Open Community Letter regarding the CW update

[CCP1151]

For those who don’t know, a community letter is more or less all the community’s general opinions smooshed together so the developers get an easy read. This letter will be in regards to the CW update and the changes it brought. It will mainly focus on the major, negative aspects, because obviously those are the parts everyone wants changed. I will leave this as unbiased as possible, which may be hard because of my stubbornness and opinionative nature.

There will also be a minor changes and positive feedback section, but here we go. Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments, if enough people seem to agree then I will change the letter accordingly, after all, it is an open community letter.

So, here we go:

Execution (including the new maps, Overground and Dank Market):

The maps:
Seems like everyone is okay with the maps right now. No major complaint threads have sprung up, and overall everyone seems alright with them. They have been tweaked very slightly, but overall they have the same working design as before in the test weekends. Good job there SD.

The gamemode:
Again, most people do seem satisfied with this new gamemode, and it is always nice having more options to play with. However, there is an underlying feeling of general distaste for who SD is trying to attract with this, and also how long it took to make. It’s very clear who SD is trying to target here, and that’s alright for most people, as new players are always welcome, but of course new players can be… clumsy.
As for the time it took to make? Too long. People would like new features to be added quicker.
Execution was also added in a little bit of haste, as it was locked to 7v7, also is not available for competitive, no vote shuffles, and no min/max servers. Whether or not this was intentional by SD is yet to be heard, but assuming it wasn’t intentional, it is a bit of a mess.

The missions also don’t work very well. They have a large requirement to fulfill, and other EXP missions seem to progress slowly while playing Execution. A requirement shrink would be a suitable solution.
The tactics also used in Execution can get stale fast, with Offensive deathballs and defensive rotations being the norm. While there is no clear cut solution for this, adding in different server sizes and a competitive option would help increase the quality of matches. (Thanks @HoopleDoople )

Stoker, the gentleman pyromaniac:

The merc:
Fairly balanced. Good hp pool, and excellent weapon choices. Decent move speed, and overall a fairly standard merc. However, the rifles do pull him up fairly high above some mercs.

The abilities:
The one and only, the unforgettable, ammo station. Brilliant piece of kit. Outstanding, good job SD. Seriously though, pretty standard, quite a high ammo give rate, but very immobile. Quite well suited for defense, or a hard push.
The molotov on the other hand, has a few changes people seem to want to push. First, is the cooldown argument. Many people feel as if the cooldown is too long, while others feel as if it’s warranted, especially for it’s power and utility.
Quite a divisive argument, with many saying he isn’t good at power or denying areas, with others saying the exact opposite. While the molotovs could definitely use a change, you may want to wait a bit longer for it to settle before going ahead with any potential changes SD.

Dome, the largest map to date:
Quite the playground. Very large, spacious, with plenty of flank routes and a very nice aesthetic. So what do people think?
The inclusion of more places to wall jump is great, but there is a lack of reward for the actual jumps for some of them. Many shave off a second or two, while others barely give you any discernible advantage. While it is great to see more uses for trickjumping, there are still a few spots where it is a but useless to wall jump.
Some performance issues reported by some. Due to sheer size? We don’t know, but the size seems an obvious culprit.
The map also has a lot of parts that do need revising, with many people complaining about a few things, which all add up to some improvements.
Some comment that spawns could be shifted a bit in order to keep the action going. Noone really wants to walk for ages just to get to the action. This isn’t Planetside 2 after all.

Other comments say that the first point is poorly designed, with a lot of chokes and ninja delivers, rather than exciting play. The second point also doesn’t last long enough, and it all boils down to the first and third objectives.

The map in general is also confusing for new players, and as such inclusion of streamlined paths and arrows would be appreciated. Many other games do this well without breaking the style and flow, so hopefully SD can as well.
I’d also like to direct attention to @Faraleth who made this redesign of the map. I am no map designer, so whether or not this is a good revision is uncertain.

Of course, one issue that I’d like to address is PLENTY of spots where there are untextured areas. SD, please just get someone to have a quick run through, because there are a lot of areas that still need some texturing.

The consistency across maps is also quite nice, we received three maps in one update that all had that cool yellow dome. I hope other updates follow suit with a similar consistency.

The Limited Edition CW Cards and Cases

Now this is where a lot of people can agree. Firstly, 0.3% is low. The system is already saturated with RNG and luck, and you continue to add more? It isn’t great, and while some people have had great luck, many others haven’t. Basically, bump it up a little if you decide to do a similar event in the future.
Secondly, even for elite cases, it isn’t that great. Many people are split, with some saying 10% is good enough while many others think that it should be far higher, especially because of the paid money aspect.
What is especially not nice is the guaranteed CW loadout price. It is something along the lines of 35 Euros or 28 pounds. I can’t get the exact numbers, but that is a very high cost for a guaranteed loadout, but not a guaranteed merc or weapon or set of augments. Again, noone wants that much RNG. Please reconsider this SD, or Nexon, whoever decides on that aspect.

Phoenix and Obsidian giveaway:
Absolutely unanimous, with most people loving the giveaway. And to be fair, who doesn’t love free stuff?
Some people did complain a bit, saying that while free stuff is always appreciated, the giveaway wasn’t the best approach and that in the future giveaways should be structured differently, or give away something else, or just be different in one way or another.
As for the aftermath, it is a bit demoralising to see what could be your favourite merc handed out willy nilly, especially to new payers who could be clueless.

@Lumi sums up a flaw with the giveaway quite well:
“The official reason being to reward loyalty of long time players, giving a one week warning and offering the give away one week after the update even to first time players didn’t reflect that at all. We know it was an event to bring more people to the game and being lied at like that doesn’t make the community feel appreciated.”

Profile stats screen:

I’ll keep this sweet and short. Amazing. Who doesn’t love number whoring? Thanks SD, all improvements are more or less just add more weapons and more stats and numbers. Great job here. I’m unaware of any issues, so if there are any stat breaking bugs then it doesn’t seem like many people are having them.

-out of character space, will continue underneath-

[CCP1151]

-continued from above-

Now, there are other minor changes I’ll address in a bit. However, I’ll skip straight to some of the meatiest parts of those patch notes: The balancing and tweaks. Here, I’ll tackle them by merc if they’re major enough. Otherwise, if you don’t see your favourite merc in this section, look below in the minor changes section, as maybe the change was too small for me to really comment on. Here we go:

Balance changes:

Explosives in general (Fragger, Nader, Proxy):

In general, noone asked for this.

While it does promote more accuracy when using Fragger, and it does lessen the raw power of Nader’s martyrdom, it was generally an odd change, and whether or not it’s good or bad will have to be left for time to tell. It did inversely affect Proxy, who was already a sub optimal merc.
Interestingly enough, 50% of people were neutral on these changes. As time goes on, we can see whether or not they gravitate towards it being a good or bad change. 30% of people also liked the change, a fairly large group as well. While some people may appreciate the changes, it’s also hard to pinpint why you don’t/do like the changes.

The changes affected three mercs, of differing power, and made them all a little bit weaker. As a Proxy player, the changes may have been devastating. As a Nader player, perhaps not so much. Again, these changes are unlikely to be reverted, but maybe revised on a merc to merc basis, as to fix Proxy by herself, then move on to Nader, etc.

Kira changes:

While minor, many Kira players say that she was hit hard indirectly with the CW balancing. Most likely because 2 out of her 3 weapons got… changed… and her ability which was quite powerful got a slight nerf. The change of the burst rifles indirectly nerfed her, and will have to be addressed separately, and as for the laser changes, while it was sort of a bug fix, many Kira players felt as if Kira was already an average merc, and the laser change will need to be counteracted by a small buff.

Sparks nerf:

Good nerf, straight to the point, no beating around the bush, and it wasn’t a huge slap in the face for anyone really. However, this can create a bit of inconsistency with other medics’ revive times.

Sniper instagib changes:

I’d like to remind you that in fact, they have not been removed, only changed. So now it’s much harder to play head shooty man, and get instagibs, without some softening up beforehand.
A good change. While not many people like it, me included, we sort of all can agree that in the long run, this was a good change, nerfing the competitive Vassili to not OP levels, and just mixing up the Pub vassili ever so slightly. A good change, that people asked for. It also does symbolise an increase in the trust between competitive players and SD, which is an excellent step in the right direction.
However, the changes didn’t affect the PDP, which is already an odd sniper when compared to the other two. There is a lack of consistency here, that while not gamebreaking, is odd, all things considered. It is possible that because Redeye gains access to the PDP, if it got instagibbing, then Redeye as well would be influenced by the patch.

Burst Rifle Changes:

Hoo, this is a toughie. I will avoid bias as best I can, but this will be tough.

So yes, a lot of people did ask for a burst rifle change, especially to the Stark.

In order to help back up my claims, I will directly reference one of my top sources (Thanks @Faraleth ), this Community Survey, alongside the forums general responses.

To simplify it for you, 32% of people wanted the rifles to be reverted. That is the largest chunk of people in the survey. The next was 23% said they did not like the change. While they did not explicitly state they wanted it to be reverted, they did not appreciate the change to burst rifles. That is a total of 55% of players that took the survey that did not appreciate the changes. A majority.
Then there were the “Changes don’t affect me” crowd. It would seem that they made up 20% of the vote. This leaves 5% of players saying it was a great change, and 20% saying it was an alright change, that didn’t affect them much.
When it all boils down to it, the vocal majority that use the rifles do indeed not like the change. The number of people that are affected by the change and love it are incredibly small in comparison, while there is also a large chunk of people who were barely affected by it.
I think It’s safe to say a revision of these changes is in order.

Augment(s):

Really, they just changed Get up. However, it seemed to be a great change, definitely making it swappable, as before it was generally agreed to be a must on your medic card. Now it could potentially be thrown out in favour of something else. Good change SD.

Other changes:

Again, I will list what I consider to be the major changes here, and the resulting feedback. If there is another change you thought was pretty major, feel free to just mention it and I’ll see to it.

Enemy merc selection (Fog of war):

Kind of like Fog of war, you are now unable to see what the enemy team is packing until you physically see them with your own eyes. A pretty large change, however whether or not it’s a positive change is yet to be revealed.
In terms of competitive, it could see some definite use in mixing up the gameplay. In terms of pubs, it seems obnoxious and unnecessary.

And so that brings the big community letter to an end. If you feel as if I was biased or just forgot something, just say so below. Thanks for somehow reading this wall of text, and hopefully this helps to condense the communities general opinion on the changes. I may or may not continue doing this for future patches, depending if they are significant enough or if this is even helpful. I’ve also got my opinions below for anyone who cares.

[CCP1151]

Reserved for personal opinion or something.

[Black2]

The containment update was quite the surprise to me due to all the things that have changed and I believe they are doing very good.
However some thing to touch on:

Dome
I’ve played this quite a couple of times and it has to have one of the biggest spawn areas I have seen yet. I have talked about this before, because it seems in a lot of maps, the spawns for the teams seem to be pushed back way to far to where players have to spend their re spawn time running to even get into battle.

The area in which they spawn is never fought between just simple space between the team and the objective.

In Dome, when you spawn, it takes at least a good 8+ seconds to get within enemy CONTACT.

Ill never understand why this is.

[Lumi]

@CCP115

You should add that the execution mode is also brought to us in a rough state. No shuffle votes, only 7vs7 servers, no min, no max servers. It’s all a big melting pot. Most game are imbalanced and on the rare occasions they’re not the big sized teams make the gameplay rather uninteresting, since it’s all about the merc ball. Stragglers get quickly done for and splitting up is a poor choice of action, almost close to zero viability.

Finally, the amount of new players in DB with over 1000h of counter strike source are just a pain in the ass with some of the more precise weapons. A few months back they nerfed the Dreiss because aim skilled players were too good with it. It became a shit weapon and now we have the M4A1 and the Hochfir that are just OP in the same hands. Consistency in their actions would be nice and a nerf to those two weapons would be much appreciated.

Kira did get a pretty huge nerf all things considered. Not called for at all since she’s already not that much played.

Explosive changes only hit part of the “explosive ability wielding” mercs which is inconsistent. I’d like to see similar changes for Arty and Skyhammer for instance.

While regarding the sniper insta-gib changes the fact that only the felix and MOA finish off in a single bullet while the PDP doesn’t is really offsetting. Again lack of consistency seems to be the way they’re going.

I would also precise why people disliked the give away:

1. The official reason being to reward loyalty of long time players, giving a one week warning and offering the give away one week after the update even to first time players didn’t reflect that at all. We know it was an event to bring more people to the game and being lied at like that doesn’t make the community feel appreciated.
   2)Giving away a merc was a bad choice, especially Phoenix. Repercussions can still be seen now: there are plenty of Phoenix’s in teams yet no real medic. People playing him are doing so because they got him for free and looking at the team rooster now is more fooling than anything else as a Pheonix doesn’t imply having a medic on your team since people only play him for the self revive.

At last I must agree with the fog of war mechanic. It’s a nuisance. Especially in Stopwatch where it resets mid-game although there is no possibility to switch mercs. One more useless functionality not asked by the community.

[Faraleth]

While I like the idea of this letter, there’s sadly quite a bit wrong here and it’s a very bold statement to be speaking for the “community” :s Don’t get me wrong though, I commend the effort you’ve put into it.

Might I suggest you look over the results of the Dirty Bomb Containment War Update - Initial Feedback Survey? https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1VfRmRYvLLKpu7x2g5XOgWAsQF8LL1nP4G7t9kFkyQ0k/viewanalytics

The main things that stand out is that only 32% of people (at the time of writing) actually want the burst-fire rifles reverted to their original state, as well as people’s over-all opinion on the Phoenix giveaway promotion (82.4% felt overly positive about it); I don’t like to point fingers, but I can’t help but feel a little personal bias went into your summary of it.

Perhaps change the title to simply “open letter to the devs” or something? It’s very hard to summarise everyone’s opinions as a whole like this, because a LOT of things about the update, there aren’t really a “majority” for any of the categories, because everyone feels something slightly different. I’m only saying this for fairness sake.

[B_Montiel]

Dome has actually a big problem for newcomers : it lacks DIRECTIONS AND GUIDANCE.
I played it on some regular servers and saw a lot of low levels getting totally lost in there, even now a week after its release.
It would not be this hard to just put some arrows and letters on walls, just like any games do, or some footsteps/paint on the floor to indicate where the objectives are located. And some active situational walls to limit the playground to what is necessary could be welcome as well, as the map, even if it’s large and has lots of routes compared to the other available right now, is still very linear and there’s no side routes available if you go backwards from second/third objective spawns.

[kibloy]

1. Write huge wall of text full of things you want to see changed
2. Call it Open Community Letter
3. ???
4. Profit

[watsyurdeal]

Imo, Dome is the best map so far, we NEED more maps like that.

@Lumi

What the hell are you talking about? That exact same logic can be used with Aura. Just because bad players don’t know how to play Medic doesn’t mean giving one away was a bad idea.

If anything it brought both new players and people who quit, back to the game. It was a good move in my book.

[Glot]

[quote=“B. Montiel;104506”]Dome has actually a big problem for newcomers : it lacks DIRECTIONS AND GUIDANCE.
I played it on some regular servers and saw a lot of low levels getting totally lost in there, even now a week after its release. [/quote]
this is because map is not a tube like…well…all other maps in DB stopwatch =)
sings would be nice. but i think with time they will figure out the routes. i know some DB veterans, who had hard time finding a way to the objects for several days =)

[3N1GM4]

I know it seems to be an unpopular opinion, but let’s take it easy on the “remove all the instagibs”. Martyrdom is pointless, it hardly did anything besides the occasional noob or mindless knife gib, proxy mines either gibbed or barely did damage (you either dodged or didnt). Now both hardly down anyone, and if they do, zap, they’re instantly back up.

If anything, I would have preferred leaving the explosives as the were with an increased cool down on frags to 20s and a more aggressive depreciation in damage dealt on the outer radius. It’s still on per spawn, still instagibs anything it ‘touches’ but doesn’t have quite the room clearing devastation.

[Blackers]

[quote=“Faraleth;104501”]
The main things that stand out is that only 32% of people (at the time of writing) actually want the burst-fire rifles reverted to their original state,[/quote]

32.2% of players say ‘It’s terrible! I want it changed back’ (the largest chunk out of the percentages)

23.6% of players say ‘It’s not that great’ (the 2nd largest chunk)

That’s 55.8% of players who have taken the survey who are not necessarily happy with the burst weapons. over half of the players have expressed this.

While 5.5% of players say ‘It’s great!’ that’s a very small percentage of players, and whose to say that some these players aren’t just being trolls. Because at the end of the day mercs they never play as with weapons they don’t use are being nurfed, no skin off their nose, this just makes their life a bit easier when confronting a burst fire user in game. and you know, it’s nice to piss off a group of people from time to time.

Then again, there are those VERY FEW players that genuinely believe in their honest opinion that the Burst changes have made the weapons better.

Interestingly enough 20.4% say ‘It’s alright, it hasn’t changed much for me’ (3rd largest chunk) while I respect their opinion, I can’t help but think, ‘really? you haven’t noticed much of a change? because it is a pretty drastic change’. whether or not you think it was for better or for worse.

But anyway, 20.4% of people feel the changes made hasn’t effected them. so basically a change back wouldn’t exactly hurt these players, hahaha. just saying

and of course 18.3% say ‘I don’t use burst-fire rifles/I don’t care’ so really their opinion on this particular subject isn’t really here nor there.

So, to sum this all up,

55.8% of players are not happy with the burst fire weapons as they are.
38.7% of players are basically sat on the fence

and…

drum roll please…

5.5% of players like the changes!

You only need to briefly look around the forums here to see what the current mood regarding the changes to burst weapons is, and there are certainly more people upset about the burst weapons then there are those happy about it

I think a better way of surveying this would be to have a question simply for players who do use burst weapons, and that would be, ‘Are you happy to the changes made to the burst weapons’ yes or no? Maybe link it in the game so only players who have played X-amount of time with burst weapons can answer, thus, avoiding any possible troll input.

Also, sorry if I come off as a bit of a dick here, not intended. but I do feel very strongly about this.

[Faraleth]

[quote=“Blackers;104590”]32.2% of players say ‘It’s terrible! I want it changed back’ (the largest chunk out of the percentages)

23.6% of players say ‘It’s not that great’ (the 2nd largest chunk)

That’s 55.8% of players who have taken the survey who are not necessarily happy with the burst weapons. over half of the players have expressed this.

While 5.5% of players say ‘It’s great!’ that’s a very small percentage of players, and whose to say that some these players aren’t just being trolls. Because at the end of the day mercs they never play as with weapons they don’t use are being nurfed, no skin off their nose, this just makes their life a bit easier when confronting a burst fire user in game. and you know, it’s nice to piss off a group of people from time to time.

Then again, there are those VERY FEW players that genuinely believe in their honest opinion that the Burst changes have made the weapons better.

Interestingly enough 20.4% say ‘It’s alright, it hasn’t changed much for me’ (3rd largest chunk) while I respect their opinion, I can’t help but think, ‘really? you haven’t noticed much of a change? because it is a pretty drastic change’. whether or not you think it was for better or for worse.

But anyway, 20.4% of people feel the changes made hasn’t effected them. so basically a change back wouldn’t exactly hurt these players, hahaha. just saying

and of course 18.3% say ‘I don’t use burst-fire rifles/I don’t care’ so really their opinion on this particular subject isn’t really here nor there.

So, to sum this all up,

55.8% of players are not happy with the burst fire weapons as they are.
38.7% of players are basically sat on the fence

and…

drum roll please…

5.5% of players like the changes!

You only need to briefly look around the forums here to see what the current mood regarding the changes to burst weapons is, and there are certainly more people upset about the burst weapons then there are those happy about it

I think a better way of surveying this would be to have a question simply for players who do use burst weapons, and that would be, ‘Are you happy to the changes made to the burst weapons’ yes or no? Maybe link it in the game so only players who have played X-amount of time with burst weapons can answer, thus, avoiding any possible troll input.

Also, sorry if I come off as a bit of a dick here, not intended. but I do feel very strongly about this.
[/quote]

@Blackers It’s alright And yes, over 55% felt negatively about it, but the other statistic was used as an example to counter the fact that the OP was essentially saying “everyone wants it changed back”, while in actual fact only 32% want it changed back.

It’s this sort of data that is FAR more useful than a summary trying to express everyone’s opinions - it wasn’t a jab at the changes or general mood, it was reinforce the fact that the original post is biased. :3

Also, that theoretical “question simply for players who do use burst weapons”, was what that question on the survey was intended for. The “I don’t know/care” option is for those who never use them The data is already in the hands of SD and Nexon, so they fully understand the dislike towards it, over all.

[UcheeMadaa]

Completely agree with Blackers, majority vote isn’t best pleased with the changes, I personally detest the changes to the burst fire weapons.

Frankly, since the CW update I’ve found myself crawling towards any and all other guns in replacement to my ‘go to’ squad, now this is completely personal and in no way do I speak for the community, but I feel that it’s ruined my gaming experience significantly, not enough to throw in the towel by any means but i do eagerly await a hot fix with a vague hope that this issue will be reverted.
Thanks for reading.

[Black2]

[quote=“B. Montiel;104506”]Dome has actually a big problem for newcomers : it lacks DIRECTIONS AND GUIDANCE.
I played it on some regular servers and saw a lot of low levels getting totally lost in there, even now a week after its release.
It would not be this hard to just put some arrows and letters on walls, just like any games do, or some footsteps/paint on the floor to indicate where the objectives are located. And some active situational walls to limit the playground to what is necessary could be welcome as well, as the map, even if it’s large and has lots of routes compared to the other available right now, is still very linear and there’s no side routes available if you go backwards from second/third objective spawns. [/quote]

Spot on.

That map is ridiculously huge.
Half of the map is unused as no action will take place.

The routes are very linear and there are only two few entrances.

Every time it gets voted for the next map I leave the lobby because I know it’s just not going to be fun.

[watsyurdeal]

To all the people talking about Dome

[B_Montiel]

I have no trouble with it, I also think it’s the best map available right now by a massive margin. But it is not fun to face some dummy army who just wander around desperately clueless. Just little indications could help a lot here.

[Potato_Ladder]

[quote=“Watsyurdeal;104615”]To all the people talking about Dome

https://i.imgflip.com/tm0hc.jpg[/quote]

I don’t but I have problem with it since no one wants to check the objective so sneaky delivery tends to happen and I’m normally busy with keeping my teammates alive as a medic.

[Lumi]

My grief with dome is that a big chunk of the trick jump paths are actually longer than the regular paths… Especially the left side of the attackers right at the beginning, there’s a huge chunk of useless path to reach that first secondary generator. Same on the right where if you jump on the pipes it just gives you nothing. There’s little reward for those jumps.

The second objective is most of the time just blown to pieces without a chance at defusing as it takes so much time reaching the planted explosive from whatever fire front you were in and once you die and respawn the explosives have already went off.

Unfortunately Dome’s active life happens during the most frustratingly poorly designed first part, the two last objectives, which are located in the most interesting parts of the map are quickly done and usually haven’t that much game time on as the first part usually takes so long to pass…

[HoopleDoople]

Let me add a few points:

Execution

This mode is somewhat divisive with players generally loving or hating it, but it is still a welcome addition. It’s good to have variety and not every mode needs to appeal strongly to every player. I do have two concerns with the mode, however. First, the missions for Execution are too long and progress on other missions while in Execution (e.g. combat experience) are too slow. Some tweaks to the mission lengths and experience rewards while in Execution would be appreciated.

Second, the tactics utilized in Execution seem very stale. Offense deathballs one bomb site, while defense deathballs at a bomb site and redeploys if they guessed wrong. No idea how to go about allowing for more tactical flexibility or if better tactics will naturally develop as players become more experienced with Exeuction.

Stoker

Overall I think the devs did a fantastic job on Stoker. He’s pretty well balanced and fills a much needed role. His addition does draw some attention to two pre-existing problems, however. One problem is that the M4 is way too powerful - Stokers and Skyhammers with the M4 terrify me more than most of the combat classes (obviously not Fragger). The other problem is that Arty is getting overshadowed (maybe Kira as well, I haven’t played her yet though). His ability is useless indoors and he doesn’t have an option of automatic weaponry. While we’re at it, the fact that Arty’s laser charging can be interrupted seems completely uncalled for.

Dome

This map is really neat but so far it has played really poorly. I predict it will get much better as players learn the map, but I think it needs some adjustments as well. The first objective doesn’t seem to be all that enjoyable to play while the second objective is over incredibly quickly in most matches.

Phoenix and Obsidian giveaway

I think people were way too nice on this. A giveaway is always appreciated but this one was not executed well. The problem is that each player valued Phoenix and the cosmetics differently. A handful of players like myself who don’t much care for the cosmetics felt like we weren’t given equal compensation for already having Phoenix (I’d have taken a credit refund in a heartbeat, if offered). A lot of players who love cosmetics were upset they couldn’t put together the credits needed to buy Phoenix and earn the cosmetics. In the future I would prefer that giveaways be the same for everyone and not a merc. Perhaps a cosmetic, specific loadout, a case, or simply credits.

I understand why Phoenix was selected for the giveaway, as he is versatile and beginner friendly. I have no doubt that he would take Aura’s place as the starter medic if he wasn’t a newer merc. But I still wasn’t all that pleased to have my former favorite given away to everyone. It used to be that almost every team could use a Phoenix to provide a boost to both combat and support. But now that every team has multiple Phoenixes there’s almost always a different merc that is called. And you never do know if the Phoenixes on your team are actually going to bother to act as a medic or not.

Balance changes

First, the good. The Sparks nerf was perfect. Before the patch I loathed facing Sparks because of how annoying she was. Now I find her to be a very fun merc to have as an ally or enemy. The Vassili nerf was also very much appreciated. I couldn’t say if Vassili is still powerful enough now, but if not I’d very much prefer he get a buff elsewhere rather than having his insta-gib returned.

The bad was nerfs to Proxy’s mines and Nader’s martyrdom. Unless the Proxy/Nader made a skilled play, it was always your own fault for dying to these. Making them more forgiving was completely uncalled for. There were few things that amused me more than killing or dying to martyrdom and now neither of these happens very frequently.

I have mixed feeling about the burst rifle changes and the Fragger grenade nerf. Fragger’s grenade was definitely a bigger issue than the other explosives because you would often have no possible way to avoid it. But it at least required skill from the Fragger to guarantee the hit. I am in a very small minority of players who actually enjoys the new burst rifles, but I am baffled as to why it was applied to both the BR-16 and the Stark. It would have made way more sense to use this as an opportunity to better differentiate the two weapons.