The Multiplayer previews/Hands-on Thread (Footage inside)

[PrimalDragon]

hears a new video

[randy4321]

I hope and wish there will be an option for weapon pickups or already having them for certain games or private matches, I mean player matches need some fun iin them too =P besides not starting out with the caster is like not having a BR in halo 3 for team slayer =\ but whatever..

[MadassAlex]

Energy does slowly replenish.

[Spaghetti]

It does annoy me that the pred doesn't start off with at least the shoulder cannon, peevs almost as much as the Alien not having the best melee.

[Eidotemit]

Energy does slowly replenish.

You bet you ass it does!

...that was a test! Congratulations, you win!

[MadassAlex]

I

uh

thank you?

[Weasel]

Energy boxes repair themselves, I believe, and if the area is being camped, it honestly just makes it easier for you to know the enemy's position.

Knowing the enemy position, when your out of energy? Doesn't really help your situation.

Rebellion's own word. From the videos we've seen, too, Predators kill Aliens in two light melee attacks.

And we've seen aliens decimating predators and humans just as easily.

And despite this, Predators were topping the games we've seen so far. Also note that most Predator players from the videos we've seen rarely touched any weapon that wasn't the wristblades, despite beginning with all of them.

They are topping because marines are underpowered and because people don't know how to play aliens. At any rate, we've seen one predator multiplayer video and that it is. He spent his time playing marine, as it shows that he has 3 marine videos and two short predator and alien videos. It's not a question of power, it's a question of not having the predator limited to simply one weapon. That the predator doesn't become a super tough melee class but actually can hunt from a range and use weapons that aren't connected to his wrists.

The Marine pulse rifle is likely to be the most flexible weapon in the game and the Marine begins with over 300 rounds of ammo for it.

Besides, you still have future tech - the cloak and mask.

More standard of a weapon that wristblades are at least, and it's not like the cloak does as much helping as you think it does. Useless against aliens, and humans will know where you are if they are watching their motion tracker. Not only that, but it disables every time you use a weapon.

Nothing wrong with Marine pulse rifle. Using anything else is just personal preference, unless it's the smartgun, apparently.

We'll have to see about the spawn zones, but I highly doubt there will only be one caster spawn area on a map. As long as you approach the zones knowing that they'll probably be camped (like any tactically significant area in any game), you can preempt attacks.

Weapons personal preference? Is using the alien tail as a mix up when fighting a "personal preference?" You need these weapons to last longer in these battles. The predator not starting with the plasma caster is a mockery of the predator. It's not some preference the have the iconic weapon. It's like if the marine didn't start with the pulse rifle or the alien couldn't use its tail.

Actually, I'm looking forward to playing the Predator almost as much as the Alien, which says a lot given I'm not a big fan of the Predator. If anything, in the previous games he resembled playing a human too much and this is the first time that actually using the movies as an example of how to play the Predator will be viable.

If it were down to my decision, I'd have the Predator spawn with his plasma caster, but not having it at spawn isn't the end of the world.

True that the jump mechanic adds a new level of predator depth, I doubt you'll get that same feeling from the MP as you'd get from the SP. The SP you get access you all the weapons, especially the plasma caster. I expect the SP to be incredible for all species, because it's not lacking in any aspect. It's not taking away your weapons for "balance" purposes. Not having the plasma caster just shows what Rebellion is trying to make of the series. A weak marine, and turning the predator into a mindless melee juggernaut.

[MadassAlex]

Knowing the enemy position, when your out of energy? Doesn't really help your situation.

Yes it does, because cloaking doesn't require energy so you can still sneak up on Marines and your melee is better than Alien melee so you can defeat them, too, if you don't let them sneak up on you. 

And we've seen aliens decimating predators and humans just as easily.

Mostly from behind. As for front-on battles, Predators have mostly dominated those.

They are topping because marines are underpowered and because people don't know how to play aliens. At any rate, we've seen one predator multiplayer video and that it is. He spent his time playing marine, as it shows that he has 3 marine videos and two short predator and alien videos.

Actually, those are just Hicks' videos. There's a fair few others that have leaked depicting multiplayer battles from the perspectives of all the species.

It's not a question of power, it's a question of not having the predator limited to simply one weapon. That the predator doesn't become a super tough melee class but actually can hunt from a range and use weapons that aren't connected to his wrists.

The Predator isn't super-tough anymore, though. It's become both more agile and more mortal, relying on clever positioning and time management to make kills.

More standard of a weapon that wristblades are at least, and it's not like the cloak does as much helping as you think it does. Useless against aliens, and humans will know where you are if they are watching their motion tracker. Not only that, but it disables every time you use a weapon.

Humans won't know if you're a hiding Alien or invisible Pred, though, and therefore can't react appropriately to your presence. Decloaking after an attack is meant to be punishment if you mess up.

Weapons personal preference? Is using the alien tail as a mix up when fighting a "personal preference?" You need these weapons to last longer in these battles. The predator not starting with the plasma caster is a mockery of the predator. It's not some preference the have the iconic weapon. It's like if the marine didn't start with the pulse rifle or the alien couldn't use its tail.

I was talking about Marine weapons rather than anything general. What I meant to say was that, apart from the smartgun, it doesn't look like any Marine weapon is really any better than the pulse rifle, so they aren't disadvantaged at all.

True that the jump mechanic adds a new level of predator depth, I doubt you'll get that same feeling from the MP as you'd get from the SP. The SP you get access you all the weapons, especially the plasma caster. I expect the SP to be incredible for all species, because it's not lacking in any aspect. It's not taking away your weapons for "balance" purposes. Not having the plasma caster just shows what Rebellion is trying to make of the series. A weak marine, and turning the predator into a mindless melee juggernaut.

It isn't mindless, because you can't afford to be mindless. With your new vulnerability to attacks, you have to be sure of what you're doing. No going in blades flailing.

Just because you start with one weapon doesn't mean there's only one approach to the situation. The Predator is massively flexible, so if you take advantage of that, you'll see options open up to you even without extra weapons. Especially against Marines.

[Tomar]

Guys what we see from the Expo are videos that depict a somewhat "linear model" cause you will never have the dynamics of thousand players online with various different backgrounds duking it out in various MP modes and or various ways of combat!

This even more so is correct cause currently no one over there can consider himself already to be a top end gamer so any talk about saying a Predator wins currently in head on fights with aliens in most cases, is kind of redundant cause this will only show when the game starts up to show its broad arsenal of MP options for the wide masses out there in big servers with up to 18 players! The longer the server game time is per level the more it will show for whom of the three species the game leans more too and the longer the game is out the faster we will get better at it and the faster there will "pop-up" good players that really can determine what is correct and what not!

However with the current course of action that Rebellion is doing I as well as every non-braindead dude can assure you that this game is not heading a good way in MP. Actually it is heading a quite similar way in MP that it originated from namely AvP 1 cause quite frankly the devs have made a better gfx'ed AvP 1 with the latest installment. At this point we ALL need to be dead honest and say how much loved this MP was in the first installment of the series namely AvP 1s MP and how it worked for the Predator and fared in general in comparison to the MP of AvP 2. Well, we all know the answer to this, don't we?!

Obviously AvP 2 earned the lions share there due to being way more predator friendly while at the same time trying to keep the balance in mix with canon as good and fair as possible with ALL three species - and all this including corps, which we could consider as an additional difficult task for the overall balancing (with some exceptions like stunning which I personally also disliked but the devs @ Monolith at least made the game enjoyable from ALL sides while the latest installment will definitly not go this way!).

There is no denying in that and currently I see the game as rather half-made instead of already polished and ready to be released in the MP part (either in form of a MP demo or the retail game) cause if this game would be released by Rebellion they would just have made the Predator a second time useless and certainly not used that much and thats exactly what would happen! Not a good and certainly not wise course of action if we consider that there will be quite a few Predator fans out there that want their race to be used as much like it is depicted in the movies as possible if the balance allows, though of course the Predator should NOT be exactly like in the movies cause then he would always win but he should be very carefully balanced and those guys from the balancing team should think about nearly every consequence when they add and or delete something, especially regarding the Predator cause he is somewhat the most complex character to be used via MP.

However they have rather scrapped this careful course of action and used the nerf bat simply to tone him down with the argumentation of making him more tactical to use which some of you seem to believe but the problem is that no one actually seems to notice that the Predator is going nowhere this way cause NO serious player will use him ANYMORE in MP cause its simply imbalanced instead of challenging and way more frustruated then fun to play him!

This what I wrote in the previous sentence will especially show itself the more top players rise!

Anyway its Rebellions sales not mine that will quite certainly be diminished when the game hits the shelves but how many times did I say this ... .

[MadassAlex]

At this point we ALL need to be dead honest and say how much loved this MP was in the first installment of the series namely AvP 1s MP and how it worked for the Predator and fared in general in comparison to the MP of AvP 2. Well, we all know the answer to this, don't we?!

though of course the Predator should NOT be exactly like in the movies cause then he would always win

Nothing personal, because you're a good dude and I enjoy debating with you, but you're ridiculously biased concerning this.

Nothing in the Predator or Alien vs Predator movies suggest that a Predator should outright defeat either the Aliens or Marines outright.

In AvP2, Predators absolutely dominated. That was not balance.

[Private W Hudson]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SNGRQDLg8Q

hears a new video

Woah nice find thats great quality best marine footage so far

[Tomar]

At this point we ALL need to be dead honest and say how much loved this MP was in the first installment of the series namely AvP 1s MP and how it worked for the Predator and fared in general in comparison to the MP of AvP 2. Well, we all know the answer to this, don't we?!

though of course the Predator should NOT be exactly like in the movies cause then he would always win

Nothing personal, because you're a good dude and I enjoy debating with you, but you're ridiculously biased concerning this.

Nothing in the Predator or Alien vs Predator movies suggest that a Predator should outright defeat either the Aliens or Marines outright.

In AvP2, Predators absolutely dominated. That was not balance.

No, I am not biased but I just tell you from my personal experience regarding the predecessor games to what we have seen in the latest installment.

But if you think that a Predator absolutely dominated in AvP 2, then you have not met good human players that now how to use the sniper, pulse or Minigun in skillful excellence - or any good Predalien/Runner player for that matter . As you see I count for marine at least three quite skillful weapons up which all are used in MP, one more one less but it seems for me that in the latest installment the Pulse will be the one to go but there I could of course be very wrong ... just the future will tell us how it will work out, unfortunately til then the game will already be doomed ... cause Rebellion never listens to us!

When I go into servers like Insanity or Ravens Nest I rarely see Predator players in the top of the scoring board (mostly humans or aliens - go yourself to those server and you will see and experience yourself what I mean) and even if they are cause a very good player plays them then it is still very hard and a difficult task for him to keep the Predator still up in the scoring board cause the others can frag as fast as the one top Predator can do .

You know its not only to get up there but also to keep yourself in the top position for the entire length of the servers current MP map and this can sometimes mean especially as Predator an extraordinary amount of top skill being used non-stop while marines can have it easier, although even need to use quite a lot of skill to keep up but they have more direct damage weapons which make the job a little easier and the alien, ... well just stun him and dodge his attacks while your pounce and or claws do the rest and he is gone .

This comes from someone who knows this and have experienced it hundreds of times in various servers either from myself or from other players, with multiple good clan players around .

[Weasel]

Knowing the enemy position, when your out of energy? Doesn't really help your situation.

Yes it does, because cloaking doesn't require energy so you can still sneak up on Marines and your melee is better than Alien melee so you can defeat them, too, if you don't let them sneak up on you.  



Not going to help if you are nearly dead and are out of energy and can't heal yourself.

Mostly from behind. As for front-on battles, Predators have mostly dominated those.

Haha, you've obviously not been watching the videos. We see a predator get owned head on with a few well aimed strikes of an alien.

Actually, those are just Hicks' videos. There's a fair few others that have leaked depicting multiplayer battles from the perspectives of all the species.

I'd like to see those, because all I've seen of pred multiplayer is what Hicks has shown and told us from his first hand experience.

The Predator isn't super-tough anymore, though. It's become both more agile and more mortal, relying on clever positioning and time management to make kills.

How? All I see is people tromping around using melee and that's how the predator is portrayed now. A big brute with lots of health and a good melee. There is no skill and tact to starting with only a melee weapon.

Humans won't know if you're a hiding Alien or invisible Pred, though, and therefore can't react appropriately to your presence. Decloaking after an attack is meant to be punishment if you mess up.

Like I said, imbalance. And again an imbalance on the predator side. Canonically predators shouldn't decloak after attacking, and whats more its not a "punishment" for "messing up" usually it takes more than one shot/hit to kill something. Cloaking is rebellions idiotic idea of "balance" and they've even commented on this.

I was talking about Marine weapons rather than anything general. What I meant to say was that, apart from the smartgun, it doesn't look like any Marine weapon is really any better than the pulse rifle, so they aren't disadvantaged at all.

Uh, I'm sure every Marine would rather be holding a flame thrower rather than a smartgun. They're disadvantaged already with the lack of execution kills, lower life than predator, no agility (cannot jump to escape like predator or crawl like alien) and don't have as advanced vision mode. Look at that most recent marine video. He gets f**king slaughtered.

It isn't mindless, because you can't afford to be mindless. With your new vulnerability to attacks, you have to be sure of what you're doing. No going in blades flailing.

Just because you start with one weapon doesn't mean there's only one approach to the situation. The Predator is massively flexible, so if you take advantage of that, you'll see options open up to you even without extra weapons. Especially against Marines.

Obviously smart players will use the jump to their advantage, but this game isn't going to be filled with veterans. We're all starting out as noobs, and average players are going to play the game like it's made. A predator, with only melee, and then having to search for weapons. Sure you can be a mindless newbie. Predators got health, and "the most powerful melee" (something you've yet to shown anyone the source on, but swear it to be the utmost truth). Limiting the predator to another simple melee alien akin to the xenomorph.

[Chris!(($$))!]

Can you use less smileys Tomar. Having them in EVERY paragraph is unnecessary. Sorry it just gets irritating. Anyways as to what I have seen in the videos I think we should wait until we see some more experienced people playing. I do not think most of the gamers playing could get used to the balance and enemies of the game quick enough.

[Tomar]

Can you use less smileys Tomar. Having them in EVERY paragraph is unnecessary. Sorry it just gets irritating. Anyways as to what I have seen in the videos I think we should wait until we see some more experienced people playing. I do not think most of the gamers playing could get used to the balance and enemies of the game quick enough.

Sorry Chris.

Yep I agree with you here but if we wait to long (as if it is not already too late) the less of a chance will be there for any vital change cause the changes need to be done NOW or should I say since 2 months as we first saw the Predator in the E3 walkthrough.