Hey everyone
This is a follow up to a thread I created a while back titled "300 hours later; my thoughts on NS2". Since writing that post, I've learned a good deal more about commanding, which has given me a new perspective on many of the things I talked about.
First of all, I was wrong a lot about a lot of things. I said that Alien commander didn't have many cost effective microing tools. And that was just plain wrong. It took me a while to learn how to use drifters effectively, but once I got the hang of it, Alien commander became a lot more engaging. And looking back, my list of suggestions for ways to improve the Alien commander experience seems pretty dumb.
My only real complaint about Alien Commander now relates to balance of hives and their various upgrades. In an ideal situation, all three hives would be viable starting options. But my experience after patch 261 has been that shift hive is easily the most useful starting hive, especially for the commander. The enzyme + storm ability for the drifter seems just as useful, if not better than mucous membrane. And the ability to echo structures is hands down more useful than post-261 heal wave. I'm curious which hive competitive teams are starting with now that crag hive has been nerfed.
Shade Hive doesn't seem like a viable starting option for anything except trolling in pubs. The upgrades it unlocks aren't as useful as those of shift or crag (though I would personally rather have aura than carapace any day of the week), the drifter ability is almost useless, and ink is only useful if you allow the enemy team to get arcs within striking range of one of your hives.
Those are my thoughts on the viability of each hive. As far as upgrades are concerned, I think Phantom and regeneration are far less useful than their counterparts, and need to be buffed.
So that's it. Those are my thoughts after another hundred hours. Am I right about the hives being unequal? I understand that the game plays different in a competitive setting than it does in pubs. I'm curious, which hive has been the favorite starter in competitive play after 261?
Happy Gaming,
Dr. Jekyll
This is a follow up to a thread I created a while back titled "300 hours later; my thoughts on NS2". Since writing that post, I've learned a good deal more about commanding, which has given me a new perspective on many of the things I talked about.
First of all, I was wrong a lot about a lot of things. I said that Alien commander didn't have many cost effective microing tools. And that was just plain wrong. It took me a while to learn how to use drifters effectively, but once I got the hang of it, Alien commander became a lot more engaging. And looking back, my list of suggestions for ways to improve the Alien commander experience seems pretty dumb.
My only real complaint about Alien Commander now relates to balance of hives and their various upgrades. In an ideal situation, all three hives would be viable starting options. But my experience after patch 261 has been that shift hive is easily the most useful starting hive, especially for the commander. The enzyme + storm ability for the drifter seems just as useful, if not better than mucous membrane. And the ability to echo structures is hands down more useful than post-261 heal wave. I'm curious which hive competitive teams are starting with now that crag hive has been nerfed.
Shade Hive doesn't seem like a viable starting option for anything except trolling in pubs. The upgrades it unlocks aren't as useful as those of shift or crag (though I would personally rather have aura than carapace any day of the week), the drifter ability is almost useless, and ink is only useful if you allow the enemy team to get arcs within striking range of one of your hives.
Those are my thoughts on the viability of each hive. As far as upgrades are concerned, I think Phantom and regeneration are far less useful than their counterparts, and need to be buffed.
So that's it. Those are my thoughts after another hundred hours. Am I right about the hives being unequal? I understand that the game plays different in a competitive setting than it does in pubs. I'm curious, which hive has been the favorite starter in competitive play after 261?
Happy Gaming,
Dr. Jekyll