CELESTA AUNGM
Kang Lo Directorate
Gallente Federation
277
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Posted - 2014.09.24 17:08:00 -
[1] - Quote
Kierkegaard Soren wrote:Which in of itself isn't so much a problem; props to the people who drilled holes into my Amarr assult's head whilst I was on the move in open terrain. Won't be making that mistake again.
My only concern is that Thale spam seems to have gone through the roof since patch deployment, and I'm not seeing snipers move into urban areas with those TAC SR; in fact, I'm not seeing snipers full stop. I'm dead before I can figure out where the shot came from, and heading out to hunt them down results in moving I to the scope of another sniper covering a different section of the battlefield.
Any one else got anectdes to add?
In spite of the pain Kierkegard, your report is excellent news. When I first started the game (around March 2013) this was the terror (fun terror , because it's just a game), and the primary lesson of traversing the game maps.
I would NOT agree that these maps are badly arranged---the open areas and data panels that are obvious killing gardens for certain kinds of players, are perfect ways to train us not to run around the battlefield the way we do in other FPS titles. "Situational Awareness" really meant something more than just a cool soldier term in this game.
The sniper-terror also is what encouraged some of us players to scheme methods of de-lousing the edges of the maps (aka, sniper-hunting). Before Patch 1.4, sniper-hunting was the alternative pre-occupation in the matches (not Redlining, which seems to be the main hobby nowadays).
John ShepardIII is right, and sniper-hunting does require a vehicle (I still have in my garage a Dropship that fitted solely for hilltop-delousing in the matches)---going Sniper-v-Sniper is an extremely tough challenge, but one I'd like to see return to the game too.
Maybe with Hotfix Delta, now it will.
 But Arkena brings up the point I am worried about: Vapor Trails. This and the "tick" sound from a near miss, were the defensive cue to you that a sniper was tracking you---I remember relying on them early in my Dust career---BUT I DON'T RECALL SEEING VAPOR TRAILS ANYMORE AT ALL.
If they are not rendering, we do need to bring this up with CCP. It's either an unfair glitch, or an unfair tweak that was made to the gameplay.
A victim should always be entitled to some tiny warning that she's about to be slain, or else she's deprived of the chance to try to overcome the obstacle (which is the satisfaction we're trying to get from playing a game, right?)
Universe of good wishes for the 49, especially CCP Eterne...
No story can have life without writers and publishers.
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CELESTA AUNGM
Kang Lo Directorate
Gallente Federation
280
|
Posted - 2014.09.25 18:01:00 -
[2] - Quote
 Hey, nice debate going on here. I like the arguments posted on BOTH sides, so far.
To play as a "specialized" role in a shooter game SHOULD give you acute advantages that no other player's role has:
-- My Dropship gives me exclusive access to places on the maps NO other player can reach,
-- A Fatty natively can build a turtle shell that's thicker than ANY other player ought to be able to attain,
-- A Sniper should have a lonely, Highest-reach-at-Lowest-risk advantage that NO other player ought to be granted,
But in all these cases and others, there ought to be a little something that makes them "imperfect" in their act of killing a victim. There ought to be something small that at least TIPS OFF the victim that "Oh crap...I'm as good as dead".
With a Dropship, at LEAST the noisy engine tells you to look around. With a Fatty, at least he's plump and can be seen coming. Right now, we're having this same arguemtn about the "cloak-shotgunny".
NEVER take the Sniper's concealment skills away, but IF he happens to fire once and miss, at LEAST throw me that little bone as a tip-off to duck or attempt to complicate his next shots.
The Vapor-trail and "PING" sound are enough of a bone. We don't need to know WHERE it came from (that would be hurting his concealment ability). We just ought to be alerted THAT he's onto us, thanks to that near-miss.
I say this NOT in the interest of some kind of balance, and NOT because of any association with what the "Real Sniper World here on Earth" is like... It's simply necessary for a more fun game-experience.
In a game about getting killed, if I step on a collapsible bridge or in the path of an oncoming tank or into 3-kick combo strike, and I fail to hit the impossible 'tap X + Square' buttons in time... okay, I'm dead--I get it. I curse and yell, but I accept it. The X+Square move is meant to give me only a tiny miracle chance to escape, I blew my chance and it KILLED me.
But if the game tells me something like "you've being respawned due to a sniper kill", and I wasn't given even a hint of the six near-misses he's been whizzing near me over the past 45 seconds ( !!!), it feels like the game just ROBBED me or cheap-cheated me  , not cleverly took my life at the hands of a stealthy opponent. It's not a balance thing, just a player-fun-experience thing.
Remember those trap doors in the old games that were designed so you MUST automatically fall into to eliminate the 'reseve life's you'll need to complete this level, and ensure every player repeats the level 11 times unless you make sure you finish the previous level with more than 11 reserve lives... 11 trap doors = 11 stolen reserve lifes? You stop and say, "Wait now, Come ON----that's just horse crap cheating--not even a LITTLE chance to survive this level without having replay the last level all over again? That's crap, Dude!"
For the sake of game fun, a LITTLE miracle-chance to escape is always considered more "playable" than NO chance at all.
Universe of good wishes for the 49, especially CCP Eterne...
No story can have life without writers and publishers.
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