Battlefront.com Posted March 20, 2006 Share Posted March 20, 2006 Hi all, Thanks for playing and taking the time to write up some great feedback. Since ClaytoniousRex is doing such a FINE job answering questions directly, I'll not try to do the same Instead, I'd like to put this one concept out there to chew on... Good games generally have something different to offer than previous ones. This means you should not expect, nor want, everything in DropTeam to be the same as other games you've played before. This is counter productive. The design decisions in DropTeam are meant to balance each other out in an environment that is unique to this particular game. Making something work more like something else from another game, just to make it more familiar to you, might be bad. Perhaps fatal even. I know during the many months of testing we testers got some stuff changed only to be "better" only to find it made things worse or had unintended side effects that were an overall step backwards. On top of that, it takes a while to get familiar with a new game and the quirks that make it unique. In fact, this is usually one of the best parts of a new game. I mean, if the game played exactly as you expected it to, then what would be the point in playing it since you probably already have 10 games just like it on your harddrive already? Now, having said that I am NOT saying that there isn't room for improvement within DropTeam, or any game for that matter. There are some suggestions that you guys have come up with that are obviously good ones to seriously consider putting in. So I'm not saying "the game is perfect, piss off" in any way shape or form Instead I am suggesting is: Play the game for a few days and write down what you think should change. Then play the game for a few weeks and see if you still think the same way. This is good advice for any game that tries to break with standard conventions, but especially with DropTeam. I'll give you two personal examples... I've seen a lot of people want changes to the controls of the hover vehicles. Logical as they might be, I don't think they are a good idea. These vehicles are EXTREMELY powerful and need to have some drawbacks to balance them out. They take time and some skill to use correctly, but when you have it... wow... I've seen plenty a game where a guy (let's just call him Berli or perhaps Mace) cleans up the game with only one or two deaths in the process. One game I played I killed almost 60 enemy vehicles while losing something like 5 of my own. So clearly, and I mean clearly, the hover vehicles aren't inherently bad. Like many things, it is all in how you use it. The other one I wanted to mention was repeated hits being needed to kill things. While there no doubt is some sort of bug here and there, as we found during testing, overall things are pretty much as they should be. You can whack a vehicle and seemingly not do anything to it, but chances are you are doing damage and knocking out systems. The fact that you don't KNOW this for sure is part of the fun of the game. I know I've driven around the map drawing fire with no gunner, damaged engine, and a tire on fire. That is cool if you ask me If it was instead "one hit one kill" as some of you have been suggesting, then it would be far less fun to play. Trust me on this because we did have the 120mm gun do one hit one kill for a while and it was definitely not a good thing. Anyway... just my 2 cents worth of observations as someone who has been testing the game for months. It's a great game that can no doubt be made better (as all games can be), but we must make sure the things that make it great aren't undone by well meaning suggestions. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Draykor Posted March 20, 2006 Share Posted March 20, 2006 I agree with much that you posted. I have no issue with the power of each individual weapon. I love the way hovercraft handle myself. I had 30 kills to 1 lost hurricane in a game yesterday. Once you learn to handle the machine, its great. Especially the ability to hit x and drop down out of los or lock the brakes and camp from a distance. I love the ability to go full blast over the map and hit x to slide to a stop while dropping a shot on a target at the same time. There were a few yells from me doing that. The only concerns I did have was the driving of some of wheeled vehicles, seemed to have some issues there, I don’t think it is game mechanics as much as some bug's that need working out. Example: I was driving a one of the paladins and lost driving function on flat ground with no hits, was strange. Another time I was in a Thor and got stuck in a bomb crater. I do believe that in real life it would take a lot to stick a tank. It should be able to go in about any hole and come out unless damage to navigation system. All in All, DT is an unusual game. That makes it a fun game. I play some pay to play games, such as MMO's and found myself playing Drop Team all weekend instead. I can't wait for the full release, I think it will be a hit just based on the playtime I had over the weekend. Listen to suggestions, fix the bugs but don't change so much that it becomes another mindless zerg game. [ March 20, 2006, 09:00 AM: Message edited by: Draykor ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bernhardt Posted March 20, 2006 Share Posted March 20, 2006 Wise words, wise words. So far I haven't seen much that should be tweaked, if any. Only some bugs that are been fixed or are fixed already. I noticed how my attitude towards certain tanks and weapons changed after few hours of playing. It's understandable how we might make rash claims concerning different features as we can't know everything in advance. I'm just starting to realize how close to ready this game really is, and it frightens me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Battlefront.com Posted March 21, 2006 Author Share Posted March 21, 2006 Good follow ups. Draykor is right on the money that you guys should be pointing out things that feel "wrong" in the context of what else is going on in DropTeam. If in one circumstance you fire an ATGM and it goes right where you want it and another time it goes straight up in the air, never to be seen again... well, Claytonious wants (not exactly the right word ) to hear about it. The thing is to realize that perhaps there is a reason the missle did that, but you just don't know why (yet), instead of assuming that there is a bug. Could very well be a bug, but this is a really different game so it might also be "user error". Trust me I know this first hand... even after playing this game for months, I'm still prone to the occasional "user error". This ain't no superficial shooter, after all Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drusus Posted March 21, 2006 Share Posted March 21, 2006 The missiles do weird things if you have manual range on. I don't know why the manual range should even apply to missiles? Also, when using the ctrl-m indirect firing method, could it be made so that the manual range isn't taken into account? Atleast an option? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClaytoniousRex Posted March 21, 2006 Share Posted March 21, 2006 With missiles we should probably force manual range off. The only useful ways to use this "feature" are actually basically abuse. (I just used it to get a "swarm" of missiles airborn at a kilometer away before finally flinging them all en masse into some poor new guy who will now probably never play again). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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