Incline Hunt: Showdown

[Beowulf]

And you came late into the boat Silva.
Now imagine what it was like for those who played during the beta, when the swamp was darker, your hand would shake for a little when you went for the iron sights, and you wouldn't hear the sound of a women for miles and miles.

And you could be killed by the AI when you were stuck waiting for other players to load. Ahh, great old times.
I like the majority of the changes made up to 2 years ago, as it made the game play way better, but recent changes push the game in a direction that does not look appealing to me at all.

A lot of characters (I'd even go as far as to say that the majority of the characters that I encounter while hunting) look like some comic book characters or characters taken straight from a cover of a crappy western novella. Everyone needs to have some dark coat and a dark scarf and project the darkness by their very posture. I think it crossed the line of autoparody now.
Gunslinger also seems to be the go-to control scheme nowadays, but you can stick with the classic if you want to (I still play like that).

The dev team seems to be working on expanding the longevity of the game by creating various seasonal events, without crafting any real new content sadly.
But come on - they introduced an exploding drone in one of the last updates. And people are defending this inclusion, by the looks of it. It's a short way from becoming another run-and-gun twitch shooter, but this time with a weird-west skin.

And I think that it will stay on this course, as it seems to attract new players this way.

 

[throwaway69420]

I had a big essay written up but essentially I got disillusioned with the game when I realized the core gameplay is a flowchart that leads to long rifles camping the shotgun bounty carriers in the boss lair for 45-55 minutes until the shotguns are forced to push out and the long rifles kill them. Balancing the close/long range dynamic around if players get impatient or want to waste 45+ minutes of their time sitting in a bush was so ridiculous I just had to laugh and stop playing the game forever. It's just gotten incredibly more stupid since I stopped too, the bug drone was just lmao what a joke of a game. Also this game must have the slowest non-visible bullets of any game ever made. It feels like it takes a full second after you click your mouse for a long-caliber fast bullet to reach a point 15 meters in front of you. Pretty sure that's the fault of the game's fuckawful servers, also the movement system is inexcusably bad with how much rubber banding and server-side correction of your movement happens if you do anything besides run on a flat plane. Finally, the mouse movement makes it impossible to hit any moving target, they have some weird accel+decel simultaneous system that can't be turned to raw input that just rapes the aiming feel of the game. Good, unique game but worst aiming in any game I've ever played including old games where X and Y sensitivity are both separate from each other in the options and in game feel.

 

[Silva]

What does reaching max level (50?) with hunters reward? Blood bonds? XP? Nothing?

 

[Reever]

What does reaching max level (50?) with hunters reward? Blood bonds? XP? Nothing?

Nothing. But from that point on all the XP that you earn with that hunter goes directly to your bloodline. It's how people are prestiging really fast right now with the grounded pact.

 

[Silva]

This Devil's Moon event has some neat ideas but the execution is all over the place. The 3 pacts are not balanced at all, with Grounded being MUCH more useful than anything else. Self-necro is so cheesy it hurts. Taking 3 seconds to rise up after downed is nonsense. At the very least it should take as long as default necro and make a sound cue, and probably be limited to once per match.

I think there are arguments for self-necro and death cheat staying after the event is over, but only if they're seriously nerfed or reworked.

What does reaching max level (50?) with hunters reward? Blood bonds? XP? Nothing?

Nothing. But from that point on all the XP that you earn with that hunter goes directly to your bloodline. It's how people are prestiging really fast right now with the grounded pact.

Actually reaching lvl 50 rewards you 3 blood bonds. It's a card in the summary screen.

 

[Reever]

This Devil's Moon event has some neat ideas but the execution is all over the place. The 3 pacts are not balanced at all, with Grounded being MUCH more useful than anything else. Self-necro is so cheesy it hurts. Taking 3 seconds to rise up after downed is nonsense. At the very least it should take as long as default necro and make a sound cue, and probably be limited to once per match.

I think there are arguments for self-necro and death cheat staying after the event is over, but only if they're seriously nerfed or reworked.

I think moon pact is decent if you're in a good squad. Other than that, I agree. Maybe move death cheat to rank 4 and Shadow to rank 1. Infernal is just garbage, I don't know how anyone thought it was even close to the other pacts.
I didn't mind self-necro that much but maybe I'm biased since I only play solos. I think it should've had at least a sound effect but nothing a lantern can't fix. Besides, I enjoyed racking up a bunch of kills from people that just self-revive in my face over and over again.

 

[Pound Meat]

I've only ever seen this game in action when Razorfist played it and it seemed boring as hell. Rush in, crawl around for ten minutes while other players kill all the enemies and get the bounties, then run to your exit before time runs out. I don't get the appeal, but maybe Razor is just really bad at it.

 

[Cyberarmy]

This is probaly the most tense game I've ever played, guarding banishment or waiting banishers to go out moments are really tense and fun. Even random shootouts while in the open are much more fun then most other shooters.
Sitting in some random bush for 10 min without doing anything is the worst style to play this gem.
Also, that goes without saying, you should play with friends for maximum fun.

 

[Silva]

didn't mind self-necro that much but maybe I'm biased since I only play solos. I think it should've had at least a sound effect but nothing a lantern can't fix. Besides, I enjoyed racking up a bunch of kills from people that just self-revive in my face over and over again.

Problem with self-necro is that it trivializes the revive process, which is in a more or less fair place for duos/trios, where it requires the partner to 1) touch the body, or position within 20m range if it got necro, and 2) take some time stationary/10 or so seconds exposed and producing a sound cue.

With self-necro, all that is thrown out the window and you just need 3 seconds to click a button and get back to the fight. The result is that it's too easy to keep reviving as a solo. The only exception is if you're downed at short range and no other team is around, which means the enemy will burn or concertina your body. If that's not the case though - if you got downed at mid to long range, or if there are other teams nearby, you will be free to revive again, and again and again. It's boring and goes against the hardcore/permadeath spirit of the game (and I say that as a solo enthusiast myself).

 

[Cyberarmy]

if you got downed at mid to long range

That happened a lot to us this weekend. We had a 3 way shootout and one of the parties kept reviving themselves. Burning their bodies came really late to our minds...

 

[Silva]

That's exactly the problem - you can't burn/concertina bodies far away or while threatened by third parties. So it's trivial for solos to keep reviving.

 

[Reever]

That's exactly the problem - you can't burn/concertina bodies far away or while threatened by third parties. So it's trivial for solos to keep reviving.

Which in that particular situation is pretty much the same advantage that duo/trios have.
My way of balancing it would be to put a time limit on reviving which goes down faster if you're burning, have a distinct sound cue for when somebody is reviving (and maybe slow the process of getting up from the ground) and remove interactions with Resilience (which honestly should be removed entirely from the game).
If they wanted to veer into the "hardcore/permadeath" angle than they should've never allowed squads to revive in the first place like Tarkov. Instead over time they more and more mechanics like bounty revives which goes completely against that concept.

 

[Silva]

Which in that particular situation is pretty much the same advantage that duo/trios have.

Nope? As I said, duos have it tougher/less trivial, as they need to fill a few requirements: position themselves closer to the body, while getting stationary & exposed, making sound cues, and waiting a longer countdown/10 to 12 seconds.

While solos just need to wait 3 seconds and click a button. That's it.

Other than that, I agree the game should tone down revivals altogether. Perhaps letting it once and that's it.

 

[Cyberarmy]

you can't burn/concertina bodies far away

Can't we burn downed bodies with fire bullets?

I managed to burn 2 guys at the same time yesterday but that was pure luck. They both downed near the same gas lamb.

 

[Silva]

Can't we burn downed bodies with fire bullets?

Cool idea. Don't know the answer. I'll try it out.

Also, notice that a solo with Resilience Trait will get up while on fire and survive, forcing you to not only molotov his body but camp at it and wait his life run out.

 

[Silva]

I had a big essay written up but essentially I got disillusioned with the game when I realized the core gameplay is a flowchart that leads to long rifles camping the shotgun bounty carriers in the boss lair for 45-55 minutes until the shotguns are forced to push out and the long rifles kill them. Balancing the close/long range dynamic around if players get impatient or want to waste 45+ minutes of their time sitting in a bush was so ridiculous I just had to laugh and stop playing the game forever. It's just gotten incredibly more stupid since I stopped too, the bug drone was just lmao what a joke of a game. Also this game must have the slowest non-visible bullets of any game ever made. It feels like it takes a full second after you click your mouse for a long-caliber fast bullet to reach a point 15 meters in front of you. Pretty sure that's the fault of the game's fuckawful servers, also the movement system is inexcusably bad with how much rubber banding and server-side correction of your movement happens if you do anything besides run on a flat plane. Finally, the mouse movement makes it impossible to hit any moving target, they have some weird accel+decel simultaneous system that can't be turned to raw input that just rapes the aiming feel of the game. Good, unique game but worst aiming in any game I've ever played including old games where X and Y sensitivity are both separate from each other in the options and in game feel.

Hyperboles aside, yeah I'm only now meeting 4 and 5 star players and the pattern you describe has been happening more and more. A stalemate around the bounty, with first comers preferring to camp rather than doing for the boss, and thr eventual firefight when the campers fail to finish the prey or a third party arrives during the fight.

That said, I dont have a problem with it. I mean, this pattern is the game's core right? Same way a battle royale is about gaming the ever shrinking zone, Rainbow Siege is about pushing and rotating rooms, Hunt is about gaming the bounty by pushing or camping it. Hunt is more interesting actually IMO, because it gives players more leeway in engaging this core (players can just do challenges or pick clues for money and XP and bail), besides 2 bounties coming up now and then which dilutes that pattern a bit.

I'm not saying the game is perfect though. The bullets speed is really wonky, server stability is bad, and movement mechanics are a bit too arcade and feel schizophrenic with everything else.

 

[Silva]

Stalker II with an extraction shooter multiplayer component anyone? Explore the anomalies, collect artifacts, fight competitor stalkers & AI creatures and run for extraction. Between missions, "pledge" your services to Freedom, Duty or Monolyth for exclusive gear and perks. I'd throw good money at it.

_ _ _

Back to Hunt, I just fell in love with this babe, the "Nagant Carbine". Great for potato shooters like me, as it has nice rate of fire and low recoil*, meaning I can multi-tap people fast and even miss some shots in the way.

*low recoil only on hi-speed ammo though. Default ammo recoil is awful. Probably a bug, as it should be the other way around.

 

[Silva]

I've been thinking about a better progression system than Prestige, which is the weakest point of the game IMO, and came up with this idea (inspired by Rainbow: Siege):

What if the progression system was based on "hunting seasons", that the AHA - American Hunters Association, the game's front organization that hires hunters to fight the supernatural incursion on Louisianna - promotes? Each season could comprise a 3 months period, where a ranking of players would be composed, with specific rewards comprising weapon skins, charms and blood bonds. All shown in a pretty, period-appropriate art screen, that the AHA circulates in it's inner circles.

The ranking and rewards could be separated in tiers to facilitate (Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze), but ALSO show the players actual names on the list, so players would get a real reputation through it, and get recognized when runnning the bayou ("Woah that's Silva, the number 1 AHA South America player" haha). Notice though, that the players don't represent actual hunters in the game, but AHA agents and sponsors (former or current). So I propose another rank is created, a secondary to accompany the main one, showing the actual hunters who live longer and cumulate more XP. This one would also reward prizes (though perhaps less important ones - hunters are just tools to be used by AHA agents, afterall).

Adding to that, we could have a more lore-friendly challenges system too, making challanges that feel more coherent and informed in a diegetic/in-setting way. Example: a smuggler wants you to bring explosives (or rifles, or special ammo, etc); a third party wants to test your skills and headshot enemies beyond 100m, etc.

I believe such a "hunting season" system would be more exciting and engaging than what we have currently, as it would 1) be lore-appropriate thus immersing players in the world of Hunt, and 2) foment competition among players to ascend the ranking ladder and get exclusive prizes at end of season/3 months period, and 3) no grind to unlock weapons again and again, like Prestige does.

 

[Silva]

Can't stop playing this. I'm fucking obsessed by this game. Somebody help me.

BTW, is it possible to get skins from past events? I would love to get that Dhalsim dude but I missed his event.

 

[Reever]

BTW, is it possible to get skins from past events? I would love to get that Dhalsim dude but I missed his event.

Not sure who Dhalsim dude is but usually they put seasonal skins back during their respective events. For example Skinflint and Devil's Advocate were from previous year's Christmas event (Devil Advocate specifically from the Event BP) and you can purchase them during this Christmas event for 1500 BB.
I wish I was as excited to play Hunt as you are. I really wanted to get that False Saint skin but got burned out early.

Edit: If it's The Viper it may not come back. FOMO bullshit

 

[Theodora]

Anyone in Europe, or even west Asia or the eastern US, looking for a plus one?

Played a fair bit solo, but never quite got the hang of how to deal with bosses short of camping them and waiting for someone else to enter the situation that ends up trapping and killing me. (Not huge on shooters, maybe that's the problem; mostly just played this kind of extraction-shooter, some 'nouveau' boomer shooters, and a little bit of Overwatch and TF2 when they were still shiny and new.)

Great solo player btw:

 

[Silva]

Anyone in Europe, or even west Asia or the eastern US, looking for a plus one?

Played a fair bit solo, but never quite got the hang of how to deal with bosses short of camping them and waiting for someone else to enter the situation that ends up trapping and killing me. (Not huge on shooters, maybe that's the problem; mostly just played this kind of extraction-shooter, some 'nouveau' boomer shooters, and a little bit of Overwatch and TF2 when they were still shiny and new.)

Great solo player btw:

Cool vid.

Playing solo is tricky because your room for error is very narrow, but it's doable. I advise learning how to kill all bosses fast. Sticky bomb + a few melee hits will take care of all them except the Assassiin (which is the only one I suggest avoiding altogether and camping it's compound instead), or if you prefer a silent approach go Stamina shot + big hammer/axe on them. Do that fast and exit the boss building while hiding nearby (preferentially in a another building) and use SERPENT to steal the bounty from a safe distance. Voilá.

But that only works if nobody found the bounty first, in which case you must go rat mode and try to ambush/snipe the bounty carriers as cowardly as possible. Needless to say, this is a more difficult scenario. I like to trap the path between the bounty and the nearest exit with concertina and snipe from afar, as the bounty carriers usually save darksight for the extraction area.

 

[Silva]

Edit: If it's The Viper it may not come back. FOMO bullshit

Shit, it's the Viper.

 

[markec]

I remember the fast and reliable way I figured out how to kill the Butcher when playing with a friend. I would take the bundle of dynamite and do a kamikaze charge on him, letting the explosion kill both of us. The friend would revive me and then I would banish the boss for health return.

Later with patch they added more HP to him so that tactic became less reliable as he would survive the blast and your partner had to finish him off.

 

[Steve]

Always have a sticky bomb, I find it better just to kill a boss fast as possible while there are no other players to worry about. Assassin is better to ignore if you're solo. Sometimes I find solo even easier as it lowers your MMR and you get some really potato enemies. Also the sound cues stand out way more as you don't have any team mates making sound and rattling about.