<!--quoteo(post=1863868:date=Jul 27 2011, 02:50 PM:name=firepower)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (firepower @ Jul 27 2011, 02:50 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1863868"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->My grenades killed me every time<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Yeah, the Grenade Launcher is like suicide, did they not find out this in a testmatch?
<!--quoteo(post=1863899:date=Jul 27 2011, 12:23 PM:name=Price)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Price @ Jul 27 2011, 12:23 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1863899"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Yeah, the Grenade Launcher is like suicide, did they not find out this in a testmatch?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I love how half of you complain we don't get patches fast enough, and then the other half (or the same half who knows?) complain when there are bugs in the patches.
The GL issue has been identified and Flayra said he fixed it. If it's that annoying, don't buy a GL until 183 comes out in a week or so.
QuovatisTeam InversionJoin Date: 2010-01-26Member: 70321Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue
What's even more annoying is that you automatically swap out your shotgun for a GL when you run over one. If you are already carrying a weapon that is not the vanilla rifle, you should not pick it up!
<!--quoteo(post=1863755:date=Jul 26 2011, 09:36 PM:name=Arkanti)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Arkanti @ Jul 26 2011, 09:36 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1863755"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I've never seen a whip kill a marine. Ever. Nerfing its damage output doesn't seem necessary.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> <!--quoteo(post=1863760:date=Jul 26 2011, 10:02 PM:name=MaGicBush)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (MaGicBush @ Jul 26 2011, 10:02 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1863760"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Honestly that's true haha, if anything it should probably be increased a small amount since com cannot build defense structures.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Honestly if this isn't a joke then this is terrible logic. The code itself doesn't work right to begin with, so whether or not it deals sufficient damage as part of gameplay balance is largely irrelevant.
You can't properly address the balance issue, or even identify the change as a nerf, with the code broken. With the Whip using the same damage calculations as the other entities, it would factor in Melee upgrades, which would actually buff it, not nerf it. I suppose damage absorption would be a "nerf", but if it ends up being weaker, the problem then is that it doesn't deal enough damage to begin with.
<!--quoteo(post=1863899:date=Jul 27 2011, 12:23 PM:name=Price)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Price @ Jul 27 2011, 12:23 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1863899"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Yeah, the Grenade Launcher is like suicide, did they not find out this in a testmatch?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> It deals 175 damage, even without the Structural multiplier. I'm not sure why anyone is surprised. IMO bumping the Structural multiplier to 400% (previously 200%) and toning down the damage of all attacks that deal Structural damage such that their DPS against Structures is unchanged would help to prevent this.
<!--quoteo(post=1863918:date=Jul 27 2011, 12:25 PM:name=KuBaN)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (KuBaN @ Jul 27 2011, 12:25 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1863918"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Honestly if this isn't a joke then this is terrible logic. The code itself doesn't work right to begin with, so whether or not it deals sufficient damage as part of gameplay balance is largely irrelevant.
You can't properly address the balance issue, or even identify the change as a nerf, with the code broken. With the Whip using the same damage calculations as the other entities, it would factor in Melee upgrades, which would actually buff it, not nerf it. I suppose damage absorption would be a "nerf", but if it ends up being weaker, the problem then is that it doesn't deal enough damage to begin with.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Huh? It is a melee defensive structure, so I don't see that it would matter if it got upgraded with melee weapons(works like this in a lot of strategy games as well). And I just said I agree that it's damage is indeed weak at the moment and could use a slight buff, nothing was said about nerfing it..
<!--quoteo(post=1863923:date=Jul 27 2011, 01:46 PM:name=MaGicBush)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (MaGicBush @ Jul 27 2011, 01:46 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1863923"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Huh? It is a melee defensive structure, so I don't see that it would matter if it got upgraded with melee weapons(works like this in a lot of strategy games as well). And I just said I agree that it's damage is indeed weak at the moment and could use a slight buff, nothing was said about nerfing it..<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Sorry, I don't understand your statement about it being a melee defensive structure. Regarding the second statement, notice I quoted 2 individuals in my response: it wasn't entirely aimed at you, but it looked like you were agreeing with Arkanti, whom I was responding to, so I included your post as well.
Played 182 for several hours last night. Gameplay was ok. Marines seemed to have the upper hand vs. aliens but I don't discount our simply sucking.
Does anyone else experience video issues after ALT-TAB? I see a black screen and there are "out of memory" errors in the console. I have to restart to retore. Seems like this was an issue from long ago that was fixed, or at least that's what I found searching forums & getsatisfaction.. I did have to drop the video quality down to "medium" and reduce the res to 1024x768 to get the game to load in less than 3 minutes.
XPsp3 all patched in 32bit mode. 2G RAM Core2Duo @ 3.2. GeForce 220 w 1G.
ScardyBobScardyBobJoin Date: 2009-11-25Member: 69528Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow
<!--quoteo(post=1863800:date=Jul 27 2011, 12:06 AM:name=Asraniel)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Asraniel @ Jul 27 2011, 12:06 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1863800"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->what is that new exploit? has it been submitted somewhere?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Not going to post how to do it (I believe its been sent to UWE already), but here is the result <a href="http://imgur.com/eje2h" target="_blank"><img src="http://i.imgur.com/eje2hl.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" /></a>
Imagine what NS2 will be like another year from now. Maybe, just maybe, we'll get 15 ticks a second late game and have 20 player servers, and be somewhere near the release of the Onos and occlusion culling optimization.
<!--quoteo(post=1863962:date=Jul 27 2011, 08:58 PM:name=peregrinus)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (peregrinus @ Jul 27 2011, 08:58 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1863962"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Did this patch really break the gameplay, or is it kinda broken yet still occasionally fun like 181?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Lerk is possibly worse than skulk, server lags horribly and the one I was just on crashed, and you can use cheats regardless of whether they're turned on.
Not sure if the hotfix actually broke more things than it fixed, but it'd be a close decision.
<!--quoteo(post=1863969:date=Jul 27 2011, 10:00 PM:name=Chris0132)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Chris0132 @ Jul 27 2011, 10:00 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1863969"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Lerk is possibly worse than skulk, server lags horribly and the one I was just on crashed, and you can use cheats regardless of whether they're turned on.
Not sure if the hotfix actually broke more things than it fixed, but it'd be a close decision.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--quoteo(post=1863965:date=Jul 27 2011, 10:36 PM:name=Raneman)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Raneman @ Jul 27 2011, 10:36 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1863965"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Imagine what NS2 will be like another year from now. Maybe, just maybe, we'll get 15 ticks a second late game and have 20 player servers, and be somewhere near the release of the Onos and occlusion culling optimization.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> I certainly hope it won't take another year just to accomplish that...
30-ticks constantly (almost) regardless of game-activity should be the minimum, competitive-play will require more. As for the occlusion-culling, as long as it's not working proper, ns2_tram will not find it's way into the map-rotation I'd reckon.
<!--quoteo(post=1863965:date=Jul 27 2011, 08:36 PM:name=Raneman)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Raneman @ Jul 27 2011, 08:36 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1863965"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Imagine what NS2 will be like another year from now. Maybe, just maybe, we'll get 15 ticks a second late game and have 20 player servers, and be somewhere near the release of the Onos and occlusion culling optimization.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Almost exactly a year ago the NS2 alpha was first released. I would ask that you take another look at how far the game has come since then in a year's time, and then re evaluate your statement.
Fix the bug with structures ASAP, people are trolling servers and crashing them constantly. If you can't fix it revert to a previous version if you can because this is just annoying. :/
<!--quoteo(post=1863987:date=Jul 27 2011, 06:11 PM:name=Autoshot)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Autoshot @ Jul 27 2011, 06:11 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1863987"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Fix the bug with structures ASAP, people are trolling servers and crashing them constantly. If you can't fix it revert to a previous version if you can because this is just annoying. :/<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
roll back because <i>you</i> are not having fun? don't be selfish. one man's grief is another man's pleasure.
<!--quoteo(post=1863990:date=Jul 27 2011, 06:15 PM:name=DJPenguin)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (DJPenguin @ Jul 27 2011, 06:15 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1863990"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->roll back because <i>you</i> are not having fun? don't be selfish. one man's grief is another man's pleasure.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Not every man's pleasure has to be another man's grief, though.
<!--quoteo(post=1863980:date=Jul 27 2011, 10:38 PM:name=Squeal_Like_A_Pig)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Squeal_Like_A_Pig @ Jul 27 2011, 10:38 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1863980"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Almost exactly a year ago the NS2 alpha was first released. I would ask that you take another look at how far the game has come since then in a year's time, and then re evaluate your statement.
--Cory<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Well, strictly speaking, from memory in one year we've got 1 new lifeform, phase gates and arcs, and the game has gone from just about functional on rockdown to just about functional on tram, oh and we had flamethrowers introduced in a very half-assed form.
In contrast, it crawls during lategame, and the weapons/lifeforms are rather incomplete/unbalanced.
So saying that in another year we'll have maybe nearly complete features and maybe tolerable latency isn't actually that inaccurate if you do take another look at how far the game has come, because how far it's come is just about far enough to get it maybe feature complete in another year, if you discount balance and the hordes of new issues that will probably come up in the meantime.
For more than that you kind of have to assume that this year will go much quicker than the last, which is possible I suppose, one would assume the more you do this development the better at it you get, but looking at previous progress lends more weight to the assertion than anything.
um it might be because i was playing around with the lua, but can anyone else confirm that you can pick up and shoot marine weapons as a skulk if you have parasite selected? I did a fresh reinstall of ns2 and its still happening :x
<!--quoteo(post=1863999:date=Jul 27 2011, 06:27 PM:name=Chris0132)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Chris0132 @ Jul 27 2011, 06:27 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1863999"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Well, strictly speaking, from memory in one year we've got 1 new lifeform, phase gates and arcs, and the game has gone from just about functional on rockdown to just about functional on tram, oh and we had flamethrowers introduced in a very half-assed form.
In contrast, it crawls during lategame, and the weapons/lifeforms are rather incomplete/unbalanced.
So saying that in another year we'll have maybe nearly complete features and maybe tolerable latency isn't actually that inaccurate if you extrapolate.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> I typically agree with your typically objective analysis, but I think this statement is severely biased. You fail to mention plenty of other things that have improved, like the general gameplay balance, the infestation mechanic, server AND client performance HAS increased DRAMATICALLY for many of us whether it has affected you or not, as has the pathing system despite the hiccups we've seen along the way, that 1 new lifeform has seen quite a bit of iteration, as has the Skulk and Lerk.
Whether the mechanics are perfect is somewhat irrelevant at this stage; the majority of this game has gone through major changes, and will continue to do so.
Yes, the Flamethrower is pretty lackluster, as are the Whip upgrades (Frenzy, Swarm), and for everything they fix, they break something else, but to say that this game hasn't seen a lot of progress in a year is absurd.
It has improved yes, but it's still not very good, it's gone from unusable to bad, which is a significant improvement, but it has far more to go I think than it has already gone.
So like I said, 'maybe ok' is not a bad estimate for a year's time.
Yes there's been lots of redoing things, we've had several different iterations of lots of things, but all that says is that you need several iterations in order to get something useable out at the end, fade has only recently become anything approaching balanced and fun for both sides, so it took a year to get the fade in and sort of balanced, therefore it will presumably take a year to get the onos in and sort of balanced, just as it will take a year to get another major performance improvement which you're going to need and more in order to get a playable game all the way through, going by previous experience anyway.
Lots of progress made, far more progress needed. I would be genuinely surprised if the game is done by this time next year. Pleasantly so, but still surprised.
<!--quoteo(post=1863999:date=Jul 27 2011, 06:27 PM:name=Chris0132)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Chris0132 @ Jul 27 2011, 06:27 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1863999"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Well, strictly speaking, from memory in one year we've got 1 new lifeform, phase gates and arcs, and the game has gone from just about functional on rockdown to just about functional on tram, oh and we had flamethrowers introduced in a very half-assed form.
In contrast, it crawls during lategame, and the weapons/lifeforms are rather incomplete/unbalanced.
So saying that in another year we'll have maybe nearly complete features and maybe tolerable latency isn't actually that inaccurate if you do take another look at how far the game has come, because how far it's come is just about far enough to get it maybe feature complete in another year, if you discount balance and the hordes of new issues that will probably come up in the meantime.
For more than that you kind of have to assume that this year will go much quicker than the last, which is possible I suppose, one would assume the more you do this development the better at it you get, but looking at previous progress lends more weight to the assertion than anything.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Sounds like you can work on the game better than the Devs can. Sweet, so why don't you apply to UWE and get right to work on the game! Then it'll be twice as fast because obviously the Devs aren't actually doing anything at all.
And while you're at it, <!--coloro:#FF8C00--><span style="color:#FF8C00"><!--/coloro--><b>feel free to compliment me on my restraint from making personal insults against others. Join me in keeping this thread civil. -aero</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->.
If it takes that long it takes that long, you can't exactly make it go faster by wishing it. I'm just saying it does seem like it will take another year or so to get the game finished. UWE are obviously working on it because they release semi-regular patches full of changes.
Although if you felt like paying me to do levels I would actually do that, spark editor is a pleasant change from source, I like not having to compile for an hour just to test lighting, scaling props is also lovely, and the people/person doing the models is way better at modular design than valve is. I doubt UWE has the money to do that though.
Should also mention Flash has been replaced with Lua, a new binding-system for Lua is in place, and hopefully Max is pretty far with a better (read: actually working) method of occlusion-culling. All that rests now is a proper performance-improvement for Lua (yet again) by a factor of, say, at least 10.
After that, if no new architectural changes are made to the engine (or dumb decisions corrected), progress on the game should be quite a bit faster than what we've been seeing this year.
SewlekThe programmer previously known as SchimmelJoin Date: 2003-05-13Member: 16247Members, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Gold, Subnautica Developer
im spending currently alot of time reading through ns2 lua code. there are so many features already written, but just not active. Their engine and structuring is really nice, its so easy and fast to change behavior of weapons or anything else. if uwe wanted, ns2 would already be feature complete. but guess what would happen? the amount of bug reports would be overwhelming, and the amount of code to check even more. its wise to activate just part of it, balancing and fixing bugs in the core gameplay at first, and after that its just a matter of few lines like "[kTechDataImplemented] = true"
<!--quoteo(post=1864004:date=Jul 27 2011, 06:37 PM:name=Chris0132)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Chris0132 @ Jul 27 2011, 06:37 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1864004"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->so it took a year to get the fade in and sort of balanced, therefore it will presumably take a year to get the onos in and sort of balanced, just as it will take a year to get another major performance improvement which you're going to need and more in order to get a playable game all the way through, going by previous experience anyway.
Lots of progress made, far more progress needed. I would be genuinely surprised if the game is done by this time next year. Pleasantly so, but still surprised.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> A lot of the progress systemically affects the game. While a lot of the balance is going back and forth, Max is making improvements to the engine that he will not have to spend the same amount of time re-working, so you can't really go, "Well, it took us a year to get this far, therefor it will take another year to make twice that progress." That isn't really how it works.
I'm not arguing whether or not the game will be out in a year, or two, or three, because honestly it doesn't matter to me; as long as they have the funding to keep doing it, I'm having a much more enjoyable time watching this game develop than I did "participating" in any of Blizzard or any other companies limited Beta testing process.
Comments
Yeah, the Grenade Launcher is like suicide, did they not find out this in a testmatch?
I love how half of you complain we don't get patches fast enough, and then the other half (or the same half who knows?) complain when there are bugs in the patches.
The GL issue has been identified and Flayra said he fixed it. If it's that annoying, don't buy a GL until 183 comes out in a week or so.
<!--quoteo(post=1863760:date=Jul 26 2011, 10:02 PM:name=MaGicBush)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (MaGicBush @ Jul 26 2011, 10:02 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1863760"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Honestly that's true haha, if anything it should probably be increased a small amount since com cannot build defense structures.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Honestly if this isn't a joke then this is terrible logic. The code itself doesn't work right to begin with, so whether or not it deals sufficient damage as part of gameplay balance is largely irrelevant.
You can't properly address the balance issue, or even identify the change as a nerf, with the code broken. With the Whip using the same damage calculations as the other entities, it would factor in Melee upgrades, which would actually buff it, not nerf it. I suppose damage absorption would be a "nerf", but if it ends up being weaker, the problem then is that it doesn't deal enough damage to begin with.
<!--quoteo(post=1863899:date=Jul 27 2011, 12:23 PM:name=Price)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Price @ Jul 27 2011, 12:23 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1863899"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Yeah, the Grenade Launcher is like suicide, did they not find out this in a testmatch?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
It deals 175 damage, even without the Structural multiplier. I'm not sure why anyone is surprised. IMO bumping the Structural multiplier to 400% (previously 200%) and toning down the damage of all attacks that deal Structural damage such that their DPS against Structures is unchanged would help to prevent this.
You can't properly address the balance issue, or even identify the change as a nerf, with the code broken. With the Whip using the same damage calculations as the other entities, it would factor in Melee upgrades, which would actually buff it, not nerf it. I suppose damage absorption would be a "nerf", but if it ends up being weaker, the problem then is that it doesn't deal enough damage to begin with.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Huh? It is a melee defensive structure, so I don't see that it would matter if it got upgraded with melee weapons(works like this in a lot of strategy games as well). And I just said I agree that it's damage is indeed weak at the moment and could use a slight buff, nothing was said about nerfing it..
Sorry, I don't understand your statement about it being a melee defensive structure. Regarding the second statement, notice I quoted 2 individuals in my response: it wasn't entirely aimed at you, but it looked like you were agreeing with Arkanti, whom I was responding to, so I included your post as well.
Does anyone else experience video issues after ALT-TAB? I see a black screen and there are "out of memory" errors in the console. I have to restart to retore. Seems like this was an issue from long ago that was fixed, or at least that's what I found searching forums & getsatisfaction.. I did have to drop the video quality down to "medium" and reduce the res to 1024x768 to get the game to load in less than 3 minutes.
XPsp3 all patched in 32bit mode. 2G RAM Core2Duo @ 3.2. GeForce 220 w 1G.
Not going to post how to do it (I believe its been sent to UWE already), but here is the result
<a href="http://imgur.com/eje2h" target="_blank"><img src="http://i.imgur.com/eje2hl.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" /></a>
Also, if spammed enough it can crash the server.
Lerk is possibly worse than skulk, server lags horribly and the one I was just on crashed, and you can use cheats regardless of whether they're turned on.
Not sure if the hotfix actually broke more things than it fixed, but it'd be a close decision.
Not sure if the hotfix actually broke more things than it fixed, but it'd be a close decision.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
meh, I'll skip this one ¬ .¬
I certainly hope it won't take another year just to accomplish that...
30-ticks constantly (almost) regardless of game-activity should be the minimum, competitive-play will require more. As for the occlusion-culling, as long as it's not working proper, ns2_tram will not find it's way into the map-rotation I'd reckon.
Almost exactly a year ago the NS2 alpha was first released. I would ask that you take another look at how far the game has come since then in a year's time, and then re evaluate your statement.
--Cory
roll back because <i>you</i> are not having fun? don't be selfish. one man's grief is another man's pleasure.
Not every man's pleasure has to be another man's grief, though.
It's not only structures, I saw the fade model spammed just like that... 100 times in a line...
The bite exploit in 181 was fun - this isn't :(
--Cory<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Well, strictly speaking, from memory in one year we've got 1 new lifeform, phase gates and arcs, and the game has gone from just about functional on rockdown to just about functional on tram, oh and we had flamethrowers introduced in a very half-assed form.
In contrast, it crawls during lategame, and the weapons/lifeforms are rather incomplete/unbalanced.
So saying that in another year we'll have maybe nearly complete features and maybe tolerable latency isn't actually that inaccurate if you do take another look at how far the game has come, because how far it's come is just about far enough to get it maybe feature complete in another year, if you discount balance and the hordes of new issues that will probably come up in the meantime.
For more than that you kind of have to assume that this year will go much quicker than the last, which is possible I suppose, one would assume the more you do this development the better at it you get, but looking at previous progress lends more weight to the assertion than anything.
I did a fresh reinstall of ns2 and its still happening :x
In contrast, it crawls during lategame, and the weapons/lifeforms are rather incomplete/unbalanced.
So saying that in another year we'll have maybe nearly complete features and maybe tolerable latency isn't actually that inaccurate if you extrapolate.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I typically agree with your typically objective analysis, but I think this statement is severely biased. You fail to mention plenty of other things that have improved, like the general gameplay balance, the infestation mechanic, server AND client performance HAS increased DRAMATICALLY for many of us whether it has affected you or not, as has the pathing system despite the hiccups we've seen along the way, that 1 new lifeform has seen quite a bit of iteration, as has the Skulk and Lerk.
Whether the mechanics are perfect is somewhat irrelevant at this stage; the majority of this game has gone through major changes, and will continue to do so.
Yes, the Flamethrower is pretty lackluster, as are the Whip upgrades (Frenzy, Swarm), and for everything they fix, they break something else, but to say that this game hasn't seen a lot of progress in a year is absurd.
Sir.
So like I said, 'maybe ok' is not a bad estimate for a year's time.
Yes there's been lots of redoing things, we've had several different iterations of lots of things, but all that says is that you need several iterations in order to get something useable out at the end, fade has only recently become anything approaching balanced and fun for both sides, so it took a year to get the fade in and sort of balanced, therefore it will presumably take a year to get the onos in and sort of balanced, just as it will take a year to get another major performance improvement which you're going to need and more in order to get a playable game all the way through, going by previous experience anyway.
Lots of progress made, far more progress needed. I would be genuinely surprised if the game is done by this time next year. Pleasantly so, but still surprised.
In contrast, it crawls during lategame, and the weapons/lifeforms are rather incomplete/unbalanced.
So saying that in another year we'll have maybe nearly complete features and maybe tolerable latency isn't actually that inaccurate if you do take another look at how far the game has come, because how far it's come is just about far enough to get it maybe feature complete in another year, if you discount balance and the hordes of new issues that will probably come up in the meantime.
For more than that you kind of have to assume that this year will go much quicker than the last, which is possible I suppose, one would assume the more you do this development the better at it you get, but looking at previous progress lends more weight to the assertion than anything.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Sounds like you can work on the game better than the Devs can. Sweet, so why don't you apply to UWE and get right to work on the game! Then it'll be twice as fast because obviously the Devs aren't actually doing anything at all.
<a href="http://www.unknownworlds.com/jobs/" target="_blank">http://www.unknownworlds.com/jobs/</a>
Have fun.
And while you're at it, <!--coloro:#FF8C00--><span style="color:#FF8C00"><!--/coloro--><b>feel free to compliment me on my restraint from making personal insults against others. Join me in keeping this thread civil. -aero</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->.
If it takes that long it takes that long, you can't exactly make it go faster by wishing it. I'm just saying it does seem like it will take another year or so to get the game finished. UWE are obviously working on it because they release semi-regular patches full of changes.
Although if you felt like paying me to do levels I would actually do that, spark editor is a pleasant change from source, I like not having to compile for an hour just to test lighting, scaling props is also lovely, and the people/person doing the models is way better at modular design than valve is. I doubt UWE has the money to do that though.
After that, if no new architectural changes are made to the engine (or dumb decisions corrected), progress on the game should be quite a bit faster than what we've been seeing this year.
The occlusion culling thing has been going a while, maybe it'll make a big difference.
Lots of progress made, far more progress needed. I would be genuinely surprised if the game is done by this time next year. Pleasantly so, but still surprised.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
A lot of the progress systemically affects the game. While a lot of the balance is going back and forth, Max is making improvements to the engine that he will not have to spend the same amount of time re-working, so you can't really go, "Well, it took us a year to get this far, therefor it will take another year to make twice that progress." That isn't really how it works.
I'm not arguing whether or not the game will be out in a year, or two, or three, because honestly it doesn't matter to me; as long as they have the funding to keep doing it, I'm having a much more enjoyable time watching this game develop than I did "participating" in any of Blizzard or any other companies limited Beta testing process.