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Name: azxx
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Posts: 699
Location:
Posts: 699
Would removing the rail, but keeping everything else as it is (movement, other weapons, map design, etc), affect the game negatively? Would doing so 'break' something about how the game plays?
I am very keen on trying out how it would be. The maps don't have to be like Lost World or House of Decay, and the game doesn't have to play like QW or CPM. How would Blood Run and Furious Heights play out under VQ3/QL without the rail?
Would the combat be more interesting? Would it motivate players to make aggressive moves within their map strategies more often?
I can't see a change in the rail damage value to be interesting; anything besides heavy damage defeats the point of the rail's mechanics.
Making the recharge slower is better than changing damage, I think, but it still keeps the rail in the game and would probably only reduce the assistance from the rail, not eliminate it.
For a weapon that can be quite influential, it is very intuitive to use. It might be why it's use (and abuse) seems to be quite common on the low/medium levels of skill.
With such ease of use, I believe its ability to ruin tactical attempts is too high a cost. I am sure many of you have been in matches where you'd be out of control, spend minutes building up to a decent stack, then try to get to a favorable situation to fight the opponent....only to have the entire effort and build up be destroyed by the opponent hitting 2 rails or so and shutting down your possibility for a comeback. The opponent sat at a comfortable distance, barely dipping their toes into any combat, and ruined momentum you worked a lot for.
The momentum of the match going back and forth between players, contested at a satisfying pace, would add great value to the vibe of both playing and spectating. A player in the lead, in complete control, pacman-ing all items and having enough weapons, should still constantly feel the slow clawing of their losing opponent, in both the fights as well as the mental game.
Can someone with a deeper understanding and/or more experience shed some light here? Are there any obvious flaws that I am missing out? Personally, I'd like to see this happen in Diabotical, but I don't know what the end vision for that game is.
I would love to hear what 2GD and DDK think about this (and maybe even some pro players) but I doubt I can get their attention.
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It cuts both ways. My opinion is that the rail is the weapon for the out of control player with which to do unreturned damage without exposing himself too much, for example when the in control player is picking up a major item. This is so for the simple reason that it's the only weapon that can reliably deliver a high amount of damage at a distance in a short amount of time. For example, if you're out of control at RL in ztn, and mega is coming up, there's no other way to deal a significant amount of damage on the mega pickup without committing to a fight or getting lucky (any rocket dealing more than 20 dmg on such a distance is luck and can't be relied upon).