Agreed. 60 FPS wouldn't work without dedicated servers for this game. Coincidently, dedicated servers is one things I've consistently demanded in return for the fresh start they're going to impose on us (AGAIN).

[quote]During the HoW era, there was actually only a few handful of guns that had ttk's THAT high. Thorn, TLW, Maybe Hopsotch/Messenger if you hit all 6 bullets from a double burst as head shots. Primary ttk's were faster in general, but only a few guns were in that territory you speak of. [/quote] The problem is they dominated the playlists. Reroll encouraged experimentation a bit but it settled right back into that handful of weapons. There was also a lot more intrinsic help. Handcannon ttk on average is higher now because they actually have damage fall off and there have been a lot of accuracy and recovery changes as well that slow the flow of the game down rather than the ttk which was still not that much faster. [quote]Part of the reason why the suicide runs didn't end is because there just was very little risk to the tactic due to primaries being so weak. If people are sitting back taking pot shots with a pulse or SR, they're basically dead meat to a shotgun rusher because the primary weapon isn't a threat and you can no longer hot-swap to a shotgun to repel. Add in skills like evade, blink, juggernaut, or shoulder charge and the reward is FAR greater than the risk when rushing. That will never change so long as there isn't perceived risk.[/quote] The problem I've found is that it wasn't primaries it was that handful of primaries, plus the lack of damage falloff that kept special in line and that's why I'm against the primary buffs to that again because it wasn't the base HOW ttk that combatted them well. My legendary handcannons could combat it but that was lack of bloom and damage fall off. The high impact pulses could because they were buffed specifically to combat thorn. But the majority of legendaries weren't viable once the exotics and messenger saturated the playlists. But the problem bungie had that really started all these problems was their inability to do targeted nerfs to outliers rather than blanket nerfs. [quote]In HoW, shotgun rushing and blink-shotgunning was still a thing but there was risk involved. Shotguns back then had better range, and primaries had better ttk's. A simple shot or 2 from a HC + a throwing knife could end a shotgun rusher before he got close enough for a kill shot. A good PR could repel a shotgun rusher if you became aware of him before he made his charge. I understand your point about people making builds for it - but that is exactly what they did during this latest shotgun meta. They loaded up on skills/gear that let them close the gap quickly and they just rushed without any fear that someone could repel them - because they know at worse, they're likely just going to trade - and at best, they're going to win the encounter.[/quote] I actually still do that but the loss of tripmine made combatting the rush far more difficult with gunslinger. And here we get into the map problem. I actually didn't mind the shotgun no back up plans style. The jug shield I did but because it couldn't be penetrated. There are builds but they were not balanced builds at all. It was a combination of for example with a striker poor jug shield design, unanticipated skating ability, nerfed abilities on other classes, and heavily cqc maps. All those combined pushed that build way ahead of everything else. The trade off of limiting to close range was also not there since they could just equip a sniper or a scout and regular shotgun or whatever combination making that build a short range monster with all its downsides mediated. Not a balanced build at all. [quote]People will play how they want to play regardless, and I don't think nerfing their weapons of choice is the answer. I think the best answer is to have weapons that CAN counter that increase the risk factor for tactics such as shotgun rushing. And I don't think the current special system resolves that - as getting special crates faster, but losing your ammo just leads to campy play style. It changes player behavior, but it doesn't directly address the issue which is the lack of good counters. And there will never be good counters so long as there is such a disparity in primary kill potential vs. special kill potential. [/quote] See I didn't have a problem really countering a shotgun. I had a problem countering an entire playlist of shotguns. I want that disparity. No disparity is just a slightly slower cod to me. That's why I want power weapons. Strong specials with limited ammo. And personally it doesn't make me camp. It makes others camp because they are used to the prior playstyle. I rush them now and kill them because they are camping because they relied on special to mediate their poor primary skill. I can still smoke and one shot body shot people with a handcannon. Primaries can be very strong still. The difference is now my ability cooldowns to facilitate that match the availability of special. I don't have to rely on primaries alone to deal with special because it isn't around every corner constantly. [quote]Will this make the game into "first sight - first kill?" It certainly runs the risk, but in a shooter game, I don't think encouraging your players to have better combat awareness is a bad thing. THAT alone will slow down player play style without slowing down times to kill.[/quote] There is a difference between twitch combat awareness and arena combat awareness. I'm mostly a support player. I thrive on my combat awareness, but dying so quickly makes it so you can't track the extended battles much. You have to prioritize and every battle can become a short term affair thrown constantly out of wack by the randomness of such a quick kill time. It's hard to explain but for example say we are on pantheon. We turn the corner to the main sniper lane and I put down some suppressive fire so the team can get through the sniper lane (previously impossible without flinch). This allows my team to get a little closer and control the middle map for better positioning, buff primary ttk enough and that all goes out the window. Suddenly it's worth it to pop out and throw bullets down field through fire because you can kill someone. Sometimes I'll stop them but more often they will slowly pick off our team as I force them into trades. This halts the forward movement into constant respawns going back to ttk where map engagement was only in very specific places because special limited it so much. A faster primary ttk won't open up space on the map it would keep it restricted because life expectancy would drop again. The most infuriating thing for me is to round a corner with my team and watch one or two of the other team get melted but I die because the one shot they got off was aimed at me. Faster ttk will cause that even more. The biggest difference with a slower ttk is increased life expectancy on average regardless of skill. That allows for more diverse play. Increased movement speed with that keeps you alive and adds even more variety to encounters. Fast ttk would just restrict the game immensely. Going more towards the constant deaths and respawns of cod.

I liked the HoW TTK and was hoping they could buff scouts and auto to make them competitive. Obviously the game was take in a completely different direction and personally don't like t compared to year 1. His trend makes me doubtful of how much I will have with d2.