Deck says
Game is holding on nicely based on the numbers. Seems like an excuse.
Yeah, it has ++ rookies from the free weekend.
For good commanding watch twitch.tv/starcetereus if you are interested, for lerking you can watch .tv/ryssk and for fading see rantologys how to guide.
For lerk i can make a short summary:
General: Knowledge is power
-Play more aggressive when shotguns are not up (Go in for bites)
-Once sgs are up make sure your team gets to fade res and adapt to be a more supportive lerk (Spikes, resbite, Umbra)
-Mindset: As a lerk that lives, you are useful for the team, even if you have the feeling you are doing nothing at all. Every time you play lerk, try to stay alive as long as possible and dont think "oh we just lose a lerk im also useful as a skulk so it doesnt matter". it matters. Have the mindset "I want to live to get my teams fades up and we have the best chance of winning"
-Time: Dont waste your team nothing nothing. That goes without saying
What you need to do as a (good) lerk:
Pre Engaging (REQUIRES TEAMPLAY: I notice most teams not doing that part correctly):
-Information seeking / Scouting: team calls out enemy position, after that you decide for which engagement to take so you are fully aware of what you are getting into (requires skulks not to suicide on marines but to scout and call shit out)
Engaging:
-When you realize you are the focus wiggle your mouse around (dont actually follow that movement please it makes you dizzy. Watch your health and count enemy bullets; With decreasing ammo chance you gonna survive increases)
-When you notice marines focus skulk or missed enough / reload you go in for bites (Hitting more bites will come with practice)
After engaging:
-Low? Take best route back to heal, watch possible traps, make sure teammates scout your way to safety
-Not low: Help skulks bite res / rotate to next engagement / scout for information [All dependent on situation: How many marines are still on the field, how many skulks did you lose in the engagement, are marines already pressuring somewhere)
I believe the pre engaging part is most important and its what makes you be able to compete at a higher level, not the mechanical skill part. Know where your enermy is and what he wants to achieve in order to properly react to it and you can hit 50% bites and youll still do okay
edit: there really should be a guide on what makes a team a good team, because after all ns2 is A TEAM BASED GAME. All I ever see it what makes a fade a good fade (Well, its hitting swipes and not dying. How to achive that? Having information about the enemy and having decent mechanical skill.) how to be a good lerk ect.
Weirdly enough noone ever wants that idk why. And its not only the communication part, i think its much more than that. Its also about team atmosphere, mutual respect (very important!), personality of individual teammates (Whining? Raging? Encouraging team?) and much more...