Not sure if it’s just me but I’m struggling to play DB at the moment, but now for different reasons than I had before (weak guns, lacklustre movement). I actually like the gun play now (although I know that puts me at odds with a lot of people around here), but as a result of no longer being bogged down with those concerns I’m now noticing other aspects of the game I don’t like.
The main problem I have is the meat-grinder / lemming rush aspect of the game, hence the thread title, DB is just one big meat grinder most of the time.
Some maps are worse than others of course, but for the most part a DB game involves rushing to an objective, and dying, a lot. And repeating this process over and over until, usually by pure luck, the “whatever it is” gets done and the game moves on to the next meat grinder.
Some of the contributing factors to this, IMO, are :-
- Defence spawn times are too short.
Generally to achieve an objective the attacking team needs to take control of an area and hold it until something happens (the EV is repaired, a C4 plant explodes, etc.). This is difficult to do when defenders re-appear too often. Getting the EV started on LB / WC for example usually takes several attempts, with each Engie who makes it to the EV getting a few percent done each time until eventually it’s on it’s way. This just seems to happen by luck, or over time, with no real sense of achievement on the part of the attacking team.
I suggest looking at the timings and travel distances. Travel distance should be shorter for Defence (so they can get there and get set up first initially), but their spawn time should be longer, so that if an attacker and defender both die at the objective the attacker actually gets back there sooner.
- C4 takes too long to plant, too long to explode, and defending Engies can defuse too quickly.
Getting a C4 down and blowing something is particularly difficult sometimes because defence can re-spawn twice in the time it takes a charge to explode. Compare this with RTCW / ET for example, dynamite took 30 seconds to explode and defence took 30 seconds to re-spawn (usually), so they only got 1 chance to stop it. In DB you have to defend a plant against 2 waves of defenders. Again, when a C4 does get planted and explodes it’s usually pure luck and / or because the defenders were off playing TDM Medic wars somewhere else.
I suggest looking at the various timings. Reduce the time to arm, increase the time to disarm (it seems to me Engies can defuse quicker than Soldiers can arm), and the time to explode should be reduced or spawn times increased so they’re about the same.
- Carry stages are usually away from or towards each team’s spawn.
The result of this is it’s a meat grinder either at the collection point (LB) or delivery point (CL). The defence can only stop a carry objective by stopping it AT the collection point, or AT the delivery point. The route, and distance, are irrelevant.
The routes to carry something should be perpendicular to both spawns. This would make the route taken much more important, and defence would have a real chance to salvage the situation by intercepting the carrier.
As it stands most stages consist of the defence setting up a meat grinder at the objective, and attack lemming rushing it until eventually, by luck or accident, it gets done. The game just feels like you’re banging your head against the wall most of the time, and it becomes very repetitive (and therefore boring), very quickly.
I’ve only been here a couple of months and I’m bored and frustrated already, and I’m usually someone who’ll stick with something for a good while, often to the exclusion of all else. At this rate I’m not sure I’ll still be here come beta, let alone final release.
