My reaction to the release

[Omega9]

*droool gibber gibber droooollllllll*

Now that I have that out of my system

Things I loved

• The cloud effects of the poison and napalm grenades - I can see why there is a 6 grenade limit on them - walls of fire and poison could be very effective
  
  Standing up in the sniper room of diamondsword and getting a lensflare effect from an enemy sniper - glad i had the bots skill level down a bit

Things i liked

• The cutter is great - much better than the UT one
  
  The laser guided rockets could become very lethal once you got used to them - btw, is there any limit on how many you can have in the air at once?
  
  ERDW, nice toy - needs a scope, but then I'm a camper at heart when i'm resting
  
  Crossbow, again needs a scope, but it works very nicely as a medium range weapon - haven't been hit by poison yet, but the fire arrows work nicely
  
  sniper, finally a decent sniper rifle for UT2K3 and a decent scope - no more of this interlacing unless you want special features

Things I found distracting

• Crossbow, when using the charge up features it fires when it reaches maximum - I could live with this when firing a single arrow, but wasting my last 5 explosive arrows was annoying
  
  Sniper, delays on hitting a target when using the RPB: eg, I was playing CTF diamond sword, up in the sniper tower and the RPB was taking about 1/4 sec to hit a target halfway across the bridge - In the UT version the RPB was a hitscan weapon, is this still the case? Also, does the normal sniper bullet still ricochet and is it still visible?

In general though, if this is what you call a beta and incomplete version, then I can't wait to see what the full package will be like

[R.Flagg]

*droool gibber gibber droooollllllll*

Thanks man!

The laser guided rockets could become very lethal once you got used to them - btw, is there any limit on how many you can have in the air at once?

Even after some play time, I'm still getting used to them, and yes, they are quite effective when you get some practice. This feature was added very late in the game though, so even we haven't had a whole lot of practice yet.

And no, no limits.

ERDW, nice toy - needs a scope, but then I'm a camper at heart when i'm resting

The scope for the ERDW was debated, and even existed early on, but we decided against it. For a few reasons, one of which was balance. We wanted to be able to reach out and touch someone right through the walls, and the scope just put it over the top.

Crossbow, when using the charge up features it fires when it reaches maximum - I could live with this when firing a single arrow, but wasting my last 5 explosive arrows was annoying

Well, hopefully you will try it for awhile, and find that it's Ok. (hopefully) We did this on purpose, because we felt being able to walk around with 5 arrows fully charged, and ready to fire instantly, was just too much. Especially with 5 explosive arrows loaded. The idea is since it's kinda powerful to use 5 at once, you need to time your effort.

Sniper, delays on hitting a target when using the RPB: eg, I was playing CTF diamond sword, up in the sniper tower and the RPB was taking about 1/4 sec to hit a target halfway across the bridge - In the UT version the RPB was a hitscan weapon, is this still the case? Also, does the normal sniper bullet still ricochet and is it still visible?

Actually, our sniper bullets are not hitscan now, and they were not back in CUT either. But it is true that there is a diferrent 'feel' for this one, and the graphics for the RPB smoke rings weren't quite nailed just yet. But again, this is intentional. Our preference is not for hitscan on this weapon, but for you to lead your target. Try the (scopeless ) ERDW for instant skeletons.

In general though, if this is what you call a beta and incomplete version, then I can't wait to see what the full package will be like

Thank you. On behalf of the guys, thank you very much.

[defalc]

I love the effect on the CUTTER, vortex and grenades. When I first cranked it up I nearly screamed cause I'd juts grabbed the enemy flag and heard about 5 seperate giggles.

Yeah, the RPB bullets don't seem hitscan, confused me at first cause I was used to CUT. But I'm over it, the sniper is a deadly, dealy weapon. Love the lens flare too.

It's almost too easy to escape a vortex if you'r quick - grapple to the closest surface, and keep tapping grapple-up. As long as you're not within the kill range of the vortex, you'll survive. Perhaps something to fix? And killing with the grapple is evil, get in close and spam the button.

I think the ERDW effect is a little less spectacular compared to some of the others.

[Omega9]

I like the ERDW - firing rate could be a bit faster, and more ammo for it, but it makes an effective CQB heavy weapon - especially when you know someone's hiding behind the door

[Swift Viper]

I think the sound effects (As said in the other thread) were nail right on. As for now, I'm not worry about beta 2, just want to get some fun out of this! I have not had this much fun in UT2k3 for a long time. I think the Cutter is better then the Ripper, mainly the sound effects and alt fire, because to me the Ripper did not seem to have much of a point in UT. Once again, I'll have to play it more to get better feedback and what is the different bewteen fire and poison besides effects?

[R.Flagg]

what is the different bewteen fire and poison besides effects?

Great question! And I'm happy to say I have an answer for you.

The poison has a rather nasty feature, in that it creeps right thru your shield! You can be at max shield, and the poison won't touch it.

It gets right thru there, and starts eating away at your health!

[Swift Viper]

Now I get it, the poison attacks the inside of the body while the fire attacks the outside of the body. There is no where you can have a shield inside your body, it only covers the outside of the body. And because of this, does the fire do more damage to make up for the shield it has to burn before making you a cooker for food?

*Runs away with grapple for more action*

[R.Flagg]

does the fire do more damage to make up for the shield it has to burn before making you a cooker for food?

Well, we'd like to know what you think! But I think the fire does enough damage as it is. Try waiting until the attacker is near, and then lay a wall of fire in front of your flag.

Napalm-Spam Defence! Makes them flag carriers easier for your teammates to spot, what with them being on fire and all.

[Swift Viper]

I'll have to play with the poison and fire a little bit longer before any more feedback. I'm not really sure if the flash grenades work, because I had a bot charging at me with the Shield Gun and I kept shooting flash grenades at him, but he kept on coming till I finished him off with a poison grenade. At least the smoke effect on the RPB rounds of the Sniper Rifle does not kill framerates like it did in the UT verison. When I played the swamp map, it seemed like the bots never came to the hill, I just got on and waited till I won. Not sure if it has to do with their skil settings or what, it was on low. I think the max ammo for the ERDW and other grenades should be higher. I think a option to set the max range of the grapple would be nice also, and is there a way to keep the speed your going at when you let go, like shoot it up and go really fast and let go to keep the same speed going upward?

[jeditobe1]

about the ERDW: its one of the most deadly weapons in the game. As far as i know the only 3 that beat it are the super weapons. Why? Try using that secondary fire to hit someone (thats not through a wall). Its double damage... thats about 180 in a hitscan smack to your opponents.

Because its so powerful, it was only given a very few amount of shots. Fully loaded you only get 6 secondary shots.

[jb]

Its double damage... thats about 180 in a hitscan smack to your opponents.

FYI And I am sorry I did not share it with the team, but its not a hit scan. It fires a projectile. Just at a velocity of 20,000 UU/sec. So its faster than you can really see

[Shuri]

lol, keeping secrets, eh?

[jeditobe1]

20000? thats as close as you can get imo.

[jb]

lol, keeping secrets, eh?

Nope its all in the code that you all have

[neolith]

FYI And I am sorry I did not share it with the team

Not true, you did share that info. I did the projectile.