Does DB become too ability based?

(n-x) #1

I just had two games yesterday where I sat back and thought, wtf is going on?

The first one was on Dome at the first objective, where you have to deliver the two objects in the pit (sorry, I play Dome only if I must, so I dont know what the objective is called). The enemy team had 4 Stokers and 2 Kiras. They all focussed their molotovs/lasers on the pit, which turned into a hell hole, while fighting with their weapons on the surface around the pit.

The second one was an Execution game on Market. Both teams were full of Stokers, Kiras, Artys, Skyhammers, Thunders and so on. All mercs with big AOE abilities. I died first on the roof (yeah, yeah, I noob) and could have a good look around for a while before someone finished me off. Everywhere you could see fires, explosions, lasers. It had almost something apocalyptical.

My point is, that I have the feeling, that the game maybe has reached a point, where it overdid it with the flashy abilities. I started playing shortly before Phoenix was released. In my first few games, the only AOE ability that was often used was Skyhammer’s, and it was mostly done for stopping the EV. I have the feeling, people really thought about, how to use it effectively.

After the Stoker release, you can have so many mercs with different but powerful abilities in your team, that people are more likely to waste them. How many times did you have a 1on1 versus a stoker and you outgun him, just to get thrown a molotov in your face the moment before he would go down? This thing has a 40 seconds cool down and can kill several enemies at once or deny access to an important area for 10 seconds(?). And still people waste it just to be the winner of some maybe meaningless 1on1, because they know, that there are still Artys, Skyhammers, other Stokers and so on in the team, so when the team needs an AOE, chances are high one of them wont be on cool down.

I guess, this is more a problem of 7vs7, and 8vs8 pub games. But am I the only one who sometimes think, that it gets a bit out of hand?

(Jostabeere) #2

Be happy if a Stoker wastes his Molotov on you instead a C4.
Let them spam it. Not many people who play pub in a team of multiple “lightshow” mercs are coordinated enough to use them smart instead of just spamming them.

(Ctrix) #3

Isn’t the whole ability focus kinda the point?

(Captain_Forward) #4

Lucky guy, in my first few games there were nades everywhere, Fragger’s fraggers, Fletcher’s little gifts, turrets behind every corner, Rhino’s instakill cones, and airstrikes every 10 seconds, so I got used to it pretty damn quick.

Really, just deal with it, there’s nothing you can do about.

(Ctrix) #5

Rhino has maybe anything, but not a beam

(n-x) #6

Dont get me wrong. I like the abilities. But especially in 8vs8 games with a lot of those AOE mercs it can sometimes just turn into more of a dodge and hide game then anything else. It just seems that it can be in some cases detrimental to the game experience instead of being an addition. It’s not game breaking (yet), but I think it is something Splash Damage should have an eye on and not overdo it.

(Ctrix) #7

Yeah I do agree that the aoe spam can get out of hand. I was in a game of Chapel once, where at the last stage, the defenders just kept cycling airstrikes and Molotovs and it was like “how would you even get close”

(Captain_Forward) #8

Then you probably seen that this map is nothing about balance.
Also fixd post above, thanks for pointing.

(Jostabeere) #9

Chapel sucks, yeah.

(Ctrix) #10

Great way to disregard what I said, derail the thread AND contribute nothing of value.

(srswizard) #11

Dirty Bomb isn’t too bad in this regard, at least if you’re comparing to Overwatch, where people will 1-man-ult you fairly often.
Most of Dirty Bombs abilities are avoidable, or fairly easy to dodge in time, it just takes some practice.

(Gung-ho) #12

This is what I dislike about the transition from medic centric game (W:Et & etqw) to what has become a field op centric game. At least this is very much the case in pubs. What’s worse is a lot of the new players would have done better with Phoenix when they were playing Stoker.

(Ctrix) #13

Stoker is actually a really solid merc that doesn’t require any experience with the game.
Either are fine for new players.

(p4v) #14

I still play Sawbonez and don’t mind new abilities.

(Sir_Slam) #15

5v5 servers where?

(Fiktio) #16

In what kind of servers you are playing at?

I have noticed that at low level servers a lot of players are really spamming their abilities and some avoid to touch their primary weapons, no matter what. It seems like people are thinking:
“Why to touch primary weapons, when I can use the nade and bomb people’s brains out?”
Especially when Nader is at free rotation, all those low level servers are filled with raining grenades.
But the moment when I manage to find a server where are more higher level players, most players already have those mercs that are in free rotation and people actually learned how to play the game without relying on abilities 24/7. Of course every now and then appears this guy who spams explosives all the time, but it’s not anymore as common as it is in low level servers.