Fine Tuning Update v50088 - 22/09/2015

[spookify]

X’ed out names huh? Hummmm

[spookify]

First Thoughts:

1 Map SW
The pub server was stick with 4 people in the server and the count down didnt start until the 5th player was in. Not sure if those people were still connecting or how that worked but it felt like forever for the pub to start.

Will need to test the Menu UI more…

Played a Euro 7v7 SW and it was actually pretty fun.

Hochfir SMG
Reduced initial bullet spread by ~10%
Reduced reload time to 1.8s (from 1.9s)

***This seemed a lot better. Those first 3 or 4 headshots are very important for this gun. I think its in a good spot and even if you rattle off 4 or 5 headshots you still need 5 more to kill someone… Very Very High Skill High Reward Gun. But the benefit is I think it was make the enemy have a ton of Aim Punch so that low damage and high number of bullets might actually work. I might be back to the Hockfir cover the KEK if I can track correctly.

Timik-47 AR
Reduced spread and recoil by ~5%
Increased effective range to 29m (from 28m)

***Noticed a big difference while crouched or standing still and shooting. If you RLRL or sprint and shoot the gun is still wacky, which I amuse is the way the gun should act. I like this gun as almost a burst or tap fire gun. I think its a perfect counter to the M4 and dependent on your play style.

Phoenix heal switch and heal pulse seem a lot better and switching back and forth was a lot smoother. Not sure if anything was done to this but works now for me.

I have yet to test anything else.

PS- I really hope stats are put into this game so I can see my patch to patch stats on specific guns…

[alphabeta]

In general great changes. Not so happy about the inability to know whether I am defending or attacking. I have earned every merc but only will experiment with a new merc if I know my team has good coverage of other critical functions. (I personally always play objectives and to help my team/clan win.) I have a base set of Sawbonez, Nader, and Bushwacker. This allows me to cover every critical function on most maps.

This really causes me to wonder if I will ever use the Redeye or Sparks I earned because I will never know team make-up, attack or defense, until too late to make a change.

[spookify]

[QUOTE=alphabeta;538710]In general great changes. Not so happy about the inability to know whether I am defending or attacking. I have earned every merc but only will experiment with a new merc if I know my team has good coverage of other critical functions. (I personally always play objectives and to help my team/clan win.) I have a base set of Sawbonez, Nader, and Bushwacker. This allows me to cover every critical function on most maps.

This really causes me to wonder if I will ever use the Redeye or Sparks I earned because I will never know team make-up, attack or defense, until too late to make a change.[/QUOTE]

The bigger and deeper question is why are some mercs not being used on either attack or defending

I think you and many other are pointing out that some mercs need to be tweaked so they are better all around and not just on one side of the field.

I think once the core of the game is in place we might see some tweaks to mercs that might seem OP however balance them to work on Offense and Defense. I hope…

Example would be give Sparks 90 or 100 HP and slightly (Slighty) Slow her speed down. She still doesnt have a main gun but the extra HP will allow her to stay alive a little longer. Also Make her Packs slightly larger and reduce the cooldown. Boom Offense and Defensive merc…

The norms are Sawbones and Phoenix. Both seem to be very balanced for both attacking and defending.

[FireWorks]

These threads get posted in VIP and then moved here or did I just miss them for week each?

[light_sh4v0r]

Yes they are VIP before the patch release.

[Glottis-3D]

nice changes. thnx God i always play same 3 mercs in def and attack =) (Proxy, Sky, Medic)

[Djiesse]

Some will complain about the inability to choose a merc based on side. I know that I typically change my medic depending on whether I am on offense or defense.

This^

I always have a medic in my lineup but prefer to use Aura on defense and Saw or Phoenix on offense…

[Szakalot]

[QUOTE=Djiesse;538725]This^

I always have a medic in my lineup but prefer to use Aura on defense and Saw or Phoenix on offense… :([/QUOTE]

its a trade off.
If you really want one or the other, pick both.

Personally, I’d much rather have more balanced games.

[ragnak]

snip

Could you explain to me why you insist on keeping fragger overpowered ? Especially that you just buffed him (ok that might be debatable but from pure dps perspective it was a buff) in this patch ? Its the only merc that is immune to nerfs and the only time he even gets touched its when there is a huge uproar about it, yet pdp gets nerfed almost instantly after buffs even without anyone really whining about it.

Where’s the logic ? I beg of you, free my mind and explain that to me ;(.

[Ashog]

Overpowered? U must be mad. Fragger was nerfed every freaking second patch.

And this patch with nerfing nades was last drop. Have quit playing this.

In general, this game became a poor shadow of what it was in alpha.

[light_sh4v0r]

I played a lot of fragger today, I think he’s still very capable and fun to play.

[FireWorks]

Lobby Changes

The lobby is getting an overhaul. All players now settle in a single stack on the right, and more space is given to your Squad. Changing your Mercs and Loadouts is now a simpler process, with the option to quickly change the Loadout Card of a Merc already in your squad.

Lobby Timer Changes

We’ve sped up the timers between matches to get you from game to game a little bit faster!

[ul]
[li]Warmup Duration to 15s (from 20s).
[/li][li]Game Review Duration to 25s (from 30s).
[/li][li]Lobby Map Voting Time to 15s (from 25s).
[/li][/ul]

I fail at map voting, I admit it. Every match so far, I missed the vote, but that might change soon.
But why the heck has the time been cut so hard but there is still endless and absolutely useless “deployment time” where I can only watch and do nothing.
15sec deployment when join, what for?
Voting is done, mercs are selected, WHAT DO WE WAIT FOR?! Its not like the map is loading in the background or any other benefit for the player. I dont understand it, sorry.

The “ended game pissing, drinking, moving flow” is so broken in this game. I cant have a minute break without the game requiring my attention, but the downtime between 2 matches is 2 full minutes. Or I have to search for another server, that is not bugged and has players (challengin atm).

Ok, you insist on the 3merc thing. Can I just choose them please during warmup? This lobby thing is so broken.

Next thing: Blue and red coloring in the lobby is inconsistent with the actual teams… Coming from games like TF2, being assigned red and then playing blue is pretty weird. Can we have just attacker and defender boxes in the lobby please?

[FireWorks]

Also, devs are only reacting to VIPs anymore or when was the last time we had something in the public part?

Interaction with the developer was something dirty bomb made cool. Feels gone atm.

[Szakalot]

Played whole morning. Games are definitely more balanced now. Even with people at all lvl ranges (couple 40+, couple 15+ , few 3-5s few 10s), game quality is a lot better. Not every match ended up in a gripping overtime, but there is none of those ridiculous closing people in spawns either.

This change was needed for the casual objective experience.

Having said that, people that want to play exclusively with friends do get the short end of the stick. Some possible changes:

• minlvl10 obj servers that do not follow the new lobby rules

- community rented servers that do not follow the new lobby rules

• separation of servers for quick join - present lobby; and server browser - old lobby

• map vote at end of map - map loads - warmup until people join - lobby just before map starts but right AFTER SHUFFLE (so people can pick mercs according to attack/defense)

• more fluid matchmaking where a few wins get you a rank, few loses demote you : this is imo really important. I’ve been placed at gold4 in my placement matches, cause I’ve lost 3-4 games to premades. Presently, I’d only ever lose to premades, otherwise its an easy carry at gold level. Multiple cobalt-ranked players are way worse than me, and throughout the whole matchmaking experience I’ve only got to gold2.

If matchmaking adjusts your ranks faster it will:

• match premades against tougher opponents quicker (5 mates will get to cobalt ranks soon and face cobalt-ranked opponents, rather than steamrolling through endless gold level soloqueues)
• playing mm will be more rewarding as you see the results of your efforts better
• bad players that got boosted on premades will reverse to their actual skill level better
• I’d really like to see MM seasons every month/two like hearthstone, where acquiring a certain rank will reward you with a drop. Imo present matchmaking is largely broken due to inadequate rank placements, which are more dependent on how many premades you’ve encountered, than your actual skill level.

[Domipheus]

Even I got to agree the games I played last night on pubs felt more balanced. Still wouldn’t mind knowing my teams, but i’ll take the hit

[Tast1c]

+1 fragger change make it more skillfull It doesnt change a lot, it is just a different way to handle fraggers resources. Fragger is still strongest merc ingame, you can still outduel every merc with 150hp.

@fireworks we wait in lobby because the server needs the data from every player and has to synchronize loadouts. If we join without waiting time mercs and loadouts won’t be presented accurately.This is what I remember of some dev post. Since you can change mercs in lobby, we will always have to wait until the server gathered/clients send their information about merc selection, so it is not possible to put synchronizing loadouts into the general loading time window. After merc selection is locked in we always have to wait for synchronization.

[BomBaKlaK]

Why dont you make just a map switch, and then during a 30s warmup you can choose your 3 mercs, then play !
I understand this for match making, but we don’t need lobby at all in public,… this lobby thing kill me !

[Fluffy_gIMp]

Thanks for the great feedback, we’re looking at refining the lobbies based on comments from all areas (reddit, forums, steam etc), they are by no means final and there is certainly more we can do to improve the flow.

Playing with friends is still vitally important to us, and we are working on a more comprehensive solution for this for future updates, our primary goal was to try and provide more balanced games, which we have made some ground towards.

With balance changes (a la Fragger) we’re never going to please everyone, for those that are up in arms please do give him a bit more of a play before you make up your mind, we don’t believe the change is massive (but we are happy to be proved wrong).

[FireWorks]

@fireworks we wait in lobby because the server needs the data from every player and has to synchronize loadouts. If we join without waiting time mercs and loadouts won’t be presented accurately.This is what I remember of some dev post. Since you can change mercs in lobby, we will always have to wait until the server gathered/clients send their information about merc selection, so it is not possible to put synchronizing loadouts into the general loading time window. After merc selection is locked in we always have to wait for synchronization.

Thank you for posting, but why was the last SD game able to do this? UE3 is not that bad. Brink had these ugly shifts of skins during the match, ok. But why cant this happen during the warm up? Or during the endless “do this, do that” video?

[QUOTE=BomBaKlaK;538752]Why dont you make just a map switch, and then during a 30s warmup you can choose your 3 mercs, then play !
I understand this for match making, but we don’t need lobby at all in public,… this lobby thing kill me ![/QUOTE]

This sums it up.
Fast and quick merc selection at the warmup. Put the lobbies to rest for pubs.

You really cant take a pee if you want play properly and adapt your mercs. The game wants to be babysitted in the middle of the break youd get<- not good.