Cal Predine
StarKnight Security
37
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Posted - 2012.12.20 12:14:00 -
[1] - Quote
Although the original poster wrote for humour/ irony (and maybe just a touch of anger) rather than a straight analysis, I have to agree with many of his points.
It's only fair to first acknowledge that there's some pretty nice stuff in this build:
- New vehicle sounds give more of an impression of a high-tech machine
- New artwork assets are very "alien tech", again giving a better immersion in a super-high-tech battlefield.
- Loading times have been much improved - my first game on the new build I saw the "command centre/ ready room" for the first time in many months, and I can call up the player stats list after *every* game, rather than just sitting watching the loading wheel.
- I haven't (yet) seen *any* of the 2-5 second long screen-freezes which have been my constant companion. Great job!
However (yeah, I know - there's always a "but"...) I do have to agree with the original poster on many points.
- HMG seems more overpowered than ever and snipers seem more powerful relative to most other weapons (quite probably due to other weapons being diminished). This further skews the risk/ reward imbalance - as noted by the original poster.
- Now the biggie - although the multi-second screen freezes appear to have gone away, framerate problems are still very much there. They are now a constant low-level issue rather than massive spikes just when something critical happens. Over the past 3 builds I've pretty much been unable to avoid the conclusion that this game needs a SSD to be truly playable. While many players flippantly state "get an SSD", as if it's the logical answer to every game problem, (and I'll add that I'm fast approaching the day I'm no longer willing to put that off), not every player is in a position to do that. All that aside, if an SSD upgrade is necessary to play, then Dust can't really be said to be PS3 compatible. And if many of us upgrade to SSDs, we're radically watering down the feedback CCP gets about how the game plays *on the target platform*. It seems to me that a more logical answer would be for the testers to report a problem so it can be dealt with by the developers, so no more "it's only not working for you because you're playing it on the target platform" comments, eh guys?
Also...
- I'm seeing a massive reintroduction of hit-detection problems. Just a few days ago, emptying an entire SMG magazine into someone 2 metres away would kill pretty much anyone. Now I'm lucky to fully deplete their shields.
- The gameplay balance seems *much* less cerebral. I've played for a day or so since the update, and I appreciate that this is a player factor, but the game balance now seems to reward "run forward spraying bullets" gameplay far more than tactical planning and movement. I'm not yet sure what's caused this apparent shift, but changes in Assault Rifles (iron sights and slower zoomed panning) have certainly incentivised close-in fighting, and I wonder if people will abandon fully-automatic ARs entirely as their effective range (or rather their usable range) drops closer to that where the SMG (not to mention the HMG
 ) dominates.
- Even with good (passive) scanning skills, I'm routinely surprised by enemies hiding round corner (this includes, on one occasion, three heavies with HMGs plus two assault troopers and a scout with shotgun!) I doubt they were all stealthed...
- For Mouse and Keyboard players, it's no longer possible to scroll through fitting selection using scrollwheel or W and S, so you need to move fingers to the arrow keys.
I can appreciate that people don't react well to angry posts, but (as someone who has been waiting literally years for Dust) I can sympathise with the frustration of seeing it not be all it can be, especially when it's mostly down to a few well-documented problems. Let's please keep both sides of the debate constructive guys - we all want this bird to fly, after all  |