As an avid strafe spammer, I have no issues with SD reducing its efficacy. I agree with just about everything Anti’s said so far. My experience with strafejuking gives me a huge advantage over most players, but it can’t be denied that it comes with a lot of potential issues, particularly for new players coming from modern games where strafejuking is unheard of.
I do want to point out one statement I disagree with, though:
While I agree that its effect on gameplay is greater than its skill depth warrants, I think you’re underestimating the nuances of strafejuking in a ranged vs. ranged weapon situation (ranged vs. melee is different matter entirely, though). Different situations have different strafe timings/patterns that are more effective (while it may seem random, it isn’t truly random) and “knowing” (muscle memory) when to use which is one of the skills that separate the amazing players from the good. Add to that the difficulty of maintaining tracking while strafejuking, even more so against another strafejuker, there is a bit of depth to it, and definitely not something anyone can do well. Nonetheless, I still agree with the rest of your argument and your conclusion.
What I’d like to see: Reduced efficacy of strafejuking (it should still be a viable movement mechanic in combat, but it shouldn’t be the be-all and end-all movement mechanic in combat), improved walljumping mechanics and the introduction of other similarly predictable movement mechanics. Strafejuking is by far the most effective movement pattern against hitscan weapons because it’s almost entirely unpredictable, but that also makes it less interesting than tradeoff based predictable movement mechanics, such as bunnyhopping (not saying bunnyhopping should be added to the game, but it is the quintessential example of a tradeoff based predictable movement mechanic).
Quote from somewhere else:
To clarify something for people who haven’t necessarily played at a higher level: Once people start to be able to aim properly, jumping is not an evasive advantage against a hitscan machine gun. Practically any form of movement that locks you into a particular path is bad, jump arches can be tracked easily. Bunnyhopping while closing distance is viable as a result of the speed advantage it gives, inspite (not because of) the disadvantage of a more rigid movement path. As i’ve said, the most effective way to dodge an accurate hitscan weapon is randomly mashing left and right, because tracking becomes inpossible, prediction goes out the window, a lot of the skills that players with good aim develop become null and void. If you increase skulk base movement speed and stick with generic forward/back/left/right movement, all that happens is people mash left and right quicker.
The speed boost from moving through the air is the lure that encourages players to adopt this form of movement instead of the brainless alternative that would be adopted if it had no speed advantage. The result is the skulks practice to develop their advanced movement skills, speeding up in the air while intentionally hitting good lines of attack, instead of mashing strafes randomly – and marines develop the aiming skills of reading and tracking skulk trajectory through the air, getting familiar with the curves they’re likely to take to maximise speed and the limits of their air control. This is good for both players, and results in interesting and indepth combat that scales well for both sides.
Again, my point isn’t an argument for bunnyhopping, I just think it would be preferable if we could have more interesting movement mechanics than just strafejuking in combat, preferably ones with a tradeoff between speed and agility.
