I believe NS2 needs two rulesets. One for Competitive players, and one for Pub players.
1. NS2 is a special case.
The game is different. It's asymmetrical in not only the races, but individual player skill as well. Take Battlefield for instance. If you're not good at being a sniper, you don't have to be one. An NS2 player is regularly put into situations where he'll have to play as something he might not be good at- ie Fade, Skulk. Alien/Marine win rates will be different, and we can attribute this to either player skill or player count scaling, and don't forget, a player's skill with specific classes.
There's no other shooting game that has asymmetrical gameplay of one race versus another... except Left 4 Dead. L4D has a Normal mode and a Realism mode. Realism is basically balanced for competitive play, as competitive players are unable to have much impact on the survivors in normal mode. L4D has two modes, why can't NS2?
2. Competitive Fun versus Accessible Fun
Competitive players know that being at the right place at the right time is key in NS2. Would you rather shoot a grenade into a vent with two skulks hiding in it, or shoot a grenade at an almost dead harvester? Pubbers will go for the two skulks, but competitive players will take the harvester.
NS2 is a game where Playing to Win does not necessarily equate to Playing for Fun. I’ll give you some examples:
Players that prioritize their K/D ratio above the team’s survival.
Players that shoot every cyst or bite every power node.
Players that don’t want to build.
Players that don’t want to buy their fellow marines a shotgun if they had 100 res, or maybe they want to keep their own guns they bought and won’t tell anyone where they dropped their gun.
Players that don’t want to buy mines, or want to save for Exos.
Players that simply don't cooperate.
Saving Money. Killing things. Seeing extractors go Kaboom. One’s own survival. These are all instincts that we have to occasionally let go of in order to win a match. Is it possible that a player will be given an order that denies that player his very instinctual nature? Should NS2 continue to penalize these players that follow these instincts, or can they perhaps…be rewarded for following them, in a separate ruleset?
3. One skill size does not fit all. Is NS2 actually "Easy to Learn, Difficult to Master"?
Fades aren’t easy to learn. As a khammander, I have never recommended a newbie to buy a fade. You know why. THEY DIE. Newbs can’t bunnyhop, so instead we have Walljump. Easy to learn, but not nearly as difficult to master. Bunnyhopping is difficult to master. Is there a middle ground that fits Easy to Learn and Difficult to Master? Why bother finding one? Just give us two rulesets.
4.On top of arguing for two rulesets, I'll make a fictional proposition for a ruleset. Don't worry about how imbalanced my rules may seem, it's the idea that counts. You don't have to disagree or agree with any of these individual rules, but it is my hope that you see the potential for having two separate modes.
Competitive Mode:
Bunnyhopping is in.
Friendly Fire is On- Friendly Fire is potentially very strategical. Imagine a grenadier deciding on whether or not to shoot a skulk biting an extractor. FF can be devastating and falls in line with tactical play, yet we don't have it, mainly because of potential pub abuse. It would only take one marine to destroy his whole base. Wait, PUB abuse?
Glancing Blows is Off- Skulk bites should be difficult to get, yet rewarding when they happen.
Devour is On- Because we're favoring tactical gameplay over fun.
No kill tracker- You can't read who died anymore. Situational Awareness becomes harder for both sides, and voice communication becomes essential. This would be horrible for pub play, but good for competitive.
Alien Commander can give orders just like the Marine Commander can by being able to select individual aliens.- There's absolutely no reason why a khammander can't order around a player in competitive play. Pub play YES, comp play no.
Pub Play Mode:
Cysts cost 2 res- Marines are rewarded for following their instincts. Destroying anything bad is always good.
Power Nodes cost 5 res to put up again, and cause actual darkness instead of red emergency lights.
Infestation is slightly harder to walk through, with an audible cue that you're stepping in some gross stuff- Intuitively, a marine is never going into alien territory alone if you make it really scary. Reward players for following their intuition, and build the game around that intuition.
Gorges can create 9 hydras, as well as one crag/shift/shade structure if the appropriate hive is already in play.- As evident in tower defense games, players have been asking for a return to the old gorge. The reason is simple... building stuff is fun.
Major sentry buff- Flayra says that he doesn't want the game to turn into a Player versus Environment game. That's fine in competitive play, but a lot of players absolutely love either putting them up, or taking them down.
Medic role for Marines. Allow them to heal each other. Some players love being support and always choose the medic class. So give them a medic gun that replaces your pistol.
HMGs are in. They cost 20 res, act as Level 4 LMGs with a 150 round clip and a lower ROF- Because screw logic, we want big guns.
Blink repels you off of walls, making it easier to blink in and out of the room.- Lower the skill barrier for fades and lerks to be consistent with skill level for other races.
The stomp animation no longer stops an Onos, so Onii can kill instead of being team players.- Role confusion. Onii want to kill, not support.
I know that a different thread is already up in general, but I believe that the thread has been so derailed and doesn't focus on the issue. Mod's discretion of course.
NS2 caters to a very specific audience- One focused on cooperative teamwork and mastering skills. A game where leveling up, k/d ratios, building things, and destroying them is thrown out the window in favor of a strategical decision. We don't have to deny this alternate style of gameplay if we can build a different ruleset around it. I ask of you: Is it possible that the community will benefit from having two rulesets?
1. NS2 is a special case.
The game is different. It's asymmetrical in not only the races, but individual player skill as well. Take Battlefield for instance. If you're not good at being a sniper, you don't have to be one. An NS2 player is regularly put into situations where he'll have to play as something he might not be good at- ie Fade, Skulk. Alien/Marine win rates will be different, and we can attribute this to either player skill or player count scaling, and don't forget, a player's skill with specific classes.
There's no other shooting game that has asymmetrical gameplay of one race versus another... except Left 4 Dead. L4D has a Normal mode and a Realism mode. Realism is basically balanced for competitive play, as competitive players are unable to have much impact on the survivors in normal mode. L4D has two modes, why can't NS2?
2. Competitive Fun versus Accessible Fun
Competitive players know that being at the right place at the right time is key in NS2. Would you rather shoot a grenade into a vent with two skulks hiding in it, or shoot a grenade at an almost dead harvester? Pubbers will go for the two skulks, but competitive players will take the harvester.
NS2 is a game where Playing to Win does not necessarily equate to Playing for Fun. I’ll give you some examples:
Players that prioritize their K/D ratio above the team’s survival.
Players that shoot every cyst or bite every power node.
Players that don’t want to build.
Players that don’t want to buy their fellow marines a shotgun if they had 100 res, or maybe they want to keep their own guns they bought and won’t tell anyone where they dropped their gun.
Players that don’t want to buy mines, or want to save for Exos.
Players that simply don't cooperate.
Saving Money. Killing things. Seeing extractors go Kaboom. One’s own survival. These are all instincts that we have to occasionally let go of in order to win a match. Is it possible that a player will be given an order that denies that player his very instinctual nature? Should NS2 continue to penalize these players that follow these instincts, or can they perhaps…be rewarded for following them, in a separate ruleset?
3. One skill size does not fit all. Is NS2 actually "Easy to Learn, Difficult to Master"?
Fades aren’t easy to learn. As a khammander, I have never recommended a newbie to buy a fade. You know why. THEY DIE. Newbs can’t bunnyhop, so instead we have Walljump. Easy to learn, but not nearly as difficult to master. Bunnyhopping is difficult to master. Is there a middle ground that fits Easy to Learn and Difficult to Master? Why bother finding one? Just give us two rulesets.
4.On top of arguing for two rulesets, I'll make a fictional proposition for a ruleset. Don't worry about how imbalanced my rules may seem, it's the idea that counts. You don't have to disagree or agree with any of these individual rules, but it is my hope that you see the potential for having two separate modes.
Competitive Mode:
Bunnyhopping is in.
Friendly Fire is On- Friendly Fire is potentially very strategical. Imagine a grenadier deciding on whether or not to shoot a skulk biting an extractor. FF can be devastating and falls in line with tactical play, yet we don't have it, mainly because of potential pub abuse. It would only take one marine to destroy his whole base. Wait, PUB abuse?
Glancing Blows is Off- Skulk bites should be difficult to get, yet rewarding when they happen.
Devour is On- Because we're favoring tactical gameplay over fun.
No kill tracker- You can't read who died anymore. Situational Awareness becomes harder for both sides, and voice communication becomes essential. This would be horrible for pub play, but good for competitive.
Alien Commander can give orders just like the Marine Commander can by being able to select individual aliens.- There's absolutely no reason why a khammander can't order around a player in competitive play. Pub play YES, comp play no.
Pub Play Mode:
Cysts cost 2 res- Marines are rewarded for following their instincts. Destroying anything bad is always good.
Power Nodes cost 5 res to put up again, and cause actual darkness instead of red emergency lights.
Infestation is slightly harder to walk through, with an audible cue that you're stepping in some gross stuff- Intuitively, a marine is never going into alien territory alone if you make it really scary. Reward players for following their intuition, and build the game around that intuition.
Gorges can create 9 hydras, as well as one crag/shift/shade structure if the appropriate hive is already in play.- As evident in tower defense games, players have been asking for a return to the old gorge. The reason is simple... building stuff is fun.
Major sentry buff- Flayra says that he doesn't want the game to turn into a Player versus Environment game. That's fine in competitive play, but a lot of players absolutely love either putting them up, or taking them down.
Medic role for Marines. Allow them to heal each other. Some players love being support and always choose the medic class. So give them a medic gun that replaces your pistol.
HMGs are in. They cost 20 res, act as Level 4 LMGs with a 150 round clip and a lower ROF- Because screw logic, we want big guns.
Blink repels you off of walls, making it easier to blink in and out of the room.- Lower the skill barrier for fades and lerks to be consistent with skill level for other races.
The stomp animation no longer stops an Onos, so Onii can kill instead of being team players.- Role confusion. Onii want to kill, not support.
I know that a different thread is already up in general, but I believe that the thread has been so derailed and doesn't focus on the issue. Mod's discretion of course.
NS2 caters to a very specific audience- One focused on cooperative teamwork and mastering skills. A game where leveling up, k/d ratios, building things, and destroying them is thrown out the window in favor of a strategical decision. We don't have to deny this alternate style of gameplay if we can build a different ruleset around it. I ask of you: Is it possible that the community will benefit from having two rulesets?