Further sharing my experience as the Predator in hope the devs can figure out a way to make a little more fun.
So I was playing the Hunter Pred on Overgrowth. Started the match, found the team. I wish I had recorded this (I tried but I’m on a laptop and had to abandon as my framerate dropped HARD) because I think it was the best match I played as the Predator.
I spotted them right away, circled around from behind and started pelting them with caster shots. Nailing almost every one. They ran to the Stargazer base and huddled up under the roof. I hit them with s slam just to let them know I wasn’t gonna let them hide the whole match. I moved back and started taking caster shots again. Got a down, re-positioned to flank, threw my spear, another down.
They got the message and started staying together. Slowed them down a bit. I had only taken maybe 1/8 damage at this point. I grabbed a pig just to top off and then started the hit and run. I saw my first opportunity when their support ran off on his own. Swept in, netted him, sliced him to pieces, got the claim and got out without a single bit of damage taken. Leapt away and started chipping with the caster again.
For some reason, their reinforce opportunity showed up about 10 feet away (this shouldn’t happen, reinforce should always show up at the furthest location on the map) and they had a full team again. They were standing near some barrels so I got another down by blasting the barrels with a fully charged caster shot. I saw a skull so at least I had ONE of them on their last leg.
So at this point, I’ve downed them 6 or 7 times, and healed once (I didn’t even need to). I was KILLIN it. I was also having so much fun actually playing like the Predator! Really causing chaos and panic among the team. I was a ghost and they couldn’t do shit! BUT…Whats this!? They’re running away…don’t tell me…THEY ALREADY COMPLETED THEIR MISSION!? There’s still like 7 minutes on the clock!
So despite not giving them a second to breath, despite hitting every shot spear and net, despite downing each of them at least once and one of them 3 times and killing one within 6 minutes, I’m now out of time to hunt because their mission took 3 minutes to complete, they had reinforcements spawn right next to them, and getting downed holds no real consequences.
So I end up doing the stupid melee spam rush at the chopper and down 3 while the last escapes. Yet another match ending with a melee rush where I’m either gonna wipe the team (or most of them) or get melted.
So, here’s what I think:
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Missions need to be WAY more involved and take more time. This is nothing new and you’ve heard this before but it bears repeating. Maybe a quick-time type thing like filling the gas tank or repairing something in F13. More code matching like when diffusing the Pred’s self destruct. Things like that would slow things down AND be a lot more interesting to complete. Imagine trying to focus on matching symbols or completing a quick-time when you hear your team open fire and the Pred closing in…
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Fireteam is too fast. I talked about this in another post. They can run down a retreating Pred on foot. They shouldn’t be capable of that. Danny Glover could barely keep up in a car. Slowing them down stops them hunting the Pred and also extends the match. Another option is giving them an “injury penalty” after being downed. Like a stamina cap, and movement speed reduction. This would make them softer against melee because they can’t parry as often, and slower so they can’t fly across the map. It also allows the Pred to feel like he has an impact and reason to chip away instead of just rushing in. He can set himself up to be more likely successful in a melee attack. He’s also more likely to engage earlier to slow them down and the game is at it’s best when fighting the Pred.
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Reinforcements should always spawn at the furthest possible location from the team.
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Missions should require the team to visit multiple locations across the map. They should never be isolated to one location. This is what happened in the match I played. It took no time because they never had to leave the Stargazer base to complete it.
I’d love you forever for these changes. Please and thank you!