The amount of map awareness an average Quake 3 pro has is INSANE (go look up 1v1 frag videos, it's not human), and map awareness is pretty much required to make the most out of your efforts. There is much more going on in a pro's head than moving around and shooting anything that moves. Factoring in which routes your opponents may take, which pickups they might grab or wait for, and denying them passage by pre-emptively shooting rockets/grenades down one corridor, which weapons they MIGHT have considering their position in the map and the weapon pickups in that area, all of which you have to decide within seconds. On top of that you need to plan your own route to gain as much health, armor and ammo as possible while keeping the enemy in mind.
This higher level of psychological warfare is what gets lost if you introduce mechanics such as Hack Modules which make the player think less on his own and rely more on one aspect of map awareness, rather than mastering all of them and feeling like you gained more skill in the process. This really goes to show how id has to keep in mind how their target audience of braindead mouthbreathers may not comprehend concepts of map awareness beyond layout, chokepoints, vehicle spawns and enemy spawns. These Hack Modules are literally just a third wheel. They don't necessarily encourage a player to learn the ins and outs of a map, and since they are treated as upgrades, players will be more likely to rely on their retardo help than actually learn said concepts themselves. On top of that, some Hack Modules (such as Scout and Retribution) aren't things a "good player inherently 'sees'". Giving away the position of an opponent narrows down the thinking process that goes on in one's head into RUSH TO ENEMY AND KILL HIM and causes the player to pay less attention to his surroundings since killing this one guy who just killed you matters more.
It's literally becoming Quake for babby at this point, Jesus Christ.
This higher level of psychological warfare is what gets lost if you introduce mechanics such as Hack Modules which make the player think less on his own and rely more on one aspect of map awareness, rather than mastering all of them and feeling like you gained more skill in the process. This really goes to show how id has to keep in mind how their target audience of braindead mouthbreathers may not comprehend concepts of map awareness beyond layout, chokepoints, vehicle spawns and enemy spawns. These Hack Modules are literally just a third wheel. They don't necessarily encourage a player to learn the ins and outs of a map, and since they are treated as upgrades, players will be more likely to rely on their retardo help than actually learn said concepts themselves. On top of that, some Hack Modules (such as Scout and Retribution) aren't things a "good player inherently 'sees'". Giving away the position of an opponent narrows down the thinking process that goes on in one's head into RUSH TO ENEMY AND KILL HIM and causes the player to pay less attention to his surroundings since killing this one guy who just killed you matters more.
It's literally becoming Quake for babby at this point, Jesus Christ.
