Goonhub
09-24-2015, 11:57 PM
I have been away from the game for over a year and with that span of time came a change to powers that went from a verb-based system to a graphical mouse-aiming system. I have to say, this frustrates me for several reasons.
1. The cursor to aim is both small and red. If you are colorblind, like I am, this means that you can not see the cursor in the play area at all.
2. Aiming personnel-target powers is a pain. Under the old system that I used, if you were a changeling alone with someone then it would auto-target them and spit/sting them. If there were multiple targets, you were given a context menu. While a little on the clunk side, this meant that you could reliably use your powers, even under duress. With the new system, you have to have your actions tab open and click over there and then try to predict aim. This brings me to....
3. If you click an invalid target, your readied power becomes unreadied. This makes it almost impossible to actually hit a target with an ability, like Spit. With guns, they have the benefit of just discharging and making contact will count. They also have the benefit of being able to fire as long as the conditions to do so are met (have ammo, etc). With a power target, you basically have one chance to hit your target, after which if you want to try again, you have to disrupt your aim and click outside of the game window to re-ready it. (Genetics powers being an exception I've noticed)
All three of these factors combine into what I find to be an immensely frustrating experience and my favorite antag to play is now rather unfun. I can understand that under the old system, just auto-hitting a target was probably considered too good. However the manual aim combined with spit not stunning targets with helmets kind of negates that I feel, so perhaps a compromise.
Here are my suggestions.
1. At minimum, aiming cursors need to be larger and brightly colored, white being simple and effective. Maybe make it a character customization? Being able to see where the hell you're aiming at all times makes aiming decidedly simpler.
2. Make power aiming have a toggle so that when you ready a power, you do not unready it until either you click the icon again or ready a different power or item.
3. Make personnel-targeting powers function on the 'if one, auto-hit; if more, aim' line of thought. Not having to waste time trying to click a single target that may or may not be moving around is much less frustrating.
1. The cursor to aim is both small and red. If you are colorblind, like I am, this means that you can not see the cursor in the play area at all.
2. Aiming personnel-target powers is a pain. Under the old system that I used, if you were a changeling alone with someone then it would auto-target them and spit/sting them. If there were multiple targets, you were given a context menu. While a little on the clunk side, this meant that you could reliably use your powers, even under duress. With the new system, you have to have your actions tab open and click over there and then try to predict aim. This brings me to....
3. If you click an invalid target, your readied power becomes unreadied. This makes it almost impossible to actually hit a target with an ability, like Spit. With guns, they have the benefit of just discharging and making contact will count. They also have the benefit of being able to fire as long as the conditions to do so are met (have ammo, etc). With a power target, you basically have one chance to hit your target, after which if you want to try again, you have to disrupt your aim and click outside of the game window to re-ready it. (Genetics powers being an exception I've noticed)
All three of these factors combine into what I find to be an immensely frustrating experience and my favorite antag to play is now rather unfun. I can understand that under the old system, just auto-hitting a target was probably considered too good. However the manual aim combined with spit not stunning targets with helmets kind of negates that I feel, so perhaps a compromise.
Here are my suggestions.
1. At minimum, aiming cursors need to be larger and brightly colored, white being simple and effective. Maybe make it a character customization? Being able to see where the hell you're aiming at all times makes aiming decidedly simpler.
2. Make power aiming have a toggle so that when you ready a power, you do not unready it until either you click the icon again or ready a different power or item.
3. Make personnel-targeting powers function on the 'if one, auto-hit; if more, aim' line of thought. Not having to waste time trying to click a single target that may or may not be moving around is much less frustrating.
