Tribes: Ascend - Now in open beta

[Shuma]

So I'm getting pretty sick of the Chain-gun in this game.

You've never used the chain gun have you? It requires a god damn miracle to hit shit with that thing. The only weapon that bothers me right now is the Sentinel's falcon, nothing is more annoying than attacking a sentinel, the sentinel not dying, turning around and turning me into swiss cheese.

I am just curious, what rank is everyone here?

Lowly rank 20, or 21, i've been playing since January but i don't have the time to spend 16 hourss a day playing like Anarchy.

[Faek]

I love me some chaingun in the arena maps. It can be really effective as well (not in my hands) as the map is much smaller.

I think i'd only be about a level 15 max.

[WingedKagouti]

You've never used the chain gun have you? It requires a god damn miracle to hit shit with that thing.

The only time the CG is truly useful, is when the target has little space to dodge in or has an extremely predictable movement pattern. Of course, in those cases it turns the target into swiss cheese, as long as the target doesn't hit the doomie with an explosive/splash damage, which always messes up aiming the CG.

[Shuma]

Unless he has Super Heavy on.

[Rivy]

I'm rank 16 or 17, I don't remember exactly.
The CG is good if the capper sucks and flies in a straight line (preferrably directly towards you), otherwise, I prefer the bolt launcher. Just shoot it at the floor when the capper is almost on the flag

[WingedKagouti]

I've been messing around with the Raider's Jammer Pack lately, and being invisible to the radar and turrets makes clearing the flag stand/harassing the defenders much easier. And it also reveals stealthed enemy Infs, so it also works well on base defense. That thing is such a massive upgrade in utility over the Shield Pack that I'm not sure I'd ever go back for any reason.

[Jak.]

+ 1 for CG being hard to fire straight. That said, I have gotten kills, even out in the open. However, it is utter rubbish that it doesn't damage turrets, yet the tech's smg does. As i've said before, the saber launcher is underpowered against vehicles, which, having A HUGE RADAR/HEAT/MAGIC RAY signature, should let it lock on more often, or fire more frequently. However, if that happens, flare's might be needed.

Need more types of turrets, even if they are just the base defense ones. Why not have a really big turret for taking out vehicles, necessitating bombardment with the mortar?

Deployables should regen health when the generator is up. Slightly more plausible than adding a magic shield to them.

I'm a level 15 i think.

[Shuma]

Why not have a really big turret for taking out vehicles, necessitating bombardment with the mortar?

You mean like the current mk 4 turret? Because that one has a ridiculous amount of health, and it can definitively kill a beowulf if it gets too close.

Anyway, game officially comes out on thursday, big patch that day, one new map confirmed(Raindance, from previous Tribes games), rumors of 2 other new maps for CTF iirc, also new weapons and stuff for several classes, some of which have been "leaked" since they're already in the game files:

http://forum.hirezstudios.com/phpbb/...&sk=t&sd=a

Rumor has it that the NJ5 is for the Raider, the Plasma cannon for the Brute, and the LR1 for the Juggernaut(because he isn't strong enough yet am i rite?), the SAP 20 is obviously for the Sent and the Missile Turret for the Technician, iirc there might be a missile turret upgrade for the base turrets, and it's rumored that the Raider is going to get "MIRV grenades" in the update, the Brute was rumored to be getting lot's of stuff in a pack soon, not sure if that's going to be on this particular patch though. There's also a new game mode coming, take and hold, people got to play it in PAX east, from what i gather the general impression from people is "i fucking hope all the people who camp the gen room go play that instead"

On other "news" people are campaigning to get Bella Omega back on the forums:

http://forum.hirezstudios.com/phpbb/...st=0&sk=t&sd=a

And some folks are campaigning an idea for an urban themed map too:

http://forum.hirezstudios.com/phpbb/...?f=326&t=66727

Just posting it here because i find the idea interesting, maybe if it gets more people behind it HiRez might take notice and give us a map that's not just a height map with some towers thrown in(derp derp sunstar). Also, Tribes now has a "refer a friend system!" with doesn't give you much other than a couple thousands of XP unless you're an internet celebrity(Total Biscuit already broke the 1000 mark iirc), but just in case some people want to start this game and are willing to give a little helping hand i'm shamelessly posting my referral link here:

https://account.hirezstudios.com/tri...campaign=email

By the way, if you want to add me in game(why not?) i'm "CapnDerp" on Tribes, in fact, you can add anyone you want in Tribes and stalk them without them knowing, although supposedly the next patch will implement a feature to let you know if people are following you, which is kind of neat, i know a few random people have added me, but i notice so many familiar games nowadays that i'm starting to wonder just how many people are stalking me, not that i think i have many.

Oh and as for the Jammer pack vs the shield pack, i honestly don't see why you'd want to use the jammer pack besides fighting infiltrators, the shield pack already makes you immune to tech turret's, not like they're going to eat through your shield before you kill them, and it's a god send when killing people outside with the NJ4, and with the potential energy perk you're pretty much immortal.

[Jak.]

A big yes to everything. Really liking the idea of more turrets. I like the ideea of that new map. Also, I quite liked the old bella omega, as a gen-defending noob.

Also, I played a bit of Capture and Hold Raindance, in training (which allows you to use any combination of weapons/items (more on this later)). Good map I think.

I had a bit of fun on raindance with the shrike. As a pathfinder, I would fly the shrike up, exit, fire a few shots, then re-enter the shrike. Could be very entertaining when successfully used against a missile.

Combining the various heavies with the thrust pack of the pathfinder was fun. Although, I thought the magic elevator things were supposed to let you use unlimited energy.

[Goblix]

A new patch is coming out tomorrow. Three new weapons for the raider, the Plasma Gun; a fast firing splash damage weapon. The RJ5N, an SMG with a low fire rate but high damage. And the cluster grenade, which I think speaks for itself.



I'm very excited for this update, the raider (in my experience) has been surpassed by the brute and infiltrator in terms of base attack and I'm hoping this balances it out some.

[Shuma]

Nonsense, the Raider and the Juggernaut are the strongest classes in the game, while the Brute is the weakest, even by Hirez's own admission(by the way, this will make the second time they say the Brute is getting some loving after the next pack). I also don't see how this weapons will improve the Raider, with the exception of maybe the cluster grenade, they will make him more versatile but other than just for shits and giggles, i can't see myself replacing the GL or the NJ4. I do see an use for the NJ5 though, it looks like it will be very useful for killing injured EFCs, i can't count how many times i've hit an injured pathfinder carrying my flag with the NJ4 only for him to escape with a sliver of health or get to pass the flag to a Soldier, the NJ4 will be a big help there since it deals more damage, a couple of shots is often all you need.

The Plasma gun... I honestly don't see much use for it, the GL is better at clearing the flag stand, and it's a monster indoors since you can bounce the grenades around, then again i supposes it does make him an even better duelist, couple it with the Shield pack and NJ4 and he'll be unstoppable, but in order to do that you have to sacrifice the GL. I do wonder 2 things though, can he boost himself with the Plasma gun? Because if he can, he could end up as a better Soldier, and another thing, can he use the Plasma gun's AoE on himself with potential energy to rapidly regenerate his shield? Because that'd be stupidly overpowered.

Cluster grenades are either going to be extremely powerful, or extremely weak, it all depends on how long the fuse on them is and how far away the tiny bombs travel, seems to me like they would be a bit redundant when coupled with the Grenade Launcher though.

The skins... I can't say i care for the space biker, but from what little he was shown, the mercenary looks pretty cool, even if he does look like that guy Halo.

On the patch notes, prism mines buff? No surprise, no one uses those things, same for the Brute's light sticky grenades, but i doubt it's going to change anything, not like anyone would pick those things over the Fractals, saw one brute use them once, and did barely any damage to an lvl 0 generator. HBL buff, i don't get why the fuck it was buffed other than to get people to buy it, anyone who has uses it knows how strong it is, didn't need a buff, only reason no one uses it is because pretty much all DMBs are on HoF duty, and the CG is infinitely superior to the HBL for flag defense, but on offense, that thing was already plenty strong. Sparrow buff, never seen a single technician use that gun, tried it once on training mode, seems like a shitty version of the Soldier's pistol, no idea why the technician even has it.

And by the way, here are some of those other weapons i mentioned on my previous post:

http://bittah.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=18222
http://bittah.com/viewtopic.php?f=30...392900#p392900

Some of them have obviously already been added to the game though.

Edit:

Plasma gun is stupidly OP.
NJ5 is meh.
Cluster 'nades are meh.

[Trizzdog]

So I got back into the game now that it's officially released. Quite different from closed beta! Full of shiny. Plunked down some dosh since I don't want to work a second job for toys.

I like the game, but I still wish they kept some of the feel of older tribes. The tiny ass bases don't really lend themselves to ye olde epic base assaults. Still fun to troll about with the Infiltrator. Ironically I feel they are better on the defense than on the offense. Base raiding on their lonesome, something that's advertised on their tin, is ultimately pointless because of the oceans of motion sensors, mines, jammers, explosions, mean glares, etc in the gen rooms. Oh, and with upgraded movespeed you can hurt yourself walking into doombringer forcefields. Derp. It's much better if you pair up with say a juggernaut, let him blow shit up, and jump in to help when there's an opportunity. If I'm playing solo infiltrator, I spend my time assassinating people and trolling the flag defenders. It's funny how effective an infiltrator is on the defense with the jackal and prism mines, but that's not my kind of thing.

Also, fucking raiders. King of murder, destroyer of worlds. Wonderful weapons (especially the OP "we need more sales" plasma gun), fantastic equipment, can potentially do any role with the right picks. Wonder what will happen when other classes get the same lovin'?

PS: Fucking Raindance. Wrrrrrry.

[Kryopsis]

Also, fucking raiders. King of murder, destroyer of worlds. Wonderful weapons (especially the OP "we need more sales" plasma gun), fantastic equipment, can potentially do any role with the right picks. Wonder what will happen when other classes get the same lovin'?

PS: Fucking Raindance. Wrrrrrry.

The Plasma Gun got nerfed last week. You do realize it's just a spinfusor with a faster rate of fire and half the damage, right?

I don't like Raindance either. I usually just pick Juggernaut and go sulk in a corner, by which I mean spam mortar rounds in the general direction of the enemy and save for an orbital strike.

[Trizzdog]

Still has the same DPS advantage over the spinfusor. At least the hitbox isn't as big as it was before.

The plasma will be fine once all classes start getting more toys. As it is, the brute (for example) wistfully looks at the raider with plasma and shields then wallows in sorrow as he realizes how inept he is in comparison.

[Jak.]

Likewise, the doombringer shakes his saber launcher in anger, as he realizes how truly useless it is in most maps.
The brute has been outclassed by the raider, however, the X1 LMG could be buffed so that it's actually good.

Also, bring in the clan/group functionality. I want to be able to party join, if you're making me matchmake to get xp.

[Brenil]

Anyone else hate the automatching in this game?

For whatever reason, it keeps throwing me into servers with semi-pro (or in some loud-mouth cases, actual 'professional gamers') veterans that will eat my ass for breakfast if I do anything other than be a Techie and sit in my base playing with my turret. I'm not looking to n00b stomp here, but a happy medium between people who don't know how to ski and people who mid-air you on a regular basis would be nice.

Also, Sentinels are the red-headed step child of Tribes:Ascend. They take tons of skill to use properly and don't really get rewarded when they actually do well.

You do realize it's just a spinfusor with a faster rate of fire and half the damage, right?

You do realize that's still fuckin' amazing, right?

[Kryopsis]

The brute has been outclassed by the raider, however, the X1 LMG could be buffed so that it's actually good.

The X1 LMG is a Juggernaut weapon and it's fine as it is.

I generally hate Matchmaking with a passion. This said, I have a total of two people I know who play Tribes: Ascend so I am okay with it in this game. I did end up matched with some really good players but I see that as an opportunity to learn. Generally I am in the top 3 players in the game, though.

You do realize that's still fuckin' amazing, right?

Yes.

[Brenil]

The problem with matchmaking is that it doesn't take into account higher skill players joining on lower skilled (or ranked) friends. So there's still n00b stomps going on and more often than not it seems everyone flocks to the team with the awesome player and several matches end 5-0 in five minutes.

Also, the whole...

..but I see that as an opportunity to learn.

... approach doesn't work so well because in order to somewhat compete with these uber players, you must play whatever class or role you're best at or risk just dying over and over again or getting cap shutout in record time. This means experimentation of new roles punishes you more than most FPS games where you can find a less populated server or one with no map rotation or newbies welcome sign to brush up on learning a new class. Instead, when you try a new class you don't get an opportunity to learn because you're constantly being killed by amazing players with questionably balanced gear (see: plasma gun) or the map ends because of a cap out.

Lastly, you're confusing me with your position on the plasma gun. Are you saying that it's fine or not? Your previous post seemed to indicate that it wasn't that bad after being nerfed. Your screenshot seems to suggest otherwise. Which is it? Because the way I see it, I agree with Trizz that it is one of the most bullshit guns in the game.

[Trizzdog]

Last night I managed to get into a server with fairly balanced teams, and each round went either way with heated action. It reminds me of why I enjoy this game despite some of its flaws.

Also, we've noticed a certain bias of asshole awesome players who like to stomp "noobs" by siding with blood eagle all the time. It's come to the point where we've renamed diamond sword to baddie sword. But I still pick the other side because a) I feel bad for them and b) they're shiny.

[Kryopsis]

in order to somewhat compete with these uber players, you must play whatever class or role you're best at or risk just dying over and over again or getting cap shutout in record time. This means experimentation of new roles punishes you more than most FPS games where you can find a less populated server or one with no map rotation or newbies welcome sign to brush up on learning a new class.

First of all, if you want to learn a class and are worried about high rank people murdering you on every corner, go play on a custom server with "noobs only" or "newbies welcome" in the name. I've seen quite a few of those around. Second, you *have* to play against competent players because otherwise you get a lot of bad habits. For instance, I have a terrible habit to approach the enemy base from the air on larger maps. This will never work against a sentinel who knows how to aim and I am trying to ski more and jet pack less. Jet packs work well when fighting enemies with Thumpers or Spinfusors but are not recommended when the enemy has an automatic weapon. You learn these things by playing against truly good players and I've learned a lot about automatics after having a pro on the opposing team getting 40 kills with the Infiltrator SMG.

That was a screenshot pre-nerf (hence 11 Air Mail accolades). Your previous comment suggested that I don't know what I am talking about. I got the plasma gun at release since Raider was always my favourite class and I've been saving my pre-order gold for the inevitable class update. I now have the class mastered (100% unlock status). The thing is, Tribes: Ascend has the highest learning curve out of most FPS games. There is a small number of 'basic' skills that take a while to get the hang of but would make an average player such as myself dominate people who invested less time into the game. I've frequently ended up with more than 20 kills as any of the classes that I usually play (Soldier, Juggernaut, Raider) in TDM and CTF. I did just as well with the Arx/SMG as I do with the Plasma Gun/SMG now, except that my strategy has changed. Rather than hose down people with the SMG, I now try for mid-airs with the Plasma Gun. Rather than bursting down a generator in seconds, I've come to rely much more on the EMP grenades. If you think the Plasma Gun is a bullshit weapon, you probably never actually used one and were only on the receiving end. The main appeal of the weapon is the class itself: the fact that the Plasma Gun combined with the SMG is *almost* as good as the Soldier's Thumper DX/Assault Rifle: the single most powerful and versatile combination in the game.

I've been hanging around the Tribes forums for several months now and it still amuses me how *everything* in the game is supposedly insanely overpowered. The newcomers complain that all the heavy classes are insane, from the chaingun-hosing Doombringer to the mortar spamming Juggernaut. The Tribes 1/2 veterans complain that the automatic weapons are ridiculously unbalanced and are only made for the 'cod kiddies' (to be fair, it is true that the Technician's SMG is the best automatic weapon in the game in terms of DPS). You have newbies asking Sentries to get buffed while being mocked by veterans and veterans complaining about orbital strikes... The point is, for every comment about something being overpowered, there are complaints that it isn't powerful enough.

Also, we've noticed a certain bias of asshole awesome players who like to stomp "noobs" by siding with blood eagle all the time. It's come to the point where we've renamed diamond sword to baddie sword. But I still pick the other side because a) I feel bad for them and b) they're shiny.

I always join the team with the least players (this game needs an 'auto-assign' button) but in my experience, Diamond Sword gets the better players. In fact, I lost 5 consecutive CTF games as Blood Eagles this morning. After the second loss people were reluctant to join the team while Diamond Sword had three 30+ rank players.

[ÜberJumper]

I always liked Blood Eagle better than Diamond Sword back in the day. Starwolf also a fav.

[Nalkor]

I just go Blood Eagle because the announcer's voice is tolerable. Diamond Sword, not so much.

[Brenil]

First of all, if you want to learn a class and are worried about high rank people murdering you on every corner, go play on a custom server with "noobs only" or "newbies welcome" in the name.

Except for the fact that no one plays custom servers. I've thought of this option many times as well, but on U.S. West there's around a dozen or more custom servers that are almost always empty.

As for the whole learn2play paragraph, I don't have much to say except for the fact that just because people complain that everything is overpowered doesn't mean that some of it isn't true. The plasma gun, even with the nerf, is still amazing to the point of broken. Have I used it? No, I don't play the Raider. Do I have plenty of anecdotal evidence of people with plasma guns murdering everyone? Yep. Could I be wrong? Certainly. Am I? Time will tell, but if it looks like a turd and smells like a turd, it usually is a turd.

[Jak.]

DIAMOND SWORD. Yeah, i'm a diamond sword fan. Admittedly, my two chosen classes, Doombringer and pathfinder don't look the best their, but we're waiting to get shiny new weapons. I've had some good games, and some bad games. I agree in some ways that the sentries sniper is underpowered (less damage than a spinfusor, whats the point of it again?) but the drop jammer is too damn cool.

[Brenil]

My big problems with the Sentinel are thus:

- Take a lot of skill to use, but are easily gankable.

- Don't get rewarded in terms of points, even if they do well. They have no 'exp grind' abilities other than placing claymores on flags, that just blow up to any half-way decent Pathfinder.

- Drop jammers are too obvious and are tied the generator, which make them of dubious use in many cases. Yes, it spots Infiltrators, but the jammer effect literally is a glowing beacon that the Infiltrator is exposed and will quickly hunt for the jammer because the radius is pretty damn small, so it is easy to find - or avoid - in most cases. Ironically, their best use is to hide the Sentinel, which doesn't help the team much at all unless the Sentinel is an amazing shot and blasts flag cappers all day every day.

- The Phaser Rifle's scope is balls. I love the gun, it suits my style over the ballistic sniper rifle, but the damn scope is mind-bogglingly bad. Basically, think of looking down a red-dot scope with a few unnecessary bells and whistle lines with the aim point being an extremely small black dot. It's bad, and makes sniping even more difficult than it is already.


Personally, I think if they just gave the Sentinel (and everyone else) points for spotting 'ala Battlefield 3, re-introduce the Targeting Laser back and gave it to the Sentinel as a pack or even secondary weapon (and gave assist points for targeting), replaced the extra drop jammer upgrade to 50% radius increase, and fixed the Phaser Rifle's scope, Sentinels would be fine. I don't think their rifles should do more damage. Maybe there's an argument for giving the rifles more armor penetration, but as it is now, a good Sentinel can really help a team. It's just they aren't compensated for their efforts on the scoreboard; and Phaser Rifle users are always busy fighting their own damn weapon's scope more than the enemy.

[Shuma]

I'm too lazy to quote every post so i'll just respond to everything noteworthy i see.

Sentinels:

The last thing sentinels need is a damn buff, let alone in terms of points when a good sentinel will call at least 5 orbitals on your base on a long game, hell, if anything they need a nerf of some sort, it's ridiculous that even if you kill one, he respawns 5 seconds later and is able to snipe either you or your flag carrier immediately, because for some retarded reason pretty much all spawn points are in high places where the Sentinel can see everything, Crossfire is probably the biggest offender in this. Secondly, i don't know if i misread your post about the drop jammer, but you're not supposed to put your drop jammer near you, you're supposed to hide it somewhere in your base to help your team, there's 0 point in having it behind you, if an infiltrator goes after you it's not like you're going to have a chance to defend yourself, he'll just sticky you and leave.

Their damage is also fine, it's 510 with a fully charged shot, even IF a pathfinder gets away with full health from your stand with your flag, it only takes 1 fully charged snipe, and one not fully charged to kill him, if he gets away with damage(which is bound to happen) chances are that you'll need to hit him only once, and that's assuming that you're not shooting at him since before he grabs your flag, if you want more damage, the sentinel is getting a SAP 20 rifle, deals 600 something damage per shot, but it's a projectile, not hitscan. Look it up.

Anyway, Sentinels pretty much always end up the round at the top of the scoreboard even if they're not particularly good, so i'm not sure why you think they need to get more points, especially if you play in US West where there's so many good sentinels, god help you if you ever run against Cowflare:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwp1vilWZUU

And if you're actually talking about xp, pretty much the only thing that affects how much xp you get is how long the game lasts, what you actually do in the game gives only a really insignificant boost, although i've noticed that the Slayer accolade does give a huge boost, whenever i get it i end up getting like 6000 xp(that's with boost and vip though), even without first win of the day.

Plasma gun:

I don't know if the Plasma Gun is overpowered or not after it was nerfed, and to be honest i could never aim the gun for shit even before the nerf, the most airmails i got with it was like 10 i think, which is nothing considering i saw plenty of other Raiders getting like 20 and 30 air mails with it, hell, i find it easier to blue plate people than hit people with the plasma gun, and since the nerf i don't think i've ever ran into a good Raider using it, probably because there's 0 reason to use it in CTF(i don't really play Arena or TDM, and i only rarely play CnH) and all the good Raiders are running around with the GL, NJ4, shield pack just like they were before the pack. Plasma gun coupled with the Raider SMGs is better in combat to the Soldier in every way, the Raider is the most powerful "dueling" class, hell he already was before he got the Plasma Gun, and he's obviously stronger now if you want to duel people with it, Soldier doesn't really need to excel at anything, but right now he's the strongest flag defender on the game because of his proximity grenades, it's very rare to see it in pub games though.

Also, while it was nerfed, it still has a bigger hitbox than the spinfusor.

Juggernaut:

I don't think the Juggernaut is overpowered, but he is ridiculously strong with the LMG and thrown discs, only class that can take him out one on one, fair and square is the Raider with the shield pack, all other classes with the exception of the infiltrator have problems with taking out Juggernauts, but i think the problem will solve itself once the other classes get their respective pack, the Brute probably wont have any problems taking Juggies out after he gets his plasma cannon for example.

Aaaaaaaaaand, the new map, Tartarus, it's pretty cool, took them a while but it seems they finally managed to make a new map that doesn't suck in one way or another. Brute is supposedly getting the new pack(finally), might be this week, hopefully he will get it this week, so far he's supposed to get a Plasma Cannon as primary(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40js5JqDa2g), a "HNY Badger" as a secondary(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZJaflrCDaE) and a Heavy Nitron grenade(because he needs to be even better at fatfinding am i right?). That said, it doesn't mean that's what he will end up with, for example, the plasma gun was originally supposed to go to the Soldier, but it went to the Raider, so he might get something else.

Edit:

Actually, some dude has compiled everything the aimbot dude has found here:

http://bittah.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=18648

[Brenil]

Anyway, Sentinels pretty much always end up the round at the top of the scoreboard even if they're not particularly good, so i'm not sure why you think they need to get more points, especially if you play in US West where there's so many good sentinels, god help you if you ever run against Cowflare

What? Since when? I've seen maybe half a dozen Sentinels in the top five - ever. Hell, most of the time, no one even plays Sentinel. Maybe we're in hugely different automatch brackets, but in silver/gold, the very few Sentinels who play, are almost always in the basement unless it's some high gold/plat wizz that never misses.

What's a Sentinel get points for? Kills. How hard is it to get kills as a Sentinel? Pretty friggin' hard. It's by far the hardest class in the game to play and there is no fallback. You don't get points for spotting, using your jammer, or have any support role. You snipe, fight with the rifles, and hope you don't get ganked.

The problem with the jammer is that it is so obvious to the Infiltrator as to be a non-issue. Motion sensors do a far better job at checking Infiltrators than drop jammers. And that's more or less their sole duty, unlike motion sensors. Their low radius means there's only a limited amount of places you can put them so they're useful, and the fact you have two somewhat helps this, but doesn't change the fact that it very effectively warns off what it is supposed to protect against.

P.S.

Sweet Christ, that video of Cowflare. I've seen one really good Sentinel in my time, and I marveled at how they were able to pull off constant killshots with apparent ease. I just don't get how to be a good sniper in this game. I was a fair one in the original Tribes, but that was a decade ago, and obviously I've lost a few things since then. I'm such a baddie as the Sentinel. And practice isn't making perfect with me.

[Paladin]

Sentinel gets kills super easy. If anything the problem with Sentinel is it only has one role... Shoot anyone who is flying away with the flag.

No really, that's all you really need to do as a Sentinel, and if you're not utterly incompetent you will shut down the other team entirely.

[Busby]

So I started playing this yesterday and the solider is pretty fun and I'm doing better then most of the randoms I join. My only complaint is how ridiculously expensive the unlocks are in exp (I can haz spinfuser?) and how all the games I join end up with some one much higher level then every one else which inevitably leads to team stacking and five minute games.

Edit: And now for some reason I'm disconnecting from servers on random. Yay.

[Shuma]

Yes Brenil, the class is hard to play, i can't play sentinel for shit, the problem is that good sentinel players are monsters that can easily shut down your entire team single handily, and for them it's not hard to get kills, hence, sentinels shouldn't be buffed. How to get better at sentinel? No idea, but i hear that you should lower mouse sensitivity, disable mouse acceleration and a bunch of other stuff.

And as far as i know this game doesn't even have matchmaking, you just get thrown with bronze players up until rank 6 or 7, and then you get thrown with all the silvers, golds, platinums and the rare obsidian.

@Busby:

Apparently everyone has been having disconnects from servers in the EU region today, HiRez's servers are pretty ass and yes the high ammounts of xp required to unlock weapons is ridiculous, if you plan to stick around for the game i'd recommend buying a booster.

[Busby]

Yea swapping to North America East fixed it.

So I just unlocked the Infiltrator. And just came out of a game where I got the most kills at 21. It was a full length match as the teams both sucked at capping, but holy hell. The Infiltrator is like the TF2 Spah if the Spah had an awesome SMG, could fire from cloak, and had grenades of rape. Killing flag carriers as the fly around there base and recovering the flag is so priceless. As is stabbing Sententials and sticking Jugs. I think I've found my class.

[Kryopsis]

Sentinel gets kills super easy. If anything the problem with Sentinel is it only has one role... Shoot anyone who is flying away with the flag.

No really, that's all you really need to do as a Sentinel, and if you're not utterly incompetent you will shut down the other team entirely.

As much as I hate to side with Paladin on anything, he summed it up nicely. :0)

A lot of people complain about the gear prices but coming from League of Legends, it doesn't seem to be that bad. I bought the $30 pack during the beta and I was able to afford everything I wanted and more. I have 100% completion on Raider, with about 80% on Soldier and Juggernaut (the gear I did not unlock doesn't interest me). I even upgraded the Technician, a class I never actually play. At this moment, I have about 70,000 XP left and I don't even play the game that much. You have to remember that by spending $5 or more, you get a lifetime 50% bonus to all XP earned (including the sums granted for achievements). An XP boost is another 100% increase so you will be getting 150% bonus XP until it runs out. An average player such as myself gets about 4,000 XP after a game of CTF so getting 42,000 XP upgrades shouldn't take very long. Finally, you can get 250 gold by 'liking' Tribes: Ascend on Facebook and get your Spinfusor.

[Brenil]

Sentinel gets kills super easy. If anything the problem with Sentinel is it only has one role... Shoot anyone who is flying away with the flag.

So by that token there should be a ton of people playing Sentinel and racking up points and no one should be capping the flags. Oh wait, that doesn't happen. You're overly simplifying this to a rather insane degree Paladin. Hitting a moving target as a Sentinel is not as easy as the pros make it out to be. And yes, that is the role of the Sentinel, but only a select few can actually perform that role well enough to make a significant difference.

I don't think, nor did I say, they should buff the Sentinel. They should just allow them to gain points for something other than direct kills and fix the goddamn Phaser Rifle's scope.

[Kryopsis]

Plant your second jammer in the generator room to decloak infiltrators. You'll get assists.

[Brenil]

Do you have any kind of source on that? I always plant jammers in the base to support the generators, and I never get assists when someone dies while getting jammed.

[Shuma]

So by that token there should be a ton of people playing Sentinel and racking up points and no one should be capping the flags. Oh wait, that doesn't happen.

That doesn't even make sense, some people just don't like playing sentinel, i don't, it's pretty boring. If you care so much about getting credits and topping the scoreboard, just get the bounty hunter perk, that gives a lot of credits for each kill, besides, what other source of credits could you give sentinels? Spotting? That's ridiculous, either it would be such an insignificant amount that it would be meaningless, or it would be abused.

Edit:

I forgot, sentinels are one of the classes that has the easiest time getting streaks, and that's a big source of income, the only class that probably has an easier time are TCNs when whoring vehicles.

[Kryopsis]

I got kills and assists from the Raider's jammer on targets I wasn't even aware of. I admit, it doesn't happen often so I guess it could be a bug.

I also wanted to mention that you aren't class-restricted in earning points. The Technician doesn't get points for repairing the base just because he is a Technician: everyone can pick up a repair gun. Similarly, everyone can get flag/generator defence accolades or accolades for flag returns. Nothing is preventing you from escorting a Pathfinder and picking off his pursuers or storming a base with your Falcon Pistol (the most scandalously OP weapon in the game, if some pro players are to be believed). Yes, some weapons in the game do have special accolades designed for them, such as Hot Air for the Plasma Pistol, Air Mail for a handful of explosive ones, Artillery Strike for the two Juggernaut primaries and Blue Plate Special for the spinfusors. As a Sentinel, you actually get extra points for sniping sprees. Given that you can earn more credits by killing enemies than doing anything else in the game (repairing/destroying objectives, grabbing/defending the flag etc), your request is simply unfair. If you aren't happy with your score as a Sentinel, consider a different class but it's certainly not a design issue.

[Brenil]

Actually, according to the official forums, quite a lot of people want to play Sentinel, they just can't get over the hump of the learning curve. Hell, a few of the people I play with want to try it, but they always come away sad.

It isn't about topping the scoreboard, it's about having an alternative means to gaining credits over killing someone with your rifle. Spotting is one of the primary teamplay abilities that Sentinels provide, given that they usually have a nice overview of the battlefield. Having a spotting type bonus would work if it was applied like it is in Battlefield 3, where is neither insignificant nor imbalanced. Add to that, I still think the Sentinel should be the class that has the targeting laser reintroduced with. Juggernauts have issues with long range mortaring in this game, so I see no reason why the targeting laser should be brought back and it'd be a perfect fit with the Sentinel and give them an extra role in the process.

Again, I don't know what servers you play on where all these amazing Sentinels reside, but I certainly never see them. Mostly I just see bad to average Sentinels taking pot shots at other Sentinels or firing widely at flag cappers, occasionally getting lucky.

I also wanted to mention that you aren't class-restricted in earning points.

Obviously, but some classes are more predisposed toward one duty over the other. Technicians usually are near equipment, gain quite a bit of cash, and therefore can upgrade systems more effectively than a Sentinel that usually has to be away from the base in order to cover the flag or potential cappers. Furthermore, you have to have money to upgrade equipment, which means getting kills, which means being away from the base. It simply isn't feasible most of the time for Sentinels to upgrade equipment much of the time except on certain maps.

If you aren't happy with your score as a Sentinel, consider a different class but it's certainly not a design issue.

I like the Sentinel, I want to play it and get better at it. Just because I'm bad at playing the Sentinel doesn't mean there isn't a scoring issue for most people playing the class.

[Shuma]

It isn't about topping the scoreboard, it's about having an alternative means to gaining credits over killing someone with your rifle.

You have claymores. And why the hell should the Sentinel have an alternative means to gaining credits when other classes don't? Like Kryopsis said, the game isn't restricting you in anyway. And the only problem that the Juggernauts have with long range shelling, is that both the mortar and the MIRV don't have an extremely long range, and the Juggernaut is already stupidly strong, not like he needs to have an easier time bombing the shit out of your base, and even so, he appears to be getting help eventually: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6F2cO...layer_embedded

Either way, your argument pretty much boils down to "Sentinels are hard to play", that's too bad, but it's good that they're hard to play, if everyone and their grandmother could just pick sentinel up and be good at it all games would be incredibly boring, and Sentinels don't even need extra credits, hell, only class that actually needs credits are TCNs, because they use them to buy vehicles and upgrade shit around the base.

[Brenil]

And why the hell should the Sentinel have an alternative means to gaining credits when other classes don't?

Let's see what other classes can do to gain points other than straight out kills:

Pathfinders:

- Flag cap.
- Flag return.
- Destroy enemy exterior assets.
- Support upgrades and repairs (defensive)

Infiltrators:

- Destroy exterior and interior assets.
- Flag returns.
- Flag caps.

Soldier:

- Destroy interior and exterior assets.
- Flag caps.
- Flag returns.
- Support upgrades and repairs (defensive).

Technician:

- Flag returns.
- Support upgrades and repairs.
- Destroy interior and exterior assets (Thumper).
- Vehicle driver.

Raider:

- Destroy interior and exterior assets.
- Flag Returns.
- Support and repairs (defensive).

Juggernaut:

- Destroy interior and exterior assets.
- Flag return.
- Support and repairs (defensive).
- Flag capper (rare, but I've seen some boss ones).

Doombringer:

- Flag return.

Uh... yeah, Doombringer is kind of a one-trick pony, not a lot to work with.

Brute:

- See Raider, only worse.

Sentinels?

They make poor cappers. Typically aren't in the area to return flags. Can't reliably take out any interior or exterior assets, are useless vehicle pilots, and if they're upgrading equipment or repairing it, they're not doing their primary duty, which is spotting and sniping.

[Kryopsis]

Again, just because a class is not optimized for a role doesn't mean you can't play in that role. Use perks to balance out the shortcomings if you have to. As for the idea of 'primary duty', the Raider's primary duty is to destroy objectives and yet I just finished a game with three captures because wounded Pathfinders kept asking me to carry the enemy flag for them. You are imposing artificial limitations on yourself, Brenil. You talk about the previous Tribes games but they did not have classes and somehow you did just fine...

[[Vertigo]]

Mostly I just see bad to average Sentinels taking pot shots at other Sentinels or firing widely at flag cappers, occasionally getting lucky.

This! This is all I can seem to do with the Sentinel.

[Rivy]

I fire at the cappers, I usually hit them, they always survive and I never see them again. You miss once you don't get a second chance.
I got bored of Sentinels because in TA sniping is a high risk (taking the one shot you will get) low reward (dealing mediocre damage), and the zoom in both rifles is stupidly short.

[Afoxi]

Sniper damage needs to be increased linearly with zoom level.

[Trizzdog]

Shuma:

Either way, your argument pretty much boils down to "Sentinels are hard to play"

We could boil your counter argument down to "I've seen people at the skill ceiling for that class own everything, ergo it's k". What happens in a maximum skill vacuum should not be applied for the majority of normal skill play.

But that's not even the issue. Brenil isn't asking for easier kills (other than the visual scope change but that thing is god awful), he's asking for another way for the Sentinel to be useful. Perhaps there is a place in this game for a "one trick pony" class* , but I think the Sentinel deserves more than that. A direct way of being rewarded for things like long range reconnaissance makes sense to me. Btw, spotting should give points to everyone who performs it, not strictly the Sentinel (if they were to implement that).

Also, on a side note, the targeting beacon was in other tribes games iirc, and I hope they do add that in, along with a slight mortar range buff.

Kryopsis:

The Raider's kit is more flexible than the Sentinel's, along with many other classes. Many of the classes in the game have flexible-use weapons that can be used in multiple situations. It's unrealistic to use the Sentinel's main weapon on the move, since the regular rifle needs to scope 'n charge, while the phase rifle will drain your energy. And although the secondary machine pistol is great, there are better classes suited for offensive maneuvers using automatic weapons. We could potentially take the Sentinel into a skirmisher role with the right kit, but I don't know if that would be easier than traditional sniping Brenil is currently attempting.

* Meanwhile, at the flag, the doombringer says hello.

[Jak.]

Wooo! I'm an incompetent sniper!

Anyway, as a doombringer, I can easily take out a juggernaut. You can easily withstand 2 fusion mortar rounds if they're not direct hits, and fusion mortar is mostly what you're going to get. As primarily a gen defender, It's really quite handy being jammed.

[Rivy]

Gen defending with DMB is a breeze. 2 walls, 4 mines and a Bolt Launcher will make sure no pesky enemies lay a hand on your generator.

[Busby]

Yea... I had a game where a single Doombringer with the more belt items perk completely locked my infiltrator out of the generator room by himself simply by having forcefields up and spamming mines on the entrances. And annoyingly enough half of his team where techs and had covered the flag stand in a sea of light turrets. What an extremely boring game that was.

Edit: So, am I missing something, or can Sententials really see a stationary Infiltrator that isn't firing, hasn't broken its speed limit, and hasn't taken damage, and isn't in range of a jammer? Also the Falcon is stupidly good as is the Raider class.

[Jak.]

Yeah,, I'm not a fan of the bolt launcher. If you're going to fire slow, may as well be a juggernaut or brute.
Also, having actually versed the X1 LMG in combat, i have to say that it's reasonably good. Also, I may be the only doomy without mines...
Last game, I managed to second top score with a DMB on that bowl shaped map in CnH.

[Shuma]

Eh, i still don't understand this argument about sentinels needing a way to get more credits, they're a class that can kill pretty much anyone on any place of the map from his base and his enemy can't do anything about it, if you need the credits so hard, use the bounty hunter perk, as far as i know pretty much all high level sentinels use quick draw and bounty hunter, unless they're using the phase rifle, in which case they switch one with one of the capacitor perks. But if i'm getting this right, you basically want the sentinel to be more flexible right? I strongly disagree with that, the only classes that should be flexible are the Soldier and Brute, because they're not specialists, why have classes if we're going to make it so that all of them can do everything? That said, obviously HiRez disagrees since the Juggernaut, Infiltrator and Raider can all do a bunch of shit outside of their supposed role.

And yes, everyone agrees that the Falcon is pretty broken.

And the X1 LMG is incredibly good, couple it with the thrown disks and you should be immortal unless they start sending Raiders against you. Oh and

We could boil your counter argument down to "I've seen people at the skill ceiling for that class own everything, ergo it's k". What happens in a maximum skill vacuum should not be applied for the majority of normal skill play.

Yes it should, otherwise you end up with horribly broken weapons like the plasma gun and the jackal, both of which are still banned in all competitive games and tournaments and are broken in pub games on the hands of any good player, and even HiRez admitted that they fucked up in both instances. There's nothing wrong with the sentinel being hard to play, it's the way it should be.