I’ll break it down the best I can but my brain is trying to shutdown after that 3 - 4 torture fest of playing.
Audio
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[li]Ambient audio - It is too loud. Togglemusic is now disabled forcing us to listen to a looping empty bathroom sound. Pigeons, Rats etc should happen once a round. The new audio added for them is terrible sounds like a bunch of loud bats screeching in my ear.[/li]
[li]Player Footsteps and audio - In general it is very loud compared to opponent sounds. There is almost never a moment where I can hear someone sneaking up on me because I can’t hear their footsteps unless it’s a 1v1.[/li]
[li]Gun Audio - The game environment is realistic. Models, maps, guns etc. Very real looking. It does not match the audio. I am confused on why my gun sounds like I am slinging produce at a wall or clapping or just ridiculously deep and hollow. It detaches me from the game. I can’t take the game seriously because of this and it’s a major turn off. The audio needs to be addressed. You have a realistic environment, make realistic audio. This isn’t banjo and kazooie FPS.[/ul][/li]Maps
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[li]Train - Too short. Add the helicopter phase back in and end it there. That will make the map perfect.[/li]Second objective is weird. Tight chokes, multiple angles, but 0 open play space = frustration. I know there has to be chokes but they’re too tight, that whole objective area is just too close together. Maybe the train can be pulled back some, space out some of the chokes so you have some wiggle room.
[li]Victoria - No one ever got past the first stage. It was a spawn camp for over an hour.[/li]
[li]Underground - I don’t really get this map. 80% of it is just travel space down a tunnel. Complete waste.[/ul][/li]
Those were the only maps I was able to test. I feel the maps have actually degraded over time (except White Chapel that has gotten considerably better.) I will explain this the best I can and I hope it makes sense.
MMS (Like CoD/BF) have medium - large sized maps with multiple directions you can go. They are almost always shaped like a box and it is frustrating because you can get hit from anywhere and not even know it. The benefit is that you have multiple routes and more freedom when you play. You have options, which is very important to a gamer.
DB has small sized linear maps the benefit from linear maps is you generally know the direction you opponents are coming from and won’t get shot from a random angle you weren’t expecting. For DB this isn’t the case. The maps are grabbing the negatives of both styles. They’re small and have so many angles that you are still getting hit from directions you weren’t expecting. It makes them very very frustrating and unenjoyable.
As stated for 1.5 years, your maps and spawn times need to be addressed. I’m not one to generally say something will fail in fear of putting my foot in my mouth but with the maps in their current state I can’t see you retaining any form of worthwhile playerbase. They are THAT ****ing bad.
Gunplay
Meh. I guess it got a little better but that doesn’t mean good. I don’t know how the hitboxes look vs the models but the models are skinny, the movement is now erratic with the longjump + wall kick, and you have high spread/recoil. In addition you have to land 4 - 7 headshots on someone flying over your head with a shotgun/semi auto. It still doesn’t work for me. If you’re going to have erratic movement, with high spread/recoil then you need to increase damage. If not then your game will be dominated with shotgun/semi auto users because there is no point to try and track a kangaroo that can 1-2 shot you.
My suggestion with the current mechanics in place is to reduce spread and recoil by a minimum of 50%.
Like your environment/audio issue you again are trying to add realistic spread + recoil to a game where people are magically jumping long distances and then kicking off of a wall to jump even further at an increased speed. You need to decide whether you’re going realism or not again the hybrid approach is not working and hasn’t been for over a year now.
Movement
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[li]Long Jump - It works, but that doesn’t mean it “works” as in it’s not integrated into the maps at all. These sort of mechanics should have already been in mind when making the game 2 - 3 years ago…Would like less of a drop speed. I don’t want to float but I don’t want to drop like a rock either. You seem to fall very fast.[/li]
[li]Wall Kick - Still lets you get into areas you obviously aren’t supposed to. Same issue as the long jump. The game was not at all designed with these mechanics in mind. Would like less of a drop speed. I don’t want to float but I don’t want to drop like a rock either. You seem to fall very fast.[/li]
[li]General mobility around the map is still clunky, sticky, jittery, whatever you want to call it. It’s not smooth at all. I feel like I have suction cups on my sneakers when I play this game. It’s just very sluggish…Movement in general just doesn’t seem to match the maps at all either. I really don’t know how to explain it other than it doesn’t feel right.[/li]
[li]It’s time to get rid of reload canceling sprint. Actually it was time about 2 years ago when we said it the first time. It sucks and makes the game very chunky and stop/go instead of just GO.[/li][/ul]
More stuff I didn’t know how to categorize.
Meat Grinder feel is still in full force
I don’t care for the knife increasing speed - It’s just another thing I have to do at the start of the round and when I need to run and reload. It’s not innovative, doesn’t make sense at all in this style of game.
Defenders spawn too fast and have too much advantages with angles.
Help up is meh. Don’t see the point in the games current state. You and the enemy spawn too fast for it to be worthwhile. Had an engi let the bomb blow up with 4 people defending him while he ran 10 yards away to go revive someone.
Game still feels gimmicky and spammy
Things you did right.
Ammo crates - Defense only can use them and it’s a slow refill. Works pretty good imo.
Voice overs - The voices are really well done.
I don’t feel like the indicators were all up in my face anymore.
Characters seemed to pop out a bit better (still had trouble distinguishing teams.)
Primary swap on Fragger and Thunder
Probably other things I am forgetting to mention
Remove classes
Suggestions:
It’s a battle of attrition not skill and it’s in favor of defenders. To balance that, implement helmets that reduce the first HS by 75% (figure the math out.) As defenders stay alive they innately are “weaker” giving offense and opportunity to wipe and proceed forward (2 - 6 HS instead of 3 - 7). It will also make more skilled players slightly easier to kill for the not so good players. It also allows you to add helmets to the shop. You could sell a legendary cap that does something crazy I.E. 4th of july is around the corner it’s a hat with bottle rockets or w/e on it. You shoot it and instead of it flipping off it just launches off into the air and explodes.
If you’re going to keep the game in the current bunny jumping state. The penalty for jumping and firing needs to be drastically increased (especially for shotguns) or eliminated entirely. The only weapons that are being heavily affected are automatics and imo those are the weakest guns in the game atm. Shotguns are king followed closely by IS Semi autos.
Not at the top of the list but Vasseli may need to be addressed eventually. Any solid sniper will dominate with him and there is nothing you can do about it but have another Vasseli.
Reduce Recoil - I am literally running off the top of my mousepad and I’m at 800 DPI. I’m not even sure how 400 DPI players are playing this game right now.
I had a bunch of other things to point out but there are just so many problems with DB I can’t keep track.