Well i guess regarding shotguns late is better than never, although i'd still like to see the maximum damage it can do reduced down to the NS1 damage (17). Whats changed since NS1 is that a lot more marines are going to be running around with shotguns since all they need the commander to do is research them, plus the fact that they do more damage than they originally did is what made them so OP.
Regarding the idea of a Fade having a quick short blink by double-tapping a direction: AWESOME! Do want, so bad.
Reminds me of a game I've been checking out called Vindictus. One of the classes has a short blink that can go through enemies, and is intended for melee combat/dodging. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wO0JZGNtlkk" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wO0JZGNtlkk</a>
Having short (but still energy-intensive) blinks is a lot of fun. I just think the energy cost of any blink, short or long, should primarily come from entering blink itself. Er...
Let's say hypothetically a "long" blink costs 40% max energy. I think even the shortest blink possible should then cost 20-30%. The primary cost of Blink comes from entering blink, where how long you stay is only a short addition onto that cost. This keeps a limit on how much a fade could spam blink, yet doesn't penalize people who use well-placed, planned blinks, even if they're long-distance.
About the Flamethrower/DI area denial, please please give flames a definite duration and perhaps let Umbra put out flames on lifeforms, buildings and infestation (as suggested by many and on getsatisfaction)
There's nothing more annoying than a Spray'n'Pray Marine running into alien spawn and lighting everything up, causing the very ground to also light players up for a random amount of time.
<!--quoteo(post=1848658:date=May 26 2011, 04:04 PM:name=Quovatis)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Quovatis @ May 26 2011, 04:04 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1848658"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->The problem with shotguns is mostly the structure damage it does, not so much against lifeforms.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
This. ATM it became very difficult to kill a Fade in 1on1 with a shotgun, because the alien armor update is now working properly. Sure progamers still have no problem, but the average gamer (like me) has hard times against a fade. In fact, I find myself more often use the standart rifle against Fades because I don't have to go into the range of the fades claws to do damage..
<!--quoteo(post=1848631:date=May 26 2011, 02:13 PM:name=Papayas)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Papayas @ May 26 2011, 02:13 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1848631"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I hate the armoury! It removes the commanders roles in supplying his marines with weapons. The commander is only good for giving you ammo and med packs. ^ That should NOT be the issue.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Why not? I think if somebody desn't listen to the commander he will find himself quickly out of ammo or injured. Without the help of the commander he will be dead meat. Besides, you can't force players to teamplay. If somebody wants to go rambo, he will go rambo. With or without better weapons. In my opinion players will quickly notice that they don't win and don't live long if they don't teamplay. Means either they will start or they will go play some other (deatchmatch) games.
<!--quoteo(post=1848629:date=May 26 2011, 02:07 PM:name=Squidget)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Squidget @ May 26 2011, 02:07 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1848629"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Sorry I'm late on commenting, but about this: <!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Btw, “metal†â€carbon†and “plasma†terms are officially gone (now just “team res†and “resâ€). Both are capped at 999.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Is literally how it's going to be? As a programmer who lives and dies on good naming, that strikes me as bad naming. It implies a subset relationship. Why not "personal res" or "solo res"? <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> I agree. Saying "I have 20 rescources" is equally to say "I have 20 money"... and that sounds just weird. The resourcetowers got names, so why not give the resource a name too? Granted, "Carbon" and "plasma" are not self-explanatory. But we can still say team-something or personal something.
Maybe "Gas units" (short GUs) or some name made up name like "Etarium" (I checked google, this name don't exist)
It would fit better in the whole backgroundstory. There is even the possibility to have another reason what for the 2 species are fighting, because both want the Etarium for themselves. Let's say Etarium is a gas which powers nanites and is also a essential gas for aliens, because they need it to evolve. (Because: Drifters evolve into buildings, so it make sense) . I put that into the <a href="http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/forums/index.php?showtopic=113564" target="_blank">ideas section</a>
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Think about resources for kills again.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> <a href="http://nooooooooooooooo.com/" target="_blank">Nooooooooo!</a>
Im my opinion there is a little to much Pros, isn't it?
Okay, maybe “In that early game hunting marines, if you could kill 7-10- because you got res for killing..." but on the other hand.......
I just love to attack the base over and over again in early game, to denial one or two marines to leave the base. If you enable RFK I would mor or less feed them.
Also progamers and good players will be rewarded even more. They stay longer alive as the average player an this have more res. If you give RFK they will even get more res, while the average player gets scolded because he feeds the other team with res. This will discourage new, casual and average players. besides, RFK just will make the players camp more.
Another disadvantage is is that the strategy of the commander and defending restowers is not essential anymore an this would benefit rambo-players.
<!--quoteo(post=1848700:date=May 27 2011, 01:47 AM:name=PsiWarp)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (PsiWarp @ May 27 2011, 01:47 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1848700"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->About the Flamethrower/DI area denial, please please give flames a definite duration and perhaps let Umbra put out flames on lifeforms, buildings and infestation (as suggested by many and on getsatisfaction)
There's nothing more annoying than a Spray'n'Pray Marine running into alien spawn and lighting everything up, causing the very ground to also light players up for a random amount of time.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I made a change to how this works.... So before it was a 10% chance to go out every game update. That was a little steep but we still wanted it to be semi "random" so now every 10 seconds or something it incs by 10% which means at best you are likely going to wait 50 sec. In testing it was rather short compared to whats on the live env at the moment.
As for the Flamethrower/DI are denial; I think it will work because we still wanted to the Flamethrower to be useful and so this allows it to have a role other than spray'n'pray and it may take some tweaking but I think in the end it will work out well.
If your adding res for kills back into the game then i urge you guys to wait until siege technology is added in the game as well, or to restrict it to Personal res only.
People have already discussed the fact that there is less and less incentive to expand, and i have always defended it by saying that without map control there is little to no recourse flow, still encouraging both teams to expand and control the only sources of recourses for the team, which was vital to gaining the upper hand in the long and grueling fights that came ahead.
However if you make killing players give team res then even capturing recourse nodes losses its valuableness, since the marines could stay in base, all get shotguns, and earn just as much if not more recourses then the aliens who put themselves and their structures at risk by expanding and spreading themselves thin across the map, which they should be awarded for and given the upper hand. Same goes for aliens who decide to build 4 crags and spam hydras in Alien start and immediatly get Hive mass for early fades since you don't need additional hives to get higher technology. Perhaps this won't be as bad when third tier technology comes in, so the Onos, and jetpacks and exosuits will finally break the stalemate at late game, but it is still a concern to me that camping in the starting base to rack up kills will produce enough recourses to counter-act controlling half the recourse nodes on the map.
Degrading the critical value of recourse nodes will diminish the last reason to expand across the map. Maybe i am making a deal about this but i don't want this game to shift from map control oriented to kill/death ratio oriented.
<!--quoteo(post=1848717:date=May 27 2011, 09:15 AM:name=wacko)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (wacko @ May 27 2011, 09:15 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1848717"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->we still wanted it to be semi "random" so now every 10 seconds or something it incs by 10% which means at best you are likely going to wait 50 sec. In testing it was rather short compared to whats on the live env at the moment.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> 50 seconds is an eternity in NS...
I'm not completely sure why it has to be random in the first place. Couldn't it be something determined by how long you've been flamed, maybe decreased by abilities like umbra and healing.
QuovatisTeam InversionJoin Date: 2010-01-26Member: 70321Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue
Flame duration is the most annoying part of the game for me atm! I find it totally ridiculous that a fade/lerk can effectively be taken out of the game for 50+ seconds by a half second of flamethrower damage. You have to sit at the hive and heal that whole time. Meanwhile, even if you killed the marine, they have time to respawn and sprint back to your hive while you're still on fire! The flame duration needs to be capped at 10-15 seconds max and should probably be a function of how much direct damage you took from the flamethrower or something to that effect.
<!--quoteo(post=1848752:date=May 27 2011, 10:21 AM:name=Bacillus)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Bacillus @ May 27 2011, 10:21 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1848752"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I'm not completely sure why it has to be random in the first place. Couldn't it be something determined by how long you've been flamed, maybe decreased by abilities like umbra and healing.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Artificial randomness should be frowned upon in a game like NS2.
There is plenty of "randomness" to go around by the very nature of the multiplayer fast action and complexity of the game.
What is randomness anyway? Some define it as <!--coloro:yellow--><span style="color:yellow"><!--/coloro-->a way of describing something about which you do not know all of the variables<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->. Since there are already way too many things you won't know about the current state of the round and the resulting possibilities from various dynamics including player skill and cats jumping on keyboards, it's not meaningful to add "extra" randomness.
SewlekThe programmer previously known as SchimmelJoin Date: 2003-05-13Member: 16247Members, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Gold, Subnautica Developer
i was not testing ns2 so much with flamethrower, and i am now really surprised that flame duration is random... i couldnt believe it at first. why is it random?? to add immersion or something?? i mean yeah, somehow its not predictable how long an object will burn, but one major factor which is influencing the duration it the heat: the longer you "flame" something, the hotter it gets and the longer it would burn. another big factor is of course the material/substance which is burning
it would prefer a more radical approach: limit burn duration to 5 seconds (5 ticks damage). the dot gets refreshed everytime you get hit by a flamethrower, and stacking it higher by some amount (needs tweaking).
<!--quoteo(post=1848752:date=May 27 2011, 10:21 AM:name=Bacillus)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Bacillus @ May 27 2011, 10:21 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1848752"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I'm not completely sure why it has to be random in the first place. Couldn't it be something determined by how long you've been flamed, maybe decreased by abilities like umbra and healing.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
An idea I'm playing with: The chance to catch fire from Flames increases as Armor% falls (from 0 - 35%, which doesn't sound like a lot, but it's checking every hit so the actual probability is quite high). So while you're keeping the flame on someone, they're chance to ignite increases, which makes more realistic sense and also rewards players for putting pressure on opponents (and preying on the weakened), not hitting and running.
<!--quoteo(post=1848795:date=May 27 2011, 06:51 PM:name=KuBaN)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (KuBaN @ May 27 2011, 06:51 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1848795"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->An idea I'm playing with: The chance to catch fire from Flames increases as Armor% falls (from 0 - 35%, which doesn't sound like a lot, but it's checking every hit so the actual probability is quite high). So while you're keeping the flame on someone, they're chance to ignite increases, which makes more realistic sense and also rewards players for putting pressure on opponents (and preying on the weakened), not hitting and running.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> I'd probably still try to do it without the randomness factor, but I quite like the idea of flames somehow interacting with the armor. It's at least one way to give the armor actual purpose in addition to the pure HP value and it also potentially gives flamethrower some more distinctive and detailed role rather than just being the spamthrower all around.
I don't think its that bad there are many many games that deploy this type of thing; we can change the time on how often it increments if it still feels too long. But in testing I have not felt it was that long and I think it not always being the same is OK. I think with the DI changes it will give a little more reason to the flamethrower.
I think it will work out in the end you guys should just play the patch when it comes and see how it feels :P
QuovatisTeam InversionJoin Date: 2010-01-26Member: 70321Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue
edited May 2011
50 seconds is a very long time in a FPS game like NS2. I'm sorry, but I doubt you'll find any playtester that thinks that staying on fire for 50 seconds after a 1 sec encounter with a marine "isn't too bad". Go play a public game, and in a critical situation in the game, force yourself to go back to the hive and set a stopwatch for 50 sec. I mean you're almost better off just killing yourself and re-evolving. It would be quicker to get back to the action. Yes it's random, and when it's 10 seconds or so, nobody cares. It's the unlucky times when you get 30-50 sec wait times that is just ridiculous.
In fact, most players will sit still by a healing station of some sort until the flame goes out, effectively taking them out of the game - and a 50s duration would be worse than Devour ever was!
QuovatisTeam InversionJoin Date: 2010-01-26Member: 70321Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue
50 seconds is more than enough time for a group of 3 marines to take out a hive. All the marines have to do is light the fades on fire briefly and then laugh as they kill the hive while the fades sit somewhere trying to heal and get their energy back. Like I said, if you're going to keep the 50 sec flame, just go ahead and kill the alien. I for one would much rather just die and re-evolve than to sit at a hive and stare at the map for 50 secs as my team loses.
While I think that the length of burning is a bit excessive at </= 50 seconds, the main concern for me isn't damage to the lifeforms, but rather the energy drain.
It would help if reduced energy regen only applied from being flamed by the Flamethrower, and not just for being on fire. After all, the infestation on walls and floor will make you catch fire as well.
I think something like burn time for lifeforms = 10 seconds, causing about 60-70 damage over that time, (or possibly something like 20% of lifeform max health? Bigger lifeforms being bigger fires and such? Scales effectiveness) and structure burn time = 20-30 seconds doing say 200-300 damage, but that could be heavily reduced by crags / gorges healing over that time. That would be more reasonable.
I really don't like the random burn times, it feels buggy. Like the fire keeps going out early or not going out at all for no discernable reason. Just have it be a flat 10 seconds or so from the last time you were hit.
swalkSay hello to my little friend.Join Date: 2011-01-20Member: 78384Members, Squad Five Blue
edited May 2011
<!--quoteo(post=1848841:date=May 27 2011, 11:36 PM:name=Chris0132)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Chris0132 @ May 27 2011, 11:36 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1848841"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Just have it be a flat 10 seconds or so from the last time you were hit.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
QuovatisTeam InversionJoin Date: 2010-01-26Member: 70321Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue
I do like the random part, but the range should be much smaller. A random value between 5 and 15 seconds would be best. The current random number between 1 and 50 seconds is not fun at all.
That would be more obvious for new players. They would simply figure out that its 10 seconds after getting fired up a few times.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
It'd be more obvious for everyone, if I set something on fire I know it's going to be on fire for a while, so I know that if I can't see it, it left the area or died. Similarly, I know how long I have before it returns, more or less. As an alien, I know that if I disengage before a certain health threshold, I will survive.
Currently you can't rely on any of that, which means flamethrower marines have to just spam flame everywhere for fear the enemy might go out, and aliens have to kamikaze because there's no guarantee they will survive if they retreat.
You should not stay at fire at all. Only damage at direct contact. That way the flamer could be used like the lerk spore...make structures and DI burning to damage aliens trying to get through an area. And it would take more skill for marines to constantly aim at aliens for direct kills. And alien-playing would not suck that much when rines have flamethrowers. Being on fire really is annoying and not fun to play.
EDIT: DI on fire could be a real burning hell then. The visual effects would be awesome. And marines would not take damage from that, because of their suits or whatever.
<!--quoteo(post=0:date=:name=Flayra)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Flayra)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Think about resources for kills again.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--coloro:#FFFF00--><span style="color:#FFFF00"><!--/coloro-->Why just kills!?<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
Why not a resource multiplier that's determined by your SCORE instead of your KILLS. Reward players for being active participants, cooperators, etc. Kills are a contributor in score, which is no problem, but it shouldn't be the only way to measure a player's contribution to his team.
But only rewarding kills sort of forces the game to be about combat, instead of defending and assaulting, and building, and team-work and cooperation.
Comments
Reminds me of a game I've been checking out called Vindictus. One of the classes has a short blink that can go through enemies, and is intended for melee combat/dodging.
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wO0JZGNtlkk" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wO0JZGNtlkk</a>
Having short (but still energy-intensive) blinks is a lot of fun. I just think the energy cost of any blink, short or long, should primarily come from entering blink itself. Er...
Let's say hypothetically a "long" blink costs 40% max energy. I think even the shortest blink possible should then cost 20-30%. The primary cost of Blink comes from entering blink, where how long you stay is only a short addition onto that cost. This keeps a limit on how much a fade could spam blink, yet doesn't penalize people who use well-placed, planned blinks, even if they're long-distance.
OMG FTW
Resource cap should be 100 res as well, like NS.
There's nothing more annoying than a Spray'n'Pray Marine running into alien spawn and lighting everything up, causing the very ground to also light players up for a random amount of time.
This.
ATM it became very difficult to kill a Fade in 1on1 with a shotgun, because the alien armor update is now working properly. Sure progamers still have no problem, but the average gamer (like me) has hard times against a fade. In fact, I find myself more often use the standart rifle against Fades because I don't have to go into the range of the fades claws to do damage..
<!--quoteo(post=1848631:date=May 26 2011, 02:13 PM:name=Papayas)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Papayas @ May 26 2011, 02:13 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1848631"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I hate the armoury!
It removes the commanders roles in supplying his marines with weapons. The commander is only good for giving you ammo and med packs.
^ That should NOT be the issue.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Why not? I think if somebody desn't listen to the commander he will find himself quickly out of ammo or injured. Without the help of the commander he will be dead meat. Besides, you can't force players to teamplay. If somebody wants to go rambo, he will go rambo. With or without better weapons.
In my opinion players will quickly notice that they don't win and don't live long if they don't teamplay. Means either they will start or they will go play some other (deatchmatch) games.
<!--quoteo(post=1848629:date=May 26 2011, 02:07 PM:name=Squidget)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Squidget @ May 26 2011, 02:07 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1848629"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Sorry I'm late on commenting, but about this:
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Btw, “metal†â€carbon†and “plasma†terms are officially gone (now just “team res†and “resâ€). Both are capped at 999.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Is literally how it's going to be? As a programmer who lives and dies on good naming, that strikes me as bad naming. It implies a subset relationship. Why not "personal res" or "solo res"?
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I agree. Saying "I have 20 rescources" is equally to say "I have 20 money"... and that sounds just weird.
The resourcetowers got names, so why not give the resource a name too?
Granted, "Carbon" and "plasma" are not self-explanatory. But we can still say team-something or personal something.
Maybe "Gas units" (short GUs) or some name made up name like "Etarium" (I checked google, this name don't exist)
It would fit better in the whole backgroundstory. There is even the possibility to have another reason what for the 2 species are fighting, because both want the Etarium for themselves. Let's say Etarium is a gas which powers nanites and is also a essential gas for aliens, because they need it to evolve. (Because: Drifters evolve into buildings, so it make sense)
.
I put that into the <a href="http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/forums/index.php?showtopic=113564" target="_blank">ideas section</a>
Armoury should not give marines Jetpacks and E.X.O Suits. That should be the commanders jobs.
<a href="http://nooooooooooooooo.com/" target="_blank">Nooooooooo!</a>
Im my opinion there is a little to much Pros, isn't it?
Okay, maybe “In that early game hunting marines, if you could kill 7-10- because you got res for killing..." but on the other hand.......
I just love to attack the base over and over again in early game, to denial one or two marines to leave the base.
If you enable RFK I would mor or less feed them.
Also progamers and good players will be rewarded even more. They stay longer alive as the average player an this have more res. If you give RFK they will even get more res, while the average player gets scolded because he feeds the other team with res.
This will discourage new, casual and average players.
besides, RFK just will make the players camp more.
Another disadvantage is is that the strategy of the commander and defending restowers is not essential anymore an this would benefit rambo-players.
There's nothing more annoying than a Spray'n'Pray Marine running into alien spawn and lighting everything up, causing the very ground to also light players up for a random amount of time.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I made a change to how this works.... So before it was a 10% chance to go out every game update. That was a little steep but we still wanted it to be semi "random" so now every 10 seconds or something it incs by 10% which means at best you are likely going to wait 50 sec. In testing it was rather short compared to whats on the live env at the moment.
As for the Flamethrower/DI are denial; I think it will work because we still wanted to the Flamethrower to be useful and so this allows it to have a role other than spray'n'pray and it may take some tweaking but I think in the end it will work out well.
People have already discussed the fact that there is less and less incentive to expand, and i have always defended it by saying that without map control there is little to no recourse flow, still encouraging both teams to expand and control the only sources of recourses for the team, which was vital to gaining the upper hand in the long and grueling fights that came ahead.
However if you make killing players give team res then even capturing recourse nodes losses its valuableness, since the marines could stay in base, all get shotguns, and earn just as much if not more recourses then the aliens who put themselves and their structures at risk by expanding and spreading themselves thin across the map, which they should be awarded for and given the upper hand. Same goes for aliens who decide to build 4 crags and spam hydras in Alien start and immediatly get Hive mass for early fades since you don't need additional hives to get higher technology. Perhaps this won't be as bad when third tier technology comes in, so the Onos, and jetpacks and exosuits will finally break the stalemate at late game, but it is still a concern to me that camping in the starting base to rack up kills will produce enough recourses to counter-act controlling half the recourse nodes on the map.
Degrading the critical value of recourse nodes will diminish the last reason to expand across the map. Maybe i am making a deal about this but i don't want this game to shift from map control oriented to kill/death ratio oriented.
50 seconds is an eternity in NS...
Agreed. I feel like an additional 10% every 5 or 6 seconds would make a lot more sense. Guess we'll just have to see how it plays out.
Artificial randomness should be frowned upon in a game like NS2.
There is plenty of "randomness" to go around by the very nature of the multiplayer fast action and complexity of the game.
What is randomness anyway? Some define it as <!--coloro:yellow--><span style="color:yellow"><!--/coloro-->a way of describing something about which you do not know all of the variables<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->. Since there are already way too many things you won't know about the current state of the round and the resulting possibilities from various dynamics including player skill and cats jumping on keyboards, it's not meaningful to add "extra" randomness.
it would prefer a more radical approach: limit burn duration to 5 seconds (5 ticks damage). the dot gets refreshed everytime you get hit by a flamethrower, and stacking it higher by some amount (needs tweaking).
An idea I'm playing with: The chance to catch fire from Flames increases as Armor% falls (from 0 - 35%, which doesn't sound like a lot, but it's checking every hit so the actual probability is quite high). So while you're keeping the flame on someone, they're chance to ignite increases, which makes more realistic sense and also rewards players for putting pressure on opponents (and preying on the weakened), not hitting and running.
I'd probably still try to do it without the randomness factor, but I quite like the idea of flames somehow interacting with the armor. It's at least one way to give the armor actual purpose in addition to the pure HP value and it also potentially gives flamethrower some more distinctive and detailed role rather than just being the spamthrower all around.
I think it will work out in the end you guys should just play the patch when it comes and see how it feels :P
It would help if reduced energy regen only applied from being flamed by the Flamethrower, and not just for being on fire. After all, the infestation on walls and floor will make you catch fire as well.
I really don't like the random burn times, it feels buggy. Like the fire keeps going out early or not going out at all for no discernable reason. Just have it be a flat 10 seconds or so from the last time you were hit.
<!--coloro:#00FF00--><span style="color:#00FF00"><!--/coloro--><b>+1</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
That would be more obvious for new players. They would simply figure out that its 10 seconds after getting fired up a few times.
That would be more obvious for new players. They would simply figure out that its 10 seconds after getting fired up a few times.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
It'd be more obvious for everyone, if I set something on fire I know it's going to be on fire for a while, so I know that if I can't see it, it left the area or died. Similarly, I know how long I have before it returns, more or less. As an alien, I know that if I disengage before a certain health threshold, I will survive.
Currently you can't rely on any of that, which means flamethrower marines have to just spam flame everywhere for fear the enemy might go out, and aliens have to kamikaze because there's no guarantee they will survive if they retreat.
EDIT: DI on fire could be a real burning hell then. The visual effects would be awesome. And marines would not take damage from that, because of their suits or whatever.
<!--coloro:#FFFF00--><span style="color:#FFFF00"><!--/coloro-->Why just kills!?<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
Why not a resource multiplier that's determined by your SCORE instead of your KILLS. Reward players for being active participants, cooperators, etc. Kills are a contributor in score, which is no problem, but it shouldn't be the only way to measure a player's contribution to his team.
But only rewarding kills sort of forces the game to be about combat, instead of defending and assaulting, and building, and team-work and cooperation.