Killfeed feedback - competitive only

Hello,

let's talk about the killfeed here for a moment. What are the reasons for not having a killfeed? I've played a lot of comp in the beta so far and not having a killfeed doesn't add anything. The only situation where a killfeed actually gives away information is grenade kills and smoke kills. In 99% of the other situations you can confirm the kill anyways.

The general player experience in public competitive matches is awkwardly bad in some cases, because you lack basic information like kills, not because those kills couldn't be confirmed, but because people don't have a mic/can't use their mic.

It adds nothing to the game and offers a bad player experience. So my proposal is this:

add a killfeed, but only Line-Of-Sight-Kills. That way the kills that are obv. to confirm anyways get confirmed without relying on human failure, which as an individual player have 0 control about anyways.

I highly think that would make competitive matchmaking more enjoyable.

Or what about a key-bind you can quickly press to confirm a kill, that pops-up some killfeed-like information on your teams HUD?

I appreciate feedback on this idea from actual competitive players.

Regards

P.S: i sometimes can't use my mic for personal reasons. Not being able to properly communicate important information like kills without a mic is just awful.

last edited by Benz

@benz said in Killfeed feedback - competitive only:

The general player experience in public competitive matches is awkwardly bad in some cases, because you lack basic information like kills, not because those kills couldn't be confirmed, but because people don't have a mic/can't use their mic.

I highly think that would make competitive matchmaking more enjoyable.

P.S: i sometimes can't use my mic for personal reasons. Not being able to properly communicate important information like kills without a mic is just awful.

You can always use the radial menu to communicate a kill.

On another note, if ppl don't have a mic they should not be playing competitive. There are far more important things to communicate, than confirming kills.

I don't really see you suggesting any solid reason for adding killfeed tbh.

@bullet59 what people should or shouldn't do doesn't reflect reality though. And reality is what people actually experience. Radial menu takes too long and is too cumbersome.

last edited by Benz

Git gud on the radial menu then.
I still don't see any reason.

The tools are there. If ppl don't wanna use them, it is up to them.

last edited by Bullet59

@bullet59 I'm sorry, but i literally gave you reasons in the OP and the only thing you had to say about that is how people should in theory not play comp then, ignoring reality.

If you simply don't want a killfeed, say so. You didn't exactly try to counter-argue my points..... just dismissing everything i said by saying "thats no reason" without actually arguing it. If you want to post something constructive, feel free to do so.

Yes, I responded with a solution on the problem you are describing.
It is like the fire button. It is there, if ppl don't want to click it, it is up to them.

Your suggestion based on the reason that you are describing as the main issue, is just not solid from my point of view.

I think I make myself pretty clear.

@bullet59 Well, lets take a different approach then:

can you give me reasons for not having a killfeed? like... just a generic killfeed.

@bullet59 That's like a guy I talked to earlier about how "If armor is garbage, then don't equip it".

Do you understand the flaw in his argument here?

@Benz Yeah I can honestly agree. It's weird IMO that a competitive game doesn't have a killfeed.

@marksmanmax Yeah, esp. because not having a killfeed for 99% of the kills that can be confirmed anyways doesn't add anything to the gameplay, besides making it artificially a pain in the ass to play with random people.

(not to mention the griefing potential this actually has... "i killed 3 guys! Kappa")

last edited by Benz

@benz said in Killfeed feedback - competitive only:

@marksmanmax Yeah, esp. because not having a killfeed for 99% of the kills that can be confirmed anyways doesn't add anything to the gameplay, besides making it artificially a pain in the ass to play with random people.

(not to mention the griefing potential this actually has... "i killed 3 guys! Kappa")

I'm sure a killfeed in Sandstorm already exists. It's probably just a server setting.

Well,

  1. Adding killfeed for kills that you can confirm by using your eyes and ears (e.g. line of sight kills as @Benz mentioned) is useless as you can confirm for yourself AND the rest of the team, either by using your mic, or the radial menu. Easy.
  2. Adding killfeed ONLY for the above type of kills and NOT for grenade/smoke/fall-to-death kills is plain stupid as it will create more confusion than it will solve when it comes to bodycount.

The lack of killfeed in a competitive setting adds a higher level of complexity and rewards the team with the most efficient communication. *** When talking about competitive I am not referring to the "competitive matchmaking" as this is casual 5v5. I am talking about team vs team ***.

If you have played/watched competitive matches on Source and especially in maps which are prenade/crosspick heavy, like Station, you will see how big the impact of killfeed could potentially be. There were cases where teams got 3v5 in the beginning of the round but due to lack of information, they managed to outplay the other team and win against the odds.
When a team knows that at the place where 2-3 nades were dropped they got 2 kills, this will immediately change their strategy and their approach to the round.

Same, when there is smoke and I spray through smoke and get 1-2 kills, why should I get this info for free? If I feel the need to confirm, I can leave my spot, get in the open and go find the bodies.

Again, when a teammate dies and he does not call his death so that the rest of the team can rotate accordingly, shouldn't there be punishment for that?

@Benz Seriously, not that I disagree with you on the hundreds of threads where you hop in and whine about TTK, but in the end why don't you just go and find a different game to play? There are so many high-TTK + killfeed shooters out there.
In my eyes there are 4 things that made Insurgency Source so refreshing. Low TTK, minimal HUD, lack of minimap/killfeed and no crosshair. Those are the sole reasons that I will play Sandstorm too.
If you find yourself disliking that kind of characteristics, then you are probably playing the wrong game.

@bullet59 said in Killfeed feedback - competitive only:

Well,

  1. Adding killfeed for kills that you can confirm by using your eyes and ears (e.g. line of sight kills as @Benz mentioned) is useless as you can confirm for yourself AND the rest of the team, either by using your mic, or the radial menu. Easy.

I already explained why the current "solutions" are bad. Thanks for not adressing it/trying to actually argue it.

  1. Adding killfeed ONLY for the above type of kills and NOT for grenade/smoke/fall-to-death kills is plain stupid as it will create more confusion than it will solve when it comes to bodycount.

What? Makes 0 sense. Literally.

I like your example with the competitive matches and how a killfeed would give away too much information with grenade kills/smoke kills. That's why i wouldn't want a killfeed for grenade kills/smoke kills. Like...what are you arguing here? Certainly not against me as my implementation literally wouldn't touch your examples. Those aren't "line-of-sight"-kills and there wouldn't be a killfeed for them in my scenario.

last edited by Benz

@bullet59 said in Killfeed feedback - competitive only:

@Benz Seriously, not that I disagree with you on the hundreds of threads where you hop in and whine about TTK, but in the end why don't you just go and find a different game to play? There are so many high-TTK + killfeed shooters out there.
In my eyes there are 4 things that made Insurgency Source so refreshing. Low TTK, minimal HUD, lack of minimap/killfeed and no crosshair. Those are the sole reasons that I will play Sandstorm too.
If you find yourself disliking that kind of characteristics, then you are probably playing the wrong game.

So at the end of the day, your argument boils down to "Go back to Battlefield"? Nice job.

@Benz is "whining" about TTK because he wants the TTK to fucking change, and so do I.

last edited by MarksmanMax

@benz said in Killfeed feedback - competitive only:

@bullet59 said in Killfeed feedback - competitive only:

Well,

  1. Adding killfeed for kills that you can confirm by using your eyes and ears (e.g. line of sight kills as @Benz mentioned) is useless as you can confirm for yourself AND the rest of the team, either by using your mic, or the radial menu. Easy.

I already explained why the current "solutions" are bad. Thanks for not adressing it/trying to actually argue it.

Well the fact that you don't like those solutions, does not make them less of solutions. You are describing what YOU would like to see CHANGING in the game and without any solid reasoning from my point of view. So, no point for me to start arguing there. I m happy with the way it is. You can try and think some good reasoning for adding killfeed if you find the lack of it game-breaking. Good luck!

  1. Adding killfeed ONLY for the above type of kills and NOT for grenade/smoke/fall-to-death kills is plain stupid as it will create more confusion than it will solve when it comes to bodycount.

What? Makes 0 sense. Literally.

I like your example with the competitive matches and how a killfeed would give away too much information with grenade kills/smoke kills. That's why i wouldn't want a killfeed for grenade kills/smoke kills. Like...what are you arguing here? Certainly not against me as my implementation literally wouldn't touch your examples. Those aren't "line-of-sight"-kills and there wouldn't be a killfeed for them in my scenario.

What I am trying to say is that adding killfeed only for some type of kills is stupid. Either you add it for all kills/deaths or not at all. I think is pretty clear.

Nothing more to add from my end. If people think that killfeed is something worth re-evaluating and adding as a new feature in Sandstorm, then they should comment on that.

There should be a killfeed.

@bullet59 said in Killfeed feedback - competitive only:

What I am trying to say is that adding killfeed only for some type of kills is stupid. Either you add it for all kills/deaths or not at all. I think is pretty clear.

You say that with a complete lack of an explanation. It's worthless.

I understand why there's an argument that kills where you don't have line of sight, like grenade kills, shouldn't come up on the kill feed. It's because realistically you wouldn't know if a grenade you lobbed across the map killed someone or not. I don't really think it matters that much and that there should just be a kill feed, but I understand the argument and it makes sense, I just don't know if I personally care.

last edited by thehappybub

Rather add a killfeed to versus, but for comp, I dont know.
Insurgency always lived from non-killfeed gameplay and "no bs-hud", why do you want to change that?
I would even go so far, to disable scoreupdate in the scoreboard so kills are not visible at all.

@mr-pink sorry, i don't wanna argue "nostalgia" with people. I wanna argue gameplay and user-experience. Stuff that makes a game better you know.

@benz Yeah, got it. From user-experience and gameplay sight: Killfeed wont make the game better. period. 🙂

last edited by mr.pink