Could you be more specific? Exactly what changes did you like/dislike?
A lot has changed since then (it was September 2013 iirc), and it would be interesting to hear what people are still unhappy with.
Hmm I'll try to make it short as I can. I like we have more maps. I like the graphics have improved. I like most of the mechs.
Now before I get to dislikes please consider this. Subs are way down. At one point we had over 8,300 people on the servers at one time. Not total subs, at one given minute. Now we can barely reach 900. The forums are rift with unhappy people. Thread after thread about changing this and that. I have always said I have no magic answers. I was asked my personal opinion and I gave it then as I am now.
I believe now and I believe then that the MMR system is faulty. I believe the matchmaker is broken to hell. Some would agree with me and some would disagree. MMR was faulty then and is faulty now, only worse. It has never worked right and creates problems.
IN MY OPINION, I don't like pub stomping. I consider it the equivalent of a professional boxer beating on children. It's a analogy, I am not accusing anyone of child abuse, to make that clear. If ALL the smurfs and pub stompers stop smurfing and went back to playing. They would find there would be plenty of them to fight each other. More then enough for a fair fight.
I liked the old HUD. I had zero problems using the old hud. Neither with my computer or using it in game. I liked the old Garage. They radically altered how it looked and worked. After working so hard for the skill tree on so many mechs to lose it all in one bad decision by the old Devs. Well it made me angry to say the least. It worked better than what we have now for sure. Yes it needed some fixes but for the largest part worked. I own 2 of every mech in the game except for CRT, Vanguard (of which I own 1 each) and the G2 Raider. Never really cared for the raider and not interested in the new G2 version. I have 6 Techs. I hate techs. They should never have been put into this game in the first place. They were added March 27th 2013. Ascension did not start until October. It was a horrendous mistake. It imbalances the game and that is a fact, not a opinion. I liked the "gritty" feel of the old game. I liked it felt like the mechs really were mechanical warriors. It was more "raw". When they cut our health in half I was livid. Ascension gave us back a minor amount of health, not near enough to make any real difference compared to what it was and is now.
And last, the old Devs just pretty much tried to pretend hacking didn't exist. I had many a email conversation and finally serveral phone conversations with them about it and the denied Hawken being hacked. They claimed it couldn't be and they were not worried about it. I'm here to tell you for a ded fact it does. The free hacks are pretty much worthless. There are multiple companies that have top of the line hackers and coders who write hacks that work. Not simple trash. They charge by the month to use them. They each do 35 to 45 different online games. One of the biggest companies has over 300,000 subs. Most have been in business 4 or 5 years. They use a directX overlay for most of the hacks they sell but not all. I spoke with the old Devs many a time trying to warn them. Too many of the high MMR people told me in forums there were no hacks. I posted about it in the forums and got jumped by a number of the hgh MMR players that hacks did NOT exist, that I was wrong. Then they said well maybe one or two worthless free hacks that anyone could see might. Wrong. It occurs far more than you think. You say "Oh I can tell a aimbot because it snaps, snaps, snaps to every target. The paid hacks don't. The ones they sell have over 30 functions. They have one called "smooth-aim". It does not snap. It slowly move to a target like a real person and pulls the fire trigger for you. It can target by weakest mechs, closest mechs, or a particular mech. It can even "miss" on purpose to make it look more real. Dice has a entire division that fights hackers after they almost destroyed their game. Cheating is not OK, it is not acceptable and it is happening. Yes even here. And yes I am very much aware of sometimes really good players and/or High MMR players get accused of being a hacker. I have and had then a lot of friends I played with that were those people. Hell I use to get accused back then. Still do from time to time. I might also add that I liked the game prior to Ascension. I was here in 2012 and like it then. (With some fixes of course. But instead of really fixing stuff, they just kept adding crap.)
OK thanks for listening. You asked so I did my best to answer. Sorry if I got carried away but some things still upset me. I wish I had a magic wand and could make it all perfect. I don't. I haven't done any programming in many years so I have no idea how to fix all this. I still think this is a great game. In my opinion it is not what it used to be. It is not as unique as it use to be. I don't know what if anything reloaded can do to fix things. I do believe they are going to try. I like the fact they have been pretty open with us so far. That is a good sign. I wish them and all of you the best of luck and hope to see you in game. I play anyone and any match so my MMR is not good. It floats up and down depending on who I play. I may be old but I ain't ded yet! Take care ThirdEyE and thanks for asking. :D
***NOTE*** THE BLUE IS MY UPDATE ADDED TO RESPOND TO ThirdEyE BELOW RATHER THAN MAKE A ENTIRE NEW POST. THANKS!
Edited by Nov8tr, 11 April 2015 - 04:08 AM.