17 September 2014 - 10:37 CEST
Fiskbit says
You just listed half the reason having a full time commander is beneficial. The other (bigger) half is constant expansion, PvE micro, and macro calling. Simba's greatest strength as a commander isn't his getting out and "building a hive way too fast", its his god-damned persistence in aggressive cysting that lets his team stay in the game even though they flash all their lifeforms.
Fiskbit says
No, its not. The having a singular person making decisions about expansion and where to focus is insanely beneficial to a team. And having that singular person perform the expansion is equally beneficial. Of course, there are situations where you can perform at a comparable level with 'musical chair' commanders, but this requires a much greater level of teamwork. And if teams can pull it off effectively, more power to them in my opinion.
Fiskbit says
What? In order for the commander to get a gorge and heal up a hive, they're sacrificing a combination of a) another player's starting PRes, b) expansion time, c) drifter and PvE micro (bonewall and rupture). They DO NOT just "get a free gorge" and "build a hive so quickly that marines don't get a chance to respond". Building hives takes time and TRes investment. For a gorge to be worth it, you're almost required to drop a shift, otherwise you're better off just drifter building the hive and using the gorge to support res pressure or build RT expansions.
It is NOT harder to kill upgrades against a gorge commander than it is against a skulk commander. The gorge can't kill you, the worst it can do is distract you until a teammate returns. If this happens, you're simply getting outplayed.
At this point, I'd like to point out that this strategy was viable before the PRes punishment was removed. By having another player start in the hive they would be a single PRes behind what they would be now (assuming they were never to jump in the hive again) - meaning at most ~30 seconds resource time.
As Seb pointed out, you never mention the timeframe in which Simba was able to go lerk as a commander in the draft tournament. It wouldn't surprise me to learn that it was on the order of 20-30 minutes. This isn't something that's an issue, because if you weren't forcing him to be in the chair to re-expand, micro, and such then you're having other issues.
Fiskbit says
This argument doesn't make any sense to me. You've had several commanders post about how much more beneficial it is to be in the hive rather than doing something like gorging or biting res - including your own commander. I'll add Virsoul and myself to the list, after the first couple of minutes and up until the 15-20 minutes stalemate mark there is SO much for the commander to do. Noone is forcing commanders to play an FPS, its an option for all of them, with its own benefits and drawbacks.
RisingSun says
Yes, and she's disagreeing with your view of the situation. If anyone has a naive opinion, it is yours. It seems that you're incapable of looking at the bigger picture and determining the drawbacks to strategies that you determine are OP. Maybe this has something to do with the teamwork problems your team is having?
RisingSun says
It's pretty apparent that you don't have a good handle on things, seeing as you haven't been able to come up with any method to combat any of these strategies you're arguing about removing.
Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but the vast majority of people arguing for the removal of the commander PRes penalty were Div 1, and 2 players, NOT the Comp Mod team.
RisingSun says
No, you don't have to. As mentioned above there are certain drawbacks to all the strategies you've put forth as OP. And you know what you can do? Go kill the gorge, look he can't gorge again for awhile!
with players having to mist themselves or constantly hop in to the hive to cyst, buy eggs, or place structures. It's slow and awkward, and abilities like bone wall and drifter support happen way less.
You just listed half the reason having a full time commander is beneficial. The other (bigger) half is constant expansion, PvE micro, and macro calling. Simba's greatest strength as a commander isn't his getting out and "building a hive way too fast", its his god-damned persistence in aggressive cysting that lets his team stay in the game even though they flash all their lifeforms.
Fiskbit says
The role becomes much less important because it allows the commander to be more effective on the field, making it feel like legacy cruft rather than a proper feature of the game (and we definitely have enough crufty features in the game already).
No, its not. The having a singular person making decisions about expansion and where to focus is insanely beneficial to a team. And having that singular person perform the expansion is equally beneficial. Of course, there are situations where you can perform at a comparable level with 'musical chair' commanders, but this requires a much greater level of teamwork. And if teams can pull it off effectively, more power to them in my opinion.
Fiskbit says
Then there's the frustration of playing against it, where commanders are reliably getting a gorge and using that to do things like build hives so quickly that marines don't get a chance to respond, or run into battle with higher lifeforms to provide healing support that previously required the absence of another type of lifeform. A solo marine running into a hive room to clear upgrades has a way harder time against a commander gorge, who can take a lot of bullets, heal structures, and just generally make that marine completely ineffective with very little risk of actually dying. And this is all assuming the commander chose to spend his res on a gorge. Lerk commanders are not just possible, but totally feasible; in the finals for the draft tournament, Simba reached lerk res before the onos saver could afford an onos and before the second hive had even been dropped. He chose to gorge to build the hive super fast, but he had the option to go lerk, something that supporters of this change have said is unlikely, at best. Whether the change was made to make commanders have more fun or not, it has a very real impact on balance that many seem to be ignoring, helping the side that looks to be already winning most of the games in lower divisions (and let's be honest: this doesn't help marines in the slightest).
What? In order for the commander to get a gorge and heal up a hive, they're sacrificing a combination of a) another player's starting PRes, b) expansion time, c) drifter and PvE micro (bonewall and rupture). They DO NOT just "get a free gorge" and "build a hive so quickly that marines don't get a chance to respond". Building hives takes time and TRes investment. For a gorge to be worth it, you're almost required to drop a shift, otherwise you're better off just drifter building the hive and using the gorge to support res pressure or build RT expansions.
It is NOT harder to kill upgrades against a gorge commander than it is against a skulk commander. The gorge can't kill you, the worst it can do is distract you until a teammate returns. If this happens, you're simply getting outplayed.
At this point, I'd like to point out that this strategy was viable before the PRes punishment was removed. By having another player start in the hive they would be a single PRes behind what they would be now (assuming they were never to jump in the hive again) - meaning at most ~30 seconds resource time.
As Seb pointed out, you never mention the timeframe in which Simba was able to go lerk as a commander in the draft tournament. It wouldn't surprise me to learn that it was on the order of 20-30 minutes. This isn't something that's an issue, because if you weren't forcing him to be in the chair to re-expand, micro, and such then you're having other issues.
Fiskbit says
Finally, the change fundamentally doesn't make much sense. Whether a commander is in the hive is a decision to be made based on what's best for their team, so further incentive against commanding doesn't really add a compelling new element; it just makes it so commanders have to be fielding more in order to satisfy those commanders who don't like the role they have on their team. I can't think of other changes that have been made to make a clearly sub-optimal play style become necessary, and it is forcing commanders into a completely different type of play (heavier FPS rather than mostly RTS) for them to be effective. If the problem is that the alien commander is less engaging and important than the marine commander, then the focus of the discussion and changes should be on improving that role. Discussion should identify what the alien role lacks compared to the marine one and what changes can be made to bring it up to par. I've got plenty of thoughts on this, and I'm sure others do, too. As it is, we're arguing about a change that was contentious before it went in and remains so, and there are other ways to fix this problem. In the short term, I'd love to see the commander simply never get res, but whatever the case, I hope the current change gets reverted, because regardless of what side I'm on or what team I'm playing for, it really hurts my enjoyment of the game.
This argument doesn't make any sense to me. You've had several commanders post about how much more beneficial it is to be in the hive rather than doing something like gorging or biting res - including your own commander. I'll add Virsoul and myself to the list, after the first couple of minutes and up until the 15-20 minutes stalemate mark there is SO much for the commander to do. Noone is forcing commanders to play an FPS, its an option for all of them, with its own benefits and drawbacks.
RisingSun says
Honestly my posts were mainly directed at Dragon and the others in the comp mod team. You have a very naive opinion and it shows to the people who know what they are talking about. Fisk and I are on the same team but so is FeatherMonster, one of those comms you mentioned...
Yes, and she's disagreeing with your view of the situation. If anyone has a naive opinion, it is yours. It seems that you're incapable of looking at the bigger picture and determining the drawbacks to strategies that you determine are OP. Maybe this has something to do with the teamwork problems your team is having?
RisingSun says
We have scrimmed a lot in the past couple months and have been playing through every change. I think we have a pretty good handle on things. The best argument made against what we are saying is... Comm is boring and it's FUN to have them out. If the comp mod team is just trying to freshen things up i wish the would do it in another way.
It's pretty apparent that you don't have a good handle on things, seeing as you haven't been able to come up with any method to combat any of these strategies you're arguing about removing.
Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but the vast majority of people arguing for the removal of the commander PRes penalty were Div 1, and 2 players, NOT the Comp Mod team.
RisingSun says
responding to part of your post to show what i mean by naive "You don't HAVE to play musical commanders.". Yes, Seb, you do. If you dont conform to the new commander out of the hive meta you lose out on an extra player on the field. 6v5 where you can field 2 lerks, 2 fades, 1 onos, AND a gorge. Not to mention heal up your own hive as commander while everyone else pressures. Something that used to require you to give up a needed front line soldier. You also now have a free bile bomb machine for those pesky arcs without losing any of your vital lifeforms.
No, you don't have to. As mentioned above there are certain drawbacks to all the strategies you've put forth as OP. And you know what you can do? Go kill the gorge, look he can't gorge again for awhile!
