Alright, so a couple of thoughts: Really like the patch, look forward to more improvements. Above all would like to see a new game mode that adds more interesting gameplay mechanics and victory conditions, and some sort of per-game progression system (leveling).
Some comments on Sparks
Really interesting character, please don’t ruin it by adding heat mechanics or some of the other kneejerk suggestions that have been made.
I don’t think Sparks is OP, as some have been claiming, especially since her medpacks are the worst of the medics (most of the time you only have enough healing to keep yourself supplied, forget about teammates), but I think it’s too easy to continually revive with the revivr, and I think fully charged headshots do too much damage.
I suggest adding a cooldown to reviving (make the gun only charge to 95% during cooldown period, for example), reducing fully charged headshot damage to 90hp and slightly increasing medpack recharge rate.
I assume being able to keep the revivr charged by switching weapons is a bug (charge revivr to max, then switch weapons before releasing mouse1, and then switch back to revivr, and then it stays charged and shoots a fully charged shot on tapping mouse1), but I actually think it’s a good mechanic. There’s a danger element to it as well, since there is a delay in switching between the guns, which has gotten me killed on several occasions, which means that there are “choices and consequences” involved with doing it (more choices and consequences is always good!). Some of the best mechanics in gaming history have been added unintentionally as bugs (bunnyhopping comes to mind…), but the response these days is unfortunately often to simply remove said unintentional mechanics rather than reworking them to less janky legitimate gameplay mechanics.
What I’m going to suggest, is that you give love a chance and rework the mechanic rather than simply removing it as a bug. Obviously the switching-weapons-to-keep-it-charged part is too janky, but I think it should be possible to rework how the revivr works to make keeping it charged be a legitimate mechanic. My suggestion is pretty simple. Since it doesn’t have iron sights anyway, add a “lock charge” functionality to the iron sights button. There should be a reasonable length animation, during which the gun can’t be fired, when the charge is being locked, to add the same danger element it currently has when switching weapons. This adds a little more depth and fun to using the revivr.
On an unrelated note, I’d like to see something done about kill/death awards in relation to reviving. Right now it sometimes feels like you’re being punished when you get revived, as a lot of the time (even with the revive shield) you just die right away since you’re low hp and probably have to reload, essentially meaning all that revive did was give you another death and the enemy who killed you a free frag. As much as people like to deny that it matters, kill/death ratios do matter because it feels good seeing a nice stat when the round is done. It’s possible W:ET and ETQW players have conditioned themselves to not care about k/d, but that is not the case for the players who are coming from other games, which will be the majority of the playerbase if this game becomes popular.
So what can be done about it? It’s really very simple: Instead of calculating kills/deaths when a player is fragged, calculate them when a player is gibbed. By that I don’t mean that the player who gibs the incapped player should get the kill. I mean that the kill shouldn’t be added to the scoreboard until the player is gibbed. If the player is revived, then no kill/death will be recorded for that particular frag. This will add another incentive to gib, while also making players appreciate medics more. Win/win!
Edit for clarity: The player who gibs will not get +1 kill on the scoreboard. Only the player that did the fragging will. You will still get the normal “kill message” in the top right corner of the screen when you frag someone, but you won’t receive the +1 kill on the scoreboard until you, or someone else, gibs the player you fragged. Regardless of who gibs the player, you will get the +1 kill on the scoreboard when he is gibbed.
