Merc Report - Shockingly Good Holiday Deals!

[D.A.R.]

Thank you TWI for adding back an old favorite!

I hope the MK23's will be added soon too

 

[1huskyboi]

never played KF1, but something's tellin' me I'm gonna love the ZED MK3

 

[s5yn3t]

Interesting... but i swear if animations will end up botched again.
Got back to the game again, tried my hand on G36c.... nice gun, horrendous animations.
Weapon check is so slow and linear, ADS animation is idiotic.
In single fire mode the aim point comes back to the center fast, while in full auto mode firing just ONE bullet, sight just snoozes off to the left until the second coming of Christ and then comes back to the center, where it proceeds to play the tracked DVD screen saver icon that bounces of the edge of the screen... But it's speed up and scaled down, so the scope sway is just this mess of quick bounces from edge to edge with no smoothness.

I mean this complaint is a broken record at this point, but the quality just keeps getting worse with no hope for any future refinement.
Might as well hire people from YouTube that animate gun reloads by hand, they surely can do a better job at animating new guns than just reusing same animations assets and trying to fit them to wrong guns.

 

[flashn00b]

Terrible animations aside, I've noticed that there have been a decent amount of conversations around how powerful the G36C is relative to other SWAT weapons, and I remember predicting that KF2 will go the way of the pay-to-win upon seeing how people were oddly okay with the Berserker's Piranha Pistols. I'm half-expecting the ZED Mk3 to just be a straight upgrade to the M32 Grenade launcher, especially if it's gonna be a microwave rifle with additional explosive damage. I guess what we'll need to see however is the amount of ammo it can carry and how much it weighs, cuz while the RPG-7 will likely remain uncontested as the Demo's scrake/FP killer, will it be more efficient?

What I mean by efficiency is that ammo costs and reserve ammo are things to consider, since a Level 25 Demolitionist will at most carry 1+20 rockets for the RPG, which can be burned through rather quickly based on what enemy types are spawning all at once. If you can kill scrakes and fleshpounds decently and still have ammo to spare with the ZED Eradication Device, then you'll probably end up with a more efficient large zed killer even if its burst damage is only okay.

I guess the Storm Cannon's chain lightning might finally give the Sharpshooter a late game weapon that's actually a sidegrade to the FN FAL though.

 

[Aleflippy]

Terrible animations aside, I've noticed that there have been a decent amount of conversations around how powerful the G36C is relative to other SWAT weapons, and I remember predicting that KF2 will go the way of the pay-to-win upon seeing how people were oddly okay with the Berserker's Piranha Pistols. I'm half-expecting the ZED Mk3 to just be a straight upgrade to the M32 Grenade launcher, especially if it's gonna be a microwave rifle with additional explosive damage. I guess what we'll need to see however is the amount of ammo it can carry and how much it weighs, cuz while the RPG-7 will likely remain uncontested as the Demo's scrake/FP killer, will it be more efficient?

What I mean by efficiency is that ammo costs and reserve ammo are things to consider, since a Level 25 Demolitionist will at most carry 1+20 rockets for the RPG, which can be burned through rather quickly based on what enemy types are spawning all at once. If you can kill scrakes and fleshpounds decently and still have ammo to spare with the ZED Eradication Device, then you'll probably end up with a more efficient large zed killer even if its burst damage is only okay.

I guess the Storm Cannon's chain lightning might finally give the Sharpshooter a late game weapon that's actually a sidegrade to the FN FAL though.

... Tons of weapons available for free are also ridiculously powerful. Kaboomstick, Winterbites, Hemoclobber, Locust... What's your point exactly?


also @s5yn3t , you know that Tripwire isn't in charge of the game anymore? They're the kings of weapon "feel" in video games, but it is now Saber who produces updates. So I'm not surprised at all that the animations are quite subpar. Also also : great animations cost time and money. Resources that Tripwire may not have (because the game being seven years old mean that they earn far less with Killing Floor 2), or aren't willing to spend on such an old game.

Again, keep in mind that most games in the industry are long forgotten by their devs after 2-3 years. So still having updates (although I believe they're mostly adding wrong things than good ones) is honestly pretty nice.


As for my two cents on the weapons themselves :

-ZED MKIII : finally it's back ! I thought it would never happen ! I can't help but think it's a subtle way to send-off the game... Considering the two ZEDs weapons were among the latest added to the first game. I'm not sure that I like the new turn it's taken though... Granted, while the first two versions were pretty insane for the time, they would have been probably a bit "bland" for Killing Floor 2's standards (considering the amount of futuristic weaponry we've got along the years). But that one sounds ridiculously overdesigned. Do we really need that many different firing modes? That much firepower? Yet another T5 weapon for the Demo while the Support still has none? And yet another T5 that will probably be outshined by the RPG-7 anyway, because it just deals with anything reliably and effectively. Even the radar seems randomly thrown together to loosely tie the gun to its previous two incarnations... Really a shame. Such a radar would fit a commando player perfectly.

-HV Storm Cannon : so basically the Wunderwaffe? I can't say I'm unhappy to finally have a proper sniper rifle that has more than one bullet per mag (I kept using the Mosin-Nagant in the meantime), but the EMP damage (implying it also applies its stun effect?) is really unnecessary. Making headshots even more rewarding is not too bad however, especially for casual players. But then I really hope that you cannot spam-fire the gun to make a whole lightshow out of the battlefield. I believe the concept would have worked better with a bolt-action sniper... But we'll see how it goes. If it has a fairly low ROF, that could mitigate the problems.

 

[Milan]

Do we really need that many different firing modes? That much firepower?

But that one sounds ridiculously overdesigned.

Really a shame. Such a radar would fit a commando player perfectly.

well, if you remember incinerator, this is what it turned into.. pretty much

 

[s5yn3t]

also @s5yn3t , you know that Tripwire isn't in charge of the game anymore? They're the kings of weapon "feel" in video games, but it is now Saber who produces updates. So I'm not surprised at all that the animations are quite subpar. Also also : great animations cost time and money. Resources that Tripwire may not have (because the game being seven years old mean that they earn far less with Killing Floor 2), or aren't willing to spend on such an old game.

Again, keep in mind that most games in the industry are long forgotten by their devs after 2-3 years. So still having updates (although I believe they're mostly adding wrong things than good ones) is honestly pretty nice.

No, I'm aware of all that... it's not like I've joined this train last week.
Not to mention Saber acquired TWI not so long ago, so the future of Tripwire's "quality" is now under a big question.

 

[Nac]

I'm more fascinated with that radar. I assume you can see things coming from behind you but only if you have it equipped and in your hand.

I suppose it would be too much to ask for an optional radar HUD pop up somewhere on your screen if you're using it. That's an idea. Why not have a separate buyable radar from the trader pod that could pop on your HUD from the non perk category?

 

[Aleflippy]

I'm more fascinated with that radar. I assume you can see things coming from behind you but only if you have it equipped and in your hand.

I suppose it would be too much to ask for an optional radar HUD pop up somewhere on your screen if you're using it. That's an idea. Why not have a separate buyable radar from the trader pod that could pop on your HUD from the non perk category?

If it's like the first game... Not really. It actually shows the incoming zeds in an arc, but they can still sneak up on you if you don't look back from time to time !

Considering the game is 1) team-based 2) already tuned up to a more casual crowd (to the point where the veterans are begging for an harder difficulty setting), I don't think a radar is needed honestly... Dying because you didn't see a lonely zed approaching behind you is probably one of the rare tricks the game can still force upon you. If you're in a team, that should NEVER happen because you should cover every possible path. And even if you're a solo player, you should have learned the habit to constantly be on your guard. Especially if you're familiar with FPS games.

@s5yn3t : that remains to be seen honestly. I'm not saying your worries aren't fair, as it is true that many studios became to lose their spark once they got acquired by a bigger studio (looking at you, Blizzard and Bioware). But some others are actually pretty lenient regarding the people working for them. It happens more within the indie scene, but sometimes the big league is okay with you doing whatever you want as long as players are happy (and happy to spend).

I have hopes that the lack of polish regarding latter updates for Killing Floor 2 is precisely because Tripwire isn't guiding the project anymore. We'll have to see with their next big game if the Tripwire touch is still there, of if they've been absorbed by Saber entirely.

 

[Migunne]

Please, when the Beta 1 of Christmas. We are in 09/11 Need that new incoming xmas decos, ornaments, xmas music theme etc xD

 

[Aleflippy]

Please, when the Beta 1 of Christmas. We are in 09/11 Need that new incoming xmas decos, ornaments, xmas music theme etc xD

You said it yourself : we're not even in the middle of November.

Give it some time. They usually have four topics presenting the next update, before launching the beta.

1) New tweaks (and possible new weekly)
2) HRG weapons
3) DLC weapons
4) New map

I suppose it's gonna launch in 1-2 weeks.

 

[Migunne]

You said it yourself : we're not even in the middle of November.

Give it some time. They usually have four topics presenting the next update, before launching the beta.

1) New tweaks (and possible new weekly)
2) HRG weapons
3) DLC weapons
4) New map

I suppose it's gonna launch in 1-2 weeks.

The beta its the first week of month before, mayorly. Like this last Halloween Beta 1, April's one, Summer etc. It will be better that when Xmas time starting on 1st December we could have in o clock Beta 1 on November 1. So idk if they're having some kind of issue or maybe they will announce something new more incoming for 2023 as last one for Kf2 :S

 

[Manga]

HV Storm Cannon look nice gun

 

[Aleflippy]

The beta its the first week of month before, mayorly. Like this last Halloween Beta 1, April's one, Summer etc. It will be better that when Xmas time starting on 1st December we could have in o clock Beta 1 on November 1. So idk if they're having some kind of issue or maybe they will announce something new more incoming for 2023 as last one for Kf2 :S

True, but the formula I mentioned still apply as well. There's still one post coming normally, and probably one more week after that for the beta to drop.

Launching a Xmas event nearly one month and a half before the holidays is still quite early. Most games that offers such events usually launch them right as Xmas is about to drop. I also believe Tripwire will make it last at least until January's first week.