Question: Who really WANTS to play alien?
DeKay
Join Date: 2009-06-08 Member: 67752Members
Join Date: 2009-06-08 Member: 67752Members
<div class="IPBDescription">Marines are always full....</div>Hey everyone,
I am posting this because a few days ago, a friend of mine and I were playing some rounds and NS2 and we really like to play marines. We always have to wait ours to join the Marines and while one of us is waiting in the Readyroom with 3 others who want to be marines too (and not aliens), my friend asked "Well obviously noone really wants to play aliens." And I thought to myself "Well, that is kind of true, I dont like playing aliens either." Dont get me wrong, I am not a newb who hates the concept, I love the asymmetry of the teams, I am an oldschool NS1 player and I loved playing aliens back then, but since NS2 I somehow never really enjoyed it.
I am not really sure about the real reasons behind this, but I think it is not up to me to exactly know them, because if it was that easy I would be an awesome gamedesigner... which Im definitely not. I just want to point some things out that could give some people some food for thought:
I dont really enjoy being an alien anymore, I dont like it becaue I dont really understand the whole thing. The exact who-does-what in the alien team, who is the commander, what does he do and why, all that is not really clear to me. I know, you can read about it and you can ask ppl about it, but I am sure, many players dont understand the alien team on the deepest level, because it is not intuitive. It is not the complexity that makes it confusing, it is the way it is designed, so ... well... unnatural.
In NS1 it was easy, you had 3 hives, some alien fighting classes and the gorge- he could build everything.
Now there are the fighting aliens again, the commander (who builds hives and the support buildings) and the gorge (who builds cysts and hydras). Do Gorges and commanders have a shared tactic? Do they need to work together? And if so - do they really do it? I am not sure and ingame I dont see much communication on the alien side happening that could tell me the answer.
I think right now something is really wrong with the general concept of the alien team because most players WANT to play marine and not alien. Many only play aliens because otherwise they could not play at all because the marines are full.
tl;dr: Somehow everyone wants to play marine, nobody wants to play alien - Aliens should be more fun to play!
I am posting this because a few days ago, a friend of mine and I were playing some rounds and NS2 and we really like to play marines. We always have to wait ours to join the Marines and while one of us is waiting in the Readyroom with 3 others who want to be marines too (and not aliens), my friend asked "Well obviously noone really wants to play aliens." And I thought to myself "Well, that is kind of true, I dont like playing aliens either." Dont get me wrong, I am not a newb who hates the concept, I love the asymmetry of the teams, I am an oldschool NS1 player and I loved playing aliens back then, but since NS2 I somehow never really enjoyed it.
I am not really sure about the real reasons behind this, but I think it is not up to me to exactly know them, because if it was that easy I would be an awesome gamedesigner... which Im definitely not. I just want to point some things out that could give some people some food for thought:
I dont really enjoy being an alien anymore, I dont like it becaue I dont really understand the whole thing. The exact who-does-what in the alien team, who is the commander, what does he do and why, all that is not really clear to me. I know, you can read about it and you can ask ppl about it, but I am sure, many players dont understand the alien team on the deepest level, because it is not intuitive. It is not the complexity that makes it confusing, it is the way it is designed, so ... well... unnatural.
In NS1 it was easy, you had 3 hives, some alien fighting classes and the gorge- he could build everything.
Now there are the fighting aliens again, the commander (who builds hives and the support buildings) and the gorge (who builds cysts and hydras). Do Gorges and commanders have a shared tactic? Do they need to work together? And if so - do they really do it? I am not sure and ingame I dont see much communication on the alien side happening that could tell me the answer.
I think right now something is really wrong with the general concept of the alien team because most players WANT to play marine and not alien. Many only play aliens because otherwise they could not play at all because the marines are full.
tl;dr: Somehow everyone wants to play marine, nobody wants to play alien - Aliens should be more fun to play!
Comments
I am posting this because a few days ago, a friend of mine and I were playing some rounds and NS2 and we really like to play marines. We always have to wait ours to join the Marines and while one of us is waiting in the Readyroom with 3 others who want to be marines too (and not aliens), my friend asked "Well obviously noone really wants to play aliens." And I thought to myself "Well, that is kind of true, I dont like playing aliens either." Dont get me wrong, I am not a newb who hates the concept, I love the asymmetry of the teams, I am an oldschool NS1 player and I loved playing aliens back then, but since NS2 I somehow never really enjoyed it.
I am not really sure about the real reasons behind this, but I think it is not up to me to exactly know them, because if it was that easy I would be an awesome gamedesigner... which Im definitely not. I just want to point some things out that could give some people some food for thought:
I dont really enjoy being an alien anymore, I dont like it becaue I dont really understand the whole thing. The exact who-does-what in the alien team, who is the commander, what does he do and why, all that is not really clear to me. I know, you can read about it and you can ask ppl about it, but I am sure, many players dont understand the alien team on the deepest level, because it is not intuitive. It is not the complexity that makes it confusing, it is the way it is designed, so ... well... unnatural.
In NS1 it was easy, you had 3 hives, some alien fighting classes and the gorge- he could build everything.
Now there are the fighting aliens again, the commander (who builds hives and the support buildings) and the gorge (who builds cysts and hydras). Do Gorges and commanders have a shared tactic? Do they need to work together? And if so - do they really do it? I am not sure and ingame I dont see much communication on the alien side happening that could tell me the answer.
I think right now something is really wrong with the general concept of the alien team because most players WANT to play marine and not alien. Many only play aliens because otherwise they could not play at all because the marines are full.
tl;dr: Somehow everyone wants to play marine, nobody wants to play alien - Aliens should be more fun to play!<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I enjoy playing Aliens more than Marines because of the abilities the characters have. I am also a fairly decent alien commander(Which I would prefer being an alien commander over a Marine Commander). I do feel a need for the commander and the gorges to be on the same page. The Aliens also win more than the marines which also makes it more fun. :)
The alien team might be slightly more confusing if you're playing the game for the very first time since you won't know which class does what. That's not a problem on the marine side since that territory is already familiar for most of the people. Everyone knows what a shotgun or a rifle does and knows how to use them in a game.
I'd imagine a small in-game tutorial that explains the general mechanics for both teams would help a bit, but that's probably not very high on their list right now, especially since the game is still constantly changing.
About gorges and commanders - early game the gorge builds some cysts, since the commander will be short on energy as the hive does not start with much. As the game gets further, gorges are necessary to lock down rooms as whips don't do the job.
Late game, the bond ends. As gorges begin to support onos instead and bile bomb buildings. Commanders end up bored, replacing buildings lost to gernades and occasional harvester - some commanders produce whips to charge around with, and spam umbra and cloak. Others just leave the hive, and spend all their res on an onos and rampage.
I'll never get tired of lerkin' it up.
marines need to do stuff that isnt just shooting and often more team work in marines..
aliens often fly all over the place and only gorge actually do things other than attacking
However, I am a proud alien helper most of the time. Skulking it up w/ Parasite n ambushes, Gorging to help Khamm., Lerking to support and spore, you name it. What can I say, I like class-based shooters (TF2).
I think it's due to Kharaa gameplay being less polished than the Frontiersmen side, for both lifeforms and Commander alike.
(im sure alot of people will rage and argue with this comment but if you think about it its really true)
first off at least innital its more of a skill challenge to play marines -
youv gotta cover alot of ground on a slow character and the faster you move the more you make yourself open to ambushes, turning a corner into the mouth of an alien, and being attacked from some way your not defending anticipating
not to mention building while covering by yourself or even in a group is one of the hardest situations for a marine
now aliens deff has skill involved in staying alive but its pretty safe to to say at least early game as a skulk you can land some easy kills just by knowing the map where to hide and were to grap a free meal, somone reloading / someone building / someone with back turned/ cloaking
late game aliens usuly seem to be outnumbered 1 fade vs 5 marines isnt uncommon so theres more of a skilled alien side thing
marines = constant use of mouse high reaction Skill
marines = tracking skills
marines = precision aiming over distance
marines = perception skill, finding small enemies above below beside and behind you
alien skills = patience
alien skills = cunning
alien skills = movement
early game marines have more of a challenge imo
Overall though, there are many things that decide what team people pick, for instance I choose by:
1) If lots of good players go one team, I go the other (I love killing Treffnix, Skie, swalk, etc).
2) I choose the opposite team to annoying people (Who spend the game telling others what to do on voice chat, hi MPaC) as it is fun killing them.
3) If one team has lost a lot recently, I try and help the others win. I dislike seeing aliens, or marines, winning every game.
4) If one side is obviously underpowered in a patch, I will play that more (As it will be the most difficult to win in clan matches).
I random select every game that I'm not scrimming because anything else would feel dirty.
I random select every game that I'm not scrimming because anything else would feel dirty.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I random as well :(
but somehow I always end up on Aliens, even when the bloody teams are even!!!@#!@#!#$@#@#$ I'm looking at you Brian!
qft. although, if i go marine i'd prefer to command... but i actually prefer to command on either side. meh.
As a new player who hasn't played NS1 in years, I have to say I definitely agree. I don't hate playing aliens at all but it's not as fun playing a team you don't fully understand. Even some of the simple mechanics have confused me.
For example, the skulk not being able to leap without 2 hives. I wasn't sure if it was a bug/upgrade issue/etc when I first noticed that only occasionally I could leap. These things aren't really crucial, just confusing which can become off putting for some. Of course asking someone quickly cleared up this problem.
But even not fully understanding what some of the alien abilites do (although most are pretty basic) is also a challenge. I don't mind asking others and experimenting myself but I'm afraid I'm hindering the team in the process.
Being that its beta I'm sure they will have more "tutorial" type options soon enough but I can definitely understand some of the frustration.
and i love playing aliens, often moreso than marines.
For example, the skulk not being able to leap without 2 hives. I wasn't sure if it was a bug/upgrade issue/etc when I first noticed that only occasionally I could leap. These things aren't really crucial, just confusing which can become off putting for some. Of course asking someone quickly cleared up this problem.
But even not fully understanding what some of the alien abilites do (although most are pretty basic) is also a challenge. I don't mind asking others and experimenting myself but I'm afraid I'm hindering the team in the process.
Being that its beta I'm sure they will have more "tutorial" type options soon enough but I can definitely understand some of the frustration.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
This was a problem in NS1 as well, which is why all the people familiar with CS/Halo/whatever played marines exclusively.
At the end of the day, if you want to play this game you have to learn how the aliens work. Beware, though: once you get in that mindset it doesn't leave you. You'll sit down to play a team fortress game and only want to be the scout/spy, and that kind of thing.
I just hate the fact that I'm not helping my team as much because I don't know some of the mechanics completely just yet.
But here's to learning! : )
It's also easier to be useful, just go gorge and build stuff/spread infestation/heal people, or go lerk and hang out on the ceiling shooting at people, then wait for onos and run around smashing everything.
I like to play both, and enjoy feeling the difference between the sides.
What I like about Marines is they usually have a commander with voice comm, and they work together. It's fun as a marine to use all the different weapons and gadgets.
With aliens it's hit or miss. You might get a comm as active as the marine one, or you might just as often have to debate with the team who will comm. Most players do not want to play alien comm there's not much interesting to do as the alien comm, none of the structures are fun to use, in fact they feel useless, and infestation is tedious. Usually only half the alien team listens to the commander.
Aliens also lack lots of fun gadgets. You basically have one attack, which can make the classes feel repetitive especially when you're trying to destroy a structure. The onos is really enjoyable because it has 3 quite different attacks. I really enjoyed the gorge when hydras were useful. I find the lerk nice to fly around but spikes are boring, you can hardly even see them.
More people would play aliens if their attacks didn't feel so pathetic. You don't have a feeling of being a deadly beast that can rip a marine to shreds. It's more like a game of tag. You tag a marine by clicking your mouse when you're next to him, then if you timed it right a wiggly ragdoll will fall down with no signs of injuries, then it will vanish into thin air in seconds. There's no pay off.
I remember Charlie says he doesn't want gore and dismemberment but UWE need to make the aliens feel more potent. Only the Onos has that feeling with his awesome stomping sounds, the momentum, the brilliant attack animations and his sheer size.
UWE need to work more on making the aliens weird, creepy and violent, a counterpoint to the sleek, cool and polished marine side. As a lerk I wanna be able to fly into marines and mess them up Hitchcock's Birds style. I want the skulk to bite off marine armour, leave deep wounds, and chew their corpses for hp. I want the Fade to slice and dice them, send limbs flying before disappearing away.