[Suggestions and Feedback]
General thoughts on game play and longevity:
Firstly, a requisite statement of gratitude to the powers that be for the beta. Hopefully this is the type of feedback the dev team are after rather than the dross from less discerning gamers who think everything is perfect and thought that LMGs without recoil was a good idea. Hopefully, seeing as you went all the way with improving the M224 LMG's recoil when being fired from the hip, you will continue to adjust the other weapons for balance as well. Only a tool with the most severe form of retardation would think this resembles anything like KZ2. It's not COD either even though it does a poor job of copying aspects from COD...It's don't think it's a particularly good game. Period.
I'm a big fan of the series having bought the first 2 games on day 1, and I've been into shooters for about 15 years, having played a wide variety of games in the genre ranging from the doom games, quake, half-life, counter-strike, Medal of Honour, Far Cry, Crysis, Rainbow Six, Bioshock and a bit of ARMA...and that's not all of them. I really liked what KZ and especially what KZ2 offered. A fun and accessible game with a focus on team work and tactical play.
The games that do well in this genre are the games that push the boundaries and are willing to do things differently to other games, whether on a technical or artistic level. That's how you get long running and revered franchises like Battlefield, Half-Life, Halo, Gears of War, Call of Duty. The fact that each of these popular franchises exist is because people WANT GAMES TO BE DIFFERENT. Other wise we wouldn't call it a 'Genre”. Have you heard of BRINK? I'm really interested in that game. It reminds me of the creativity and innovation that was unique to KZ2 and absent in KZ3.
KZ2 was an excellent game. Though it admittedly lacked a deep story, it delivered on game play and visually on a technical and artistic stand point. The game was set on an inhospitable planet and this was evident through out the entire game (A fact that people seem to forget or unable to comprehend gathered from their moaning). KZ2 represented the evolution of shooters for next gen consoles with it's gun mechanics. Weapons felt heavy and visceral. The physics and code behind the weapon handling, and how NPC's and objects reacted to getting shot seamlessly mixed in with motion capture really added a level of realism to the game which other FPS games still lack. Even with it's level of depth, it's focus on teamwork and tactical play. Though KZ2 had a learning curve and required skill, it was still a very accessible game.
I don't see KZ3's community lasting as long as KZ2. It feels like so much code has been unnecessarily re-written and the game play is a mess. It lacks the atmosphere, intensity and immersion that previous KZ games had. The gun play requires no skill...hip firing and using dot sights are broken in different ways because of the lack of recoil, and heavy aim assist. These issues along with the low health mean a lot of camping. Unlike KZ2, there is no skill and team work in this game. I'm fine with the tightening controls and wanting to make classes more accessible by making them all available off the bat....But this game is boring. The addition of jet packs and mechs are ok, but things like ribbons and the point system don't add anything to the game. If it's not pointless it makes the game unbalanced.
As someone who has played both arcade-y and hardcore FPS games, this game has so little to offer both camps that the game won't last long...definitely not as long as KZ2.
Simply, there's not enough content and customisation to keep the casuals interested and there's not enough depth and team work to satisfy the more hardcore. This is already evident with the beta...I noticed it with my friend list and there's a thread about this in the forums...People are either playing black ops or are bored. This game will please no one, and with games like Duke Nukem Forever, Brink(which looks fun and innovative) and another COD coming out next year it really is in Guerrilla's interest to listen to the hardcore fans more. I just don't see casuals, or anyone sticking to this game for long. If Guerrilla wants this game to succeed they really need to make it more unique, give us back the gun play, the skill and the teamwork. Not just do a poor job of copying another popular game it will never ever top. Differentiation is key for a successful franchise.
Feedback/ Suggestions!
Unlocking and Levelling Up
In KZ2, everyone started out as a rifle man and needed to fulfil requirements in order to unlock not just the next class, but their abilities. For those who are unfamiliar with KZ2, in order to unlock certain weapons classes and abilities, you needed to use them successfully a number of times (5 or 8 times) in each. Want to use the tact's sentry bot? Place some spawn grenades and have a number of of people spawn at that grenade in some matches. Or kill a certain number of people with the pistol to unlock the revolver.
What I liked about KZ2 was that this was rewarding and didn't rely on ranking up and grinding. It forced the player to be better and they were rewarded for it. Sure, it may not have been immediately gratifying, but it was addictive and the core gameplay and gun handling were actually fun. It felt rewarding learning how to use each class. It also helped you play against people using the other classes.
Once you earned those secondary abilities you weren't finished. You had to learn to use those effectively so you can mix class badges, allowing you to mod your character and use a secondary ability from another class. There was always this cool and unique incentive for doing things after getting these rewards and it was based on getting better at the game rather than filling bars.
It's not that there's anything wrong with the method in which items and abilities are unlocked in KZ3. Giving people access to all classes makes the game more accessible, but it's just that what's available to upgrade doesn't feel as rewarding once you do unlock said abilities/ weapons. There either needs to be more content, or a more unique method of unlocking things not based on ranking up, but on improving use of classes.
It would have been nice if each class had been fleshed out more with some additional abilities that you could unlock and would need to switch between depending on how things are happening in game. It would add more depth and strategy to the game, provided that they are well thought out and balanced, without complicating things (for the 'reasonable person' as law would have it). The upgrade system just isn't rewarding. It's typical grinding affair, only compared to other games such as this, there are a fewer things to unlock and most often, it's some weapon you may have unlocked for another class.
The player isn't forced to better themselves and refine their chosen class, and you can't swap and switch abilities with other classes. What's worse is that the game play doesn't have the level of depth or substance to keep it interesting. It's a messy affair filled with base/ spawn point camping and “plain-old-everywhere-else-camping”. I think how weapons and abilities are unlocked should be more varied than ranking up and earning skill points. It doesn't have the depth of KZ2 nor the same amount of content that other games provide. GG should have thought about this a lot more carefully, as there are already a number of threads in forums asking for more weapons and such. I don't think this it the type of game that lends itself to having hundreds of different weapons. Instead relying on a smaller number of weapons but having those weapons differentiated. Another problem is the same-y-ness of the weapons in KZ3 which I will get to later.
Controls/ Movement:
As a veteran of KZ2, I don't mind the controls. For me, they are very close to the 'precision aim' option that was patched into KZ2. They are very good and I strongly feel no adjustments are necessary. It's sad...the changes made to everything else. I don't recall anyone asking for them.
A couple of niggles, though...
When using Iron/ Dot sights. Rotating with iron sights up is not slow enough. It needs to be toned down a bit more, so that people can't just used iron sights to track someone a metre in front of them. Right now this, along with no recoil in ADS, is what is contributing to camping and cheap kills.
Also, when using iron/ dot sights movement, in general, should be a bit slower. It's not slow enough with certain weapons and feels applied inconsistently. This speed should be based on weight.
Lastly, the animations going from hip aim to iron sights should be slowed down a tad, depending on the weapon. Right now it feels very unnatural.
The current online system/ environment:
Matchmaking still needs a lot of work. Game balance really hinges on the matchmaking in this game working properly. When there are an equal number of people on each side, the spawn camping (regular camping still sucks though) and mechs aren't so bad, but when you often get 'matched' in matches of 8 vs 1, you can kiss enjoyment good bye. If players don't like the match and quit, chances are you end up with the same group of people and the vicious cycle starts over again. Matchmaking doesn't just need fixing. We need to have access to SERVER LISTS.
In the time it takes for KZ3 to “match make” me I can browse the server list of games in KZ2 and quickly find me a full game before KZ3 finds me a game that I have an 80% chance of not enjoying. Nothing beats server lists and lobbies. This should be easy to amended as GG are just refusing to show the lists to us.
Also, It would be nice if games with low player counts automatically blocked the use of Mechs and wasps. Or better yet, the option to to disable such weapons. Wouldn't be a problem if custom games were in this.
The core gameplay is lacking. There's way too much camping and there is less emphasis on team work. Not saying that camping never happened in KZ2, but it's a billion times worse in KZ3 and the low health, low recoil and high aim assist are at fault. While it's still not COD gameplay it's not unique either and I feel that elements like the score feedback have been half-heartedly copied from other games. I go into these a bit more after my feedback on weapons.
Respawn times need to be increased to make the medic class more important in it's primary function and to make taking/ defending spawn points and completing missions like search and destroy more organised, strategic and fairer. Right now it's just a mess with all the camping and spawn camping. This will really help improve the need for strategy rather than just flooding a spawn base with campers and mechs.
Squad System: I find that people don't send or respond to invites as going through the XMB is slow. Bring back the old squad system and let players respawn on the squad leader. The thing I loved about KZ2's squad system was that it was quick, easy, it always worked and added strategy to the game.
Base health needs to be upped a bit more to deter camping. You'd think that in the future armour would have improved....
In KZ2 it only took long to kill people if you were aiming at someone's legs or arms, but if you aimed at their upper chest and head, kills were quick. There's nothing difficult/ inaccessible about this to whom a court of law would define as a “reasonable person”
Aim assist: I know KZ2 had a bit of aim-assist (hip-fire), but it's really horrible in KZ3 and needs to be toned down significantly. I shouldn't be going full auto, killing someone at long-range just as the clip empties out (The M82 is one of the worst offenders with it's narrow bullet spread and power). Again this is contributing to camping.
Weapons/ Weapon Handling:
Weapons are a mess at the moment. Hip-fire and ADS are both broken in their own ways...There's not enough pros and cons between ADS and hip-fire. No need for managing recoil with short-controlled bursts. A lot of weapons like the SMG and both of the assault rifles could still use a bit more recoil and wider bullet spreads when hip-firing. Give us KZ2's gun play back. It was accessible but required skill.
There's no recoil while using sights and the bullet spreads aren't wide enough and it's contributing a lot to the camping problem. It also makes the weapons feel weak and same-y compared to KZ2's weapons which felt realistic, visceral and with their own purpose. This decision is really puzzling as COD, the biggest FPS franchise in the world has more recoil than KZ3. KZ2's weapons were plenty accessible and there's no sense in changing this. Bring KZ2's skilled gun play. With the low health players have, perhaps even more recoil than KZ2 is needed, but I would be satisfied with KZ2 recoil/ gun play.
KZ2's weapon handling was very accessible while having a lot of room in weapon handling to separate the skilled gamers from *****s/ less experienced gamers who like to hold the trigger down thinking they'll get lucky. It had a perfect mix of hip-fire and ADS. While hip-firing in KZ2 was effective it still required skill. It's mindless in KZ3, there's no skill in firing weapons like the M82, and while the STA52 has wider bullet spreads, it still feels too similar to the M82 as you can go full auto with either weapon and kill someone half way across the map and not letting go of the trigger until you need to reload. There's no need for short controlled bursts like in KZ2. It cheapens the gameplay and makes the weapons feel like toys.
The STA52 should be a less effective at long distances when going full auto than the M82. At mid and long-range it should be pretty effective using burst fire. With weapons like the M82, there's little point in using iron sights as the small bullet spreads and aim assist can still kill someone half way across the map (And the maps are massive by the way). Even when shooting at a wall, the M82 bullets too often touch. Bullet spreads for weapons like the M82 need to spread out quicker when burst firing or going full auto. Have a look at KZ2's weapons. I know there's a video comparison of KZ2 weapons and KZ3 weapons, but they are not similar. It seems like the recoil and bullet spreads are too slow to actually take effect and this really should be looked into.
I noticed with the STA52 that when fired full auto and emptying the entire clip while using iron sights, that the dot sight doesn't rise, but once you empty the clip and the view turns back to hip-fire view to reload, player animation shows the gun lowering, recovering from the recoil. There's a disconnect in animation and recoil reaction. Also when you go back to hip fire mode, the cross hairs are aimed hire than the dot sight.
Something weird with a majority of the weapons that people can exploit with most weapons like the M4 revolver, STA14, SMG and the assault rifles. When running at full pace the first shot from these weapons while hip-firing always hits the exact centre of the cross-hair so it is possible to tap the trigger button quickly as you're running and strafing while taking on a target and you can get a cheap kill. It's especially unbalanced with weapons like the M4 and the STA14 that only need 2 shots to kill people. This needs to be looked into, even if the accuracy of weapons while the player is stationary should be looked into. Weapons like the Sniper rifle and the M224 LMG in this scenario are fine. Please give us back KZ2's gun play. It was accessible but required skill.
Specific Weapon Feedback/ Suggestions:
ASSAULT RIFLES:
These weapons could use a bit more recoil as they are both too accurate at long distances when going full auto from the hip. You can still get cheap kills this way. Also, they need to be more differentiated from each other.
M82:
Still overpowered at long distances when hip-firing. It only takes about 3-4 shots to kill someone and the bullets don't spread out quickly enough when burst firing or going full auto. It's possible to go full auto and kill someone who is virtually on the other side of the map with little need for ADS and burst fire management. It just needs a little bit more recoil and spread. As I said earlier, it seems that recoil takes a bit too long to take effect, so when you're firing, bullets are often touching. This weapon was perfect in KZ2, so if you can get it's recoil and bullet spread exactly like that it will be perfect.
STA52:
I appreciate the addition of the dot sight making the weapon easier to use at long distances. It's more powerful than the M82 with a higher rate of fire, that makes up for it's lack of accuracy. Recoil and bullet spreads need to be increased a bit more to compensate for it's fire power and higher rate of fire over the M82. It is meant to be more effective at short range at. Anything at mid to long range should be on the short controlled burst side of things. It doesn't have to have KZ2 bullet spreads, but it could still do with some more spread. It could use with more recoil/ lift, too. It doesn't feel like an HG assault rifle where accuracy is really compromised in favour of power and rate of fire.
When using the dot sights the weapon doesn't rise up enough from the recoil. If you go full auto and empty a clip while using the dot sight and need to reload, as you go back to hip-fire view to reload you can see the weapon lower as the player's character recovers from the recoil. So there's this disconnect in the animation and recoil because as you're firing while peering down sights, the weapon doesn't rise at all..It needs more recoil when sights are up to rectify this.
Like with all weapons in this game. It needs more recoil when using dot sights....this is burst fire weapon for mid-long range.
LMGS:
M224:
When firing from the hip, it's fine the way it is now. I hope this means you will continue to tweak the other weapons such as the SMG and the assault rifles as well and make them like they were back in KZ2.
When using iron sights it still needs more recoil and wider bullet spreads.
STA3:
Recoil Should be like the M224. These are support weapons.
RIFLES:
STA14 or scoped rifle is good. It's actually got a good amount of recoil and is a bit less accurate when firing rapidly than it was in KZ2 which is fine now that it sports a scope.
Sniper Rifle is ok too. I think it should be a bit less accurate when not scoped. Cross hair should be removed.
SMGs and MACHINE PISTOLS:
M66:
I love how the machine pistol from KZ1 is back. Generally I am happy with the machine pistol and no changes are necessary at the moment.
SMG:
The SMG is ok. It is a lot more useful than it was in KZ2 with it's damage which is great, but it needs a bit more recoil to prevent people running around with the SMG in full auto and killing people at a distance. It also needs more recoil and wider spread when using iron sights to make it less effective in long range combat, because that's what the bigger weapons are for.
SHOTGUN:
I have no complaints with the shotgun. I think it's fine at the moment. If it's possible I'd like the dot sight to be replaced with iron sights. It looks weird.
Rocket Launchers:
No problems. You don't need to be so precise with them like in KZ2 and you at most get 2 rockets. They're more useful and quite balanced.
Hand Guns:
HG pistol:
As stated earlier, it's done well. One of the best weapons in the game in regard to the logic of it's handling.
