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Merc Report - Entering The Ethereal Void

Mercs,

Those portals you’ve been chasing have lead to somewhere... well we would say out of this world but that isn’t the whole story.

The Horzine Research Group team has been sending probe drones into these portals as they’ve popped up and the data received has shown what appears to be an “eternal ethereal void” but the images we’ve managed to get back show more. Take a look.


elysiumcastle.png


We’ve spotted swampland, a desert, a bloody castle and more! And you guessed it, we’re sending you in.

elysiumswamp.png

We aren’t quite sure about the what, when, where or anything else about this realm. But something we haven’t mentioned yet... Something over there is reaching out (and we aren’t talking about the zeds and the portals, see if you can’t find something on that and see if one of the “good” doctors has gotten into now) and attempting to communicate. So far all we’ve really gotten out of it is something about defense, or staying with it, maybe to keep it company?

Either way, it or something won’t let our drones back through the portals. And before you ask, no we don’t know what to prepare you for, hence why you’re going into the blasted thing to find out!

Keep your wits about you, but most of all, figure out who or what is behind this. Keep an eye out for the strange, and don’t be afraid to poke around to see what you find, there may be more out there... that is if you survive deployment to this space.

Test (beta) deployments may begin in the coming days (subject to change depending on development)! Portal transition looks a tiny bit like death on an EKG monitor, at least on the rodents we sent in front of you, so good luck!

[Garbled static]th[**] su[***]ve [****] may e[**]n [*]ome ba[**] f[***] Elysium[Garbled static]

Elysium is the next community created map by Seanchaoz joining the official rotation, supporting standard survival, weekly and endless modes.
 
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First ? Nobody comment and guess cos preparing some bs excuses comments as a boosted players they are. All time yelling about game but on ingame they die each wave, don't buy less than 3s, don't know which combo tier 1 - 4 weps to wear with and the correct settled skills perk, etc.


PD: This dsnt looks a xmas map.
 
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I don't know if it's the map or the screenshots, but I really thought we were back on Killing Floor 1... Is it me or are the textures really weird? And considering it's a custom map made by a fan, I really feel like an ass for saying so.

Also, "portals"... That has always been a magic word in fiction isn't it? That way you can pretty much squeeze anything you want. I know it's not the first map to implement them, but it's the first time I realize that it bothers me. Since when was Killing Floor about interdimensional travels and such? Yeah I know, we were already fighting on the MOON in the first game...But for some reason, it shocked me less to have an all-powerful tech agency like Horzine having a moonbase than having them build a teleporting technology, Black-Mesa style. I think it should be more organic, similar to the Krampus Lair version.

I mean, maybe that's the path you want to take Killing Floor in : less and less rooted in reality to make the mercs fighting through a living hell. But personally... I do miss more grounded, more "simple" maps sometimes. I feel like you were more creative with them in the first game : Siren's Belch, Icebreaker or Waterworks were all pretty creative battlefields that didn't resort to otherworldy stuff.

It also sucks that for the past two events or so, you've pretty much said "**** it" to the overall themes of said events. At that point, let's get rid of them shall we? So it doesn't feel half-assed. Because unless you but some christmas lights around the castle, I really struggle to see how that will count as a "themed" map.

Plus... Gosh, we're in for a beta already? So that's it? Two guns, including a DLC... and one map? Along with your by-the-books tweaks to a small number of weapons?

I know I sound both like a broken record and an entitled dick. But honestly... take a break if you need it guys. Allow yourselves to skip an update to come back to form. Because right now, it really feels like you're only doing it "out of habits". I haven't been surprised by an update for YEARS at that point. It's okay to call it quit you know? If you want to put all your resources and energy in a new project, that's only fair. You've supported the game for five solid years... I'm sure the community will gladly take the lead. Producing quality mods and maps. Either that, or dare to spice up the formula by having an update with no new maps or weapons... But a brand new perk for example ! Scientist have been in talk lately, and I swear he could simply reuse a few tech weapons from the other perks if you so desire. Or scrap the perk idea and just bring a truckload of Quality of Life improvements! Or try to come up with a new mod etc. Anything, really ! Because right now, it's just... Boring.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who comes by every update simply to do all the event-related objectives, only to close the game for three more months until we get the next additions. That's not how you keep a game alive... You got to spark some interest in players.
 
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Have we just decided Objective mode isn't a thing anymore?
I expressed my dislike of the Objective mode numerous times already, but at that point I'd just want to say that I would love for Tripwire to stop half-assing things.


The objective mode, the upgrade system, the weeklies, the events... If feels as if they went through with nothing. Even the Survivalist left a sour taste, even more so since it's been years and he's still underwhelming as heck.
 
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I expressed my dislike of the Objective mode numerous times already, but at that point I'd just want to say that I would love for Tripwire to stop half-assing things.


The objective mode, the upgrade system, the weeklies, the events... If feels as if they went through with nothing. Even the Survivalist left a sour taste, even more so since it's been years and he's still underwhelming as heck.
Even if you're not a fan of Objective mode, I can't see a reason why someone would oppose its inclusion in the game. No one has ever said "I like this game and all, but there are just too damn many ways to play it" [\]
I really wish they'd convert airship and Santa's Workshop's normal modes into objective modes and implement a normal mode version of both maps though.
 
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Even if you're not a fan of Objective mode, I can't see a reason why someone would oppose its inclusion in the game. No one has ever said "I like this game and all, but there are just too damn many ways to play it" [\]
I really wish they'd convert airship and Santa's Workshop's normal modes into objective modes and implement a normal mode version of both maps though.
I was playing a map yesterday called "The Park", it seemed to have Hans as a narrator for objective mode! And there were some lines that I never heard before on any objective mode before
Note: didn't hear them on Airship too
 
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I was playing a map yesterday called "The Park", it seemed to have Hans as a narrator for objective mode! And there were some lines that I never heard before on any objective mode before
Note: didn't hear them on Airship too
Isn't Hans the announcer for Monster_Ball or something? I guess that's where they come from.

And @Stiffun_Jackman , of course ! If I don't like it, I might as well not play it. My only real reasoning could be "instead of spending ressources on that, they should focus on something else" or "they could improve upon it". But even then : it doesn't mean people CAN'T enjoy such a mode. I'm nobody to tell people what they should like or not.

Still, my main gripe is that Tripwire laid the foundations for many, many ideas in KF2 and pretty much never followed through with them. I won't list the examples I mentioned above yet again, but Objective mode is definitely one of them. I'll probably sound very harsh, but to me... they didn't improve anything compared to the first game. And that's my problem ! I wouldn't rule out the Objective mode as useless, people can and should enjoy it ! But I personally feel that it could be so much more. It's like a poor excuse for a story mode in my opinion...And even then, maps are rarely linked together.

I believe that, should the mode come back in a future game, they should spend way more time on it and actually include it from the start. Hell... Make the next Killing Floor a reboot! Since so much stuff happened more or less "behind the scenes" (for real, all the lore of the game got developed with map descriptions and developers updates...).

Oh by the way, another idea they didn't follow through : the main idea behind KF2 was that the outbreak (which began in London) spread to the rest of Europe. And I rejoiced ! I thought it would be some sort of macabre city-trip, where every new map brings forward a new country or location ! The first releases definitely pointed towards that (Catacombs being in Italy, Black Forest in Germany, Evacuation Point in Denmark, Volter Manor in Swiss, Burning Paris in... well, Paris. And so on...)

But then boom. We got maps in space, maps in the middle of the North Pole, maps in laboratories... We pretty much got just generic locations you could find in any other games. This is also one of my many complains : besides Hellmark Station in the previous update, none of them really felt fresh, remarkable or interesting lately. Because if at least they were, I would understand how they forgot about the plot-point of the outbreak spreading to the whole continent. But no... They followed with neither the plot, neither the creativity.
 
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So many things were left unfinished most likely because the microtransaction income wasn't there. Now we have DLC weapons which could provide a boost but we also have a different developer in charge of updating the game which suggests maintenance over new content. This is probably the twilight years of KF2 and I'd wager KF3 could get announced by 2023 or so. The point of KF3 would be to appropriate a budget to better include things like Objective mode or the upgrade system right off the bat, the costs of which would be paid for with the sales of a new game. As it stands KF2 is probably unable to generate the kind of revenue required for such grand changes, which is why we're seeing more and more updates that are just more and more of the same small number changes and community content additions.

As an aside I'm hoping KF3 can reuse assets from KF2 to save time and money and be able to focus on the "extended" features of the game. There's only so far you can go with graphics anyways and I know for myself I wouldn't mind seeing the same weapon models/textures/animations again. IIRC weapons took a ridiculous amount of time to develop so all the better to reuse them.
 
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So many things were left unfinished most likely because the microtransaction income wasn't there. Now we have DLC weapons which could provide a boost but we also have a different developer in charge of updating the game which suggests maintenance over new content. This is probably the twilight years of KF2 and I'd wager KF3 could get announced by 2023 or so. The point of KF3 would be to appropriate a budget to better include things like Objective mode or the upgrade system right off the bat, the costs of which would be paid for with the sales of a new game. As it stands KF2 is probably unable to generate the kind of revenue required for such grand changes, which is why we're seeing more and more updates that are just more and more of the same small number changes and community content additions.

As an aside I'm hoping KF3 can reuse assets from KF2 to save time and money and be able to focus on the "extended" features of the game. There's only so far you can go with graphics anyways and I know for myself I wouldn't mind seeing the same weapon models/textures/animations again. IIRC weapons took a ridiculous amount of time to develop so all the better to reuse them.
As usual, let's not see it all white or all black... As it can be both sides' fault.

Let's be honest, some players are stingy. No matter the price, no matter what's on sale. These are the kind of players that would get everything for free if they could. And are the people impossible to please. It's actually even worse when they had to pay for the game, as they feel they "already paid the right to play". That's a very incomplete way to sum it all up, it's of course a tad more complex, but you get the idea.

But on the flipside, it's perfectly understandable to avoid paying for something you don't want or that you find not worth the price. It's of course always difficult to find the right price tag : too low and you're working for peanuts. Too high and nobody will purchase anything. I think it's a safe bet to say that 10 bucks per weapon or character is just way too much for most people.

Microtransactions are even harder things to balance and, to be fair, I can't recall of any game that did it right. If you cater to cosmetics (as it is often advised), you better make them look good otherwise people will find them unworthy. And putting game-changing items behind microtransactions are seen a big no-no, as a rule of thumb.

All in all, who's to blame? The people not buying enough to support the game? Or the developpers not making anything worth buying/ making them too expensive?

Point being though : things are prepared in advance. That's a given, and Tripwire has even been crystal-clear on that point for quite a while : actually sharing their upcoming plans with their fans, gathering hype... and allowing them to have a broader view of what could be doable, how and when. So except if sales REALLY fell below expectations... It's honestly a poor excuse to say that they "couldn't follow up with their ideas".

Because even if admittedly, the upgrade system got implemented fairly late into KF2's life cycle... The scrapped Martial Artist, then the Survivalist... and the weeklies and objective mode can be traced back waaaay before that. ****, Objective mode was already in the first game ! Honestly, they could have thought it better.

You cannot throw ideas at the wall and see what sticks... or what's "promising enough for the next game". Because you never know if a next game will ever happen ! If you really can't make an idea work (I guess that's what happened with the MA), either scrap it or try to find an alternative. Just putting an half-assed idea screams laziness.

Besides, KF2 launched as a fairly barebones experience...Albeit a very promising one. We merely had four perks and three maps at launch remember? But it quickly evolved for the better. What I mean is that I'm afraid that they may do the same for KF3... And thus fall into the same traps. If you got to wait two years to get back to the previous game's standards, that's already a bad sign.

Finally, KF2 is slowly showing its age... It's not ugly by any means, and it still works well. But I can't really see a third game running on Unreal Engine 3 when UE5 recently got teased. It's okay to work on old technology for comfort (or use older graphics for nostalgia sake), but there's a point where you'll just come to a standpoint.

Plus... Honestly, grand-scale changes are exactly what the franchise need at the moment. I'm sorry, for Tripwire has been playing it safe for at least 2-3 years now. It cannot stay that way. Either the franchise will lay dormant for a certain amount of time (maybe forever, we never know)... Or they'll have to come back with a bang.

I do agree that both the upgrade system and objective modes should be the first two big selling point of the game...FROM THE GET-GO THIS TIME (I would also say the skill-based system, the weeklies and new perks but beggars can't be choosers!). And while we can't expect everything from KF2 to come back, we should try to keep its essence : hopefully, that means every perk (with at least three guns each at launch) and every zeds (maybe not every boss). Other additions can definitely come-in later.

And while I often say that graphics are truly secondary in a video game experience... This time, I believe a new coat of paint would benefit the game immensely. More accurately, I would say a new art direction... While at first I liked the slightly shinier graphics of KF2 (making the zeds a bit more "cartoony") and the overall more near future aesthetics, I feel they threw a bit of everything as the updates rolled in. I'm not asking for a complete turnover to the gritty and creepy atmosphere of the first game, but maybe they could rework the artstyle of the game a little bit? We don't need to strive for hyperrealism or 10000 zeds at once on your screen. But some polish is always appreciated.
 
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As usual, let's not see it all white or all black... As it can be both sides' fault.

Let's be honest, some players are stingy. No matter the price, no matter what's on sale. These are the kind of players that would get everything for free if they could. And are the people impossible to please. It's actually even worse when they had to pay for the game, as they feel they "already paid the right to play". That's a very incomplete way to sum it all up, it's of course a tad more comwplex, but you get the idea.

But on the flipside, it's perfectly understandable to avoid paying for something you don't want or that you find not worth the price. It's of course always difficult to find the right price tag : too low and you're working for peanuts. Too high and nobody will purchase anything. I think it's a safe bet to say that 10 bucks per weapon or character is just way too much for most people.

Microtransactions are even harder things to balance and, to be fair, I can't recall of any game that did it right. If you cater to cosmetics (as it is often advised), you better make them look good otherwise people will find them unworthy. And putting game-changing items behind microtransactions are seen a big no-no, as a rule of thumb.

All in all, who's to blame? The people not buying enough to support the game? Or the developpers not making anything worth buying/ making them too expensive?

Point being though : things are prepared in advance. That's a given, and Tripwire has even been crystal-clear on that point for quite a while : actually sharing their upcoming plans with their fans, gathering hype... and allowing them to have a broader view of what could be doable, how and when. So except if sales REALLY fell below expectations... It's honestly a poor excuse to say that they "couldn't follow up with their ideas".

Because even if admittedly, the upgrade system got implemented fairly late into KF2's life cycle... The scrapped Martial Artist, then the Survivalist... and the weeklies and objective mode can be traced back waaaay before that. ****, Objective mode was already in the first game ! Honestly, they could have thought it better.

You cannot throw ideas at the wall and see what sticks... or what's "promising enough for the next game". Because you never know if a next game will ever happen ! If you really can't make an idea work (I guess that's what happened with the MA), either scrap it or try to find an alternative. Just putting an half-assed idea screams laziness.

Besides, KF2 launched as a fairly barebones experience...Albeit a very promising one. We merely had four perks and three maps at launch remember? But it quickly evolved for the better. What I mean is that I'm afraid that they may do the same for KF3... And thus fall into the same traps. If you got to wait two years to get back to the previous game's standards, that's already a bad sign.

Finally, KF2 is slowly showing its age... It's not ugly by any means, and it still works well. But I can't really see a third game running on Unreal Engine 3 when UE5 recently got teased. It's okay to work on old technology for comfort (or use older graphics for nostalgia sake), but there's a point where you'll just come to a standpoint.

Plus... Honestly, grand-scale changes are exactly what the franchise need at the moment. I'm sorry, for Tripwire has been playing it safe for at least 2-3 years now. It cannot stay that way. Either the franchise will lay dormant for a certain amount of time (maybe forever, we never know)... Or they'll have to come back with a bang.

I do agree that both the upgrade system and objective modes should be the first two big selling point of the game...FROM THE GET-GO THIS TIME (I would also say the skill-based system, the weeklies and new perks but beggars can't be choosers!). And while we can't expect everything from KF2 to come back, we should try to keep its essence : hopefully, that means every perk (with at least three guns each at launch) and every zeds (maybe not every boss). Other additions can definitely come-in later.

And while I often say that graphics are truly secondary in a video game experience... This time, I believe a new coat of paint would benefit the game immensely. More accurately, I would say a new art direction... While at first I liked the slightly shinier graphics of KF2 (making the zeds a bit more "cartoony") and the overall more near future aesthetics, I feel they threw a bit of everything as the updates rolled in. I'm not asking for a complete turnover to the gritty and creepy atmosphere of the first game, but maybe they could rework the artstyle of the game a little bit? We don't need to strive for hyperrealism or 10000 zeds at once on your screen. But some polish is always appreciated.
Won't read the novel, but first paragraph rings true. I hate costs of DLC. A weapon should at most be $2.99 imo.
$10 is a damn joke. I buy full games on steam for less or same price!
 
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