The Oh So Depressing Tale of BFN and the FOMO!
Well, I suppose this sums up about everything im about to say. 🤭 At this point, about everyone here knows how BFN is, almost arrogantly, preying on the fear of missing out. I thought I would ju...
Forum Discussion
@brady3176 I agree with this topic, BFN was quiet clearly rushed without that much forethought put into it.
The gunplay feels off and there are many bugs that make the game much less enjoyable.
Aswell as that the balance decisions are just weird, they started with high TTK and that made gunfights last way too long and just boring in general. In December they decreased TTK but now we have a new problem, being the lack of fall off. It makes snipers feel really off putting as why on earth should I play captain deadbeard who requires precise accuracy and precision when I can just main all star and play a high hp tank whos shield can easily sandbag his entire team from incoming fire, and has a very powerful no risk high reward primary.
It also makes a lot of characters harder to balance, for an example for the scientist I would've rather they nerfed his sustain (high hps with SHT and warp), and long ranged effectiveness, and aswell as that slightly buff his healing to just below the sunflower. So what did we get? Well his healing was buffed but so was sunflowers, but his support upgrades were also buffed so thats one, but they still didn't nerf his sustain and instead replaced his shotgun with a marshmallow cannon. Now if I were actually balancing I would've made it so scientist does less damage the further away he is (aka fall off) but keep his shotgun to deal high burst because hes suppose to be a hybrid of a damage and a support and that's what hes always been, at founders, at launch, and especially at November.
There are some other things I want to adress, for an example maps are just really bad compared to Gw1 and even Gw2. All TT maps are extremely claustrophobic with the exception of Loggy Acres which has the opposite problem of being too open. Aswell as that it being 8v8 turf benefits attackers much more than defenders considering there isn't as much defenders defending the points.
Next up is spawnables, and even though they've pretty much cut down half the roster of unique spawnables, the meta is still pretty much the same. Punching spawnables are still the worst spawnables in the game, Rocket bots/Pea cannons aswell as electric spawnablesand the stun spawnables are still meta, the only changes for buildables is that dr heals has now fallen from the meta, and explodey bot is ridiculously broken. As for attacking spawnables, the ranged ones are only used to be at the backlines but even then their bodies are too weak for their cost, and the seekers just suck. So the meta for attacking spawnables still remain being infantry, armoured infantry, and healers but then again healers are nowhere near as essential as in Gw2.
Lastly Ops, they pretty much simplified it to its core, the only new thing is elite boss waves which I think are really overrated, as 90% of the elite bosses follow the same formulae (I won't talk about it for the millionth time but if you do want to know it, then just reply to me) I mean they even removed the escape which was one of the best feelings to escape in Gw2 especially on hard difficulties like CRAZY!
The gunplay feels off and there are many bugs that make the game much less enjoyable.
Aswell as that the balance decisions are just weird, they started with high TTK and that made gunfights last way too long and just boring in general. In December they decreased TTK but now we have a new problem, being the lack of fall off. It makes snipers feel really off putting as why on earth should I play captain deadbeard who requires precise accuracy and precision when I can just main all star and play a high hp tank whos shield can easily sandbag his entire team from incoming fire, and has a very powerful no risk high reward primary.
It also makes a lot of characters harder to balance, for an example for the scientist I would've rather they nerfed his sustain (high hps with SHT and warp), and long ranged effectiveness, and aswell as that slightly buff his healing to just below the sunflower. So what did we get? Well his healing was buffed but so was sunflowers, but his support upgrades were also buffed so thats one, but they still didn't nerf his sustain and instead replaced his shotgun with a marshmallow cannon. Now if I were actually balancing I would've made it so scientist does less damage the further away he is (aka fall off) but keep his shotgun to deal high burst because hes suppose to be a hybrid of a damage and a support and that's what hes always been, at founders, at launch, and especially at November.
There are some other things I want to adress, for an example maps are just really bad compared to Gw1 and even Gw2. All TT maps are extremely claustrophobic with the exception of Loggy Acres which has the opposite problem of being too open. Aswell as that it being 8v8 turf benefits attackers much more than defenders considering there isn't as much defenders defending the points.
Next up is spawnables, and even though they've pretty much cut down half the roster of unique spawnables, the meta is still pretty much the same. Punching spawnables are still the worst spawnables in the game, Rocket bots/Pea cannons aswell as electric spawnablesand the stun spawnables are still meta, the only changes for buildables is that dr heals has now fallen from the meta, and explodey bot is ridiculously broken. As for attacking spawnables, the ranged ones are only used to be at the backlines but even then their bodies are too weak for their cost, and the seekers just suck. So the meta for attacking spawnables still remain being infantry, armoured infantry, and healers but then again healers are nowhere near as essential as in Gw2.
Lastly Ops, they pretty much simplified it to its core, the only new thing is elite boss waves which I think are really overrated, as 90% of the elite bosses follow the same formulae (I won't talk about it for the millionth time but if you do want to know it, then just reply to me) I mean they even removed the escape which was one of the best feelings to escape in Gw2 especially on hard difficulties like CRAZY!
I actually have more hours in BfN than GW1 already (338 vs. 313), but I have 2397 in GW2. This isn't a denigration of GW1 but rather the fact that barring Ops it was always PvP and while I love the PvP in these games, I really liked GW2's ability to play against bots and work on quests for a more relaxing experience.
I'm someone who has played a lot of MMOs over the years so none of these games feel grindy to me, but it's important I mention the MMO background as that gives one a different perspective on grind. When Rux was added to GW2 there was a lot of people complaining about the grind in that game. Today's MP games aren't like playing Goldeneye on the N64 or playing some Quake or Doom on a LAN, these levels, timed rewards, and other things are in the game to encourage people to keep playing. They're a mix of a treadmill and incentives. If the treadmill is too dull or onerous, people will quit (this is why I don't play the Diablo 3 seasons, onerous and dull is an understatement), finding that balance where we feel progress and want to keep playing, and of course, spending more money is a part of the 'games as a service' model.
I'm not done on this month's prize map yet but all I need is the Engineer costume (20 bulbs exactly as I just got the Nightcap hat) but it hasn't felt grindy as far as XP because of the change to 5k (a much needed change). Even though I lost a little over a day (3+ bulbs depending on how much I play), I just play and get the bulbs. I think the prize maps are overall decent. I would like to see more choices in the challenges (like randomly roll 4, but we choose 2 of those 4 per day and then can reroll at least 1 as one example), more choices in character challenges (as too many people all on the same character challenges can be annoying in PvP matches) and more rainbow stars in the map and the weekly challenges, but the prize map is superior to the battle pass in Paladins (the only battle pass I've really worked with) and the feeling that I keep getting bulbs mostly for just playing and helping friends get PvE stuff done (I love the free roam zones), is great and I earned several yesterday helping a friend get town center done.
I've already bought some rainbow stars as I said before and don't regret it as even with the game's problems I want to support it and see how it shapes out in future, but I do wish we would know when things rotate through the store and the prices were lower and/or we got more stars. Some people don't care about this stuff as much as others as made evident by posts here but many do as made evident by not only this game but others that do this as well. If they didn't, the games wouldn't have this stuff in the first place. They're in the game to make additional revenue and FOMO is a real thing as can be seen in almost any MP like this and how they sell cosmetics for real money for limited time items. The idea of FOMO would dissipate if we knew when things were rotating into stock and if we had more stuff in the reward-o-tron. Pretty much everything Rux sells feels no better than anything in the prize map or the reward-o-tron, barring the time gated element.
- @Iron_Guard8 Some sort of information about the rotation of Rux items would really help things, as you've said.
My next "most wanted" is that they adjust the weekly event challenges to make sure those few stars can be earned painlessly, with challenges that don't significantly alter game tactics or encourage players to swap to a certain side.
Given that the Rux items aren't easily available other than by actual cash purchases, I would love for unearned prize map customisations to go into Reward-O-Tron, for players who don't have as much time to devote to the prize maps. It would also provide something to do with the excess coins . . . .
