Learning curve is also really personal. For example battlefield has a higher learning curve than dirty bomb for me. I still suck donkyballs in vehicles when I’m playing battlefield. Dirty Bomb on the other hand is pretty easy , because I invested 1000’s of hours in SD previous games.
DB Target audience
PixelTwitch
(PixelTwitch)
#22
I actually played very little of SD’s previous games and I also find Dirty Bomb very easy.
I feel it is because all its depth/progression is in skill…
I hate to say it but its going to be one of them games where people never really get much better then what they are after the first 20-30 hours.
I suppose its more of a Skill curve than a learning curve.
onYn
(onYn)
#23
I am honestly not sure which, but SD is for sure trying to hit the biggest audience possible… Anyways I can´t see how the current game, is supposed to allow players to evolve themselves and there own skills after multiple hours of gaming. Most of it has to do with the map design, which since I play more CS lately, reminds me a lot of many CS maps - what makes me wonder which game obviously has a fatal map design - after all both games have way too different game mechanics to be played on simillar maps… On the other side there are things that are different or completely taken out of the game compared to previous SD games. And to be honest, I can understand it, that someone tries to make a game more beginnerfriendly, and suited for a larger audience (even tho I don´t see why specific game mechanics should be more or less succesfull in the long run - I am pretty sure that any kind of mechanic can work as long as it´s cohesive with the other existing game mechanics)…
However, the ironic thing is, that I think that the minimalistic version of ET/QW or ET that we call DB has changed things up that were not the issue of past games since the casual pub player even doesn´t notice the difference (big maps, with various aproaches to deffending or attacking, huge variety of fighting styles, many team decissions like picking the right merc lineup according to the needed objective class, rushing objectives before taking spawns etc) while leaving the core of those games and something that you probably can really call “hardcore” alive, and that is the gunplay. 3 or 4 shots to the head to kill someone, while the enemy as well as you are both running arround, with a magazine that is usually limited to 30 shots is just the most n00b unfriendly game mechanic ever. It is something that can require hundreds of hours of practice in order to be mastered properly. So why is that aspect of the game still in there if all the other things that had to be changed in order to hit a larger audience were changed or removed completely? I, and many others, love this kind of challenging gunplay and I am pretty sure many others, who don´t know it yet, would do as well. But for me leaving this one mechanic in the game, while trying to be casual at all the other aspects of the game, is just a no brainer. I am sad to say this but I think that, under the current circumstances, it needs to be “casualized” as well, if anyone is expected to be playing this game… Because how I see this working out right now, this game is too hard for casuals to play because of the “weird” and difficult gun play and too boring to play for people who actually look for challenge and competition. And I honestly don´t see a major audience outside of those two groups.
Basically as long as the game doesn´t either shift genre (making the merc abilities the actual core of the game, and by that become something different then an FPS, basically what Pixel is asking for since I can remember him being on those forums) or go through a drastic change to the map and game design (according to ET or ET/QW, where things that are known to work smoothly with this kind of gunplay, or improved versions of those, are put into DB) I don´t see a way (and I usually can imagine a lot :>) how this game can ever[QUOTE=Silvanoshi;509930]appeal to competitive FPS players who’re looking for a shooter in which they can really feel the benefits of investing time into growing their own level of skill and knowledge of the game.[/QUOTE] Everything else, like casualizing the gunplay, can help this game to still become successful and maybe even played competitively to some extent - but for sure not what I just quoted. I would be ready to bet my entire savings on that one.
Glottis-3D
(Glottis-3D)
#24
i think it is mostly weak-maps issue.
there is no positional play in DB. the are no balanced lines of defence and attack.
little to none timing, surprises from opponent, pushes and counter-play.
shooting, obj-making jumping is just mechanics.
real thoughts come from tactical maneuvers. and they are non existent.
the ONLY close to what had taken effort from tactical brain of the team was a hack-object in waterloo. it did have some disadvantage but it was the only realy thought-and teamskill challenging map-part in the game.
even the best map - the dome doesnt have these. (yet, i hope - still need some thoughts to combine to write a good feedback on dome)
Humate
(Humate)
#25
In terms of learning curve, for DB it has been pretty straight forward.
the billion extra item slots in the menu give me hope theres a lot more depth to come
BomBaKlaK
(BomBaKlaK)
#26
[QUOTE=Glottis-3D;510041]i think it is mostly weak-maps issue.
there is no positional play in DB. the are no balanced lines of defence and attack.
little to none timing, surprises from opponent, pushes and counter-play.
shooting, obj-making jumping is just mechanics.
real thoughts come from tactical maneuvers. and they are non existent.
the ONLY close to what had taken effort from tactical brain of the team was a hack-object in waterloo. it did have some disadvantage but it was the only realy thought-and teamskill challenging map-part in the game.
even the best map - the dome doesnt have these. (yet, i hope - still need some thoughts to combine to write a good feedback on dome)[/QUOTE]
Maps are still the issue N1 of this game.
There is no frontline at all, this is still to linear, and obj location and design are not really interesting.
Glottis-3D
(Glottis-3D)
#27
The game could have a very big depth-boost from reintroducing forward spawns and selectable spawn-system.
BomBaKlaK
(BomBaKlaK)
#28
Bigger maps are needed for this, travel time are definitely to short for the moment, even on dome.
prophett
(prophett)
#29
Fixed it for you!
Most of the original maps are a write-off. Need community driven maps/ideas to create fun maps.
INF3RN0
(INF3RN0)
#31
The learning curve is pretty much “get better at aiming and dodging”. Using mercs is pretty repetitive. Most weapons just require aim and most abilities are incredibly self-explanatory. I don’t see how anyone could get overwhelmed at this point. If everything was less uniform and the game could actually play out more dynamically in all aspects, maybe there’d be a learning curve.