“I can’t put my finger on it, but something feels missing in this game”
This is what I said to another player I’d met after we played a series of evenly matched, premade 5v5s in MM. Sure I had fun, but something felt off. After many more hours in DB, I’ve started to realize what it is.
Mercs
First of, let me just say there is very little depth in this game so far. The skill ceiling for an individual player is low(except maybe if you are playing vassili). THAT IS PERFECTLY FINE. Where this game can truly shine is with it’s team play. I say “can” because at the moment there is very little involved. Team play in this game currently begins and ends with the fragger/medic combo. Firefights essentially feel like buildups with no release, a story without a climax. Even when you get a clean wipe on a team, there is a sense of randomness as opposed to good execution. This is mostly due to their being a lack of tactics/strategy available. In this game, you can know exactly where enemies are or what they’re going to do and there still be close to a 50/50 chance of losing the firefight. In most, if not all competitive games I can think of, you are winning that fight a majority of the time.
Winning firefights simply does not feel as rewarding as it should because of the lack of tactics available, mostly due to the lack of mercs. I’m not a fan of MOBAs what so ever, but I can appreciate some of the better aspects of them. In most MOBAs, a single character is not that difficult to pick up and learn, and most of them have very little depth. Where the skill ceiling is really raised is knowledge on the LARGE VARIETY of other characters and how to adjust your play style accordingly when facing them. In addition to that, trying different characters on your own team opens up possibilities to new strategies and play styles. That is where I think the strength of this game lies, in the variety of mercs.
I get why mercs are being released slowly, you want to take your time with each one and see how it effects game balance. This is also a beta. I get it. That being said, this wouldn’t be the first game that was still balancing classes well after launch. I frequently see, “wait until X merc is released to counter that” as a response in class balance discussions(i.e. aura station). Well, if another merc effects balance as such, why are we waiting? As long as nothing is ridiculously OP, class balance shouldn’t even be that high of a priority right now. There are only 4 and a half maps, no MMR, lack of monetization options, no private servers, etc. Class balance should be the least of your worries, especially when most of the mercs were already released and tested prior. You’ll also never achieve perfect class balance, especially when you’re balancing off data from the ridiculously skill gaped, random spamfests that are pubs.
Balance, Matchmaking, and MMR
Skill will always prevail in pubs, and this being a class based shooter, players will be quick to judge a class that is wreaking havoc, regardless of the player controlling them. This is very apparent on the Nexon forums especially, where I think I’ve seen a thread for every single class/weapon being OP. If there is one thing I’ve realized from other betas, it’s that you should take your community’s thoughts on balancing with a grain of salt, at least until high level play is established. For every 1 person that knows what they are talking about their are 5 that are completely misinformed. I like that balancing is done via statistics, but not when that data comes from a ridiculously skewed environment such as pubs.
Creating an MMR and incentivizing MM with faster credit gain/case drops to should be a priority right now.
Not only because it benefits a more competitive community but because you will also get more accurate data from evenly matched teams in a less random environment. You simply can’t balance a game like this around pubs, the skill gap varies too much.
Maps
Asking community for feedback on maps at this point is like asking a blind man to lead you home. No one really knows what they want, things are just “okay” or they aren’t. To have truly great maps, you must release an SDK. The community needs to explore what is possible and ways maps can be opened up to allow for more team play and tactics.
2 heads are better then 1, and a 100 are better then how many map designers SD has. An SDK would benefit the community and the devs, allowing both to bounce ideas off each other. There are aspects of current maps I really like. Maybe I make my own map, an SD map dev or a community map dev sees it, and it sparks an idea for a better map. So on and so forth, and this game will have it’s dust2 a lot faster then it will at it’s current rate.
If you continue to make maps and essentially ask the community if they are “okay”, all you’ll get are “okay” maps. To get great maps, release an SDK.
Splash Damage, you guys seem like good devs with a lot of passion from what I have seen on your stream, but this isn’t a good game yet, it CAN be great. I’m constantly tempted to tell my friends to play this game, but then I hold back. Why? Because I know the second they hit level 7 and realize the only thing to do in this game is pub stomp with the same boring classes that have no depth they will never play again. Even if they will play again when the game has more content, they will be skeptical and close minded. That is how most gamers are.
I’m well aware this is a beta, but betas are also a time you should be building momentum for release. I understand that things like an SDK and MMR take time, but why are mercs that were previously available not playable? Sorry to say, but the lack of variety in mercs turns this game into another generic f2p shooter.
