Game Balance (from a lvl 100)

#1

[UPDATE: Since i played more Predator (10min queue time is amazing) i have to say Predator can be very strong but only if you choose the right stuff and have some experience, the main problem is probably that there is a lot of weak stuff to choose from and only a few good things.]

I see a lot from the vision you have for this game and i like it.
But from a competitive point of view, i would argue [many aspects of] predators are to weak. And that is (to a point) ok, right now Predator is in my opinion not the power role, what is fine, since you probably envisioned it that way. Anyway there are still some things that could be improved either way. I am going to focus mostly on the Predator side in this thread.

For me Predator is across the board kind of a side entity, present but not dominating. If played correctly that can change but its a difficult spot. Because there are many things that come in its way of performing in a certain role:

Time: A Match can be over in around 6 minutes if uninterrupted by the Predator, depending on the map, the mission, the Fireteam and also how often the Predator engages with the Fireteam.
The Predator can engage a stale point, so that the match goes on a little longer. But he lacks in control to really force the Fireteam to loose enough time.

Stealth: This is a big point, the Predator is very loud, footsteps can be heard very clear also his shitter shatter or vocal mumbling sounds give him away quite easily so its hard to get a jump on unsuspecting victims. His Invisibility while moving is mostly useless against human players, if standing still it has its uses.

Health: There are so many ways to heal for the Fireteam, that it makes damaging someone useless, either the Predator downs them or it has no use since the health will be back to full in no time. The Predator on the other hand has limited health and has no other choice but to take the healing item if he wants to do something.

Orientation: Since the Predator has no clue which mission is played on the map right now, he cant reliably place traps in advance, only guess if this position will be used. Also since he doesn’t start earlier in the match as the Fireteam he has no time to prepare, the time starts ticking right away. It would be good to have some kind of objective highlight or something similar as to not wander around aimlessly until someone shoots or start earlier than the Fireteam.

Second Wind: Since the Predator cant jump or climb or attack/defend himself in this state, he is easy prey for fast classes. A faster Second Wind movement speed for all Predator classes would be appreciated.

Competitive Power: Good weapons from the Fireteam are way superior to good Predator weapons, even though Predator is 1 vs 4, he has not many easy down options in his Arsenal. A sniper rifle vs a bow makes range fights hard for the Predator, since his stealth can be easily seen and most range weapons don’t kill fast enough. There should be more one hit down options for the predator like a head shot with a bow or a thrown spear.

Weapons: Most of Predators weapons are pretty weak:
• War Club´s rate of fire makes its time to kill to slow in comparison with other weapons.
• Disc: for its slow flying speed and short flight duration, coupled with its nature of not returing to the predator, its damage is to low, i would like to have a faster flying disc with more travel time.
• Bow: is in a better place than most other weapons but still does in my opinion to little damage for its projectile speed and drop. When i hit a long range head shot followed by a body shot and my enemy is not lying on the floor its kind of unsatisfying especially since the Fireteam can heal so easily.
• Handheld Plasma Caster, seems like it does to little damage.
• Sword: time to kill is a little to slow.

Suggestion: Decide what kind of role predator should play and improve things accordingly.
• Tactical: Better Traps, more match time, objective highlights.
• Stealth: Make his footsteps very quiet, make the cloak/invisibility while moving harder to see, decrease vocal sounds.
• Power role: Buff weapons, health and second wind speed, increase healing item count.
• Resource Management: Reduce Fireteams resources like healing and ammo items, make the Predator start before the fire team to destroy healing items and lay traps.

There are probably more aspects of Predator gameplay but that should be it for now.

9 Likes
#2

Dont get me wrong i like to have a challenge and do like that you are forced to play tactical as Predator. But as it stands right now that kind of gameplay needs something to work better, for example it would change a lot to reduce Fireteams Healing and Ammo item count and make the interaction speed for objectives longer, make missions a little longer in general.

1 Like
#3

a lot of these sound simaler to mine though albeit i was a bit more blunt due to actually knowing values all of these sound find though i’m not sure if second wind actually needs adjustments due to the marine infinite stamina bug.

#4

I’m only lvl 80(without double xp) and I 100% agree with this, I play both sides of the fence and I feel the fireteam deals so much damage, at rangers greater than bout 50 meters the predator cloak is just grey, making it easy to spot him, the current setup makes a ranged predator nearly impossible, their damage versus predators at range gives them a massive advantage with how easily detectable predator is, two headshots with the 7EN or the SAWZ removes the mask, 3 with protection, so a sniper on the fireteam against a range predator is more or less game over because of the ease of detection coupled with the predator being unable to fire while moving at anything other than a crawl, in melee the fireteam wins if they are all able to parry.

A few changes I would personally like to see

-disc rework: it’s too slow for the minimal damage it deals, but speeding it up makes it so much harder to control, so leave the damage and speed as is, make it a fire and forget weapon(or give it a FAF fire mode), give the targeting a 2-3 second lock on period(only on targets who arent fully mudded) and then make an elliptical trajectory to the target and back, wouldn’t work in closed quarter only in the open, would give us an opportunity to use it as both a distraction and initiation.

-increase AI damage and numbers:not massively, but enough to make it so the fireteam doesnt ignore them when a predator engages, one of the few openings predator has is while the fireteam is engaging with AI, but they immediately ignore them and focus on the predator because the AI isnt enough of a threat.

-greatly reduced ability for fireteam to heal

-a plasmacaster lock on targets that arent fully muddied

-a plasmacaster that doesnt detonate on the twig that apparently is a foot away from the predator dealing self damage and lighting up where he fired from

1 Like
#5

Yeah the plasmacaster exploding on leaves, twigs and bushes could easily be fixed by editing the collision matrix, in other words make it so that the plasma projectiles dont collide with objects that are on the bush layer.

2 Likes
#6

I agree, right now the AI is most of the time not worth considering for the Fireteam, they are no real danger, increasing their numbers and damage would have a positive impact.

#7

The game balancing does need some work, I won a few times with predator but God fire team is way to powerful. Like give predator more health or make his weapons alot more deadly. I understand he not suppose to be unstoppable but he shouldn’t be weaker then fireteam.

1 Like
#8

Also some custom control options would be nice, for example 1 2 3 4 for predator weapons, parkour on a different button as jump as to not accidentally climb up a tree instead of jumping. Muting and Report at endgame screen, mute all players in lobby and so on.

#9

This may sound stupid to you but, make a health buff where the Hunter Predator Class has almost* the same health as the Berserker Class and then increase the Berserker health accordingly; same with the Scout Class.

#10

UPDATE
It seems if you play the strongest builds in either role and you do it good you only win, at least for me its like that.

I havent played that much Predator on my road to lvl 100 because well 10min queue with bad stuff on Predator since most wasnt unlocked aswell as XP boost that runs out. I basically only won in my Fireteam matches, now that i played more Predator, i have to say, the right build is pretty OP aswell.

I think the disparity between good perks and items and bad ones is huge in this game. But if you know what you do, and pick the right stuff, you win with both all the time.

1 Like
#11

I would say a major buff to predator would be his main plasma casters shots cut through the foliage. Right now with the awkward way you have to stand still and hold it for decent damage it get too big and hits tony limbs and twigs. Would be cool if they made it like the 2010 avp game did. I believe it locked onto people if you held it on someone long enough

#12

I think the P.C. and the Disc should both lock onto targets that aren’t fully mudded, so in an extended skirmish if you can keep them from getting the chance to mud you gain the advantage as the skirmish continues

#13

All great ideas and great response from other people replying. Finally a post worthy of reading the walls of words…

Well done !!!

1 Like
#14

can we get a fucking nerf on the combi stick? like, an actual nerf? lower attack speed as well as lower damage numbers. i haven’t lost a single match since i unlocked it(at least 12 games now) and i’ve ended all the games in under 3 minutes. the fireteam has no counter to it at all and it’s honestly just not fun for either side at this point.

don’t get me wrong, i like winning, but i like at least having illusion that there’s some kind of challenge. on the flip side, being a fireteam member is pointless. unless the pred player is absolute ass, it’s impossible to win lol

#15

Parry > combi, I run with a premade fireteam and melee predators lose 99% of games against us, because of parry

1 Like
#16

It’s fine where it is. Fireteam’s that know how to parry will destroy you.

#17

i mean, it’s really not lol but, hey, for the 5% of people that say it’s ok, then sure. if i’m able to absolutely dominate with the pred then there’s 100% something wrong lol

#18

That will change when the majority figure out all they have to do is bunch up on you and knife spam

2 Likes
#19

Yeah the parry in my opinion needs some kind of balancing debuff or just throw out all predator melee weapons as it does make having melee weapons completely pointless and then you’ll have nothing but plasma caster spammers both hand and shoulder, that’s what I’m gonna do: net and plasma to death then parrying won’t be so fun XD

1 Like
#20

Yeah its one of predators strongest weapons, but as Fireteam i also basically always win and that with randoms and without using voice chat. I kinda shred Predators in 1vs1 close range. So yeah there are op builds on Fireteam side aswell as on Predator side and if Fireteam consists of 4 of those op builds yeah thats though if they somewhat stay together.