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Dirty Bomb open beta thread

I ended up getting a timik47, not quite the augments I wanted but I think people underrate/overrate the less used cards anyway. The "preferred" card has the 10% blast radius increase, but the quick slash and even fail safe (less damage from own explosives) are pretty minor themselves.

The card I got has the try hard (+10 hp after dying without a kill), mg cooldown, and quick draw (faster ADS). All very minor. So the difference between these cards is really small.

It is worth pointing out that the card I have has a DE. 50 vs a simeon .357 sidearm. I'm not sure how better or worse each is, but I remember loving the DE in alpha.
 

Taborcarn

Member
Apparently Alienware sent me an email, but I haven't gotten one yet. Hopefully they are just backed up.

If you're logged in to the Alienware site, you can go to Settings->Giveaways. The key should be listed there too.


Edit: Wow way beaten, didn't see there was another page.
 

Grief.exe

Member
The Alienware keys only give Aura or Skyhammer? Boo

Has the meta changed much? Are Skyhammer and Bushwhacker still the best of their respective classes? Or has Sparks chimed in.
 
Not even going to play until aim punch is fixed. It's just going to give me bad habits for real games.

The Alienware keys only give Aura or Skyhammer? Boo

Has the meta changed much? Are Skyhammer and Bushwhacker still the best of their respective classes? Or has Sparks chimed in.

Phantom's release means that the most competitive characters are the ones who can survive the katana. Sawbones, Fragger, Bushwhacker, and Skyhammer are the best at the moment. I still think Fragger is better than Skyhammer on most maps (Chapel being a notable exception). Sparks is out of the running, especially with the changes to the revive mechanics.
 

Grief.exe

Member
Phantom's release means that the most competitive characters are the ones who can survive the katana. Sawbones, Fragger, Bushwhacker, and Skyhammer are the best at the moment. I still think Fragger is better than Skyhammer on most maps (Chapel being a notable exception). Sparks is out of the running, especially with the changes to the revive mechanics.

I was going to buy Bushwhacker this weekend, so just double checking.
 
Phantom's release means that the most competitive characters are the ones who can survive the katana. Sawbones, Fragger, Bushwhacker, and Skyhammer are the best at the moment. I still think Fragger is better than Skyhammer on most maps (Chapel being a notable exception). Sparks is out of the running, especially with the changes to the revive mechanics.

Assuming Phantom even is played in competitive teams, I think you might be overstating his impact. I have no doubt he will be tried at least. But the 1 shot on light characters is almost irrelevant against a good player since all they need to do is back up (and these light characters are practically impossible to catch when they know you are there) and the phantom just dies.

Light characters already died to 1 heavy melee attack, the katana makes it slightly more easier as does stealth, but against a good team and player, phantom is gonna have a hard time (at least not easy) doing that. And like you said, there are mercs that will survive so taking phantom might just get you countered to begin with, meaning phantom might not even be a good option.

The revive mechanic did nerf sparks a bit more than sawbonez for sure. I think it was necessary to change how revives worked, however I am not against them buffing sparks, the revive oriented medic, to compensate. Not sure if that is necessary though.

I was going to buy Bushwhacker this weekend, so just double checking.

Bushwhacker is still great. They haven't done a balance pass on the SMGs (or any gun really) since OB hit. So the Kek10 might be nerfed a bit soon, or the other SMGS (particularly the SMG9 I think) is gonna receive a slight buff. On that note, I don't think hochfir or crotzni are in need of much if anything.
 

Spookie

Member
Digging Nader during the free rotation. XP just for shooting grenades? Yes, please.

You are part of the problem.
anuxi_rum.gif
 

Grief.exe

Member
The Double Credit Weekend starts in about an hour.

Starting at 18:30 UTC on Friday, July 10th and ending at 17:00 UTC on Monday, July 13th, all matches in Dirty Bomb will reward an additional 100% Credits. Even better, this will stack with any Credit Boosters in effect, giving you a grand total of 4x the normal Credit reward!

Start Date: 17:00 UTC, Friday, July 10th
US Pacific: 10:00 AM PDT
London: 18:00 BST
Sydney: 3:00 AM AEST, July 11th
 
Why are people flipping shit now over the view kick when you are shot? All they did was adjust the speed of the kick, not the amount of kick. And people are saying they ruined the game by adding "aimpunch".

Here is what they did:

Adjusted view kick so the kick speed also scales up with the amount of incoming damage received

RcjZCsu.jpg


Much game breaker.
 

mkenyon

Banned
Why are people flipping shit now over the view kick when you are shot? All they did was adjust the speed of the kick, not the amount of kick. And people are saying they ruined the game by adding "aimpunch".

Here is what they did:



RcjZCsu.jpg


Much game breaker.
You could compensate for it before. Now you cannot, due to how quickly the punch occurs. People are absolutely correct about it.

It reduces skill ceiling. It gives a bonus to the person who shoots first. It makes it so mercs with focus have a huge advantage against one that doesnt. Fragger w/ K121/focus now wins 100% against Skyhammer who doesn't even have focus available.
 
You could compensate for it before. Now you cannot, due to how quickly the punch occurs. People are absolutely correct about it.

It reduces skill ceiling. It gives a bonus to the person who shoots first. It makes it so mercs with focus have a huge advantage against one that doesnt. Fragger w/ K121/focus now wins 100% against Skyhammer who doesn't even have focus available.

I've seen people say that they added view kick in the last patch, as if it didn't even exist before.

When DirtyBomb got into Open Beta and with its first patches i personally thought Splash Damage learned from their mistakes. With the introduction of aimpunch I'm sadly proven otherwise. While many people are up and in arms about the introduction of the new merc Phantom, this cruicial balancing issue is slipping through the cracks of the community and is sadly not discussed enough.

354 points (90% upvoted) <- shows that people don't even understand the change to rage about it in the first place

I won't comment on the skill ceiling thing, I'll need to play more this patch. I barely notice the difference between this patch and the last, personally. Fragger with a loadout designed to win gunfights sounds like it actually should win most fights against skyhammer who isn't. They've designed the game that way. That is the game this is believe it or not. This was discussed heavily during alpha. I'm not saying this change should remain on that basis, but just pointing out that an equally skilled fragger is meant to beat an equally skilled skyhammer in a straight up 1v1 fight.
 

Firebrand

Member
So are people gonna be jerks over the credits boost this weekend? Played Bridge, 3vs6, other team refused to balance out and instead surrounded spawn with Phantom running through the middle. Afterward they congratulated themselves on how easy the game was. Ugh.
 
So are people gonna be jerks over the credits boost this weekend? Played Bridge, 3vs6, other team refused to balance out and instead surrounded spawn with Phantom running through the middle. Afterward they congratulated themselves on how easy the game was. Ugh.

It shouldn't make much of a difference I think because whether you win or lose you get about the same credits. People will be people though and they don't want to be the one who changes from a winning team. That'll happen regardless of 2x credits unfortunately.
 

mkenyon

Banned
I've seen people say that they added view kick in the last patch, as if it didn't even exist before.



354 points (90% upvoted) <- shows that people don't even understand the change to rage about it in the first place

I won't comment on the skill ceiling thing, I'll need to play more this patch. I barely notice the difference between this patch and the last, personally. Fragger with a loadout designed to win gunfights sounds like it actually should win most fights against skyhammer who isn't. They've designed the game that way. That is the game this is believe it or not. This was discussed heavily during alpha. I'm not saying this change should remain on that basis, but just pointing out that an equally skilled fragger is meant to beat an equally skilled skyhammer in a straight up 1v1 fight.
People not understanding the current situation doesn't make them wrong for not enjoying the way it is.

I mean, speaking directly to your point, sure an equal Fragger and Skyhammer, the Fragger should win. As it is with the change to Aim Punch (happens faster and thus can stack more without the ability to naturally counter it with mouse control), the Fragger has to be absolutely awful at the game to not win against an incredibly skilled Skyhammer. This isn't like Fragger vs Sparks we're talking about here, but two "assault" style classes, because one has heavier aim punch and the ability to mitigate it on the receiving end. That's not balance, that's not intended design, that's a poorly executed change that they will need to tweak and fix.

It's garbage the way it is.
 

Dr.Acula

Banned
If you have the credits buy Phantom, he is broken as all get out right now. Nader, Rhino, I've figured them all out, it was just getting used to it, but Phantom runs around like a diiiiick.

The biggest problem is that he's super hard to pick up on the periphery, you can't watch two avenues at once and pick him up the way you can with a visible merc basically.


This makes me feel better because I haven't noticed it that much. I would still like Quake-style zero aimpunch (lemme guess, Quake had aimpunch lol).
 
After getting the credits to try out Phantom, I don't think he really has a place in this game. He's absurd in PUG matches and a slightly worse Fragger in competitive. He's not worthless in competitive, since he does have the Kek 10, but he does mostly what Fragger does. He's been really useful for defending objectives, but with the change to revives you see less of Sparks so he doesn't have an easy target to jump on (not that most good teams would have Sparks anywhere near the objective pre-nerf). On the other hand, against teams without good communication (every match almost with pugs) I can pretty easily steamroll them.

Which I guess explains the difficulty of balancing him. If it was just the PUG matches, removing the Kek-10 and shield would be fine. But those are the things that give him any value in competitive.
 
Lol, I've been dominating as a Silver Nader with SMG-9 all day. Jump into group spraying bullets to kill one guy then pressing f immediately after I go down for an easy triple kill.

Please, don't nerf. It's just too good. :D

P.S. Ran into two hackers today in competitive, always fun.
 

Firebrand

Member
It shouldn't make much of a difference I think because whether you win or lose you get about the same credits. People will be people though and they don't want to be the one who changes from a winning team. That'll happen regardless of 2x credits unfortunately.
Ah, the credits number is so uneven I figured it was tied to performance, but maybe it's match time?

Closing in on another 50K, was thinking about grabbing Bushwhacker. For those who played closed beta, how was Phoenix and Red Eye?

Enjoying the game a lot, but I feel like the difference between assault rifles and SMGs should be a bit more pronounced.
 

squall23

Member
After getting the credits to try out Phantom, I don't think he really has a place in this game. He's absurd in PUG matches and a slightly worse Fragger in competitive. He's not worthless in competitive, since he does have the Kek 10, but he does mostly what Fragger does. He's been really useful for defending objectives, but with the change to revives you see less of Sparks so he doesn't have an easy target to jump on (not that most good teams would have Sparks anywhere near the objective pre-nerf). On the other hand, against teams without good communication (every match almost with pugs) I can pretty easily steamroll them.

Which I guess explains the difficulty of balancing him. If it was just the PUG matches, removing the Kek-10 and shield would be fine. But those are the things that give him any value in competitive.
The least they could do is proper armour and health mitigation. Even with a sliver of armour bar left, if you run over a mine, you still take no health damage. That should be fixed. Or well, at least that's what other people are telling me about how the system currently works.
 

Grief.exe

Member
I feel like Bushwhacker would be a good hard counter to Phantom. His current could see through invis and start firing.

I kindbof agree, there really isn't a place in the meta for him.

Lol, I've been dominating as a Silver Nader with SMG-9 all day. Jump into group spraying bullets to kill one guy then pressing f immediately after I go down for an easy triple kill.

Please, don't nerf. It's just too good. :D

P.S. Ran into two hackers today in competitive, always fun.

Certain classes shine in pugs, but aren't that great in comp. Nader is one of these.
 
I'm not uninstalling but my motivation to play is pretty low when Terraria is so much fun for me right now. I'd be interested to see what retention is like for this game since there seems to be not much reason to keep playing after a point unless you are a tournament level player. And they go out of their way to make pubs no fun at all by releasing mercs like Phantom.
 
I just don't understand how they could think Phantom wouldn't absolutely ruin the balance and enjoyment of the game. Any games ive played since the update that had phantom in them, hes absolutely run away with the game. Like thousands of points higher than anyone else. Forget trying to repair objectives, defuse, or line up orbital strikes with Kira, the second you have to stand still or focus on something for 2 seconds.. "KNIFE TO SEE YOU".
It took a game I had been really enjoying and turned it into an absolute chore. I uninstalled it so I can go play something I do enjoy. The balance is the game is just fucked now
 

Grief.exe

Member
I just won 5 Stopwatch games in a row.

Small sample size, but I had a Phantom on my team and the enemy team each time. Wasn't a factor at all.
 

Xyber

Member
I just don't understand how they could think Phantom wouldn't absolutely ruin the balance and enjoyment of the game. Any games ive played since the update that had phantom in them, hes absolutely run away with the game. Like thousands of points higher than anyone else. Forget trying to repair objectives, defuse, or line up orbital strikes with Kira, the second you have to stand still or focus on something for 2 seconds.. "KNIFE TO SEE YOU".
It took a game I had been really enjoying and turned it into an absolute chore. I uninstalled it so I can go play something I do enjoy. The balance is the game is just fucked now

I kinda feel the same, the game became way less fun with Phantom in it.

One thing that would balance out the invisibility is doing it like in TF2, he would need to de-cloak before being able to melee and there would be maybe a 0.5s delay before he can strike while de-cloaking. That way he could possibly be kept mostly the same with the other stats.
 

HelloMeow

Member
I just won 5 Stopwatch games in a row.

Small sample size, but I had a Phantom on my team and the enemy team each time. Wasn't a factor at all.

The word "OP" gets thrown around a lot and I don't know if that's fair.

The thing is, it's just really not fun to play against one. It's annoying. He might not affect the outcome of every single game, but he does ruin the fun.
 

TheSeks

Blinded by the luminous glory that is David Bowie's physical manifestation.
Is it just me, or is the aim speed "off" on trying to actually get a grip on shooting people? Even going as low as the mouse speed/acceleration as I can, I still feel like the game's aiming isn't accurate.
 
I'm not having trouble with phantom. In fact, over time I've come to think he is actually very mediocre. Here are some tips:

1. keep an eye out for the shadow, but also there is a noise he makes when in cloak
2. watching each other's back is the best tactic, since he is very weak in group fights
3. light mercs need to have pretty good aim while backing away while jumping, but these guys move fast enough that phantom's sword is irrelevant if you know where he is at
4. jumping can help dodge the second strike but as people get used to that response they'll be more likely to land that hit anyway, sprint + long jump should help but gotta be ready for a SMG follow up

I'm not quite sure why phantom is so good at wracking up points. I've seen some bad phantoms still top score, but I don't think that reflected how good he was for their team at all.

I could see them tweaking how his stealth works a bit, visually at least because they need to consider multiple settings and maps. On white chapel I have the hardest time spotting him. On every other map he is easy to spot for me.

The other thing I could see them doing is nerfing the cooldown to both take longer to recharge and have a longer cooldown even when you use it for short periods of time. The most drastic thing I could see them reasonably change is sprint removing stealth (or draining it much faster than it does now), since that is something that kind of negates the need for smart positioning.

I don't think he'll be big in competitive teams. As a killer he is outdone, as recon there is heartbeat sensor, and for those reasons I think other mercs will be picked over him. There might be a few maps where he is used though.

Is it just me, or is the aim speed "off" on trying to actually get a grip on shooting people? Even going as low as the mouse speed/acceleration as I can, I still feel like the game's aiming isn't accurate.

I'm not quite following what you mean by aim speed, but I have heard that with UE3 you shouldn't go lower than 5 sensitivity since it gets buggy. I'm not sure how accurate that is with DB though tbh.
 

TheSeks

Blinded by the luminous glory that is David Bowie's physical manifestation.
I'm not quite following what you mean by aim speed, but I have heard that with UE3 you shouldn't go lower than 5 sensitivity since it gets buggy. I'm not sure how accurate that is with DB though tbh.

Say someone is standing in front of you. Your crosshair is directly on them. Now they A/D strafe one way. You try to follow. You're either going too fast/slow to match their movement to keep a bead on them. Aimspeed.
 
Say someone is standing in front of you. Your crosshair is directly on them. Now they A/D strafe one way. You try to follow. You're either going too fast/slow to match their movement to keep a bead on them. Aimspeed.

Oh, but I dunno then. I'm not having trouble with tracking. Try turning one frame interval set to off, since that should reduce input lag some.

The other thing you might be experiencing is small stuttering caused by the HUD that SD is currently working on fixing.
 
The amount negative reviews on Steam, all mentioning Phantom, is pretty telling. I'm glad its not just me, I thought maybe I was overreacting and just being a baby, but the game really has been soured since his release.
 
Another problem with the hero-style monetization is it kneecaps them from making huge changes when something is hugely wrong with balance (not saying that's the case here). They can't just completely nerf or remove a character people have paid for without getting the community seriously pissed off.
 
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