46 replies to this topic

[bkcat1]

So every once in a while, I browse around various gaming websites that mention HAWKEN in some capacity. I like to see what everyone who ISN'T a die-hard fan thinks of the game. I mean, I'm pretty sure most people here absolutely love this game (I think it's pretty close to perfect). But outside of these forums, I see some other opinions.

 

A lot of people are unsatisfied with the way HAWKEN feels. They say it's too fast and floaty... not stompy enough. That's perfectly fine and reasonable. I can see what they mean. I think this general opinion loses HAWKEN a lot of potential players. It's far from the only problem, but the feel of the game is part of it. They compare it to Call of Duty with a mech reskin, which makes me sad to hear. I love how it feels.

 

So I think, along with all the other tons of things that HAWKEN needs, it should see some adjustments or additions to it's feel and immersion factor. This is definitely not important right now, but in order to grab a lot more players, the game should appeal to more people on the level of feeling good to play. 

 

I'm definitely not suggesting a total rework of the game again. But I think it could get a lot more players if the weight/power/feel of it all is adjusted or added upon. Time and time again, people pass up on this glorious gem for other mech games because of, but definitely not ONLY because of, how it feels. And yes, I know it's a niche game, but I believe more can be done to reel in the mech crowd.

 

I dunno. All I want is for this game to be loved by more than just our little community, and Reloaded sure has me hopeful. Just wanted to share what I've seen people say over and over again about HAWKEN.

[JackVandal]

i think some things would be the sounds and some of the textures from back in the day that had some of the "grit" ad "weight" to them, i think the game is also great because its not a twitch shooter in the sense that whoever fires first wins like in CoD. Which opens up the game to more in my opinion.

[crockrocket]

I think this is somewhat related, here's something I've noticed. The Bruiser, while arguably the weakest mech in the game, is quite popular with new players. Hellfires are a weapon with a very Hawken feel. Combined with an automatic weapon, it just feels gritty.

Anyway, something to consider. I don't know how it fits into all this, but I think its a thing.

[Lily_from_animove]

This is again a result of wrong advertising.

 

The game basically is a arena shooter. Yet it advertises itself as a mech game. Especialyl with how the trailer looks like.

 

So those who test hawken by this advertisement will not find what they came for. And those gamers who probably could find what they look for are not really testing the game, because " ewww mech game"

 

Dunno why people say CoD like, since thats not the case, ttk in hawken is quite high, yet the gameplay is rather quick and not big-mech-like. The sound is also, kinda "soft" for being all so massive in size. So anyone coming for a mech game will mostly be dissappointed.

All the guys form the PAB clan actually DO play shooters, yet I can ot convince anyone of them to play hawken because they do not like what it is supposed to be. Even if i try to tell them its not like they think it is.

[dorobo]

Make it feel better but keep the speed. Both worlds will benefit.

 

[Elite_is_salty]

I think with the ascension and steam patch I realized that the old devs have chosen to side with the FPS side and not mech simulator side. And you know what, I'd rather not see any changes in that direction. I mean look at a game like titanfall. Too much hype, too much talk, and then it's dead now.

[claisolais]

I love hwk before ascension, now Its speed makes it cod-like, speed of moving, speed of killing or dying..
they made the map less realistic, less battlefield smoke, less heavy moves, less load battle sounds, too much of holo/vrclean thing just killing its style...

so the soul of hwk was gone.

I want to addrss that I agree with every words that Elite Trash Talker just said here. (Im not here for armoured cod, I would pay for the old hwk, but not this one, Im still here because...just like some old box I have--a reminder of the good time I had.)

And there goes our Adhersive.

Hey RELOADED, we're watching:)

Edited by claisolais, 11 June 2015 - 01:09 AM.

[dorobo]

There are plenty of arena shooters out there so the choice is kind of obvious but a game like mechwarrior for me it seems much too slow. I would probably get frustrated real fast unable to do fuzzy bunny faster.

Edited by dorobo, 11 June 2015 - 01:42 AM.

[claisolais]

There are plenty of arena shooters out there so the choice is kind of obvious but a game like mechwarrior for me it seems much too slow. I would probably get frustrated real fast unable to do fuzzy bunny faster.

have you tried armored core? Its speed may satisfy you, just dont tell me you dont like Its mech design..

[Lily_from_animove]

I think with the ascension and steam patch I realized that the old devs have chosen to side with the FPS side and not mech simulator side. And you know what, I'd rather not see any changes in that direction. I mean look at a game like titanfall. Too much hype, too much talk, and then it's dead now.

 

titanfall was fallign because aside of awsome graphics there was nothign left behind the game. no real lore, no substance. and dellivering a game even without a "tema up" feature, WOW lol.

 

Hawken has quite some substance by gameplay, it just presents this not in the way needed.

 

 

Make it feel better but keep the speed. Both worlds will benefit.

 

 

See, thats not even a mech, meaning not made of tons of steel. yet there is way more "trample" and "shake" which mostly lacks in hawken. But hawkens robots, behave weird for being robots and too fast for their size. In a "giant living thing wrapped skin"s as those EVA's in NGE are, that would be moe immersive with hawkens playstyle.

 

And if someone would aks me by immersion hawken has, which size those emchs would be , I would probably say: around 2x a human with around 3-6 tons of weight, but not more.

[kasei]

I think with the ascension and steam patch I realized that the old devs have chosen to side with the FPS side and not mech simulator side. And you know what, I'd rather not see any changes in that direction.

I completely agree, and that's pretty much why I still check in here. I'm just waiting to see the direction this game is going to take.

---

There's a bunch of specific things that I don't like about Hawken, but speaking more broadly, the game doesn't have much RPG elements anymore.

The game used to have a lot more mech customization. I really liked having my mech, not just another copy off the shelf.

I understand the downsides. Customization makes balance harder and creates min-max'ers. However, past gameplay allowed room for such things. That's not the case anymore, so now there's hardly any customization anymore.

There's a reason why everyone just plays TDM nowadays. Objective based game modes don't match the gameplay anymore. I used to love siege, and played it exclusively; now I hate it.

I'm not a fan of Co-Op Bot Destruction, but I was looking forward to more mission-like game modes. Escort missions, "castle" siege missions, stealth missions etc.

If I was starting fresh, I'd probably skip this game. It's not what I'm looking for. If it is for you, then that's great :)

I don't really play anymore, but I keep checking in for updates.

Edited by kasei, 11 June 2015 - 04:15 AM.

[M4st0d0n]

Keep an arcade mode, as it is now. Then make a simulation mode, slower paced, more armor, with real heat management. Forcing a new meta shift will be suicide. Again. It's too late.

[CrimsonKaim]

The reason why Hawken is compared to CoD is because it is way too easy. The skill demand is low, very low, it was easy at the release of OB but they even pushed the skill demand further into the ground.

 

 

I am playing Hawken since 12/12/12. 

My opinion on Hawken is mostly negative since the Ascension patch. 

 

What we need is change, a lot of it, and we need it now. Approaching the problems in Hawken slowly but with hig hquality is ... meh. The problem is that the majority of Hawken players and non-Hawken players (combined) has no patience. There are other games out there being a rival to Hawken. If nothing happens here, players will leave. With a little hope they will return when something actually happens.

[Siamenis]

Increase camera shake level to maximum in game to have a better feeling of piloting a mech.

Also, would love if the sounds of breaking glass in the cockpit were implemented like they were back then.

[Draigun]

As it stands, the decision to decrease TTK, dumb down the UI design, modify (downgrade, subjectively) the sound effects, and failure to recognize the importance of game design lead to where we are today, in addition to the doomed previous financial model Adhesive had.

 

However, Adhesive were trying to change things for the better, and quite possibly, if given more time, could have reached Hawken's final form. As we all know, funds were not allocated wisely, which forced Adhesive to let Hawken roam in development hell for months.

 

Conversely, there was no reason for Adhesive to take as long as they did to deploy patches and changes, especially with the team they had. Arguably though, what they've shown in the past could have been the result of a continuous lack of funds, and/or Meteor Entertainment's wishful thinking. The player base was already failing during it all, and they never had a pragmatic model to generate revenue, whilst they weren't spending their funds prudently.

 

Still, as W32 mentioned, most of our feedback are from veterans that tend to have a biased perspective. I know for me, it's impossible to gauge how successful Hawken could be, based on new player experience. You can't just look at it without knowing what it is like to try the game out for the first time. In that regard, perhaps Reloaded will ensure new player feedback is successfully obtained through any means necessary.

 

Media epithet that impose their outlooks and opinions should be considered meaningless and inaccurate. New players should note that Hawken is technically in beta, while also be aware of the fact that it has been through development hell for months; only to recently acknowledge our new team responsible for developing and publishing Hawken.

Edited by Draigun, 11 June 2015 - 08:25 AM.

[HepTagoN]

What we need is change, a lot of it, and we need it now. Approaching the problems in Hawken slowly but with hig hquality is ... meh. The problem is that the majority of Hawken players and non-Hawken players (combined) has no patience. There are other games out there being a rival to Hawken. If nothing happens here, players will leave. With a little hope they will return when something actually happens.

 

Bu***hit talking DETECTED, we need change lot of things, eh? Sure, change weapongs, change physic, switch mechs to hummies, change maps, i guess we are going to change game's name, right?

 

I'm tired of those "oooo hawken need quick fix", "hawken is bad" "My opinion on Hawken is mostly negative since the Ascension patch." rotfl. Yea i bet you were whining before ascension same as now. How u can play game about which your opinion is negative? There are thousad of better games like somone said.

 

Thing is, IMO, I play hawken (well dont have much time recently :( ), because i like this game, the way as it is now. I actally liked situation when no devs was hanging around - u know why? No devs - no chances for stupid patches. Ofc this couldnt and shouldnt stay as it was, cause game need advertisment, players are pretty much necessary to play online game. But number of ppl that critize this game over and over is damn too high. You dont like it? Shame but fine, u dont have to, we've got diffrent tastes and that's okay, move along.

 

Just to make it clear - i'm aware of poor playerbase situation, and I'm sad because of it, and i rly wanna some improvments that will make newbies life easier, like newb only servers, AND BAN SMURF ACCOUNTS. I wonder what hawken situation would be if noone would ever smurf. I admit, i dont know how bad it is for 2500 EU mmr players (EU and US mmr arent equall, i mean its easier to find server in US for 2400 than in eu), but i was many players who had lower mmr than 2400 (mine) and were using smurfs acc. Just keep for yourself bu***hit talking about how hard is to find server with such mmr, okay, I'm 2400 and I have no problems, just play afternoon when high tier players come in.

 

Perhaps hawken is too hard to be popular? Or too diffrent. There are couple of games that were just genious, yet not so popular. For example - planescape: torment. Black isle studio put so much effort in it, making it so complex (all in game dialogs: 800 thousand words). I bed u didnt hear bout it, yet its one of best RPG (91 metacritic).

[JackVandal]

i feel its important that we get some new adverts on the steam page, even if they're community generated (we have got some crazy talent) that more accurately reflect what kind of game Hawken is, i think that could really boost the player retention if people find what they're expecting. i think some mention of the combination of eastern and western mech styles would do a lot of good as well.

 

i don think Hawken can survive a total overhaul again, just, economically with the player base it has it will seep into even more of not-knowing-what-it-is. if that makes sense.

 

And i really think the sounds and graphics make a difference, the sabot feels like a gun, i watched some old footage and the old tow sound felt like a kick in the chest. it sounded like a rocket, and i would love to see that return, both out of personal preference, and, as it adds the feeling of a mech fight. and the feels, whether players notice it or not, are a huge part of a game "clicking" or drawing you in. my first reaction on seeing the old hawken footage was "oh man, how can i get some of that?"

[Miscellaneous]

BAN SMURF ACCOUNTS

 

Eh, IMO smurf accounts aren't the real problem nowadays as the matchmaker was changed. Those who used to be forced into smurfing now can just use their regular account. Also, try talking to Crafty about banning smurfs. Would be a wonderful conversation I assume.

[CrimsonKaim]

-snip-

 

Didn't read your whole post as it is boring.

 

What I have taken out of it: you like it. Woah, I don't care. I stated my opinion which was not meant to be delivered to you.

 

 

Glad you like the game, but the majority does not. You are wrong in every perspective if you state the opposite. Facts are Facts.

[Hyginos]

The game basically is an arena shooter. Yet it advertises itself as a mech game. Especially with how the trailer looks like.

 

I'm not convinced "mech game" and "arena shooter" are mutually exclusive, so long as you allow "mechs" to exist outside the battletech universe, but I do agree that the advertising and the game itself are a bit thematically at odds.

 

Part of this may simply be due to how old a lot f Hawken promotional material is. There was a point when game was a bit 'stompy-er' in the sense that acceleration was much slower, fuel was a bit more scarce due to dodges consuming fuel, and air dodge was not available.

 

Sound design could definitely stand to be looked at.

[Hijinks_The_Turtle]

The problem is how 'mechs' are defined. Hawken is in that weird state where it has both Gundam and Mechwarrior like traits.  The carovite ore has gravity defying properties which were worked into the frames of the mechs.  NONE of this is explained or hinted at all in-game well enough for people to understand.  There is no lore whatsoever in-game that has sustenance.  How do we create the 'weighty' feel these people like yet still retain the awesome gameplay we have now?

 

Then again, if Hawken had presented the elements we had now in the very early stages of beta, who knows?  Maybe people would have grown to like them?  I think the devs dug their grave by trying to change too many elements of the game at once.  Sometimes the changes were jarring.  Most new people who tried the game hated the speed and hp change during the early days of Hawken's steam release.  I think the reason for that was this:

See that?  The whole feel of this trailer gives off a simulator feel.  Everything looks so slow with all the mechs just walking about.  There's barely any show of dodging, boosting, or any real visceral feeling Hawken has in the trailer.

 

They marketed to the same group as before--the sim fans who were probably expecting the movement as in the earlier trailer here:

 

Not to mention the whole HUD looks more dirty and used, which probably helped the immersion a lot.  I'm having a hard time explaining it, but for some reason, this trailer has a visceral feel to it that the current trailer doesn't.  I can't put my finger on it.

 

The current version should have showcased the fast paced action like here in Xacius's gameplay:

https://www.youtube....h?v=T8iwME7blkM

 

 I love Hawken's current gameplay, it's pretty balanced overall.  I do think the HP bar shouldn't be as 'in your face' as it is now (though it helps).  Where should we draw the line between simulation and FPS arena shooter efficiency?

Edited by h????????????????????????????????i??, 11 June 2015 - 10:37 AM.

[comic_sans]

We need better and more consistent sound design more than anything.  The most Hawken things to me as far as sounds go are either vulcan's sounds and that irritating everpresent machine-buzz.  There's just not enough bass reverberation to make me think the guns are even large enough for a human to hold; think the desert eagle or the AWP in counterstrike for good examples.  Even the scout (cs) has a distinctive little wooshy sound that still conveys power.  I mean, the incin's firethrowing fwuhhhh wooshy noise is great but you've got the super underwhelming plap plap plap to power it.  The AR's sound would be great if it actually synced up with the ROF (tbh having it be a 3 shot burst on click and auto on hold would be a divine fix and it would give the thing a little flair) and the am-sar is almost indistinguishable from the sound my mouse makes when I click it.  It reminds me of the m14 from the later COD games, but that had an awesome beefy and bizarrely moist sound to it that just felt right.  lol context.  Basically a lot of man-portable weapons from other games sound larger than a lot of man-sized weapons in this one.

 

Also, I remember watching Eureka 7 a long time ago, and one thing struck me:  there was this one high-speed air chase, and during some funky maneuver, the camera cut to the inside of the mech and the pilot grimacing, but you could also hear the muffled sound of incredibly fast wind wooshing by the cockpit and making the whole thing sorta creak and crackle.  I'd like to have something of that order in hawken.

[Hijinks_The_Turtle]

*snip*

True, sound design in Hawken has been a bit inconsistent.  That idea from Eureka would help a lot in immersion.  I so want that.

Edited by h????????????????????????????????i??, 11 June 2015 - 10:51 AM.

[HepTagoN]

 

Didn't read your whole post as it is boring.

 

What I have taken out of it: you like it. Woah, I don't care. I stated my opinion which was not meant to be delivered to you.

 

 

Glad you like the game, but the majority does not. You are wrong in every perspective if you state the opposite. Facts are Facts.

 

Heh, so if I do not agree with you, i'm wrong? Wonder why i'm not suprised.

Next time specify to who u adress your opinion, or make forum for you and you only where u can deliver your opinion to everyone present.

 

See that?  The whole feel of this trailer gives off a simulator feel.  Everything looks so slow with all the mechs just walking about.  There's barely any show of dodging, boosting, or any real visceral feeling Hawken has in the trailer.

 

They marketed to the same group as before--the sim fans who were probably expecting the movement as in the earlier trailer here:

 

Not to mention the whole HUD looks more dirty and used, which probably helped the immersion a lot.  I'm having a hard time explaining it, but for some reason, this trailer has a visceral feel to it that the current trailer doesn't.  I can't put my finger on it.

I love Hawken's current gameplay, it's pretty balanced overall.  I do think the HP bar shouldn't be as 'in your face' as it is now (though it helps).  Where should we draw the line between simulation and FPS arena shooter efficiency?

 

Damn, this guy is right. 1 kilo of internets pls for him.

 

But... my second thought is: do devs use those demo in current ad campaign? I'm not so sure, actually i should not speak in that amtter as i know hawken adverts only from facebook, where they put post, and info about streams. Another thing is: it was devs who made these trailers. And, as we remeber their skill was rather low, and it reflects how they think people plays their game. BEcause they did that way.

Edited by HepTagoN, 11 June 2015 - 10:55 AM.

[StubbornPuppet]

The problem with Hawken (specific to the perceptions mentioned by the OP) is the best thing about Hawken - it is NOT Call of Doody and it is NOT Mech Warrior.  People are kind of bland/uncreative when it comes to actually describing things... so they turn to the safe and simple skill of "comparing the new to the familiar".  And this basic of human nature is why the majority of entertainment products have become clones.

 

Almost every new FPS clones several aspects of Modern Warfare (which is what most people mean when they say 'Call of Duty').  Almost every mech game copies Mech Warrior or one of it's predecessors.  Just like almost every new movie is a remake of an older movie.

 

Marketing folks know us better than we know ourselves sometimes.  So, of course, they're going to go for the safe bet on giving people more of what they already are used to.  For the rest of us who "YAWN" over that thinly stretched vale of mediocrity, there are those artists, producers, developers and financial backers who are willing to take a chance on something exciting and different.  For those people, there are games like Hawken.

[bkcat1]

Watching those old promotional videos always gives me goosebumps. If there is one thing that needs to be brought back, it's the big, loud, heavy sounds. I never realized after playing for so long, but compared to the old sounds, everything now is so... sterile. Work needs to be done in order to bring back that visceral feel, as someone mentioned previously.

[Hijinks_The_Turtle]

Watching those old promotional videos always gives me goosebumps. If there is one thing that needs to be brought back, it's the big, loud, heavy sounds. I never realized after playing for so long, but compared to the old sounds, everything now is so... sterile. Work needs to be done in order to bring back that visceral feel, as someone mentioned previously.

True, however... The promotional vids had their audio tweaked outside the game, hence why you hear the tunnel effect in the older teaser, or the increased amount of explosion sounds, everything seems to sound a bit beefier.  Despite that, Hawken has most of the necessary sound effects in-game (though personally I'd like both versions of the vulcan to sound like the GAU-8 Avenger Gatling gun from the A-10 Thunderbolt):

Seriously, this thing sounds scary.   Even with having some inconsistencies, Hawken has a good base to start with.

 

In fact, you can hear the mech turn if you listen when you move your torso in-game or hear the muffled thuds of the feet.  I just hope these sounds get louder.  It would go a long way to increase the immersion, such as when the mechs scrape the wall.

[Broham78]

I still think the steam patch killed it. Timing is everything and that was the worst thing they could have done at the worst possible time. A sizable chunk of the established playerbase left and most of the new steam people didn't like it either. Forget about all the little piddly gripes we have about sounds and health bars or whatever else. The real issue for newbies is the low armor. They come in expecting armored combat and instead get to die repeatedly in under 1 second, or even worse non stop beeping and repairing without even having a chance to even really play the game.

I used to be able to charge an entire enemy team and still get away if I played my cards right. Try doing that now and you'll die faster than your rig can even process your demise. Factor in the balance issues due to low player count now and it's a recipe for disaster.


TL;DR Noobs are the future. More armor=more fun.

[claisolais]

Heh, so if I do not agree with you, i'm wrong? Wonder why i'm not suprised.

Next time specify to who u adress your opinion, or make forum for you and you only where u can deliver your opinion to everyone present.

 

 The problem is not that you don't agree about the idea because you don't give a FUZZY BUNNY about ours.

 I wonder, have you ever tried this game before the Ascension? I bet you haven't.  

 

 And yes, devs made this game what it is now, to makes it more popular, kill those hardcore design, and blended in something considered as COD-ish.

Hey COD is successful and popular.  But Im not here for an armoured COD, probably many new ppl are.

Many case in the history that the maker ruined its own work, cos they forget what they wanted to make.--Not saying this IS the case, but many of old ppl gone for a reason.   

 

                                                         Money or ethics? Popularity fast-food game or minority hardcore game?

 

 Why staying? I had good times with it, and I miss it, want it back.  Whenever a dev tells me to go away with this thought, and that is the time I will.

[StubbornPuppet]

I did like the pre-Ascention version better.  And the longer, pre-steam time to kill/die.  It didn't change my love for Hawken, but I preferred it...

[Hek_naw]

TL;DR Noobs are the future. More armor=more fun.

 

I've never thought about that, and for the short time I've been playing Hawken I've simply been accepting the game as it is. I'm not your average casual gamer so it wasn't an evident issue to me, but now that you mention it, I can totally see other newbies being overwhelmed by these short-lived armor numbers.

[dorobo]

More armor = more camping :] anyways remove garage sound when switching between mechs.. it's irritating. Can't stand that old empty bucket sound. Make it tasty.

[Pelanthoris]

Interesting opinions. I must admid that I would love to see the old hawken back, no matter how dumb would that be. The old gritty feel is mostly video/audio and I can't see why not to go back as it would affect balance. Of course there were performance problems with the old cockpit, but still. IMHO the old balance was more fun too.

But my point was anyway that go and play the tutorial. How many of you can remember the current vr-fuzz? After steam patch I almost quit Hawken because of that monstrosity. Compare that to the old one that started in some hangar, where you did hover-tests with Laila? There was some actual lore and immersion there. I can't even find the refence for cheesegrater anywhere anymore :(

[LaurenEmily]

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

That gameplay does look pretty incredible, almost incomparable to what we have now. The 'heavy-feel', the sound fx & the immersive HUD are all little things alone but all that together really makes it seem different.

 

I also absolutely love that low-health effect around in the middle of the video where the sound is muffled and it kinda feels like the pilot is about to faint...

[Hek_naw]

I agree, the ambience sounds neat in that trailer, better than what we currently have. And I would love some more shaking in the cockpit, and more "weighty" walking, and anything that provides immersion.

 

But man, I'm glad a lot of that is gone: that crooshair, that plain radar, the blood marks (??) pointing the origin of a hit, and the HUD overlays marking other mechs, seriously? They all look much better now.

[BIsmuthZornisse]

a lot of people talking about the "immersive" hud... (i don't think i quite comprehend "immersion", is it supposed to be naturalistic/realistic?)

 

i'm gonna be a super-heretic and say that i'd prefer if the Mechs were drones (as in, unmanned vehicles), remotely controlled from a safe base. So the HUD wouldn't be part of a shaky cockpit, but part of a (non-shaky) display. I mean, we do have bots, surely the ai doesn't take up the cockpit.

 

as for lower kill times, how long does it take for military vehicles to destroy eachother? We are using anti-mech, right? i would'nt mind an increased time to kill from a gameplay standpoint, which i guess should be more important for a game.

 

 

But my point was anyway that go and play the tutorial. How many of you can remember the current vr-fuzz? After steam patch I almost quit Hawken because of that monstrosity. Compare that to the old one that started in some hangar, where you did hover-tests with Laila? There was some actual lore and immersion there. I can't even find the refence for cheesegrater anywhere anymore :(

don't hate on vr, man. we can have some "unrealistic" settings that we couldn't have in a strictly realistic setting, like an underwater map (the underwater would be strictly visual, the physics stay normal, because vr). or just setpieces, like moving/floating platforms. I quess it shouldn't overtake the aount of "real" maps, but don't just write them off.

[Nov8tr]

That gameplay does look pretty incredible, almost incomparable to what we have now. The 'heavy-feel', the sound fx & the immersive HUD are all little things alone but all that together really makes it seem different.

 

I also absolutely love that low-health effect around in the middle of the video where the sound is muffled and it kinda feels like the pilot is about to faint...

YES YES YES! This is exactly what I/we have been trying to explain to people about how Hawken used to be! The raw feel/sound of power. It was so amazing. sigh........

[Pelanthoris]

a lot of people talking about the "immersive" hud... (i don't think i quite comprehend "immersion", is it supposed to be naturalistic/realistic?)

i'm gonna be a super-heretic and say that i'd prefer if the Mechs were drones (as in, unmanned vehicles), remotely controlled from a safe base. So the HUD wouldn't be part of a shaky cockpit, but part of a (non-shaky) display. I mean, we do have bots, surely the ai doesn't take up the cockpit.

as for lower kill times, how long does it take for military vehicles to destroy eachother? We are using anti-mech, right? i would'nt mind an increased time to kill from a gameplay standpoint, which i guess should be more important for a game.


don't hate on vr, man. we can have some "unrealistic" settings that we couldn't have in a strictly realistic setting, like an underwater map (the underwater would be strictly visual, the physics stay normal, because vr). or just setpieces, like moving/floating platforms. I quess it shouldn't overtake the aount of "real" maps, but don't just write them off.

Immersion doesn't stand for realism. This game is quite far from realistic and it shouldn't imho be a design goal in it self. Immersion is the feeling of "being there". The current feel is very much like drones piloted via vr and I'm not saying it's strickly bad, but in my personal opinion it's not this game. The lore is about world that's fuzzed up, there isn't enough of anything and as a plus there is this war. Lore used to depict axes as contraptions kept together with duct tape and ingame you were almost able to smell the leaking coolant in the cockpit. Good times. Sry for confusing output :p

[Nightfirebolt]

 

A lot of people are unsatisfied with the way HAWKEN feels. They say it's too fast and floaty... not stompy enough. That's perfectly fine and reasonable. I can see what they mean. I think this general opinion loses HAWKEN a lot of potential players. It's far from the only problem, but the feel of the game is part of it. They compare it to Call of Duty with a mech reskin, which makes me sad to hear. I love how it feels.

 

Yup. "Be careful what you wish for, because you might just get it."

 

Hawken had the perfect feel before #increasethespeeds, but people stubbornly pressured Adhesive to make the change, and now we are suffering for it. This game now sits in an awkward place between being an arena shooter and a mech game (while not entirely accomplishing either) and that's not a good place to be to attract either audience.

 

After compulsively playing Hawken the past few months, I am beginning to think we need a rollback to those days. Not the higher TTK necessarily, but the old speeds. I got into Hawken because it was the most immersive, easy-to-play mech experience out there. But now, if I was a new player, I probably would think exactly what these people are saying - It's just a dressed up arena shooter. I wouldn't mind if some of the old immserive audio/visual effects were restored as well.

Edited by Nightfirebolt, 12 June 2015 - 05:03 PM.

[TBoneBeefSteak]

what i glean from most of this is what struck me when i went looking for old pre-OB trailers: this is NOT the Hawken which won the awards, got all the rave reviews, and what i imagine many people load up and expect to be playing---and likely a major reason they don't stay around.

knock just a little bit off the speed, fatten the armor back up, beef up the weapons, kill the tech (or alter its heal-beam into "something else"), and get those sound effects back to the old quality of instinctively tightening your grip in anticipation of the shock wave.

back to more dirt, more clutter, the atmosphere of tramping around on a dying planet.

yes, i raged in Sept 2013. it was not a Good Feeling. it's not coming back, but hopefully some of the pre-Asc Hawken can be modeled after.

 

Soon.