Positive Update and Minor Notes from a Series Vet
I, like many of you, absolutely adore this series and have done since I first discovered KF1. I loved KF2 on launch and wasn't aware of any of the complaints and just got to happily play that for years as things just got better and better.
KF3's launch was a wet slap in the face to the whole community and we all know that. It was a soulless, Temu quality wanna be Cod horde shooter wearing the skin of our beloved franchise to fool us. I wasn't sure KF3 would ever recover or be allowed to recover before the studio got axed for bad sales. For this first time since launch, after coming back to test every update, this one feels like we're finally getting somewhere. Killing floor is starting to be killing floor again.
I could sit here and praise the amazing changes of this patch, and I probably should as the devs have received nothing but negative feedback, but unfortunately it only "feels like we're finally getting somewhere." I still think there are quite a few changes to be made to improve the game as it stands.
The biggest one's I'd like to discuss and get some community opinions on revolve more around the actual "feel" of the game. How it actually plays in our hands and how that translates to our enjoyment of it. I think the changes made to scrakes and fleshpounds this patch are great but just slightly overtuned on the numbers. They're just a bit too close to a full on boss fight in terms of HP pool. Right idea, numbers just need readjusted a bit. It doesn't feel great to go through 2 magazines of an explosive shotgun and my class ability while watching my teammates do the same and somehow it's still standing. They should be high priority targets requiring concentrated team attention but at the moment its a bit too much.
The two most important changes I'd like to see from a gameplay perspective, I believe, would go a long way to improving the experience of play quickly and for minimal development workload. Those are the hip fire and the movement speed:
For me, KF2's hipfire was perfect. There was no crosshair but there was also very little random spread. You had to know intuitively where your gun was aiming but the bullets would go right there. Somehow, and maybe it was just me, it was so perfect and intuitive in KF2 that it just worked. It felt more immersive to not have a crosshair and it gave the player full agency over their aim. Miss some shots hipfiring? That's your aim and not because the bullets might randomly go anywhere in a giant square around your target. Plus, the way the bullets were animated gave you clear feedback allowing rapid micro adjustments to correct your aim in just a shot or two even in full auto. On top of that, something about KF3's hipfire just feels a little bit too floaty. Not massively, just a little bit loosey goosey like your characters been moisturising their elbows with butter.
The other change I feel would instantly improve the gameplay experience is the movement speed. I don't know if this is just the sprinting animation throwing me off but it feels jarring how fast our character is moving in the animation vs how fast you actually move. It feels like I'm one of those weird power walkers that look like they're sprinting but you can casually walk past at a leisurely pace. For this, idk what the answer is. I think the operatives could be a smidge faster but not massively, again I dont know if that's just the way the animation makes it feel. I just felt so sluggish and it promoted spam sliding for speed. Another solution could be slowing the animation to better match the pace you run at which would improve the feel and perception of the movement. I'm not against speeding up the players and the zeds to match though, this isn't about outrunning threats, it's just about enjoying map traversal.
What are your guys takes on my thoughts?