Day 2
Long day, good day. I got interviewed about by Adam Clegg (I think it was on the live stream)! Video Game Live was awesome too.
Anyhow, I got an opportunity to check things out, and access everything that had been asked about.
Flight Physics - After trying it out in more depth, I found that the flight physics are quite awesome. A and D turn hard on a scythe, so banking isn't really needed. Full 360 degree vertical maneuverability, meaning you can be completely upside down and still control the aircraft properly (though liberator engines don't like this as much). Aircraft can really do amazing stuff now, its awesome. I'm sure I didn't cover everything here, so please ask specific questions and I'll try to answer them as best as possible tomorrow.
Cloak Duration - Currently 10-15 seconds not sure if moving makes it burn faster or not. There are certs to alter and modify the shield.
HA Shield Duration - It was explained that it isn't how long it lasts so much as the amount of damage it can sustain. It felt like it naturally wore off after about 15 seconds though, but I may be mistaken about that.
Medic - It seems really awesome, but I couldn't unlock the certs for revive grenade or nanite grenade to see its fullest capacity. It didn't appear to have a way to toggle between targeting allies vs targeting self. I used the class ability a couple times, but it didn't appear to do anything... then again I wasn't using it near friendly corpses. The Pulsar that I had as a Medic appeared to be different than the ones I had for other classes, like it was a longer range model or something. I may be mistaken, though.
Engineer - Also awesome. Flak sprays and hits air well, but direct damage from the engineer turret does more damage than flak, so I was able to post up in a corner and run the turret til I got bored of using it to take down air. The ACE doesn't appear to do anything else right now, though. Beyond that, the animation for the nanite repair process looks kinda neat.
Grenade functionality - What we see now is basically a working version with no features. Press the button, hold the button, no difference. No cooking, no strength control. This is not how it'll be in beta, this is literally just enough code to make a functional grenade toss, and I appreciate them putting it in. There is also no way to hold the grenade in your hand instead of a firearm or tool. I say don't worry on this, because it is clearly in a limited state.
Spot Player - Just as the grenade just has the most basic and featureless demonstrative functionality possible, so did spotting. Mash 1, anything within 300 meters that you can see lights up with a nametag. This is obviously not how it is intended for the final run, and will likely undergo considerable cone and range limitations before beta begins.
Feel & Recoil - I felt like most anti-infantry weapons spray and require tapfire or bursts, anti-vehicular are all slow (slow travel speed and / or rate of fire) projectiles with heavy kick, and AA is mostly accurate flak sprayfire. In general, I didn't feel confident holding down left-click for too long with any high RoF weapon, even dual Quasars. If I recall correctly, it does pull the weapon up a bit, instead of simply addressing recoil with bloom. I couldn't really tell if mods were doing what they said they would (aside from scope) so I didn't get a feel for how much each variation actually changes everything.
Additional notes:
Don't disrespect sidearms, not for a damn moment. There were a few players (mainly NC) who I met pistol vs rifle and smoked them. They draw really fast, so its better to go to than a rifle from a tool. They tighten up quickly after shots, so its easier to get headshots and make every shot count. At 20m or further I'd prefer a rifle, but inside of 20m I think I take the pistol instead. And yes, pistols can be accessorized with upgrades too.
SOE was giving out these nifty lil collapsible stylus pens for touchscreen devices.
PSU meetup failed to happen (or at least I somehow missed it if it happened anyway). Oh well, maybe next year!
Alright I'm back up in 6 hours so I'm cutting the post here and logging off. I took pictures of all the cert trees (except weapon-specific ones) and I'll post them tomorrow. If I see any more questions or requests before I leave tomorrow morning, I'll do what I can to get answers.
