Heinrich Jagerblitzen
D3LTA FORC3
Inver Brass
476
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Posted - 2013.07.06 21:58:00 -
[1] - Quote
mollerz wrote:What are your thoughts on the state of scouts as of 1.2?
Besides being in one of the worst places of any of the four basic suit types?  (I think that pretty much sums up my opinion on the matter.) Logistics suits are the current top-complained-about suit type, and they're arguably the easiest to tweak into a good place - but they're far from being the most useless at their role. Heavies also complain a lot - but if you pay attention its mostly because of our lack of new toys, not because we can't take out vehicles or mow down infantry with a machine gun effectively.
I used to play as a shotgun scout in previous builds, but gave up long ago when I realized it was more efficient to just throw a speed mod on a assault suit and use that with the shotgun instead (this was before logistics became more resilient than assault fits). Sniping with a scout is also a joke, you're better off in an advanced heavy frame with a pair of complex damage modifiers and added armor, assuming someone's set you up with a hive. I even tried the ninja build with
This week I've been dabbling with the shotgun again as a contender for my Commando "Sidearm", but it hasn't impressed this time around either, and frankly I'm just not going to invest proto skill points into something with such limited application at the end of the day.
But I'm on a tangent - this isn't really about the shotgun being anemic (as much as it would help if this were a competitive CQC tool) ....this is about scout suits themselves. And the reality is that they suffer in a very similar (but to a greater degree) fashion as the plight of the heavy suit - the intended characteristic that's supposed to keep them alive simply doesn't. With the scout, its the lack of enough speed and stealth to compensate for the loss in EHP - and with the heavy, its the weak increase in EHP failing to compensate for the dramatic reduction in speed.
Like IWS pointed out, the good news is that these issues are well-documented and understood, there's just zero doubt in my mind that CCP understands that the Scout suit is in an unhealthy place right now. Wolfman has been speaking with us more and more frequently about his desired dropsuit work, and its clear that he and the other designers very much WANT to do a balancing pass on them as soon as possible. What they are up against is the new development roadmap, which has prioritized the performance of the core game.
This is not only something I absolutely support, but I also see little value in pushing for a balancing pass prior to the bulk of the work that will address framerate, hit detection, aiming, and lag - all of which are absolutely vital to successful use of speed-based suits like the Scout.
Once the game RUNS the way it is supposed to - it'll be much more trivial to dig in and tweak the numbers along the lines that have been suggested in this thread, though I think we'll see those needs shift slightly as the various performance tweaks affect how CQC behaves without any passes done on the gear.
All that to say, the message is clearly received and this has little to do with anyone's lack of love for Scout suits or lack of understanding that they're in a bad place as much as the devs being temporarily retasked to focuse on improving the core first. I've bookmarked the thread here and added it to my notes, and will definitely be drawing on these ideas during our future discussions with whomever picks up the Scout balance project. The good news is that this balance pass IS part of the short-term roadmap - it just falls behind performance improvements which will be the bulk of Uprising 1.3, 1.4, and 1.5.
The most practical thing I think we should focus on is getting some resolution about this lingering visibility bug. The bottom line is that if our weapons can shoot that far, and the maps are going to be this large, disappearing character models are simple unacceptable however you slice it. I think that more than ever, with the implementation of falloff damage - this needs to be addressed as soon as possble. And frankly, it fits in perfectly with "core performance" issues anyways, as this affects other weapons as well (like my forge gun).
I'll be sure to corner CCP about the disappearing models first thing Monday morning, and sniff around until I can get you an answer as to the state of the bug and its repair. It's long overdue.
o7 |
Heinrich Jagerblitzen
D3LTA FORC3
Inver Brass
658
|
Posted - 2013.08.15 18:19:00 -
[2] - Quote
Shotty GoBang wrote:Nova Knife wrote:As far as I know... We scouts aren't getting any direct buffs in 1.4.
Hiya Nova, 1.4 ain't lookin' too great for Scout balance, good sir. We've gathered that "dev love" isn't coming our way 'til 1.5 or 1.6, so gameplay changes are our best bet for a buff in 1.4. Any word on a new 1.4 TacNet? The thread's gone quiet, so I'm inclined to think not. NDA permitting, a "likely" or "not likely" would suffice in putting false hope to rest. We won't hold it against you should you bear the bad news. We understand you're not to blame for our prolonged, sickened state. Bojo put up an inquiry thread on the topic: https://forums.dust514.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=101957&find=unreadThanks, Shotty GoBang
Very likely.  |