Haven't Played in a Year - Here Are My Thoughts on the Game Now

(TheDoctorHax) #1

So, as the title said, I took a break from this game for a year because of all the insanity going on at the time. Today I came back after reading many of the patch notes for the time that I was gone and played a couple of objective games. I used to main Fletcher before I left, his mobility was really fun for me and a large draw for the game in general. I noticed some changes to Fletcher in one of the change notes that seemed to be a nerf, but a very good one at that. I played Fletcher first today and I was amazed at the fact that he was still fun, if anything it was more fun. I actually had to use skill to get my kills. I particularly love being rewarded that extra damage for a direct stick. Other than the classes seeming to be more balanced, the general polish of the game seemed to be much better. The UI in particular worked much smoother than it did before and the new gamemode Execution (I call it new because when I left it was fairly new) seems like it has gotten work from the patch notes.

 My biggest gripe about the game STILL is the lack of an autobalance system (which I covered more in-depth here [forums.dirtybomb.nexon.net/discussion/31438/mid-game-autobalance-system#latest](http://forums.dirtybomb.nexon.net/discussion/31438/mid-game-autobalance-system#latest)). I have however noticed that a lot of people are making a fuss about a new loadout crafting system, but I have not seen or heard any of the details of it so I will reserve judgement until I see it fully (plus I REALLY don't care about high tier loadouts, it's like CS:GO, they don't matter) My hope is that casual matchmaking will not flop and it can make a new atmosphere for players to be in where they don't have to worry about getting stomped. Although I am worried that having this new casual matchmaking may stratify the Dirty Bomb playerbase, but there is no way to tell until they release it fully.
(hawkeyeguy99) #2

Overall, I agree with you. The game seems fairly polished. And honestly if I had never experience the old trade in system I would actually like the new system

(TheDoctorHax) #3

Yeah, sometime I am going to check out the new system and maybe give my thoughts on it, since I had a LOT of experience with the old one (been playing this game since a month before public beta was a thing)

(HunterAssassin5) #4

this…SO F*CKING MUCH…

(Icecoal) #5

I like your thread , it’s nice to see someone’s opinion after taking a break. You can see the changes much more like this

(LifeupOmega) #6

Forced auto balance is a plague in a competitive game. People will just spec or leave, it always happens. And why should the winning team be punished because people don’t want to sit in a full match?

TF2 only just barely justifies it because (valve) pubs are pointless spamfests which barely matter anyway (and people just hit spectate in the same second anyway which really shows how good it is right?), and the more competitive communities back then had a tendency to disable it because it could clear servers when people got frustrated with their work being thrown back in their face.

MM is the best way to go in a game like this, and an incentive to switch teams in public if necessary, not a forced “fuck your work and all you’ve done this game” system.

(straightforwardMacadamia) #7

Completely agree with what @LifeupOmega said.

(TheDoctorHax) #8

[quote=“LifeupOmega;194845”]Forced auto balance is a plague in a competitive game. People will just spec or leave, it always happens. And why should the winning team be punished because people don’t want to sit in a full match?

TF2 only just barely justifies it because (valve) pubs are pointless spamfests which barely matter anyway (and people just hit spectate in the same second anyway which really shows how good it is right?), and the more competitive communities back then had a tendency to disable it because it could clear servers when people got frustrated with their work being thrown back in their face.

MM is the best way to go in a game like this, and an incentive to switch teams in public if necessary, not a forced “@$!# your work and all you’ve done this game” system.[/quote]

I do have to agree with what you have said in that competitive setting, but that is not where this system should really be implemented. In competitive there is more of an incentive to stay, much like the intent of the new casual matchmaking system. In my eyes this system would only apply to the casual servers, and seeing as after casual matchmaking the only way to join these will be from the server browser, I don’t think that the system will have too much trouble. Although I do understand what you mean with the autobalance taking away hard work towards a team, that is why I said insert tf2 meme here :slight_smile:

Edit: To address your concern regarding switching to spectator after being balanced, in Dirty Bomb, as far as I know, after being switched to another team there is a delay before you are allowed to switch to the other team. I may not be remembering that correctly but I remember that happening once.

(bontsa) #9

Firstly, wonderful to see insight from someone who hasnt been around for a while. Hope ya enjoy your stay in a slightly different ShooterGame :wink:

Then to autobalance. I never minded it that much in TF2 servers I played as I often switched on my own anyway when numbers got uneven. In DB I aim to do the same, but it is different and I do feel like losing more. Sometimes I even simply tilt the entire ordeal the otherway round and stomp continues now just the opposite way. So I’d say yes to an incentive for people to change voluntarily, absolute no to forced autobalance.

Besides, Casual Matchmaking makes any autobalancing redundant in that environment as teams are set from beginning and often people there are in same party with each other. Server browser games seem to be more aimed to community server stuff on future, where people should be more eager to do selfbalancing and are moderated, who knows. Nevertheless, I dont see need for it there either

(Amerika) #10

As mentioned in the other thread, and also mentioned by Lifeup, forced autobalance is horrible. It’s broken and a band-aid to a perceived issue and causes more problems than it fixes. Games already use an autobalance system before the game starts. If the game gets lopsided then an auto-balance is not going to fix that unless a bunch of people left one team. And even then people are going to get salty and leave because they aren’t getting an easy win.

The upcoming system, if it works correctly, will work pretty well. Games will be balanced from the start using the whole pool of players playing as opposed to only the pool of players who were thrown on a server. There will be penalties for leaving and if people still leave there is going to be an option to cut the match short. It’s not the most elegant or the preferred solution for some but it should at least make things start out better than they do now.

(Icecoal) #11

Tbh, the only balanced game I have played so far is CS GO , which has a huge player base. Balance will always be an issue

(impressivePolicy) #12

I’ve also have been gone for a long while, and IMO the new crafting and character Tweaks work really well. The only real problem is some of the older players haven’t gotten that free gold card for Aura or Skyhammer. Kinda stings to be shot in the face and called a noob by a level 4 golden Skyhammer XD