Get rid of having to manually activate buffs!!

#35300000718 03/15/2006 01:35:30 Re: Get rid of having to manually activate buffs!!

Hmm, from reading more, I see that upgrades that upgrade the same thing aren't supposed to stack...

But, I'd like to see the 'Soldier Upgrade', which is a pure melee/ballistic resistance upgrade, made able to stack with the other 'profession type' upgrades like Martial Artist Initiate, etc, as those do not buff resistances, that I've noticed.

As it is now, unless you have a whole lot of armored clothing of the top grade, you can't use anything but soldier upgrade if you want to keep your resistances up to where they'll keep you alive.

This would leave you with two 'upgrade' slots, one for soldier (resistances only), and one for 'style' type upgrades that boost attack chances, damage, etc.

#35300000725 03/15/2006 13:04:09 Re: Get rid of having to manually activate buffs!!

Okay... we really haven't been ignoring this. In fact our most heated discussions around the office have been regarding the title buffs.

First let me set up the background of why the title buffs are there:

#1: In the old system, with all the title buff upgrades stacking on each other, it created some balance issues with hybrid trees becoming too powerful, creating an imbalance.

#2: Part of the design of CR2 is that your influences do not apply to passive buffs. They only apply to buffs you activate. So in order to get some good stuff out of, say, your Concentration influence, you have to activate a buff like the Ballista Upgrade.

Now some challenges with having them auto-activatable:

#1: Implementation. We don't have a good way to auto-activate buffs every time you change your tree.

#2: Design challenge: say you're level 49 and you have Vector and Script Kiddie. Which of the two top-level upgrade buffs should get activated?

So all this puts us in an interesting situation. There are those who say the buffs provide some interesting gameplay and make it so that two people with the same loadout won't necessarily have the same stuff going. There are others who think we should strip the buffs out entirely and make the passive buffs from the title abilities a little nicer, even if it puts us back in the same boat as Live where Hybrids (supposedly) gain too much power.

I think we might just have a cage match to decide it. But it has been raised, repeatedly, how much players loathe the current implementation. And... I really can't promise what is going to happen at this point.

One question, would people be pissed if they were just removed? Perhaps the other buffs improved slightly? Are the title upgrades so much of an annoyance that you'd rather just not have them at all? Because given the design and implementation challenges, auto-activating the upgrades really is not going to happen.

#35300000726 03/15/2006 13:08:04 Re: Get rid of having to manually activate buffs!!

wow,

a dev said 'pissed'

oh and the other stuff yea, I thought everyone knew that already?

#35300000727 03/15/2006 13:12:39 Re: Get rid of having to manually activate buffs!!

I personally don't mind activating these buffs, but it would be nice for it to stay on while traveling through hardlines. If this were to become true, then I really wouldn't care.

To me, there are more important things that should be addressed (like the regular tactics on the hotbar thing). Other than that, I can just throw all the title buffs on a seperate hotbar, activate them once, and be done with it.

Maybe you could simply remove the buffs from the title abilities so we could keep the "Grandmaster" or "Master [name]", and make it passive.

Message Edited by ShadowSK on 03-15-200601:12 PM

Message Edited by ShadowSK on 03-15-200601:13 PM

#35300000728 03/15/2006 13:16:25 Re: Get rid of having to manually activate buffs!!

I dont mind activating them, just make them where they stay on when i do things like go through a hardline and it will be all good.

#35300000729 03/15/2006 13:19:17 Re: Get rid of having to manually activate buffs!!

I don't mind activating them either, but if there were in a drop down box like Styles and Free Attack, that'd be great. That way no matter the tree or hybrid tree loaded, all of the possibilities show up in that one drop down and its up to you to choose which is appropriate for what you're doing. But only that one will run and it won't change unless you change it.

Archived image unavailable: bytesigs.html

#35300000732 03/15/2006 13:50:44 Re: Get rid of having to manually activate buffs!!

Yea I don't mind manually doing it but it's just sometimes annoying to realise half way through a fight that you forgot to click it and you're losing because of it. I don't think it should be got rid of as I think it works well but maybe just have it switch off less often once selected.

#35300000733 03/15/2006 14:15:25 Re: Get rid of having to manually activate buffs!!

I'd be more in favor of a return to the old style. Passives all the way with the low level ones being pretty low and the high ones being pretty nice.

#35300000734 03/15/2006 14:21:09 Re: Get rid of having to manually activate buffs!!

Well, here's my honest opinion: Nope, I wouldn't be pissed if I'd lose the active upgrades. I'm in favor of returning to the old style too. The new style wasn't that much of a hassle, but the old style was indeed kinda more comfortable to use (and maybe even less confusing) than the new style.

But only if you increase the passive buffs of the title abilities, of course to compensate for the loss of the active buffs.

>revolt_

Message Edited by >revolt_ on 03-15-200602:23 PM

#35300000735 03/15/2006 14:41:46 Re: Get rid of having to manually activate buffs!!

What i want to see for this Selfbuff-Overkill is:
Redesign the Abiltiy-UI with and give us a nice, cool thing where we can save and load the Abilities, the Upgrades .... oh and clothes in and out of a RSI-Configuration.

Newstyle Abiltiy-User-Interface:

I know. The pic isn´t nice. But why put work into something never will be used.

dave

Message Edited by davemusic on 03-15-200611:43 PM

#35300000736 03/15/2006 14:45:29 Re: Get rid of having to manually activate buffs!!

Persoanally, I see no reason why things can't work they way they do on the live servers.

I also don't really see it being a question of balance. Look at it this way, at level 50 you have 100 memory points. You load one whole tree (if you want) and then load part of second one. EVERY level 50 does this. I'm pretty sure there are no level 50's out there who say "I'm gonna be a Karate Grandmaster, and I'm not gonna load anything but my Karate tree." Some combinations of trees may be overly powerful, yes, but then tweaks can be made to individual trees such as lowering the buffs of cetain level titles or making certain skills less powerful. If several certain class/tree combinations are really that extremely powerful (which probably won't be the case anyway with the new focus on attributes in CR2) then those individual combinations are out of balance, not the entire buffing system.

The manual buff system also hurts the addition of an extra visible hotbar because of having to have instant access to all of those different title buffs. We already lose most of the extra space with the combat hud icons *grumble, grumble* and the rest of it is taken up by title buffs.

Of course, as has been mentioned before numerous times, the idea of having to manually activate stuff makes no sense within the context of the Matrix universe either. Neo didn't sit behind pillars in the lobby scene switching between SMG Specialist, Duelist and Rifle Master buffs, he just switched guns and kept going. And then when he kicked that SWAT at the end, he didn't have to worry about activating his Karate Master buff so the kick would be powerful enough to kill the guy, he just kicked him.

All of that said, if someone still decides that the current live system won't work, why not just make it a primary/secondary system? When loading your abilities you select a primary title and a secondary title out of the ones you have loaded. For me, I generally run with SMG Specialist and Karate Master loaded. I would designate SMG Specialist as my primary title, and Karate Master as my secondary. Then make it a %age of the buff that goes down with each tier. I would receive, say, 100% of the SMG Specialist buffs because it's been designated as my primary, 75% of the Karate Master buffs because it's been designated as my secondary, and 50% of buffs from any other title I may happen to have loaded. No need for players to constantly activate anything all the time and it's a way to balance things, since that seems to be the stumbling block. Combo trees still too powerful? Then mess around with the % numbers.

If this issue is such a heated thing in the office, then stop arguing about it internally and listen to the players. It seems pretty clear what the verdict is out here on this side of the fence.

Message Edited by ShinryuMxO on 03-15-200604:47 PM

Message Edited by ShinryuMxO on 03-15-200604:48 PM

#35300000737 03/15/2006 14:50:46 Re: Get rid of having to manually activate buffs!!

keep them in...activating them now that I know that it fixes the uber-builds from happening is well worth the pain of activating them.

#35300000739 03/15/2006 15:10:41 Re: Get rid of having to manually activate buffs!!

I didn't realize Hybrids were a problem in the existing system. I remember at one point having Karate and KungFu loaded at the same time would give you uber melee dmg, but that was fixed and I assumed the others were too.

Anyway, I don't like having to activate the "title buffs", but that's mostly because I'm not used to it. Right now, I have Aikido Grandmaster in the first slot on my Aikido hotbar. Once I get used to the fact I have to activate it, it'll be just like activating my other regulars (hyper-speed, evade combat, etc.). If I have to choose between the ease of the old system and the flexibility of the new system, I'd have to go with the new system. Flexibility and choice are good, and I like the fact that the new system helps differentiate players. I don't want to take anything away from that.

Regarding your design challenge, maybe you can create a way for the player to prioritize which buffs are auto-activated. I'm sure this would still be challenging, but it could be done post-CR2.0, and it sounds a lot easier than rebalancing everything to go back to passive abilities.

#35300000740 03/15/2006 15:41:09 Re: Get rid of having to manually activate buffs!!

go back to the old style please. manually activating buffs is just a needless annoyance, especially for the spy tree.

#35300000749 03/16/2006 00:05:02 Re: Get rid of having to manually activate buffs!!

I have to say I like them the way they are, for a Force Multiplier/Trauma Surgeon build I do use both my end-class buffs A LOT for different situations.

If I need to get a lot of healing/sweeps out to the most amount of people, then I activate Trauma Surgeon (+Healing/Heal and Buff Radius), but if I'm in a small-group situation or care about being IS efficient then I switch out to Force Multiplier (+IS Cost Reduction).

Having both activated at the same time would be overpowering in my eyes (huge-efficiency boost AND huge heal/buff radius). It really adds some near-on-the-fly tactical choice to group healing situations (which as they stand now quickly devolve into being a Sweep and occasional Panicked Heal or Force Enhancer Bot).

#35300000751 03/16/2006 01:05:46 Re: Get rid of having to manually activate buffs!!

Personally now I've been playing with them for a while I don't have a problem with manually activated title buffs. Like the previous poster said, choosing WHICH to activate when you're multi-classing adds a nice little bit of tactical depth to the game. I don't find it overly hard to click a button whenever I leave a hardline; and tbh it seems like force of habit that other players are moaning about rather than any actual problem. What's the difference between activating this and activating hyperdodge? Nothing, unless you're not used to it, at which point for some reason it becomes an issue.

#35300000752 03/16/2006 01:33:07 Re: Get rid of having to manually activate buffs!!

New or old system i dont really mind anymore, just dont get rid of em entirely, that'd suck big time.

I think the main beef i and others have with CR2.0 is the bloody tactics! Have em wsad/arrow bindable god darn it!!!

(or in a seperate UI)

Message Edited by cloudwol on 03-16-200609:33 AM

SkyJackal's MxO Video Collection

#35300000755 03/16/2006 05:23:27 Re: Get rid of having to manually activate buffs!!

Thank you for addressing the thread, the more familiar I have become with CR2 the more I appreciate this issue has both positve and negative consequences.

The main issue is with the number of buttons we are having to press to make CR2 function....on another thread someone stated we had become 'Mr Activator' and while that can work; it does erode the concept of the RSI we have come to know. Experimenting with LO and hybrid builds has been one of the more interesting and rewarding aspects of the current system and removing that or at least diminishing the ability we have to apply varied builds is a loss imo.

Moving back to passive buffs would be my greatly favoured approach, retaining maximum familiarity with the current live game - but If there is a way to incorporate the selection of buffs into the tree as per the suggestion by Yiwe (Davemusic) this would appear to offer the advantges of the system you describe but retain the application of the buffs at the same point (the tree stage) as the Live system. Balance and the potential for a closet uber builds I feel is likely to be an issue for some time to come regardless of the approach.

If the buff activations have to stay please can it be designed so that they stay on throughout a session, through hl's and reatined even on jacking out so that when you return the buff is still on unless you change LO. (after a lo change a warning sign should tell you to make sure you activate asap).

Elsewhere I mentioned UI streamlinining and this hopefully contributes to that but a reveiw of all the awakened abilities could also reveal a few abilities that could be reagrded as passive as the only reason to load them seems to be to acitvate them? (Hyperdefence for example)

#35300000805 03/18/2006 13:37:01 Re: Get rid of having to manually activate buffs!!

i agree with tat's post. the changes to the loadout/ab system have been by far my biggest complaint. i give credit to the various positive changes where appropriate, so im no lynch mob, not in the least.

passive passive passive. if we supposedly have this stuff downloaded straight into our head why all teh button pushing and switch flipping? not very matrix-ish. no its not a big deal to hit a key to upgrade something. but thats not the point at all and we all know it. the complexity of the UI is getting a bit out of hand.. lets rewind a little and get things under control. all the 'juggling' one must do while on an everyday mission is crazy. especially since zion missions commonly throw at you gunners, MAs, patchers AND hackers in the same mission.. sometimes the same room. thats just too much title upgrade juggling =D

if the purpose of a game is to have fun.. how is this new keyboard-fu required by cr2 supposed to be fun? =D

the combat system itself is a big improvement, the previous one IS quite simple.. even the tutorial says so. i know the new system. its kinda neat. but ill have reservations about playing this game if this stuff with the abs continues. most players are gonna feel 'shorted' no matter what if they have to manually activate what was once passive before. whats worse, we feel nerfed in addition to this cuz unlike live, in cr2 you cant have everything 'activated' or whatever at the same time.

in some cases logic has to take as much priority as personal preference. its not logical to say 'nuh-uh hybrid hacker with op abs is bad!!!11' because if one sacrifices things in other areas to 'fit' it all in like that, thats the way it is. you SHOULD be able to put together a kickass loadout if you pay attention to the details and cobble things together in weird ways. thats what i call strategy. on live im level 47 and my gunner has 3625 health, with clothing, health bonus maxed at +1175, dundundunnnnn. npcs run in fear but jesus a 50 still stomps me like i was a little girl.. haha.

an alternate, which would probly be easy to implement.. is if you have certain abs loaded, prevent the loading of certain other abs if balance is THAT much of an issue around the office. quit nerfing us and just make us pick the one, or the other.. as the case may be. my hacker has nice hp, 1400 dmg logic cannon and ~ %40 damage resist, on live. and i STILL get owned in interlock. alot.

being powerful has become taboo and this business with passive/active abs is merely the latest symptom =D nothing wrong with being powerful, isnt that hte idea? or should neo's abilities not have been passive either? =(

for hells sake pls lose the activated abs. ill give you lots of money, raise my subscription to 100/month or more.. still a fraction of what i spent playing PE. ill wash yer car, do yer dishes..

#35300000806 03/18/2006 14:59:15 Re: Get rid of having to manually activate buffs!!

Thanks for the input Frog. I always like to hear what's going on back there in Dev-land.

I have a work around for those that are interested just in case the idea of passive buffs doesn't make it to the final CR 2.

I fully support the idea of passive buffs similar to the live system as it is now, however consider this..

/macro KFGM /loadlo KungFuGM; /pause 12; /invoke buff1; pause 22; /invoke buff2; /pause 22; ..... etc..

Basically for those of you that just said "huh? what?"

Create a macro that loads up your Kung Fu Grandmaster loadout and then activates your associated buffs that you want to run with that loadout.

Now.. if we can just get the DEVS to make those pesky named abilities to last like Ty suggested (HLs and all that ..) we would have an effective workaround for the new system.

Discuss.

#35300000815 03/18/2006 21:28:07 Re: Get rid of having to manually activate buffs!!

A workaround is all fine and good... but it's still a workaround. It's like saying "Well, the system is broken, but you'll get used to it." Sure, I'll get used to it, but I'd rather have it not broken in the first place.

#35300000816 03/19/2006 00:09:54 Re: Get rid of having to manually activate buffs!!

Oh just a little note, an engineer is trying to get the title buffs to stay on through Hardlines. It's turning out to be a little more squirrelly than we expected.

#35300000818 03/19/2006 08:22:15 Re: Get rid of having to manually activate buffs!!

ShinryuMxO wrote:
A workaround is all fine and good... but it's still a workaround. It's like saying "Well, the system is broken, but you'll get used to it." Sure, I'll get used to it, but I'd rather have it not broken in the first place.

With all due respect, no, it isn't like saying it's broke. It's not broke at all, just because it's not suitable for 100% doesn't mean it's broke. While there are areas of the current style buff activation that are annoying, the suggestion that is offered is simply just another way to get to the same place. A short-cut if you will.

My main problem is the fact that style buffs don't stay current once a player uses a HL. But that issue is obvioulsy being worked on. Another issue I have but might be tied to a bug is; Upon reconstructing a player must choose a attack style before invoking any Style buffs or a player will be locked in block tactic or roll out tactic, keeping the player from activating anything at all. I do not want the Style buffs to go back to being passive.

I only have two suggestions regarding style buffs.

1) Allow Style buffs to collapse; meaning that if I invoke a Top tier style buff then the subsequent style is automatically activated along with it. i.e. Scattershot/SMG specialist and the SMG attack style, Karate Master/Kara GrandMaster and the Karate attack style or Proxy coder/Proxy master and Coder attack style.

2) Allow all top tier Style buffs/upgrades to be activated in IL,if applicable.

And to those that continuely try to compare our UI(User interface) to what Neo did in the movies, give up. Who's to say what a redpill is thinking when entering a fight. To me the style buffs are just a way of focusing that awakened mind to a specific fighting technique they have uploaded. When activated you'll notice your character animates by displaying actions related to those techniques. That's the intuitive nature of this combat system and I for one love it!

#35300000822 03/19/2006 15:08:21 Re: Get rid of having to manually activate buffs!!

shinryu has hit the nail on the head. in the last game i played, 'concessions' were common, both on the part of the devs and the players. something would get changed (holy hell the noise created by one particular event late last year had 90% of both forums flaming the company) and ppl would say hell no, hell no. and nothing would change. then after a while, ppl would start with these 'concession' solutions. workarounds. halfass fixes.

this is not acceptable.

i dont want a little macro-fu frosting to smooth over the cracks, i want the abs passive, the way they were. what neo was thinking while he was fiddling with his gun sounds real deep and everything but lets get back to the issue of gameplay, something i should take to heart also i guess. the majority of posts in this thread clearly say, to anyone whos not a complete friggin skrube, that most of us dont wanna be punching keys so much just to put someone down. this is fair coming from me since i use a nostromo n52 and a thumb-ball trackball to play. i only touch the keyboard to type when speaking. thats it.

its ok to push cr2 back a bit. most ppl would welcome it being postponed anyway. think of all the lazy ppl who havent tried it yet =D faction leaders and crew captains probly still have yet to get person X to try it, etc.. bottom line nothing is ready. passive passive passive.

#35300000825 03/20/2006 06:05:55 Re: Get rid of having to manually activate buffs!!

cryshal wrote:
if the purpose of a game is to have fun.. how is this new keyboard-fu required by cr2 supposed to be fun? =D

bottom line nothing is ready. passive passive passive.

Passive buffs = Passive gameplay. With the current PASSIVE system you choose LO combination. Line up specials. Interlock. Press 1, 2, 3. Rinse and repeat.

CR2.0 brings variety, logical tactical decision making, adaptability and ACTIVE gameplay. Manual buffing / hybrid tree switching buffing system is at the heart of this. This is what will make CR2.0 'fun'.

A big YES to manual activation of buffs.

The HL thing needs sorting though.

#35300000826 03/20/2006 10:06:56 Re: Get rid of having to manually activate buffs!!

k so the above person says yes to manual buffs. so that makes.. 4 of you? heh.

as for your list of positives, cr2 provides that in general. but its ok to question the manner in which its provided. this business with juggling abs all the time just isnt blowing anyones skirt up.

#35300000828 03/20/2006 10:42:04 Re: Get rid of having to manually activate buffs!!

What about making Kung Fu Grandmaster ability like a style, that way, when you use a kung fu ability, it would load the highest style type of that particular style. For example...

Lets say I have the Kung Fu GM and Karate GM trees loaded. I am in Kung Fu style. I use an ability like Wrist Throw, which is Karate. The system would then change styles as it already does, but it picks the highest Tier of that style available. In this case Karate GM style.

This would eliminate any manual buffs and also not allow stacking of abilities like in the current Live system. The Karate GM style would be everything in the current Buff/Upgrade, plus the upgrades from the current Karate style, eliminating having two styles at the same time.

#35300000835 03/20/2006 17:19:47 Re: Get rid of having to manually activate buffs!!

~ti85man~ wrote:
What about making Kung Fu Grandmaster ability like a style, that way, when you use a kung fu ability, it would load the highest style type of that particular style. For example...

Lets say I have the Kung Fu GM and Karate GM trees loaded. I am in Kung Fu style. I use an ability like Wrist Throw, which is Karate. The system would then change styles as it already does, but it picks the highest Tier of that style available. In this case Karate GM style.

This would eliminate any manual buffs and also not allow stacking of abilities like in the current Live system. The Karate GM style would be everything in the current Buff/Upgrade, plus the upgrades from the current Karate style, eliminating having two styles at the same time.

That creates a problem for Hackers though:

If I'm staying in Hacker style (the whole time I'm not shooting a gun), how would I switch between class buffs?

As a Force Multiplier/Trauma Surgeon I don't want to have only my Force Mulitplier moves to be IS effecient, and only my Trauma Surgeon moves to have a large radius and +Healing, sometimes I want all my moves to do 1 thing or another (having to manage even more different buff sizes would be hell). What about my Patcher abilities like Harmful Code 1.0 or even a Guardian Patcher ability like Fast Healing 1.0? (Although you could just defualt to the current buff if there is a conflict between end-tree buffs).

The situations with Howitzer/Destroyer and Ballista, do you want just certain abilities to do damage, or do you not care at all about damage and just want to hit everyone with a debuff?

Maybe just letting you set a preference for one of them?

#35300000945 03/24/2006 04:43:37 Re: Get rid of having to manually activate buffs!!

Ok... my 2cents (btw I don't play on the test svr, not enough drive space for another load)

After reading this and other threads.... reduce the clicks. If that means passive or getting rid of them so be it. This is a game. Games are for enjoyment. Clicking over and over or spending lots of time writing macros is not enjoyment.

But I sould be able to work and tweak my stats, clothes etc. to create the best possible uberRSI possible.

#35300000949 03/24/2006 06:47:08 Re: Get rid of having to manually activate buffs!!

Reducing the clicks is the main issue, though the concept of an rsi is imo changed to a negative affect by the presence of active buff's. Personally I still favour passive and stacking abilities but acknowledge the difficulties and consequences that may bring.

As a compromise how including the facility to auto activate the highest available buff associated with the style you fight with via a check box....ie it either works automatically with style or it leaves you to manually deal with style buffs....this way the buffs become less urgent to monitor since you can work within a mode that ensure you will get the one tailored to your style unless you choose not to?

Message Edited by Tytanya_MxO on 03-24-200606:49 AM

#35300001003 03/26/2006 09:12:24 Re: Get rid of having to manually activate buffs!!

careful, tytanya.. dont look now but youre proposing what sounds to be a work around. its not like the devs putting abs back the way they were would be moving heaven and earth.

the userbase of this game is smaller than almost any.. if more than a handful of ppl ask for the same thing id think that would be deemed as very important, by the devs..

props on the other stuff, thx for the latest round of fixes to some hacker interlock animations =D

#35300001020 03/27/2006 02:46:36 Re: Get rid of having to manually activate buffs!!

It was a last minute effort, I really don't see any hope for this issue being addressed after the system has gone live, like the UI review (which I consider this forms a part) which has been requested since day 1 I feel this is a significant dissapointment.

#35300001038 03/27/2006 13:16:40 Re: Get rid of having to manually activate buffs!!

agreed.. the hacker issue makes me sick, inasmuch as its only an issue because 5 ppl on forum ran their mouth about it long enuf and now hacker has been nerfed to the Nth degree. i dont mind change itself, nothing wrong with that. but when a million ppl all make noise about something at the same time youd think the devs would correct things or otherwise reverse their actions in short order. since they didnt, it makes me wonder.. whats up with hacker? does the son of SOE's vice prez play this game or something and awww, he got owned by hackers one too many times?

opinion should not dictate ingame policy, only logic... -sigh-

#35300001047 03/27/2006 16:12:23 Re: Get rid of having to manually activate buffs!!

You know what's funny, cryshal? The new Upgraded Attacks was the original design found in the design spreadsheets by the game developers, but the implementation got screwed up and it got a wrong re-use timer. I questioned it, posted it on the boards, Frog found that the re-use timer was wrong (as initially designed) and fixed it. Read it in the thread. No brainless swinging of the nuuurf bat involved.

>revolt_

#35300001178 03/31/2006 01:29:11 Re: Get rid of having to manually activate buffs!!

So after a couple days of live CR2, and having gotten a taste for what everythings like, I decided to look around the forums and try to find out what others were thinking. I realize this thread probably started before it went live, but the original topic of this thread sotra sums up my main complaints with the new system. Well, not all of them, but the main ones. BUT, overall CR2 is a great step towards a more exciting experience overall, and only has some minor tweaks to go I think, other than it seems like all the abilities which used to have passive modifiers (Grandmaster abilities for example) now have to be activated. I don't really feel like macroing switching mechanisms for during combat for all the potential loadouts I might choose to play with, as this sounds like it would not be fun.

The flexability of what loadouts are possible is one of the main selling points of the gameplay to me, assuming I can. And hybrid loadouts are fun, but now they kind of a headache, because you need more like 3-5 hotbars full of abilities at your disposal--what with all the new awakened abilities I'm spending a fortune to lvl, the 5 Interlock icons, your main profession ability, your hybrid profession ability, any lower lvl abilities like iron guard, disarming shot, if you want health pills or Tactic boosters at the ready, evade combat....

It just seems like the whole idea of having 100 memory slots, and one full tree plus all of awakened not taking up all 100 spots---that having hybrid professions is more or less the point of this game. But with CR2.0, you for example can't launch "anytime" heals while interlocked and not in hacker style. You cannot activate combat aura with gun in your interlock slot instead of hacker style, but you can switch it to hacker style, activate it, switch it to gun and it'll still be active. All that switching to actvate something that you used to do automatically, and while I'm doing that switching manually, I am not paying attention the the guy on my left throwing knives, and don't know to activate my proper awakened abilities to defend it. The addition of all the awakened abitlities in adition to having to switch on Force Multiplier and dedication and hypersprint and on and on. Too many buttons to button. Need to scroll to 15, oh wait, the ability i needs on 12, oh my friend needs a heal, those abilities are on 10. Got interlocked, back to 14. All those new awakened abilities themselves take up one row. Phew.... I don't really want to code that macro, and couldn't probably.

Also, can you activate a Karate special attack in interlock if you are set to Kung Fu Grandmaster? Yes, I blieve so, then it switches you to Farate Master or Grandmaster style. Then you can activate a bottom teir Kung Fu special attack and go back to Kung Fu Grandmaster without a hitch? If so, then I believe that its an oversite or a bug that Patcher doesn't work the same way (ie when I try to activate a FM/Physician ability, and I'm set to self defense or a gun in interlock---I cannot---it doesn't autoswitch from one type of interlock to the other---from the gun or self defense to hacker style, so it grants me the ability to launch physician heal for example). Is it supposed to be the way it is right now?

I will say its exciting because it favors players who pay attention and don't just hit 1, 2, 1, 2, 1...But, there are still those people out there. The combat system now, seems to have improved things greatly for the MA and Gunner players, and possibly utility and proxy coders, but the Patcher tree is kind of a mess to play. And the airs sorta deflated from the Viral Hackers because at least sometimes you used to see Downgraders/Debuffers, but now it seems the only one of interest (well, 2, are howlitzer and ballista). Destroyer and Ravager and Network attacker used to be fun, but at least so far, they have changed to the point where I don't see people using them. Maybe that'll change. The launch times on some of those are pretty long for the effects that happen imo. I'm sorry if it seems like I'm griping,I'm really just trying to point out the main things I wish were different in CR2.0.

I think passive upgrades would solve a few of the problems I see in the current system, but overall, I do like CR2 more than I did 1 in a lot of ways. So, heres to hoping more updates are on the way (CR2.1?)

edit: why not put the 5 interlock icons (green, blue, red, yellow, leave combat) on a floating 1/2 size toolbar, and it would be nice to have these patched back to the arrow keys.

Message Edited by nobodynoone on 03-31-200603:32 AM

Message Edited by nobodynoone on 03-31-200603:57 AM

#35300001184 03/31/2006 07:37:08 Re: Get rid of having to manually activate buffs!!

see? girls are smarter than these silly dumbass guys here. heh.

devs, lets see if we can condense some of this eh? the stuff about all these abs, that is.