{{
`${userDetail.user.displayName}${userDetail.user.cachedBungieGlobalDisplayNameCode ? `#${standardizeBungieGlobalCode(userDetail.user.cachedBungieGlobalDisplayNameCode)}` : ""}`}}
{{getUserClans()}}
Edited by Demon By Desire:
1/16/2014 1:41:55 AM
31
Skill concerns in Destiny
[spoiler]Last updated: 1/15/14 19:40 CST[/spoiler]
[b][u]DISCLAIMER:[/u] I am sure this looks like a wall of text, but I can assure you, cohesive thought was put into writing this, and every sentence is important. I implore you; read this entire thread, rather than fanboying about what class you're choosing, what console you're playing on, and what clan you'll be in. This is the stuff that matters.[/b]
I have two major concerns involving the skill gap (the ability for high-skilled players to separate themselves from low-skilled players, or however you want to define it) in Destiny.
The first is headshots. In Halo, there is a massive emphasis on headshots. While you can and often do end a firefight with a body shot, headshots are quite often the deciding factor in a firefight. You even have gametypes like SWAT, where you have no choice but to shoot the head for a kill (unless you're in Halo 4, but I prefer to deny that that game even exists), which promotes pin-point accuracy and speed. Comparing to the other FPS titan out there, Call of Duty, headshots have almost no bearing on gameplay at all. Headshots in CoD are designed to lower the number of shots required for a kill by one (or none, depending on the gun and how far you are from your target). They essentially always happen by accident, and lower the time to kill by very small amounts of time. However, this may be relatively large amounts, given the quick resolution times in Call of Duty. I have played a lot of CoD, and I can tell you that hardly anyone makes a conscious effort to go for headshots, unlike Halo. This means that it becomes much more of a "spray and pray" type of gameplay, rather than a precise, high-skill gameplay. You have a much larger region to aim for, and simply fill it full of holes.
Speaking of Call of Duty, I'm reminded of my second topic -- firefight resolution speed. Bungie has said fights will resolve more quickly in Destiny. With any luck, this means not quite as fast as CoD. In Call of Duty, if you get shot from behind, you are essentially marked for death, unless a teammate comes to the rescue, or your opponent is incredibly bad and misses almost every shot. This awards a free kill to a player simply because the spawns flipped (silly linear spawn systems), or they got the ups on you (which, I suppose, could be a legitimate tactical decision). In Halo, you have plenty of time to retaliate, and often win, when shot from behind. But gun fight lengths extend far beyond surprise attacks. In Halo, you have to land several shots, generally with some sort of precision weapon, like the DMR or BR, over a period of time, all while your enemy is doing his utmost to return fire and dodge your shots. During this time, you also have to line up the headshot as soon as your opponents shields are broken. Clearly this requires a bit more effort than simply spraying and praying, particularly when nonlinear maps are considered, among other things.
Does anyone else share my concerns? Have I brought up a valid point that will rally the masses? I hope so.
-
8 RepliesI'm glad users like you still exist, you're far and few in-between. Apparently you're an elitist if you favor actual skill gap in this "pat everyone on the back" generation. Instead of leveling up skill through play time and competition, games now offer alternatives which are in turn variables. As time goes on games seem to cram more and more variables in, thus making for random and messy gameplay that can't be controlled. It's all done to garner a few extra sales and make titles more "accessible", however if the game isn't named COD that type of "gamer" isn't going to bite anyway. In turn all you're doing is exiling your loyal fan base who would not only play the game at launch, but support it through tournaments and actual play time. Destiny will be an amazing game, Bungie has proven this with Halo Reach. However I'm holding my breath in regards to the multiplayer until it's in my hands, though everything they've said thus far says it'll be anything but competitive. Less is more, though they keep going in the opposite direction. I'm sure it'll be fun, but it won't be that raw experience players like us are looking for. Sure a game can have a clean core, though we shouldn't have to wade through settings, bloom percentages, armor tweaks and other such elements in order to make it play cleanly. Besides, when this isn't the focus nearly the entire community will play in the default manner, so it's all for naught. I'll only add one thing in regards to your quick kill statement and that is CE. I'm sure you know where I'm going with this, but if done like the original Halo pistol, fast kills could work. It was a quick sure kill, though much different than the quick kills found in twitch shooters of today (which require the player to see the other player first more so than have an accurate shot). CE had bullet lag, this forced players to lead their shot. This made a three shot difficult and immediately separated good players from bad. Regardless I doubt we'll see anything like this, they've already added iron sights and such which is the opposite direction of a jump shot, leading, etc. Lastly, I know I talked about not having to wade through countless options to access a good core, but Halo 4 AGL settings are decent. A four shot BR with zero bloom makes for some satisfying BR battles. It's not the Halo 2 that I grew up with, though it's a solid game and arguably the best since under such a setting. It's better than the mess that was Reach multiplayer with it's 100% bloom, 85% bloom and zero bloom playlists. The entire core of the game was all over the place and needed legitimate editing to make feasible, where at least every play list in Halo 4 is a four shot BR with zero bloom. Hopefully Halo 5's multiplayer can give us what we'd like, they've already employed players like Neighbor over at 343 to help streamline the competitive aspects, they're actually taking the core community seriously for once. Surely it'll equate to something decent, more so than another variable fest at least. Anyhow, those are my observations and legitimate concerns. I'll still hold out hope and if it's not a competitive game, I'm sure I'll be able to enjoy it for what it is at the very least.
