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PoweredBySoy
2[H]4U
- Joined
- Nov 14, 2005
- Messages
- 2,243
Wow! Arena mode is very fun, and it has rejuvenated my interest in the game for now. It seems much more of a skill-based game now - where you always feel like the kills you get, or even just the damage you do (no health packs), all brings your team that much closer to the win. The 1v1 encounters don't seem so pointless anymore, which makes the game much more exciting.
After playing arena all weekend, I joined up in a Dustbowl match last night, and was immediately bored and frustrated. The 'old' game is still just about which team can successfully charge up ubers to overcome the multiple level-3 SG's that are inevitably guarding the CP. If you play any other class, even if you get on a nice kill streak, it does little to help your team move forward if they're clueless. Everyone just respawns and the cycle continues.
In arena, because of the smaller maps and the lack of respawn, if you're good, you can feel very useful.
The teams are usually smaller in size. Most servers have it at around 6v6 to 9v9. The sever will also fluctuate team size to accommodate how many people are in the sever. But the bad part is it always seems to be be swapping random players around - and I have yet to figure out the logic. So if you're currently on a good team - careful, you could be on the other team the next round. Also, if the server gets full enough, some people from the losing team may have to sit out a round. Most rounds only last a few minutes. None of this is really an issue though. After awhile you just accept that teams get mixed around a lot and you just go out and try to fight the good fight every round.
Engineers are more difficult to play now, as the spawn points are very close together and it's hard for him to get those SG's up. I wouldn't say the Eng is worthless - but they need to be much more careful (and skillful) to build (and protect) their SG's.
Scouts are much more powerful and fun. I suppose mainly because SG's are more rare now, but also because a Scout is a strong 1v1 class, and a lot of the battles in arena are skill-based, mano e mano fights.....
Snipers are as worthless as they've always been, imo. Perhaps even a tad bit more worthless, as the arena maps are smaller with less wide-open space.
All the other classes play about the same. Unfortunately Valve continues to update these classes piecemeal - which creates some nasty balance issues.
Arena! ROR!!
After playing arena all weekend, I joined up in a Dustbowl match last night, and was immediately bored and frustrated. The 'old' game is still just about which team can successfully charge up ubers to overcome the multiple level-3 SG's that are inevitably guarding the CP. If you play any other class, even if you get on a nice kill streak, it does little to help your team move forward if they're clueless. Everyone just respawns and the cycle continues.
In arena, because of the smaller maps and the lack of respawn, if you're good, you can feel very useful.
The teams are usually smaller in size. Most servers have it at around 6v6 to 9v9. The sever will also fluctuate team size to accommodate how many people are in the sever. But the bad part is it always seems to be be swapping random players around - and I have yet to figure out the logic. So if you're currently on a good team - careful, you could be on the other team the next round. Also, if the server gets full enough, some people from the losing team may have to sit out a round. Most rounds only last a few minutes. None of this is really an issue though. After awhile you just accept that teams get mixed around a lot and you just go out and try to fight the good fight every round.
Engineers are more difficult to play now, as the spawn points are very close together and it's hard for him to get those SG's up. I wouldn't say the Eng is worthless - but they need to be much more careful (and skillful) to build (and protect) their SG's.
Scouts are much more powerful and fun. I suppose mainly because SG's are more rare now, but also because a Scout is a strong 1v1 class, and a lot of the battles in arena are skill-based, mano e mano fights.....
Snipers are as worthless as they've always been, imo. Perhaps even a tad bit more worthless, as the arena maps are smaller with less wide-open space.
All the other classes play about the same. Unfortunately Valve continues to update these classes piecemeal - which creates some nasty balance issues.
Arena! ROR!!
