24 replies to this topic

[Birrhan]

I've been playing since the closed beta on 12/12, and I've logged something like 150 hours in this game.  I love it dearly, but the latest couple of patches have rendered the game unplayable, specifically (1) the sharpshooters 350 damage slug, and (2) the lack of auditory damage notification.  At a very basic level, I'm not having fun anymore, so until a later patch fixes these critical issues, I've decided to uninstall the client--and I'm not the first of my friends to do so.

Lately, I've noticed the sharpshooters are dominating the kill screen in team DM.  The top scoring player is ALWAYS a sharpshooter.  This is thanks to their special ability, which gives that lovely 350 damage hit that, with a buddy or a follow up shot, can kill an A class in less than a second.  That is unreal.  And while technically it's lower DPS than, say, FLAK and TOW combined, for that brief second it is the highest DPS in the game.  In theory it is lopsided, and in practice it is lopsided.  Devs, just look at a random sampling of play logs.  I just played ~10 matches, and _every one_ had a sharpshooter at the top.  The evidence is there.  The FLAK cannon got fixed, I'm sure you can find a workaround that either lowers damage or lengthens recharge time.

The second and more glaring of the problems, which only emerged after the latest patch, was the lack of damage notification in the cockpit.  Hits do not register auditorily anymore.  So I can end up in the red without _constantly_ eyeing my damage bar.  Couple that with snipers, and you're dead before you even know you were hit.  Bullet hits should register by ear, like they used to.  This should be a simple enough fix, or at least include it as an option.  You ought to be able to hear bullets hit the chassis.  A simple, but critical, request.

Anyhow, imagine how fun it is to be strolling along, trying to pick a fight, when you think you hear something, check your armor, it's at 150, and you have enough time to say "what, where..." then a second hit brings you down.  There's no defense against that, and frankly it's not fun.  And that happens way too frequently nowadays.  Sadly, I'm going to post this, then uninstall the client.  I'll be monitoring the patch notes as they roll out later, but you're losing a committed player in the interim.

[Kronguard]

So you play since CB,got over 150 hours clocked in and you find the game unplayable because of SS_
Damn

[Xuande]

I don't find it unplayable but I do share his sentiments on the SS. However it's not the damage that bothers me, it's the RoF and the large amount of SS players doing CQC fairly well because of it.

[Dread_nought]

Kronguard, on February 24 2013 - 07:04 PM, said:

So you play since CB,got over 150 hours clocked in and you find the game unplayable because of SS_
Damn

Not so much SS, but hit notifications.  I actually totally understand what he is talking about. I've played games were I go from 700 to 100 in the blink of an eye from 2 Sharpies without noticing until it's too late due to no real audible hit sounds that stand out.  In a busy firefight you don't always notice it (or the SS way in back) either when there are rockets flying everywhere.

It hasn't ruined the game for me, but it does make some matches pretty irritating when I walk out of the AA on Bazaar and immediately lose most of my armor.

Edited by Dread_nought, February 24 2013 - 07:34 PM.

[Kronguard]

The thing is that it's not a problem,unless the forum gets bombarded with topics of such issue,i do agree,SS can be annoying,but if you really wana see annoying,try playing reaper and gun down def brawler in siege mode 1v1.
Making a topic describing your concern does not prove anything,50 people could post here and agree with you,and it still would not prove anything.
When i play,and i get suddenly hit hard by a single shot,i know that there is an SS somewhere,so i repair,and go around him if i can,if i can't i hang back or try to harass him while signaling my team about it.
There are things you just don't do in matches,like for example.
Don't go head to head with grenadier,you kite him.
Don't try to take on SS from a distance,get close to him,if you can't,fall back.
Don't let scout get too close to you,keep distance.
Don't take on rocketeer/bruiser unless you have an object to hide behind.
So on and so forth.
You'd think that a player with that any hours would of figured out most of this by now.

[necroq]

so if you cant defeat them why not join them_ devs will sure make some tweaks in few weeks. so you better hurry....
as a-class you can abuse terrible netcode btw.: fly and shot. i frapsed some fights with ping 80 against flying scouts. i land perfect shots and they take zero damage.

[Exeon]

I've definitely noticed the change in notification from damage. I used to instantly know where I took damage from but as of the most recent patch it's become extremely difficult, I felt I was just out of practice but if the auditory cues were changed then this is a very drastic and negative change that should be fixed immediately. As far as the sharpshooter, I feel the powershot may be a bit too good and that more damage isn't the solution to sharpshooters, it just makes them unfun to fight while their cooldown is up at least as an A mech unless you happen to luckily dodge their shot.

[Saturnine]

Yeah, hit notifications seem to be a bit borked for me too. EOC hits flat out never create any sort of damage indicator, my health just drops with no indication whatsoever, and I'm sure there are a few other weapons that don't cause hit indicators that I'm not thinking of. It can really throw off play to not know you're getting hit until you happen to glance at your hp and see a chunk missing.

[Sylhiri]

Vulcan is like air~~~

[TheVulong]

Quote

Vulcan is like air~~~

You mean_..

[[HWK]shadiradio]

I can at least speak to the auditory feedback. We recently worked in a new, more flexible approach to weapon impact audio feedback that allows for different cues to both your weapons hitting opponents, and their weapons impacting your mech. As a result of this, some of the previous feedback you were used to is indeed gone (but coming back!). This new method is much better, so you can expect auditory feedback that makes more sense in context (small / large caliber cockpit impacts, explosive/concussive impacts, etc).

[Sylhiri]

[HWK]shadiradio, on February 24 2013 - 11:28 PM, said:

As a result of this, some of the previous feedback you were used to is indeed gone (but coming back!).

Will we see it during the March patch_

[[HWK]shadiradio]

Not in this next patch coming up, unfortunately, but I'm optimistic about it soon after that. I'm making it a personal priority.

[Birrhan]

[HWK]shadiradio, on February 24 2013 - 11:35 PM, said:

Not in this next patch coming up, unfortunately, but I'm optimistic about it soon after that. I'm making it a personal priority.

Thank you very kindly.  I didn't mean this post to sound like a threat, but especially without those hit notifications, I'm dead before I know it, and that's just not fun, ya know_

[defekt]

Powershot has taken a lot away from the game, IMHO.  Pre-Reaper patch, a good Sharpshooter pilot was already able to control large chunks of the battlefield with that highly dangerous instant damage spike.  Now, post-Reaper patch, every man and his dog is able to do it; in Rugby terms, it has turned SS-heavy matches into a ‘slow ball’ games, and that’s not fun to play and it certainly isn’t fun to watch.  No other mech has the ability to slow the game down so much -- in a crappy, non-interesting way; it’s not as if you’re witnessing a protracted slugging match between two monsters, that at least would be fun to see -- and that in an of itself, if one is truly concerned about Hawken’s eSports viability, must be a serious concern.

Personally, I don’t think Powershot is worth saving, it was a mistake to boost that which was already strong in capable hands (damage spike), and as far as I’m concerned the only sensible fix is to replace it entirely with an ability that encourages good SS play, i.e., something that bestows a bit of CQB versatility or something more interesting that benefits the team as a whole.

To lob a few embryonic ideas into the test tube:

- 3 seconds of +25% burn speed;

- 5 seconds of Splash on the Primary weapon (HE rounds);

- tag shot, where tagged enemies are lit up on the team’s radars for 30 seconds;

- designator shot, where one shot enemy takes 5% extra damage from team mates’ weapons for 10 seconds.

---

On the matter of audible impact sounds, one of the sound engineers posted a while back that this feedback has been noted and efforts are under way to address this – or words to that effect anyway.  

I have noticed a few other oddities about visual hit notification, one being that every time I’m directly hit by EOC shots it always says I’ve been hit from behind when they’re ahead of me, and to echo what Saturnine reported, the impacts themselves are silent.

EDIT: I really should read the entire thread before posting.

Edited by defekt, February 25 2013 - 04:54 AM.

[Houruck]

Defekt, your ideas are great for a support mech (in principle) like the Sharpshooter but do not forget there is a Deathmatch mode where most of this is useless. I love the splash damage suggestion. I would like to finish a pesky A class mech pilot who just managed to boost behind a cover in the last second.

defekt, on February 25 2013 - 04:49 AM, said:

I have noticed a few other oddities about visual hit notification, one being that every time I’m directly hit by EOC shots it always says I’ve been hit from behind when they’re ahead of me, and to echo what Saturnine reported, the impacts themselves are silent.

I also noticed this.

Edited by Houruck, February 25 2013 - 06:06 AM.

[defekt]

Houruck, on February 25 2013 - 06:03 AM, said:

Defekt, your ideas are great for a support mech (in principle) like the Sharpshooter but do not forget there is a Deathmatch mode where most of this is useless. I love the splash damage suggestion. I would like to finish a pesky A class mech pilot who just managed to boost behind a cover in the last second.

Fair point.  Truth be told I didn't have DM in mind at the time, perhaps mostly because the SS was a masochistic DM choice to begin with.     Quite right tho, if the thing is going to have an ability it should be useful in all modes of play.  That said, the embryonic notions suggested could still be used in a defensive capacity during a DM match in trying to take the heat off by making other targets appear more attractive.

[Houruck]

Houruck, on February 25 2013 - 06:03 AM, said:

defekt, on February 25 2013 - 04:49 AM, said:

I have noticed a few other oddities about visual hit notification, one being that every time I’m directly hit by EOC shots it always says I’ve been hit from behind when they’re ahead of me, and to echo what Saturnine reported, the impacts themselves are silent.

I also noticed this.

This tricked me tonight. I am used to this buggy indicator and there was someone actually shooting my back in the meantime.

[RedVan]

I'd pay $$ to see the OP get a kill with a SS

[ThePirateKing]

+1 on the complaint with Sharpshooters. Games are now flooded with SS and Reapers. As a C class meant for CQC, I can easily be done in by a sniper both across the map as well as up close. Doesn't seem to fair to me.