A (hopefully) Rational View of the new Fan Pack

[Dead Sync]

Hey guys,

I think there's a lot of disagreement over the new features of the free fan pack that just dropped. My goal is to try to put some things into perspective. You might not agree with me, but give me a shot and try to see if this helps understand WHY maybe some decisions were made, and let me know your thoughts.

Yes, I'm going over EVERY topic.

1.) New Elite Ranks - Ok, so the first comment is, "this makes Elites feel less important". I can honestly say that I bet MANY of you have the attitude of: "I don't care about your rank, it's about how good you play that matters" and if you take that attitude, the new ranks shouldn't bother you. If anything, it's nice to know that you have something to look forward to, similar to Prestige from CoD4, and know that ALL players have a good chance of reaching Elite with enough play, so everyone can enjoy the unlocks. Still looking for bragging rights? Try getting that Elite rank up as high as you can, a Elite 100 will still grab any other elite's attention!

2.) New ACES - Similar to Topic 1, it's to give people something to look forward to, and help with the rank ups for topic 1. Plus hey, this IS the last Vegas game. If you're a fan of the game, wouldn't you want people to keep playing it to keep the game fun? New ACES/Ranks will do this for us!

3.)Grenade Indicator - Alright, so this is very disputable. I will say that I agree having Ubisoft implement changes WITHOUT getting a larger community feedback first, fails. its failed with Random Respawns, and it's strange to see them make the same move. With that said however, I haven't noticed much change in the game play however. I still get a lot of frag/incendiary kills, and the only time the indicator helps me survive a frag, if I lost track of where it is, and Im fast enough to react, giving the player some sense of direction. It still won't change anyone walking into the frag late, or a well placed frag that is getting someone cornered out. Worst comes to worst, Ubi can patch this later.

4.) Weapons changes - I think these are for the better. I do personally think the FAMAS is a bit over-used, which is disappointing because ALL guns are good, when used properly, and I think this gets people out of the mindset of "oh, I NEED to use a Famas to win". Which is a plus for the game. Sniper Rifles seem to do their job, which is damage at long range. I can't complain if I get hit with a sniper and I fail to kill an enemy with a SMG at long range, it makes sense. LMG Changes/C4 changes seem to be working nicely with no argument from people. Same goes for scoping.

5.) Random Respawn Toggle - This is Ubisoft showing they at least CAN correct their mistakes, which random respawn was one.

6.) Voice Chat Toggle - I think this a good feature to toggle, because either way you play it doesn't DRASTICALLY change the gameplay. And lets hosts choose between tactical/fair play, or friendly casual play. If you can know that both sides of the coin will be happy, I don't think its wise to argue this change.

7.) Score in Deathmatch - No Comment, its good.

8.) Team Leader Default Spawn - No Comment, helps build teamwork, which is good for a game like this, but doesn't force anyone to do anything.

9.) Dead Player Icon - Needed

10.) THunt Spawning - Well...it's getting better.

11.) High Stakes - I think High Stakes is a lot of fun, and again, having the OPTION still doesn't detract from people who don't want to play High Stakes. There will still be plenty regular games. But I personally enjoyed High Stakes, and the change of pace adds replay value. Again, we want this right? Cause Ubi will pay more attention to DLC if the game gets played a lot.

12.) The MAPS
Ok, so this is a biggie. The big concern is: "But these are OLD!". To be optimistic, look at is as, they're free, and think nothing more of it. NEW and more Vegas 1 maps will certainly be welcomed. And I bet they will be mixes of new maps and Vegas 1 maps to satisfy both crowds. I think this DLC is meant to be an appetizer. "WIth DLC's, we can bring back Vegas maps, as well as add new maps" is what they're saying. And despite the lighting being one small change, it changes the gameplay a lot. I've played with a lot of people who like the dark maps.

Again, if you don't like the dark maps, don't play them, and hey, don't be TOO anxious to spend money on new maps..don't worry, they're coming.

So my advice is if you don't like the new update off the bat, give it a chance. For free, it's not bad. granted if I'm paying 5-10 bucks, I certainly want something more, but I'm not in this case.

[Dead Sync]

Hey guys,

I think there's a lot of disagreement over the new features of the free fan pack that just dropped. My goal is to try to put some things into perspective. You might not agree with me, but give me a shot and try to see if this helps understand WHY maybe some decisions were made, and let me know your thoughts.

Yes, I'm going over EVERY topic.

1.) New Elite Ranks - Ok, so the first comment is, "this makes Elites feel less important". I can honestly say that I bet MANY of you have the attitude of: "I don't care about your rank, it's about how good you play that matters" and if you take that attitude, the new ranks shouldn't bother you. If anything, it's nice to know that you have something to look forward to, similar to Prestige from CoD4, and know that ALL players have a good chance of reaching Elite with enough play, so everyone can enjoy the unlocks. Still looking for bragging rights? Try getting that Elite rank up as high as you can, a Elite 100 will still grab any other elite's attention!

2.) New ACES - Similar to Topic 1, it's to give people something to look forward to, and help with the rank ups for topic 1. Plus hey, this IS the last Vegas game. If you're a fan of the game, wouldn't you want people to keep playing it to keep the game fun? New ACES/Ranks will do this for us!

3.)Grenade Indicator - Alright, so this is very disputable. I will say that I agree having Ubisoft implement changes WITHOUT getting a larger community feedback first, fails. its failed with Random Respawns, and it's strange to see them make the same move. With that said however, I haven't noticed much change in the game play however. I still get a lot of frag/incendiary kills, and the only time the indicator helps me survive a frag, if I lost track of where it is, and Im fast enough to react, giving the player some sense of direction. It still won't change anyone walking into the frag late, or a well placed frag that is getting someone cornered out. Worst comes to worst, Ubi can patch this later.

4.) Weapons changes - I think these are for the better. I do personally think the FAMAS is a bit over-used, which is disappointing because ALL guns are good, when used properly, and I think this gets people out of the mindset of "oh, I NEED to use a Famas to win". Which is a plus for the game. Sniper Rifles seem to do their job, which is damage at long range. I can't complain if I get hit with a sniper and I fail to kill an enemy with a SMG at long range, it makes sense. LMG Changes/C4 changes seem to be working nicely with no argument from people. Same goes for scoping.

5.) Random Respawn Toggle - This is Ubisoft showing they at least CAN correct their mistakes, which random respawn was one.

6.) Voice Chat Toggle - I think this a good feature to toggle, because either way you play it doesn't DRASTICALLY change the gameplay. And lets hosts choose between tactical/fair play, or friendly casual play. If you can know that both sides of the coin will be happy, I don't think its wise to argue this change.

7.) Score in Deathmatch - No Comment, its good.

8.) Team Leader Default Spawn - No Comment, helps build teamwork, which is good for a game like this, but doesn't force anyone to do anything.

9.) Dead Player Icon - Needed

10.) THunt Spawning - Well...it's getting better.

11.) High Stakes - I think High Stakes is a lot of fun, and again, having the OPTION still doesn't detract from people who don't want to play High Stakes. There will still be plenty regular games. But I personally enjoyed High Stakes, and the change of pace adds replay value. Again, we want this right? Cause Ubi will pay more attention to DLC if the game gets played a lot.

12.) The MAPS
Ok, so this is a biggie. The big concern is: "But these are OLD!". To be optimistic, look at is as, they're free, and think nothing more of it. NEW and more Vegas 1 maps will certainly be welcomed. And I bet they will be mixes of new maps and Vegas 1 maps to satisfy both crowds. I think this DLC is meant to be an appetizer. "WIth DLC's, we can bring back Vegas maps, as well as add new maps" is what they're saying. And despite the lighting being one small change, it changes the gameplay a lot. I've played with a lot of people who like the dark maps.

Again, if you don't like the dark maps, don't play them, and hey, don't be TOO anxious to spend money on new maps..don't worry, they're coming.

So my advice is if you don't like the new update off the bat, give it a chance. For free, it's not bad. granted if I'm paying 5-10 bucks, I certainly want something more, but I'm not in this case.

[WarHawk722]

I agree with a lot of what you said here.

1) New Elite Ranks - I don't really have much of an opinion about this one. But then again, I've always seen elites as "oh, you've got custom camo..." I tend to respect players that are good although it can be very frustrating with a good player that is hosting. The combo can seem impossible to beat sometimes. At least this gives the current elite players a new goal to reach, even if it's not an original one.

2) New Aces - I always felt that the aces could have been expanded and it's too bad that this update came out this late. That is, after I attained elite a couple weeks ago.

3) Grenade Indicator - I always hear the grenade anyways and know where it is most of the time. It adds to the "arcade" part of the game which some people like and some people hate. It all depends on what type of gamer you are.

4) Weapon Changes - I like that snipers kill at longer ranges now but it's almost pointless with the size of the maps in RSV2. There are very few long range sniper situations that a dead accurate smg/assault rifle/lmg/pistol can't handle just as well. The incendiaries are better balanced now and less hosts are restricting them. I've heard that the recoil has been raised on most guns except the famas, is this true? I would hope not, I hate the french enough already.

5) Random Respawn - It's good that the hosts can choose the option now. It would have been nice if the devs had written an actual respawn script like many other games but at least we have the option now.

6) Voice Chat Toggle - A good option to have.

7) Score in Deathmatch - A nice addition.

8) Team Leader Default Spawn - Doesn't really affect much. I guess it's nice if you don't know how to use the d-pad.

9) Dead Player Icon - Much needed.

10) THunt Spawning - It's still not perfect but at least it's improvement.

11) High Stakes - A real hardcore crowd pleaser. An excellent addition but it could use some work. The controls are laid out for the normal gameplay where cover is more important than aim. The addition of a control option to switch the cover and aim buttons would make gameplay flow a lot smoother. It's nice to see that the game is starting to move to a more tactical style of gameplay but this really should have been an existing option from day one.

12) Maps - Not much to say. UBI didn't bend over backwards for this one. Two old maps with new lighting and one Vegas 1 map with some updated textures. A nice addition and it's free so nothing to complain about. (there are still some corners that you stick out from when covering though)

Overall Opinion: A nice addition and it's all free on top of that. It fixed some issues that existed from the start and also resolved some due to a previous update. It's nice to know that UBI Montreal is trying to win the player's heart back but it may be too little, too late. The update would have had a more solid impact if it were done earlier when the game had a stronger player base. Too many people have given up on this game and aren't even following the updates to notice. The update seems like something that should have come out at least a month ago. It doesn't really offer any groundbreaking gameplay changes for the series. The High Stakes mode is a fantastic attempt to gain the trust back from the hardcore shooter fans that UBI has alienated over the past couple years. Did the update perform its intended effect? Well, not on me. The game has just lost its luster. Everything remains basically the same except for a few fixes and the new gameplay mode. This is probably different for different players and it's really nice for those who are still dedicated fans of the series.

I'd give the update an 8/10. Good PR effort but not enough to keep me from putting another disc in the tray.

[Xo3Instinct]

a dead player icon? if so...don't add it to high stakes http://forums.ubi.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

[WarHawk722]

The dead player icon just shows up in the start menu to show that a player has run out of respawns. It doesn't show up on the HUD.