The ultimate problem is, not many people are going to bother unless Relic officially sanctions it and says they're going to seriously consider implementing the changes that are suggested.
There were a ton of these "Let's put together a patch log and pitch it to Relic" type discussions back in the CoH1 days, but the only time it actually gained traction was when Taylor came out and said he was putting together one last balance patch and wanted the game's best players to decide what went in it. Without that assurance, you're going to struggle to keep people interested. |
Involving the entire community is a terrible idea because most of the community has no idea what they're talking about. You need to define a target gameplay level and seek out individuals within that gameplay level for feedback, and you need a strong voice guiding the discussion and defining boundaries. The best-case scenario, then, is a Relic-selected pool of top players that are able to provide focused feedback on changes.
Ultimately, this won't happen unless Relic initiates it, and given Relic's current priorities I doubt it's something they're willing to do. |
Won't happen, for a lot of reasons. The best you can hope for is for the developers to reach out to a group of top players and put together a collaborative patch based on their input. They did that back a few years ago when Taylor Fales put together the CoH1 2.602 patch on a private forum on GR with a dozen or so top players and it turned out to be the best patch in CoH1's history. Unfortunately, I don't see Relic doing something like that again given their current situation and the direction they've decided to take CoH2. |
That's the likeliest scenario, especially since they added a bunch of workshop strings that seem related to that in the last patch. |
I mean, they can be improved, sure, but there's really no grounds for criticizing the concept. More cosmetic DLC is only going to be good for the game. |
There isn't one bad thing anyone can possibly say about decals. Cosmetic DLC is how DLC should be done in a multiplayer game. |
What can I say, I'm an honest guy. |
Who's Quentin? And why do you always use his name in your thread titles? |
For Americans yes, there was less variety in terms of openings, though there were still four completely viable competitive openers depending on the map and situation (4 rifle BARs, 3 rifle grenades, fast M8, 3 rifle WSC). Most of the variety in American play came later in the game, with T3/T4 tech choices, backteching, and supply yard upgrades.
But for Wehrmacht, like I said above, every single top tournament player had a unique style because there were so many competitively viable ways to play the faction. Back before CoH2 came out I could watch a replay and guess the Wehrmacht player based only on his gameplay, and these were players who frequently rotated in and out of top 4 tournament finishes. |
Well, ladder play isn't tournament play. There were a lot of top 50 players who wouldn't last beyond the second or third round of a tournament.
4ES was strong enough that Marinez made it to the front page of the American leaderboard using it on a profile named 4ES. People knew it was coming and still couldn't beat it. He also had decent tournament success with the strategy, and it was adapted a number of times with minor changes to improve its viability. It was a difficult strategy to use, but extremely difficult to beat when used correctly.
WSC openings were rare, yes, but fast WSC follow-ups after 3 rifles were common on maps like Semois and Argentan, and late-game WSC transitions were essential in many situations. It's not all about openings you know; one of the major boons to CoH1's strategic variety was the fact that every tier was viable in a number of different situations thanks to upgrades, purchased veterancy, and the fact that the tiers were well-composed. You frequently saw players backteching to WSC after Motor Pool, or Wehrmacht T2 after a T3 rush, simply because those tiers offered units that were vital in certain situations.
Moving on, fast grenades were actually an amazingly effective opener at all levels of play; KoreanArmy's entire American strategy revolved around this opening, and he had notable tournament success. Even if you don't deal damage with the grenades, you force your opponent to reposition MGs, which negates a large amount of manpower investment, and it also lets you follow up with a triage and transition into the midgame a lot easier than BARs.
As for snipers, nobody with any clue about what they're doing has relied on countersniping to kill snipers for at least 2 years now. There are far better ways to deal with snipers than by flipping a coin and hoping for the best.
I don't care if you prefer CoH2, or think it's a better game. At the end of the day that's entirely subjective, and nobody can tell you what you do and don't like. But if you're going to spout bullshit, at least have a sliver of a clue of what you're talking about.
Regardless, you've pushed us off-topic. Let's not derail this thread any further. |