I haven’t had a chance to log in and try to construct a new build yet so I’m withholding final judgement until then, but I have to say that I’m not enthused.
Half the build variety from the first iteration of the new style trees came from the fact that the end nodes were entirely optional - Even to the point where it was punishing to chase them much of the time. If the new keystones are as powerful as those from other classes, having to go all the way to the bottom of the tree AND spend 3/4 nodes buffing them up is going to seriously dent that build variety.
And its things like this that are why CatFish is unprofessional. Because this is exactly the sort of thing that should jump out on even a basic proofreading. Especially after the debacle that was the veteran tree of the last two patches. After that many typos and plain screwups I would have expected that the person who signs their name to those notes before posting them would do a VERY thorough job of proofreading and comparing the notes handed to them to design documents to make certain that everything lined up. And if not then they would, like any decent professional, refuse to pass them until the error was rectified.
Yet here we have yet another one. In the same tree for the same class. Its as if someone doesn’t even care what gets released. Just copies it verbatim and moves on to the next job while waiting for the clock to tick down.
And that is without getting into the utter stupidity of what happened to the veteran tree. So I will be brief in this.
I will NEVER buy another product, spend money on a service, or provide any review that is not scathing and derogatory about anything FatShark touches. Period. No matter what happens from this point on. No matter what improvements are made or how much they grovel. I gave this company 6 months of goodwill and support through the shop and helping two other people join. And now I find myself regreting every single penny spent because it helped fund a company that has less regard for its players than EA or Activision.
I’m critisizing things I dislike, but I earlier in the thread praised the sound design and music.
I also think the new map is beautifully designed by professionals. Maybe if my class was fun and I wasn’t listening to Hallowette going “ALRITE DARLIN’” every time I load up the mission, I’d have less to complain about right now, but it be what it be.
Reaching the keystones leaves you with very little to play with, as has already been observed.
I took a fairly long top-down route (Shredder → Survivalist → Voice of Command → Weapons Specialist + 4 upgrades). The minimal cost for that route would have been 26
Marksman’s Focus felt alright on the Agripinaa Infantry Autogun and rough on the Agripinaa Headhunter Autogun
My aim isn’t spectacular, so HH double dipped on the pain.
I feel like Recon Las will probably stand to gain the most from the keystone, followed by IAGs.
Standard lasguns, I feel like they’d be so-so with it
If it can stack multiple times per shot, Lawbringer could be an interesting pairing
Haven’t tried Focus Target yet, but the bonus damage was a nice touch from teammates providing it.
Weapons Specialist feels good; that said, it does play into how I tend to play Zealot, so some of that is probably down to a familiar playstyle.
EDIT: Oh, for some reason, I had “1 stack on weakspot hit” for Marksman’s Focus in my head… Recon Las may not be as big of a winner as I originally thought.
In terms of tweaks I’d like to see
If the intention is to keep the Veteran tree as long as it is, I think (some of) the 3-wide branches after Blitz/Aura/Ability could be shrunk to 1-wide (and the spare nodes could be moved towards the bottom of the tree); it wouldn’t alter the minimum cost of a direct route from top to bottom, but it give some unique flexibility to move horizontally at a low cost, to offset the vertical cost
Alternatively, as mentioned before, squish down the bottom branches. Turn some of the 2-wide branches into 3-wide branches
For example, the middle branch could move Iron Will up 2 rows (adjacent to Tactical Awareness/Keep Their Heads Down) and Demolition Team down 2 rows (to Competitive Urge/Bring It Down), which would reduce the cost of reaching the keystone by 1
The same could also be achieved by collapsing Competitive Urge/Bring It Down and Rending Strikes into a single branch for the same result
Just for illustration purposes, as an option to make each branch cost 1 less point in total.
I think reducing the minimum cost to reach a keystone by 1 (which is easily achievable for all 3 branches) and some improved horizontal traversal, or reducing the minimum cost to reach a keystone by 2. The former would leave the Veteran at having the highest minimum cost to reach a keystone (19) but the improved horizontal traversal could help to offset that. The latter is harder to achieve, but would bring the Veteran into line with the other classes, which seems fair.
Hey, no worries. I’m not trying to start anything. Just that I feel like whenever you make a comment about the game it’s always “Why is this like this and not different. I don’t want any whackyfunnyHALLOWETTE.” Granted, I haven’t seen all your posts and comments but come on. Do you really want all missions to be Morrow going “AIGHT NOW DO THA FING THAT THA MARKER SAYS” “MOVE FASTER YOU INTLETS”.
But in all seriousness, I don’t wanna waste both our times debating how the game should be. I’d say let’s agree to disagree…
First the Eviscerator got nerfed by halving its bleed stacks. And now bleed stacks do less damage. What is going on? Why do you hate the Eviscerator so much?
Yeah fair, I’ll just say sometimes less is more. They could have focused on making the mission handlers a bit less intrusive. Just some quiet vox from some dude on ship saying bzzzt Make your way to next waypoint, Emperor be with you bzzt
I just get this weird Tracer (Overwatch) vibe from Hallowette, and its not a good vibe. Totally personal opinion that, of course. I’m sure others loved Tracer lol.
Tracer was the reason I muted character voices for the first 2 years of playing that game. I don’t get quite the same repulsion from Hallowette, but I do get what you mean. Something just feels a little off about it.
I said that. I feel that people who hate on Hallowette are the same people who dislike Female Loose Cannon Vet. Like, I get that you find the voice annoying, but that’s your and only your problem, so get a grip
A swing and a miss. So many nerfs. Again. In a PvE game?!
I thought the Vet tree was bad before. This is now a hot mess which looks like the total objective was to simply make it different (and more convoluted) instead of better.
As I have all char types on my account my general take is that you made playing any/all of them LESS fun. Other gaming companies don’t really put this much effort into making their games less fun to play.
Actually they could cater to people who find vox chatter distracting by giving us an option to turn it down. It harms no one.
I actually got no issue with the Loose Cannon Vet, btw. Not sure if your theory is sound there.
nah, thats the thing about feedback, mate, its to help businesses know what customers enjoy most, what they’d like to see, and you know, maybe what they find distracting or unpleasant in the product.
I wanted to wait until I tried a few rounds with Vet, and I can say I just ignore the keystones. They’re not worth the points. None of them are powerful enough. None of them really fit the play style I want. I move too much to use left, I range too much to use right (and 5s isn’t enough), and things die too quickly to justify the middle.
I would say the part above the grenades is nice, but over all I am probably doing worse than I was before the patch. I can still do what I need to and kill elites with the revolver, but that’s all.
Confirmed Kill despite being nerfed is right at the top, ammo and anti-suppression nodes are easier to reach. +VoC ult, survivalist aura and some reloading speed node (left or right. left is better imo). No keystones build. Basically the only con is swap speed, but it’s a fair deal. Played few runs (auric maelstrom) works fine.
Another variant - full central brench+survivalist, damage is stupidly high, but you will have no anti-supression so it can be tricky (less ammo but considering damage is higher doesn’t matter). This node helps vs shooters blobs a bit, burts fire you go.
So far don’t know which one i prefer, first one is easier and more reliable, second one is more fun but harder to play, but both quite strong if you can manage weapon swap timing (VoC grants safety)
