@CrushaK: Thanks for digging up that stuff! It was interesting to read and we'll see how much of your question marks will be resolved at Friday
I disagree with people stating that the game has changed to much in order to be enjoyable. The game changes and it's actually not naturally for UWE to maintain and develop one game for such a long time. Remember, they earned money from you a while ago (around 24 € which is not really much) and producing a fair amount of content for which you don't have to pay extra. Other companies release the game and announce 5 DLCs right at the start. So please don't complain about the game being changed.
Although I'm not too happy about releasing a patch which seems to break the game (technically not based on their preference) for some people. It is just two day but it still is unpleasent. Not too bad tough, just saying.
so alien comm's ability to create infestation where ever he wants is complete trash... can you say bombard whip echo strat for the win... complete bullshit
I'm ok with very little of this patch...
Can you say viable base breaking ability for the aliens that stops the 2 hour long pointless 4 hive sieges that end in a concede?
One theme I don't like with this patch is the constant back tracking with regards to design philosophies that were seemingly set in stone previously. I don't mind if certain mechanics don't float my own personal boat, all that I ask is that UWE remain dedicated to their vision and find a way to make it work. Introducing HMGs, allowing Exos to beacon, these represent a lack of belief in the vision they originally had. And I'm not talking about "oh we tried something this way now lets try it another way", as with lifeform movement or the ability to sprint or something like that. These were core game principles that have now seemingly been tossed aside.
I hope there is still some direction here, rather than urgent triage taking place.
we always wanted that exos can be beaconed and there is no HMG in ns2.
I'm not sure how to feel about exo beaconing... On the one hand, marines do need mobility. Beaconing specifically to get all the exos together for a push seems like a sensible and valid thing to do. On the other, the teamwork, coordination, and skill required to force a beacon and take out good enemy exos is a real rush and one of the high-points of a game. Even as marines, I love the gauntlet back to the exos with welders ready to repair the damage. It all just felt to me like the right blend of micro and macro in engagements of that kind.
I don't know.. It just feels like a disturbance in one of the details of the game which really gelled for me. Perhaps exo beaconing could be an upgrade of its own?
Grenades are cool, and good for vent control. The other use I've found so far is saving dying extractors. And I don't doubt that a few more interesting uses will crop up as I play.
Not a fan of the new alien vision. But very few seem to be, so that's hardly news.
Still looking forward to Biodome! (though 252 has dented that a tiiiiny bit.)
Is VSync somehow forced, even though it's disabled? There's like a second long delay between my mouse movement and camera, and that's only on low performance, it's not a sensitivity or acceleration issue. On many good servers the lag backs you few steps every now and then. Tutorial doesn't teach you about pretty peculiar skulk and fade movement mechanics (instead explains the most obvious one - lerk), nor about welding other players, the importance of armor research. Piss filter is... piss.
Shouldn't this be a beta patch? You broke the game, not cool.
The move with Exos is great imo. The issue with it previously was that it was too big a risk to invest in, partly because of cost, inability to exit, and issues with beacon. So it has never really been a step up from standard armour, but rather a giant leap that didn't ever feel right.
Everyone is going to dislike the alien vision, as it was totally op in all previous versions. The mechanic has been broken for a while, as no one ever really bothered to play without it off.
Some of the other stuff is cool, I think the bone shield could be a little useless. I can see a lot of people using it rather than running away, and they'll be easily hunted by marine squads without support.
The upgrade tree for aliens is bonkers from a UI and gameplay standpoint. Linking the different aliens upgrades to random structures just seems really off to me.
Great news on the tutorial system, looking forward to Friday. Though it is a shame to see almost everything out there already, rather than seeing it all on Friday. Lessoned the surprise for me somewhat, but I understand there are technical issues to deal with.
Some of the other stuff is cool, I think the bone shield could be a little useless. I can see a lot of people using it rather than running away, and they'll be easily hunted by marine squads without support.
Quite the opposite, actually. I took over as commander in a marine game where we got pushed back quite a lot. The enemy had a Crag station in Logistics and kept pressuring with Gorges, Lerks and Onos. Even with focused fire, we couldn't break through the walls of Onos in that tight corridor that connected it to Shipping. If I'm informed correctly, Bone Shield blocks nearly 100% of all incoming damage from the front. When I checked that Onos' health after 3-4 marines kept firing 1-2 magazines into it, it was still at ~1100/450. Barely took a dent from all the shooting. It definitely fulfills that tank role now, though I am concerned that its supposed weakness of being surrounded never comes into play in such tight corridors and thus makes the ability quite a bit OP.
I have a friend who was on vacation since july and just came back last week. He had to re-learn literally everything. Lulz, he will have to do it again now.
but? What was preventing it? The fact that Exos couldn't be beaconed OR phased kinda hinted to the fact that it wasn't intended for them to quickly get around the map.
Beacons didn't exclude Exos originally for balance reasons surely, because the Exo hasn't be noticeably changed at all and now its being given beacon. Whats the deal?
The Jetpack allows the marines to fly nearly forever now. With the new fade movement nerf.... its near impossible to fight jetpacking marines.
Other than the skulk movement (which was said was a bug), the new bunny hopping marine, the lerk 100% bite increase rate, and what I just said. I like the new changes. Even the vision ones.
After playing almost 5 hours on the new patch, only two things I dislike: the poor performance and the removal of the Commander's PRes. Everything else felt very good. The grenades are awesome! Please do not NERF, pLZ BRo!1!11!1! I liked how I need to choose research paths and then unlock them with biomass. It forces you to do more strategical thinking. I love the new ability to spawn drifters on infestation, which is very handy when I quickly need one for stuff to build or to support.
Duo Rialgun Exo is boss from what I've seen. Good thing that umbra counters it hard.
Overall, this is very super cool patch, despite its buggy nature. I'm so excited for Friday, when the real deal hits!
The tutorial systems are great. Especially the "commander help" during the game basically forces rookies to do something useful.
The Alien tech tree changes are also very good. No longer skipping upgrades which weren't that important (xeno, vortex, umbra), now you get that stuff anyways. I like how the Comm has to decide which lifeforms get biomass HP benefits, hopefully less used lifeforms aren't even more disadvantaged now because others are prioritized.
Wishlist:
- grenade crosshair and grenade cooking (hard to aim without crosshair and they're quite bouncy) would be good
- give us back the Commander Exo drops!
I wanted to come into this patch thinking good vibes but man, the more I play of this patch the more it feels like 240 all over again, 90% marine win rates here we go.
Oh no, I really hope that's not the case. 240-249 was horrid. Being on a badly losing alien team is 10^6 times less fun than being on a badly losing marine team.
I have a friend who was on vacation since july and just came back last week. He had to re-learn literally everything. Lulz, he will have to do it again now.
I have a friend who was on vacation since july and just came back last week. He had to re-learn literally everything. Lulz, he will have to do it again now.
My server hates the update. Constant tic rate drops! My regular players hate it severely.
client side, I love the new shit but this is bugged to hell. I get points in game where everything stops loading on D3D9(go threw phase gate and nothing is on other side but an empty room), tons of stutter on DX11(Despite my increased frame rate) and artifacting on OpenGL (with an occasional crash)
Client side issues aside, I am terribly upset with server performance. I Co-own and operate one of the most played on servers in the United States. To be honest our piece of the community is very upset with the early release of this patch.
Haven't played yet, but based on this thread and the AV thread I may wait till Friday to even look at it....
The new alien vision looks sick as a screen shot and seems like someone's concept art rather then a well thought out in game feature...
Res structure sounds bad, when drifters cost the same as a RT (do they cloak now).
Clearly UWE is ok with making game changing patches... Wish they would shift more twords NS1 where instead of filling the game with "cool" features (Exo/flame/tunnels/babblers/etc). The game was made interesting by flexibity...
Having more toys dosnt change the game significantly as the core game is still repetitive if we spawn here we need to hold over here and here...
Oh well, time will tell and so far it's been fun...
But that combined with new alien movement makes for frustrating gameplay. I am getting tired of relearning movement every 3 months
Fade was the only alien that had any kind of movement tweaks done to it this patch.
Skulk movement was tweaked this patch. The initial jump feels very sluggish when using the same method I used in 251. I only find it effective to start my walljump chain from a wall now.
+1 I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels this. I asked about it earlier in the week and was told no changes were made but looks like there is a bug so it wasn't intentional.
- Commanders starts with 0 pres and gains no pres for 1 minute after leaving the CC/Hive.
Nobody wanted to comm before. Now we get even less voulunteers.
What about hotseat commanders? It was pretty badass tactic, where whoever is closest to CC builds stuff and hops out. That way you could have +1 field player at cost of lesser map awareness and slower reaction to threats. Not it also costs 1pres for every RT held.
Has there always been a vending machine in decent distributing gorge plushies?
And secondly, the game runs significantly worse for me. I tried using DX11 alongside a GTX470, so i was wondering if that's problematic for that "old" card. It does support it and the frame rate is above 30 (50 in options) but still it feels laggy. Any thoughts?
Comm pres lock was introduced to cage alien commanders in their hives, since even comp players just used them as RT dropping stations and "the comm" was playing normally as a lifeform most of the match.
I have a friend who was on vacation since july and just came back last week. He had to re-learn literally everything. Lulz, he will have to do it again now.
"informal used for emphasis or to express strong feeling while not being literally true:
I have received literally thousands of letters"
Indeed, people are increasingly using the term wrongly in order to exaggerate their claims, which I was pointing out. Thanks for your further clarification.
Comments
I disagree with people stating that the game has changed to much in order to be enjoyable. The game changes and it's actually not naturally for UWE to maintain and develop one game for such a long time. Remember, they earned money from you a while ago (around 24 € which is not really much) and producing a fair amount of content for which you don't have to pay extra. Other companies release the game and announce 5 DLCs right at the start. So please don't complain about the game being changed.
Although I'm not too happy about releasing a patch which seems to break the game (technically not based on their preference) for some people. It is just two day but it still is unpleasent. Not too bad tough, just saying.
Love some of the new features, but the game is barely playable now.
we always wanted that exos can be beaconed and there is no HMG in ns2.
I don't know.. It just feels like a disturbance in one of the details of the game which really gelled for me. Perhaps exo beaconing could be an upgrade of its own?
Grenades are cool, and good for vent control. The other use I've found so far is saving dying extractors. And I don't doubt that a few more interesting uses will crop up as I play.
Not a fan of the new alien vision. But very few seem to be, so that's hardly news.
Still looking forward to Biodome! (though 252 has dented that a tiiiiny bit.)
there is a small bug in the skulk movement I just found. its going to be fixed for the final patch
Shouldn't this be a beta patch? You broke the game, not cool.
Everyone is going to dislike the alien vision, as it was totally op in all previous versions. The mechanic has been broken for a while, as no one ever really bothered to play without it off.
Some of the other stuff is cool, I think the bone shield could be a little useless. I can see a lot of people using it rather than running away, and they'll be easily hunted by marine squads without support.
The upgrade tree for aliens is bonkers from a UI and gameplay standpoint. Linking the different aliens upgrades to random structures just seems really off to me.
Great news on the tutorial system, looking forward to Friday. Though it is a shame to see almost everything out there already, rather than seeing it all on Friday. Lessoned the surprise for me somewhat, but I understand there are technical issues to deal with.
Quite the opposite, actually. I took over as commander in a marine game where we got pushed back quite a lot. The enemy had a Crag station in Logistics and kept pressuring with Gorges, Lerks and Onos. Even with focused fire, we couldn't break through the walls of Onos in that tight corridor that connected it to Shipping. If I'm informed correctly, Bone Shield blocks nearly 100% of all incoming damage from the front. When I checked that Onos' health after 3-4 marines kept firing 1-2 magazines into it, it was still at ~1100/450. Barely took a dent from all the shooting. It definitely fulfills that tank role now, though I am concerned that its supposed weakness of being surrounded never comes into play in such tight corridors and thus makes the ability quite a bit OP.
but? What was preventing it? The fact that Exos couldn't be beaconed OR phased kinda hinted to the fact that it wasn't intended for them to quickly get around the map.
Beacons didn't exclude Exos originally for balance reasons surely, because the Exo hasn't be noticeably changed at all and now its being given beacon. Whats the deal?
Other than the skulk movement (which was said was a bug), the new bunny hopping marine, the lerk 100% bite increase rate, and what I just said. I like the new changes. Even the vision ones.
Duo Rialgun Exo is boss from what I've seen. Good thing that umbra counters it hard.
Overall, this is very super cool patch, despite its buggy nature. I'm so excited for Friday, when the real deal hits!
The Alien tech tree changes are also very good. No longer skipping upgrades which weren't that important (xeno, vortex, umbra), now you get that stuff anyways. I like how the Comm has to decide which lifeforms get biomass HP benefits, hopefully less used lifeforms aren't even more disadvantaged now because others are prioritized.
Wishlist:
- grenade crosshair and grenade cooking (hard to aim without crosshair and they're quite bouncy) would be good
- give us back the Commander Exo drops!
You do know what "literally" means, right?
http://oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/literally
"informal used for emphasis or to express strong feeling while not being literally true:
I have received literally thousands of letters"
client side, I love the new shit but this is bugged to hell. I get points in game where everything stops loading on D3D9(go threw phase gate and nothing is on other side but an empty room), tons of stutter on DX11(Despite my increased frame rate) and artifacting on OpenGL (with an occasional crash)
Client side issues aside, I am terribly upset with server performance. I Co-own and operate one of the most played on servers in the United States. To be honest our piece of the community is very upset with the early release of this patch.
The new alien vision looks sick as a screen shot and seems like someone's concept art rather then a well thought out in game feature...
Res structure sounds bad, when drifters cost the same as a RT (do they cloak now).
Clearly UWE is ok with making game changing patches... Wish they would shift more twords NS1 where instead of filling the game with "cool" features (Exo/flame/tunnels/babblers/etc). The game was made interesting by flexibity...
Having more toys dosnt change the game significantly as the core game is still repetitive if we spawn here we need to hold over here and here...
Oh well, time will tell and so far it's been fun...
+1 I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels this. I asked about it earlier in the week and was told no changes were made but looks like there is a bug so it wasn't intentional.
What about hotseat commanders? It was pretty badass tactic, where whoever is closest to CC builds stuff and hops out. That way you could have +1 field player at cost of lesser map awareness and slower reaction to threats. Not it also costs 1pres for every RT held.
And secondly, the game runs significantly worse for me. I tried using DX11 alongside a GTX470, so i was wondering if that's problematic for that "old" card. It does support it and the frame rate is above 30 (50 in options) but still it feels laggy. Any thoughts?
Indeed, people are increasingly using the term wrongly in order to exaggerate their claims, which I was pointing out. Thanks for your further clarification.