Which Predator will be October's Paid DLC?

Started by RidgeTop, Sep 05, 2021, 12:54:01 AM

Place your bets...

Tiki (Datamined Original Pred class name)
1 (9.1%)
Mr. Black
7 (63.6%)
Falconer
1 (9.1%)
Scar
1 (9.1%)
Fugitive
1 (9.1%)
Celtic
0 (0%)
Wolf
0 (0%)
Ahab
0 (0%)
Scarface
0 (0%)
Some other original Predator
0 (0%)
Some other EU Predator
0 (0%)

Total Members Voted: 11

Voting closed: Oct 15, 2021, 12:54:01 AM

Author
Which Predator will be October's Paid DLC? (Read 15,557 times)

Mr.Turok

Mr.Turok

#45
Quote from: Voodoo Magic on Oct 27, 2021, 12:44:40 PM
The shape of the game is still great on PS. As someone who plays 4-5 days a week consistently, the playerbase is still there - pre & post the PS Promotion, and I'm still having a blast. I met/joined party/friended a group of players just last night. Still 30 second wait times for Fireteams. That's never changed. We never have a need for a bot unless someone drops. (I love that you can take over for a bot though.) Clash is healthy too. The map count is where it needs to be - no one is complaining anymore for more maps. The balance is the best it's been. And bugs are at a minimum.

And that's where this discussion begins. Unfortunately the shift of balance for this game favors Fireteam, and I say this as a Fireteam main with some Predator on the side. Various discords have tested and dissected how the numbers in terms of stats, damage, classes, tools, perks, and weaponry had always been very solid for the side of Fireteam due to such variables. When that is the meta of the game, then its no longer Predator Hunting Grounds, its Fireteam Hunting Grounds. Thats why the name Fireteam Hunting Grounds is such a meme in the community as its just too easy to take down a Predator when the point is being that the Predator is supposed to be something to get excited about facing, not just fun shooting practice. It isn't really fun when most Predator players are melee rushers that can easily be countered with parry and then shot down by the rest of the Fireteam in seconds. I don't want easy wins, I want challenging fun. It doesn't have to be competitive but it has to be engaging, and its not right now when the meta is melee rushing Predators that have no strategy to their gameplay and random Fireteam members that have no idea what is gong on 99% of the time.

Oh and bugs still exist, such as the fact that Predators were supposed to be able to cancel pig eating since the day 1 patch but it doesn't work



So it was never supposed to be this "risk tactic" but just a non functional interaction that Predators currently have but cannot get to work. When you have 7ways of Fireteam to revive and heal themselves, through health synergies, health packs, health packs throughout the map, health syringes found in ammo crates, the Field Medic Specialization that revives in seconds with the addition of 3/4ths health boost, Bots being able to revive players, and Bots being over taken by players compared to the only three ways of Predator to heal, via health syringes of their own, pig eating, and Second Wind.  You are limited to two heals, Second Wind has a long recharge time, and one leaves you extremely vulnerable to find and eat one, as they always spawn near Fireteam and there is no way to defend yourself from Fireteam ambush.

When Fireteam has 7 ways to come back from death, compared to 3 ways the Predator has, the balance is completely unfair, how is that justified? 

Quote from: Voodoo Magic on Oct 27, 2021, 12:44:40 PM
I do feel bad for the PC players though. Apparently their side was the necessity for the bots from what I read on the Illfonic forums. And as much as some PC players would not like to believe, PS players in this community, myself, PS players outside the community, I keep asking, I make it a point to ask, and more than not check their crossplay off (including me). "I don't wanna play with no f'n PC players"... because there's an advantage with fps on PC. PS players are the lionshare of the playerbase and most are pretty smart when it comes to that imbalance. And the in-game option to turn that off isn't hidden.

Aim assist doesn't even exist for us PS players. While its not a full solution to the problem of PC vs Console, it sure as hell would mitigate how terrible aim most players have in this game. Very rarely do I see any who got good aim, and somehow in other PFS games, this isn't the case. Aim assist would definitely help relive some struggle of the PS players.

Quote from: Samhain13 on Oct 27, 2021, 02:46:01 PM
Quote from: Mr.Turok on Oct 27, 2021, 02:11:36 AM
So instead of taking advantage of more people discovering bugs that can damage gameplay that can easily be reported at the time for Illfonic to fix, thus improving their product for all to enjoy.......they care about image above all else?   :P

Little wonder the shape of the game currently.

Also they don't like working on weekends.

Very understandable, people gotta take breaks which is fair enough.

Voodoo Magic

Quote from: Mr.Turok on Oct 27, 2021, 06:19:53 PM
And that's where this discussion begins. Unfortunately the shift of balance for this game favors Fireteam, and I say this as a Fireteam main with some Predator on the side. Various discords have tested and dissected how the numbers in terms of stats, damage, classes, tools, perks, and weaponry had always been very solid for the side of Fireteam due to such variables. When that is the meta of the game, then its no longer Predator Hunting Grounds, its Fireteam Hunting Grounds. Thats why the name Fireteam Hunting Grounds is such a meme in the community as its just too easy to take down a Predator when the point is being that the Predator is supposed to be something to get excited about facing, not just fun shooting practice.

Ahhhh, I see the disconnect here. You want a different game. Let me turn your perspective on its head for a moment.

The way Predator: Hunting Grounds is currently balanced is what it was designed to be.

Let that soak in a minute.  :)

Illfonic's CEO Charles Brungardt and CCO Jared Gerritzen said on our very own AvPGalaxy podcast they wanted to break game design rules with "Predator: Hunting Grounds" where often in a match no one fully wins in the traditional sense. Where winning wasn't black and white. Where in a single match, half the Fireteam can win (escape to the chopper), half of the Fireteam can lose (taken as trophies) and the Predator partially wins and everyone gets points. That it's not competitive based multiplayer, but community based.

And this is important:  Charles and Jared said they wanted to flip tables where the Hunter becomes the Hunted, where this Elite Fireteam can be a stronger force than the Predator if they work together. Where a Predator is not a God. That it bleeds. Where it can be stressful to be a Predator. A game where the Predator has to be tactical to accomplish goals. And a game where the Predator doesn't need to down all four fireteam players as trophies to win. A game where you can be successful claiming one or two.

So I think what you are complaining about is actually not that the game is broken in any way, but rather you wish it was designed another way.  :)

---

P.S. I'd say 99 times out of 100 I never die as a Predator against good Fireteams. But 99 out of 100 I don't claim all four trophies for my belt either. :)

Samhain13

Samhain13

#47
And 9 out of 10 times on public games I kill the Predator 1v1 before the others even get a chance to see him. I literally run on the direction I hear him away from the others, then shoot him into second wind before he can outdamage me, chase him down and game over. Fireteam wasn't as easy as this back then, in the few weeks before they added specializations on the game, it was at its most balanced.

The reason the game is the way it is now is because they balanced the game around the possibilty of people having bad teammates on a match, so they increases the damage per second of the fireteam to make it so you don't need 4 good ft players to kill a good predator player. And since most players miss most shots, they increased the damage per bullets so that when they hit it makes something.

Illfonic has a fireteam bias, probably related to them not being good at playing first person shooters that is taken in consideration while balancing. They don't even play as Predator at all, just watch their streams, they cant play as Predator well. I played once with a Illfonic developer. He did 0 damage of course. That's why they added so many cheap assistance mechanics to the fireteam and nerfed Predator over so many patches.

The game was not balanced around having all players of the same skill level on a match, but around bad players.

Voodoo Magic

Well, "Fireteam bias"  :laugh: or whatever you want to call it, it's by design. If you guys need a link to the podcast, let me know.

Unfortunately, there's nothing we can do about bad Fireteam and Predator players. Perhaps split matches in two available searches, normal... and Elite Matches, with a 150 level requirement to unlock it? Sure Elite will likely have longer wait times, but some might find it worth it. :)

RidgeTop


Voodoo Magic


RidgeTop

Alright who had their money on Tiki?

Voodoo Magic

NIGHT MAPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


The Necronoir

Quote from: RidgeTop on Oct 28, 2021, 02:34:20 PM
Alright who had their money on Tiki?

Mine was on Falconer, so I was partially right, maybe?

Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing what you can do with the new night variants of the maps, Ridge Top. Should make for some atmospheric screen captures!

Voodoo Magic

Yeah, RidgeTop will be able to snap some real beauties I bet.




I think we may just have Single Player Predator matches now!


  • Fireteam Bots will now chase after the Predator if the Predator is the only player in the match

RidgeTop

I've been doing some photo scouting already!

Odd thing I've noticed, Tiki has unique dredlocks in one of the marketing pics, and just the elder ones in the other:




The new Tiki dreds are not in the game.

Kailem

I always figured it would be Tiki, so no surprise there. What I am pleasantly surprised by is him being based on the Exiles from the first arc of Hunters! Those were one of the comic Preds I've always wanted them to add, so I'm very happy about that!

It seems obvious in retrospect, but it never even occurred to me that "Tiki" might be based on those guys. :laugh:

And night maps too (well, most of them)! Another feature that's been talked about since practically day one that I never actually thought we'd ever see! Definitely looking forward to seeing the maps in a new (lack of) light.

Sadly while I'm happy overall with this update, the addition of three more movie Predator masks, while cool, feels like the final nail in the coffin for any of them ever appearing as actual characters. I suspect at the time where Scar and Mr Black's plasma casters were datamined they'd planned on adding them, but if I had to put money on it I'd say the change-over from Fox to Disney put the brakes on that, for whatever reason (change of people they were dealing with, inter-departmental shenanigans, new policies etc).

I'm still holding out a tiny sliver of hope, but at this point I feel like their inclusion is about as likely as a city map is.

Still, this update itself looks good! I'm looking forward to jumping on later and giving it a go, so here's hoping it's not full of bugs!

Biggles

Quote from: Voodoo Magic on Oct 28, 2021, 03:26:44 PM
I think we may just have Single Player Predator matches now!


  • Fireteam Bots will now chase after the Predator if the Predator is the only player in the match

I would be more enthused about this if they didn't have laser flippin accuracy. Whenever I've tried out a build with them previously as soon as they spot me it's instaslaughter :)

Samhain13

Samhain13

#58


Cloak is currently broken on the game right now lol. What a mess of an update.  Predator gets half cloaked so fireteam can always see you. Reported by multiple players using multiple classes.

On the public matches I had today I was lagging way too much, something is wrong. On private matches even when I had 300+ ping seemed better so I guess its a problem on their servers.

AI can do a broken amount of damage sometimes now vs both ft and pred. One AI took half of my hp, like 70-80hp with one shot.

They added new audios for using isolation scan and energy overload, and these audio can get bugged into repeating itself over and over once triggered.

Exiled Predator dreadlocks aren't available, appear same as Elder.

I got all my loadouts and settings such as keybiddings or audio resetted when I started the game today.

Night mode is cool, but for Predator normal vision is too dark and thermal vision too bright. Its easier to spot him cloaked at night. For Fireteam the atmosphere better than at day and awesome I will give them that but its too easy to chase down the Predator.

Increased level cap but no rewards for it so not interested.

3 new masks are nice but the actual Predator class that had them instead of this cosplay Predator would have been better.

Illfonic being Illfonic.

The Shuriken

Quote from: Voodoo Magic on Oct 28, 2021, 03:26:44 PM
Yeah, RidgeTop will be able to snap some real beauties I bet.




I think we may just have Single Player Predator matches now!


  • Fireteam Bots will now chase after the Predator if the Predator is the only player in the match

Getting closer...

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