Most Likely Final Thoughts on Dirty Bomb

(toolboxRhyme) #1

When I first saw Dirty Bomb, I was practically foaming at the mouth excited. Splash Damage… the folks who made the Enemy Territory games. I was damn sure it HAD to be amazing.

Then I saw video of the game, and it looked just as amazing as I hoped. But then these last two beta weekends happened, and my hopes and dreams were kicked in the nuts repeatedly, and the body was continually urinated on the entire time.

What I saw was a game with a decently high TTK, fast pace, and plenty of classes to choose from.

What I have been playing is a game that feels more like Call of Duty to me than Enemy Territory.

I’m going to let the server lag go. With as big as your beta weekends have been I am willing to accept being shot around a corner, or shooting somebody point blank and not having that register while they kill me, or having an enemy suddenly appear behind me and kill me instantaneously. I’ll let all of that go, no matter how badly it ruins the fun (if there were any to begin with).

My biggest issue is the TTK in the game. Why in the hell is it so low? And more than that, why is Aura’s healing station basically free invulnerability if the enemy isn’t using a shotgun or explosives? How is anyone supposed to have any fun when you finally REACH the battle, then you die instantaneously from a shotgun or a sniper rifle, then you have to wait up to 30 seconds to respawn? And with the TTK so low and the objective timers SO FREAKISHLY HIGH (planting C4 for instance), how is anyone supposed to get anything done in your average pub games until one side gets lucky and manages to off the enemy during the far end of their respawn timers?

And then there’s the movement. You have a parkour system that I never see anyone use. It’s so fidgety and unresponsive that it serves practically no purpose. I’ve tried to put it to use and seen no reason as there are so few routes that you can actually use it for on each map.

And last of all is the card system. I understand it may help you balance the mercs, but not being able to control the simplest thing such as a loadout without grinding for a bunch of cards that most likely won’t even have a loadout you’ll enjoy to begin with is pretty painful.

I understand you need to make money, and I understand you want to have a tight grip on game balance, but to people like me who can just reinstall ETCW (actually, anyone can do that since it’s free) or ETQW and have a blast with those games are likely not going to stick around for Dirty Bomb.

I even went against my instincts and played this second beta weekend expecting things to be better only to find them just as bad (and worse with the server lag, which, again, I’m not placing blame for).

As it stands, Dirty Bomb has gone from an amazing game I was unbelievably hyped for to the biggest disappointment since Warhammer 40,000: Dark Millenium was canceled. Or since Firefall removed arena PvP and added in world PvP that is dominated by gear. Or since Global Agenda patch 2.3 code named Sandstorm.

As a matter of fact, Dirty Bomb disappoints me worse than the day I found out the master server list for Aliens vs Predator 2 was shut down.

EDIT: This is the game that I saw in videos and could not wait to play. youtube.com/watch?v=GLxOPOcxq-0

EDIT: That said, that video does make Phoenix look very, very broken.

(Amerika) #2

The beta has only been up for a bit over an hour. Also, if you haven’t figured out how to use the movement system, well, that’s on you. There are a lot of ways to use it but they take time to find. Also, most of the time it’s simply a way to get a decent shortcut or surprise in but not a game defining “always use this” thing.

Sucks you’re not enjoying yourself.

(toolboxRhyme) #3

Well, like I said in the post, it’s not necessarily the movement that kills it for me. I just can’t stand the insanely low TTK that just leads to getting shot in the back with no chance to turn around and fight back.

(forlornMicrowave) #4

I have not played the game yet (no beta key as you can find me posting all over the forums about lol), but the sound of the way loadouts work does sound bad. I mean, if I want to play with, say, an M4, I shouldn’t have to hope I get one I like with a character, I should just be able to choose the M4 (default weapon, in game store for game currency, not actual $) and use it. Maybe you should have to get cards for attachments or for a certain M4 that has some kind of camo/attachments/stat boost, but just to use a certain gun/loadout sounds really bad. If I have this wrong, please tell me the way the loadout system actually works, because I’m picturing myself playing for hours trying to get a certain weapon and then getting some variation of it I don’t like and having to keep doing it.

(einstyle) #5

I don’t really get it, how is the video you posted different from the game now?

(toolboxRhyme) #6

For forlornMIcrowave, the loadout cards give you a set primary, sidearm, melee, and 3 perks. There are about 12-15 cards per merc ranging in rarity (and power). My first (and ONLY) chest contained a Legendary Aura card which allows her to have a Remburg 7 shotgun, an M9, a stilnotto stiletto (melee weapon). The card also gives the perks Extra Supplies (25% ability CDR), Mechanic (20% repair and disarm rates), and Potent Packs (30% faster healing from abilities). These are all determined by the cards you get rather than your choice of loadout.

And to carefulCoral, take note of how much damage a player does with each shot in that video and how much damage the players do in the current beta.

The damage has been ramped up, which lowers the TTK (time to kill). By having a TTK that is so much lower, you reduce the chance a player can react and fight back. Think about how frustrating it is to be running to the objective only to be shot in the back and die before you can do ANYTHING about it. Or how frustrating it is to be killed INSTANTLY by a shotgun user around a corner.

That’s where it’s different.

(Amerika) #7

I would love for the cards to be perks that you can change out. Like, you can throw out an extra ammo or health pack, jump off a wall a 3rd time, reduced CD on class abilities. Things like that. Changing weapons via the cards isn’t ideal and doesn’t add anything to the game beyond trying to get people to spend more money for optimal loadouts. Which could be viewed by many as a dealbreaker in a F2P game.

(Szakalot) #8

@toolboxRhyme

I would highly recommend you to wait and play the game until all mercs are back. Almost all of your complaints have to do with the fact that this is a beta test, and more so: these tests are more for the developers than for us (hence forced matchmaking, limited amount of mercs, penalties etc.).

TTK isn’t low once you learn the maps & how to dodge. I don’t see it as being much lower than ET frankly.

Aura’s station becomes less OP once mercs that counter her are brought back. At the moment only fragger can counter aura effectively, with nades.

Parkour system is very smooth and responsive, but not the easiest to get into. But try to explain circle-strafe-jumping-bunny-hopping from W:ET to a modern COD player. You don’t see anyone use it because people don’t know how to play the game.

Loadouts are never going to be that impactful, compared to which merc you choose. Primary way of deciding your playstyle is choosing the right merc, and only afterwards fiddling with loadouts to fine-tune your preference. Like I said, more than half of mercs are not in the game at the moment, and they drastically alter the experience.

(Fipoow) #9

I think you overreact i bit.

But i have to say, i’m dissapointed to! i thought this would be more like ET.
I was very excited when i saw trailers etc… And some things they added are great, but lot of things they added are bad.

Also i think it plays to fast, you get killed to fast and just as you said, it’s more a COD game then a ET game. (in my opinion)

Also why do you have classes, when they do nothing specific in a object based game? eveybody can plant a c4? everybody can repair and construct? hmmm not a great move…

Well, i hope the next beta or the full game will be different. Till then i’ll keep playing wolfenstein Enemy Territory, because still after all those years that game rules!

(bubblesKeyboard) #10

This is the kind of guy you don’t want in closed beta - that’s why they give out keys to a select few. So people don’t take a look at the unfinished game, think it’s crap, and leave.

I haven’t had problems with hit reg much at all, especially from a UE3 game which has hit reg like crap. I also haven’t had lag at all excluding casual stutters I get from playing the game on EU servers at 5am (I like grinding this game).

Aura’s healing station is OP, but the mercs that change that aren’t playable at the moment. 3 of the 4 mercs able to take it out aren’t in the game right now, so you can’t judge it right now.

The TTK is hella long idk what you’re talking about. I come from BL:R which takes 2-4 shots to kill, and this game can take anywhere from 3 to an entire mag depending on the headshots you get.

The parkour is really useful, saves time and having to go through unnecessary enemies. There are also some places you aren’t able to get to unless you use it. It takes practice

Just so everyone knows, CoD takes max 5 shots to kill from any gun, and guns usually shoot for the better part of 900rpm. TTK in that game is instantaneous and its part of why people rage. This game has TTK no where near that, unless you get headshots all day every day, in which case, you can go fudge yourself :slight_smile:

(Swanidius) #11

Atm the only problem i have with the game is the fucking use of iron sighs. Jesus fuck this game is more like COD than W:ET coz of that.

(einstyle) #12

only on the surface though - most of the time you’re at a clear advantage when you’re hipfiring instead of using ironsights where as in COD most of the time you would be ADSing because it’s almost mandatory there

(Szakalot) #13

what are you talking about? ironsights are very rarely usable, and only at long range. there are just a few weapons that are most optimally used with ironsights, but everything else: fire from the hip

(Swanidius) #14

what I want is a game which is not like CS (need to learn spray patterns) or COD (get advantage from IS,perks, what ever other useless aimhelp stuff). I want this shooting system to be as simple as in ET (well wont happen but its just what i would like to want).

(Szakalot) #15

well it is. point at the enemy head = profit

(Swanidius) #16

headshoots are my thing. But with smg vs the high HP classes u need to empty ur whole magazine. And dont even try to kill them from far away running towards u coz ye… such dmg much fun.

(Szakalot) #17

If by SMG you refer to medics SMG and the like, these weapons are supposed to be somewhat support in role, so yeah: taking on a 150hp fragger should not be easy. Anything else goes down very quickly with multiple HSs.

Its important to recognize the MOBA element of the game, the fact that you can heal as a medic is balanced by having subpar weapons, compared to dedicated killers

(MissMurder) #18

Appreciate the discussions here guys. Yes we are still very much in beta and without all the mercs, features and maps at our fingertips it’s a bit more difficult to provide the best experience. Balancing and tweaking is something that’s going to happen until we are live and maybe after too so it’s all a work in progress. And yes the game is meant to be fast paced…and firing from the hip. That’s what we’re about.

As for the Loadout cards there is still more information we have yet to give on the system as we continue to work on it…so can’t say much yet but do believe we have been against “pay-to-win” from the start and our doing our best to show that.

(bubblesKeyboard) #19

what I want is a game which is not like CS (need to learn spray patterns) or COD (get advantage from IS,perks, what ever other useless aimhelp stuff). I want this shooting system to be as simple as in ET (well wont happen but its just what i would like to want).

[/quote]

There are no spray patterns or recoil patterns you need to learn at all!

(bubblesKeyboard) #20

headshoots are my thing. But with smg vs the high HP classes u need to empty ur whole magazine. And dont even try to kill them from far away running towards u coz ye… such dmg much fun.[/quote]

Any class that isnt a slayer class is built to lose to a slayer class head on (unless you’re Aura)