My criticisms after 100hrs ingame

I'd like to start off by saying I really enjoy insurgency, as I've put many hours into this game. As with other niche titles in the 'Realistic FPS' genre I adore, there seem to be a collection of small issues that build to make a less than enjoyable experience over time; as the player will constantly run into these issues. Here are a few:

1. Community servers without ranking
I personally strongly dislike the matchmaking system, aside from it's use in competitive. This system makes players unable to play with the same teammates, making it more difficult to form bonds with teammates as you may never see them again unless you get lucky or add them. My main gripe is after the system removes you from the completed match, there's a good chance you will either A] get into a new match with the same map that was previously played or B] will be put into a match already in progress which tend to be half finished. This could easily be solved by having IO add their own dedicated ranked servers to the server browser until they decide on a method of implementing community ranked servers.

2. Dying shortly after objective capture and having to wait till next spawn wave
Recently, this was addressed in the coop game mode (Checkpoint) and I was surprised to see it not added to the versus mode. I understand why it wouldn't work in competitive but it sucks in the regular versus mode to have to wait upwards of 45 seconds to respawn (depending on how quickly your teammates die) if you died on the objective just after capturing it.
Here's a thread on reddit also discussing the issue

3. The respawn system
My favorite series of similar genre to insurgency was Red Orchestra and I feel Tripwire implemented a better respawn system as the player never had to wait over 30 seconds to get back into the action. This was mainly due to two things: Using a ticket system where each teams tickets represented a players ability to re spawn; and a wave based spawning system that starts counting down time to spawn once the first player had been killed. In the current system, I've experienced longer wait times to spawn due to the game waiting for a specific amount of people to be killed on my team before a countdown to new wave spawn can begin. Whereas in Red Orchestra, the system begins creating a pool of players to spawn once a player is killed and spawns them at the cost of the teams tickets. My feelings on this issue aren't concrete but I feel like there is room for improvement in this area.

4. Spawn killing
Though this is rare, I've seen this happen specifically on the maps on Crossing and Summit; there are areas a player can get into that look directly into the spawn of their enemy. For the map Crossing (When the attacking side is coming from the Hilltop Fob) it is possible for an attacking player to get behind the A objective and shoot directly into the defending spawn. For Summit (When the attacking side is coming from the usual market area) Defenders can run towards the B objective on the hill and find a specific spot inside the play area to shoot almost directly at the attackers spawn. These issues could be fixed via giving spawning players a brief 2 second period of invulnerability.

5. Workshop Support
The title speaks for itself. I'm surprised that workshop support has not yet been implemented as IO has frequently stated their love for modding and their modding roots. I know these things take time but mods are another way of adding to community longevity. Hopefully the ability for players to create their own game modes and the addition of new player made maps will help with the burn out some players are feeling.

6. Character Customization
I was personally surprised that I was unable to give my INS character a truly militant look. There are no options for having any OD green clothing or chest rigs, milsurp looking clothing or camo for insurgents.

7. Issues with gamma/brightness
On certain optics (I've had the issue with the x1.5 optic, Kobra and red dot) and with fire from molotovs, the games gamma tends to be lowered significantly where it can be hard to see. Hitting ESC and returning to the game fixes the issue but it's annoying to do in the middle of a battle. This may have something to do with the motion blur settings as I read the specific setting has HDR, eye effects and other features tied into the setting.

Those are the main things I wanted to comment on. Please give me your thoughts and feedback or mention your own criticism.

last edited by InsanelyOrange

@insanelyorange

Nice post. I see some of this a bit differently and just want to reply to those.

n1. Ranking creates an idea that you should be on top of said ranking to feel good, this creates incentive for attracting hackers who unfortunately fill such lists over time. This is irrefutable, and if you are unaware, I hope you will read up on it someday, as it creates goals you will never achieve. (I have a thread on it called "security issues" read through that before you make up your mind. Jump to the post with title cold facts if you want to see numbers from an example).

n2 and 3. A penalty for dying creates an incentive for trying to stay alive. Tripwire have much larger maps and is not directly comparable imo ( a big fan myself). I like the current system but its just a matter of preference I guess.

n6. Not adding camouflage makes it so that players are not rewarded by playtime and therefore not getting an artificial advantage against players with less cosmetics unlocks. This was a deliberate decision from NWI.

last edited by Pacalis

1. Mostly agree on that, but I think devs stated that they are looking at more or less "white listing" servers? I have seen this done for the game Squad in which server owners have to use certain settings and also agree to what is basically a code of conduct in order to be "recommended". I think this could also be done for Sandstorm? First at all I think it is very much possible to automatically check if a server is using settings that the devs deem acceptable.

Then I guess they could also formulate a code of conduct that is sorting things like admins not kicking people off their server for shit and giggles and don't abuse their rights and a system in which players could report potential abuse.

When it comes to the matchmaking stuff, I think it would be great to have a way to easily form up as a squad with people you just finished a match with.

2. I am actually fine with how it works right now. It doesn't happen that often to me and I think its alright in general. I think the "death" experience should be better. I suggested a more detailed death card that shows you better how you died. That should make it less of a chore to wait for 45 seconds.

3. Wave spawning allows players to work together. When Red Orchestra is using the simple ticket spawn, I always found it problematic because you could spawn more or less alone and in that game you only have a limited impact as a single players. In RO you (especially as attacker) need to make a good push with other players into the objective. The way you spawned was an issue and in the end I often moved a bit and then waited for more players to actually push up with me. It was also really annoying when you wanted to play together with friends. It was pretty hard to actually form up.

I think Sandstorm also has a emphasis of teammates working together to get stuff done and wave spawning is a good way to give this the best chances. This is especially the case for the attacking team again since the defenders often have a advantage in positioning.

4. Spawn killing or what I would call extended spawn killing is usually a map design/balance issue. This is something that needs more work put into, but it is also a learning experience. You are often not unaware of issues in those areas until people figure them out and start to abuse them or report them to the devs. People can get very creative when it comes to that.

5. Yeah, hope workshop support comes soon.

6. A lot of the customization does indeed feel a bit lackluster and I also think that the amount of tokens is way too high in regard to the earning rate for most items.

7. Yep

last edited by MeFirst

@pacalis

n1. I'm not surprised that a ranking structure would encourage people to cheat/hack a game in order to boost what is ultimately just a useless number beside a players name in the scoreboard. But that same structure (also surprisingly) instills a feeling of progression from players. So even though it creates that incentive to cheat to get to the top, I'm sure there would be other more influential reasons behind skript kiddies cheating in the game. I would play more community servers if they were more populated and if that useless number beside my name would follow me there, haha. Currently the lack of the rank system seems to "fracture" the community and push people away from the community servers.

n2 and 3. I agree that map size has quite the effect on how the wave system is implemented. Perhaps if an identical spawning system to RO was implemented dying would be less meaningful. One of the reasons why I brought it up was due to a recurring situation. X players are dead on a defending team but the number is below the amount required to initiate a spawn countdown. The defending team is mostly wiped out quickly and attackers begin to take the point but due to the late spawn count down (and poor teammates not getting on the obj), there will be no counter attack from the defending team. This is likely a bit of a niche scenario but I find it happens frequently with a team that is not communicating or playing for the obj. Though perhaps its a fitting punishment for the lack of team coordination.

n6. But what about camo patterns on the security side? Do they not give an advantage? I was speaking specifically to the insurgent force cosmetics and their lack of more "serious" cosmetics.

Thanks for your reply!

@mefirst

  1. You're correct, they're looking into ways they can verify a server is running the same settings the current IO servers are.
    I think in the mean time, I'd be cool of them to just throw up a few of their servers in the browser. Maybe they could implement a system where players are given the option to party up via a button press after a match ends for easy queuing? I've seen that system in another game before, can't remember the name.

  2. Yeah, I think it would just be a minor QOL improvement. Helps it feel like a bit less of a punishment for helping your team take an objective. A death card would be neat on death though.

  3. I agree that a ticket spawning system may break up the teamwork of a wave system. As I mentioned in my reply to Pacalis, with the current system it can make it difficult for defenders to counter attack an attacking teams push. But perhaps, this isn't quite an issue.

Thanks for the reply.

@insanelyorange i agree. also yeah, i hate that i can't make my insurgents look like actual militants, most real footage nowadays shows geared men.

In terms of visuals, the thing I find really irritating is the representation of how much gear you have. You need a rucksack to carry 2 40mm rounds, apparently.

@InsanelyOrange
Could be Overwatch. That game has a stay together option after you played a match. The team members can vote and the people that vote yes stay together. On a technical level this would complicate matchmaking for NWI though. If you do it in Overwatch the game will try find a equally sized group with the same skill level as your opponent for the next match. I am not sure if the current matchmaking takes being grouped up into account.

@Jarv
Ha ha yeah! It often looks like characters are carrying stuff for a 5 day long camping trip in their backpacks.