balancing mines

(amazinglarry) #21

Have mines changed significantly since the last time Engineer 1 (shotty) was Available? I haven’t played in this new build yet, but there wasn’t much a complaint about them before, and the mines always had a bit of a delay when stepped on. I know this because I’m primarily engineer and would watch people walk over my mines and make it around a corner before they exploded.

Self arming is fine, I think. They’re pretty damn noticeable (or were, I’ll have to jump in an active server to verify) and there was a slight delay before exploding.

My only suggestion otherwise would be having the mine explode after whoever stepped on it then stepped off – thus giving an engineer a chance to disarm it.

I wonder if this is more of a “We’re not used to Shotty / Mine Engineer because it’s been out of the rotation for a while, that it now seems overpowered because we aren’t used to dealing with it” than a “Mines are OP” kind of deal.

(BMXer) #22

I think they should be armed and I like Mustang’s idea.
It’s too easy to just drop a mine while you are walking away. IMO, the time to arm the mine is a good balance and forces the engie make a choice that could be risky. There is currently no risk or drawback to dropping mine.

(murka) #23

How on earth are mines OP when they beep like hell. Only times i died from mines were when i was experimenting triggering and running away or my brain just farted, other times i avoid or wait for enemy to get close and shoot the mine.

(warbie) #24

They are catching me more than the old mines, which were ok as mines in fps go. At the moment I’ll be in a fight, getting my battle frenzy on and getting into it, and boom, dead or a mercy kill. It’s not really frustration, more a deflating ‘oh … ok. That’s not much fun’. Much like when you’re toe to toe with someone and stray into the los of a turret and realise you’re now going to lose the fight. ‘oh … that’s not much fun’.

(INF3RN0) #25

It will slowly get on your nerves as you encounter mines that are placed in a manner that makes them almost impossible to avoid or blow up. I liked being able to run jump past mines I spotted in etqw with my knife out as a means of escaping the explosion with just a few scratches.

(tokamak) #26

Yeah, even when spotted a mine will be such a huge obstacle that dying by it is often even a better option than trying to find a way around it. So by being able to dodge the explosion you still give careful players a way to deal with it efficiently.

(Ashog) #27

Mines should not be avoided, this is not their goal!

The only way not to get exploded by them is to spot them freaking before you step on them! And this is how it is and should be, so I don’t see what’s the problem.

The reason why mines are used not like in ETQW or ET - meaning everywhere and not only in strategic places, is because there is no time needed or danger involved for engies to place them. They just toss them on the most congested enemy pathways (like spawn paths) and voila! Just need to introduce manual mine arming and all pieces of engy puzzle will be falling in place - no need to nerf shotguns or mines. Just manual arming. Else noone will play engy anymore. At least not the mine engy girl. Remember that the selection of the engy type is done before joining a server in the future (class load-outs). So this particluar subclass has to be able to attract players so that they preselect it. Nerf shotty and mines completely - you will see no engy girls on the servers no more.

I remember the similar annoying mine thing happening in ETQW campaign mode, as soon as some proficient engy would get a 4th engineering star, allowing for self-arming mines. And since he would have 3 of them, his normal day would be based on running around congested pathways and tossing mines on the run. Result - scoring lots of easy frags in unexpected places and annoying the hell of the whole enemy team. Thanks god it was happening not too often that some1 would get 4th star. If self-arming mines are in place in DB, they should be based too on a temporary campaign-limited achievement, which needs to be not easy to get.

(tokamak) #28

Everything is already bloody lethal in this game so I wouldn’t mind if a few things could be more about area control than about killing people. It would make the game feel less random.

(Ashog) #29

Agree, but the mines are here to stay, and the mine girl too, so need to veeeery smoothly tune her up, in order to not make her useless, but remove the mine spam anoyance from the game. First thing to try is imho arming mines and that w/o mine change as such.

(Breo) #30

The mines should be armed manually. Also right now it’s unplayable with the beeps and mine spam.

What I’m afraid of is that the engineer class will be “useless” if I make a recap with the things players want to change:

  • Reduce the amount to 1 mine
  • Make the mines more visible
  • Less damage
  • Increase detonation time
  • Nerf shotgun
  • etc.
(Kl3ppy) #31

I voted for manually arm mines. Right now its just a run and drop game. With the expolion im on Ashog’s side. Make them explode immediatelly.

(zeroooo) #32

mines should be like in QW!

u have to arm them (no selfarming!!!) and you should be able to trigger them without dying, if u run just straight ahead you should die, if you trigger the mine (without shooting) by running close to it - sound - run away from it - mine explodes and deals you some splashdamage

(rookie1) #33

some spots are hot and are very difficult to Hack/activate the objective this is where usualy you want to mine .
Manuel arming these places would be = to doing an objective (time & risk wise ) …so im for selft arming …but if you want to absolutly try it, its ok for me …but i know i wont like it

(Breo) #34

Also the problem are the mines on top of the stairs you can’t detonate them on a easy way without damage?

It should be possible to trigger the mine, jump of the stairs + crouch without getting too much damage of the explosion.

(Rex) #35

I didn’t vote anything, because we just need to test everything before we judge in polls.

(warbie) #36

What was wrong with the old mines? They had to be the least annoying mines in fps history.

(iwound) #37

Ain’t Nobody Got Time for That

[video=youtube_share;bFEoMO0pc7k]http://youtu.be/bFEoMO0pc7k[/video]

(Hundopercent) #38

Self arming - Should take 2 - 3 seconds. Like iwound said, aint no body got time for that.

(.Chris.) #39

It already does take 2-3 seconds to self arm.

(Hundopercent) #40

Then it’s fine. Make it so they don’t explode when fired on until it’s armed. I think the real problem is the amount of mines not how they work. 1 mine per engie, if they drop another mine somewhere else the first one despawns.