General Gameplay Feedback

Greetings, I have some general gameplay feedback I'd like to see solutions to in the future.

  1. Spawn Killing
    • I'm not sure if it's an exploit or just general map flaws, but it gets really frustrating when an entire team can be handicapped by one guy with an LMG/rocket that has sights into our spawn or can access the one or two choke points we have to run through after spawning. It's not so bad that it's every game yet, but I'd say maybe 3/10 games I play, I get spawn camped, and it's just aggravating and makes me want to quit playing for a while. Some people agree with me, some people just say "it's part of the game". I can't think of too many solutions, but some I have thought of include: Spawn Protection for a few seconds after spawning, increasing the restricted zone for the opposing team so that they can't get sights on our choke points, or maybe tinkering with the waves system (they know when to get ready to spray us down because they are notified when a new wave of us is incoming).

  2. Weapon Scope Rendering Bug
    • Sometimes the reticle of my scope doesn't render, so it's basically a circle/square that zooms in with no reticle. I've noticed this bug especially occurring with the 7x on sniper rifles, and it makes sniping a challenge. I think this usually occurs in conjunction with the invisible hands bug.

  3. New Commander Restrictions
    • I've had a little trouble thinking about the new commander restrictions. I think they made the game more balanced in that the Security commander calling in both choppers no longer effectively ends the game, but now I feel like the security team doesn't have that many tools to use to its advantage if you play the commander. Perhaps adding different supports for different situations (Attacking vs Defending vs Firefight) would help, including adding new supports (such as some type of "firebombing" that basically acts as dropping a huge molotov or incendiary grenade on the map).

  4. Shotgun Balance
    • Shotguns are extremely overpowered right now, so much that I refuse to use them myself because I think they are so unfair. You can literally snipe someone up to 100 m away with a shotgun if you use the right attachments. I think shotguns should be balanced to be what they are - a CQC weapon, not something you can use for CQC, medium and long range combat like a rifle.

  5. Matchmaking
    • It is fairly common to join a match that is either about to end or has just ended and is a complete waste of time. I think something should be done so that a server "closes" when the game is almost done and past a certain point where, no matter who joins, it would be pointless. I understand that this may complicate things if a team experiences a mass exodus of rage quitting near the end, but if the game is effectively over anyway, new players joining in probably won't make much of a difference.
    • Also, it seems that somehow I keep playing on the same maps over and over again with random match making. I don't know how the system works, but increasing map variety between matches would be great. It feels like there is a "map of the hour" when I play and I only experience the same map for that hour (sometimes 2 hours), and I rarely get to play a different map until a couple hours has passed.

  6. Push Gameplay Tactics
    • The attackers can run into a restricted zone into the next objective and the cache area, so that if their teammates capture the previous point, they are already on site and present a threat to the incoming defenders, which can result in "fast-capping" or an instant end to the game if they blow up the cache. I think this defeats the purpose of the attackers/defenders gameplay and the restricted zone in these areas should result in death after a certain number of seconds to prevent this type of "dirty" tactic.

• Some of the caches can be blown up without even getting close to the cache - firing a rocket through a window from 150 m away (I forget the map name for this particular instance), calling a mortar strike/explosive drone as a commander, etc. If this is the intent of the devs, then okay. I can tolerate it, but I just thought I'd point out that sometimes it's a little easier to get to some, more open caches than others.

• I think when the attackers get to the last cache, instantly dropping the defenders waves to 0 is a little unfair. Sometimes the entire team is running onto the last objective when it is suddenly capped, the waves are dropped to 0, then we must retreat and run back to the cache, and half the team gets picked off by the attackers as they retreat and that leaves less defenders to defend. I think making it a "conditional wave system" would be more fair - if the defenders have multiple waves left (say 7, for example), they should have it dropped to 1 or 2 waves instead of "0." But if they are already on their 0 wave (meaning the attackers are also probably at their 0 wave), then leave it at 0 instead of raising it to 1 or 2. Another option might be to just eliminate the system where, if the cache is reached, the waves are instantly reduced to 0, and allow the game to progress as with the previous objectives. This would include leaving the defender waves as-is and maybe giving the attackers an extra wave or two upon reaching the cache too.

Thank you for your time and consideration,
Zin

P.S. This is hands down one of my favorite FPS games. I used to enjoy Battlefield, but I believe that franchise has gone downhill, and I'm glad that Insurgency: Sandstorm can provide enjoyable FPS gameplay for me again.

I agree that shotguns are incredibly powerful compared to most other weapons in the game. That isn't the fault of shotguns, though. If you buff the other guns to be like Ins2, shotguns would be just fine. If you ported Sandstorm shotguns into Ins2, they'd be about as effective as the Makarov. Granted, the Makarov is pretty good. That's because every gun is pretty good in Ins2. Guns like the FAL and SVD in Sandstorm hit about as hard as the Ins2 Sterling and that makes me sad.

@cyoce said in General Gameplay Feedback:

Guns like the FAL and SVD in Sandstorm hit about as hard as the Ins2 Sterling and that makes me sad.

Well, not quite. A Sterling /w AP could kill a player with Heavy Armor in two shots if they both hit upper chest, and that's what the FAL accomplishes in Sandstorm. The SVD is better, though, but it's technically on-par with the Ins2014 M16A4 /w AP ammo equipped.

Granted, the Makarov is pretty good.

Makarov in Ins2014 was a f*cking monster.

Sandstorm weapons are actually stronger than all Ins2014 weapons, if you're comparing the effectiveness of firearms without attachments against Heavy Armor enemies in both games. Technically, though, I'd have to say Ins2014 weapons hit harder than Sandstorm ones, because nothing short of a G3A3 or stronger in Sandstorm can kill an unarmored player in one chest shot; literally any Ins2014 weapon can one-shot an unarmored player without attachments to the head, torso (9mm has to hit upper chest) and arms. Hell, I've shot bots in Sandstorm in the upper arm with a Mosin-Nagant and somehow they f*cking survived.

last edited by MarksmanMax

@zin said in General Gameplay Feedback:

P.S. This is hands down one of my favorite FPS games. I used to enjoy Battlefield, but I believe that franchise has gone downhill...

Yeah, that's one way to put it. The PR department f*cked up insanely badly, and as of somewhat-recently DICE have made some pretty dumbass decisions; for instance, increasing time-to-kill for every gun for everything except headshots by 20% to help "newer" players to kill people, although that ironically makes it far harder for newbies to do well as that requires them to have better accuracy and recoil control.

Their solution when people complained was to add a "casual" and "hardcore" modifier to every gamemode in-game even though there aren't that many players to begin with, so that just creates a lot of dead servers and gamemodes.

@marksmanmax said in General Gameplay Feedback:

Makarov in Ins2014 was a f*cking monster.

Sure, but not compared to most other guns. The MP5 was a straight upgrade, and a stock M16 is basically a fully-kitted makarov with better precision and twice the capacity.

Sandstorm weapons are actually stronger than all Ins2014 weapons, if you're comparing the effectiveness of firearms without attachments against Heavy Armor enemies in both games.

To be fair, Insurgency guns with AP ammo are more powerful than Sandstorm guns against heavy armor. Sandstorm has no equivalent attachment, unfortunately.

last edited by cyoce

@cyoce said in General Gameplay Feedback:

@marksmanmax said in General Gameplay Feedback:

Makarov in Ins2014 was a f*cking monster.

Sure, but not compared to most other guns. The MP5 was a straight upgrade, and a stock M16 is basically a fully-kitted makarov with better precision and twice the capacity.

The Makarov has the least obstructive sights and less recoil and weight than both of those guns, though. I think the only firearm with less recoil than the Makarov is the Model 10. Of course, it's not the best gun in the game but it's still terrifying if used right.

@cyoce said in General Gameplay Feedback:

To be fair, Insurgency guns with AP ammo are more powerful than Sandstorm guns against heavy armor. Sandstorm has no equivalent attachment, unfortunately.

Lmao. Ins2014 AP weapons against heavy armor do more damage than Sandstorm guns against players with no armor. at all.

Shotguns are already nerfed.

@cthulhu06 said in General Gameplay Feedback:

Shotguns are already nerfed.

The OP was also posted in March while shotguns were nerfed in April.

I think that most of us can agree that being unarmoured is far too viable in the game. The buffs to stamina and speed are substantial, and you lose out on little to nothing compared to light armour.

I think that a large reason for light armour feeling meh is the fact that it offers little to nothing when compared to running around unarmoured. If unarmoured were a one shot kill from primaries, lugh armour would become a worthwhile investment.

I think that a fair trade would be to make unarmoured a one shot kill from all primaries, but make it cost -1 (which grants some reward for going unarmoured in the form of a point to spend on your weapons). Heck, make it cost - 2 if the hit from being a one shot kill is too much.

Honestly I run around with level 1 armor, its only benefit really is that you have a higher chance to survive being shot at long range (that's good because bullet velocity obviously downgrades over distance some calibers more than others), armor is ALMOST pointless in close range (thats good).

The TTK imo in terms of armor seems balanced.

last edited by KahleKingzTV

*@zin said in General Gameplay Feedback:

Greetings, I have some general gameplay feedback I'd like to see solutions to in the future.*

*> 1) Spawn Killing

• I'm not sure if it's an exploit or just general map flaws, but it gets really frustrating when an entire team can be handicapped by one guy with an LMG/rocket that has sights into our spawn or can access the one or two choke points we have to run through after spawning. It's not so bad that it's every game yet, but I'd say maybe 3/10 games I play, I get spawn camped, and it's just aggravating and makes me want to quit playing for a while. Some people agree with me, some people just say "it's part of the game". I can't think of too many solutions, but some I have thought of include: Spawn Protection for a few seconds after spawning, increasing the restricted zone for the opposing team so that they can't get sights on our choke points, or maybe tinkering with the waves system (they know when to get ready to spray us down because they are notified when a new wave of us is incoming).*
Yes to this. In push there are certain players who will go to the defenders spawn, sit there until wave 0 and then rpg or C4 the entire last defender leg. They will also go to the next cap to be there when it turns for a quick second cap. Yes they "might get killed as they cannot shoot" but that would require the defending team to constantly sweep their spawn instead of doing what they are supposed to be doing, defending a point.

  1. Used to have this a lot, now practiclaly never.

*> 3) New Commander Restrictions

• I've had a little trouble thinking about the new commander restrictions. I think they made the game more balanced in that the Security commander calling in both choppers no longer effectively ends the game, but now I feel like the security team doesn't have that many tools to use to its advantage if you play the commander. Perhaps adding different supports for different situations (Attacking vs Defending vs Firefight) would help, including adding new supports (such as some type of "firebombing" that basically acts as dropping a huge molotov or incendiary grenade on the map).*
Trying to get to defend a weapons cache, with 0 respawns and a chopper in the sky. Ruins the endgame.

*> 4) Shotgun Balance

• Shotguns are extremely overpowered right now, so much that I refuse to use them myself because I think they are so unfair.*
Yeah probably right

*> 5) Matchmaking

• It is fairly common to join a match that is either about to end or has just ended and is a complete waste of time. I think something should be done so that a server "closes" when the game is almost done and past a certain point where, no matter who joins, it would be pointless. I understand that this may complicate things if a team experiences a mass exodus of rage quitting near the end, but if the game is effectively over anyway, new players joining in probably won't make much of a difference.*
This for sure, 80% of the time I start a game and the first round has 1-2 spawns left, they have been trying to cap point A with 6 players which is a huge adv to the defense. I also regularly get put in for end of game quitters. It sucks. Fix these, Maybe a longer pregame, don't start until min 10 players per side.

*> 6) Push Gameplay Tactics

• The attackers can run into a restricted zone into the next objective and the cache area, so that if their teammates capture the previous point, they are already on site and present a threat to the incoming defenders, which can result in "fast-capping" or an instant end to the game if they blow up the cache. I think this defeats the purpose of the attackers/defenders gameplay and the restricted zone in these areas should result in death after a certain number of seconds to prevent this type of "dirty" tactic.
Dirty tactic that stopping now requires defenders to avoid doing what they should be doing, help their team and has players, usually +200 lvl not helping their team and effectively stealing XP with a non fought capture.

• Some of the caches can be blown up without even getting close to the cache - firing a rocket through a window from 150 m away (I forget the map name for this particular instance), calling a mortar strike/explosive drone as a commander, etc. If this is the intent of the devs, then okay. I can tolerate it, but I just thought I'd point out that sometimes it's a little easier to get to some, more open caches than others.
Yes

• I think when the attackers get to the last cache, instantly dropping the defenders waves to 0 is a little unfair. Sometimes the entire team is running onto the last objective when it is suddenly capped, the waves are dropped to 0, then we must retreat and run back to the cache, and half the team gets picked off by the attackers as they retreat and that leaves less defenders to defend. I think making it a "conditional wave system" would be more fair - if the defenders have multiple waves left (say 7, for example), they should have it dropped to 1 or 2 waves instead of "0." But if they are already on their 0 wave (meaning the attackers are also probably at their 0 wave), then leave it at 0 instead of raising it to 1 or 2. Another option might be to just eliminate the system where, if the cache is reached, the waves are instantly reduced to 0, and allow the game to progress as with the previous objectives. This would include leaving the defender waves as-is and maybe giving the attackers an extra wave or two upon reaching the cache too.*

Yes

As far as "spawn killing" goes, you need to use smoke or go out a different way. There are usually several options and they aren't all watched. At some point you have to be able to be killed and no matter where that point is someone will be waiting to kill You.

The scope bug can be fixed by looking up and tapping escape until it corrects itself. Annoying, but it works.

Leave the shotgun alone. Most people complaining however....pvp. I never pvp I like coop team play and only use the shotgun on certain maps.

last edited by Max80

@mlb7 said in General Gameplay Feedback:

As far as "spawn killing" goes, you need to use smoke or go out a different way. There are usually several options and they aren't all watched. At some point you have to be able to be killed and no matter where that point is someone will be waiting to kill You.

I'm not talking about getting killed running to the objective, thats part of the game. I am talking about the guys who are sneaking around the outside of the map to the rear of the spawn, just outside the spawn, hiding and then when the waves go to 0, they pop out and RPG the group literally before they have taken 3 steps.