases and donations to this game i would, because just the prospect of UWE letting this go down is extremely shitty.
I could imagine health bar being shown only to the commanders. MAX. But I think it should be removed altogether.
EDIT:
Regarding the rifle butt comments:
Yes, I see more buttkills (haha) since HP bars and it's fun! But that's the only pro. It could be substituted with a simple effect which tags an alien for the attacker when he has really low health (adjusted by class). But not by displaying the exact amount of health
Leap actually had alot of damage hidden in it if you could land it all haha
I'm sorry, what?
Leap had damage?
GoldSrc Natural Selection. And it indeed had unintentional hidden damage as in you could for example bugdamage a resource tower down to 0HP within a few seconds if at the correct angle to keep pushing forward against your target. Negating the one hit damage and actually doing continuous damage based on servertick/framerate. I recall it never being truly fixed right, just significantly harder?
How acceptable would you find the alternative where for example crosshair colour indicates a rough estimate of target's HP? Let's say some parts of crosshair go from green to red as the target's health goes down. If you're not hitting any identifiable target, the crosshair damage indicators are either invisible or appear just plain white or whatever the default colour is.
It doesn't allow the HP baiting tactics and such that rely on completely hidden HP info, but it removes the visual target location aid almost completely and reduces HUD clutter in general. Would that be an acceptable compromise or still a total fun killer?
How acceptable would you find the alternative where for example crosshair colour indicates a rough estimate of target's HP? Let's say some parts of crosshair go from green to red as the target's health goes down. If you're not hitting any identifiable target, the crosshair damage indicators are either invisible or appear just plain white or whatever the default colour is.
It doesn't allow the HP baiting tactics and such that rely on completely hidden HP info, but it removes the visual target location aid almost completely and reduces HUD clutter in general. Would that be an acceptable compromise or still a total fun killer?
How acceptable would you find the alternative where for example crosshair colour indicates a rough estimate of target's HP? Let's say some parts of crosshair go from green to red as the target's health goes down. If you're not hitting any identifiable target, the crosshair damage indicators are either invisible or appear just plain white or whatever the default colour is.
It doesn't allow the HP baiting tactics and such that rely on completely hidden HP info, but it removes the visual target location aid almost completely and reduces HUD clutter in general. Would that be an acceptable compromise or still a total fun killer?
Still terrible.
Agreed, but still better.
Essentially, I think the current implementation is worse than terrible
Comments
It reminds me when the stoopids flags appeared above heads in Day OF Defeat when they went retail.
I'd be really curious to hear your thoughts on the "play now" implementation in ns2. I think ultimately the experience comes down to the quality of the implementation, and most of them probably aren't that good. If it picks a server similar to what you would pick yourself, then it's a huge time saver, but if it doesn't it's really frustrating if there isn't a server browser as a fallback. Give it a try a few times and see if it doesn't change your mind.
(Don't even make it possible, though, to turn off scoreboard per-team Hive skill. Several server ops when given this gun are apparently happy to shoot off their own feet.)
Ignore the desires of 77% of the community.
This sucks.
I recall one time when I was spawning in Warehouse, I saw healthbar of skulk in a vent under it. So it must be true.
Do you have any reproduction steps? A video would be perfect.
If i could take back my 3 extra purchases and donations to this game i would, because just the prospect of UWE letting this go down is extremely shitty.
EDIT:
Regarding the rifle butt comments:
Yes, I see more buttkills (haha) since HP bars and it's fun! But that's the only pro. It could be substituted with a simple effect which tags an alien for the attacker when he has really low health (adjusted by class). But not by displaying the exact amount of health
Pfft, I used to do those regularly before you got spoonfed information about the enemy's health
@Frozen remember leap kills, now those were epic... I was told we can't have them
I'm sorry, what?
Leap had damage?
GoldSrc Natural Selection. And it indeed had unintentional hidden damage as in you could for example bugdamage a resource tower down to 0HP within a few seconds if at the correct angle to keep pushing forward against your target. Negating the one hit damage and actually doing continuous damage based on servertick/framerate. I recall it never being truly fixed right, just significantly harder?
Beware:
...\half-life\ns\sprites\640aw1.spr
...\half-life\ns\sound\weapons\leaphit1.wav
...\half-life\ns\sound\weapons\leapkill.wav
It doesn't allow the HP baiting tactics and such that rely on completely hidden HP info, but it removes the visual target location aid almost completely and reduces HUD clutter in general. Would that be an acceptable compromise or still a total fun killer?
Still terrible.
I'd buy that in a split second.
We'd get the info and enhance the immersion without providing any kind of hack.
Agreed, but still better.
Essentially, I think the current implementation is worse than terrible
It's worrible ?