In (my own) retrospect, KF2 had an amazing outlook
in contrast to the first game. Like -- the evolved gore and animation, the skill tree, deeper melee gameplay, even dancing barley with the Scrake was oddly fun, so I was able to look past the nostalgia and embrace the new in spite of some criticism about the second game was too dissimilar being true to an extent.
The real "issue" when it comes to old versus new is that -- TWI was adding old, pre-existing things as new content, such as the Mac-10, Mkb42, and so on. As it turned out, people were not that impressed on the surface, and the outcomes of said re-iterations were underwhelming by the practical terms.
Plus their balance is - I would say - something left to be desired; for instance, it's just bananas for an old WW-2 rifle possessing competitive stats versus a modern AR that is AK-12.
It wouldn't really be an issue if TWI only misdeliver like so by a small portion of things they deliver in KF2, except...
BOOM! VERSUS MODE.
BOOM! WE AREN'T PLANNED TO MAKE NEW PERKS.
BOOM! EDARS.
BOOM! WEAPON UPGRADES.
BOOM! PAID WEAPONS.
I'm found it not helpful to bash into this so I'll stop here.
TWI as a whole didn't plan to be too attached to or invested in one single project, so it's only natural that KF2 will begin to decline at some point.
But I still gotta say TWI have been running this game as if it is 2009, meaning they think releasing a medium-sized content update every 4-6 months would suffice -- and people can't literally be more satisfied if hats/skins are added here and there.
I mean, those can be some of us ever wanted - true - but (in my experience) that's not enough to make it boom.
For a gameplay cycle as simple and short/repetitive as this, things should be practically (gameplay-wise) freshened every month or two, either by having a "hard" scrambling mechanic that alters the ruleset/environment/settings - or by adding meaningful hence lasting new addition(s).
By comparison, content in form of a new more-or-less-the-same weapon that's for a certain class is profoundly lackluster in how much impact it's gonna have on the player-base slash players' experience. Another factor in this is the game's class-based structure (namely weapons being practically exclusive to a class) also renders said effect weaker, which is further weakened by the fact that there isn't a human receiving end (PvP) that can catalyze with - due to the core gameplay being PvE.
Other things:
- Seasonal flavor occludes the "main taste" too much.
- New things are so underwhelming/unimpressive that they're more so like nuisances.
- Skins feel low-effort/shitty.
- Both the economy and the lootbox systems are fairly primitive.
- Ditto, it affects progression.
Eh... I kinda disagree on that first argument of yours. Tripwire releasing old weaponry as novelty was mostly done out of nostalgia. Just like how they brought back "classic Briar and Masterson". They weren't forced to do it... But they did anyway, because fans actually had fond memories of those guns. I personally played a lot with the MAC-10 in the first game as I used to snipe zeds and watch them burn. Now, if their stats are sub-par, that's another story...
Similarly, your take regarding MK42b and AK-12 is... legit. But even though Tripwire is well known for being gun-nuts with a very satisfying feeling in their weaponry, it is still a video game above all. Sometimes, logic has to be thrown away for the sake of enjoyment. Sure, it doesn't make sense for such an archaic piece of technology to compete with a very modern one, but then... It doesn't make sense for a blind, frail woman to destroy explosives with her screams. Let's add that KF1 was already guilty of that AND that it would apply to many, many different guns (why is the MP7 a T1 while the MP5 is a T2? The MP7 is meant to be an evolution... Why is the Boomstick better than the regular pump-shotgun? )
For the rest, it sadly follows a similar pattern...
-"Versus mode" the result was subpar, I'll give you that. But it was a very popular fan-mode in the first game ! It definitely makes sense for them to try their luck at making it official if the fans enjoyed it. The result is not so great, but I doubt it would have been possible to do much better... The franchise itself doesn't appear exactly "fit" for a versus unlike Left 4 Dead
-KF1 only got one extra perk during its lifetime : the demolitions. And mind you : it appeared very early within its update lifecycle too ! So having three extra perks before the game truly "release" was a nice touch for KF2, even if, sadly, it was more or less about "dividing existing perks in two" rather than bringing something truly novel. But I think the SWAT and Gunslinger managed to find their spot and still play quite differently from the rest. They should be kept and refined for KF3. I believe ten perks is a nice amount and I wouldn't expect the game to end up with like 25 different perks. It would be a nightmare to balance, to level up and nobody would play everything anyway.
What I can truly blame however is the survivalist perk... It really felt lazy even before release. It just didn't fee like a worthy replacement for the Martial Artist/Urban Ninja idea. It has been discussed a whole lot on these forums, and I believe it was entirely doable unlike what Tripwire said at the time (I envisioned the MA to be a polar opposite of the zerk : a real glass cannon, getting killed very easily but very nimble and able to bring the pain !). Speaking of which, remember when the zerk was the "homemade weaponry" perk instead? I thought the idea was brilliant. Hardly makes for a perk's role, but as a theme? It was very clever. I believe the MA should come back. As well as maybe a "scientist" perk in order to have another purely supportive perk alongside the medic (the scientist could have the numerous buffs the medic is able to give, thus the Field Medic would be fully focused on healing/poisoning while the scientist would be focused on buffs/debuffs as well as different tools). I believe rounding the number of perks up to 12 for KF3 would be definitely fine.
-EDARS... Okay I can't blame you for that one. But I feel like most people dislike their appearance (myself included) rather than their capabilities. I believe if they were cyborgs, people wouldn't be so harsh on them. They brought some new stuff to face of, some new challenges to master... Mostly regarding the trappers of course. Plus, it's a free EMP !
-Weapon upgrades is honestly the thing I'm the most disappointed in KF2. I said in another topic that I was wary at first that it would remove the uniqueness of each gun, but in the end it amounted to so little. Another possible thing to follow-up in KF3 actually. Not asking for CoD:Modern Warfare levels of customization, but being able to tweak your stats a little would be neato. Hell, having a unique upgrade for each gun would be insanely cool (firing a harpoon that brings the hit zed close to you, Scorpion style, for the Seal Squeal for example... Or adding explosive tips to the Compound Bow. This kind of stuff. It could replace the HRG system as a result)
-Paid weapons... Yikes. That's a sore one isn't it? Again, I'll repeat myself as I saw so, but I think it would have gone much better if they actually lowered the price. By a large margin. 5 euros for a single gun is already quite expensive, but we can always say that it's not that much about the gun and more about supporting a game you love. Oh well, you may have to spend 50 bucks to have everything, but it's the gesture that matters after all... But ten? That's ridiculous. Even more so considering some weapons are quite disappointing (but truth be told : DLCs are always awful for that => should you make the weapons very good at the risk of alienating those who can't/don't want to pay? Or make them average at the risk of angering those who do purchase them?). If at the very least we got bundles to pay a bit less for everything, that'd be cool. But no can't do. And that's truly the worse thing because after so many years of free content, I honestly wouldn't have minded if they put new content behind a paywall (everyone does it nowadays), but not at THAT price.
"TWI as a whole didn't plan to be too attached to or invested in one single project..." well, considering they've been the one helming KF2 for at least four years (and honestly five-six if we consider pre-launch), I wouldn't say so. Sure, now Saber is doing the bulk of the work, but I wouldn't say they didn't care about Killing Floor 2, far from it. I believe it's a very important franchise to them, and I'm not exactly surprised they already strongly hinted that they got more in store (but nothing worth officializing yet).
It is true that they're updating the game the "old fashioned" way. But I'll say two things regarding that statement :
1)It worked amazingly for many other games. Terraria, World of Warcraft, Age of Empires 2 and of course... Team Fortress 2. Now naturally, it wasn't as tightly scheduled. It wasn't about "releasing an update every three months" (quite often : it took YEARS for an update to drop. TF2 being an exception during its prime). Hell, it is still very common among indie games to release updates "when they are ready". And it definitely works. If it was a game you enjoyed, even 4-5 years ago, knowing something big dropped is fantastic. But it has to be a meaningful update that will keep you entertained for weeks or even months. Hence why KF2 updates often fails : once you tried the new guns and acquired the reward of the event, you won't touch the game for another three months...
2)Modern update systems are usually tied to season passes... And it brought a lot of new problems on it's own. First, you need to play A LOT in order to unlock everything. Some people simply don't have the time to play hours daily. Second, a lot of rewards are quite bad and unsatisfying. Third, a lot of items are linked to the season passes and impossible to get once the season ends. Some games managed to overcome this problem by making items available within a in-game shop... But then it's yet another matter of grinding. Some people like it, some people don't (I personally despise it : I much prefer to unlock items because I'm doing good rather than doing so by cheesing/farming). And finally : it's probably very time-consuming for devs to release new things at such a quick pace (look at Fortnite : every single week you get new stuff! That's just way too much). Not only is it time-consuming but it also destroys excitement and hype. You don't really have time to mesmerize over new stuff. You get drowned in content. That's hardly a good thing. Sure, games should reward people spending time playing with them, but it should also acknowledge that other players might be busy and playing in a more casual way. "content-creep" is a real thing.
All in all, I would actually go the opposite direction : release fewer updates (maybe only twice a year) but make them packed-full of content. Meaningful one. Because one thing we can agree with is that it's hard to get excited when you know exactly what you're going to get. Not only that, but what you're getting is often underwhelming... We also agree on skins (for the love of everything that's holy : STOP ) and the economy. The latter have always felt very strange, as if the devs didn't quite know how to finance their game. Usually, people will either put microtransactions, lootboxes or DLCs. TW did all three. And finally, I linked the events to the lack of surprise and excitement of each updates : you know that you'll get the Xmas zeds. You know that you'll get a carnival map. You know that you'll have to kill X zeds in the new map... It's rinse and repeat. And as such, you just don't feel anything special from them anymore.
