A shot in the dark: Just another rant

Feedback/Feature Requests
1

I don’t know where to even start. I don’t want to come off as some A hole and i don’t want it to seam like i’m only hear to rant but it seams that’s going to be the case, and if know one care or even reads this thru then so be it, i just need to say something and get what i’m feeling out as i’m sure that i’m not the only one.
also to the Mods if there is some where this has already been covered, im sorry for giving you extra work.

So maybe to start ill begin by saying that i do indeed love this game. its an absolutely stunning world, to say its eye candy would be doing it shame. however i didnt buy the game for the looks. i bought it for some epic Human Vs. Robot action and up until the April update i can say i was more than happy with what i got, despite the odd bug hear and there.

Now however this game is !!! NO LONGER INJOYABLE !!!
i spend most of my time now trying to work around the bugs and other flaws that should have been addressed along time ago but have only got worse. so here in no real order are things that have turned this game sour.

Safe house not safe: This one is self explanatory, A safe house in a game is a place meant to be safe. i shouldn’t start the game up and automatically surrounded by bots. this is such a problem that i no longer save a churches as they are guaranteed to have at least 2 hunters waiting out side next time i log in to play. If you are going to make it so bots are everywhere when you spawn in then you need to at least give the player some time to get ready or something considering there is no pausing in this game. What if my kids getting into something they shouldn’t or i have to take a dump. i shouldn’t have to wonder if my player isn’t safe while i am away from the game and i most defiantly shouldn’t have to worry about starting the game up and getting hammed into the ground before i have even been on for 2 mins

Rocket Spam: there is so much flying around so fast that it lags up my top of the line PS4. the explosion splash damage goes thru walls while yours does not. now if it were just “shock” damage and only left you dazed i would understand, but with the hi splash range and sheer number of missiles flying there is no place to run regardless of mass between you and target I’m sorry but if i’m on the other side of a apartment building i shouldn’t be taking damage from exploding things that have no line of sight on me let alone rage.

Flechette Rounds: Right off the bat, WAY OVER POWERED! actually let me back that one up… every hunter you come across having one is OP. I don’t Fear Apocalypse tanks (in fact i hunt them) but i do fear a group of FN hunters because i know that they all are packing the same heat, that they are all going to do the same tactic of bum rushing with there OP gun. how about a little mix up. In real life the army never sends a group of people into a engagement with one type of weapon. even in a tank there is more than just “really big bullets”. So maybe instead of only explosive darts you throw in some standard buck or maybe something like incendiary, other than an explosive round. Id rather take on 4 hunters not knowing what kinda ammo they have than just run cuz i know that they have the ability to end the game in one volley of shots. witch i guess leads me to my next topic witch i haven’t thought of a tittle for…

Explosion damage: I don’t even know how to begin. the “hop” as i call it or the time it take to “hop”. I can understand that developers can only go so far as to represent damage from exploding thing, but whats in this game i cant say I’ve seen any were…maybe GTA but even then what it happens its usually means your dead. What i’m talking about is what happens after you get dominated by an explosion of some type in where your in what would be considered the “kill zone”.
Example: Rocket volley from a Harvester lands within a foot of the player. The player then goes rag doll for the duration of the explosion plus a few seconds of “hop” time until the player character can get there footing and stand up. This becomes extremely frustrating when engaging multiple bots with rocket capability. As once your hit and begin the “hop”, your still open to damage. this wouldn’t be such a problem if it only happen once per attack and had some sort of “cool down” period as it is you can be hit once by a runner and be bounced around from explosion to explosion in what would be comical if not for the fact it ruins game play and immersion. the 3rd Person view is also not something I’m big on as its not something that wouldn’t happen in real life, although this is more of a personal preference as i think the 1st person view is cooler than a 3rd person view when it comes to explosions.
The next bone to i have to pick is also with immersion

Physics:Trying to Keep this one short and to the point.
It dose not matter how thick, strong, dense, or experimental your armor plating is. Sooner or later its going to crack
I 1st had a laugh when this started to become a problem. Playing at a church one day, was enveloped by bots to the point i stopped counting how meany kills i was getting. But once a FINX tank showed up things changed quick. long story short that is the day i stopped counting bullets spent by the round and started counting by the weight freed up in storage.This is were the problem is. I do not care what type of hybrid composite wizard armor you have, there IS a limit to how much hot lead it can take. I shouldn’t have to only target components to bring something down, the option to go full “Rambo” should always be there. and 10,000 rounds of armor piercing 7.62mm should be more than enough to bring even Cthulhu.
This also apples to going up to a bot with the rocket launcher, sticking the barrel point blank to the dome and pulling the trigger. Yes I’m Cool With taking damage but what I’m not cool with is the bot just standing there like i tickled it on the chin. There should be metal gibes everywhere maybe even a “hop” on the players part. Not a grinning hunter pointing its gun my way.

Auto targeting and Non combat combat:
This relates to the Flares mostly. I understand that popping a flare is a dead give away that says " HI HERE I AM " ; both in life and in game. However there is still an issue with line of sight. If I am standing behind a house and pop one off, the bot should not be able to see that i have it until it iv thrown it into his L.O.S. As it is now if you are in relative proximity of an enemy, you will automatically be targeted. The problem is not all bots seem to follow the flare and some will just start shooting you instead or at the very least, seem to know your there regardless of L.O.S.
Also a problem is getting stuck in combat. Before i never had a problem but with the April update it seems that if your in combat and want to fast travel you no longer can. Now i cant say i remember 100% if you could before or not and really its not a problem. The Problem is you can be locked in combat with a single bot ( most of the time a lonely runner, seeker, or tic (god i hate ticks, great job on that enemy type). I have a record that iv been locked in combat with something and its 56 days (in-game what ever that is)… i find it mostly happens in bunker complex’s or bigger city’s. the bunker complex can be explain as the bots having a L.O.S. that is to powerful and similarly to the city’s but with the added problem of rooms and doors

Running/Sprinting; I think i speak for a lot of your fans when i say there needs to be a toggle between jogging and sprinting. Like some sort of 3 step system where you can go from walking to a light jog without having to go right to full dash and having to be out of breath all the time. I think a lot of people would like the option to reserve sprinting power for when they need it

Lures/Traps:
The big problem i have here is that i don’t find them to work most of the time, or at the least they do not feel as if they have the power behind them that they should. Example is the Boombox and Radio. I feel they have the same “calling power” behind them when the boombox should be calling every one and there mom to come over it feel like a sightly louder radio and in fact, since the radio has the advantage of being thrown i don’t bother with the boomboxes as you have to run after being placed witch tends to give you away when attempting to set a trap witch i think sucks as if i want to start a “party” i have to go around shooting at things and hope that they follow me to a location were i have set traps.
The “propane” style gas cylinders could also use some tweaking (Red Explosive, Yellow Poison, White Air). You shouldn’t have a instantaneous explosion from all cylinders placed on the ground, there should be some kind of render system that knows what can what hit and then send the “Shock waves” out to connect with the right can at the right time. I would love to be able to shoot a tank of air and see it launch a few propane tanks flying be for they exploded, as well you should be able to use the compressed air to clear rooms of gas, maybe not permanently but for a small duration, it would give a much need use to something that realy dose not seem to have a use as it is considering shooting any gas tank will seaming cause the same amount of damage to whatever it is your targeting

Minor issues that brake immersion

Prone: Whats with video games forgoing the prone position. Generation Zero is not the only game but as a game that is big in to stealth you would think the ability to lay flat would come in handy

Reload/Belt feed on MG: The reload animation can be stopped but will not “save” progress. What i mean by this is that you can be mid fight, mid reload going around a corner and have to switch to your pistol or other weapon to stave off the opposition and when you switch back to your primary you have to go thru the hole reload process again even if all you failed to do was pull back the hammer.
Also a buzz kill when your using a the MG and your spent your clip you can still see bullets on the belt even tho your ammo counter says zero.

Sticky Bombs:
I’m sure its just a bug but i find that far to often i tho a grenade and it A: disappears only to explode in my pocket a moment later or B: its a dud.
Now the Dud is cool. in fact i think more games should implement the idea of miss fires, duds, and run away MGs, as any solider will tell you happens on the battle field. You ether try another frag or move on to something else, let the belt fly or chamber a new round.

Well i guess that is about it… well at least enough that if you have gotten this far you probably think me some 13 year old kid with anger issue and maybe on the inside there is a little kid throwing a tantrum but i just had to get this off my cheast and after doing so i got to say i feel a load better. i want to stress this to the developers that i don’t hate your game, it couldn’t be farther from the truth. the fact is, iv fallen in love whit this game and like in true love theirs no such thing as hate, just a disappointment because i feel this game could be so much more, i honestly feel that with the right direction this game could be the bench mark that sets how games are done over the next decade. i wanna see spin off of this game that don’t compare because this game is bar none the best. … swear it could be the next battle field or Call of duty. With that i guess ill shut up now but before i do i will say to look for 2 more post from me to come over the next few day (provided i’m not banned for my rant) regarding what i think this game has done right as well as what i think this game could use to really take off

Thanks for your time.

3 Likes
2

how long were you typing?

3

I feel this is a bit of an overstatement, but I would agree where the Devs realize something came out broken - Difficulty, they should’ve proposed a fix as soon as it is available (hotfix) and not sit on it, until a monthly update comes.

I only see this being an issue if your safe house is an open campsite with no walls. Then it breaks the safetiness of that area in general, but to be in a safehouse (like a church) and not expect it to be check by AI machines that are trying to wipe out humans, even rivaling the resistance… Have you seen the devestated resistance camps around Archipelago? There are story pointers about the AI no longer having any remorse towards humans and trying to live as this sentient AI. Maybe with difficulty on easy, you could have your ‘no enemies near safehouse’, but otherwise it makes more sense for them trying to check this one place where human activity is the most common…

I hate it too and the devs should’ve addressed right away and pushed a hotfix, but we’re stuck waiting on it. Though, they’ve acknowledged this and have stated that they overshot/broke their initial idea for the difficulty scale. I’m unsure if you know that you can even change difficulty in options > Game.

This is actually a good one. I mean, I can avoid all those shots and get behind angles in the woods where their shots land on trees. Their line of sight is detatched from the weapon’s trajectory, so you could make the Hunter see you with one half and the other half with the weapon is concealed behind an angle… It will still fire and give you an opportunity. In numbers, though… I understand this point. A variety in what they use in that moment would actually be exciting too. I love the game in ways of difficulty that are there to trick you, not overpower you with numbers entirely.

I kinda understand your frustration, but I feel it is fine with specializations. Before Archipelago this isn’t an issue, but after you should have gotten plenty of levels to unlock multiple skills and damage in general or component damage. Even if you didn’t, you get better weapons. With explosives, though… I feel this one has a bit of a point. It feels pointless to shoot rockets at a FNIX tank, than taking a .50 and just shooting a couple of components. That’s the only way I see this point being viable, otherwise hitting components is the option that makes sense the most with whatever you got. Imagine shooting the tank’s leg, but no wires run through that leg… You’re just shooting pure metal and it will still shoot, walk, react the same. They still make it an ability to kill a machine by targeting the less important parts, it just takes longer.

I understand where this can get frustrating, but I’ve been amazed by a game’s AI of how merciless they can be. I’ve had hunters use the flechette rounds and whilst on the ground, lunge me and finish the kill. It felt like the AI wasn’t just these dumb static targets. I wish it’d happen more, so next time I make sure the support under my feet isn’t gone… When it breaks in to bouncing you around, it’s silly, but at least effective :smiley:

I already lost track of all these points, so I’ll leave it a this. Generally about the topic, I feel it’s half right and half just things for a person that’d enjoy an easier difficulty. Maybe with the devs fixing the difficulty, we can have players like you enjoying the easier difficulty and players like me having less BS in the harder difficulty :smiley:

1 Like
4

You provided valuable feedback and kept it civil while doing it, nobody’s getting banned here.

With that in mind, if you encounter any bugs please make a separate report of it in #bug-reports.

1 Like
5

Indeed some valid points there!, Specially Lures/traps not being worthy they are too weak and useless.
Running sprinting could have some improvement yes.
Now…i also think lately the game is not much fun anymore, that is why i´m no longer playing and waiting for the next update, where i really hope they fix the cursed Rocket Spam.
The flechette rounds are indeed way overpowered, with max protection perks you die easily, and you forgot about one thing, apocalypse hunters mortar attack is too much powerful.
With some little improvements the game can get balanced and still be fun and challenging.

1 Like
6

There are far worse weapons in game than FNIX huner’s Explosive Flechette, which can be dodged since projectiles have quite a bit of travel time.

FNIX hunter has 4 weapons in it’s arsenal:

  • Pneumatic blade
  • Tick pod
  • Explosive Flechette
  • Concussion Rifle

In the early days, many random FNIX hunters had Concussion Rifle as well, making FNIX hunters very deadly. At some point in the game, devs removed Concussion Rifle from FNIX hunters, leaving them the other three, with Explosive Flechette as only ranged weapon.
Now, with new harv’s ability, FNIX harvs call in the same deadly Concussion Rifle FNIX hunters as were seen in the early days.

If given choice, i’ll always take Explosive Flechette FNIX hunter over Concussion Rifle FNIX hunter since Concussion Rifle is the most OP weapon in game. It has huge range, it will one-shot you if you don’t have full HP and it’s very difficult to dodge the shot as well.

Though, the whole idea of the machines in GZ is that you’re supposed to fear them. That’s the main setting of the game.

Many machines have OPV and they can see through objects and buildings.

Every church has 3 exits. If hunters are near one of the exit, what stops you using the other two exits? :thinking:

Also, no machine can walk into the safehouse area itself (e.g next to your Plundra). That area is off-limits to all machines, giving you safe spot where to spawn in. But that doesn’t mean machines can’t shoot at you. They still can if they see you but they can’t physically enter the safehouse area.

10

You may always exit churches by jumping off the steeple windows. Which will kill you btw.

1 Like
11

The bell tower.

Yes, if you jump straight down. However, if you parkour your way to the church’es roof, you can get down from the roof without loosing singe HP.

13

Awesome, have to try this out. Thx. :smiley:

14

Then i guess i’m one of the few :crazy_face: person’s who uses it as an exit quite often. :grin:

Here’s also a guide: Being able to climb to high places

And now, back to the topic;

Latest AI bug introduced a lot of issues about rockets, among other things.

Devs are aware of it and are working on a fix.

There is a skill that is very useful against attacks that knock you over: Steady Feet.
Without it, it’s hard to survive since you can still take damage and die in the ragdoll animation.

My sniper char has died many times during ragdolling since she is the only one who doesn’t have that skill while my three other girls all have that skill.

Quite a many people think that m/49 is answer when facing harv/tank. While in reality, it’s not about the weapon (m/49) but instead the ammo in it.

You can lob in excess of 1000+ smoke rockets against the tank and it still won’t go down. Same with EMP. Sure, EMP disables the tank but it won’t damage it physically up to the point where tank blows up (dies).

Most people use HE rockets with m/49 and think it should bring tank down in few shots. Thing is, HE = High Explosive and while it does do some direct damage, HE rockets are area of effect ammo and best used against group of enemies. If there would be AP (Armor Piercing) rockets in the game then it would be completely different story.

It was asked in one of the dev streams and devs answer to that is at 00:36:07,
link: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/558157190?filter=archives&sort=time

16

That’s maybe YOUR idea of the machines and the game in general.

@Onetimepost:
Your list is pretty much on point, maybe a bit exaggerated here and there, but that’s understandable after how frustrating the devs have rendered their brain child lately. I would have written something way harsher and listed way more idiocies and bugs in the game. On the other side of the aisle there are also some folks who go way out of their way to rationalize bugs and shortcomings of the game on every opportunity that turns up, and who make every criticism sound like heresy, because it violates their “canon”. Oh well …

17

Well I admit I was going to post what I think would benefit the game and also some strong points after attempting to pick up the game for a 4th time iv finally had enough with getting up set over poor development and bug. So I am forced to do what I did before. And that is uninstalled this and wait another six months to a year for the development team to brake it further.

Especially after hearing there will be no may update so that they can focus on future content.

Here’s some free advice fix the stuff you got messed up now before introducing more to fix…

Seriously pissed at the amount of time I’ve wasted on this you know when your parents say I’m not mad I’m just disappointed.
I’m mad, I’m pissed and I am very disappointed
If I could I’d demand my money back

1 Like
18

You came to this game not managing expectations of a new title.

Not every company has the development team to fix the issues as quickly as they should.

Your post does hold a lot of weight covering the current issues, but your a year late to the party - 90% of the issues have been addressed in the past month, and you should have done some research into the title before playing it.

19

90% have been fixed? Seriously? Personally I find that the latest update broke 90%.

2 Likes
20

Further, is it too much to ask that when I purchase something it should work properly?

1 Like
22

I’ve edited your post. I know you are frustrated, but please mind your language while on the forums. For the record you do realise there’s a worldwide pandemic going on, and the dev team (that’s already not that big to begin with) may not be working at full capacity?

If you’re on PC you can request a refund via steam, otherwise you’ll have to contact the console equivalent’s services.

23

You made some valid points, I agree to some degree. Hopefully when this next update comes out things will be a bit better. :slight_smile:

24

Yes there are bugs, but you should see all the effort the devs have put into this game. I’ve looked through the early patch notes on steam and they have fixed HUNDREDS of bugs (what looks like up to 50 or more in a update). Personally, these guys are some of the best game devs I’ve seen as far a listening to their community. Just give them some time. It’s all part of the process, and it can be hard to find every single bug.

1 Like
25

No it’s not, and…there was a time when I shared your frustrations - often here.

I’m going to point you in a direction so maybe you can get some perspective on time frames to get this to an “acceptable state of gameplay”. There was a time when fireworks would crash the game, and decided to come back to this post DLC in the hope they would have ironed out everything. It’s not been without it’s difficulties for sure, coming back to the first post being issues with the AI update.

Anyone coming into this fresh, is going to find it hard to swallow as a complete game. It’s close, but having looked into Avalanche, the team, the company standings and forecasts - it’s tough out there in a very very competitive market.

1 Like