in case anyone missed it (i did at first) there is a shooting range in your "lobby" area (the military base looking area youre in before you start a game). you can test out every gun, mod, melee weapon and grenade types on dummys that show how much damage each weapon hits for. it was super helpful in giving me handle on what weapons i like and dont, and what weapons are effective or not. and its just kind of fun to fuck around with.
i also didnt like the cards at first, and even now they could go away and it wouldnt hurt my feelings, but after a few rounds and reading through them, they arent as complicated as i first thought. it does change up the gameplay a bit, but its nothing huge (+20% ammo, +15 health, +2 health when using melee, etc). i get why people dont like them (hell like i said im not really a huge fan of them, but they really arent that complicated once you read through them)
they just should have introduced them more slowly. i know its only a beta, but they drop you right in the middle of all this mess and its confusing as hell and really puts people off. bad choice imo. but give the cards a chance, theyre really not all that bad, and can offer some helpful buffs in gameplay.
the best thing about cards is every time you die you get another card, so the game actually gets a bit easier for those who keep dying. that seems backwards, but the fact is that most of us are going to use quick play and end up with randoms who fuck the game up. so when we die because of those randoms, we get to add some buffs to help get through the level. obviously with a solid team you wont die and wont need those extra cards, and i think you get a bigger reward for completing a run with no continues, so there is still incentive to not die.
im really looking forward to playing more tonite. they have a lot of work left to do, and i think the game would have been better off without cards and all that bullshit, but after getting over that, im having a blast.