So the game comes out in 3 days, figure I'll do a little sum up for people.
First off Patch 0.7 & 0.8
0.7 said:
• New version for patch info
• Added ping for server selection list
• Fix for crash when joining server ( where game is not started ) and then canceling
• Attacker (red) spawn in Deadwater Ranch has been changed in order to deal with spawn camping.
• Reworked spawning areas and added 2 more capture points in conquest for Bad Blood Valley.
• More achievement related bug fixes
• XP Tweaks, players receive more for captures and flags
• Fixed issue with clients freezing up in menu when joining server which did not respond
• Fixed issues with the key Mapping where toggle weapon actions could only be bound to the mouse, not keyboard.
• Fixed issue with assigning Weapons to num buttons
• Fixed issues with the aim geting stuck on screen whilst in a trap.
• Added possibility to invite friends from ingame pause menu in Steam.
• Fixed issues with EXP not being awarded in the 2nd round of Greed
• Minor tweak to carbine damage.
0.8 said:
• Set all achievements extremely low for testing purposes for beta only! All achievements will be reset with final release
• Fix for not leaving created lobbies with right mouse button
• Fixed issues with team list in loading screen when hotjoining and improved ping
• Fix for issues with revive icon and tag icon
• Fix for mouse support on disconnect dialogs
and as a bonus, better mouse feel in the ingame menu
• New viewpoint positions when waiting for level to load
• New environment settings for fort and town (updated the preview images as well!)
• Fixed random crashes in startup and when starting a server.
• Renamed Cancel button -> Back button in video settings
• Added charge damage for Trapper
• Tweaked buffalo rifle damage
• Added graphical settings for shadows, brightness etc
• Tweaked AI difficulty a bit.
• Added deaths/kills at end of round and end of game in scoreboard
• Fix for chat messages gone missing when containing ":"
• Added /stick and /unstick commands to chat to stick the chat
• Added escape to exit chat, ignore map, help, mainmenu and scoreboard show request while chat is active
• Removed say" when chat is inactive
• Tweaked colors in chat to improve visibility for blue team
• Removed a conquest zone from the greed mode.
• Added forum moderator QuickDraw McGraw to credits list (kudos to him)
• Added two more conquest zones to the ranch map.
• Fix for collision shapes
• Improved opacity texture on grass
• More fixes to carriables and switching weapons.
• Added two more conquest zones to the town map. Let's see how this plays out.
• Removed greed signs from conquest mode.
Most of that is self explanatory I think.
So yeah, adding ping was a huge help. I was actually able to find matches under 100ms which was nice. The sniper before the patch was inaccurate until you were scoped in for a few seconds, but was often a one shot body shot. Now it's accurate as soon as you zoom in, but you don't do one shot kills to the body right off the bat. I assume they're following the sniper in TF2 principle here. I don't actually play Sniper much myself.
Speaking of classes, the Blaster is a little overpowered, the shotgun has decent range, but it's the fire rate that makes it so good. You can quickly fire both shells at someone, then run back and forth while you reload. This makes it difficult for other classes to land the 3 or so shots they need to kill you before you reload and nail them again. Generally it's easy enough to force an encounter at a range where your second volley will kill them. It ends up that a Blaster usually is more effective than a Gunslinger in most situations. A small nerf to blaster damage dropoff would probably help, but I'm no expert.
I think the game is at it's best for greed and conquest gametypes. Unless the teams are very even, Shootout will become a spawn camp very quickly, and no one has fun. Unfortunate side effect of the spawning system. Robbery and Powderkeg have the same spawning system problems, but coupled with how you have to move powderkegs/gold around WHILE EVERYONE ON THE OTHER TEAM CAN SEE YOU THROUGH WALLS, well you're pretty much fucked unless you are MUCH better than the other team. In theory since each match consists of two rounds, with the teams switching sides, it is balanced in the strictest of definitions. But generally this results in both teams successfully defending, and a tie game.
Greed still has the Gold carriers spotted through walls thing, but since both teams are trying to steal the money, they both have to deal with it, and will not be able to win just by brutally raping money carriers over and over. As well there is little incentive to spawn camp, as you'll generally be trying to haul gold back to your own base instead of hanging around the opponents. So it ends up working pretty well, even without strictly evenly skilled teams.
Conquest works really well, the sequential nature of capturing points tends to result in gang sticking together, which results in some pretty good gang on gang firefights. As well, if one team captures all 5 points, the score starts shooting up REALLY quickly, putting a quick end to unbalanced matches, allowing everyone to move onto the next round where hopefully the teams get shuffled into something a little more even. It does however lack the western feel of stealing gold....
Random thoughts...
Random crits are bad. They just result in bullshit, either a kill or a death I didn't deserve. Should be gone, and the Trapper synergy effect redone.
Crouching was mentioned a fair amount earlier in the thread as something that people want added. I know it seems harmless, but with the amount of third person camera shenanigans that are already occurring, crouching would do far more harm than good.
The other team should not be able to see the health crosses coming off your body when you're regenerating health. Very easy to follow an injured enemy.
If dedicated servers don't make it in, at least allow people to create a match with themselves as a spectator, so they can make their own server for people to play on.
Some basic in game communication, something like 'need backup', and tie it with some HUD indicator of who is talking.
A bit more feedback on taking damage, it's fairly hard to notice as is. If, as a design choice, they don't want you knowing the direction you're being shot from, fine. But at least flash a bit of red on the screen. But no strawberry jam plz.
Allow me to repick my class multiple times while waiting to respawn. Situations change quickly.
In the end, I'm gonna keep the game. When it works, I like it a lot. The community is small, so sometimes I go on and they're simply isn't a non-laggy match for me to play on, but it works out often enough for me to deem it worth the cash.
