Been playing since.. I dunno. One of the Betas, either open or closed. Who gives a ****.

I've been playing FPS games since Duke Nukem and Quake. (The original Quake.) And Unreal Tournament. (The original Unreal Tournament.) In those old Quake levels, E1M7, any of the DM* levels, and .. well basically any level, really, I'm the guy that people thought was a bot. I'm the guy who could rocket jump without a macro and while in the air, shoot an open doorway that a guy was about to appear in, trimp down the hallway, change direction in mid-air, and polish someone off with an axe just for flourish.

But you know? I get it. People who were modem players sucked not because they sucked, but because on average their reflexes couldn't keep up. I'm sure it was super annoying for them. I'm sure.

So Quake's logic wasn't great, but it was simple, and it was predictable. When you were 100ms slower than your opponent, you were at a disadvantage because of the slight delay in your ability to respond. LPB, as they are called, got their name in part from Quake. (Well, and Netrek, but still.) So what, you learn to spam with the rocket launcher.. the great equalizer, and you didn't bother pulling out the Shaft.

And so here's the thing. in Dust514, I'm really god***ed tired of something I've been seeing for a really long time, and that is this: the hit logic is unbalanced either in favour of players with low ping, or in favour of players with high ping. I don't yet know which, because I assumed that if I built a lagswitch for my router I'd eventually be caught and benned. Obviously this assumption is wrong. I have a ridiculously overpowered cable modem. I have 100+Mbps connectivity, and a 40ms ping to San Diego. I am not capped. I am not QoS'd. I pay a huge monthly bill for unmetered internet.

I just came out of a battle where someone named V-E-X popped out of his cloak with Ishukone Nova Knives; I spotted him, and emptied almost half a clip into his face while he jumped around and failed with his novas. I could hear the god-****ed tinking of the bullets hitting *as I was firing them.* I could *SEE* his shields flashing blue!

What I didn't see was his shield meter budge. Like not even a sliver. When he finally did kill me, I'd had enough. This has been a small problem in the past, but lately it's become intolerable. What. The. ****.

CCP, I *WISH* you would explain what the **** is going on, and whether I need to start leading someone with my gun or not, because whatever is going on, a huge number of so-called "good" players aren't ***ing taking any damage while I'm sitting there unloading full clips of CreoDron Breach Assault in their BACKS. Entire squads of internet cafe jerks appear to be either gaming your ****** hit logic, or magically benefitting from a ping advantage.

Here's the thing: people *could* learn to lead their shots. But the god-***ed audible feedback mechanism INDICATES THAT I AM HITTING THEM. WHY IS IT DOING THAT IF I AM NOT. HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO ADAPT IF THE ONLY INDICATION OF HOW FAR AHEAD I'M SUPPOSED TO LEAD MY OPPONENT IS WHETHER I DIE AFTER A 30-SECOND FIREFIGHT?