Hey,

I'm really bored after finishing Uni with nothing else to do, so this is a list of the current issues I'm having with this game and in some cases will offer suggestions to improve upon the game.

I will break it down into the following catergories and may divide each into their own post so you don't have a 3000 word essay to read.

Lobby systems - including lag, connection and of course the how the lobby operates.
Gameplay
Modules & Abilities - what needs buffing/nerfing (these are my opinions)
Weapons - personal review and suggestions regarding abuse of Feline
Nanosuit Reboot & 100% Completion Dog Tag

Lobby System

Let me first congratulate Crytek for implementing the recent Network Performance tweaks which have drastically improved the lobby system, however there are multiple issues which are damn right annoying and could perturb player that are not die-hard fans to not play. This is evidenced by the number of people that won't play the MP due to these and those before the tweaks.

Issue 1# - Joining Matches Mid-Game - This is a constant problem. Whether I play IA or TIA I am often placed in matches that I have no chance coming back from and winning. Further, since I am being put in the match without prior notice then I cannot choose whether I wanted to play that particular map or not.

Suggestions: Give players the option to join mid-game or to wait for a new game lobby. Allow players to leave a game without receiving a loss penalty if they leave within 30 seconds of entering the game.

Issue 2# - Crashing/Freezing - While loading up a match or when finishing a match and returning to the lobby screen then our Xbox's will randomly freeze or crash. This will then either require a Dashboard, if it will allow me to, or to restart my Xbox. I've done these approximately 10 times today, this happens far too frequently.

Issue 3# - Lag - Since the Network Performance tweaks this has improved immensely. People's connections from that I have observed are usually good. There are still instances, which I've experienced today a few times, in which everyone has red bars except Host. I'm not sure what mechanics are involved in selecting hosts, but there needs to be a system in place that automatically forces a host-migration once this occurs. Currently, the host will remain until the end of the game.

Suggestions - Please put in a command that states "if X number or 1 bars are present then migrate host". Add in a feature that will allow players to vote for host to be migrated. Don't allow for losses for leaving games when you have a 1 bar.

Issue 4# - Population information in each playlist - This has been mentioned previously by Sa1R3d Wa1ka (https://secure.gamesas.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=29196). Players are left to wait in lobbies for lengthy periods of time with little indication as to whether players are present or not. This is frustrating and unprofessional. Population information is the norm and standards for online games.

I don't mean to sound ungrateful, as huge improvements have been made to the game with recent tweaks and they've made the experience a lot more enjoyable, however these 4 issues are very aggravating and persistent.

Gameplay

The gameplay as we all know is a very exciting, fast-paced, dynamic and thrilling experience.

There are balance and annoying factors in the games which I will briefly cover.

Explosives

1# - Grenades - Players are throwing these things everywhere with no intention of hitting particular targets and as a result ruin the experience of other players building up killstreaks or in the flow of the game enjoying themselves.

Problem with grenades is that they do too much damage and Armor mode won't work half the time.

Suggestions - a) Make Grenade 1-hit kill in Stealth, 80% damage while normal (this is variable of course as long as it's not 1-hit kill), less damage with Armor and/or b) speed up transition from normal/stealth to armor. I am find that a grenades will land by me, I switch to armor mode and the screen will indicate that I am in armor mode and the grenade will still kill me! I also check the killcam to confirm my knowledge and it shows I was in shiny armor mode a good time before it exploded.

Flashbang - Currently, these are non-existent on this game. If the grenades effectiveness against normal unarmored characters were reduced so that they weren't a 1-hit kill then these would be used a lot more often, diversifying the gameplay and in such making Visor Enhance later upgrades a more useful module.

Suggestions - Increase the blast radius of the Flashbang, too small currently. Perhaps let a character have 2 instead of 1? (3 with Ammo pack).

Style of Gameplay

As I've mentioned in my Ultimate Guide to Being an Elite Player (https://secure.gamesas.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=28580), it's all cloak cloak cloak gameplay. This is made worse by the extreme overuse of the Feline with an already OP class. I personally don't find all the cloaking to make the game hard, but this setup does not encourage diverse styles of playing everyone is running around with it all game and it's tedious not using Stealth Enhance due to the very costly cloak baseline drain rate.

I have explained the problems with all the cloaking here (https://secure.gamesas.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=28478) and the community have thought of many alternatives that may improve the gameplay and have voted.

Melee

This mechanic is far too random and cumbersome.

Due to the high volume of cloakers, people often run past one another and get into a punching contest. In this scenario, there is not much you can do other than keep pressing RS RS RS RS! until someone wins. This is evidenced by the fact that when you die you will continue to see your opponent clicking RS desperately even after you've dropped.

Suggestions - Increase the time between melee punches. This will allow players to manoeuvre out of the situation rather than relying on luck, who has best connection or button mashing.

*Aim Assist*

Far too strong, player input is to the bare minimum. Players are capable of being shot 80 degress to their left and just move slightly in that direction press LT, auto-lock and if especially with a Feline, WIN.

JIsaiahE, a forum member, came up with the following thoughts.

I fail to understand how aim assist and hit registration has anything to do my thread i.e. wanting more variety of stealth modules by implementing one of the four options I have recently proposed.

Please make a new thread about aim assist and hit detection, if you see it as a problem, which I don't. I don't want this thread to become off-topic.

Kazakage I'm not trying to bring the aim assist and hit registration into this discussion to try and hijack your thread but I'm doing it for the fact that it plays a major role in majority of module selections whether you want to believe or not. It just comes along with the territory because players learn and adapt to use the most effective playstyles for the player's current weakness/strengths. As I was stating in the prior thread, this game does not reward precision aiming enough. Let me ask you a couple of questions.

Do you feel those 90% of players who use SE III have precise aiming? Do you think they can consistently lead/anticipate a moving target on an 3-d plane to accurately put a steady stream of bullets into a target's chest quickly as they do now? Do you think 90% of players do it just because it's fun? I know my answer to all three of the questions would be a big NO. The reason why a majority of players use SEIII is to get a jump on other players because they don't have the most precise aiming proficiency along with the quick death hit detection without any sort of delicate player input.

Now if this game put more emphasis on leading/anticipating targets like it did in 2nd demo, a MAJOR percentage of balancing to the modules would be crossed off the plate then and there without changing any baseline suit and module functions. This game doesn't need more armor or cloak. It need to put more emphasis on player input concerning aiming more than anything else. Giving players SEIII as a new baseline will only tip the balance further in cloaks favor right now with this current hit detection.

I bet if the hit detection was changed back to the 2nd demo, only the players with precise aiming would excel consistently as they do now using the SEIII module. I don't want to neuter SE III module one bit but I don't want it to be as effective as it is right now because of non-chalant aiming system.
In order for it to not as efficiently as it does along with getting players to use different stealth modules, they need to change the aim assist in this game. If you had to pick an option in the poll, I would only pick 5a & 5b along with the better hit detection system where human error played a more significant role in the shooting mechanics which the 2nd demo had.

Very good post.

I am starting to understand your point. So what your saying if the focus was shifted from spray and pray to precision through taking your shots carefully ( by reducing aim assist which does 99% of the work) then this would slow down all the cloakers that spend all game in cloaked as make cloak less viable?

I can understand this. I use the classic Energy Transfer/SE III/Retrievera and even when I win all the time it doesn't feel rewarding. All I'm doing is running around shooting people in the back or people who are already in fights. When I meet another good player there feels like too much luck is involved, like its the person who picks people off the the quickest is the best. Not who has the best aim, who uses their abilities the wisest or who makes the best decisions.

I will post other categories tomorrow.