Mechanics Needing To Be Changed

[hardwired]

I really often died, cause i stand behind something that would be a good cover (often a box, sometines just the the edge of a higher plattform), if we could crouch. Not only as rine. As pred I would appreciate it too and the cloak is little bit more effective, if you are smaller.
Anyway there are many reasons for croach.

[Dusk]

The only problem would be the limited buttons for the Predator. But I saw something in Predator Concrete Jungle that would work perfectly. In that game, the Predator also jumped on X (PS2 controls), if you held the button, he'd crouch for a charged jump. Since in AvP we have now focus jumping, holding jump would only allow the character to crouch.

[FiveByFive]

- marine crouch
- marine iron sights (while keeping hip fire accuracy at same level)
- predator disc (first hit kill, to retrieve/call back disc uses energy, any secondary targets hit have splash damage)
- MP More SmartGun ammo 150-200 rnds, SG can only track movement
- Slightly faster alien HA or slower Pred HA
- Less effective stun against Alien (marine)
- Possibility of stun against pred when alien focus jumping on pred or marine
- Alien Focus jumping knockdown should be done from mid to max range (not only max range)
- shorter melee distance
- CoD inspired matchmaking lobby (in between ranked matches)
- lower sniper rifle hip fire accuracy
- slightly slower ceiling tail HA speed

[SoggyWorm]

I agree with them if they are all put into the game, otherwise keep the HA on the wall as an Alien the same speed. But IF all of those improvements were made then slowing it down a little wouldn't be that much of a problem.

[FiveByFive]

- marine crouch
- marine iron sights (while keeping hip fire accuracy at same level)
- predator disc (first hit kill, to retrieve/call back disc uses energy, any secondary targets hit have splash damage)
- MP More SmartGun ammo 150-200 rnds, SG can only track movement
- Slightly faster alien HA or slower Pred HA
- Less effective stun against Alien (marine)
- Possibility of stun against pred when alien focus jumping on pred or marine
- Alien Focus jumping knockdown should be done from mid to max range (not only max range)
- shorter melee distance
- CoD inspired matchmaking lobby (in between ranked matches)
- lower sniper rifle hip fire accuracy
- slightly slower ceiling tail HA speed

With marine iron sights and crouch added, new marine controller layout for xbox 360 would be as follow.

RT - primary fire
LT - aim down sights
LB + RB - Block
RB - Melee
LB - ALT Fire (zoom in/out for sniper rifle (aim through scope with LT) - double shell shotty - off/on auto aim smartgun - spray fuel for Flamer - grenade launcher for pulse rifle)
LS - movement/strafe
RS - look
LS press - sprint
RS press - crouch
A - Jump
X - Reload/use
Y (tap) - quich weapon change
Y (hold) - throw flare
B (tap) - Light
B (hold) - Stim
D-pad - detailed weapon change

Layout stays the same for Pred except for crouching - which I haven't figured out yet, except for maybe the fact that entering Focus mode( pressing LT and A would make the pred automatically crouch, releasing A would make the pred jump to the desired location, while releasing LT would only make the pred stand back up)
Layout stays the same for xeno except extra option for auto wall transition on/off AND classic alien stick to wall option (holding down RT keeps you sticking to wall/ceiling while letting go simply drops you to the floor)

[athlonix]

After a conversation with some other community sites I was knocking about some ideas, and the community felt you should hear them, please see quoted text, for the ideas, and by all means contact me if you want to.

I do appreciate that this is a completely different game to the usual, and do grasp the complexities in build such a dynamic game. I've played it a while and i'm not giving up just yet, I do feel i'm pushing myself to play it rather than gaggin at the bit to do so.

if I can give you a few examples of where I think Rebellion could have done differently/better, imho.

With Stealth Kills they take too long, if we use the alien in example, if one crept up on you rather than the drawn out kill animation the tail should puncture the torso in a quick 1-2 second animation and the alien player should be free to move about once again. At this point the victim should be still watching an animation of the whole punctured through his torso, this animation could run as long as the current one.

I feel that this has slowed gameplay down, while making it graphically entertaining. If we could speed up the gameplay it would add more tension, and more adrenaline.

The marine should have a Johny Rambo Commando knife (think of billy in Predator) and be able to do light attacks and slice a predator up, or attack an alien is diminishing damage as the Acid ruins the blade. With the games premise that the marines are well aware of xeno's you'd come with a form of hand to hand combat, not smacking them with the rifle.

The Alien should gain heavier armour with the more headbites he manages, this would reward good alien players and give them extra defence, possibly long range weapon damage reduced, and pistols be ineffective (think of Aliens where Vascass (sp?) is shooting the Xeno in the airduct with a pistol and deflections of the bullets)


Another thing that occurred to me is that in the name of balancing the predator clock switches off.

Just a thought but instead of that happening, why not make it that if a predator is in hand to hand, thinking stealth kill or trophy kill you stay cloaked, but your blades soaked in blood are visble, if you use the plasma cannon make the plasma cannon glow after use and fade out. Also I think the eyes should flash when changing vision modes.

[Valheru]

2a) People have suggested that TK's can be interrupted, by the person who instigated if there aware of someone sneaking up on them, possibly making TK's worth extra XP, but if interrupted or cancelled will negate the XP they would have gained, and only a complete TK will result in XP.

Hi Luke,

Just to clarify this point, I believe you are talking about stealth kills (SK) rather than trophy kills (TK) as you CAN interrupt a TK if you have enough health. You cannot interrupt a SK though even if you turn in time to see them before they grab you OR they are doing the dodgy run up and try to circle around for a SK (so cheap ).

Cheers!

Valheru

[athlonix]

@Valheru: yes mate you are correct my fault there getting my TK and SK round the wrong way,

[Le Celticant]

I don't like the term TK and SK to specified Stealth and Trophy Kill.
It sounds more as Typed Kill and Spawn Kill in game.
TrK and StK better I guess? Anyway, just a specification of language, not a big deal.

[Valheru]

Yeah I think you'll have to get used to TK and SK as it's what everyone generally uses throughout the whole forum...I kept thinking Team Killed for a while, adjusted now 

Cheers!

Valheru

[athlonix]

To whom it may concern;

I first like to congratulate you on the release of this title, and the success you've had in sales in the UK, and a generally good opinion by reviewers.
I myself do not have any ties to the development of games, or associated businesses but after much time on community sites I feel that I should bring forward people's concerns about your title.
I hope you will take this as a constructive criticism opposed to a bashing about all your hard work, maybe in a patch or a community update you could restore faith in the title and its IP.

Please take these notes as feedback from the community opposed to a biased view from one individual.  I hope you could respond to this e-mail with answers to these questions so I can act as an intermediary with the community, and inform them that you are indeed on the case.

1)   
One of the most talked about issues is the lack of a crouch button; on numerous occasions being able to duck down behind something would have been invaluable.  People are lost as to how such an important feature was not featured in this title.  Numerous times people have been blown apart as there in a tight position but unable to duck.
2)   
Trophy Kills, while an excellent feature it does have its drawbacks.  One of them is the 'Conga' phenomenon whereby a TK animation is running they wait till it's finished then TK the person who just finished, unfortunately online this is leading to people almost forming a queue behind the Trophy kill in progress.
2a) People have suggested that TK's can be interrupted, by the person who instigated if there aware of someone sneaking up on them, possibly making TK's worth extra XP, but if interrupted or cancelled will negate the XP they would have gained, and only a complete TK will result in XP.
2b) Also some have suggested that a 'Gears of War' style button mash to decide the fate of a Trophy killer and his/her Victim, as people are disgruntled that if you get pulled into a TK your helpless against your attacker, when in real life you'd fight back, and only Stealth kills would be without a fight, as you'd not see the killing blow coming.
3)   
People who have played the original series where disappointed that the weapons have been changed too much. 
3a) The spear is seen as a hand to hand weapon with equal damage to the wrist blades but can also be thrown if needed.
3b) Some have commented on the Disc, and how they'd like to see the disc returning to work like the original throwing it auto lock on, and if it gets stuck in a surface requires energy to return.
3c) The Flamethrower is almost classed as pointless, either make it more powerful, or possibly make it blind the person who is on fire, making them vulnerable.
3d) A few have complained about the Smart gun sound, a lot voiced wishes for the film sound to return.
        3e) Lots of people have complained about the lack of some of the favourite weapons like the net gun, and the grenade launcher, people would like to see them return.
4)   
The survivor idea was excellent but maps were criticised for being too small, and unimaginative, and definitely not enough.
People feel that this idea was rushed or held back purposefully to DLC opportunities, I think with a free update of another 4 maps would settle your sceptics and people would happily pay for more after that.
5)   
Dedicated Servers, while you say these are in the works, people are tearing you and the title to pieces out of frustration with the matchmaking system in place, you should make a statement regarding the situation and when the community should expect its arrival. An official statement will definitely settle the waves currently being made in the forums, this will also reassure people starting to distrust the statement you previously made about the dedicated servers.
6)   
Title Support, people have been reading the Gamespy article regarding your success with AVP and the sequel.  A Large majority feel that you've hung them out to dry, with no future support for the title since your already talking about a sequel.  The community feels that the title requires some work as it's not as good as the two previous titles, from balancing issues, to the lack of multiplayer maps, and additions like the extra weapons.  There is a distinct line of thought of boycotting your next title due to this one, not being what people were expecting, and that you're not supporting the title in the immediate future. 
7)   
While the community appreciate that the issue of balance is very important, one comment which keeps coming up, is that the game isn't 'Fun' anymore, you've done a great job making a new modern game, but through the lack of marine weapons, and predator weapons, to maps, and some gameplay issues it's not what the community were expecting nor are they really getting into it.  The community would like to see a game well balanced but more 'fun' I appreciate the trouble this can be to do, the consensus is that the game has been simplified too much for the casual user, which has ruined the 'feel'

PC users feel particularly disgruntled, as they are used to a much more completed feel and thought the game wasn't polished missing some of the best bits? 
Xbox/PS3 users think the game is good, but will didn't think it was fully realised.

Most comments were from PC players, but Xbox players too commented on these points too.


Thank you for taking the time to read this,
Again I hope you can respond to this or make a statement to the community
As I think you'll sort out a lot of the worries people have and regain trust lost through presumption,
Or genuine reason.


Best Regards,

Luke Taylor (Athlonix)

[Porkus Maximus]

Motion tracker picks up blips outside its 180 degree detection arc.

Alien growling constantly gives away their location - remove the sound.

Auto-transition has no way to manually detatch from surfaces without jumping to a different surface.

Manual transition is unintutive, sometimes you will auto-transition onto a wall, sometimes you need to hold transition just to move over a small bump.

Alien focus attack should do knock down when jumping from walls or ceilings.

Most maps need their player count reduced EG.  Refinery is a 12 player map but it is clearly only big enough for 6-8 players.

Some form of spawn protection is required.

Some form of spawn awareness is  needed, the game constantly spawns you in a "hot" location.  I have literally spawned right where I died on many occassions.

[MadassAlex]

Added to that, smart-spawning would be good in terms of keeping you near the heat in team-based matches, so that team members tended to spawn near other team members after death and therefore, any battle will become more focused towards a hotspot.

[MisterGone]

Spoiler

To whom it may concern;

I first like to congratulate you on the release of this title, and the success you've had in sales in the UK, and a generally good opinion by reviewers.
I myself do not have any ties to the development of games, or associated businesses but after much time on community sites I feel that I should bring forward people's concerns about your title.
I hope you will take this as a constructive criticism opposed to a bashing about all your hard work, maybe in a patch or a community update you could restore faith in the title and its IP.

Please take these notes as feedback from the community opposed to a biased view from one individual.  I hope you could respond to this e-mail with answers to these questions so I can act as an intermediary with the community, and inform them that you are indeed on the case.

1)   
One of the most talked about issues is the lack of a crouch button; on numerous occasions being able to duck down behind something would have been invaluable.  People are lost as to how such an important feature was not featured in this title.  Numerous times people have been blown apart as there in a tight position but unable to duck.
2)   
Trophy Kills, while an excellent feature it does have its drawbacks.  One of them is the 'Conga' phenomenon whereby a TK animation is running they wait till it's finished then TK the person who just finished, unfortunately online this is leading to people almost forming a queue behind the Trophy kill in progress.
2a) People have suggested that TK's can be interrupted, by the person who instigated if there aware of someone sneaking up on them, possibly making TK's worth extra XP, but if interrupted or cancelled will negate the XP they would have gained, and only a complete TK will result in XP.
2b) Also some have suggested that a 'Gears of War' style button mash to decide the fate of a Trophy killer and his/her Victim, as people are disgruntled that if you get pulled into a TK your helpless against your attacker, when in real life you'd fight back, and only Stealth kills would be without a fight, as you'd not see the killing blow coming.
3)   
People who have played the original series where disappointed that the weapons have been changed too much. 
3a) The spear is seen as a hand to hand weapon with equal damage to the wrist blades but can also be thrown if needed.
3b) Some have commented on the Disc, and how they'd like to see the disc returning to work like the original throwing it auto lock on, and if it gets stuck in a surface requires energy to return.
3c) The Flamethrower is almost classed as pointless, either make it more powerful, or possibly make it blind the person who is on fire, making them vulnerable.
3d) A few have complained about the Smart gun sound, a lot voiced wishes for the film sound to return.
        3e) Lots of people have complained about the lack of some of the favourite weapons like the net gun, and the grenade launcher, people would like to see them return.
4)   
The survivor idea was excellent but maps were criticised for being too small, and unimaginative, and definitely not enough.
People feel that this idea was rushed or held back purposefully to DLC opportunities, I think with a free update of another 4 maps would settle your sceptics and people would happily pay for more after that.
5)   
Dedicated Servers, while you say these are in the works, people are tearing you and the title to pieces out of frustration with the matchmaking system in place, you should make a statement regarding the situation and when the community should expect its arrival. An official statement will definitely settle the waves currently being made in the forums, this will also reassure people starting to distrust the statement you previously made about the dedicated servers.
6)   
Title Support, people have been reading the Gamespy article regarding your success with AVP and the sequel.  A Large majority feel that you've hung them out to dry, with no future support for the title since your already talking about a sequel.  The community feels that the title requires some work as it's not as good as the two previous titles, from balancing issues, to the lack of multiplayer maps, and additions like the extra weapons.  There is a distinct line of thought of boycotting your next title due to this one, not being what people were expecting, and that you're not supporting the title in the immediate future. 
7)   
While the community appreciate that the issue of balance is very important, one comment which keeps coming up, is that the game isn't 'Fun' anymore, you've done a great job making a new modern game, but through the lack of marine weapons, and predator weapons, to maps, and some gameplay issues it's not what the community were expecting nor are they really getting into it.  The community would like to see a game well balanced but more 'fun' I appreciate the trouble this can be to do, the consensus is that the game has been simplified too much for the casual user, which has ruined the 'feel'

PC users feel particularly disgruntled, as they are used to a much more completed feel and thought the game wasn't polished missing some of the best bits? 
Xbox/PS3 users think the game is good, but will didn't think it was fully realised.

Most comments were from PC players, but Xbox players too commented on these points too.


Thank you for taking the time to read this,
Again I hope you can respond to this or make a statement to the community
As I think you'll sort out a lot of the worries people have and regain trust lost through presumption,
Or genuine reason.


Best Regards,

Luke Taylor (Athlonix)

[close]

Signed by a PS3 player

[Adey]

@porkusmaximus no one can hear your alien hiss only you (REB) trigger mentioned this, the hisses you hear are artificial they added them for atmosphere