So you guys are talking for 3 pages in a thread on a topic that is mostly focused on proper balance and performance optimization, in a game that is in a beta and (like we all hope) still developing and not that close to a release? Even the fact that all the maps we are playing on right now, seem to get major updates in the future should be enough for that matter.
That´s at least the case for merc specific/performance balance. And even after the potentially “ideal” balance updates - you will see mercs that will be useless on people who are new to the game, but very strong on people who know how to use them - and for me that´s how it´s supposed to be.
If some people like to see less power for aiming and tracking skills, I got to say that it´s an FPS after all. At least if I haven´t missed any important dev updates. But since I think that this topic is mostly depending on personal flavor I guess there is no right or wrong. I like to compare it with cooking. Sometimes you need all possible ingredients to make something taste well while you can make something delicious with only 3 ingredients as well and there will be people who like one of it, or maybe even both. But saying what´s better is and will always stay a matter of personal taste.
I wonder how the CC guys did when they tested the servers, but I am sure that SD has the data from this games, and will be able to tell and judge properly, if n00bs actually can kill n00bs. I am a fan of assumptions, and would support that case more (since I obviously want this game to become successful as well :))when there would be some logic behind it - but there actually isn´t. For me it´s obvious that 2 new players who try to kill each others, not only will struggle to aim, but also to move, what will cause them to almost not move at all (also because of them being confused etc.), making it so much easier to hit them… At least that´s my, some of my friends personal experience, and what some of those CC guys told me back then (they also said that they feel like they are improving etc.).
A very interesting point, that actually makes all this talk about this game being too hard look so much more laughable (sorry I can´t get a better word out of my mind) is a friend of mine who I once introduced into ET:QW. The guns and the aim/tracking skills were not only very similar to what you see in DB, but the movement also offered more possibilities also during the fight (=it was hardewr), the game itself had major performance issues, and even much bigger latency issues. Under those circumstances it should be impossible for him to kill anything - since he only played with me and some friends I knew back then, who actually were very good… much better then myself and I spend 2000 hours in that game. But that simply wasn´t the case. He had some trouble the first 2 or maybe 3 days, but after some hours he figured it out, and was able to keep up with all the other, way more experienced players (who actually knew how to move while shooting etc.). And no he didn´t play ET or something similar before. And also no, he is not an exception (even tho he really learned extraordinary fast), I have some other close RL and also online friends who experienced the same, as well as I did myself. Since DB doesn’t suffer from those insane performance and latency issues (even tho it´s obviously bad as well, but not even close as bad), even the best possible movement in DB doesn´t make it as hard as it was in ET:QW to track someone AND you expect equally experienced and skilled people to play against each other there is literally no way the concern about n00bs not being able to kill each other has any single valid point to it.
- but compared to ET, and even more so to RTCW, the twitch, tracking and movement skill isn’t there. I’d also argue the same about teamplay. In CS victory is often decided by a couple of key, split second moments. In RTCW there’s a constant toing and froing as attackers smash into choke points. Teams have to be far more consistent in their teamplay as games are more a battle of attrition.