Has anyone had time to play this? Could you express your opinions on this game? I'm undecided between buying this or MAG on PS3. Is it really an MMOFPS?
Global Agenda
- Thread starter FerraraZ
- Start date
SunnyD
Belgian Waffler
No, it's not really an MMOFPS. It's the same as every other current "MMOFPS" out there (save Planetside) which is actually a hybrid MMO "lobby" system / instanced FPS shooter game. Same as CrimeCraft and Huxley.
GA has mentioned that it's subscription world will be persistent, with possibly some "large-scale" maps (read 30-100 people range), but other than that it's Tribes mated with Guildwars.
GA has mentioned that it's subscription world will be persistent, with possibly some "large-scale" maps (read 30-100 people range), but other than that it's Tribes mated with Guildwars.
skulkingghost
Golden Member
- Jan 4, 2006
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skulkingghost
Golden Member
- Jan 4, 2006
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Here is my rundown:
One sentance:
Its like champions online, tabula rasa, and team fortress 2 had a baby. Does that make it good? Read on.
Spoiler Alert: I asked for a refund, not because its a horrible game I just don't enjoy that type of game.
Classes:
Medic - Did not get a chance to play this
Recon - A sniper class, with lag issues and some draw issues this was a hard class to score any points on, however if you equip it with an assault rifle you move fast.
Assault - A lot of fun with a heavy machine gun, and can have a melee and sniper rifle, but I see no point using either as you will be mowed down by quicker classes.
Engineer - A lot of fun, you get to build turrets, and as you climb the skills unlock new types of turrets (something I wish tf2 had)
Overall Gameplay:
I could not really get into it, as I believe when I am playing a shooter if I get a headshot thats a headshot they should die. Instead it played a bit like borderlands meets champions online PVP. Basically each player has a health bar above their head, when you shoot them it goes down and the amount of damage inflicted pops up over their head. Its a neat system to see enemy health remaining, but it was also frustrating as it seems that the hit detection is almost nonexistant as a headshot did little more damage than a body shot, unless you used a sniper rifle.
Also the game feels a bit slow at first till you get your first jetpack upgrade. Honestly I think the first upgrade should be the default as your characters do not navigate the maps well without it.
ALSO IMPORTANT TO NOTE:
You can not fire your jetpack and shoot or even have a weapon equipped at the same time, which gets completely rid of the Tribes like gameplay they were going for. Also switching between jetpack, weapons, even grenades all take up the "space" so its not easy to switch back and forth unless you remember the number bind.
Overall the game was a bit too slow, and a bit too much like an mmo's pvp rather than a shooter to get me interested. However if you are a big fan of games like borderlands and tabula rasa I could see you liking it.
One sentance:
Its like champions online, tabula rasa, and team fortress 2 had a baby. Does that make it good? Read on.
Spoiler Alert: I asked for a refund, not because its a horrible game I just don't enjoy that type of game.
Classes:
Medic - Did not get a chance to play this
Recon - A sniper class, with lag issues and some draw issues this was a hard class to score any points on, however if you equip it with an assault rifle you move fast.
Assault - A lot of fun with a heavy machine gun, and can have a melee and sniper rifle, but I see no point using either as you will be mowed down by quicker classes.
Engineer - A lot of fun, you get to build turrets, and as you climb the skills unlock new types of turrets (something I wish tf2 had)
Overall Gameplay:
I could not really get into it, as I believe when I am playing a shooter if I get a headshot thats a headshot they should die. Instead it played a bit like borderlands meets champions online PVP. Basically each player has a health bar above their head, when you shoot them it goes down and the amount of damage inflicted pops up over their head. Its a neat system to see enemy health remaining, but it was also frustrating as it seems that the hit detection is almost nonexistant as a headshot did little more damage than a body shot, unless you used a sniper rifle.
Also the game feels a bit slow at first till you get your first jetpack upgrade. Honestly I think the first upgrade should be the default as your characters do not navigate the maps well without it.
ALSO IMPORTANT TO NOTE:
You can not fire your jetpack and shoot or even have a weapon equipped at the same time, which gets completely rid of the Tribes like gameplay they were going for. Also switching between jetpack, weapons, even grenades all take up the "space" so its not easy to switch back and forth unless you remember the number bind.
Overall the game was a bit too slow, and a bit too much like an mmo's pvp rather than a shooter to get me interested. However if you are a big fan of games like borderlands and tabula rasa I could see you liking it.
xCxStylex
Senior member
- Apr 6, 2003
- 710
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- 0
ugh. I just found out about this game. looks cool and like something id play (tf2/guildwars/tribes mix).
If anyone is diong the 4 pack, lemme know! Otherwise, im about to buy it after work today 6pm PST
Back when I was in beta, I leveled all classes to 20 (limit at the time, don't know what cap is for release).
Each level opened up allowable skills to purchase. This allowed a lot of customization of your class depending on what you liked to do.
For example, a robotics (that's what they were called in beta, not engineer) could specialize in flying and could remote kill anything or they could be turret specialist which were deadly at choke points.
The assault could specialize in the chain gun and shields to make them a walking death machine, especially if they were paired with a medic.
The only thing that really bothered me was the recon class ability to stack melee and speed. They could literally 2-3 shot any class and because they specced speed, all they had to do was strafe around and they would never get hit. In beta, this was the overpowered solo spec.
I stopped playing when they were testing the massive 80v80 and 100v100 battles. The game servers crashed every time so I personally never had a taste before I decided to stop.
Each level opened up allowable skills to purchase. This allowed a lot of customization of your class depending on what you liked to do.
For example, a robotics (that's what they were called in beta, not engineer) could specialize in flying and could remote kill anything or they could be turret specialist which were deadly at choke points.
The assault could specialize in the chain gun and shields to make them a walking death machine, especially if they were paired with a medic.
The only thing that really bothered me was the recon class ability to stack melee and speed. They could literally 2-3 shot any class and because they specced speed, all they had to do was strafe around and they would never get hit. In beta, this was the overpowered solo spec.
I stopped playing when they were testing the massive 80v80 and 100v100 battles. The game servers crashed every time so I personally never had a taste before I decided to stop.
skulkingghost
Golden Member
- Jan 4, 2006
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@xcxstylex I played assault for about 2 hours, recon for about 40 minutes (enough to play 4 different maps), and engineer I probably spent around 2 hours playing with too.
I did not like borderlands, I did enjoy tabula rasa but the game was ended so quickly it was unfortunate.
I would urge you to try global agenda and you have until sunday to request for a refund on steam (they refund unreleased games) if you do not like it.
I did not like borderlands, I did enjoy tabula rasa but the game was ended so quickly it was unfortunate.
I would urge you to try global agenda and you have until sunday to request for a refund on steam (they refund unreleased games) if you do not like it.
xCxStylex
Senior member
- Apr 6, 2003
- 710
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OMG!!! This game is AWESOME!
It's really more of a TF2 class based shooter than anything else. Think of guild wars style game play but a class based shooter (tribes/TF2).
This really isn't like tabula rasa nor borderlands at all to me aside from that Global Agenda has some MMO aspects.
I only ran 3 pve missions ,but they were very short and simple.
The PVP has TF2CP (capture point), UT domination, and dual capture the flag modes. So far, I love this. Friends and I are going to be paying for the MMO part of it, where I believe you take a 10 man raid to PVP with other 10 man guilds for "conquest" and defense of static territories.
In PVE, the only loot is for crafting parts, which you can use for slight upgrades. Otherwise, non subscribers have access to the same weapons/items as non subscribers, think of Tribes and TF2 where you can change your gear set (but not class) each time you spawn. You can respec your talents for free anytime in town (basically, outside of a PVE or PVP mission).
Giving this a 9/10 so far after having played 8 hrs of medic class today. Definitely worth my $$$ and the subscriber fee, at least for a few months
It's really more of a TF2 class based shooter than anything else. Think of guild wars style game play but a class based shooter (tribes/TF2).
This really isn't like tabula rasa nor borderlands at all to me aside from that Global Agenda has some MMO aspects.
I only ran 3 pve missions ,but they were very short and simple.
The PVP has TF2CP (capture point), UT domination, and dual capture the flag modes. So far, I love this. Friends and I are going to be paying for the MMO part of it, where I believe you take a 10 man raid to PVP with other 10 man guilds for "conquest" and defense of static territories.
In PVE, the only loot is for crafting parts, which you can use for slight upgrades. Otherwise, non subscribers have access to the same weapons/items as non subscribers, think of Tribes and TF2 where you can change your gear set (but not class) each time you spawn. You can respec your talents for free anytime in town (basically, outside of a PVE or PVP mission).
Giving this a 9/10 so far after having played 8 hrs of medic class today. Definitely worth my $$$ and the subscriber fee, at least for a few months
KMFJD
Lifer
- Aug 11, 2005
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skulkingghost
Golden Member
- Jan 4, 2006
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Steam offers a rebate up till sunday before the game is released, as long as it is still in beta.
SunnyD
Belgian Waffler
I would, but I'm not paying $50 + subscription for what amounts to Tribes. The limited persistence feature is nice, but not $12.99/month nice. I was hoping for something a little less instanced and a little more Planetside-like.
Magusigne
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- Nov 21, 2007
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xCxStylex
Senior member
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You don't have the pay the subscription 
It's basically $45 for a TF2/tribes game, which is how I've been selling it to my friends >
While I'll be paying the subscription for at least a month or two to check out the persistent world PVP, the subscriber content is largely for people that will be looking to participate with active guilds/clans.
To me, hopefully the control of and fighting for "areas" or whatever they are will be semi competitive.
It's basically $45 for a TF2/tribes game, which is how I've been selling it to my friends >While I'll be paying the subscription for at least a month or two to check out the persistent world PVP, the subscriber content is largely for people that will be looking to participate with active guilds/clans.
To me, hopefully the control of and fighting for "areas" or whatever they are will be semi competitive.
SunnyD
Belgian Waffler
IMHO, AvA is what the draw of this game is about. Without it, it's just another shooter, a Tribes wanna-be.You don't have the pay the subscription
While I'll be paying the subscription for at least a month or two to check out the persistent world PVP, the subscriber content is largely for people that will be looking to participate with active guilds/clans.
To me, hopefully the control of and fighting for "areas" or whatever they are will be semi competitive.
HumblePie
Lifer
- Oct 30, 2000
- 14,667
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Hopefully this isn't to dead a thread since I started playing this about a couple weeks ago. I got a few people playing with me so we are having quite a bit of fun. I'll give a run down as I got most of the classes to up to level 20 now, although the cap is level 50. I've done PVE up to high security missions, and a lot of PVP. I'll give a little guide to anyone just starting out or already playing a looking for tips.
The game is a FPS with a sprinkling of MMO-ish added to it. There are 4 classes, as already noted above. The classes are the Assault class, Engineer (was called Robotics in beta so many still call them Robos), Medic, and Recon. The general descriptions of each class given above more than amply describes the basics of each class. I'll give a more thorough explanation in a bit on some of the combat strategies for each class.
There are several things I'll point out here that took me awhile to learn though which I hear as questions over and over.
Always do the beginning tutorial for your first character. This is a nice introductions and takes about 15 minutes or so to get through it. After doing it once, no need to repeat it so skip it for any additional character you make. Even if you skip, you ALWAYS start out at level 5 whether you do the tutorial or not.
The game consist of 3 aspects: PvE, PvP, and AvA (alliance vs alliance). I have not done AvA so I can not comment on it, but I will give ample coverage to the other two aspects. Once out of the tutorial you'll be able to explore dome city and pick which aspect you would like to try, baring AvA unless you are in an Agency that is part of an Alliance. The more you do PvE missions or PvP, the faster you level.
On leveling, you gain a new "talent tree" or "skill" point every even level starting from level 6. It is highly recommended you place your first two talent points in the "Balanced Tree" that all classes have. One point for 50% jet pack energy usage reduction and one point for a power pool increase of 40%. After level 8, feel free to spend your points how you want. Most of the odd levels from level 7 and on give you access to a new and more powerful class abilities. As you level, with more talent points and class abilities your character grows stronger.
Also as you level you gain access to new "armor" which is only cosmetic. The only things that affect your character from leveling are new talent points, new abilities, crafted items that add a minimal enhancement, and your combat rating.
Speaking of the combat rating, it is a five start system. Only 3 stars are performance based. The other two are given at level 30. So prior to level 30 the highest amount of stars that can be obtained is 3. Stars affect vendor prices marginally, but more importantly affect how you are "grouped" in pvp. In an attempt to keep things balanced and fair in this game, PVP matches consist of 10 people per team. However, you can get 10 people together of really good players and pub stomp random newbs. You can only get 4 people together at max and the other 6 are assigned by the system. The system assigns players to teams based on their combat rating and their win/loss ratio. Combat ratings increase slowly by winning PvE matches or much quicker by winning PvP matches. However, the higher you rating, the more likely the system is going to match you up with some complete boobs when you play. The game is designed this way so no one person can have a 100% win ratio. You WILL lose some. Get used to it.
PvE missions are broken into 5 "levels" of play: Easy, Medium, Hard, Maximum, and Double Agent. Every PvE mission gives out an experience reward. Even failure is rewarded, but it is significantly lesser than completion. You only earn credits for PvE missions so long as your group doesn't go beyond the team death limit and completes the mission in time. All missions PvE and PvP have a 15 minute time limit to complete. PvE missions are the only way to gain components for crafting items in the game. The money and exp rewards for PvE are not as high as they are for PvP missions.
Easy missions are just that, easy. The maps are small, there are no mini bosses, and there is a fairly simple boss at the end. You group is limited to 4 deaths per mission map before losing the money bonus. The bosses are the Helot, Alchemist, and Assassin. They all have different abilities and typically have about 10,000 ish hitpoints.
Medium missions add a few more longer maps that the easy one don't have. The enemies are slightly more numerous. The big noticeable difference is that the bosses from the Easy missions are now mini bosses here and there is a much bigger boss at the end. On a typical map, you'll run into about 4 to 6 mini bosses to fight. Usually they are spaced out enough to make them somewhat simple to take down. Sometimes they aren't spaced out so be careful. Medium maps take slightly more group coordination and a better balanced group. Having a medic or engineer with a healing station is much more essential. You have 4 team deaths like easy missions. The bosses here have around 35,000 hitpoints. If you plan on trying higher than medium missions, get used to good group coordination because the next tier requires it. Speaking of which..
Hard missions are just that, HARD. While you can start trying them as early as level 12, I suggest waiting until level 20 until trying with a good group. You'll need the better abilities you gain as you level to complete a hard mission. Why? First off, there are new and longer maps. The are a LOT more of the regular enemies. The bosses of the Easy missions: Helot, Alchemist, and Assassin; are much more common and typically are found in pairs or triples together. Some of the medium bosses are now mini bosses. There are more enemy healing drones. Also, there are a couple new harder mini bosses call the Black Widower and Support Foreman. These guys have much more health than the Medium mission bosses and dish out more damage. They also have added special abilites like sucking you to them. As if that wasn't enough, the hard level bosses are HARD. They all have around 100,000 hitpoints to punch through. They all summon over time aid of other lesser NPCs from the common ones to any of the minibosses on the level. Fighting one main boss is hard enough, but one main boss, 3 to 6 mini bosses and 6 to 8 regular npcs with healing drones all at once in a tiny room takes the best team coordination. On top of that each boss fights differently and your teams tactics require extreme coordination. This is because some bosses suck you to them, others create barriers, and others just blast out massive AoEs. Luckily you get 6 team deaths here. The other big problem with High missions is the size of the maps. If you have a team wipe, chances of beating the mission by the 15 minute timer is going to be rough.
I have not done Maximum missions yet, but going off what I've seen of High missions I'm not about to try one until level 30. High missions are tough enough!
While I haven't also tried Double Agent missions, I've read about them. Double agent is interesting because you go in as a 6 man and two of the team mates are assigned as double agents. You do a High level Mission as normal, but at the end boss, the two double agents become the bosses!
Now for the game play tactics of the classes.
Playing the Assault class.
PvE. Your job is to dish out and take damage. It is plain and simple for anyone playing this class. However, the nuances with this class always get people. While the assault class is "slightly" better at taking punishment than other classes, it is not unstoppable by any stretch of the imagination. First off, to begin with all classes have 2210 health, and the same defense. What sets the assault class apart defensively is that it can use offhand skills that makes it immune to damage types for a limited time frame. Then the class has to wait for the timers to recycle before using those skills again. In the meantime, while waiting for cooldowns to expire, you are just about as vulnerable as any other class. Not that the Assault classes doesn't have some extra protection if they spend the right talent points, but that protection is marginally better than other classes. I'm making this statement because all to often I see players of the Assault class rush in head first every time. This is NOT the thing to do in PvE at least.
A good Assault class assault class player in PvE knows where his healing is coming from, either a medic or engineer healing station, and adjust play accordingly. A good player recognizes the natural choke points the maps typically have and realizes at those points the maps will throw bigger, badder NPCs at your group. Rushing in head first is a good way to die and most likely kill your group. Best to let the engineer setup deploy-ables and let the recon in the group check out what is behind the corner first. Once you are already, by all means do what assault does best and ASSAULT! As for weapon choices, either the minigun or the rocket launcher are great for PvE. The grenade launcher is not as useful in PvE as it is in PvP. Which brings us to using an assault in PvP.
Playing an assault in PvP is slightly different than PvE. First off, most PvP is based on getting to a spot and holding it. Being a lone wolf as an Assault class is a one way ticket to the respawn point. Stick with your medics and other assaults. Move from point to point taking it or holding points against on coming players. Always be on the move and pay attention to your surroundings by looking for turrets from enemy engineers and explosives from recons. The minigun and the grenade launcher work best for the assault class in PvP in my opinion. The grenade launcher can kill a single person with a full volley launch if it all hits just like a Ballista NPC in the PvE missions. You can also bounce the grenades around corners. Speaking of which, the assault class has grenades they can throw or use spider mines which track players. These are useful together when you are coming upon a point you know other players are guarding. You toss a whole bunch of AoE explosives in an area and either they notice and run, or they take a lot of damage before you jump onto the point. With judicial use of your personal shields and a couple of healers, can be nigh un-killable in PvP. Which is a point to note. When you are attacking another group of players with medics, killing the non medics does no good. You won't be able to kill them. Go for the medics and heal stations nearby first. Then go for turrets engineers as they actually can out DPS most of the classes. Finally take down everything else.
Playing the Medic Class.
Like the assault class, your job is plain and simple. Keeping everyone else alive. You can do this with a continuous beam that has limited range, fast healing, and drains your energy fast, or with a HoT that has more range, lesser healing, but lesser energy drain. In PvE, chances are as medic you will only focus on healing, especially on the harder missions. Luckily, healing in this game doesn't draw that much agro. If you are at the back of the group, chances are you'll only take damage from stray fire that misses those in front of you. Also, in missions, you will rarely be able to out heal the damage npcs are dishing out to your group. Hopefully your group recognizes this and every so often takes cover and fires from behind cover when they can.
In PvP medics can be the tried and true healers they are in PvE, or they can go a different route and be something really feared in the battle field. A poison medic. If you spend your talent points on poison instead of healing, as a medic you can dish out some serious damage. True, your range will never be as good as other classes, but most of the fun action is up close and personal any ways. One on one a poison medic has the edge on almost every other class. Their use of poison grenades, poison "waves" and their high dps poison gun can wipe out even groups of other players. The only downside to playing a poison medic is your healing stinks and you won't be able to effectively heal yourself. Oh the irony! To note though, I still wouldn't suggest going totally lone wolf as a poison medic to often. First off, being exposed solo makes recon snipers focus on you. Why? Because if you get close enough to a recon running around on the fringe of the battle, a poison wave can and will kill them. If you know the general area of where a recon is, the poison wave has a huge AoE diameter and chances are it will nail them.
While playing in PvP though as medic class, be aware that you will be a priorty target for the other team. On a side note, a couple of medics with the healing beam that heals themselves all healing each other is damn near impossible to kill. This has been called many times circle jerking as multiple medics with stand upon a capture point all healing each other continuously. If done right, it would take the focused fire power of nearly the entire other team to take down a group of medics doing this. Your only bane when doing this is stun grenades as this will stop the healing beams long enough to be brought down. So always be on the watch for those.
Playing the Engineer Class.
This class is truly the support class of the game. A good engineer can make or break a team in PvE or PvP. They are essential for high level PvE missions, and for winning most PvP matches.
In PvE, a good engineer adds both offense, healing, and defense for the entire team. The turrets they deploy can out dps any class while they are firing. The force fields and barriers they have protect your team from an onslaught of damage by providing temporary cover. To be a good engineer in PvE, you need to know the maps. You need to know what's coming around the next corner of the map. Listen to the recon and know when to setup. Also, a little intuition goes a long way. A good engineer recognizes the map choke points and uses them to his advantage instead of letting the NPCs use it. Learn to maximize the field of fire for your turrets and place back up stations like healing stations behind cover where they won't be blown away. Know that your turrets will draw fire from NPCs so be ready to repair them as they take damage. However, a bad engineer doesn't know the good places to use his deploy-ables, and places them haphazardly. This can actually break your team as teams tend to form up around your deploy-ables to fight. If you position things in bad places or out in the open, you'll find your team will soon die or scatter as the position you put down your toys was not defensible. Also, smart setups for bosses is a must. On High level missions, with out a good engineer, the team most likely won't have the DPS it needs to take down the boss. Also, if there is another engineer on the team, coordinate with each other. Layering deploy-ables can add up to a devastating effect if done correctly.
In PvP, engineers are great again. They shine at defending points of access. Placing turrets at the most advantageous spots that overlook choke points or capture points will play havoc with the other team. It's even better if you stick with the other engineers and each provide support for each deploy-able. Why? You'll soon learn to realize the biggest bane and headache for engineers in PvP are recons. One thing recons do and do well is sneak up on your deploy-ables and take them out from behind their field of fire. Which is why engineers get access to stealth scanners that reveal recons. But taking a scanner means not taking something else like a health station. So a recon will take YOU out first and then worry about your toys if you are using a stealth scanner. By overlapping deploy-ables with another engineer, you can have one of everything you need to stay alive, keep your toys up, and wreak destruction on the opposing team. However, there is one more headache on the battle field for Engies. That would be the offensive Engy! Not only are recons good at taking down engineers and their toys, but so are other engineers as most also know all the choke points on a map. The problem with toys, is they are all right next to each other, so a shotgun hits everything for maximum effect. On top of that drones are usually designed to take out deploy-ables and do more damage to them. Always have your head on a swivel as an engineer as the class is typically stationary on a map more so than other classes as they need to defend the toys they put down. On last tactic engineers can do though is helping capture points. The force fields they have access to can give the medics and assault classes a much needed respite from incoming fire while they are capturing. Same with the healing stations. While you won't get many kills helping capture points, you can turn the tide of battle and your team can win the match.
Last but not least. Playing the Recon.
In PvE recons are useful, but unfortunately, not as needed as the other 3 classes. Their main support comes from being able to scout an area with stealth and tell the team what to expect ahead of them. Their second big asset to a team is their AoE bombs and grenades. When the NPCs pack up nice and tight, dropping a well placed bomb can wipe them out. One more trick up a recons sleeve is their decoy ability. This is actually very useful against mini bosses and bosses as it gives the bosses something else to shoot at. This is good to give your teams engineer the few seconds he needs to setup his toys. Beyond that, the recons job is to shoot and stay alive. You'll find that you will drop dead fast if focused upon, and the healers typically heal you secondary to anyone else on the team. Which is fine as recons have escape mechanisms that other members don't have. But if you don't have an escape ready when you are fired upon, you are going to die very very fast. Luckily in PvE, the NPCs don't move around too much and they have bigger hit boxes so sniping from the back is very easy to do for considerable DPS support for your team. Beware, a good assault or engineer can and usually does contribute more damage to a mission than a recon. If the recon is doing the most damage, then the other classes aren't doing their jobs right.
In PvP, a recon shines a bit more. Taking out enemy turrets and toys are a primary job and can turn the tide of battle in your teams favor. This includes taking out enemy beacons. Taking out other recons that are sitting in prime sniping positions are another job, as they are more than likely trying to take out you as well. One important thing to remember is that when you take damage in almost all cases, if you try to go into stealth mode, you will show as red shadow to the other team for a few seconds depending upon the damage you took. The only exception is damage taken from a sniper shot. If you are hit by another sniper, you can still go into stealth mode in an instant. Another way recons rack up kills and help capture points in PvP is by being the second "wave" going after a capture point. When your team is going in to capture a point, let the group of assaults + medics go in first and start fighting any other group standing on and defending the spot while you hide behind cover to not be pinged by stray shots and mess up your stealth. As soon as the battle over the point starts, hit your decoy to add in more confusion and the deliver your satchel bombs. Your bombs only effect enemies and YOU. It won't effect your team mates. However, be aware to get away from your own bombs blast radius in time lest you want to PWN yourself.
As a sniping recon, learn to be on the move and snipe a few shots before moving. Your sniping is LOUD!! It will attract attention of other recons in nearby that may be looking to take you out! Try to snipe priority targets first such as deploy-ables since they don't move and are easy to hit. Also, be aware that sniping moving player is hard as the game uses projectile based hit detection. This means you have to lead your target and correct for things like lag which is hard. One snipe shot will not kill anyone. It typically takes 3 shots for most classes if they have not taken any ranged protection talents and are not being healed.
One last tactic recons have in PvP is helping defend spots with mines. However, mines are easy to spot in the open, so learn to place them around corner and ledges. Also, you can place mines in between boxes and other inanimate objects so they are difficult to spot.
Finally some parting words. The game is fun and is a nice tactical change for FPS with the classes. I like that no classes out shines any other class and they all got strengths and weaknesses. I am looking forward to AvA and Maximum PvE missions.
I will also note, that like any other FPS out there, cheating is still there. There are a variety of hacks such as aim bots, radar that shows where everyone is, and other crap. Go on youtube and do a search for some videos of what people are doing. They are easy to spot at least and luckily Hi-Rez does ban. Their anti-cheat code is non existent though sadly. They do however take FRAPS recordings of players cheating and ban them at least. Playing a recon class it is easy to spot cheaters. First off, if they see you while stealth and you are no where near a stealth detector, they are using a hack. Another thing to note is massive kill ratios especially by other recons. The sniper rifle in this game is powerful, but designed to be clunky to use. Without an aim bot getting consistent kills with it is difficult. Same thing with the Assault classes minigun. It's designed to recoil and be inaccurate. But the aimbot automatically corrects for that and makes sure each shot goes where it counts. Luckily, if you get pissed at the cheating in PVP, the PvE is a fun challenge at least.
The game is a FPS with a sprinkling of MMO-ish added to it. There are 4 classes, as already noted above. The classes are the Assault class, Engineer (was called Robotics in beta so many still call them Robos), Medic, and Recon. The general descriptions of each class given above more than amply describes the basics of each class. I'll give a more thorough explanation in a bit on some of the combat strategies for each class.
There are several things I'll point out here that took me awhile to learn though which I hear as questions over and over.
Always do the beginning tutorial for your first character. This is a nice introductions and takes about 15 minutes or so to get through it. After doing it once, no need to repeat it so skip it for any additional character you make. Even if you skip, you ALWAYS start out at level 5 whether you do the tutorial or not.
The game consist of 3 aspects: PvE, PvP, and AvA (alliance vs alliance). I have not done AvA so I can not comment on it, but I will give ample coverage to the other two aspects. Once out of the tutorial you'll be able to explore dome city and pick which aspect you would like to try, baring AvA unless you are in an Agency that is part of an Alliance. The more you do PvE missions or PvP, the faster you level.
On leveling, you gain a new "talent tree" or "skill" point every even level starting from level 6. It is highly recommended you place your first two talent points in the "Balanced Tree" that all classes have. One point for 50% jet pack energy usage reduction and one point for a power pool increase of 40%. After level 8, feel free to spend your points how you want. Most of the odd levels from level 7 and on give you access to a new and more powerful class abilities. As you level, with more talent points and class abilities your character grows stronger.
Also as you level you gain access to new "armor" which is only cosmetic. The only things that affect your character from leveling are new talent points, new abilities, crafted items that add a minimal enhancement, and your combat rating.
Speaking of the combat rating, it is a five start system. Only 3 stars are performance based. The other two are given at level 30. So prior to level 30 the highest amount of stars that can be obtained is 3. Stars affect vendor prices marginally, but more importantly affect how you are "grouped" in pvp. In an attempt to keep things balanced and fair in this game, PVP matches consist of 10 people per team. However, you can get 10 people together of really good players and pub stomp random newbs. You can only get 4 people together at max and the other 6 are assigned by the system. The system assigns players to teams based on their combat rating and their win/loss ratio. Combat ratings increase slowly by winning PvE matches or much quicker by winning PvP matches. However, the higher you rating, the more likely the system is going to match you up with some complete boobs when you play. The game is designed this way so no one person can have a 100% win ratio. You WILL lose some. Get used to it.
PvE missions are broken into 5 "levels" of play: Easy, Medium, Hard, Maximum, and Double Agent. Every PvE mission gives out an experience reward. Even failure is rewarded, but it is significantly lesser than completion. You only earn credits for PvE missions so long as your group doesn't go beyond the team death limit and completes the mission in time. All missions PvE and PvP have a 15 minute time limit to complete. PvE missions are the only way to gain components for crafting items in the game. The money and exp rewards for PvE are not as high as they are for PvP missions.
Easy missions are just that, easy. The maps are small, there are no mini bosses, and there is a fairly simple boss at the end. You group is limited to 4 deaths per mission map before losing the money bonus. The bosses are the Helot, Alchemist, and Assassin. They all have different abilities and typically have about 10,000 ish hitpoints.
Medium missions add a few more longer maps that the easy one don't have. The enemies are slightly more numerous. The big noticeable difference is that the bosses from the Easy missions are now mini bosses here and there is a much bigger boss at the end. On a typical map, you'll run into about 4 to 6 mini bosses to fight. Usually they are spaced out enough to make them somewhat simple to take down. Sometimes they aren't spaced out so be careful. Medium maps take slightly more group coordination and a better balanced group. Having a medic or engineer with a healing station is much more essential. You have 4 team deaths like easy missions. The bosses here have around 35,000 hitpoints. If you plan on trying higher than medium missions, get used to good group coordination because the next tier requires it. Speaking of which..
Hard missions are just that, HARD. While you can start trying them as early as level 12, I suggest waiting until level 20 until trying with a good group. You'll need the better abilities you gain as you level to complete a hard mission. Why? First off, there are new and longer maps. The are a LOT more of the regular enemies. The bosses of the Easy missions: Helot, Alchemist, and Assassin; are much more common and typically are found in pairs or triples together. Some of the medium bosses are now mini bosses. There are more enemy healing drones. Also, there are a couple new harder mini bosses call the Black Widower and Support Foreman. These guys have much more health than the Medium mission bosses and dish out more damage. They also have added special abilites like sucking you to them. As if that wasn't enough, the hard level bosses are HARD. They all have around 100,000 hitpoints to punch through. They all summon over time aid of other lesser NPCs from the common ones to any of the minibosses on the level. Fighting one main boss is hard enough, but one main boss, 3 to 6 mini bosses and 6 to 8 regular npcs with healing drones all at once in a tiny room takes the best team coordination. On top of that each boss fights differently and your teams tactics require extreme coordination. This is because some bosses suck you to them, others create barriers, and others just blast out massive AoEs. Luckily you get 6 team deaths here. The other big problem with High missions is the size of the maps. If you have a team wipe, chances of beating the mission by the 15 minute timer is going to be rough.
I have not done Maximum missions yet, but going off what I've seen of High missions I'm not about to try one until level 30. High missions are tough enough!
While I haven't also tried Double Agent missions, I've read about them. Double agent is interesting because you go in as a 6 man and two of the team mates are assigned as double agents. You do a High level Mission as normal, but at the end boss, the two double agents become the bosses!
Now for the game play tactics of the classes.
Playing the Assault class.
PvE. Your job is to dish out and take damage. It is plain and simple for anyone playing this class. However, the nuances with this class always get people. While the assault class is "slightly" better at taking punishment than other classes, it is not unstoppable by any stretch of the imagination. First off, to begin with all classes have 2210 health, and the same defense. What sets the assault class apart defensively is that it can use offhand skills that makes it immune to damage types for a limited time frame. Then the class has to wait for the timers to recycle before using those skills again. In the meantime, while waiting for cooldowns to expire, you are just about as vulnerable as any other class. Not that the Assault classes doesn't have some extra protection if they spend the right talent points, but that protection is marginally better than other classes. I'm making this statement because all to often I see players of the Assault class rush in head first every time. This is NOT the thing to do in PvE at least.
A good Assault class assault class player in PvE knows where his healing is coming from, either a medic or engineer healing station, and adjust play accordingly. A good player recognizes the natural choke points the maps typically have and realizes at those points the maps will throw bigger, badder NPCs at your group. Rushing in head first is a good way to die and most likely kill your group. Best to let the engineer setup deploy-ables and let the recon in the group check out what is behind the corner first. Once you are already, by all means do what assault does best and ASSAULT! As for weapon choices, either the minigun or the rocket launcher are great for PvE. The grenade launcher is not as useful in PvE as it is in PvP. Which brings us to using an assault in PvP.
Playing an assault in PvP is slightly different than PvE. First off, most PvP is based on getting to a spot and holding it. Being a lone wolf as an Assault class is a one way ticket to the respawn point. Stick with your medics and other assaults. Move from point to point taking it or holding points against on coming players. Always be on the move and pay attention to your surroundings by looking for turrets from enemy engineers and explosives from recons. The minigun and the grenade launcher work best for the assault class in PvP in my opinion. The grenade launcher can kill a single person with a full volley launch if it all hits just like a Ballista NPC in the PvE missions. You can also bounce the grenades around corners. Speaking of which, the assault class has grenades they can throw or use spider mines which track players. These are useful together when you are coming upon a point you know other players are guarding. You toss a whole bunch of AoE explosives in an area and either they notice and run, or they take a lot of damage before you jump onto the point. With judicial use of your personal shields and a couple of healers, can be nigh un-killable in PvP. Which is a point to note. When you are attacking another group of players with medics, killing the non medics does no good. You won't be able to kill them. Go for the medics and heal stations nearby first. Then go for turrets engineers as they actually can out DPS most of the classes. Finally take down everything else.
Playing the Medic Class.
Like the assault class, your job is plain and simple. Keeping everyone else alive. You can do this with a continuous beam that has limited range, fast healing, and drains your energy fast, or with a HoT that has more range, lesser healing, but lesser energy drain. In PvE, chances are as medic you will only focus on healing, especially on the harder missions. Luckily, healing in this game doesn't draw that much agro. If you are at the back of the group, chances are you'll only take damage from stray fire that misses those in front of you. Also, in missions, you will rarely be able to out heal the damage npcs are dishing out to your group. Hopefully your group recognizes this and every so often takes cover and fires from behind cover when they can.
In PvP medics can be the tried and true healers they are in PvE, or they can go a different route and be something really feared in the battle field. A poison medic. If you spend your talent points on poison instead of healing, as a medic you can dish out some serious damage. True, your range will never be as good as other classes, but most of the fun action is up close and personal any ways. One on one a poison medic has the edge on almost every other class. Their use of poison grenades, poison "waves" and their high dps poison gun can wipe out even groups of other players. The only downside to playing a poison medic is your healing stinks and you won't be able to effectively heal yourself. Oh the irony! To note though, I still wouldn't suggest going totally lone wolf as a poison medic to often. First off, being exposed solo makes recon snipers focus on you. Why? Because if you get close enough to a recon running around on the fringe of the battle, a poison wave can and will kill them. If you know the general area of where a recon is, the poison wave has a huge AoE diameter and chances are it will nail them.
While playing in PvP though as medic class, be aware that you will be a priorty target for the other team. On a side note, a couple of medics with the healing beam that heals themselves all healing each other is damn near impossible to kill. This has been called many times circle jerking as multiple medics with stand upon a capture point all healing each other continuously. If done right, it would take the focused fire power of nearly the entire other team to take down a group of medics doing this. Your only bane when doing this is stun grenades as this will stop the healing beams long enough to be brought down. So always be on the watch for those.
Playing the Engineer Class.
This class is truly the support class of the game. A good engineer can make or break a team in PvE or PvP. They are essential for high level PvE missions, and for winning most PvP matches.
In PvE, a good engineer adds both offense, healing, and defense for the entire team. The turrets they deploy can out dps any class while they are firing. The force fields and barriers they have protect your team from an onslaught of damage by providing temporary cover. To be a good engineer in PvE, you need to know the maps. You need to know what's coming around the next corner of the map. Listen to the recon and know when to setup. Also, a little intuition goes a long way. A good engineer recognizes the map choke points and uses them to his advantage instead of letting the NPCs use it. Learn to maximize the field of fire for your turrets and place back up stations like healing stations behind cover where they won't be blown away. Know that your turrets will draw fire from NPCs so be ready to repair them as they take damage. However, a bad engineer doesn't know the good places to use his deploy-ables, and places them haphazardly. This can actually break your team as teams tend to form up around your deploy-ables to fight. If you position things in bad places or out in the open, you'll find your team will soon die or scatter as the position you put down your toys was not defensible. Also, smart setups for bosses is a must. On High level missions, with out a good engineer, the team most likely won't have the DPS it needs to take down the boss. Also, if there is another engineer on the team, coordinate with each other. Layering deploy-ables can add up to a devastating effect if done correctly.
In PvP, engineers are great again. They shine at defending points of access. Placing turrets at the most advantageous spots that overlook choke points or capture points will play havoc with the other team. It's even better if you stick with the other engineers and each provide support for each deploy-able. Why? You'll soon learn to realize the biggest bane and headache for engineers in PvP are recons. One thing recons do and do well is sneak up on your deploy-ables and take them out from behind their field of fire. Which is why engineers get access to stealth scanners that reveal recons. But taking a scanner means not taking something else like a health station. So a recon will take YOU out first and then worry about your toys if you are using a stealth scanner. By overlapping deploy-ables with another engineer, you can have one of everything you need to stay alive, keep your toys up, and wreak destruction on the opposing team. However, there is one more headache on the battle field for Engies. That would be the offensive Engy! Not only are recons good at taking down engineers and their toys, but so are other engineers as most also know all the choke points on a map. The problem with toys, is they are all right next to each other, so a shotgun hits everything for maximum effect. On top of that drones are usually designed to take out deploy-ables and do more damage to them. Always have your head on a swivel as an engineer as the class is typically stationary on a map more so than other classes as they need to defend the toys they put down. On last tactic engineers can do though is helping capture points. The force fields they have access to can give the medics and assault classes a much needed respite from incoming fire while they are capturing. Same with the healing stations. While you won't get many kills helping capture points, you can turn the tide of battle and your team can win the match.
Last but not least. Playing the Recon.
In PvE recons are useful, but unfortunately, not as needed as the other 3 classes. Their main support comes from being able to scout an area with stealth and tell the team what to expect ahead of them. Their second big asset to a team is their AoE bombs and grenades. When the NPCs pack up nice and tight, dropping a well placed bomb can wipe them out. One more trick up a recons sleeve is their decoy ability. This is actually very useful against mini bosses and bosses as it gives the bosses something else to shoot at. This is good to give your teams engineer the few seconds he needs to setup his toys. Beyond that, the recons job is to shoot and stay alive. You'll find that you will drop dead fast if focused upon, and the healers typically heal you secondary to anyone else on the team. Which is fine as recons have escape mechanisms that other members don't have. But if you don't have an escape ready when you are fired upon, you are going to die very very fast. Luckily in PvE, the NPCs don't move around too much and they have bigger hit boxes so sniping from the back is very easy to do for considerable DPS support for your team. Beware, a good assault or engineer can and usually does contribute more damage to a mission than a recon. If the recon is doing the most damage, then the other classes aren't doing their jobs right.
In PvP, a recon shines a bit more. Taking out enemy turrets and toys are a primary job and can turn the tide of battle in your teams favor. This includes taking out enemy beacons. Taking out other recons that are sitting in prime sniping positions are another job, as they are more than likely trying to take out you as well. One important thing to remember is that when you take damage in almost all cases, if you try to go into stealth mode, you will show as red shadow to the other team for a few seconds depending upon the damage you took. The only exception is damage taken from a sniper shot. If you are hit by another sniper, you can still go into stealth mode in an instant. Another way recons rack up kills and help capture points in PvP is by being the second "wave" going after a capture point. When your team is going in to capture a point, let the group of assaults + medics go in first and start fighting any other group standing on and defending the spot while you hide behind cover to not be pinged by stray shots and mess up your stealth. As soon as the battle over the point starts, hit your decoy to add in more confusion and the deliver your satchel bombs. Your bombs only effect enemies and YOU. It won't effect your team mates. However, be aware to get away from your own bombs blast radius in time lest you want to PWN yourself.
As a sniping recon, learn to be on the move and snipe a few shots before moving. Your sniping is LOUD!! It will attract attention of other recons in nearby that may be looking to take you out! Try to snipe priority targets first such as deploy-ables since they don't move and are easy to hit. Also, be aware that sniping moving player is hard as the game uses projectile based hit detection. This means you have to lead your target and correct for things like lag which is hard. One snipe shot will not kill anyone. It typically takes 3 shots for most classes if they have not taken any ranged protection talents and are not being healed.
One last tactic recons have in PvP is helping defend spots with mines. However, mines are easy to spot in the open, so learn to place them around corner and ledges. Also, you can place mines in between boxes and other inanimate objects so they are difficult to spot.
Finally some parting words. The game is fun and is a nice tactical change for FPS with the classes. I like that no classes out shines any other class and they all got strengths and weaknesses. I am looking forward to AvA and Maximum PvE missions.
I will also note, that like any other FPS out there, cheating is still there. There are a variety of hacks such as aim bots, radar that shows where everyone is, and other crap. Go on youtube and do a search for some videos of what people are doing. They are easy to spot at least and luckily Hi-Rez does ban. Their anti-cheat code is non existent though sadly. They do however take FRAPS recordings of players cheating and ban them at least. Playing a recon class it is easy to spot cheaters. First off, if they see you while stealth and you are no where near a stealth detector, they are using a hack. Another thing to note is massive kill ratios especially by other recons. The sniper rifle in this game is powerful, but designed to be clunky to use. Without an aim bot getting consistent kills with it is difficult. Same thing with the Assault classes minigun. It's designed to recoil and be inaccurate. But the aimbot automatically corrects for that and makes sure each shot goes where it counts. Luckily, if you get pissed at the cheating in PVP, the PvE is a fun challenge at least.
Last edited:
xCxStylex
Senior member
- Apr 6, 2003
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Here's my experience to fill in what was missed above. Playing with my semi-competitive agency (guild.)
Competitively, this game is about Conquest, otherwise known as AvA. It's basically Risk on a hex map where guilds can form larger teams, known as alliances, and it's easy to backstab and join another.
Winning the map can be done multiple ways through each 3 month "season." You can control most of the map at the end, or build the "i win item", which requires you to mine rare resources. Attacking and defending lands are only open during 2.5 hours per day at the exact same time (there are different maps for different time zones). Also, mining and construction is only open durign this time. You mine crap and build siege weapons, vehicles, and other crap to use for assaults.
Anyway, bottom line is that its pretty damn competitive. Most of the maps are taken over by a few strong alliances each and no others. The casual players and MMO kiddies who had no idea what they were up against have had already been knocked off the board. While they can still attempt to attack, and believe me they do, they get repelled pretty easily.
Bottom line is, to be THE most competitive, you're going to have to play a LOT, because the only way to get upgrades for your armor/weapons is to equip crafted items, which must be gained through the stupid, repetitive PVE or purchased from the auction house.
This isn't exactly my idea of fun, but the most hardcore of the hardcore (and believe me, the top agencies are already decked out to the teeth), will be subscribing and playing tons for this.
*The Double Agent PVE is decently fun, its basically hard level missions but two of the people are randomly chosen to be "double agents," meaning youre on the bad guy team.
*There ARE aimbots unfortunately. I found out because some random scrub seemed to be hitting every shot on his medic SMG in some pug PVP. One quick google search shows that there are indeed working hacks, as this is based on the UT3 engine. It's painfully obvious.
I can't quite say that there are other hacks or not, but rumors have it that there are bots similar to CODMW2 where people can run around and melee and not get hit. I swear there have been people not taking damage, but it's not lag, and yes, they ARE being hit. As melee is the highest DPS in the game, it is viable to melee.
Competitively, this game is about Conquest, otherwise known as AvA. It's basically Risk on a hex map where guilds can form larger teams, known as alliances, and it's easy to backstab and join another.
Winning the map can be done multiple ways through each 3 month "season." You can control most of the map at the end, or build the "i win item", which requires you to mine rare resources. Attacking and defending lands are only open during 2.5 hours per day at the exact same time (there are different maps for different time zones). Also, mining and construction is only open durign this time. You mine crap and build siege weapons, vehicles, and other crap to use for assaults.
Anyway, bottom line is that its pretty damn competitive. Most of the maps are taken over by a few strong alliances each and no others. The casual players and MMO kiddies who had no idea what they were up against have had already been knocked off the board. While they can still attempt to attack, and believe me they do, they get repelled pretty easily.
Bottom line is, to be THE most competitive, you're going to have to play a LOT, because the only way to get upgrades for your armor/weapons is to equip crafted items, which must be gained through the stupid, repetitive PVE or purchased from the auction house.
This isn't exactly my idea of fun, but the most hardcore of the hardcore (and believe me, the top agencies are already decked out to the teeth), will be subscribing and playing tons for this.
*The Double Agent PVE is decently fun, its basically hard level missions but two of the people are randomly chosen to be "double agents," meaning youre on the bad guy team.
*There ARE aimbots unfortunately. I found out because some random scrub seemed to be hitting every shot on his medic SMG in some pug PVP. One quick google search shows that there are indeed working hacks, as this is based on the UT3 engine. It's painfully obvious.
I can't quite say that there are other hacks or not, but rumors have it that there are bots similar to CODMW2 where people can run around and melee and not get hit. I swear there have been people not taking damage, but it's not lag, and yes, they ARE being hit. As melee is the highest DPS in the game, it is viable to melee.
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