I could be wrong, but the 75 cone in BT feels bigger than in base, and what I mean is it gives better feed back to me as what is and isn't a bite, rather than what is a perfect bite and what's a glancing, so I learn what to do better and faster.
WHilst the 75 hit zones bigger in BT...its no where near the size of all three zones in vanilla....and I dont see that the fact the feedback on whether you got a 75, 50 or 25 hit being a good reason to remove them and make landing hits harder.
Alien game play is already unforgiving enough for new players...this just makes it less rewarding for new players as they will get fewer hits (all be them even glancing).
Ok, as I said in an earlier post, I clearly missed something....and apologize for that, because I haven't tried the BTmod.
It seems to be a reasonable change, let's wait and see if and how it will improve the game.
ScardyBobScardyBobJoin Date: 2009-11-25Member: 69528Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow
Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time, skulks did a flat 75 damage at the full damage cone. It was so easy to get hits that skulks were dominating (75% alien winrate wasn't uncommon in the beta). So the damage cone was reduced. No more dominating skulks, but now rookies couldn't hit anything and hated it. So UWE switched it to the glancing bite. Now skulks wouldn't be dominating but rookies can still get hits, even if they are 25 or 50.
tl;dr: Glancing bite the culmination of a long series of balance changes. Remove it at your own risk.
Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time, skulks did a flat 75 damage at the full damage cone. It was so easy to get hits that skulks were dominating (75% alien winrate wasn't uncommon in the beta). So the damage cone was reduced. No more dominating skulks, but now rookies couldn't hit anything and hated it. So UWE switched it to the glancing bite. Now skulks wouldn't be dominating but rookies can still get hits, even if they are 25 or 50.
tl;dr: Glancing bite the culmination of a long series of balance changes. Remove it at your own risk.
Clearly they just needed to implement a 75 damage bite cone that was smaller than the original bite cone but larger than the nerfed bite cone.
Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time, skulks did a flat 75 damage at the full damage cone. It was so easy to get hits that skulks were dominating (75% alien winrate wasn't uncommon in the beta). So the damage cone was reduced. No more dominating skulks, but now rookies couldn't hit anything and hated it. So UWE switched it to the glancing bite. Now skulks wouldn't be dominating but rookies can still get hits, even if they are 25 or 50.
tl;dr: Glancing bite the culmination of a long series of balance changes. Remove it at your own risk.
Clearly they just needed to implement a 75 damage bite cone that was smaller than the original bite cone but larger than the nerfed bite cone.
That's been tried, it was just confusing.
There was no clear indicator where on the screen was a hit or a miss.. Made no sense how the marine was clearly in view, teeth everywhere on your screen, yet only this small area in front of you worked?
Improper implementation failed that mechanic as well Imo. (crosshairs)
Why not make the bite cone a cone. So that range of the bite decreases as distance from the crosshair increases. Seeing as how the skulk has a conical jaw. So that if your off target you will have to be humping the enemy to hit, while if your aim is good you can hit from a meter away or w/e.
Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time, skulks did a flat 75 damage at the full damage cone. It was so easy to get hits that skulks were dominating (75% alien winrate wasn't uncommon in the beta). So the damage cone was reduced. No more dominating skulks, but now rookies couldn't hit anything and hated it. So UWE switched it to the glancing bite. Now skulks wouldn't be dominating but rookies can still get hits, even if they are 25 or 50.
tl;dr: Glancing bite the culmination of a long series of balance changes. Remove it at your own risk.
I don't see the competitive players managing to keep this game alive so well. This game look like it's dying while it should be thriving. The resentement of the pros regarding the attention given to causal and new players are no stranger to that fact neither.
Internet connection and computer performance seem to have a serious impact on how accurate glancing hit can be. Noobs will have a better chance against comp players so instead of seeing one guy making all the kills we might start to have players who stay instead of giving up inside 5 minutes of the game because of aimbot kinda like shooter boys.
Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time, skulks did a flat 75 damage at the full damage cone. It was so easy to get hits that skulks were dominating (75% alien winrate wasn't uncommon in the beta). So the damage cone was reduced. No more dominating skulks, but now rookies couldn't hit anything and hated it. So UWE switched it to the glancing bite. Now skulks wouldn't be dominating but rookies can still get hits, even if they are 25 or 50.
tl;dr: Glancing bite the culmination of a long series of balance changes. Remove it at your own risk.
Clearly they just needed to implement a 75 damage bite cone that was smaller than the original bite cone but larger than the nerfed bite cone.
That's been tried, it was just confusing.
There was no clear indicator where on the screen was a hit or a miss.. Made no sense how the marine was clearly in view, teeth everywhere on your screen, yet only this small area in front of you worked?
Improper implementation failed that mechanic as well Imo. (crosshairs)
Why not remove a cone ever time the aliens receive a hive. 1 hive 25/50/75 2 hive 50/75 3 hive 75.
Currently its impossible to 1v1 marines late game as skulk even if the marine messes up and hits a wall and you bite him 2 times.
Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time, skulks did a flat 75 damage at the full damage cone. It was so easy to get hits that skulks were dominating (75% alien winrate wasn't uncommon in the beta). So the damage cone was reduced. No more dominating skulks, but now rookies couldn't hit anything and hated it. So UWE switched it to the glancing bite. Now skulks wouldn't be dominating but rookies can still get hits, even if they are 25 or 50.
tl;dr: Glancing bite the culmination of a long series of balance changes. Remove it at your own risk.
Clearly they just needed to implement a 75 damage bite cone that was smaller than the original bite cone but larger than the nerfed bite cone.
That's been tried, it was just confusing.
There was no clear indicator where on the screen was a hit or a miss.. Made no sense how the marine was clearly in view, teeth everywhere on your screen, yet only this small area in front of you worked?
Improper implementation failed that mechanic as well Imo. (crosshairs)
Why not remove a cone ever time the aliens receive a hive. 1 hive 25/50/75 2 hive 50/75 3 hive 75.
Currently its impossible to 1v1 marines late game as skulk even if the marine messes up and hits a wall and you bite him 2 times.
Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time, skulks did a flat 75 damage at the full damage cone. It was so easy to get hits that skulks were dominating (75% alien winrate wasn't uncommon in the beta). So the damage cone was reduced. No more dominating skulks, but now rookies couldn't hit anything and hated it. So UWE switched it to the glancing bite. Now skulks wouldn't be dominating but rookies can still get hits, even if they are 25 or 50.
tl;dr: Glancing bite the culmination of a long series of balance changes. Remove it at your own risk.
Once upon a time, lmg hit registration was horrific on skulks. So, some of these "balance" changes don't make sense out of context. Mark my words, the performance boost is going to "change balance" even more. [In case you can't tell, I'm inferring it's really not a balance issue at all.]
id like to see glancing bites come back - even if they are tweaked a bit to make the overall bite cone smaller. i think it provides a more satisfying experience to lower skilled players, while giving a more progressive skill curve, both for low and high skill players. otherwise you could do a fully progressive damage model, from 1-75. eitherway, i think if we provide a way for movement skill to scale, why not biting?
id like to see glancing bites come back - even if they are tweaked a bit to make the overall bite cone smaller. i think it provides a more satisfying experience to lower skilled players, while giving a more progressive skill curve, both for low and high skill players. otherwise you could do a fully progressive damage model, from 1-75. eitherway, i think if we provide a way for movement skill to scale, why not biting?
Glancing bites are a mistake. Many rookie players don't even realize glancing bites exist, and only get angry and frustrated when they have to bite marines different numbers of times to kill them. Even if they miss more with a smaller cone, they'll be more satisfied and understand the game better when they deal one damage amount per bite.
^ Something has to be done to address this if we want to keep glancing bites. If I have to explain to a new player one more time there's no headshots!!
id like to see glancing bites come back - even if they are tweaked a bit to make the overall bite cone smaller. i think it provides a more satisfying experience to lower skilled players, while giving a more progressive skill curve, both for low and high skill players. otherwise you could do a fully progressive damage model, from 1-75. eitherway, i think if we provide a way for movement skill to scale, why not biting?
Glancing bites are a mistake. Many rookie players don't even realize glancing bites exist, and only get angry and frustrated when they have to bite marines different numbers of times to kill them. Even if they miss more with a smaller cone, they'll be more satisfied and understand the game better when they deal one damage amount per bite.
Agree, or alteast make it so Marines do half damage on bullets that land on you'r legs and arms.
ScatterJoin Date: 2012-09-02Member: 157341Members, Squad Five Blue
Melee cone crosshairs have the potential to be visually obstructive and annoying. Moreover, most of the arguments in favour of stepped cones have purely been put forward as a sort of academic ivory tower benevolence that will help the alleged new player, even if these new players themselves find it confusing or generally bad. But fuck them they are traitors to the cause of "new player".
If it cannot be implemented properly in a clear way that is not frustrating to comp players, confusing to new players, and all the players in between then it should not be implemented at all. Spend your time figuring out how to do the above instead of constantly repeating same the argument over and over, like this guy:
id like to see glancing bites come back - even if they are tweaked a bit to make the overall bite cone smaller. i think it provides a more satisfying experience to lower skilled players, while giving a more progressive skill curve, both for low and high skill players. otherwise you could do a fully progressive damage model, from 1-75. eitherway, i think if we provide a way for movement skill to scale, why not biting?
You forgot "dynamic encounters" you politician. We've heard this already in 5 different threads and get the general idea. Spend your time figuring out how to support this desire in a way that would be less shit and it may be considered.
Also, I'm so glad you ran with my 75 cones of 1 damage each joke. I even said to elodea that some people would take it seriously and that it was dangerous for me to post it. Indeed.
IronHorseDeveloper, QA Manager, Technical Support & contributorJoin Date: 2010-05-08Member: 71669Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Subnautica Playtester, Subnautica PT Lead, Pistachionauts
edited June 2013
@scatter
New players, (and i'd venture to guess I've observed more new players in person than almost anyone in these forums, btw) if not oblivious to it, find it confusing or generally bad because said implementation wasn't done right.
I don't think any supporter of glancing bites supports it's implementation, or would say its perfect. So suggesting that said supporters disregard the negative impact it has in it's current form on new players is presumptuously wrong at best. You ignoring the fact that said supporters would like better implementation and feedback for new players and vets alike, and focusing only on our support of the concept is blindingly narrow of you, imo, and makes it seem like you just want to attack the person and not the "academic ivory tower". *
And while i agree that if it can't be implemented correctly then it shouldn't be at all... there's no need to "spend your time figuring out how" .. its been suggested a bunch of times since week 1 and simply nothing has been implemented. Nothing has even been tried. How many direct gameplay features in NS1 and NS2 do you think have received the same treatment?
So go ahead.. say it doesn't work and that's why it should be cut, but don't pretend like a) there's no potential for a solution b) no suggestions have been given or c) supporters of the concept are ignorant or unaware of it's failed implementation and thus blindly go around and suggest to keep this mechanic in it's current state for new players.
*What i'd like to see for once, is instead of people having to defend the implementation of glancing bites, for someone to please explain to me where the concept (not the single implementation we've seen) fail?
The concept's guidelines are simple: The closer your target gets to the center of the screen, the more damage you do.
Should be "Easy to learn, difficult to master." The rest is implementation.
Anyone?
@scatter
New players, (and i'd venture to guess I've observed more new players in person than almost anyone in these forums, btw) if not oblivious to it, find it confusing or generally bad because said implementation wasn't done right.
I don't think any supporter of glancing bites supports it's implementation, or would say its perfect. So suggesting that said supporters disregard the negative impact it has in it's current form on new players is presumptuously wrong at best. You ignoring the fact that said supporters would like better implementation and feedback for new players and vets alike, and focusing only on our support of the concept is blindingly narrow of you, imo, and makes it seem like you just want to attack the person and not the "academic ivory tower". *
And while i agree that if it can't be implemented correctly then it shouldn't be at all... there's no need to "spend your time figuring out how" .. its been suggested a bunch of times since week 1 and simply nothing has been implemented. Nothing has even been tried. How many direct gameplay features in NS1 and NS2 do you think have received the same treatment?
So go ahead.. say it doesn't work and that's why it should be cut, but don't pretend like a) there's no potential for a solution b) no suggestions have been given or c) supporters of the concept are ignorant or unaware of it's failed implementation and thus blindly go around and suggest to keep this mechanic in it's current state for new players.
*What i'd like to see for once, is instead of people having to defend the implementation of glancing bites, for someone to please explain to me where the concept (not the single implementation we've seen) fail?
The concept's guidelines are simple: The closer your target gets to the center of the screen, the more damage you do.
Should be "Easy to learn, difficult to master." The rest is implementation.
Anyone?
The implementation is nottheproblem. It will always be overly complex and frustrating regardless of implementation. Any sound or crosshair type graphic will just add more complexity and frustration to an already complex and frustrating mechanic that has no reason for being in the game in the first place. Glancing bites just don't work.
IronHorseDeveloper, QA Manager, Technical Support & contributorJoin Date: 2010-05-08Member: 71669Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Subnautica Playtester, Subnautica PT Lead, Pistachionauts
edited June 2013
@robotix
You're joking right?
You say its not the problem to discuss and then directly list items that are implementation methods: sounds, crosshairs and graphics... ?....
But ok.. lets just assume that distinction is difficult and the same would apply to the perfect vacuum implementation of the feature:
Your argument that requiring an additional layer of complexity through accurate biting beyond a marine on your screen would be too complex in any iteration, just doesn't seem to hold up since there are bite cone sizes currently that were made to their specific size for balance reasons, meaning there is an established standard with aiming accuracy for bites..
Glancing bites wouldn't change that, they would just subtly reward (more starting fun than binary miss/hit which for a new players is 95% miss) and communicate to those who couldn't bite as accurately.
That's why implementation IS the problem.. because the whole mechanic was based on teaching the player and making it easier to learn (while not effecting the skill ceiling)... so if the new player can't tell the difference - then its failed! If vets can't tell the difference fast enough, then its failed!
Fix the implementation for everyone, and instead of adding an extra layer of complexity, (since accuracy is a standard already established) this will merely give better weapon feedback while simultaneously lowering the skill floor.
It should be fun first of all. The rest are just details for peoples who beleive "skills" is an appropriate term for handling a mouse and a keyboard.
What matter is how many copies of the game you sell. What matter is how fun the gameplay is. That obsession to emulate other shooters to get a credible competitive scene will only get this game to crash hard like dow 2 did. And the worst is that I feel it's already happening. So unless the comp players have a magic wand to attract more players you have to make sure public game is accessible.
There are combat servers. What keep UW to create servers for competitive players and their own unique extra rules? If someone stay long enought he *will* eventualy find his way in those servers.
Why do people always feel the need to make discussions like these into a comp vs pub thing? BT is being designed to benifit both. But I agree, it should be fun first of all. Next you can ask yourself the question how much fun it is to do 25dmg with landing a bite? Does that feel like a good thing to rookies, or would they rather do full damage on every hit, and have it a bit easier to get those 75dmg hits in the first place?
I read every post and wanted to share my opinion, but this just feels like the WoW forums with its "casual vs. hardcore" nonsense; it made me lose a lot of faith in the forum community and made not want to be a part of it.
In the end, if current game win/loss ratios are about 50% alien 50% marine then all that really matters is how this will effect that; because no matter how much "easier" some people think it will make it for newbies, no newb will enjoy getting rapped in 3 bites when they start as marines since this will (as in balance mod) reduce skill floors for aliens while raising it for marines. Please remember that not everything is about "competitive players" or "rookies/casuals" and that in the end any shift in balance to one side can have a more drastic effect on the other when discussing issues
Now my two cents? Why not just increase the range on the 25/50 dmg glance (50 marginally, 25 moderately) so that way when greenies join up (and usually go for marines first) they don't die to 2 bites and 1 para EVERY time while still lowering the skill floor.
id like to see glancing bites come back - even if they are tweaked a bit to make the overall bite cone smaller. i think it provides a more satisfying experience to lower skilled players, while giving a more progressive skill curve, both for low and high skill players. otherwise you could do a fully progressive damage model, from 1-75. eitherway, i think if we provide a way for movement skill to scale, why not biting?
Glancing bites are a mistake. Many rookie players don't even realize glancing bites exist, and only get angry and frustrated when they have to bite marines different numbers of times to kill them. Even if they miss more with a smaller cone, they'll be more satisfied and understand the game better when they deal one damage amount per bite.
if uwe did a bad job of educating players that they existed, i dont believe that is an outright argument against the concept, but rather a criticism of the execution. besides, the idea of augmented damage based on hit accuracy is pretty common now, i dont think its really as obscure as you claim. 'hints' at loading screen are common tools to educate players, and besides strayan has all those videos does he not?
i consider glancing bites to be a reasonable idea, because they provide a smooth skill progression. without glancing bites, i think the gap and time investment required to be even remotely effective from being completely ineffective is perhaps too big. considering that there are no other mechanics through which players are able to practice and improve on their own (like functional bots, or singleplayer etc) this seems an important thing to counter balance.
@scatter - an fully progressive damage cone is a valid option, and is often used for AoE damage calculations. there are naturally downsides, upsides and technical considerations to take into account, but that you consider it a 'joke' only further highlights your narrow mindedness.
twilitebluebug stalkerJoin Date: 2003-02-04Member: 13116Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue
edited June 2013
I think merging three damage zones into two may simplify the design and the balancing process. Not many players like to perform maths additions on the fly in an FPS game (eg 31 damage + 25 damage + 70 damage = ???).
Screw that bite cone, I want to grab a marine by an arm or a leg, and toss him across the room.
Then wait for my adrenaline to recharge, while my enemy gets up again and picks up his weapon.
I would suggest bonus damage based on frequency, instead of it purely being based on aim and glances, instead be based on how many times and how quickly you can get the bites in, that would be a game changer in my opinion, when I'm a marine I tend to strafe and jump away, with the currently biting, it's fairly easy to hit the marines, that's nice, but how quickly can you hit them? That's where the skill threshold should stand.
@robotix
You're joking right?
You say its not the problem to discuss and then directly list items that are implementation methods: sounds, crosshairs and graphics... ?....
It feels like you don't even read what I write...
*gives up*
The idea of bite cones with varying damage is good - but it doesn't work. So many times I have the marine perfectly centered in my view, bite, and see a 25 or 50 show up.. it just doesn't work. May be due to lag, lagging hit boxes, I don't really know. But it doesn't work properly, I can assure you that. It seems to be more so thrown off by a fast moving marine, one with high lag, or worst case scenario - both lag and fast moving. You'll be lucky to land a 25 on him no matter how perfectly centered you have him in your view.
As further proof this mechanic is broken, I have seen plenty of times where the marine was able to evade my bite, and I straight up missed him - I clicked and saw the teeth close and the entire time, the marine was out of my view. Yet I am awarded with a 25 or 50 bite. This tells me there are laggy hit boxes going on. Until the laggy hitboxes are fixed (can they even be fixed?) the bite cone should do 75 damage all around. Or maybe remove the 25 are, and make 50 do 75 dmg. Something needs to be done.
Comments
Alien game play is already unforgiving enough for new players...this just makes it less rewarding for new players as they will get fewer hits (all be them even glancing).
It seems to be a reasonable change, let's wait and see if and how it will improve the game.
tl;dr: Glancing bite the culmination of a long series of balance changes. Remove it at your own risk.
Clearly they just needed to implement a 75 damage bite cone that was smaller than the original bite cone but larger than the nerfed bite cone.
There was no clear indicator where on the screen was a hit or a miss.. Made no sense how the marine was clearly in view, teeth everywhere on your screen, yet only this small area in front of you worked?
Improper implementation failed that mechanic as well Imo. (crosshairs)
I don't see the competitive players managing to keep this game alive so well. This game look like it's dying while it should be thriving. The resentement of the pros regarding the attention given to causal and new players are no stranger to that fact neither.
Internet connection and computer performance seem to have a serious impact on how accurate glancing hit can be. Noobs will have a better chance against comp players so instead of seeing one guy making all the kills we might start to have players who stay instead of giving up inside 5 minutes of the game because of aimbot kinda like shooter boys.
Why not remove a cone ever time the aliens receive a hive. 1 hive 25/50/75 2 hive 50/75 3 hive 75.
Currently its impossible to 1v1 marines late game as skulk even if the marine messes up and hits a wall and you bite him 2 times.
That could be worth a try.
Or by remove a bite cone do you mean enlarge
Once upon a time, lmg hit registration was horrific on skulks. So, some of these "balance" changes don't make sense out of context. Mark my words, the performance boost is going to "change balance" even more. [In case you can't tell, I'm inferring it's really not a balance issue at all.]
Glancing bites are a mistake. Many rookie players don't even realize glancing bites exist, and only get angry and frustrated when they have to bite marines different numbers of times to kill them. Even if they miss more with a smaller cone, they'll be more satisfied and understand the game better when they deal one damage amount per bite.
Agree, or alteast make it so Marines do half damage on bullets that land on you'r legs and arms.
it just makes it equivalent to every melee weapon in FPS games... and I don't see people confused about that
If it cannot be implemented properly in a clear way that is not frustrating to comp players, confusing to new players, and all the players in between then it should not be implemented at all. Spend your time figuring out how to do the above instead of constantly repeating same the argument over and over, like this guy:
You forgot "dynamic encounters" you politician. We've heard this already in 5 different threads and get the general idea. Spend your time figuring out how to support this desire in a way that would be less shit and it may be considered.
Also, I'm so glad you ran with my 75 cones of 1 damage each joke. I even said to elodea that some people would take it seriously and that it was dangerous for me to post it. Indeed.
New players, (and i'd venture to guess I've observed more new players in person than almost anyone in these forums, btw) if not oblivious to it, find it confusing or generally bad because said implementation wasn't done right.
I don't think any supporter of glancing bites supports it's implementation, or would say its perfect. So suggesting that said supporters disregard the negative impact it has in it's current form on new players is presumptuously wrong at best. You ignoring the fact that said supporters would like better implementation and feedback for new players and vets alike, and focusing only on our support of the concept is blindingly narrow of you, imo, and makes it seem like you just want to attack the person and not the "academic ivory tower". *
And while i agree that if it can't be implemented correctly then it shouldn't be at all... there's no need to "spend your time figuring out how" .. its been suggested a bunch of times since week 1 and simply nothing has been implemented. Nothing has even been tried. How many direct gameplay features in NS1 and NS2 do you think have received the same treatment?
So go ahead.. say it doesn't work and that's why it should be cut, but don't pretend like a) there's no potential for a solution b) no suggestions have been given or c) supporters of the concept are ignorant or unaware of it's failed implementation and thus blindly go around and suggest to keep this mechanic in it's current state for new players.
*What i'd like to see for once, is instead of people having to defend the implementation of glancing bites, for someone to please explain to me where the concept (not the single implementation we've seen) fail?
The concept's guidelines are simple: The closer your target gets to the center of the screen, the more damage you do.
Should be "Easy to learn, difficult to master." The rest is implementation.
Anyone?
The implementation is not the problem. It will always be overly complex and frustrating regardless of implementation. Any sound or crosshair type graphic will just add more complexity and frustration to an already complex and frustrating mechanic that has no reason for being in the game in the first place. Glancing bites just don't work.
You're joking right?
You say its not the problem to discuss and then directly list items that are implementation methods: sounds, crosshairs and graphics... ?....
But ok.. lets just assume that distinction is difficult and the same would apply to the perfect vacuum implementation of the feature:
Your argument that requiring an additional layer of complexity through accurate biting beyond a marine on your screen would be too complex in any iteration, just doesn't seem to hold up since there are bite cone sizes currently that were made to their specific size for balance reasons, meaning there is an established standard with aiming accuracy for bites..
Glancing bites wouldn't change that, they would just subtly reward (more starting fun than binary miss/hit which for a new players is 95% miss) and communicate to those who couldn't bite as accurately.
That's why implementation IS the problem.. because the whole mechanic was based on teaching the player and making it easier to learn (while not effecting the skill ceiling)... so if the new player can't tell the difference - then its failed! If vets can't tell the difference fast enough, then its failed!
Fix the implementation for everyone, and instead of adding an extra layer of complexity, (since accuracy is a standard already established) this will merely give better weapon feedback while simultaneously lowering the skill floor.
What matter is how many copies of the game you sell. What matter is how fun the gameplay is. That obsession to emulate other shooters to get a credible competitive scene will only get this game to crash hard like dow 2 did. And the worst is that I feel it's already happening. So unless the comp players have a magic wand to attract more players you have to make sure public game is accessible.
There are combat servers. What keep UW to create servers for competitive players and their own unique extra rules? If someone stay long enought he *will* eventualy find his way in those servers.
In the end, if current game win/loss ratios are about 50% alien 50% marine then all that really matters is how this will effect that; because no matter how much "easier" some people think it will make it for newbies, no newb will enjoy getting rapped in 3 bites when they start as marines since this will (as in balance mod) reduce skill floors for aliens while raising it for marines. Please remember that not everything is about "competitive players" or "rookies/casuals" and that in the end any shift in balance to one side can have a more drastic effect on the other when discussing issues
Now my two cents? Why not just increase the range on the 25/50 dmg glance (50 marginally, 25 moderately) so that way when greenies join up (and usually go for marines first) they don't die to 2 bites and 1 para EVERY time while still lowering the skill floor.
if uwe did a bad job of educating players that they existed, i dont believe that is an outright argument against the concept, but rather a criticism of the execution. besides, the idea of augmented damage based on hit accuracy is pretty common now, i dont think its really as obscure as you claim. 'hints' at loading screen are common tools to educate players, and besides strayan has all those videos does he not?
i consider glancing bites to be a reasonable idea, because they provide a smooth skill progression. without glancing bites, i think the gap and time investment required to be even remotely effective from being completely ineffective is perhaps too big. considering that there are no other mechanics through which players are able to practice and improve on their own (like functional bots, or singleplayer etc) this seems an important thing to counter balance.
@scatter - an fully progressive damage cone is a valid option, and is often used for AoE damage calculations. there are naturally downsides, upsides and technical considerations to take into account, but that you consider it a 'joke' only further highlights your narrow mindedness.
Then wait for my adrenaline to recharge, while my enemy gets up again and picks up his weapon.
But I guess that will never happen.
http://www.awesomehq.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/drumstick.jpg
I would suggest bonus damage based on frequency, instead of it purely being based on aim and glances, instead be based on how many times and how quickly you can get the bites in, that would be a game changer in my opinion, when I'm a marine I tend to strafe and jump away, with the currently biting, it's fairly easy to hit the marines, that's nice, but how quickly can you hit them? That's where the skill threshold should stand.
It feels like you don't even read what I write...
*gives up*
As further proof this mechanic is broken, I have seen plenty of times where the marine was able to evade my bite, and I straight up missed him - I clicked and saw the teeth close and the entire time, the marine was out of my view. Yet I am awarded with a 25 or 50 bite. This tells me there are laggy hit boxes going on. Until the laggy hitboxes are fixed (can they even be fixed?) the bite cone should do 75 damage all around. Or maybe remove the 25 are, and make 50 do 75 dmg. Something needs to be done.