Interesting proposition, but just to play devil's advocate, what happens if I caught a glimpse of you, hold down CTRL to target lock? You are also systematically visible now, which will re-fire the stealth reveal code into a loop.
Did I mention I'm a PvP purist? I advocate the total removal of all macros and assist/crutch/scrub mechanics, with everything done purely manually with as least 'tertiary factors' involved as possible.
So admittedly, it would present a problem in such cases. The ideal scenario for most of my ideas would be an environment that has no autotargeting, no macro-initiated powers/actions, no camera angle/distance changes and basically the 'default' gaming screen.
Stop making excuses. Be a man. If you know something to be broken, stop using it. Otherwise, you've got no right to be speaking of 'balance.'
I get it. I proposed something like that during a module preview some modules ago but I figured the devs have a thing for not listening to players and just saying that they do.
I don't know of powers being macro'd together that worked better than just pressing keys in sequence. I hardtargetlocked to my cat once and blew my eyesockets until I figured out what was happening...never used it again.
I like the way we can set the camera FOV, though. Speaking of PvE, the default field of view is shot at a really bad angle especially when you are getting attacked by mobs in all directions. Then there are dragons... On the old forums you could search for a mousewheel zoom setting with the FOV that made life so much easier but I can't find it anymore. Zooming is almost in every action-oriented game that I played. It would be gamebreaking for me if I were to be locked with that horrible FOV55 angle.
Interesting proposition, but just to play devil's advocate, what happens if I caught a glimpse of you, hold down CTRL to target lock? You are also systematically visible now, which will re-fire the stealth reveal code into a loop.
Did I mention I'm a PvP purist? I advocate the total removal of all macros and assist/crutch/scrub mechanics, with everything done purely manually with as least 'tertiary factors' involved as possible.
So admittedly, it would present a problem in such cases. The ideal scenario for most of my ideas would be an environment that has no autotargeting, no macro-initiated powers/actions, no camera angle/distance changes and basically the 'default' gaming screen.
I like the way we can set the camera FOV, though. Speaking of PvE, the default field of view is shot at a really bad angle especially when you are getting attacked by mobs in all directions. Then there are dragons... On the old forums you could search for a mousewheel zoom setting with the FOV that made life so much easier but I can't find it anymore. Zooming is almost in every action-oriented game that I played. It would be gamebreaking for me if I were to be locked with that horrible FOV55 angle.
I don't have any beef with it in PvE. It's just that in the purist school of though I'm in, situational awareness of what's happening around you is also a very important part of PvP skill. This is especially important IMO since I also have extensive background in WW2 flightsims, and without any radar or 3rd-person mode offering easy identifications to incoming threats, checking the "dead-6" is also very important.
Tactically speaking, it offers people options. One thing I've noticed with the wide-angle FOV many PvPers use, is that it gives you some amount of visibility around your rear angles, so basically a "sneak from behind" approach is meaningless.
Another problem I saw was the 'automatic targeting assist', which, when you use a power with no targets caught in the reticle, it automatically swivels your heading to cast powers -- which made also useless the close-quarters combat maneuvering many non-target games use in combat.
This was especially evident when I was handling a HR against a CW, in which case there was like... absolutely nothing I could do. I'm not a trapper, so it means the class like the CW has EVERYTHING superior to my class by miles -- superior CCs, superior recharge speed/power use, superior damage, superior ranged combat, superior defenses...
Without the wide FoV angle and the targeting assist, there could have been a different option that really encouraged skill based gameplay. Getting in very close to use the superior speed of HR dodges to attack and slip past the CW to it's 6 o'clock and getting outside the FoV. The enemy player would have to manually swivel around to see where I went, so theoretically a very nimble slash-evade tactic would be possible.
Something like this, in other action-combat games, is what defines skill, and gives rise to combat techniques which are worth practicing. It adds depth to the combat, allowing better chances for players to try and offset the imbalance in pure, mechanical/numerical imbalance with skill.
But nope. NW needs to be casual. So crutches here, there, everywhere. Unfortunately, every crutch that's intended help ham-fisted people, also apply and help out the people already capable -- and as a result, removes tactical options from the game. It makes the combat linear, much too easy to expect a certain outcome when certain conditions are given -- and as a result, the PvP isn't about the heart-pounding excitement of action packed fights anymore.
It's a bland, spec-based, brute-force PvP now. When you put class A against class B with X amount of IL difference, it's already all set before the fight even happens. Everyone knows how exactly the fight will happen, because there aren't all that much tactical options in the game.
We just pretend to be PvPing, but in reality, all we do is run a set-routine which is cookie-cutter in everyway, with the course of actions and results coming up exactly as expected. Even a unique build or tactic, doesn't do much but mildly rememdy this dull set of conclusions that are set prior to actual combat.
That's why the PvP isn't much fun any more.
Stop making excuses. Be a man. If you know something to be broken, stop using it. Otherwise, you've got no right to be speaking of 'balance.'
NW has such great potential... but it always remains as a potential only, never realized.
But then again, that's Cryptic. Always coming up with games with such great potential... but then always prioritizing and focusing on all the wrong aspects, and then just abandoning the aspects that gave their game all that potential, leading it to the game's sharp decline.
I mean, "Champions Online"... holy chit, a superhero MMOG with such incredible level of character customization... even a total customization in terms of powers and abilities?? Such high potential for action-packed combat as well... with huge open cityscapes... the game only featured the "heroes"... but I mean, can you imagine the PvP, RvR fun it would be with heroes and villains colliding in a three-dimensional space, from the lowest street levels to the highest skyscrapers and open skies -- IF -- they've expanded the game to incorporate villain players as well?
The immediate dangers, of course, would be possible problems with power balance, since an infinite combo of power customization was possible. So what they needed to do -- keep a steady and non-stop PvP/combat testing team going to keep on balancing powers and combinations, with regular patches to fine-tune and tweak power balance. Pay attention to the higher echelons of PvP community in terms of balance, communicate and exchange ideas with the fans... Also plan the next big expansion in maybe a couple of years, to incorporate the villain side... feature either an open-world city block or a very, very large PvP theater of operations to make best use of the "superpowered combat within cities" appeal of the game. A game like this, and I'd even pay 20~25$ for monthly subscription. Can't go wrong.
...
...and they screwed it up. Went exact opposite -- everywhere.
PvP in confined spaces felt like playing football inside your bathroom.
Powerbalances... the PvP community provided huge feedback and a lot of viable, good ideas to tweak powers for better balance... but it never happened. The game just kept the OP options going, so in the end everyone was just using the same 2~3 cookie cutter build types. Wow. Such superior customization possible, and in the end, only 2~3 out of like gazillion possible builds remained.
The expansions also never happened. They weren't even considering it. No plans for villain side at all. Woop-dee-too, there goes a great RvR PvP content down the drain.
...and in the end, the F2P model with microtransactions everywhere, with lame item options and broken features and services.
So in the end, you could queue in a PvP game for more than 48 hours straight, and the game will never happen. No players. Since PvP players are also usually big spenders and highest game enthusiasts, losing these players meant losing revenue. The game declines. And just like that, nobody plays it anymore. A great, great effort, just made useless.
Yep. That's what Cryptic does best.
Sounds familiar? No? LOL
Stop making excuses. Be a man. If you know something to be broken, stop using it. Otherwise, you've got no right to be speaking of 'balance.'
For the exact reason stated above I've been doing my best to campaign for the ready and easy availability of all gear.
This game is going to crash soon if they don't make things easier for the new players; especially since the older players are already burning from lack of competition, lack of content, and lack of bug support.
I still strongly suspect they want it to crash. Well maybe not the bean counters in charge but certainly the coders/developers cannot have pride in what is being done and may sabotage it subconsciously or even just half-HAMSTER everything without any care. Like a good movie or series that ran its course and was in the "jumping the shark" stages and all involved just want to see it end.
I still strongly suspect they want it to crash. Well maybe not the bean counters in charge but certainly the coders/developers cannot have pride in what is being done and may sabotage it subconsciously or even just half-HAMSTER everything without any care. Like a good movie or series that ran its course and was in the "jumping the shark" stages and all involved just want to see it end.
I thing real question to ask is, how long does that contract between PWE/Cryptic and WoTC last?
I always joke that up in the Protector's Beer Garden, there is only a tile spot left open for a 3rd anniversary. 8p
That's the first thing I noticed during the first anniversary...
Comments
I will kill you with any class vs your "melee TR". Unless changes are made, perma is still currently the only BiS solution.
So admittedly, it would present a problem in such cases. The ideal scenario for most of my ideas would be an environment that has no autotargeting, no macro-initiated powers/actions, no camera angle/distance changes and basically the 'default' gaming screen.
If you know something to be broken, stop using it.
Otherwise, you've got no right to be speaking of 'balance.'
I don't know of powers being macro'd together that worked better than just pressing keys in sequence. I hardtargetlocked to my cat once and blew my eyesockets until I figured out what was happening...never used it again.
I like the way we can set the camera FOV, though. Speaking of PvE, the default field of view is shot at a really bad angle especially when you are getting attacked by mobs in all directions. Then there are dragons... On the old forums you could search for a mousewheel zoom setting with the FOV that made life so much easier but I can't find it anymore. Zooming is almost in every action-oriented game that I played. It would be gamebreaking for me if I were to be locked with that horrible FOV55 angle.
Tactically speaking, it offers people options. One thing I've noticed with the wide-angle FOV many PvPers use, is that it gives you some amount of visibility around your rear angles, so basically a "sneak from behind" approach is meaningless.
Another problem I saw was the 'automatic targeting assist', which, when you use a power with no targets caught in the reticle, it automatically swivels your heading to cast powers -- which made also useless the close-quarters combat maneuvering many non-target games use in combat.
This was especially evident when I was handling a HR against a CW, in which case there was like... absolutely nothing I could do. I'm not a trapper, so it means the class like the CW has EVERYTHING superior to my class by miles -- superior CCs, superior recharge speed/power use, superior damage, superior ranged combat, superior defenses...
Without the wide FoV angle and the targeting assist, there could have been a different option that really encouraged skill based gameplay. Getting in very close to use the superior speed of HR dodges to attack and slip past the CW to it's 6 o'clock and getting outside the FoV. The enemy player would have to manually swivel around to see where I went, so theoretically a very nimble slash-evade tactic would be possible.
Something like this, in other action-combat games, is what defines skill, and gives rise to combat techniques which are worth practicing. It adds depth to the combat, allowing better chances for players to try and offset the imbalance in pure, mechanical/numerical imbalance with skill.
But nope. NW needs to be casual. So crutches here, there, everywhere. Unfortunately, every crutch that's intended help ham-fisted people, also apply and help out the people already capable -- and as a result, removes tactical options from the game. It makes the combat linear, much too easy to expect a certain outcome when certain conditions are given -- and as a result, the PvP isn't about the heart-pounding excitement of action packed fights anymore.
It's a bland, spec-based, brute-force PvP now. When you put class A against class B with X amount of IL difference, it's already all set before the fight even happens. Everyone knows how exactly the fight will happen, because there aren't all that much tactical options in the game.
We just pretend to be PvPing, but in reality, all we do is run a set-routine which is cookie-cutter in everyway, with the course of actions and results coming up exactly as expected. Even a unique build or tactic, doesn't do much but mildly rememdy this dull set of conclusions that are set prior to actual combat.
That's why the PvP isn't much fun any more.
If you know something to be broken, stop using it.
Otherwise, you've got no right to be speaking of 'balance.'
But then again, that's Cryptic. Always coming up with games with such great potential... but then always prioritizing and focusing on all the wrong aspects, and then just abandoning the aspects that gave their game all that potential, leading it to the game's sharp decline.
I mean, "Champions Online"... holy chit, a superhero MMOG with such incredible level of character customization... even a total customization in terms of powers and abilities?? Such high potential for action-packed combat as well... with huge open cityscapes... the game only featured the "heroes"... but I mean, can you imagine the PvP, RvR fun it would be with heroes and villains colliding in a three-dimensional space, from the lowest street levels to the highest skyscrapers and open skies -- IF -- they've expanded the game to incorporate villain players as well?
The immediate dangers, of course, would be possible problems with power balance, since an infinite combo of power customization was possible. So what they needed to do -- keep a steady and non-stop PvP/combat testing team going to keep on balancing powers and combinations, with regular patches to fine-tune and tweak power balance. Pay attention to the higher echelons of PvP community in terms of balance, communicate and exchange ideas with the fans... Also plan the next big expansion in maybe a couple of years, to incorporate the villain side... feature either an open-world city block or a very, very large PvP theater of operations to make best use of the "superpowered combat within cities" appeal of the game. A game like this, and I'd even pay 20~25$ for monthly subscription. Can't go wrong.
...
...and they screwed it up. Went exact opposite -- everywhere.
PvP in confined spaces felt like playing football inside your bathroom.
Powerbalances... the PvP community provided huge feedback and a lot of viable, good ideas to tweak powers for better balance... but it never happened. The game just kept the OP options going, so in the end everyone was just using the same 2~3 cookie cutter build types. Wow. Such superior customization possible, and in the end, only 2~3 out of like gazillion possible builds remained.
The expansions also never happened. They weren't even considering it. No plans for villain side at all. Woop-dee-too, there goes a great RvR PvP content down the drain.
...and in the end, the F2P model with microtransactions everywhere, with lame item options and broken features and services.
So in the end, you could queue in a PvP game for more than 48 hours straight, and the game will never happen. No players. Since PvP players are also usually big spenders and highest game enthusiasts, losing these players meant losing revenue. The game declines. And just like that, nobody plays it anymore. A great, great effort, just made useless.
Yep. That's what Cryptic does best.
Sounds familiar? No? LOL
If you know something to be broken, stop using it.
Otherwise, you've got no right to be speaking of 'balance.'
This game is going to crash soon if they don't make things easier for the new players; especially since the older players are already burning from lack of competition, lack of content, and lack of bug support.
That's the first thing I noticed during the first anniversary...