Balance, variety, options
whateverbla
Join Date: 2013-04-03 Member: 184627Members
Join Date: 2013-04-03 Member: 184627Members
I don't come often to the forums, but I was really curious what most people think about the current balance of the game.
I mean, Marine vs Alien.
Now the way I see both; Marine is slow but in groups very strong, excels at ranged combat, not so much at melee. Alien, mobile but fragile, deadly at close range.
However, every time I play a round I feel marines are way stronger and mobile than any Alien every could wish for. You can have phasegates before the 3 minute mark and you can be everywhere, trapping Aliens in their escape route. Of course Aliens have their moments to, but I feel with decent people, with decent aim, Marines got the upper hand. I'd also like to add that I don't feel I got the upper hand as skulk in melee as I just see a marine floating everywhere and insta-killing me with a pistol. I'm not relieved when I heard that the rifle ammo is depleted because the pistol is even more scary.
As a marine, you drop a few phase gates, phase around a bit, wait till the res streams in and the upgrades are up, maybe shoot some RTs. Then you just fortify some position with an armory and a phase, exos are a luxury. Then when you feel like it you waltz in, maybe some ARCs for funsies, MAYBE even turrets if you have res a plenty and gg. You just have so many options as a marine.
Marine in a bad situation? Spam meds, ammo and shields.
Base damaged? Build some MACs.
Can't break through? Build ONE ARC.
Base geting raped? Just beacon.
Out of ammo? whip out a secondary pistol and kill that
Building under attack? Just recycle
Half of your marines dead? Just build a second IP for a one time price of 15 res, as opposed to a shift.
You can have exos, you can rush a hive with JP + shotty and have it down in 10 seconds, you ARC camp, you can do so much.
What can Aliens do?
Either rush a phasegate or wait for Onos, there is no middle-ground, no special tactic, it just feels so boring.
And if you don't have 2+ hives secured within 3 minutes (god damn Stability getting camped) you might as well gg because from here you can just wait for the marine upgrades and the sound of jetpacks and it's over any way.
How about some more interaction from the Alien Comm, how about some upgrades that are direct upgrades (maybe an upgrade that removes the 25/50/75 scaling of bites?), just dropping some random ideas
I was just wondering, am I the only one that feels this way?
It feels the Marines got an abundance of options and support mechanics while Aliens got almost none.
I mean, Marine vs Alien.
Now the way I see both; Marine is slow but in groups very strong, excels at ranged combat, not so much at melee. Alien, mobile but fragile, deadly at close range.
However, every time I play a round I feel marines are way stronger and mobile than any Alien every could wish for. You can have phasegates before the 3 minute mark and you can be everywhere, trapping Aliens in their escape route. Of course Aliens have their moments to, but I feel with decent people, with decent aim, Marines got the upper hand. I'd also like to add that I don't feel I got the upper hand as skulk in melee as I just see a marine floating everywhere and insta-killing me with a pistol. I'm not relieved when I heard that the rifle ammo is depleted because the pistol is even more scary.
As a marine, you drop a few phase gates, phase around a bit, wait till the res streams in and the upgrades are up, maybe shoot some RTs. Then you just fortify some position with an armory and a phase, exos are a luxury. Then when you feel like it you waltz in, maybe some ARCs for funsies, MAYBE even turrets if you have res a plenty and gg. You just have so many options as a marine.
Marine in a bad situation? Spam meds, ammo and shields.
Base damaged? Build some MACs.
Can't break through? Build ONE ARC.
Base geting raped? Just beacon.
Out of ammo? whip out a secondary pistol and kill that
Building under attack? Just recycle
Half of your marines dead? Just build a second IP for a one time price of 15 res, as opposed to a shift.
You can have exos, you can rush a hive with JP + shotty and have it down in 10 seconds, you ARC camp, you can do so much.
What can Aliens do?
Either rush a phasegate or wait for Onos, there is no middle-ground, no special tactic, it just feels so boring.
And if you don't have 2+ hives secured within 3 minutes (god damn Stability getting camped) you might as well gg because from here you can just wait for the marine upgrades and the sound of jetpacks and it's over any way.
How about some more interaction from the Alien Comm, how about some upgrades that are direct upgrades (maybe an upgrade that removes the 25/50/75 scaling of bites?), just dropping some random ideas
I was just wondering, am I the only one that feels this way?
It feels the Marines got an abundance of options and support mechanics while Aliens got almost none.
Comments
They provide more options to aliens in general (making them somewhat viable on 1 Hive already by making some upgrades available at that early stage (for increased cost) and generally extending the early game phase by making tech and RTs more expensive to acquire, so taking and holding territory means a lot more and you don't get so quickly to the point of the game where you can barely make a difference as Skulk vs a fully upgraded marine.
http://forums.unknownworlds.com/discussion/125340/the-big-list-of-places-to-watch-competitive-ns2/p1
You should check out some competitive play. It's always interesting to see how two teams with decent skills battle it out. Good way to learn as well. In any case, although I'm not against more options for both sides, NS2 in it's current state is not as simple as you think. You need gorges, you need lerks, you need fades, you need drifters, 3 tech paths available, etc. Still room for improvement, but to say there's no middle ground for aliens is just wrong.