The biggest killer to any game is bad balance.
Hashinshin
Join Date: 2004-09-06 Member: 31427Members
Join Date: 2004-09-06 Member: 31427Members
<div class="IPBDescription">And this game has bad balance.</div>Okay, you might remember me as Tauwarrior I played NS1 for several tends of thousands of hours. I played the everliving ###### out of fade to carry many an alien team to victory... WITH THAT SAID.
Aliens are undeniably atrociously weak right now. The nerfs on every single alien form (barring onos which nobody cares about) in combination with undeniable buffs to marines is simply too much. The game feels like it takes a miracle for aliens to win and their only real shot is a random IP rush and hoping the marines don't have 10 resources for a distress beacon.
With that said, I have a couple of suggestions in order to help out aliens. Note that these might sound drastic, but I think drastic needs to happen to balance out the two races. This game is NOT fit for launch right now as every friend I've tried to show the game has commented (individually with no push from me) that marines were so much more fun since aliens just suck. The win rate stats for each faction have shown *ABSURD* levels of imbalance.
1. Shotguns got a considerable buff since NS1. I don't think this is deniable. They are far more consistent AND have a longer deadly range. This would be fine if aliens got something similar, EXCEPT in combination with the rampant nerfs to everything aliens this just is too much. 2 shotgun shots to kill a fade is silly, and 1 to kill a lerk is outrageous. I think their damage needs to drop at least 10% with considerations in to 15 to 20%.
2. Lerks suck right now. Their spikes NEED to go up to 10 damage, and it would not be a bad good to put them up to 12 damage even. If a lerk can't out gun a simple marine who just spawned and has nothing more than the left mouse button then why even give them spikes? And the fact they lost ranged spammable gas took away all of alien's zoning power and all of their ranged presence. Lerk spikes MUST at LEAST be able to fight on par with a simple marine with an LMG.
3. Fade blink should be like 20% faster. Fades losing metabolize and regen being nerfed so heavily has made the old "in and out and in and out and in and out" strategy ... dead. You can't do it anymore. The problem is that fade "blink" is now also considerably slower and marines have gained much firepower due to the fact that shotguns are so much better.
4. Hitscans on melee weapons needs to be improved, range increased by ~10%. Anyone can attest to the fact that it's just simply HARD to hit marines, especially when they can use the pushback from a bite while jumping to be knocked out of melee range.
5. Lerks cost reduced to 25. Lerks have to be insanely more dangerous now than they ever had to be in NS1. In NS1 you could gas out of vents while regenerating and be doing your job perfectly. In NS2 you have to run between two shotguns to do your job properly. One of these things does not deserve to cost 30 resources (hint, it's the one that has a chance to die whenever it does its job.) Basically, lerks became a LOT more risky yet are not any more rewarding. Reduce their cost to compensate.
Lastly: Aliens should retain upgrades until changed. What does this mean? If you upgrade carapace and you die your next spawn has carapace. This will not change until your race loses carapace, or you personally change it to something else. Why? Multiple reasons, EVERY FRIEND I'VE HAD PLAY has expressed great annoyance at evolving on every spawn. It's not good gameplay to ANNOY your players. Two, skulks desperately need something to keep them not worthless past 10 minutes. The only real thing they're good at is swarming around a lone marine who might only kill 1 of them.
In conclusion: Please give aliens some sweeping buffs before launch. Nobody likes playing a poorly balanced game, and this game is poorly balanced.
Aliens are undeniably atrociously weak right now. The nerfs on every single alien form (barring onos which nobody cares about) in combination with undeniable buffs to marines is simply too much. The game feels like it takes a miracle for aliens to win and their only real shot is a random IP rush and hoping the marines don't have 10 resources for a distress beacon.
With that said, I have a couple of suggestions in order to help out aliens. Note that these might sound drastic, but I think drastic needs to happen to balance out the two races. This game is NOT fit for launch right now as every friend I've tried to show the game has commented (individually with no push from me) that marines were so much more fun since aliens just suck. The win rate stats for each faction have shown *ABSURD* levels of imbalance.
1. Shotguns got a considerable buff since NS1. I don't think this is deniable. They are far more consistent AND have a longer deadly range. This would be fine if aliens got something similar, EXCEPT in combination with the rampant nerfs to everything aliens this just is too much. 2 shotgun shots to kill a fade is silly, and 1 to kill a lerk is outrageous. I think their damage needs to drop at least 10% with considerations in to 15 to 20%.
2. Lerks suck right now. Their spikes NEED to go up to 10 damage, and it would not be a bad good to put them up to 12 damage even. If a lerk can't out gun a simple marine who just spawned and has nothing more than the left mouse button then why even give them spikes? And the fact they lost ranged spammable gas took away all of alien's zoning power and all of their ranged presence. Lerk spikes MUST at LEAST be able to fight on par with a simple marine with an LMG.
3. Fade blink should be like 20% faster. Fades losing metabolize and regen being nerfed so heavily has made the old "in and out and in and out and in and out" strategy ... dead. You can't do it anymore. The problem is that fade "blink" is now also considerably slower and marines have gained much firepower due to the fact that shotguns are so much better.
4. Hitscans on melee weapons needs to be improved, range increased by ~10%. Anyone can attest to the fact that it's just simply HARD to hit marines, especially when they can use the pushback from a bite while jumping to be knocked out of melee range.
5. Lerks cost reduced to 25. Lerks have to be insanely more dangerous now than they ever had to be in NS1. In NS1 you could gas out of vents while regenerating and be doing your job perfectly. In NS2 you have to run between two shotguns to do your job properly. One of these things does not deserve to cost 30 resources (hint, it's the one that has a chance to die whenever it does its job.) Basically, lerks became a LOT more risky yet are not any more rewarding. Reduce their cost to compensate.
Lastly: Aliens should retain upgrades until changed. What does this mean? If you upgrade carapace and you die your next spawn has carapace. This will not change until your race loses carapace, or you personally change it to something else. Why? Multiple reasons, EVERY FRIEND I'VE HAD PLAY has expressed great annoyance at evolving on every spawn. It's not good gameplay to ANNOY your players. Two, skulks desperately need something to keep them not worthless past 10 minutes. The only real thing they're good at is swarming around a lone marine who might only kill 1 of them.
In conclusion: Please give aliens some sweeping buffs before launch. Nobody likes playing a poorly balanced game, and this game is poorly balanced.
Comments
Nope. NEXT TOPIC.
i maek fahnee johk.
All kidding aside, I think alien balance has been noted to be horrible in Build 223 by 5+ threads already.
But I can relate to the reasoning for the changes you listed, such as a Lerk "doing it's job" yet is at a greater risk in doing so (I presume you're directing at the Lerk Spores requiring close proximity than the NS1 Lerk to be effective.)
Most importantly, movement is a significant trait for the Kharaa, most notably the Skulk. If they are not responsive enough against the Marines in movement, especially the strafe speed/response, then it'll be hard to fight against the TSF Marines, who have WAY better response in strafing and dodging.
I think one should address the fundamentals of movement first, THEN we can mess core-gameplay mechanics 2ND.
TL;DR:
TSF Marines = <!--coloro:#FF0000--><span style="color:#FF0000"><!--/coloro-->Matador<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
Kharaa (mostly Skulks) = Charging bulls (with <!--coloro:#DDA0DD--><span style="color:#DDA0DD"><!--/coloro-->roller blades<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->)
1. The main difference between NS1 and NS2 shotguns is the fact that in NS2, you can shoot it much faster.
If I remember correctly 2 shotgun blasts killed a fade without cara in NS1 as well.
2. We'll see how the lerk fares after 224.
3. Fades can easily retreat to a hive/gorge/crag healstation and get back in the action almost as fast as metabolize.
4. Glancing bite should help newer players till still do some damage till they can properly sync their bites to be proper full ones. Also, the bite range is still bigger than the one in NS1.
5. Maybe, depends on how the lerk gets buffed, but a weaker lerk that costs 20 or 25 res might be more interesting, especially for players that just died as a higher life form and want to back into the action as a support unit.
Pretty sure ya got that backwards
I upset one of the programmers, Sewlek , the other day in a PT by destroying him with it.. to make a point ofc. hehe :-D
The spread is barely larger than the default crosshair. The balance implications of this reach far and wide like a fat kid jumping in a knee high pool..
Right, all this waiting for 224 is getting to me.
Unlike the shotgun's spread! Heeeey-oooooooooooooooooooo