Specimen Only Mutators

[HaTeMe]

Theres been a lot of comments about disabling leveling in specimen only mutators, yet I found no actual topic on the subject.

I just happened to read through this rather old thread where someone asked the fastest way to level up Support from lvl 4 to lvl 6, and of course the answer was "Doom2-Final-Whitefix + bloaded + suicidal. After a short while this person replied the following:

"Thnx. I did. Doom + bloaded + suicidal or hard = 2.5m damage in 2 hours "

2.5 million damage in two hours... TWO HOURS!

Thats simply unfair when you think about commando for example, one of his leveling requirements is to kill Stalkers. The stalker mutator is NOT whitelisted, so he must level up the legal way. Dont get me wrong tho, thats how its supposed to be, my problem is entirely with the specimen only mutators and the way they are abused to level up in couple of hours where normally it would take 10 times more time. If all specimen mutators arent whitelisted, then why should the original ones be??

This power-leveling can be done with other perks too, SS would use clot-buster for easy headshots, firebug would use either poundamonium or bloated, same with demo and berserker. Commando can also level up his damage but thats rather useless since he still needs to kill stalkers. Medic could tag along with berserker for healing but I dont know wether it would be any easier/faster with specimen only mutators, prolly not.

So, what Im asking from Tripwire is to disable perk leveling in specimen only mutators, because not only they are used for instant leveling, but they are also causing a HUGE number of exploits in maps. Normally any small cap/hole in a map can be accesssed by smaller specimens (crawlers, stalkers) and ranged specimens, BUT load up a Poundamonium mutator and the number of exploitable spots will be doubled if not tripled, simply because fleshpounds are too big to reach players in "tight spaces". I could show you a ton of example screenshots and video but Im pretty sure that would go against forum rules. I can, however, PM some examples for TWI if they wish.

Comments please!

 

[[UIT] Akame]

Agreed. There are many maps still on the whitelist that promote easy leveling with spawning weapons and bugs that aren't fixed because very few people have reported them but bloated and poundamonium exacerbate the problem but cutting out the low damage waves.

Also, FPs aren't any taller than clots -while scrakes are larger- as far as I can tell so they can still get into many places but any place only stalkers and crawlers can get into is rather broken, spec mutators or not.

 

[KingJoker]

-Read here ignore the bottom-
you could delete the perk leveling farming with pondo and **** but you'd probably lose 1/3 of the game but im in favor of it :O Because i also am annoyed that most people with level 5/6 cant even get a proper headshot :/





Bloated suicidal in two hours is impossible cos i'm a perk leveling scrub (most my friends do it so i join and have fun ^^) but pondo is :O

However i believe they should get rid of the easy perk leveling and they shouldn't either :O When you add a leveling system you create a group of fans who are going to play just for leveling. Quite a few of my friends play only for leveling and even admitted to nearly quitting once all level six.
back in June and July i had level 5 in a week on most stats (Not perk leveling ...) and played for three months and quit because of household issues ^^. <Random babbling>

-Read here ignore the bottom-
you could delete the perk leveling farming with pondo and **** but you'd probally lose 1/3 of the game but im in favor of it :O Because i also am annoyed that most people with level 5/6 cant even get a proper headshot :/

 

[Melon_Reaper]

So, what Im asking from Tripwire is to disable perk leveling in specimen only mutators

Melon Reaper likes this. and supports it.

He would also like to point out that (as discussed in other threads) just because perk leveling is off doesn't mean that one cannot play with mutators. If playing a game is about FUN and not leveling, then it shouldn't matter that mutators award no exp.

For example, I enjoy playing on clot mutators even though I'm already a level 6 sharpshooter and don't need more headshots, because I Enjoy waves 7+ and the ridiculous amount of fleshpounds that appear, often destroying unprepared teams.

 

[omarfw]

indeed, that "perks with no leveling" list would come in handy right about now

plus there's always the perk replacement mut for servers running specimen muts anyway

 

[-[SiN]-bswearer]

oh boy, my kinda thread

i don't feel like writing the typical novel that i do so i will give only a couple simple reasons.

after all the KEPT testing and personal observations with this game over the past 10 months, the specimen-only mutators are the catalyst for destroying this game's leveling system.

map exploits are bad enough, but if you look at how people are abusing those exploits, they use the specimen only mutators to exponentially increase the amount of leveling they can gain. in fact, with some map exploits, the only reason why they even are effective exploits is because people are using mutators that allow players to only face specimen that cannot "reach" or do "damage" to the players.

obviously these mutators were never properly testing before inclusion with the game when it went retail. as i quoted in another post before:

The mutators that came with the game are not really supported. We can not guarantee that they run as expected, but we didn't want to simply remove them just because we didn't have time to test/fix them. At some point we may look at fixing them, but we are currently working on higher priority issues.

over the past 10 months, they've been tested. consensus is that they allow for rediculous exploitation of the game's leveling system and they need to be removed from the whitelist. mmmmk

 

[Temstar]

Bswearer, we need to make a new perk for you:
Level 6 Crusader
100% resistance against Grinders
All attacks cause damage to doors
Can pick up map spawned weapon from upto 27m away
Causes push back against other plays when firing the pump action shotgun while crouched, like back in Release
Do 60% more damage when playing on stock maps
Spawn with Chainmail

Back on topic, yes the specimen mutators should be de-whitelisted for the sake of consistency. It's either that or whitelist Stalker mutator.

 

[Melon_Reaper]

It's either that or whitelist Stalker mutator.

I won't hold my breath.

 

[Undedd Jester]

Specimen specific mutators should be about the challenge, not the experience.

Try playing medic using only the MP7M on clotbuster suicidal... its not stupid hard, but its an arse

Firebug suicidal poundamonium... ouch

This is they should be for, practise at overcoming a certain foe with a class that is weak against them. As is demomen, sharpshooters, zerkers, medics, etc can just lame their way through the ranks... which I wouldn't mind if said lamer wasn't simply crap when they play the actual game... watching them die is funny... picking my own intestines off the floor isn't

De-whitelist would fix alot of crap

 

[-[SiN]-bswearer]

Bswearer, we need to make a new perk for you:
Level 6 Crusader
100% resistance against Grinders
All attacks cause damage to doors
Can pick up map spawned weapon from upto 27m away
Causes push back against other plays when firing the pump action shotgun while crouched, like back in Release
Do 60% more damage when playing on stock maps
Spawn with Chainmail

Back on topic, yes the specimen mutators should be de-whitelisted for the sake of consistency. It's either that or whitelist Stalker mutator.

so you attack me, then agree with me?

 

[omarfw]

i don't see that as an attack actually :S

 

[Anubis_FB]

played Sandbox mode 15 wave. Was insane. Ppl didnt like it to much, because it was hard as ~~~~, But I did some modding to the mutators so you spawn with more monies, but there would be alot more spawns. LvL 6 only fight, and a must have for ammo conserv.

What would be cool is if TW did a wave gaunlet like in COD 5. Just non-stop waves of zombies, but every wave theres more and they move faster and faster.

that would be SWEET

 

[Temstar]

You say that as if being a Crusader is a bad thing.

Crusader, I love it, it's got a nice ring to it

 

[Zaqq]

I think we need to de-whitelist Doom map, not mut's. It is good map, but it is easy.

 

[KingJoker]

I think we need to de-whitelist Doom map, not mut's. It is good map, but it is easy.

most people use West London.

 

[Undedd Jester]

so you attack me, then agree with me?

Seemed more like a compliment to me, KEPT FTW

 

[HaTeMe]

I think we need to de-whitelist Doom map, not mut's.

I say both

 

[anthracy]

Disabling doom2 is just a bandage, disabling the spec only mutators is the cure.

 

[omarfw]

Disabling doom2 is just a bandage, disabling the spec only mutators is the cure.

this

 

[Ebay]

Did I already said that I grinded some of my perks on Poundemonium Suicidal?
Well I did. Demo, Firebug, Support. As for SS, it just leveled itself. Commando takes a while to level up but once you get level 4-5, it literally levels itself.
You can also play on Biotics with a team, and camp the double (Read triple) stairs on the right of the U room. LOTS of stalkers spawn there.