Fall of the lerk
alster
Join Date: 2003-08-06 Member: 19124Members
Join Date: 2003-08-06 Member: 19124Members
Anyone dying a lot playing as a lerk?
Lerks are supposed to be a support class, but are now horrible compared to the other support class the gorge.
The health bars have made marine targeting easy enough that meeting more than 1 marine is almost suicide. It cost 18 res plus 3, 6, or 9 res for upgrades vs 0 res cost marines. It's gotten so bad the PDT made spores a projectile. Bite is useless, because when you get close you can't fly away before they shoot you down. You would have to buff the lerk HP to fade levels, but a lerk is smaller than a skulk. I remember when the sky was full of lerks.
TDLR - Health bars killed the lerk.
Don't believe me? Try playing the lerk and report back with your experience.
Lerks are supposed to be a support class, but are now horrible compared to the other support class the gorge.
The health bars have made marine targeting easy enough that meeting more than 1 marine is almost suicide. It cost 18 res plus 3, 6, or 9 res for upgrades vs 0 res cost marines. It's gotten so bad the PDT made spores a projectile. Bite is useless, because when you get close you can't fly away before they shoot you down. You would have to buff the lerk HP to fade levels, but a lerk is smaller than a skulk. I remember when the sky was full of lerks.
TDLR - Health bars killed the lerk.
Don't believe me? Try playing the lerk and report back with your experience.
Comments
Please, where did you get these numbers?
I don't think I play lerk enough to comment from that perspective, but as a marine what I've noticed is:
Those that are silly enough to fly in straight lines for extended periods of time die just as quickly as they used to*
Those lerks that dodge, evade, bait, etc are not any easier to shoot*
The only advantage(?) I could think to say I've gained from healthbars is to the ability see exactly how low aliens are when they are escaping. But then, my behavior hasn't really changed much due to this, as I already could tell pretty well how low a lifeform was even before healthbars and would always seek to do as much damage as possible anyway.
*Disclaimer: with more time to play, my aim has improved independently of healthbars.
All the other classes are worth their time and res cost. Try the lerk and see how long your res lasts.
Lol. I always play lerk. Of course health bars are shit but they don't give marines weapons more damage than before.
And trying to solo 2 marines has always been suicide.
And FWIW, @Stark pretty much summarizes how I imagine the healthbars would impact my gameplay. Again, I haven't actually played since the healthbars, so take this perception with a grain of salt.
Could some of you explain why you dislike them so much, yet say they have minimal effect? Remember, I am not saying healthbars are good. I can do without them.
My reasons:
1. Gives the marine and alien information he shouldn't have w/o the commanders help, he shouldn't be able to hit 1 bullet and know the fade is engaging hurt, or a marine who engages with no armor. You shouldn't be able to know they're bluffing.
2. Makes focus fire much easier as a result. (This i can deal with but #1 is way too important and really screws you if you decide to take a risky chance)
If before, playing aggressive lerk with 180ping was okish, now its just a waste of pres.
I can't see where people say health bars affect gameplay in a minimal way?
Just scroll up. This guy for example:
Thank You!
#1 reason is spot on! Many people feign retreat as aliens, waiting for the marines to chase them then turn back to deliver a final blow. Com intelligence was also a crucial point in hunting lifeforms... and it required teamwork, which when properly executed was a huge satisfaction.
With the mentality the devs have recently I wouldn't be surprised if autoaim was introduced at some point.
All hail the Rookies!
You are right on this one, but I don't remember him as one of the more vocal opponents of health bars. But maybe I am mistaken here.
I think they are trying to make the game console ready, so auto aim is only a question of time.
I miss Flayra and Max
I haven't spoken for or against healthbars (or much at all, really), as I'm kind of indifferent towards them. That's not to say that I don't see why some people might have concerns with them. My comment above was just meant as a "hey, in my experience lerks/fades haven't really been affected by the addition of healthbars".
He is joking.
yea but then I wonder who Nordic referred too.
I'm so disappointed in the latest builds and their fixation on getting more players by making the game "easy", that I can imagine them changing the game to suit controllers...
Are you serious? I said earlier in another thread that while the PDT does listen to it's community, they just don't always understand (or don't try to). And here you are asking why exactly people dislike the HP bars, while tons of experienced veteran players have already explained it thoroughly like a dozen of times in threads all over. I'm a patient man, but I honestly don't know why I even try anymore.
All the PDT had to do was:
- Add better tutorials (explain how to walljump already ffs, groundskulking is what kills rookies, not the lack of HP bars)
- Incorporate a second gamemode that allows people to play different lifeforms in a much less punishing way (like Combat was perfect for, RIP).
- Implement all of NS2+ and most of the obvious improvements of the compmod. (at least they did that now, after pushing away the very people who made those mods)
- Make tons of skins
- Relaunch as F2P and pray
Instead they decided to go back to an open beta, pushing modders further away, delivering the final blow to the NSL, and turning long time supporters cynical by saying they've heard our concerns while they clearly didn't grasp the half of it.
At least this isn't like NS1 where you have to learn bunnyhopping which relies on arcing your mouse and excellent jump timings + constancy.
Wallhopping is teachable and can be done in one or a few days.
following the topic: read some reply from a dev(in other thread) saying with hp bars, your playstyle suppose to change. Which is true because the game now becomes very linear in otherwords very simple/easy.
as lerk:
When to fall back to hive:
Low hp
Group of marines
Shotguns
When to engage:
low hp marines(see from spikes)
small group
rifles equipped
marine's back facing you(this depends on your ping and marine's reaction time)
Its not like before HP bars where with skill you can still help with low HP because marines do not know how low you are unless there's communication within the team. Plus they can just trace the HP bars even though they did make changes on how HP bar will show.