Major Update Speculation V35 - A Distinctive Lack of Communication - Games

Quitter. You guys need to toughen up.

[QUOTE=G=4//\/\3!2;51581906]Here's the Comic Release dates, Not going to mean anything but at least they should bring some form of context: Ring of Fired [B]August 28, 2013[/B] Unhappy Returns [B]December 4, 2013[/B] A Cold Day in Hell [B]April 2, 2014[/B] Catch-Up Comic [B]May 2, 2014 [/B] Blood in the Water [B]October 2, 2014[/B] Old Wounds [B]August 31, 2015[/B][/QUOTE] Even ignoring the whole "Bi-Monthly" thing, the breaks weren't actually that bad until after fall 2014. It's like something went completely wrong during that time period. How do you go from three a year to one a year, to finally zero?

If they don't release comics 6 and 7 together, I'll genuinely be confused at how long they've managed to take.

[QUOTE=Erfly;51583733]If they don't release comics 6 and 7 together, I'll genuinely be confused at how long they've managed to take.[/QUOTE] Valve only has a couple of writers and honestly TF2 comics probably aren't the highest priority things they work on.

[QUOTE=GuntMyFries;51583280]Even ignoring the whole "Bi-Monthly" thing, the breaks weren't actually that bad until after fall 2014. It's like something went completely wrong during that time period. How do you go from three a year to one a year, to finally zero?[/QUOTE] I believe that's when Valve's focus was on the Vive VR, no?

[QUOTE=ComodoreBluth;51583842]Valve only has a couple of writers and honestly TF2 comics probably aren't the highest priority things they work on.[/QUOTE] whats their highest priority lol? csgo and dota players are equally as annoyed with their decisions as we are.

[QUOTE=Hell-met;51583884]whats their highest priority lol? csgo and dota players are equally as annoyed with their decisions as we are.[/QUOTE] They did release a new Portal VR game this year and I'm sure games have a much higher priority then comics. They're also likely helping out with the script for Bad Robot's Portal movie.

[QUOTE=ComodoreBluth;51583894]They did release a new Portal VR game this year and I'm sure games have a much higher priority then comics. They're also likely helping out with the script for Bad Robot's Portal movie.[/QUOTE] I get getting the writers to work on the Portal movie, but why do they need writers on VR production? Call me ignorant or dumb but aren't these games just tech demos for the most part and don't really need writers?

Why the heck does Valve have so much money, but hire so few writers?

[QUOTE=TectoImprov;51584057]I get getting the writers to work on the Portal movie, but why do they need writers on VR production? Call me ignorant or dumb but aren't these games just tech demos for the most part and don't really need writers?[/QUOTE] The Portal VR game does have new dialog so yeah the Valve writers had to work on it.

[QUOTE=Lord Exor;51583203]Quitter. You guys need to toughen up.[/QUOTE] Splatoon does it very well in a way that even if you get paired with lvl50 in casual MM, you still get to contribute to the goal wich is what eventually determines who wins. It also helps that every new player has to go through a training camp before even being able to play the game, so you get told what you can and should do to win. In TF2, even though there is no real rocket science to learn, there's an abysmal amount of stuff to be integrated. from the basic map layouts to each character's meta. even things like crouch jumping puts you on a disadvantage if you did not knew it. sure, community servers are there to goof around and try stuff, but even then things will not be easy because most if not all of the info exists outside the game, so unless you do get along and are the kind of person who does his/her homework, your chances to enjoy tf2 are going to be really hard.

I just got Splatoon for Christmas and was shocked the matchmaking takes about 10 seconds to load. If Nintendo, who's never made a online-focused game before this, can make matchmaking this fast and easy, I think Valve needs to sort their priorities and figure this out, because they were at the forefront of online gaming in their hayday. :v:

[QUOTE=GuntMyFries;51584485]I just got Splatoon for Christmas and was shocked the matchmaking takes about 10 seconds to load. If Nintendo, who's never made a online-focused game before this, can make matchmaking this fast and easy, I think Valve needs to sort their priorities and figure this out, because they were at the forefront of online gaming in their hayday. :v:[/QUOTE] As much as I like Splatoon, comparing 4v4 matchmaking with 12v12 matchmaking is a bit unfair.

[QUOTE=Lord Exor;51583108]Overwatch is a success primarily due to a monumental marketing campaign, and not necessarily because it's baby's first shooter.[/QUOTE] It's honestly a combination of both. Also your pubstomp agenda is kinda disgusting.

[QUOTE=scoottehbesht;51584521]As much as I like Splatoon, comparing 4v4 matchmaking with 12v12 matchmaking is a bit unfair.[/QUOTE] Also I believe that Splatoon's matchmaking has on 2 or 3 maps active at a time vs the huge number of maps and modes TF2 has.

[QUOTE=TectoImprov;51584057]I get getting the writers to work on the Portal movie, but why do they need writers on VR production? Call me ignorant or dumb but aren't these games just tech demos for the most part and don't really need writers?[/QUOTE] [media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUk2BTDH2IQ[/media]

They also released like, four-five Dota comics this year?

[QUOTE=Drury;51584528]It's honestly a combination of both. Also your pubstomp agenda is kinda disgusting.[/QUOTE] I was a doe-eyed tyro at some point as well, facing down players twenty to fifty times superior, back when online gaming wasn't yet entirely saddled by skill compartmentalization and matching algorithms for the lighthearted. Moreover, when I began playing TF2, I wasn't exactly in a great place mentally, having severe depression and feelings of general inferiority. And yet I perservered, despite several lamentations over what I believed to be a physical inability to improve; and believe me, it didn't help with my fragile self-esteem. So if someone like me in that particular situation can rough it out in the dog-eat-dog world of community servers circa 2009, then I believe anyone can with enough dedication. I'm tired of seeing game companies pander to defeatists just so they can keep up their retention count--it shouldn't be like this. And no, I don't have any twisted, sadistic agenda that involves predating on the lesser skilled. If I wanted to fight potatoes all day I'd play Casual; I just like interacting with a diverse group of players. What's honestly disgusting is your inclination to readily condemn someone based purely on assumptions and so little information.

You know I really don't like calling overwatch "baby's first shooter" it's a fun game and it is really just easy to pick up but hard to fully master. It doesn't really need to compete with tf2 since overwatch is smaller teams and more moba like. Don't hate on it just cause you like tf2 , it's a good well designed game.

I wanted to enjoy Overwatch, particularly since it doesn't seem healthy for me to persist in exposing myself to constant agitation over Valve. However, the game plays like an unbroken war of attrition, with kills being far more difficult to secure given the constant flow of buffs, debuffs, stuns, and shields. As a direct result of this, teams tend to cluster rather than disperse, exacerbating the issue and devaluing individual skill and contributions.

[QUOTE=Lord Exor;51585853]However, the game plays like an unbroken war of attrition, with kills being far more difficult to secure given the constant flow of buffs, debuffs, stuns, and shields. As a direct result of this, teams tend to cluster rather than disperse, exacerbating the issue and devaluing individual skill and contributions.[/QUOTE]what you're describing is a team game

You can have both a team-oriented experience and one that rewards individual proficiency. I believe TF2 would be a rather stellar example.

[QUOTE=Freeze;51585933]what you're describing is a team game[/QUOTE] TF2 and Overwatch are different kinds of team games. TF2 is "6 individuals with general skills" while Overwatch is "6 individuals with specialistic skills". You could imagine a line with Counter Strike and Overwatch at its extremes and TF2 in the middle. In Counter Strike everybody is a generalist with minor specialization (Rifler vs. Awper being, pretty much, the only hard cut one). In Overwatch, every hero has its own set of skills that make him\her good at one thing but pretty piss poor at everything else. TF2 strikes a balance in that most of the *cough* actually played characters *cough* are generalists, but they don't excel at everything, they just excel at almost everything.

[QUOTE=Firetornado;51585794]You know I really don't like calling overwatch "baby's first shooter" it's a fun game and it is really just easy to pick up but hard to fully master. It doesn't really need to compete with tf2 since overwatch is smaller teams and more moba like. Don't hate on it just cause you like tf2 , it's a good well designed game.[/QUOTE] Overwatch is very easy to master what do you even mean no hero has anything even as skill requiring as airblasting which is sad

It's funny you mention it because one of the characters has an airblast. And it doesn't reset your momentum. It actually keeps it.

He means the timing required to reflect projectiles.

Well I can say there's an example of Blizzard wanting to take an approach for self-sustained classes in Overwatch, [B]Sombra.[/B] But as with the '[I]Competitive'[/I] scene for Overwatch, having a Sombra on your team is just useless compared to a DPS, Tank or a healer. Having someone with the ability to turn off shields and abilities only gets you so far against a team of highly-aware players, and it doesn't punish those unaware of Sombra's presence... "Oh no! You turned off my ability to hook or heal" [B]*Insta-kills Sombra with primary*[/B] I get certain classes and even players themselves heavily rely on abilities in Overwatch, but myself and a lot of others included don't rely on abilities to win in fights. So Sombra is a minor useless annoyance at best. But it's a step in the right direction since they want to make heroes for every type of play.

[QUOTE=Annoyed Grunt;51586216]It's funny you mention it because one of the characters has an airblast. And it doesn't reset your momentum. It actually keeps it.[/QUOTE] Lucio's airblast isn't what I mean, I mean reflecting that takes actual timing unlike Genji

[QUOTE=Lord Exor;51585949]You can have both a team-oriented experience and one that rewards individual proficiency. I believe TF2 would be a rather stellar example.[/QUOTE]Out of interest, what do you define as "rewarding individual proficiency"? The only way I can think of TF2 rewarding individuals more is that it's a lot easier for a single person to carry a team to victory in TF2 rather than Overwatch but that is [I]not[/I] a good thing. That is only fun for that single person and arguably ruins the game for literally everyone else.

There's a greater disparity between a good player and a bad player, which means that the outcome of a fight is determined mostly by aptitude. TF2 also has less hard counters, and supports an environment wherein even a Heavy can kill a Sniper on a good day. The skill level of individuals within a team matters more than simply what you're playing and what abilities are used, and players aren't stonewalled by 20 different defensive buffs when they're in a good position to acquire kills.