I've seen this on the blog sometime ago, as we all know:
I was wondering: what is the "devour" skill and why some player seems to not like it? I don't know what it is, but judging from the picture it looks neat!
SamusDroidColoradoJoin Date: 2013-05-13Member: 185219Members, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Gold, Subnautica Playtester, NS2 Community Developer, Pistachionauts
edited July 2014
In NS1 and NS2 public combat, it was an ability that let Onos eat you, and you got to watch your death as you punched an onos, which did nothing, for about 15 seconds, however, it is now much improved and is though similar to the original idea, it is much improved, and balanced.
There was nothing quite like eating an HA and pooping out his HMG. It was also the height of skill as an onos to jump-devour a JPer (not to mention height of shame for said JPer).
It was also awesome to kill an Onos and save your comrade.
I know it's in NS2 Combat, but I want to see it one day in NS2 vanilla Got to better than bone shield...
Anyway, @LunSei, the old devour was very frustrating for marine players to deal with, sitting inside an onos stomach not being able to do anything. Like getting one-shotted AND increasing your respawn time. Which is why there's always gonna be some controversy about it.
The devour in Standalone Combat is a bit different though.
lol, he said devour and skill in the same sentence.
devour was a 'feature' of ns1 that wasted one player's time before putting them back in the spawn queue.
It appeals to children because 'eww that's gross lolol,' but you'll find most sensible people realised very quickly that it's a gimmick and grows old very quickly.
yes there is a use for it in removing a heavy armour marine at the beginning of an engagement, but the cost of that is that one player had to sit doing absolutely nothing for ages until they finally die, then sit still doing nothing until they spawn.
devour is the reason i quit ns1 all that time ago, and I'm very glad it isn't in ns2, which i have played for well over 1000h so far. i am very disappointed in the combat team for thinking it's a good idea to put a no-skill 1hit kill ability into the game. I was all ready to support them unreservedly until that horrendous announcement. what's worse is that seems to be the core of their advertising, trying to get the young ones to buy the game i suppose. shame it's at the expense of good game design though.
DC_DarklingJoin Date: 2003-07-10Member: 18068Members, Constellation, Squad Five Blue, Squad Five Silver
I think ns1 devour was awesome.
It was a nice counter to a way way to strong Heavy Armor train.
It was always fun to, sometimes vs better judgement, chase the onos to try and kill him to free your buddy. (and ya know, to kill the onos)
Soul_RiderMod BeanJoin Date: 2004-06-19Member: 29388Members, Constellation, Squad Five Blue
In my opinion, one of the main reasons the onos isn't as scary in NS2 as it is in NS1 is the fact that it doesn't have devour.
In NS1, seeing an Onos, especially as a HA, really put you on your guard, and caused teams to focus and target it. The shout that an Onos was on the field was always a moment that the marines began to get cautious.
In NS2, the Onos is just another alien unit, and doesn't have the ability to one shot an Exo.
I have to chime in with the others and say, while it is a much maligned mechanic, it was an important part of the atmosphere of NS1.
Also, don'r use your current judgements of devour when looking at Combat standalone. It is a much more fun mechanic now, in my opinion.
PelargirJoin Date: 2013-07-02Member: 185857Members, Forum Moderators, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Squad Five Silver, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Silver, WC 2013 - Silver, Forum staff
Yep but here is NS2, not NS1. And the fact to one shot an Exo isn't a such good thing in my opinion. You have to use between 40 & 60 pres to buy an Exo & see it killed like that can be very frustrating.
I remember playing an onos and trying to eat marine res.... Heavies, JPs, anyone with a gun. That is what the current onos kind of misses the mark on. Heck its a giant meat shield at this point.
i think devour changes alot, if it was to be added to ns2 then the way marines play and focus targets would change, cautious less rambo and more focus fire. It might actually be good for the game at the moment. Whilst it wasnt fun being devoured it did make playing an onos more fun, killing an onos more rewarding and it increased tension as well as those awesome rescue moments.
It's Super Effective!Join Date: 2012-08-28Member: 156625Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow
edited July 2014
Based on my experiences in NS2 Combat (Stand alone shown above) You have to click and hold fire for about a full second, while aiming at a target until devoured (could be difficult with a moving/flying marine)
Once devoured, depending on how much health the marine has, will determine how long it takes to digest.
So devouring a weak marine is sort of pointless, devouring a full health marine can be good, but risky.
During the digestion, the marine can attack your Onos from the inside. It does a LOT of damage, and it is possible to die if you take additional damage from other players.
Based on my experiences in NS2 Combat (Stand alone shown above) You have to click and hold fire for about a full second, while aiming at a target until devoured (could be difficult with a moving/flying marine)
Once devoured, depending on how much health the marine has, will determine how long it takes to digest.
So devouring a weak marine is sort of pointless, devouring a full health marine can be good, but risky.
During the digestion, the marine can attack your Onos from the inside. It does a LOT of damage, and it is possible to die if you take additional damage from other players.
This is so cool.
But what is the Combat stand alone? Is it a mod? How do I find it?
I'd like to try to devour or to get devoured just to see what happens. So... holding the attack button while playing on Combat stand alone. As soon as I figure out what Combat stand alone is!
Is there no mod that puts devour in the normal gameplay?
Combat was a mod for NS1 and NS2. Now they're making it into a game all on its own. That's why they call it combat stand alone and not just combat mod. If you want to play the new stand alone version of combat it's only in alpha and you'll have to be accepted as a playtester.
lol, he said devour and skill in the same sentence.
devour was a 'feature' of ns1 that wasted one player's time before putting them back in the spawn queue.
It appeals to children because 'eww that's gross lolol,' but you'll find most sensible people realised very quickly that it's a gimmick and grows old very quickly.
yes there is a use for it in removing a heavy armour marine at the beginning of an engagement, but the cost of that is that one player had to sit doing absolutely nothing for ages until they finally die, then sit still doing nothing until they spawn.
devour is the reason i quit ns1 all that time ago, and I'm very glad it isn't in ns2, which i have played for well over 1000h so far. i am very disappointed in the combat team for thinking it's a good idea to put a no-skill 1hit kill ability into the game. I was all ready to support them unreservedly until that horrendous announcement. what's worse is that seems to be the core of their advertising, trying to get the young ones to buy the game i suppose. shame it's at the expense of good game design though.
I am really sick of reading all this hate toward devour, especially when someone who claims to have played NS1 has such a one-sided perspective, calling it a "no-skill 1hit ability". Devour was pretty balanced in gameplay and there were much stronger abilities in NS1 besides devour. It was alot easier to kill a marine by 2 swiping them with focus than it was to devour them. It took skill to eat someone, you had to aim it just right (usually toward their knees since the onos model was taller). You could dodge it as marine. A couple missed devours (and time spent not goring) alot of times meant that fight not going in your favor.
You forget NS1 had HMG, responsive jetpacks, and faster gameplay in general. You were lucky if you could get in, eat someone, and quickly get out without dying. It was one of the only abilities that could directly hurt the late-game marine resources by eating someone with a gun and then pooping them out away from the group so the marines couldn't retrieve it.
But when the onos couldn't escape, the marine in the belly would pop out where the onos died and if the onos had been retreating, it would put you in a position to pick a fade or other lifeform retreating too. It made for some interesting battles and just another mechanic that made NS1 so dynamic and fun where NS2 gameplay has long been consider stale. Eating a JPer out of the sky that was playing too aggressive was one of the funnest things in the game. Yes it took skill. Also if you missed, you were probably dead because you too aggressively chased him. I assume if you truly hate devour, someone was probably trolling you with cloaking and eating you as you ran outside your base. If that is happening, your team probably already lost the game anyways.
I am not necessarilly in favor of devour for NS2, but if you think onos are in a good place right now you are delusional. It is so mind-numbingly boring and as long as you don't go in alone, you are pretty skillful at playing onos. It's basically a lifeform in NS2 that if all else fails, just mass rush the base with these huge piles of health points and you will win. Case in point, I was trying to not fall asleep watching the NSL premier finals with Titus and Snails, and eventually Snails just had to go 3 Onos and rush the chair, ignoring the marines. No amount of counter in the game at that point could stop that. It was sooooo exciting to watch.
I agree on devour. It was always risky to try and devour. I saw many onos get greedy. You also have to realize that the onos has to run in and grab someone then run out.
Sure, it can be made user friendly... make the player immediately die but still digest for health and eventually drop the weapons.
IMO, it worked nicely in ns1.... it'd look a bit derpy to have onos devour exos... but I still like the ablity.
And by no means was this a feature, @roobubba, sorry. It was actually used in ns1 and it worked. May not work in this game. But your 'dissapointment' is based off of the past and ignorance of the current and future implementations of the attack in this game.
You simply cannot defend a game mechanic that takes a player out of the game for such a long period of time. Regardless of how you look at it, any ability for one player to deny another the opportunity to play the game for an extended period of time (full health heavy armour would take fucking ages to devour) is simply bad game design. I loved NS1. I played it religiously since its early days and I ran a well populated dedicated server for it. Devour killed it for me. Of course I'm disappointed to be reminded of that by combat's recent decision. I will wait to see if spawn times are extended in their implementation.
BTW at no point did I say that devour was unbalanced in NS1 so don't be putting words in my mouth. I said it was bad game design, which is entirely true.
If the HA died fast, he would have almost zero chances to get freed by a hero hmg/jp rine with ballz of steel.
I jumped my lmg rine with proud into the mouth of an Onos countless times to save an HA or build a siege cannon at the front line. All I remember is fun and a dense atmosphere. The same goes for ninja pg action. Hide behind a pillar and get passed by a fade twice. Building the pg and stopping in the right moment so a passing by alien couldn't hear it etc. Man I miss ns1. I watched the video and heck, I even miss the graphic The mic spamming and insulting was so common, rofl.
You simply cannot defend a game mechanic that takes a player out of the game for such a long period of time. Regardless of how you look at it, any ability for one player to deny another the opportunity to play the game for an extended period of time (full health heavy armour would take fucking ages to devour) is simply bad game design. I loved NS1. I played it religiously since its early days and I ran a well populated dedicated server for it. Devour killed it for me. Of course I'm disappointed to be reminded of that by combat's recent decision. I will wait to see if spawn times are extended in their implementation.
BTW at no point did I say that devour was unbalanced in NS1 so don't be putting words in my mouth. I said it was bad game design, which is entirely true.
I can't argue with you having a set opinion of something from a different game, even if you haven't tried it in the new game. I hope this game caters to you (even with a single attack that you arent sure how will affect the game) and doesn't make you quit (like it did in ns1).
I did mention that the marine could die immediately but the onos would still get the digest affects. No wait time. I see the next argument against that and have an answer for it but I don't want this to turn into a pissing contest.
Comments
I miss devour
There was nothing quite like eating an HA and pooping out his HMG. It was also the height of skill as an onos to jump-devour a JPer (not to mention height of shame for said JPer).
It was also awesome to kill an Onos and save your comrade.
I know it's in NS2 Combat, but I want to see it one day in NS2 vanilla Got to better than bone shield...
Dem voice comms. )
Anyway, @LunSei, the old devour was very frustrating for marine players to deal with, sitting inside an onos stomach not being able to do anything. Like getting one-shotted AND increasing your respawn time. Which is why there's always gonna be some controversy about it.
The devour in Standalone Combat is a bit different though.
devour was a 'feature' of ns1 that wasted one player's time before putting them back in the spawn queue.
It appeals to children because 'eww that's gross lolol,' but you'll find most sensible people realised very quickly that it's a gimmick and grows old very quickly.
yes there is a use for it in removing a heavy armour marine at the beginning of an engagement, but the cost of that is that one player had to sit doing absolutely nothing for ages until they finally die, then sit still doing nothing until they spawn.
devour is the reason i quit ns1 all that time ago, and I'm very glad it isn't in ns2, which i have played for well over 1000h so far. i am very disappointed in the combat team for thinking it's a good idea to put a no-skill 1hit kill ability into the game. I was all ready to support them unreservedly until that horrendous announcement. what's worse is that seems to be the core of their advertising, trying to get the young ones to buy the game i suppose. shame it's at the expense of good game design though.
It was a nice counter to a way way to strong Heavy Armor train.
It was always fun to, sometimes vs better judgement, chase the onos to try and kill him to free your buddy. (and ya know, to kill the onos)
In NS1, seeing an Onos, especially as a HA, really put you on your guard, and caused teams to focus and target it. The shout that an Onos was on the field was always a moment that the marines began to get cautious.
In NS2, the Onos is just another alien unit, and doesn't have the ability to one shot an Exo.
I have to chime in with the others and say, while it is a much maligned mechanic, it was an important part of the atmosphere of NS1.
Also, don'r use your current judgements of devour when looking at Combat standalone. It is a much more fun mechanic now, in my opinion.
How do you know that it will be a no-skill ability?
Okay wiseguy, if it turns out to require 3 consecutive hits with no pauses between strikes, then I'll concede the point and eat my hat.
Based on my experiences in NS2 Combat (Stand alone shown above) You have to click and hold fire for about a full second, while aiming at a target until devoured (could be difficult with a moving/flying marine)
Once devoured, depending on how much health the marine has, will determine how long it takes to digest.
So devouring a weak marine is sort of pointless, devouring a full health marine can be good, but risky.
During the digestion, the marine can attack your Onos from the inside. It does a LOT of damage, and it is possible to die if you take additional damage from other players.
This is so cool.
But what is the Combat stand alone? Is it a mod? How do I find it?
I'd like to try to devour or to get devoured just to see what happens. So... holding the attack button while playing on Combat stand alone. As soon as I figure out what Combat stand alone is!
Is there no mod that puts devour in the normal gameplay?
I am really sick of reading all this hate toward devour, especially when someone who claims to have played NS1 has such a one-sided perspective, calling it a "no-skill 1hit ability". Devour was pretty balanced in gameplay and there were much stronger abilities in NS1 besides devour. It was alot easier to kill a marine by 2 swiping them with focus than it was to devour them. It took skill to eat someone, you had to aim it just right (usually toward their knees since the onos model was taller). You could dodge it as marine. A couple missed devours (and time spent not goring) alot of times meant that fight not going in your favor.
You forget NS1 had HMG, responsive jetpacks, and faster gameplay in general. You were lucky if you could get in, eat someone, and quickly get out without dying. It was one of the only abilities that could directly hurt the late-game marine resources by eating someone with a gun and then pooping them out away from the group so the marines couldn't retrieve it.
But when the onos couldn't escape, the marine in the belly would pop out where the onos died and if the onos had been retreating, it would put you in a position to pick a fade or other lifeform retreating too. It made for some interesting battles and just another mechanic that made NS1 so dynamic and fun where NS2 gameplay has long been consider stale. Eating a JPer out of the sky that was playing too aggressive was one of the funnest things in the game. Yes it took skill. Also if you missed, you were probably dead because you too aggressively chased him. I assume if you truly hate devour, someone was probably trolling you with cloaking and eating you as you ran outside your base. If that is happening, your team probably already lost the game anyways.
I am not necessarilly in favor of devour for NS2, but if you think onos are in a good place right now you are delusional. It is so mind-numbingly boring and as long as you don't go in alone, you are pretty skillful at playing onos. It's basically a lifeform in NS2 that if all else fails, just mass rush the base with these huge piles of health points and you will win. Case in point, I was trying to not fall asleep watching the NSL premier finals with Titus and Snails, and eventually Snails just had to go 3 Onos and rush the chair, ignoring the marines. No amount of counter in the game at that point could stop that. It was sooooo exciting to watch.
Sure, it can be made user friendly... make the player immediately die but still digest for health and eventually drop the weapons.
IMO, it worked nicely in ns1.... it'd look a bit derpy to have onos devour exos... but I still like the ablity.
And by no means was this a feature, @roobubba, sorry. It was actually used in ns1 and it worked. May not work in this game. But your 'dissapointment' is based off of the past and ignorance of the current and future implementations of the attack in this game.
BTW at no point did I say that devour was unbalanced in NS1 so don't be putting words in my mouth. I said it was bad game design, which is entirely true.
I jumped my lmg rine with proud into the mouth of an Onos countless times to save an HA or build a siege cannon at the front line. All I remember is fun and a dense atmosphere. The same goes for ninja pg action. Hide behind a pillar and get passed by a fade twice. Building the pg and stopping in the right moment so a passing by alien couldn't hear it etc. Man I miss ns1. I watched the video and heck, I even miss the graphic The mic spamming and insulting was so common, rofl.
Anyway, it's all in the past!
I can't argue with you having a set opinion of something from a different game, even if you haven't tried it in the new game. I hope this game caters to you (even with a single attack that you arent sure how will affect the game) and doesn't make you quit (like it did in ns1).
I did mention that the marine could die immediately but the onos would still get the digest affects. No wait time. I see the next argument against that and have an answer for it but I don't want this to turn into a pissing contest.