Things going stagnant?

[Nanostrike]

I realize it's part of the aging process for the game, but has anyone else noticed how quickly everything's gone stagnant in KF right now?

I don't know how to explain it, really. I guess the old thrill has died down. Me and most of my friends have maxed out our perks and aside from achievement hunting and training newbies (Two things we don't particularly like...), there's not much else to do.

Even mixing up the perks everyone uses, playing on different levels, and trying different spots can only keep things fresh for so long. Since Christmas, in my circle of friends, KF playtime has dropped from at least an hour every night to MAYBE an hour a week if we're lucky.

I guess it feels like the same-old-same-old. Unless we play on low-enough difficulties to not have a challenge, most "Fun" perk setups (All Zerkers, All Demos, ect) are painfully punished by a wipeout. So it ends up going back the the same few perks winning at the same few spots on the same maps.

And the mod community seems to be in a slump. We haven't found many good maps since the contest ended. DA2 (Which looked very promising) turned out to be very buggy and after the bugs were reported and everything, most forums about the mod seemed to disappear completely and the mod itself seems to have fallen off the face of the earth. Very few actual "Mods" that shake things up are out, either.

And TWI is, understandably, focusing on RO:HoS right now after having poured their hearts out into the last patch.

So it's all kind of stale. The community hasn't changed much, the levels haven't changed much, and no exciting new mods are out. Anyone else feel this way? And where does everyone think things are gonna go from here?

 

[jprime]

I guess it has been a bit lackluster as of late, but I still find it a really good time. Fortunately, I have a freind with a server, he's upped the ratio for fun, and tried a few different configurations, and I still find with the right group of people, that it's very enjoyable.

I do much prefer a group that talks more over a quiet bunch. Makes the experience funner for sure.

I've also been exploring the solo mode a bit more now and then. That's been changing the way I play, and helping me survive on my own in the field a bit better.

Mind you - I've only gotten one lvl 6 perk...

....look me up, I'm always up for some s*&t talkin and fun

 

[BlazinAces]

One thing you might wanna try, theres a code, yes its what people call a cheat, i don't use it for that, i make my own server away from the public, but type it in, changes the health of the specimins, its great fun to try and slay a clot with the health of a fleshpound, it makes suicidal look like easy mode.

Give it a shot, it will work online if the VAC is disabled.

If you want it though, your gunna have to PM me because more than likely i'll get banned for publicly sharing it even though im not doing it to make people cheat.



I warn you... you will get no lubed, you might survive a wave, but when the gores come in and u can't headshot kill them, they will eat you alive, or slice...

 

[J.D.*]

Suicidal on custom maps never get old for me (I am all 6 as well), however not many people play and those that do the servers are either full or ping way too high for me.

 

[Riviet]

I've felt what you're feeling a tad lately, but I've been keeping things fresh by trying out other weapon combinations with perks; the support is very customizable with its high weight capacity.

Have you played on servers with custom maps?

 

[Shambler]

I miss always loosing.

Its not fun when you expect to win.

 

[[UIT] Akame]

I miss always loosing.

Its not fun when you expect to win.

Custom all FP wave. Except even that isn't fun in retail (in mod it was hilarious).

There is no challenge to the game. Honestly since the tier three weapons were added, the game is a cakewalk. It was fun to try different way to approach the game so as to win, but now there are many viable, but not fun, ways of winning a lot.

 

[CupofMud]

Something definitely changed when the Level Up content was released. No, I don't mean the obvious introduction of weapons and etc., something was lost.

What I'd love to do is somehow set the game back. Take out the tier three weapons, the level six, but probably keep the husk. I've never really played around with sandbox settings, is there a way to do that? I know it's doubtful (especially taking away the level six part), but the game seemed more fun then. I know there was a a thread about some sort of mutator that would do this awhile back, but that got shot down.

It's not that I don't appreciate TWI's hard work, it's just that the good ol' times appeal to me more.

 

[Nenjin]

It just happens Nano. No game can ride on the initial wave of fun and excitement, or the wave of updates, forever.

I know I've found a lot of other games to play in the meantime. (God damn you, Dwarf Fortress.) Even then, I only played KF with friends to begin with, and we've only gone from 4 days a week to 2 a week. Granted, we're still breaking in newbies so we have a semi-noble reason to play....

But we've also started playing suicidal regardless of what people's perk levels are.

The problem with KF has ALWAYS been that some people play it addictively and they quickly exhaust all the sources of fun, in a game that doesn't have a **** load of long-term goals. I have a friend who is at 20M Bullpup damage....20 MILLION. TWI could not put out enough updates to give him something new to do in KF, without seriously pissing off the other 90% of their fanbase that doesn't want to get 5 million more damage for a perk level up.

The same thing happened in CoD 4 for some people. They maxed out quickly and had to turn to "Prestige" to give themselves a goal worth playing for.

So I think for a lot of people who play KF more casually, the stagnation isn't apparent. We haven't played so much that we've run out of things to do, or made ourselves sick of KF.

When we really don't want to play KF, we pick up one of the older FPS we play as a team. Three hours in BF2 manages to make us appreciate KF's different kind of playstyle. At least for a while.

And to be perfectly honest...I NEVER expected KF to see the growth it already has. I figured KF was (mostly) a fire-and-forget title from TWI. So I play the game assuming that it's never going to get much better than it is now. It helps me appreciate updates more....and I don't depress myself thinking about the updates we aren't getting atm.

 

[No Glory]

Some in development

Some in development

The more support people get for mods they are working on, the more likely there will be more content sooner!
Here are a few proposed and/or in development:


VIS mutator:
[URL]http://forums.tripwireinteractive.com/group.php?groupid=34[/URL]

Sidescroller:
[URL]http://forums.tripwireinteractive.com/showthread.php?t=40844[/URL]

40k Dawn of War:
[URL]http://forums.tripwireinteractive.com/showthread.php?t=35796

BD Vehicle Mod:
http://forums.tripwireinteractive.com/showthread.php?t=36237[/URL]

let the people know you support them
(and will kill them if they don't get SOMETHING out soon)

 

[Nenjin]

Although..I do agree on one point. The "Camp one spot for 8 waves until the game gets really challenging" does not help the sense of stagnation one bit. As an experienced player, you get bored very quickly until the very last waves...by which point you're so zoned out from mindless killing that you wipe.

Blackcheetah's race mode mod is exactly the kind of thing TWI needs to think about doing to shake up game play. People have been howling for a co-op campaign forever...but even campaign play peters out eventually. Game modes that challenge players in different ways, and give them many options for how they want to enjoy KF...will help a lot.

 

[Nanostrike]

Although..I do agree on one point. The "Camp one spot for 8 waves until the game gets really challenging" does not help the sense of stagnation one bit.

That's the general problem with Suicidal for me: Boredom. Until the FP waves, the entire thing is a cakewalk. Yet there are TONS of specimens, and you have to grind through them all. It turns into just click-click-click. Kinda like a twitch shooter, but without the need to 'twitch' because you're just camping one spot...

So you have to grind through the early waves to even get to the challenge...and by that time you're getting bored/tired/inattentive. So when the FPs DO start to show up, someone (Usually more than one person) promptly slips up due to the sheer amount of time that's been spent grinding away at garbage specimens for the last hour or more...

Knowing you'll have to grind through 7-8 more waves of CRAP before you'll get to the intense waves 9-10 after a wipeout is a good reason to just say "Screw it, I'm done for now". Ditto for the Patriarch getting some BS team-wipe due to one person's drowsy slip-up.

Side Note: Yes, Dwarf Fortress is addictive. Word of advice: Do NOT anger the elves or humans to the point of war. You WILL NOT WIN unless you have a ton of patience and a lot of playing experience.

 

[Nenjin]

And the answer is not Poundemonium. I mean, I enjoy shredding specimen for 10 waves, it's just not as tough as it used to be, and trying to fight pounds on suicidal just to feel challenged isn't a solution.

As much as I curse in game when it happens, I welcome the pubby bomb sometimes because at least the challenge of the game spikes immediately from where it was. When you start with 6, you start at that difficulty, so you don't notice as much.

(And there's no winning in DF. Only pain, and carp.)

 

[HodlPu]

Luckily, I play other games along with KF. Any game gets boring after a while to be honest, it was just a matter of time before KF ran it's course due to its limits.

Take a break? Try a new game? The next thing you'll know, you'll be play KF again sometime in the future.

Or you can try playing those +6 servers, haha. Those tend to be fun at late waves. I happen to go to these servers once in a while.

 

[P-head]

I think you are forgetting custom maps like "The Hive". Once they're debugged, they can be very interesting.

 

[ScarFace]

I've said this from the beginning. This game will need a constantly flow of new maps, weapons, and game modes. If not the game will loose its appeal.

I love KF don't get me wrong but its essentially just survival mode. I know i'll probably catch some sh*t for making this comment but how well do you think L4d would have done if it was JUST survival mode without the coop campaign....not very well. With that said, KF has managed to do well with JUST survival. But after almost a year of JUST survival it has lost its appeal. Toss in a few game modes, specifically coop campaign, and defend/control the area modes and I think it would breath new life into the game.

 

[gusone]

It need a constant flow of high quality maps I think. That requires the community to contribute more than 2 new TWI maps every 4 months. I think I've got about 24 maps which I think are all good enough to pass the test of randomly joining a server and enjoying whatever map is on. Unfortunately now the map making going on now is a combination of people learning how to map (bad maps) or just complete abominations. Quality map makers have moved on to pastures new. The game's life cycle is mature now. I know that I probably play only a few hours a week instead of 25 I used to. That said I do have a new found love for gambling on the Nags at Tampa Bay and Turf's Paradise and that's taking up a lot of my prime time in the evening at the expense of all gaming.

 

[Benjamin]

I think the problem is that whenever you play, it's the same thing every game. Kill zombies, go to the trader, find a camping spot, kill zombies. When the harder waves come the strategy is pretty much the same, but it's more of a challenge which makes it more fun. Lastly you have the Patriarch, which is either a 5 second battle (a bit anti-climatic after the previous wave isn't it?) or a battle that lasts for ages until the lone surviving medic who has been outrunning him for ages finally kills him.

At the moment there's just not really a lot to the game (though I admit it does have something that keeps people playing, if you check the hours that some people play it) and after some time you ask yourself what's the point in playing when it's just going to be the same thing. Playing on a harder difficulty helps, although as it simply changes the enemy movement speed and health it's not that much more interesting.

So to sum up what I'm saying, I think there needs to be more game modes. Particularly ones with more of a strategy, and more of a goal. How about some mode where you have to capture control points, with zombies endlessly spawning around them? It needs to be something that requires more team work, and is a challenge. Winning every game just gets boring after a while.

Another issue with the game is that the spawning is still broken, and seeing a group of clots suddenly appear in the air in front of me kills the experience. It's probably one of the reasons I haven't played in a long time, it just feels more like some kind of work in progress more than a game when the internals are visible.

 

[smilin]

I think tonight I'm getting ready to change my server over to:

"Normal 10wave - Perk 5+ required for retardation fun"

I want to get normal (or even beginner!) server full of gold perks to do some serious goofing off. We did some of this last night..

Everyone pile into the helicopter on KF-Manor
Everyone move as a group through a map, no stopping.
Everyone switch to a single perk (firebug, zerker are fun for this).
Everyone kill patty with the knife.

 

[Undedd Jester]

Go berserker if you do, crawlers can't even harm you xD