First impression feedback - random thoughts

(1-800-NOTHING) #1

i realize this is alpha, and lots of stuff are placeholders/wip, and there are probably features already in the game that i am simply missing. /disclaimer

been playing medic for a while, and i really like how the medpacks work. strikes a nice balance, imo. both in terms of the regen-stops-when-shot and in terms of the amount of health per pack/amount of packs per medic.

i also like the reach of the defibs - you don’t actually have to headshot your incapacitated teammates in order to rez them.

the teammate health bar is difficult to read. i have to lean forward and squint at the screen, and then guess. (admittedly, i haven’t memorized the show teammate name/etc. binds yet).

similarily the colour scheme for your own health bar makes it require slightly more effort than zero to read. (the ammo counter, by comparison, requires zero effort.). it causes a slight pause when i’m trying to see what my exact health is.

suggestion: make the health bar background (the health you’ve lost) light grey/white*, so that it lights up/pops out and draws attention to itself as a result of being wounded.
*or some other, higher-contrast colour scheme that matches the design template for the game.

and apply the same tweak to teammate health - with more wounded teammates more clearly visible.

in a similar vein, when someone uses the vsay to call for medic, i can’t really say (from looking at the blue icons) who needed assistance. having their icon briefly flash/flicker or stand out in some way would maybe help. [maybe this is already in and i just haven’t noticed].

i like how medics have special icons when you’re incapacitated, no fireteam required.

the medpacks and ammo look a bit too similar, at least at my video settings (all low/off, but not minecraft). again, i have to kind of squint.

all in all i think it has potential, both with regards to shooting and teamplay - but it kind of feels like the objective-/class-based teamplay needs some work in order to become more central to the game.

maybe it’s because i’m a new arrival, but atm it feels like the objectives/win-or-lose aspect is kind of inconsequential.

it would be nice to see all objectives on limbo map during warmup/stand by, and maybe the kind of map “zones” with the different objs/spawns and current team progress in the limbo map. or a tactical map?

(tacocat) #2

i noticed exactly the same points you brought up.

i’m sure the HP indicators on teammates and yourself will be improved at some time or another.
atm it doesnt really feel intuative when it’s so hard to make out who needs a health pack or where the guys are calling me to. :slight_smile:

(ImageOmega) #3

This is great feedback and I agree that the UI and icons need a lot of work.

(en2ie) #4

About the hud stuff:

http://forums.warchest.com/showthread.php/36618-DIRTY-BOMB-UPDATE-Version-21216?p=453515#post453515

(tacocat) #5

[QUOTE=en2ie;457809]About the hud stuff:

http://forums.warchest.com/showthread.php/36618-DIRTY-BOMB-UPDATE-Version-21216?p=453515#post453515[/QUOTE]

ah, yes i thought i read it somewhere but didn’t have the source to quote from.

(1-800-NOTHING) #6

some more first and second impressions/suggestions. same disclaimer as last time…

-escort EV objective:
so maybe it isn’t as apparent as it ougth to be to new players that you have to “babysit the EV” (stay within a certain radius of it for it to even move).
at first i thought it was a bug, tbh (“but it’s fully repaired, why isn’t it moving??”).

-deployables:
when you deploy a mine/turret/healing station there isn’t any IFF saying whether or not a deployable is your own (except for the “Reclaim” prompt upclose). maybe this is something that could be included under the Z/show team names button?

nor is there any way to tell if your deployable/mine is still active, so you have to go to “deployment mode” to check if deploying anew will replace your older one. (the “1/1” cooldown indicator vanishes a few seconds after deploying). a simple, non-intrusive icon representing you deployed item somewhere on the hud ought to do the trick.

often deployables are taken down, especially by explosive spam, while still deploying (before they are activated). maybe it’s an EV collision related bug in some instances, but turrets and healing stations seem to instantly blow up when spawning at an “alarming rate”. maybe a slight spawn shield?

-medics
both the medic versions could do with a slight primary weapon buffing, imo. [or some other offensive boost]. currently you’re not packing enough relative punch at medium-long distance as a medic to be able to fend off/push back attackers long enough to secure a revive in a tricky spot. for CQ map areas it’s fine*, but especially early/middle parts of Camden are kind of hopeless in this regard.

the limited ammo is good and seems to prevent “Ramboism” by way of ammo dependency, while the high ROF for the SMG/MP still allow the medics to play a sort of skirmisher/flanking facehugger ninja for brief periods. but for mid-long distances they seem more like a non-combat class than a support class to me.
*the medic shotgun feels like a secondary weapon atm compared to the MP, though, and the spread on the SMG could perhaps be slightly reduced.

i like the hazardous revives, regen-medpacks and the fact that they can be used by enemies - it gives the medic something to contemplate while waiting for the next medpack to throw at people. i think this is part of what i enjoy about the engineer, too, “where to place my turret for max effect”-considerations.

-ironsights/scope/ADS
wow, those take up a lot of space onscreen. especially the primary weapon for the-soldier-who-isn’t-conker tends to block the middle area of the screen when i switch to ADS, and can get you killed because it for a brief moment makes it impossible to aim.
very nice that ADS and a couple of some of the other options are toggle-able. i think i would like “show team names” to be toggle-able, too (especially when playing as a medic).

ok, my mind is now empty. in a different way than before, i mean.

(1-800-NOTHING) #7

more gratuitous feedback:

-ADS pt 2
trying out ADS on conker’s primary MG - wow, that feels way better! sure there’s the model blocking a large part of the screen, but there’s no distracting paraphernalia all over the place, and you don’t need to go through several interlocking hoops and semi-circles to locate the actual crosshair thingie (unlike some of the other weapons).
the turret-engi primary SMG (i think) is particularily bad, with its large, blue dot blocking a large chunk of the actual target.

atm ADS feels very much like MG Nests - i know they’re there, but i choose to not use them because they seem to come with too many drawbacks.
and they both have that slight-delay-that-might-get-you-killed thing going for them. idk, maybe i’m just not using them correctly…

-strafing in fight
trying to track and hit someone who’s strafing while fighting feels like a complete lottery to me. true, my aim and framerate isn’t stellar… but still…

Edit: apart from the medic range issues, ADS/MG nest issue and strafe-fight lottery, i’d say the overall gunplay, while not without weird issues, is pretty damn enjoyable.

(Protekt1) #8

Having a stable framerate will definitely help aiming against strafing targets. It is very rough when framerate isn’t stable in UE3 cause the engine kinda sucks for input latency.

(Fluffy_gIMp) #9

Thanks for your feedback all good points, the folks have been working on improving the UI and you should start to see the fruits of their labour in the next update.

(TracyJackson) #10

We’ll be waiting on the update then! By the way, when do you guys expect to release the next update…is it normally at the end of each month?

(BomBaKlaK) #11

in 1 or 2 days I hope ! Anti told me middle of this week so wait and see

(Anti) #12

Sadly some issues came up so it might be a bit longer :frowning:

(Protekt1) #13

Fit some optimization in the patch pls :smiley:

(MrFunkyFunk) #14

Any ETA (as in “this week” or not) to calm the kids we are?

(Kl3ppy) #15

Oh yeah, pls!

(Volcano) #16

(BomBaKlaK) #17

hope it’s not taking to long ! :stuck_out_tongue:

(1-800-NOTHING) #18

yeah, that’s probably a large part of the problem. i also noticed that with the hit beeps enabled the aiming felt weird, and with them disabled (thus focusing more on the crosshair) the hit regs feel weird.
nub question: the input latency is the value below the FPS value?

rather than splitting it up into several posts, here’s some more feedback/impressions (i guess they’re “third impressions” at this point).

-movement: not going to go into the whole movement debate here, i’ll just say that i still keep expecting/wishing there was a way to move faster. i pull out my knife when i’m running sometimes - even though i know it’s futile (unless there’s some slight boost that i’m not detecting).
part of this probably just boils down to muscle memory/expectations from previous games - but the fact that i keep wanting to go slightly faster than the class-specific (?) sprint speed tells me, at least, that the movement system (even if it isn’t trying to be quake/ET/etc…) isn’t quite there yet.
it makes sense that you cannot sprint and shoot - that’s a tradeoff.
similarily, having only knife/defibs equipped for extra speed could be an even greater tradeoff. (and possibly useful for the whole revive situation).

the no-sprint reload is not very much fun at all, imo. i don’t really feel like it’s adding anything to the gameplay except slowing you down.

the lack of aerial control when jumping breaks some of the movement flow, i think.
for instance, the ramp behind the EV at London Bridge - while certainly not a tricky jump - seems to rely on bumping into the wall and thus be pushed in the right direction. it doesn’t seem like it’s possible to make that jump in one fluid motion. (…or maybe i just suck at crouch jumping or something).

more feedback later when mind focused on write stuff thing.

(Protekt1) #19

TBH not sure what that number is. I asked a friend and he said the devs didn’t really explain that. I thought it was a tool to point out a bottleneck in hardware at first.

(Mustang) #20

It’s the frame render time, which makes up some of the input lag but not all of it, there is also mouse delay, cpu processing, buffering, pixel response, etc.

There is no boost, or if there is it’s a bug. Way back in early pre-alpha it did give a speed buff, but not anymore.