A letter to Dev

I am so done with this game.

My personal hell in this game:
I have finally reached over level 1000 and I do enjoy the game. However I have run into a few issues that are a reflection of the player base or this new generation of horrible gamers/ internet culture. I would say I am an above average player in terms of skill, so not fantastically great but can hold my own and can occasionally get a lucky shot. I would say I play more in co-op than in pvp, as games in pvp players will vote to kick me within the first 30s of a match because they see my account level and majority of the time most players I am matched with are below level 50. In co-op this gets even worse as 90% of the time lobbies I get into are filled with players from 0-40 with the occasional player in the 200-400 range. My co-op experience is filled with votes to kick, getting team killed by people who immediately leave the game so you cannot report them, players who dance in front of me so I cannot shoot and players who intentionally try to run in front when I start shooting. So I cannot enjoy any match unless I hang in the back or sit in a corner and wait for the low level team to push forward or die. This is not enjoyable for anyone.

So other things I think may need to be looked at that are not created by the horrible player culture. This will be strictly for the co-op experience.

Objectives with no cover:
There are several of these on a multitude of the maps. There is no hard cover for the players to get to if say the AI sends rockets, mortars, gunship or miniguns there is no place on the objective for the player to hold. The AI will always at the start of defending the objective send smoke, gas, mortars, rockets, miniguns or gunships on top of the obj. When the bad ones happen (ie not gas or smoke) the player has two options: get off the objective and take cover or hope you don't die in the mess. The rockets miniguns and gunships are basically a death sentence to anyone not in hardcover. Perhaps you can give the players some hardcover on these objectives and not cover the AI can shoot through that is basically worthless to anyone trying to use it.

Hardcover is not hardcover:
Getting killed inside of hardcover because a mortar, rocket, gunship or miniguns hit near or on top of the player is just garbage. I am not talking about splash damage through windows or doors or helicopters shooting at players through doors and windows. I am talking about being prone on the floor and with bridge above you and one mortar hits directly above and kills everyone inside.

The AI can call unlimited gunships and miniguns:
I have been in way to many games where the AI will call in 3-6 helicopters. I have also had a few maps where the AI has called helicopters on every single defense objective and I am talking A-F minus the one or two destroy the supply ones. At least give some of the newbies a chance as most of the players have no clue that these support will murder you if you are in the open. I am not saying this a bad thing but a little unbalanced. Players on Security only get one gunship and one minigun which is fine, but the amount of players that call BS on the 4 or 5 helicopter and will quit out of the match. This results in a completely empty lobby or lobbies with 1-4 players.

Bot/AI difficulty towards the player:
I don’t watch update videos or dev blogs but I will read the patch notes and news. You have reworked the AI a few times since launch. If the difficulty of the bots towards the player is not player level based how is it? I can say from my perspective I have a 80% chance to die in the first 5 rounds from any bot that has line of sight to me. The percent increases from there. This is also from any distance with any weapon. I don't know how many times I have been one shot with a pistol from a bot that is at full sprint and more than 100m away. I am not talking about me staring at then for a few seconds (although that would be nice,) I am talking about less than a second and sometimes like 10-15 frames. I don’t mind the bots get more or being more difficult for high skilled players but sometimes is dumb. My favorite is when the whole team is on top of the building shooting like crazy at the incoming hordes and I peak for a fraction of a second and all the bots ignore my whole team and start shooting me with accurate fire. Or how about I die in a fraction of second from a bot at about 10-15m. I missed my shots or was looking at a different angle. You know fair game, but that same bot will have a 5m fire fight with my team mate right after. Where both sides empty mags and reload before one side dies. I could write a book on this stuff but I guess what I would like to know is if player level does not affect the difficulty of the bots what does and why not show the player that?

Bots/AI ignore softcover:
The AI can see through bushes, trees, grass and foliage in general as well as any shootable object (vases, bottles, curtains ect.) why have these things in the game if they only affect the player. I have watched way too many players try to use softcover and just get destroyed. I have also tested this in several ways, you can not be spotted by the bots and take cover behind a bush and they just act as if they can see you the whole time. I get if the bots see you take cover behind something they can shoot through they shoot but not with aim lock accuracy. I have had bot gunners follow me behind walls with aim lock and kept shooting until they had to reload. And I was moving in left to right behind full cover for 10-15m and they still knew where I was. If I cannot see the enemy they cannot see me. It just kinda feels unfair to the player.

I would like to say again I do like this game. I have over 1500 hours played and a current player level 1026. But this weekend’s double exp has kinda frustrated me beyond wanting to play anymore. I did some numbers

Matches played in one day 40
Total matches completed with no issues 5.
Matches where I was intentionally killed by someone who immediately left the server 10.
Matches where I was vote kicked for AFK even though I was not 15.
Of those 15 matches: 10 I was kicked from on obj B or C and top of the scoreboard.
Of those 15 matches: 5 I was kicked after someone intentionally killed me (boasted in voice comms and players that were grouped gloated as they kicked me)
Matches where we lost one round and everyone quit out leaving 1-4 players in the lobby 10
Of those 10 matches: 8 were night maps

@Irken Wrong game forum man. This is the Snowrunner technical support forum. Pretty sure you're looking for Sandstorm's forums with this.

@Irken I would post to the Steam forums, or log a ticket.
According to a recent support ticket I logged with NWI, they don't participate in these forums any more. 😞

I have reported the same issues with co-op play - it is frustrating. Good luck soldier!

last edited by giz