(08-01-2021, 10:56 PM)Wesker Wrote: People leaving over development-related issues is probably the thing that makes the least sense to me at all. It takes nothing to step back and be an average player, I'd argue it's more fun to be an average player. There are so many people that have complained about development in the game and then have rooted themselves in it fighting over change like it's the end of the world rather than just playing the game. I can appreciate Freelancer no matter what state it's in, I played when heavy decision hit, I played when Justin was the lead developer, I played when the Admins and devs were at their most polar, and I'm playing now. I think if you really appreciate Freelancer, you can enjoy it regardless of where it is. You just need to play the game.
Three reasons for me: PvP balance, inability to effectively play possible character types, and player hatred
1) It's very easy for you to say that it's fine to step back and be an average player when every snub balancing decision has benefitted jousting VHF combat style.
I do predominantly enjoy Disco for the RP side but I can't ignore I want PvP too. I was a SNAC bomber main and I loathed the change to SNAC to cut its damage to smaller ships to prevent the insta-kill. Anybody with half a brain could avoid it, but my playstyle was punishing the brainless and lining up the perfect surprise shield drop and SNAC shot. I lived for the one shot because it was hard, and I don't have the patience or skill for consistent gun hits in a joust, and it was a surprise to people. One of my best Disco memories is being ganked 7v1 and still getting a kill before they took me out. None of this felt unbalanced because there were plenty of ways for VHFs to easily take bombers out with patience and until they ran out of mines.
Then the SNAC distance change was brought in and that's when I stopped trying bombers and wrote half of my characters off. Good luck getting within 500m of a Solaris battleship or a turret-steering gunboat without insta-dying, let alone actually getting an accurate shot out.
Diversity has been slashed in the snub sector. You can't use missiles either because you have to choose between a missile and a CD. Mines have been fucked by the ammo reduction so that's goodbye to my Screamers. There is a definite meta in snub combat which makes it boring because I just wasn't being surprised anymore and I honestly couldn't compete with you. A third of my PvP encounters when I tried to come back involved you and you absolutely destroyed me every time. Why would I want to PvP when the only meta isn't a fun way of me playing the game.
I even tried to play a few days ago with a LF to try again, but that's where I found out about the thruster nerf on LFs. I loved flying a LF, getting in RP during a fight whilst I could dodge, but now a LF thruster runs out halfway through typing a sentence. Whilst, funnily enough, VHF thrusters weren't changed at all.
Compared to 4.85, every balancing change feels tailored to make jousting fighters lives easier because they don't have to worry about any other builds because other builds are so weak compared to them.
I have no interest in combat in anything above a snub.
So to summarise, I was great at a combat style that I enjoyed playing and it was taken away.
2) Lack of players compared to 2012. I've had some great RP in playing in 2020 and 21 but it's been few and far between. It isn't worth sitting on a lane as a pirate, smuggling is absolutely dead because it's high risk and lower reward to the safer route of trading mined goods (I still smuggle though for the fun RP it brings). Everyone I knew is gone and when I tried again it led to the third reason.
3) The amount of player hating I saw in Discord groups I joined disgusted me. Obviously something serious changed in this community between 2012 and 2020 because players stopped hating characters and started hating other players. I don't want to be in a community where players think of other players as threats and they worry about their Discord channels being compromised. I could easily have been in BAF and KNF in 2010 and nobody would've cared. Now if you were in Gallic Enclave and BAF you would've been kicked out of both as an accused spy.
Edit: I'd like to say that a reason I played for so long in 2020 was because of the events that were being run. They were amazing, I especially loved the unknown system that opened up for mining as I had a blast in my pirate bomber there. So a short positive to say that they worked brilliantly and I wish I checked here more often to see when they happened and try to join in.
Edit 2: 4th reason for not coming back: Gallia was a mistake. The Outcasts, Corsairs, or Coalition could've been brilliantly expanded and instead a bunch of systems were added that stretched the player base out too thin. Despite the great efforts to cut down the number of systems the map is too big compared to the player base now, so running into people is rare even in House capital systems (except NY ofc).
[17:45:39] Wolfs Ghost (Murphy): Tom, you have problems. Go kill yourself.
[19:25:12] Johnny (Jam): Tomtom, I will beat you with a spoon.
[14:22:56] Prarabdh Thakur: KILL HIM WITH A SHEEP.
[17:40:48] Eagle (Junes): Tom should be slapped with a spoon.
[11:32:18] Warspite: Thank you for being so awesome Tom. <3
[18:17:36] Metano: I love you tomtom
[20:06:24] Warspite: I will seriously give you epic head.
' Wrote:Edit: also, Tomtomrawr, fappin' like a boss.
