Hey there NWI,
I remember when I first started playing Insurgency 2. I joined my first match on Siege, I was hiding out in a building with my team (security forces). Shots were ringing out from all directions, bullets were chomping through concrete and pinging off the walls, and suddenly the insurgent forces started moving in. I was legitimately scared to death (felt like I was actually there). Suddenly my allies start getting mowed down one by one, puffs of blood shooting into the air, and I managed to take a few of the bad guys down with me with me before getting completely obliterated.
The reason I enjoyed my experience so much was that despite the dated graphics of Insurgency 2 I felt so immersed in that game. I feel that this immersion was created with a combination of the immersive sound design and with the old TTK. It felt like I really had to play carefully in order to survive. This gameplay aspect combined with your guys' awesome sound design made for one of the best FPS experiences I've had to date.
I feel that with the new and much higher TTK the rest of the immersive aspects in your game become background noise. When I feel like I can just run across the street knowing my heavy armor will likely absorb all the bullets for me I just don't get the same feeling I used to anymore. It feels like there's just not as much at stake. So now when I'm getting pinned down in a building with my team it feels like just any other game, and the bullets hitting the wall next to me don't feel as dangerous. But Insurgency to me before wasn't just like any other game and that's why I fell in love with it. Insurgency 2 gave me the confidence that I wanted to support you guys till the end, and I really don't want to see you guys move in a direction that you feel you have to move in to please a wider audience.
I think that most of us have grown tired of the old shooter franchises like COD and Battlefield, so we've all gone in search of something new. This fresh and new shooter came from you guys! I don't think many of us want what the mainstream market has to offer and that's why we love your game. If people don't like the lower TTK then they don't know what Insurgency is all about just yet. If you just keep doing what worked for Insurgency 2 the rest of your fanbase and the newcomers will follow. Tactical and immersive shooters are what your real fans want. Some people need time to get used to the type of gameplay I'm referring to, but once they do they will absolutely crave it (my friend is a good example). To summarize, we don't need our hands held to get across the street in the brutal world of Insurgency, we'd rather have them shot off.
Thanks guys for making such an incredible game. I hope I haven't assumed too much about your direction, but this is really how I feel. You guys have great ideas. Stick to them, and don't let a minority of the fanbase try to influence the direction you take this game. I recognize I could be totally in the wrong, and in that case don't listen to me either! I hope you understand what I mean, and take into consideration what I've had to say about the immersion, because I think that is what made you guys great in the past, and if you hold onto it in the future your game will be the best on the market, and better than any of the AAA trash that people find so easy to consume. You guys are just as good if not totally better than the big dogs. I think the hardcore gameplay aspects of old Insurgency mixed with the new ideas you guys have and the better graphics will have the big dogs shaking in their boots.