Some suggestions/questions
Therealsmokey
Join Date: 2007-09-18 Member: 62353Members
Join Date: 2007-09-18 Member: 62353Members
I finally got my beta working and I've come across some things that I think could be improved or explained to me.
First of all, the server list needs some improvement in my opinion. There is no way to add favorites or view server info before joining it like in NS1 (and most steam games for that matter). Being able to do filtered searches would be nice too.
Second, it seems that oftentimes when I try to open up my evolve menu as a skulk, it will cause a large orange circular object to appear instead of the evolve menu. This object will not go away until I leave the game and rejoin.
Third, is there somewhere I can read up on all the different structures, abilities, upgrades, etc. It seems that this game was significantly changed from NS1 and I am really having difficulty trying to learn this game on the fly; since people in the game are more focused on playing than teaching me. (The youtube training videos are pretty much worthless to me)
Fourth, and this might just be my biased opinion, but it seems that all of the alien advantages that were had in NS1 have been removed. It seems to revolve around the newly introduced alien commander. No one can build rts or chambers, and you have to upgrade every single ability? Wtf. How do the aliens even win a game. The aliens also seem to have lost their advantage in the quickness department. Skulks leap is basically worthless compared to NS1 and the attacks have been drastically slowed down. I played the old ns for years and it feels like I am learning a completely new game. I fear that people who have never played the game will give up on it because it has such a steep learning curve.
I'm sure there are some things I may have overlooked or not yet been informed of that may easily solve 1 or 2 of these issues, but this is how I have initially perceived the game.
First of all, the server list needs some improvement in my opinion. There is no way to add favorites or view server info before joining it like in NS1 (and most steam games for that matter). Being able to do filtered searches would be nice too.
Second, it seems that oftentimes when I try to open up my evolve menu as a skulk, it will cause a large orange circular object to appear instead of the evolve menu. This object will not go away until I leave the game and rejoin.
Third, is there somewhere I can read up on all the different structures, abilities, upgrades, etc. It seems that this game was significantly changed from NS1 and I am really having difficulty trying to learn this game on the fly; since people in the game are more focused on playing than teaching me. (The youtube training videos are pretty much worthless to me)
Fourth, and this might just be my biased opinion, but it seems that all of the alien advantages that were had in NS1 have been removed. It seems to revolve around the newly introduced alien commander. No one can build rts or chambers, and you have to upgrade every single ability? Wtf. How do the aliens even win a game. The aliens also seem to have lost their advantage in the quickness department. Skulks leap is basically worthless compared to NS1 and the attacks have been drastically slowed down. I played the old ns for years and it feels like I am learning a completely new game. I fear that people who have never played the game will give up on it because it has such a steep learning curve.
I'm sure there are some things I may have overlooked or not yet been informed of that may easily solve 1 or 2 of these issues, but this is how I have initially perceived the game.
Comments
2) That bug has cropped up before <a href="http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/forums/index.php?showtopic=119698&st=0" target="_blank">here</a>. One of the solutions there may help, but from what I understand it should have been rectified so this may be a whole different beast.
3) The <a href="http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/wiki/index.php/Main_Page" target="_blank">NS2 Wiki</a> is probably your best bet.
4) Can't really argue the finer points on the game, there's people far more skilled than me that can address this. But what I will say is you may just need to give the game more time. You said yourself, you only just got into the beta.
I'm sure there are some things I may have overlooked or not yet been informed of that may easily solve 1 or 2 of these issues, but this is how I have initially perceived the game.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Aliens definitely feel more... claustrophobic, than ns1, if that would be an appropriate metaphore. Their options feel extremely limited compared to marines. You are gonna be a skulk 97% of the time, and you will be dead and waiting to res 70% of that. And after 5 minutes when marines get armor and weapon upgrades, having to get enough bites in to get a kill will be a challenge.
I'd have no complaints if onos was still fun to play and had devour. But alas, they made Onos feeble, no devour, no charge.
Marines are a lot weaker than they were in NS1. Weaker than the Aliens currently are, I reckon. No Heavy Armor (No, Exo is not a suitable replacement), no HMG, no grenades, pistol is weaker...I'm sure there's more, but it's been a reaaaaaaally long time since I've played NS1.
Anyway, Aliens have a higher win rate than the Marines on every map except one apparently (and that map is going to be changed a bit to lessen the Marine's advantage). NS2 stats has consistently had a ratio of 60-40 in the Alien's favor. And then you have to consider that Aliens have a number of game breaking bugs while I can't think of any glaring ones that the Marines have. (Such as being unable to build Cysts in certain areas, preventing Alien expansion considerably. There was even one game where the Khamm said that he couldn't place any Cysts at all because the command broke, at which point the Alien team mostly F4'd out.)
What you consider a benefit (Aliens need to rely on the Khamm while Comm can send out the Marines) is actually a weakness. While it does allow Marines to do things like set up a ninja PG near a Hive, it also means that the Marines are outnumbered at all times. Some Marines have to be on defense/repair/building duty, because the Commander can't actually do anything at all without Marines. Drop blueprints for the Marines to build, drop supplies for the Marines, and cast Nano-Shield on the Marines. He can eventually gain control of ARCs, but those need<i> heavy </i>Marine support inroute. The Khammander can win a game by himself without ever leaving his post due to having both AI defenses that are capable of holding Marines back for a time and offensive units under his direct control. (Drifter spam with Whips to defend key areas mostly, but more that he can build anything and everything without outside help)
Marines also have an number of glaring weaknesses, like a crippling reliance on Power Nodes. Cysts are easily replaced, but PN's go down in...what? 4-5 Bile Bombs? And a lack of power kills the Marine presence in that room. If they go and try to repair the PN to try and regain a foothold, they're leaving themselves vulnerable and open to attack for an extended period of time.
Among many other flaws.
Eh, well. I've been told off before for giving Alien players advice as a Marine player, BUT I'M GOING TO DO IT ANYWAY.
Anywho, I will admit that the skill floor for Aliens is higher than the skill floor for Marine. Even though Marines have a lot more jobs to manage than the Aliens, they're not particularly difficult. 'Hold E near the glowing blue thing'. 'Move towards the giant waypoint bubble'. 'Prepare for ###### to get crazy when being beaconed.' The most important skill for Marines in the Marine vs Alien dynamic, I think, is situational awareness. Simply knowing approximately where the Aliens are gives you a sizable advantage. For the Alien side, not only do you need to know where the Marines are, but more importantly, you need to know <i>what</i> they're doing. If it's three Marines repairing/building stuff, they're focusing on that and you can probably do horrible things to them by rushing in through the front door. On the other hand, if you have the three Marines lined up in a firing squad facing the door, then you need to approach the situation differently. That's part of what makes Parasite so valuable, it lets you see where the infected target is looking so you can blindside them.
Edit: Also, Aliens are at a disadvantage on servers with high playercounts because of the wave spawning, Khammander's interference is less noticable, and the Marines can respawn immediately by buying a few more IP's. They also have more guys out there to build and repair junk. On low playercount servers, Aliens have the advantage because the Marines can't spare that many units to actually go fight and need to preform a lot of upkeep, which immediately puts them on the defensive and leaves them there.