Its going to be probably quite a long post but i will try to keep it as short as possible. So, i play DB since closed beta, have almost 170 level and just wanted to drop most of the issues i still have with the game. I wanted to make that thread in early 2016 but by then i thought that DB is done for since there was no meaningful development going around so i kinda gave up, now that i can see some changes i did regain some faith so might as well share it (sadly it seems that only shoe read the official forums but you never know). Anywho:
1. “NETCODE” (i know its not a proper term for everything, but for easy of use i will use it most of the time)
Okay, we all know that there are some server issues, we all know that there are some routing issues, but there is something that makes netcode inconsistent, something i cant really put my finger on. It also seems that not everyone is affected in the same way, making it quite hard to find the issue when not everyone seems to have it. I will just try to explain what i have problems with overall, while explaining clips from video below.
Last time when i felt that netcode was “perfect” (not really but as close at it can possibly get with client side hit detection) was kira/rhino patch and everything went into randomness since fletcher patch. I feel that there is some big issues with prediction, like your/enemy position isnt reported correctly (which would explain trade kills with hitscan weapons, excessive warping, dying deep behind walls etc), giving you less or more time to react depending on which prediction spectrum you are, it just feel that sometimes EVERYONE have great reaction time, while other times it feels like everyone is slow as hell. There are just times that game feels super sluggish, which i would normally blame on input lag but i have no idea what would make my game have input lag on one day and no input lag on another (+ i dont really feel like there is any). At times it feels like i am playing on ping 200 while having 40, it just feels wrong.
I also can hit people even when they are already behind wall, without actually hitting their model, as if their hitbox is lagging behind which didnt happen in the past. Character models also seems to have issue, hard to notice by naked eye but strain your brain pretty hard. Legs tend to change direction instantly, as if they were missing animations, models tend to shrink to dwarf size for 1 or 2 frames, you can get shot by someone that looks as if he is having defibs/medpack/anything that isnt shooting out while still actually shooting you with a gun. There is only one thing i could ever find to explain that insane feeling of lag at times, which is hitmarkes/hitsounds reporting after 4 frames delay instead of 3 like it was in the past, but even then it shouldnt feel as bad.
Aside from that, i “trade kill” with hitscan weapons almost every time i play, even when both players have around 40 ping. I am going to be honest, even on high pings “trade kills” with hitscan weapons shouldnt happen. Very rarely do i find a game where you can actually trade kill with hitscan weapons (like i never had even 1 such trade in paladins and afaik they use the same engine), let alone as often as in DB. Another issue that is related is ignored damage, the one you deal just before dying but its getting ignored because according to server you was dead at the time, i dont think this is acceptable with hit scan weapons either. Aforementioned issues is also why i think prediction currently is wonky, it just feel like i get more damage in duels than i should get, while dealing less than i should, at times, if that makes sense to anyone.
Another “big” issue is warping. I dont know why there is so much warping in db, this just doesnt happen in other games on that scale. I rarely play a full round without at least seeing 1-2 of it, a lot of the time there will be someone who warps a lot (even on low ping). I understand that you can have low ping while having lag spikes/fps drops/packet loss(which happens on route to london servers, at least going from Poland) but DB dont deal with those issues correctly, its especially visible with bodies that like to swim around. In any case i think that “netcode” is one of the weakest part of DB and i hope its going to get fixed, going to leave 6runk comment below about “network issues” from reddit in case someone missed it (especially that this comment made me a lot more hopeful that “netcode” will get more consistent in the future):
Now onto the video: >! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0_xXGE9t3E
clip start at:
a) 00:00: Looks wrong, i shouldnt get that second hit, even if rng was with me and it somehow would hit the leg i still couldnt see the model. It wasnt delayed, i did hit him when his model wasnt visible.
b) 00:10: Look at the legs, it either miss some animation frames or prediction have a stroke and cant decide where he is moving.
c) 00:17: Micro warps and if you pay attention you can see how enemy model turn into a dwarf for a very short time. I couldnt really tell what is happening when i played (my brain was melting at the time, couldnt keep my tracking at all) but it felt so wrong that i recorded it and after watching it again there was a ton of wrongs with it =/.
d) 00:33: No cheats involved. Bullshit is the best comment i can give, gladly things like that rarely happen (unlike others i explained so far).
e) 00:46: There are some microstutters visible, not sure if i actually had them when i played or if its video artifact. In any case, i feel that hit registration was way too slow in this case.
f) 01:06: Ignoring my wooden aim, this just felt and look wrong. I couldnt kill anyone that game, it just felt like i am behind everyone on the server =/.
g) 01:22: Classical teleporting skyhammer.
h) 01:31: Some server lag. Normally i would ignore it since servers tend to have a stroke at times but what did bother me is that it looked like not everyone was affected, just some people. Could probably be explained by routing issues from some regions or it just looked strange from my pov.
i) 01:48: Another game where i felt that i am behind whats happening on the server. Kill confirmation came way too late, it just felt terrible.
j) 02:05: After server lag phoenix just decided to shoot me with a pistol, but in reality he was shooting smg. Did i mention that there was no shooting animations as well? This actually happens quite often, even without server having a stroke.
k) 02:19: Two of my shots are getting ignored. I understand why it happens but it happens way too often for too many bullets. As far as i remember everyone had a decent ping in that match.
l) 02:28: Headshot is getting ignored, gladly this actually happens rarely.
m) 02:48: Just a warping kira, whats extra frustrating that her body was also swimming. Both of those actually happens super often, just not in tandem.
n) 03:28: I am not actually sure what happened here. That skyhammer could hear me i guess BUT you can see bullet trackers (that are kinda glitched) while it doesnt seem like he was preshooting. What i think happened is that prediction placed my model on his screen before i actually was there but then warped me back (which would explain why he stopped shooting). Afair it was some new player but his reaction time in this situation was quite impressive, thats why i believe that prediction was screwing me over in that situation (and just overall seems to happen a lot). Then again it might just looked strange.
o) Rest of the video is just compilation of more or less derpy trade kills. If i recorded every single one that happens i could put thousands of them there, this just happens WAY TOO OFTEN.
2. AUDIO
Now, this is something that is easier to explain or prove, gonna try to keep it in short format (will also provide video below, wont explain it since all of the situations should be obvious):
a) Missing sounds: gunshots can die out (most often on shotguns, smg, revolvers but i believe it can happen to anything), the same can happen to abilities (proxy mines are a good example here).
b) No vertical cues: Doesnt matter if someone is in front of you or above you, he will sound the same (unless he is few meters high, then it will sound as if he was far away and thats about it). Underground is overall good example how broken vertical audio is.
c) Almost inaudible footsteps: It was better in the past, right now i dont even try to hear them unless its dead silent. Everything seems to muffle footsteps even when far away.
d) Explosives muffling almost everything else: Audio for explosives isnt exactly super precise while it muffling sound for most things, even when explosion happens on the other half of the map. Its especially frustrating with air support abilities that dont really inform you well enough where will artillery/airstrike hit while killing other sounds for you, twice as annoying.
e) No sound depth: Everything either sounds close or far, like there is no spectrum in between.
f) Walls dont seem to affect sound consistently: Some walls make things quieter while others doesnt seem to do anything, making it very confusing at times.
g) Abilities balanced around sound are kinda stronger than they were designed to: Proxy mines that arent audible is a good example here. Javelin rocket will also very often not generate any sound (even for the user, especially when you try to shoot it fast after switching). Kira laser is just some background hum that is hard to localize, super frustrating when something you can barely hear insta gib you. Revive sound is often too quiet/non existent, mostly an issue with sparks when you cant even hear that she revived someone behind you. I already mentioned artillery/airstrike being not as precise as they should be. Phantom being inaudible while using cloak, happens more often than you think.There is more but you get the picture.
h) Bad separation: Overall, when there is more happening on the screen everything just start so sound like a blob of sounds, if very hard to tell what is happening from sound alone. I think the biggest culprit here is explosives but even without them it can turn into a mess fast.
There is probably a lot more that i could point out but this is already getting a bit long so you get the picture ;p. Video below, if you arent sure whats my issue in some clips just ask away, i will explain:
! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67iUk3xgFbk&feature=youtu.be
!
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