What happened to skill based multiplayer ?
What happened to skill based multiplayer ?
Author
Discussion

LandR

Original Poster:

6,249 posts

277 months

Sunday 8th July 2012
quotequote all
Multiplayer nowadays is all about levelling up, unlocks and perks.

I've been playing a lot of Warhammer 40k Space Marine online lately and when I first started I didn't have a chance, I had no perks and my gun was weak. People would literally walk through my bullets without making any attempt to dodge or anything and then 1 hit me.

It's not so bad now, I went through a lot of 1-10 games and now I can finish most games near the top of the scoreboard but it all feels a bit false when I kill a level 1 guy who I know had no chance against me with my perks to make my gun stronger.

It's the same with COD, it's all about kill streaks and unlocking aircraft attacks and calling in choppers, I mean cmon! It's supposed to be a FPS. What's FPS about clicking a button and a helicopter rolls into the game and shoots a bunch of people for you.

The only game I now really enjoy playing online is Dark Souls, it's the only game I have which actually seems skill based.

What happened ? It didn't used to be like this. I remember playing Quake / Doom2 / Command & Conquer etc on multiplayer and it wasn't about perks and who had played the most to unlock the good weapons / gear. Everyone, whether it was your first time playing or you had played for hours, had the same chance in the game and had access to the same equipment. The best player won.

Maybe it's just a console thing, does the PC still have decent skill based multiplayer ?

pwrc

2,357 posts

175 months

Sunday 8th July 2012
quotequote all
team fortress 2

J5

2,449 posts

209 months

Sunday 8th July 2012
quotequote all
pwrc said:
team fortress 2
Yup, there are weapons you can find/craft, but on the majority of the stock are better biggrin

Agrilla

834 posts

206 months

Sunday 8th July 2012
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There's a multiplayer game called Barebones in COD MW3 where there are no kill streak rewards (ie predator missiles/attack helicopters/ stealth bombers etc) and cycles thru Domination, Kill Confirmed & Team Deathmatch.

flat-planedCrank

3,697 posts

226 months

Sunday 8th July 2012
quotequote all
J5 said:
pwrc said:
team fortress 2
Yup, there are weapons you can find/craft, but on the majority of the stock are better biggrin
And hats, don't forget the hats!

pwrc

2,357 posts

175 months

Sunday 8th July 2012
quotequote all
flat-planedCrank said:
J5 said:
pwrc said:
team fortress 2
Yup, there are weapons you can find/craft, but on the majority of the stock are better biggrin
And hats, don't forget the hats!
the most important component of the game.

Shinobi

5,129 posts

213 months

Sunday 8th July 2012
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Battlefield 3 is where it's at, none of the crappy killstreaks.

Jasandjules

71,996 posts

252 months

Sunday 8th July 2012
quotequote all
On-line gaming is 50% internet speed now.......

ToryJosh

424 posts

190 months

Sunday 8th July 2012
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Halo is pretty skill based. You have same weapons and armour, its how you use them, your surroundings and what you can pick up during the match

Chunkychucky

6,094 posts

192 months

Monday 9th July 2012
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ToryJosh said:
Halo is pretty skill based. You have same weapons and armour, its how you use them, your surroundings and what you can pick up during the match
No.

Checkmate

758 posts

230 months

Monday 9th July 2012
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Counter-Strike Source (or 1.6). Still, in my opinion, of the games I have played, the most player skill oriented game.

davepoth

29,395 posts

222 months

Monday 9th July 2012
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Jasandjules said:
On-line gaming is 50% internet speed now.......
It's always been about speed. Even when I was connecting to MUDs using the 2400baud modem at school...

robmlufc

5,229 posts

209 months

Monday 9th July 2012
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Shinobi said:
Battlefield 3 is where it's at, none of the crappy killstreaks.
If you play a clever game and work in a team you are pretty much unstoppable on BF3.

I used to enjoy IL2 on PC, flight sims are pretty much entirely skilled based. Same with sim racing.

CBR JGWRR

6,577 posts

172 months

Monday 9th July 2012
quotequote all
Unreal Tournment.

No perks, ok, there are alterations, but they affect everyone. Even cheats to get weapons allow other people to get them, as they spawn a weapon spawn point, weapons are spread around the map, rather than unlocked.

As to the skill point, set up an instagib match, 16 player on Oblivion... (the small two player one)

luke111s

847 posts

211 months

Monday 9th July 2012
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DayZthumbup


LandR said:
Command & Conquer
Starcraft 2 thumbup

CypherP

4,425 posts

215 months

Monday 9th July 2012
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Checkmate said:
Counter-Strike Source (or 1.6). Still, in my opinion, of the games I have played, the most player skill oriented game.
And at the time when it was at it's peak, absolutely rammed full of aimbot and wall-hack cheaters. I don't deny this was a good game, but even then, people were trying to defeat the point of actually being good at the game by being able to hack their way through hundreds of servers.

C&C was a brilliant series and still play some of the older titles now. In terms of FPS, Battlefield 3 does everything that I want an FPS to do. No ridiculous kill streaks, nothing in the way of obvious perks that make the levelling system biased to seasoned players. Yes ok, the level ups provide better weapons and attachments, but that comes down to how the player chooses to play and the type of class they choose to use.

Team Fortress is great and has the added bonus of being silly as well, which only adds to the enjoyment in my opinion! I spent quite a while playing Eve as well, which takes some serious playing hours just to be able to get anywhere!

franki68

11,444 posts

244 months

Monday 9th July 2012
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CBR JGWRR said:
Unreal Tournment.

No perks, ok, there are alterations, but they affect everyone. Even cheats to get weapons allow other people to get them, as they spawn a weapon spawn point, weapons are spread around the map, rather than unlocked.

As to the skill point, set up an instagib match, 16 player on Oblivion... (the small two player one)
This ,instagib made it the most skill based game.eveyone is equallly equipped ,purely about aim and dodging.
Unacceptable to the modern gamer though,cod and battlefield made levelling up and learning the maps the priority.
Too often you shoot someone first sticking 7-8 bullets into them,only for them to in some bizarre way get a couple of shots off that kill you.the first cod managed to get close with the rifles only mod,
Accessibility though,cod and the like make it easier for someone with no skill to do well.

pwrc

2,357 posts

175 months

Monday 9th July 2012
quotequote all
CBR JGWRR said:
Unreal Tournment.

No perks, ok, there are alterations, but they affect everyone. Even cheats to get weapons allow other people to get them, as they spawn a weapon spawn point, weapons are spread around the map, rather than unlocked.

As to the skill point, set up an instagib match, 16 player on Oblivion... (the small two player one)
ut99
instagib
dm-deck16

Allaloneatron

3,123 posts

263 months

Monday 9th July 2012
quotequote all
Shinobi said:
Battlefield 3 is where it's at, none of the crappy killstreaks.
yep and the guns you start with about the best or equal with most of the other guns (ok it can take you 10-30 kills to get a good sight but thats not long). The only really time based advantage is in the Vehicles.

Boydie88

3,283 posts

172 months

Monday 9th July 2012
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Battlefield is ok. You still have to earn new stuff, but there isn't as big of a gap between the early guns and late guns like there is in CoD.

Halo has been, in my opinion, the best online FPS since late 2004 when Halo 2 came out. It is simply brilliant. A lot down to skill and a lot down to team work.

Sadly though, it has a VERY steep learning curve. If you haven't played it before, it takes a long time to understand the physics of the game. There's a lot more than just leveling up to your favourite gun and just pointing and shooting.