<!--quoteo(post=1950891:date=Jul 12 2012, 06:38 AM:name=MzMz)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (MzMz @ Jul 12 2012, 06:38 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1950891"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->isn't the game supposed to be "feature complete" by now and be in "2 months of extensive refining and tuning" process?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Internally, it is feature complete. All gameplay features are in, even if they have graphical place-holders.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->-Alien vision now lowers energy regen rate.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I play 95% of the game with Alien Vision on. I don't see the point of this change. The benefits of Alien Vision outweigh the lowered energy regen rate.
<!--quoteo(post=1950893:date=Jul 12 2012, 01:11 AM:name=Doppy)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Doppy @ Jul 12 2012, 01:11 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1950893"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I play 95% of the game with Alien Vision on. I don't see the point of this change. The benefits of Alien Vision outweigh the lowered energy regen rate.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
This is a great change. Alien vision is a bright model hack and there needs to be a down side to it.
<!--quoteo(post=1950896:date=Jul 11 2012, 11:19 PM:name=mobetta)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (mobetta @ Jul 11 2012, 11:19 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1950896"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->This is a great change. Alien vision is a bright model hack and there needs to be a down side to it.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> I second that. The energy nerf isn't too drastic, and it forces you to be more strategic with your choices.
<!--quoteo(post=1950897:date=Jul 12 2012, 09:23 AM:name=TheIcarusKid)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (TheIcarusKid @ Jul 12 2012, 09:23 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1950897"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I second that. The energy nerf isn't too drastic, and it forces you to be more strategic with your choices.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Dont agree with that at all. Just a huge annoyance and a source of headaches that you have to keep flashing it on and off every two seconds.
<!--quoteo(post=1950875:date=Jul 11 2012, 11:27 PM:name=Squeal_Like_A_Pig)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Squeal_Like_A_Pig @ Jul 11 2012, 11:27 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1950875"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Oh no! All of the Australians? AND the Americans? Woops, we really messed up. Well, hopefully the Europeans still like us. --Cory<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
We Europeans always like it when you make Americans angry!
The AV change is really good, a nice, not too drastic, downside. Let's see how it's ingame.
Whats the "Feign death upgrade."? I wait for Build 215, hopefully you fix the flamethrower and jetpack's... Maybe don't trust your statistics, watch real public games, a bad player can even lost with a overpowered team.
Sr LanceRhythm is a LancerJoin Date: 2004-11-18Member: 32862Members, Constellation, Squad Five Blue
edited July 2012
<!--quoteo(post=1950879:date=Jul 11 2012, 11:40 PM:name=Security)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Security @ Jul 11 2012, 11:40 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1950879"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->The server web interface appears to be broken in 214. Can anyone confirm?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
- Devicenulls rcon web console has been implemented within this build, you will need to download the zip file on the URL below and extract the files to the webpath location. <a href="https://github.com/devicenull/ns2web" target="_blank">https://github.com/devicenull/ns2web</a>
B215 - should hopefully auto include the files
<b>More information on Dedicated Server Setup can be found below:</b> <a href="http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/wiki/index.php/Dedicated_Server" target="_blank">http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/wiki/inde...edicated_Server</a>
Haven't had a chance to test this one yet, but "Reduced fully-mature Hydra health by 12.5% and shifted some hit points into armor." - scares me a bit. Why are Hydras getting a nerf? They already are too weak.. why kick a dog that's already cringing?
<!--quoteo(post=1950898:date=Jul 12 2012, 02:28 AM:name=elmo9000)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (elmo9000 @ Jul 12 2012, 02:28 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1950898"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Dont agree with that at all. Just a huge annoyance and a source of headaches that you have to keep flashing it on and off every two seconds.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> This also sounds.. strange. How is this explained to the player (who didn't read this post I mean)? Also, why? The penalty of model highlighting is that you can't see as far and you have to activate it each time. So why are the player's being punished for using what is essentially.. inherent to their team. Will marines be getting some form of health drain when the flashlight is on? Sarcasm people, calm down. I'm definitely confused as to how this helps anything.
SecurityJoin Date: 2005-01-07Member: 33133Members, Constellation, Squad Five Blue
<!--quoteo(post=1950911:date=Jul 12 2012, 11:47 AM:name=Sr Lance)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Sr Lance @ Jul 12 2012, 11:47 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1950911"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->- Devicenulls rcon web console has been implemented within this build, you will need to download the zip file on the URL below and extract the files to the webpath location. <a href="https://github.com/devicenull/ns2web" target="_blank">https://github.com/devicenull/ns2web</a>
B215 - should hopefully auto include the files
<b>More information on Dedicated Server Setup can be found below:</b> <a href="http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/wiki/index.php/Dedicated_Server" target="_blank">http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/wiki/inde...edicated_Server</a><!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
The timing on wallhop was made more difficult, it is still quite powerful once you can get the timings correct, and extremely powerful in the right situations.
Alien Vision changes are something that is disagreed upon by many, and mainly it all comes down to most people are used to playing soley with it on almost all the time. While I do think that the current method of promoting limited use of Alien Vision doesnt work well, I do think that people should get used to playing with it off more, there needs to be tradeoffs for using it.
Maybe I'm just bad at wall jump but I was only able to get up to maybe 9-9.5 if I did everything right. The maps are already poorly setup for it geometry wise, it just seems like it takes 2 full rooms just to achieve a mere 1-2 speed increase and if you mess up or get unlucky once and hit some wonky geometry you lose all speed. Wall jumping seems as dead as it's ever been, but again maybe I'm just bad.
Wall jump seems overly punishing to vanilla skulk and hugely rewarding to leap skulk. I feel it should be the other way around..
<!--quoteo(post=1950941:date=Jul 12 2012, 02:24 PM:name=xDragon)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (xDragon @ Jul 12 2012, 02:24 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1950941"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Alien Vision changes are something that is disagreed upon by many, and mainly it all comes down to most people are used to playing soley with it on almost all the time.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> I use AV almost exclusively in melee combat and I still don't like the changes.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->While I do think that the current method of promoting limited use of Alien Vision doesnt work well, I do think that people should get used to playing with it off more, <b>there needs to be tradeoffs for using it</b>.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Why? Can you name a good reason?
<!--quoteo(post=1950941:date=Jul 12 2012, 12:24 PM:name=xDragon)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (xDragon @ Jul 12 2012, 12:24 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1950941"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I do think that people should get used to playing with it off more, there needs to be tradeoffs for using it.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Lack of hive-sight?
If there is no trade off, then you will just leave it on always. If that is the direction they wanted to go with the ability, it would need changes to the visual style.
Lack of hive-sight is a good tradeback, and I also think it should function more like heatvision, where you see organic targets like marines easily but structures are less visible. Either that or it could have a shorter view distance.
Walljump is difficult - probably overly so currently, but you are right where its very geometery dependant. Using it on docking is 100x easier than on summit. I do find myself powering up my speed a room or two before, as it is decently easy to maintain the speed once you have it.
<!--quoteo(post=1950962:date=Jul 12 2012, 11:55 PM:name=xDragon)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (xDragon @ Jul 12 2012, 11:55 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1950962"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->If there is no trade off, then you will just leave it on always. If that is the direction they wanted to go with the ability, it would need changes to the visual style.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> This is true - if the benefits outweigh the negatives in all situations, you will always leave it. The question we are asking however is why is this a bad thing? What is inherently bad about AV that it shouldn't always be the overall 'best choice' to leave it on?
1) Intended visual style and immersion? After playing a thousand games i really couldn't give a hoot about how pretty the textures and lighting look (although it is still quite a treat to look at them out of play). 2) Balance? Is AV too powerful when used constantly? I doubt it.
So why do we demand that AV needs a tradeoff? Its like opening microsoft word and having black coloured font come with the tradeoff of only being available in font size 1 and below because microsoft strangely wanted people to use colours other than functional black.
3) Depth. This is a reasonable arguement for AV tradeoffs. There is a line however and AV energy penalty are too intrusive and fiddly to warrant the additional 'depth'. If a simple RTS energy model or even pres hydra's are deemed too complicated, i don't see how you can justify AV tradeoffs like this.
Vortex is a neat effect, and can actually save marines from death if used incorrectly - but the trouble is that there is no way to counter it. You can be blink/shifted onto and vortexed. Maybe not allowing vortex in range of an obs? Or something to that effect. I don't see it going away so I think there really needs to be a way for marines to actually combat it.
Fades are way too strong and nearly unkillable if you know what you're doing (not to mention feign death.. more on that soon). I think they need to be a little bit easier to track and target when blinking, or return shift to having an energy cost or a cooldown on use. Currently you can spam shift and fly across rooms/maps for free. I am REALLY glad for the hp/carapcae buff they received though.
Feign death needs to be reworked. The dead body on the floor needs to be killable to finally finish them off. Currently the alien goes invisible and immune to all damage (I have tested it with point blank weapons). You can see their name still if you target them closely and you can see them moving with obs nearby - but they are not killable until they phase back in. This makes Fades completely invincible as you can blink while feigned.
Skulk early game took way too big of a hit. The slower movement combined with no leap for a good 5 minutes even with a very early/risky second hive makes most engagements a suicide. This devalues carapace which is a GOOD thing, but it was too big of an all around nerf. Losing full time alien vision is also an incredibly large skulk nerf as well. I think alien vision does need to change somehow to not be a 100% thing (I literally never turned it off before) - but for skulks it might need to be different. Or put it on an upgrade building to remove the energy regen loss with alien vision. It should definitely be a choice but its a key part of being an alien.
Jetpacks - Using alien vision drastically nerfs leap's effectiveness against jetpacks.
Gorges just still dont seem to be useful after about 8 minutes in any game.
<b>The good:</b>
The hit detection and server performance is definitely noticeable. (which by the way hurts skulks as well :P_)
The Lerk and Fade movement feels great. (but yeah the fade has way too much of it for free atm)
Bile bomb seems to be just right now.
Dropping your mines/welder and main weapon when dying is awesome - no more losing stacks of good secondary weapons.
The 2 tech points for jetpacks/leap is a great way to control the stages of the game. I think this opens the door to some new strategies in deciding whether you want to double TP early and go for those tier 2 objectives or try to grab more RT/map control first. It brings some early risk into the game which is a REALLY good thing to me.
Cyst changes are good but they have too much hp still when mature
<!--coloro:#9ACD32--><span style="color:#9ACD32"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Tech tied to techpoints - This works awesomely from what I've experienced thus far. Both teams have a mid-game goal to work towards protecting/killing that will set the other back.The timings are much smoother now as well, no more 1min leap, no more 5-6min jetpack. The early game is back ! It also balances Carapace a bit because it's now difficult to use effectively in the early game as a skulk (no leap cara skulks).
<!--coloro:#9ACD32--><span style="color:#9ACD32"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Adrenaline - this was badly needed for aliens. I think some energy values might need tweaking to consider it in mind (fade blink seems a bit much with adren) but it was definitely a solid addition
<!--coloro:#9ACD32--><span style="color:#9ACD32"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Blink/ leap changes feel pretty good, the removal of invulnerability for fade is especially good
<!--coloro:#9ACD32--><span style="color:#9ACD32"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Lerk speed (much more viable harass unit now vs. people who can aim- spores may not be completely suicidal)
<!--coloro:#9ACD32--><span style="color:#9ACD32"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Ink cloud, spike nerf and cyst nerf were all a good step
<!--coloro:#9ACD32--><span style="color:#9ACD32"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->The new UI additions (hive/chamber hud), I've missed them so much from NS1! The alien egg lifeform icons and debuffed marine HP color are awesome too.
<!--coloro:#9ACD32--><span style="color:#9ACD32"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->The implementation of Feint is pretty impressive(well aside a bug or two ;P), it had potential to be overpowered but UWE actually did it very well
<!--coloro:#FFA500--><span style="color:#FFA500"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Alien vision change seems overkill, as a fast paced melee class(es) I feel the simplification/ visual queues of it were pretty necessary to not find yourself confused sometimes. Especially because marines are pretty grey and most of the maps are pretty grey. "chaos of combat" and whatnot that flayra mentioned in one of the UWE videos, I think this one added negatively to that aspect. It also gives me a headache from all the flashing to effectively use it in combat because it needs to be toggled on and off so often.
<!--coloro:#FFA500--><span style="color:#FFA500"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Fade - I find fades pretty difficult to kill this patch because it's pretty hard to see them when they're blinking. The HP/blink change was awesome but I feel it would be more balanced if they were more visible while blinking. Currently it's very hard to track and predict something that you can't tell the orientation of and because of that I feel it's far too easy to live as a fade- especially with adrenaline since you can spam blink so much with it.
<!--coloro:#FFA500--><span style="color:#FFA500"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Prototype lab takes nearly as long as a Hive to heal up (but has only half the HP of one), was that a bug? I like the idea of the change but I feel like it's just too much time to sit there and weld. :/
<!--coloro:#FFA500--><span style="color:#FFA500"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Skulk Walljump feels pretty rigid now, it's incredibly difficult to use on some maps (not to mention nearly impossible to use at pings higher than 100). It seems to be overly difficult to use as vanilla skulk and hugely rewarding as a leap skulk- It's way too easy to keep leap momentum by wall jumping but incredibly hard to work up and sustain speed as a vanilla skulk.I feel it should be the other way around.
<!--coloro:#FFA500--><span style="color:#FFA500"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Lerk early game viability - with the nerf to Gas and Lerk Bite I think the lerk is very lacking in early game. At the moment no sane team will use one short of 2+ hives.
<!--coloro:#48D1CC--><span style="color:#48D1CC"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Make fade more visible while blinking- players need to be able to see the orientation of the model to be able to track/predict well.
<!--coloro:#48D1CC--><span style="color:#48D1CC"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Lerk Gas needs to either have its visibility obscuring back, or, most preferably the DPS of the Gas needs to go up because at the moment the bite is completely non-viable for anything really, and the Gas was his only staple that kept him useful short of 2 hive/spike research (and barely at that). And now it is not even the mild deterrent it once was, it is something that can be completely ignored.
<!--coloro:#48D1CC--><span style="color:#48D1CC"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Return skulk walljump to b12ish levels, I felt that it was much better last patch than it is now- it's fairly unusable on high ping and/or on select maps.
<!--coloro:#48D1CC--><span style="color:#48D1CC"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Make proto lab a bit easier to weld
<!--coloro:#48D1CC--><span style="color:#48D1CC"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Make Alien Vision more like it's former self. Alien vision is purely visual and I think the consequences of using it should be purely visual (right now it reduces combat effectiveness harshly). Dragon suggested structures be harder to see while using it, or others suggested maybe have the vision fall off at a certain distance so that you cannot see far away with it on. Or having Hivesight be disabled while using it is a good trade-off. Or Ryne's vision mod of only highlighting entities and leaving the green/greey backdrop out worked too. People used it all the time because it was necessary though, and conceptually having aliens be just as inhibited in dark environments as the marines are just makes no sense.
<!--quoteo(post=1950986:date=Jul 12 2012, 10:49 AM:name=rantology)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (rantology @ Jul 12 2012, 10:49 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1950986"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--><!--coloro:#9ACD32--><span style="color:#9ACD32"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->The new UI additions (hive/chamber hud), I've missed them so much from NS1! The alien egg lifeform icons and debuffed marine HP color are awesome too.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Can't believe I forgot this. I was so happy to see those hives back on my screen too! Although for some reason they were fading in and out of existence and seemed strangely placed over top of the voice prompts =p
Lerk gas DPS is actually higher than most people realize, and it does HP damage so armor upgrades dont do much against it. The bigger issue IMO is just the smallerish radius of the clouds.
Personally I think there is some issues this build with hit detection or more specifically the shotgun, which leads the fade to be more powerful than it really is. It seems that some shots almost completely disappear and do absolutely no damage, ive even had it happen when shooting structures. This is something that I am still trying to completly figure out.
Regarding Blink spam its not nearly as effective as you might think, as your pretty slow in blink without celerity. I actually prefer using shadowstep to run as you move faster with that, however I do think that you can blink too much with adren (the regen rate increase is pretty big).
Personally for me one of the biggest issues this patch is no pres when dead for aliens, as it makes the game very slippery slope for them as if you are not staying alive long enough as skulk you wont get fade till too late. If this kind of mechanic is to be kept I would rather see it be a static penalty per death, IE each death causes you to miss out on the next 2 pres ticks (numbers would need to be balanced). Having it be while dead penalizes the last player to die simply for being unlucky.
The hive icons fade out when nothing has changed recently and no hives are building... But yes there is some issues with the voicecomm indicators there too.
Regarding alien vision, I believe that it is too powerful in its current state without a trade-off. If you can run around with that ability on always, it makes any marine stick out waay to much. It completely removes the requirement to pay attention to your surrounding as aliens, and removes almost any chance of ambushing aliens as they can see you so easily with a simple mouse flick. The old NS1 style vision highlighted marines but didnt change the environment, which while making them more visible it still required some attention as they didnt stick out in the scene like marines do with the NS2 vision.
<!--quoteo(post=1950980:date=Jul 12 2012, 08:41 AM:name=Shaker)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Shaker @ Jul 12 2012, 08:41 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1950980"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Feign death needs to be reworked. The dead body on the floor needs to be killable to finally finish them off. Currently the alien goes invisible and immune to all damage (I have tested it with point blank weapons). You can see their name still if you target them closely and you can see them moving with obs nearby - but they are not killable until they phase back in. This makes Fades completely invincible as you can blink while feigned.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I think it's actually pretty balanced, neat for say onos or gorge. You cannot use any abilities currently for the ~3 seconds while Feint is active and the effect also snares you (no blink, leap, heal spray or bile- not even shadowstep or bellyslide nothing.. cant even fly as lerk). It has a 15 second cooldown I think.. It's not a "get out of jail free card" but something that will give you a few seconds to GTFO. If you over extend faint will not save you and as a marine you can look for it because you will not get a "+score" on your screen when they die.
<!--quoteo(post=1950993:date=Jul 12 2012, 09:11 AM:name=xDragon)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (xDragon @ Jul 12 2012, 09:11 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1950993"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Personally for me one of the biggest issues this patch is no pres when dead for aliens, as it makes the game very slippery slope for them as if you are not staying alive long enough as skulk you wont get fade till too late. If this kind of mechanic is to be kept I would rather see it be a static penalty per death, IE each death causes you to miss out on the next 2 pres ticks (numbers would need to be balanced). Having it be while dead penalizes the last player to die simply for being unlucky.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I hated RFD when it went in, and I still hate it just as much. :/ Xenocide wut?
You also don't get a +score on your screen when your buddy kills the alien. In practice I don't think the lack of +score is the red flag people are saying. You can tell by the upper corner kill spam, but that goes pretty fast in hectic combat. I think feign death's viability scales with the chaos of the firefight.
<!--quoteo(post=1950994:date=Jul 12 2012, 11:13 AM:name=rantology)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (rantology @ Jul 12 2012, 11:13 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1950994"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I think it's actually pretty balanced, neat for say onos or gorge. You cannot use any abilities currently for the ~3 seconds while Feint is active and the effect also snares you (no blink, leap, heal spray or bile- not even shadowstep or bellyslide nothing.. cant even fly as lerk). It has a 15 second cooldown I think.. It's not a "get out of jail free card" but something that will give you a few seconds to GTFO. If you over extend faint will not save you and as a marine you can look for it because you will not get a "+score" on your screen when they die.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
If you play against any decent to good player they will literally never die with feign death as a fade. You can just spam shift/blink and as soon as you pop out of feign, youre out of the room. Its a nice upgrade for a gorge that isn't game-breaking, but they aren't exactly a marine slaughtering nearly unkillable alien like a fade that can retreat in a second. As a skulk you can use those 3-4 seconds to actually walk, invincible, up to a person or structure and spam bite, immediately damaging them when you come out - I don't really think this is how its supposed to work.
Only one bad thing to say and that is the hang-ups when entering rooms. It doesn't seem to go away much with me. I entered the same room multiple times as a skulk in docking in the same game (alone, LAN) and I got a 1 second hang up each time. It could have been the entire room wasn't visible each time?
I love the new waypoint trail markings, they are much more obvious and the effect is great. It should help new players and those who haven't memorized the entire map tremendously.
I noticed the cloaking overlay/texturing effect is different. It's awfully bright -- I don't mind the pink color though, it's a nice color to throw in with that palette. It seems like it could be a bit more subtle in intensity. Also, structures become difficult to see with alien vision while cloaked, but maybe this is intended.
I noticed using slow movement and having cloaking on will let a small part of you be visible. I remember being able to stay completely cloaked before. Is it based on speed or has it been switched so that the slow movement makes you partially visible now?
The animated cool-down bar for things like spikes or mist would look really nice as a radial type gray-out. Much like you would see in skill icons for MMOs and stuff.
I like the changes to the lerk acceleration. It's nice not to have to press spacebar 10 times. I also noticed that roosting is a one button press now to stick. Not sure if that was added in this patch, but it makes it a lot easier to quickly attach to walls and ceiling and stick. Thank you!
Skulk leap seems a bit better, I'm glad. I don't notice issues with his speed and was never a fan of the wall jumping speed boost thing. Feign death seems to make you invisible/slowed after it initiates? How long is the cool-down or what parameters before it works again? I was able to run to the Hive, heal, then die again in another room and it worked. I also noticed that I wasn't really moving at an incredible speed with celerity like I used to -- maybe I just couldn't get it working well in docking.
The Hive status icons with chambers are a nice addition. I'm glad to see those in.
<!--coloro:#9ACD32--><span style="color:#9ACD32"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Tech tied to techpoints - This works awesomely from what I've experienced thus far. Both teams have a mid-game goal to work towards protecting/killing that will set the other back.The timings are much smoother now as well, no more 1min leap, no more 5-6min jetpack. The early game is back ! It also balances Carapace a bit because it's now difficult to use effectively in the early game as a skulk (no leap cara skulks).
<!--coloro:#9ACD32--><span style="color:#9ACD32"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Adrenaline - this was badly needed for aliens. I think some energy values might need tweaking to consider it in mind (fade blink seems a bit much with adren) but it was definitely a solid addition
<!--coloro:#9ACD32--><span style="color:#9ACD32"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Blink/ leap changes feel pretty good, the removal of invulnerability for fade is especially good
<!--coloro:#9ACD32--><span style="color:#9ACD32"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Lerk speed (much more viable harass unit now vs. people who can aim- spores may not be completely suicidal)
<!--coloro:#9ACD32--><span style="color:#9ACD32"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Ink cloud, spike nerf and cyst nerf were all a good step
<!--coloro:#9ACD32--><span style="color:#9ACD32"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->The new UI additions (hive/chamber hud), I've missed them so much from NS1! The alien egg lifeform icons and debuffed marine HP color are awesome too.
<!--coloro:#9ACD32--><span style="color:#9ACD32"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->The implementation of Feint is pretty impressive(well aside a bug or two ;P), it had potential to be overpowered but UWE actually did it very well
<!--coloro:#FFA500--><span style="color:#FFA500"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Alien vision change seems overkill, as a fast paced melee class(es) I feel the simplification/ visual queues of it were pretty necessary to not find yourself confused sometimes. Especially because marines are pretty grey and most of the maps are pretty grey. "chaos of combat" and whatnot that flayra mentioned in one of the UWE videos, I think this one added negatively to that aspect. It also gives me a headache from all the flashing to effectively use it in combat because it needs to be toggled on and off so often.
<!--coloro:#FFA500--><span style="color:#FFA500"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Fade - I find fades pretty difficult to kill this patch because it's pretty hard to see them when they're blinking. The HP/blink change was awesome but I feel it would be more balanced if they were more visible while blinking. Currently it's very hard to track and predict something that you can't tell the orientation of and because of that I feel it's far too easy to live as a fade- especially with adrenaline since you can spam blink so much with it.
<!--coloro:#FFA500--><span style="color:#FFA500"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Prototype lab takes nearly as long as a Hive to heal up (but has only half the HP of one), was that a bug? I like the idea of the change but I feel like it's just too much time to sit there and weld. :/
<!--coloro:#FFA500--><span style="color:#FFA500"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Skulk Walljump feels pretty rigid now, it's incredibly difficult to use on some maps (not to mention nearly impossible to use at pings higher than 100). It seems to be overly difficult to use as vanilla skulk and hugely rewarding as a leap skulk- It's way too easy to keep leap momentum by wall jumping but incredibly hard to work up and sustain speed as a vanilla skulk.I feel it should be the other way around.
<!--coloro:#FFA500--><span style="color:#FFA500"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Lerk early game viability - with the nerf to Gas and Lerk Bite I think the lerk is very lacking in early game. At the moment no sane team will use one short of 2+ hives.
<!--coloro:#48D1CC--><span style="color:#48D1CC"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Make fade more visible while blinking- players need to be able to see the orientation of the model to be able to track/predict well.
<!--coloro:#48D1CC--><span style="color:#48D1CC"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Lerk Gas needs to either have its visibility obscuring back, or, most preferably the DPS of the Gas needs to go up because at the moment the bite is completely non-viable for anything really, and the Gas was his only staple that kept him useful short of 2 hive/spike research (and barely at that). And now it is not even the mild deterrent it once was, it is something that can be completely ignored.
<!--coloro:#48D1CC--><span style="color:#48D1CC"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Return skulk walljump to b12ish levels, I felt that it was much better last patch than it is now- it's fairly unusable on high ping and/or on select maps.
<!--coloro:#48D1CC--><span style="color:#48D1CC"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Make proto lab a bit easier to weld
<!--coloro:#48D1CC--><span style="color:#48D1CC"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Make Alien Vision more like it's former self. Alien vision is purely visual and I think the consequences of using it should be purely visual (right now it reduces combat effectiveness harshly). Dragon suggested structures be harder to see while using it, or others suggested maybe have the vision fall off at a certain distance so that you cannot see far away with it on. Or having Hivesight be disabled while using it is a good trade-off. Or Ryne's vision mod of only highlighting entities and leaving the green/greey backdrop out worked too. People used it all the time because it was necessary though, and conceptually having aliens be just as inhibited in dark environments as the marines are just makes no sense.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Excellent post, I agree and would subscribe to your newsletter.
<!--quoteo(post=1950993:date=Jul 12 2012, 08:11 AM:name=xDragon)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (xDragon @ Jul 12 2012, 08:11 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1950993"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Personally I think there is some issues this build with hit detection or more specifically the shotgun, which leads the fade to be more powerful than it really is. It seems that some shots almost completely disappear and do absolutely no damage, ive even had it happen when shooting structures. This is something that I am still trying to completly figure out.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Oh my god yes. Hitreg is absolutely terrible this build(more than usual), moreso with the shotgun, but even with LMG.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Regarding alien vision, I believe that it is too powerful in its current state without a trade-off. If you can run around with that ability on always, it makes any marine stick out waay to much. It completely removes the requirement to pay attention to your surrounding as aliens, and removes almost any chance of ambushing aliens as they can see you so easily with a simple mouse flick. The old NS1 style vision highlighted marines but didnt change the environment, which while making them more visible it still required some attention as they didnt stick out in the scene like marines do with the NS2 vision.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I'd say nerfing it almost doesn't make a difference. For scanning mines and marines you can still easily tap it on/off when you enter an area. The only thing that sucks about it is when performance starts to go to **** and jetpackers start disappearing during combat, it's really needed but unviable now. I think most people use AV so much because most the maps share the same look as marines, making them blend in and hard to spot in a lot of places.
Comments
and be in "2 months of extensive refining and tuning" process?
and be in "2 months of extensive refining and tuning" process?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Internally, it is feature complete. All gameplay features are in, even if they have graphical place-holders.
I play 95% of the game with Alien Vision on. I don't see the point of this change. The benefits of Alien Vision outweigh the lowered energy regen rate.
This is a great change. Alien vision is a bright model hack and there needs to be a down side to it.
I second that. The energy nerf isn't too drastic, and it forces you to be more strategic with your choices.
Dont agree with that at all. Just a huge annoyance and a source of headaches that you have to keep flashing it on and off every two seconds.
--Cory<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
We Europeans always like it when you make Americans angry!
The AV change is really good, a nice, not too drastic, downside. Let's see how it's ingame.
I wait for Build 215, hopefully you fix the flamethrower and jetpack's...
Maybe don't trust your statistics, watch real public games, a bad player can even lost with a overpowered team.
- Devicenulls rcon web console has been implemented within this build, you will need to download the zip file on the URL below and extract the files to the webpath location.
<a href="https://github.com/devicenull/ns2web" target="_blank">https://github.com/devicenull/ns2web</a>
B215 - should hopefully auto include the files
<b>More information on Dedicated Server Setup can be found below:</b>
<a href="http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/wiki/index.php/Dedicated_Server" target="_blank">http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/wiki/inde...edicated_Server</a>
<!--quoteo(post=1950898:date=Jul 12 2012, 02:28 AM:name=elmo9000)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (elmo9000 @ Jul 12 2012, 02:28 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1950898"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Dont agree with that at all. Just a huge annoyance and a source of headaches that you have to keep flashing it on and off every two seconds.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
This also sounds.. strange. How is this explained to the player (who didn't read this post I mean)? Also, why? The penalty of model highlighting is that you can't see as far and you have to activate it each time. So why are the player's being punished for using what is essentially.. inherent to their team. Will marines be getting some form of health drain when the flashlight is on? Sarcasm people, calm down. I'm definitely confused as to how this helps anything.
Guess I'll see how it all works later tonight.
<a href="https://github.com/devicenull/ns2web" target="_blank">https://github.com/devicenull/ns2web</a>
B215 - should hopefully auto include the files
<b>More information on Dedicated Server Setup can be found below:</b>
<a href="http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/wiki/index.php/Dedicated_Server" target="_blank">http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/wiki/inde...edicated_Server</a><!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Alright, that worked. Thanks. :3
Alien Vision changes are something that is disagreed upon by many, and mainly it all comes down to most people are used to playing soley with it on almost all the time. While I do think that the current method of promoting limited use of Alien Vision doesnt work well, I do think that people should get used to playing with it off more, there needs to be tradeoffs for using it.
Wall jump seems overly punishing to vanilla skulk and hugely rewarding to leap skulk. I feel it should be the other way around..
I use AV almost exclusively in melee combat and I still don't like the changes.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->While I do think that the current method of promoting limited use of Alien Vision doesnt work well, I do think that people should get used to playing with it off more, <b>there needs to be tradeoffs for using it</b>.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Why? Can you name a good reason?
Lack of hive-sight?
Lack of hive-sight is a good tradeback, and I also think it should function more like heatvision, where you see organic targets like marines easily but structures are less visible. Either that or it could have a shorter view distance.
Walljump is difficult - probably overly so currently, but you are right where its very geometery dependant. Using it on docking is 100x easier than on summit. I do find myself powering up my speed a room or two before, as it is decently easy to maintain the speed once you have it.
This is true - if the benefits outweigh the negatives in all situations, you will always leave it. The question we are asking however is why is this a bad thing? What is inherently bad about AV that it shouldn't always be the overall 'best choice' to leave it on?
1) Intended visual style and immersion? After playing a thousand games i really couldn't give a hoot about how pretty the textures and lighting look (although it is still quite a treat to look at them out of play).
2) Balance? Is AV too powerful when used constantly? I doubt it.
So why do we demand that AV needs a tradeoff? Its like opening microsoft word and having black coloured font come with the tradeoff of only being available in font size 1 and below because microsoft strangely wanted people to use colours other than functional black.
3) Depth. This is a reasonable arguement for AV tradeoffs. There is a line however and AV energy penalty are too intrusive and fiddly to warrant the additional 'depth'. If a simple RTS energy model or even pres hydra's are deemed too complicated, i don't see how you can justify AV tradeoffs like this.
These are just my opinions :D
<b>The bad/needs changes:</b>
Vortex is a neat effect, and can actually save marines from death if used incorrectly - but the trouble is that there is no way to counter it. You can be blink/shifted onto and vortexed. Maybe not allowing vortex in range of an obs? Or something to that effect. I don't see it going away so I think there really needs to be a way for marines to actually combat it.
Fades are way too strong and nearly unkillable if you know what you're doing (not to mention feign death.. more on that soon). I think they need to be a little bit easier to track and target when blinking, or return shift to having an energy cost or a cooldown on use. Currently you can spam shift and fly across rooms/maps for free. I am REALLY glad for the hp/carapcae buff they received though.
Feign death needs to be reworked. The dead body on the floor needs to be killable to finally finish them off. Currently the alien goes invisible and immune to all damage (I have tested it with point blank weapons). You can see their name still if you target them closely and you can see them moving with obs nearby - but they are not killable until they phase back in. This makes Fades completely invincible as you can blink while feigned.
Skulk early game took way too big of a hit. The slower movement combined with no leap for a good 5 minutes even with a very early/risky second hive makes most engagements a suicide. This devalues carapace which is a GOOD thing, but it was too big of an all around nerf. Losing full time alien vision is also an incredibly large skulk nerf as well. I think alien vision does need to change somehow to not be a 100% thing (I literally never turned it off before) - but for skulks it might need to be different. Or put it on an upgrade building to remove the energy regen loss with alien vision. It should definitely be a choice but its a key part of being an alien.
Jetpacks - Using alien vision drastically nerfs leap's effectiveness against jetpacks.
Gorges just still dont seem to be useful after about 8 minutes in any game.
<b>The good:</b>
The hit detection and server performance is definitely noticeable. (which by the way hurts skulks as well :P_)
The Lerk and Fade movement feels great. (but yeah the fade has way too much of it for free atm)
Bile bomb seems to be just right now.
Dropping your mines/welder and main weapon when dying is awesome - no more losing stacks of good secondary weapons.
The 2 tech points for jetpacks/leap is a great way to control the stages of the game. I think this opens the door to some new strategies in deciding whether you want to double TP early and go for those tier 2 objectives or try to grab more RT/map control first. It brings some early risk into the game which is a REALLY good thing to me.
Cyst changes are good but they have too much hp still when mature
<!--coloro:#9ACD32--><span style="color:#9ACD32"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Tech tied to techpoints - This works awesomely from what I've experienced thus far. Both teams have a mid-game goal to work towards protecting/killing that will set the other back.The timings are much smoother now as well, no more 1min leap, no more 5-6min jetpack. The early game is back ! It also balances Carapace a bit because it's now difficult to use effectively in the early game as a skulk (no leap cara skulks).
<!--coloro:#9ACD32--><span style="color:#9ACD32"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Adrenaline - this was badly needed for aliens. I think some energy values might need tweaking to consider it in mind (fade blink seems a bit much with adren) but it was definitely a solid addition
<!--coloro:#9ACD32--><span style="color:#9ACD32"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Blink/ leap changes feel pretty good, the removal of invulnerability for fade is especially good
<!--coloro:#9ACD32--><span style="color:#9ACD32"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Lerk speed (much more viable harass unit now vs. people who can aim- spores may not be completely suicidal)
<!--coloro:#9ACD32--><span style="color:#9ACD32"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Ink cloud, spike nerf and cyst nerf were all a good step
<!--coloro:#9ACD32--><span style="color:#9ACD32"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->The new UI additions (hive/chamber hud), I've missed them so much from NS1! The alien egg lifeform icons and debuffed marine HP color are awesome too.
<!--coloro:#9ACD32--><span style="color:#9ACD32"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->The implementation of Feint is pretty impressive(well aside a bug or two ;P), it had potential to be overpowered but UWE actually did it very well
<!--coloro:#FFA500--><span style="color:#FFA500"><!--/coloro-->critique:<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
<!--coloro:#FFA500--><span style="color:#FFA500"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Alien vision change seems overkill, as a fast paced melee class(es) I feel the simplification/ visual queues of it were pretty necessary to not find yourself confused sometimes. Especially because marines are pretty grey and most of the maps are pretty grey. "chaos of combat" and whatnot that flayra mentioned in one of the UWE videos, I think this one added negatively to that aspect. It also gives me a headache from all the flashing to effectively use it in combat because it needs to be toggled on and off so often.
<!--coloro:#FFA500--><span style="color:#FFA500"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Fade - I find fades pretty difficult to kill this patch because it's pretty hard to see them when they're blinking. The HP/blink change was awesome but I feel it would be more balanced if they were more visible while blinking. Currently it's very hard to track and predict something that you can't tell the orientation of and because of that I feel it's far too easy to live as a fade- especially with adrenaline since you can spam blink so much with it.
<!--coloro:#FFA500--><span style="color:#FFA500"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Prototype lab takes nearly as long as a Hive to heal up (but has only half the HP of one), was that a bug? I like the idea of the change but I feel like it's just too much time to sit there and weld. :/
<!--coloro:#FFA500--><span style="color:#FFA500"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Skulk Walljump feels pretty rigid now, it's incredibly difficult to use on some maps (not to mention nearly impossible to use at pings higher than 100). It seems to be overly difficult to use as vanilla skulk and hugely rewarding as a leap skulk- It's way too easy to keep leap momentum by wall jumping but incredibly hard to work up and sustain speed as a vanilla skulk.I feel it should be the other way around.
<!--coloro:#FFA500--><span style="color:#FFA500"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Lerk early game viability - with the nerf to Gas and Lerk Bite I think the lerk is very lacking in early game. At the moment no sane team will use one short of 2+ hives.
<!--coloro:#48D1CC--><span style="color:#48D1CC"><!--/coloro-->Suggestion:<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
<!--coloro:#48D1CC--><span style="color:#48D1CC"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Make fade more visible while blinking- players need to be able to see the orientation of the model to be able to track/predict well.
<!--coloro:#48D1CC--><span style="color:#48D1CC"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Lerk Gas needs to either have its visibility obscuring back, or, most preferably the DPS of the Gas needs to go up because at the moment the bite is completely non-viable for anything really, and the Gas was his only staple that kept him useful short of 2 hive/spike research (and barely at that). And now it is not even the mild deterrent it once was, it is something that can be completely ignored.
<!--coloro:#48D1CC--><span style="color:#48D1CC"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Return skulk walljump to b12ish levels, I felt that it was much better last patch than it is now- it's fairly unusable on high ping and/or on select maps.
<!--coloro:#48D1CC--><span style="color:#48D1CC"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Make proto lab a bit easier to weld
<!--coloro:#48D1CC--><span style="color:#48D1CC"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Make Alien Vision more like it's former self. Alien vision is purely visual and I think the consequences of using it should be purely visual (right now it reduces combat effectiveness harshly). Dragon suggested structures be harder to see while using it, or others suggested maybe have the vision fall off at a certain distance so that you cannot see far away with it on. Or having Hivesight be disabled while using it is a good trade-off. Or Ryne's vision mod of only highlighting entities and leaving the green/greey backdrop out worked too. People used it all the time because it was necessary though, and conceptually having aliens be just as inhibited in dark environments as the marines are just makes no sense.
Can't believe I forgot this. I was so happy to see those hives back on my screen too! Although for some reason they were fading in and out of existence and seemed strangely placed over top of the voice prompts =p
Personally I think there is some issues this build with hit detection or more specifically the shotgun, which leads the fade to be more powerful than it really is. It seems that some shots almost completely disappear and do absolutely no damage, ive even had it happen when shooting structures. This is something that I am still trying to completly figure out.
Regarding Blink spam its not nearly as effective as you might think, as your pretty slow in blink without celerity. I actually prefer using shadowstep to run as you move faster with that, however I do think that you can blink too much with adren (the regen rate increase is pretty big).
Personally for me one of the biggest issues this patch is no pres when dead for aliens, as it makes the game very slippery slope for them as if you are not staying alive long enough as skulk you wont get fade till too late. If this kind of mechanic is to be kept I would rather see it be a static penalty per death, IE each death causes you to miss out on the next 2 pres ticks (numbers would need to be balanced). Having it be while dead penalizes the last player to die simply for being unlucky.
The hive icons fade out when nothing has changed recently and no hives are building... But yes there is some issues with the voicecomm indicators there too.
Regarding alien vision, I believe that it is too powerful in its current state without a trade-off. If you can run around with that ability on always, it makes any marine stick out waay to much. It completely removes the requirement to pay attention to your surrounding as aliens, and removes almost any chance of ambushing aliens as they can see you so easily with a simple mouse flick. The old NS1 style vision highlighted marines but didnt change the environment, which while making them more visible it still required some attention as they didnt stick out in the scene like marines do with the NS2 vision.
I think it's actually pretty balanced, neat for say onos or gorge. You cannot use any abilities currently for the ~3 seconds while Feint is active and the effect also snares you (no blink, leap, heal spray or bile- not even shadowstep or bellyslide nothing.. cant even fly as lerk). It has a 15 second cooldown I think.. It's not a "get out of jail free card" but something that will give you a few seconds to GTFO. If you over extend faint will not save you and as a marine you can look for it because you will not get a "+score" on your screen when they die.
<!--quoteo(post=1950993:date=Jul 12 2012, 09:11 AM:name=xDragon)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (xDragon @ Jul 12 2012, 09:11 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1950993"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Personally for me one of the biggest issues this patch is no pres when dead for aliens, as it makes the game very slippery slope for them as if you are not staying alive long enough as skulk you wont get fade till too late. If this kind of mechanic is to be kept I would rather see it be a static penalty per death, IE each death causes you to miss out on the next 2 pres ticks (numbers would need to be balanced). Having it be while dead penalizes the last player to die simply for being unlucky.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I hated RFD when it went in, and I still hate it just as much. :/ Xenocide wut?
If you play against any decent to good player they will literally never die with feign death as a fade. You can just spam shift/blink and as soon as you pop out of feign, youre out of the room. Its a nice upgrade for a gorge that isn't game-breaking, but they aren't exactly a marine slaughtering nearly unkillable alien like a fade that can retreat in a second. As a skulk you can use those 3-4 seconds to actually walk, invincible, up to a person or structure and spam bite, immediately damaging them when you come out - I don't really think this is how its supposed to work.
I love the new waypoint trail markings, they are much more obvious and the effect is great. It should help new players and those who haven't memorized the entire map tremendously.
I noticed the cloaking overlay/texturing effect is different. It's awfully bright -- I don't mind the pink color though, it's a nice color to throw in with that palette. It seems like it could be a bit more subtle in intensity. Also, structures become difficult to see with alien vision while cloaked, but maybe this is intended.
I noticed using slow movement and having cloaking on will let a small part of you be visible. I remember being able to stay completely cloaked before. Is it based on speed or has it been switched so that the slow movement makes you partially visible now?
The animated cool-down bar for things like spikes or mist would look really nice as a radial type gray-out. Much like you would see in skill icons for MMOs and stuff.
I like the changes to the lerk acceleration. It's nice not to have to press spacebar 10 times. I also noticed that roosting is a one button press now to stick. Not sure if that was added in this patch, but it makes it a lot easier to quickly attach to walls and ceiling and stick. Thank you!
Skulk leap seems a bit better, I'm glad. I don't notice issues with his speed and was never a fan of the wall jumping speed boost thing. Feign death seems to make you invisible/slowed after it initiates? How long is the cool-down or what parameters before it works again? I was able to run to the Hive, heal, then die again in another room and it worked. I also noticed that I wasn't really moving at an incredible speed with celerity like I used to -- maybe I just couldn't get it working well in docking.
The Hive status icons with chambers are a nice addition. I'm glad to see those in.
Can't wait to see those exo-suits!
Excellent change! Tried and trusted ftw! ;)
But feign death.. what.. -_-
<!--coloro:#9ACD32--><span style="color:#9ACD32"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Tech tied to techpoints - This works awesomely from what I've experienced thus far. Both teams have a mid-game goal to work towards protecting/killing that will set the other back.The timings are much smoother now as well, no more 1min leap, no more 5-6min jetpack. The early game is back ! It also balances Carapace a bit because it's now difficult to use effectively in the early game as a skulk (no leap cara skulks).
<!--coloro:#9ACD32--><span style="color:#9ACD32"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Adrenaline - this was badly needed for aliens. I think some energy values might need tweaking to consider it in mind (fade blink seems a bit much with adren) but it was definitely a solid addition
<!--coloro:#9ACD32--><span style="color:#9ACD32"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Blink/ leap changes feel pretty good, the removal of invulnerability for fade is especially good
<!--coloro:#9ACD32--><span style="color:#9ACD32"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Lerk speed (much more viable harass unit now vs. people who can aim- spores may not be completely suicidal)
<!--coloro:#9ACD32--><span style="color:#9ACD32"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Ink cloud, spike nerf and cyst nerf were all a good step
<!--coloro:#9ACD32--><span style="color:#9ACD32"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->The new UI additions (hive/chamber hud), I've missed them so much from NS1! The alien egg lifeform icons and debuffed marine HP color are awesome too.
<!--coloro:#9ACD32--><span style="color:#9ACD32"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->The implementation of Feint is pretty impressive(well aside a bug or two ;P), it had potential to be overpowered but UWE actually did it very well
<!--coloro:#FFA500--><span style="color:#FFA500"><!--/coloro-->critique:<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
<!--coloro:#FFA500--><span style="color:#FFA500"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Alien vision change seems overkill, as a fast paced melee class(es) I feel the simplification/ visual queues of it were pretty necessary to not find yourself confused sometimes. Especially because marines are pretty grey and most of the maps are pretty grey. "chaos of combat" and whatnot that flayra mentioned in one of the UWE videos, I think this one added negatively to that aspect. It also gives me a headache from all the flashing to effectively use it in combat because it needs to be toggled on and off so often.
<!--coloro:#FFA500--><span style="color:#FFA500"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Fade - I find fades pretty difficult to kill this patch because it's pretty hard to see them when they're blinking. The HP/blink change was awesome but I feel it would be more balanced if they were more visible while blinking. Currently it's very hard to track and predict something that you can't tell the orientation of and because of that I feel it's far too easy to live as a fade- especially with adrenaline since you can spam blink so much with it.
<!--coloro:#FFA500--><span style="color:#FFA500"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Prototype lab takes nearly as long as a Hive to heal up (but has only half the HP of one), was that a bug? I like the idea of the change but I feel like it's just too much time to sit there and weld. :/
<!--coloro:#FFA500--><span style="color:#FFA500"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Skulk Walljump feels pretty rigid now, it's incredibly difficult to use on some maps (not to mention nearly impossible to use at pings higher than 100). It seems to be overly difficult to use as vanilla skulk and hugely rewarding as a leap skulk- It's way too easy to keep leap momentum by wall jumping but incredibly hard to work up and sustain speed as a vanilla skulk.I feel it should be the other way around.
<!--coloro:#FFA500--><span style="color:#FFA500"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Lerk early game viability - with the nerf to Gas and Lerk Bite I think the lerk is very lacking in early game. At the moment no sane team will use one short of 2+ hives.
<!--coloro:#48D1CC--><span style="color:#48D1CC"><!--/coloro-->Suggestion:<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
<!--coloro:#48D1CC--><span style="color:#48D1CC"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Make fade more visible while blinking- players need to be able to see the orientation of the model to be able to track/predict well.
<!--coloro:#48D1CC--><span style="color:#48D1CC"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Lerk Gas needs to either have its visibility obscuring back, or, most preferably the DPS of the Gas needs to go up because at the moment the bite is completely non-viable for anything really, and the Gas was his only staple that kept him useful short of 2 hive/spike research (and barely at that). And now it is not even the mild deterrent it once was, it is something that can be completely ignored.
<!--coloro:#48D1CC--><span style="color:#48D1CC"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Return skulk walljump to b12ish levels, I felt that it was much better last patch than it is now- it's fairly unusable on high ping and/or on select maps.
<!--coloro:#48D1CC--><span style="color:#48D1CC"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Make proto lab a bit easier to weld
<!--coloro:#48D1CC--><span style="color:#48D1CC"><!--/coloro--><b>-</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Make Alien Vision more like it's former self. Alien vision is purely visual and I think the consequences of using it should be purely visual (right now it reduces combat effectiveness harshly). Dragon suggested structures be harder to see while using it, or others suggested maybe have the vision fall off at a certain distance so that you cannot see far away with it on. Or having Hivesight be disabled while using it is a good trade-off. Or Ryne's vision mod of only highlighting entities and leaving the green/greey backdrop out worked too. People used it all the time because it was necessary though, and conceptually having aliens be just as inhibited in dark environments as the marines are just makes no sense.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Excellent post, I agree and would subscribe to your newsletter.
Oh my god yes. Hitreg is absolutely terrible this build(more than usual), moreso with the shotgun, but even with LMG.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Regarding alien vision, I believe that it is too powerful in its current state without a trade-off. If you can run around with that ability on always, it makes any marine stick out waay to much. It completely removes the requirement to pay attention to your surrounding as aliens, and removes almost any chance of ambushing aliens as they can see you so easily with a simple mouse flick. The old NS1 style vision highlighted marines but didnt change the environment, which while making them more visible it still required some attention as they didnt stick out in the scene like marines do with the NS2 vision.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I'd say nerfing it almost doesn't make a difference. For scanning mines and marines you can still easily tap it on/off when you enter an area. The only thing that sucks about it is when performance starts to go to **** and jetpackers start disappearing during combat, it's really needed but unviable now. I think most people use AV so much because most the maps share the same look as marines, making them blend in and hard to spot in a lot of places.