I don't know what changed but I've never gotten this before. Once or twice per game the entire game will crash and close out. I then have to restart everything and join up.

This is in conjunction with the fact the game still crashes in the post-game screen for me every. single. time. I never see the post-game cutscene because the game ALWAYS crashes after the rewards screen.

Considering you get charged for the campaigns, I don't even think cosmetic items should be for sale. It isn't as if this game is a MOBA, where you get access to everything (the game modes) EXCEPT all the skins.

Smite has way more characters than Raiders, and waaaaaaaaaaaay more skin variation. They also have premium skins and alternate colors, as well as mastery skins.

If Raiders could ramp up the skin variety, and include a bunch of skins you can buy with tickets or gold, then have real money skins for cash (but then those skins should be more special than just looking different. They should, at least, change the way your character ability looks.

Similar to how Poseidon, from Smite, will have different versions of the Kraken ultimate appear depending on the tier-4 skin you're using.

That being said, I think those skins should stay within the realm of $5-8 US. Why? Probably because the ENTIRE DLC, THE CHARACTERS THEY UNLOCK, AND THE FREAKING WEAPONS THEY ALLOW YOU TO UNLOCK cost $10.

I also think $10 per DLC, considering what you get, is fairly reasonable. Since this isn't exactly a long drawn out game with a lot to do and explore. You're forced to do PvP or at least co-op to make any progress and are tethered to queue times, shoddy MMR mechanics, dealing with antagonists, RNG, and repetitive objectives.

A game like SFV was charging like $3-5 US per skin. A game like Injustice gave you all the customization items for free, but sold character packs or characters themselves for cash. A game like Paragon had skins for $5-15 US, but was also giving them away for free in loot boxes you could win all the time from playing the game.

I think the solution is to add alternate colors of the default skins, make them purchasable with gold/tickets, and then bring down the price of new textures to $5-8 dollars. I'd be tempted to spend money that way. There is no realm where I would spend $20 or $30 for a damn skin. That is insanity. I don't give a shit how much work it took to do. One skin costs more than all DLCs and the 3 characters you unlock - as well as all the weapons you can get from the DLCs? Nah.

My guess is they keep the skins that high because someone will invariably buy it. There are always people with tons of expendable income. But it looks really greedy and opportunistic to players that exercise caution when companies look like they wanna pull a fast one on you.

Then they have sales to bring the price down to more reasonable levels and capitalize on sales-mentality, where people opt to purchase skins because they're normally so damn expensive.

I complained about this weeks ago and was told basically to "git gud" and that my feedback on the matter wasn't the type of feedback they wanted.

Even though feedback about a mechanic feeling unbalanced IS feedback, regardless of whether you agree or not.

I totally think it's kind of ridiculous for a bunny-hopping character to play carpet-bomb simulator all game, but some people don't give a crap (or Alicia is their bread-n-butter character).

New players continue to sabotage the objective by destroying the pads instead of putting aleph in them.

There is no in-game text feature or comms, so you literally watch this person do the opposite of the objective over and over and over again.

This has been noted before, but why are antagonists that are almost level 200 getting paired with powerful AI against lower level Raiders (less than 50).

MMR boosted AI + Antag with stat buffs and max Forge weapon. How is this a healthy thing to have in a PvP game that wouldn't just discourage people from going to something like Fortnite?

Just played another game, Hanging by a Thread, where on the 4th phase (putting aleph in the generators) the AI had a ridiculous amount of elite AI spawn. More than I've seen on that level before.

Yes, antagonist was getting destroyed all game, but so were our new players. Between antagonist and AI, they exhausted our lives once during the second stage (shooting those things out of the sky).

But I guess antagonist was dying too much or MMR was too high or I don't even know what. Next thing I know my teammates are getting grappled by back-to-back elite enemies.

Since my teammates were already doing poorly in hand-to-hand the whole game, pumping the map full of grapplers basically stuffed them in a box indefinitely. They barely understood that you can't melee electrified elite unit (aleph boosted).

So now the game AI overcompensates to increase the antagonist's chances of winning by throttling our weak point and putting more enemies on the map than I (or the other guy who was doing well) can deal with.

Again, feels extremely unsatisfying to play a game that punishes you for doing well.

It feels like the system is trying to force certain outcomes.

I queued up for an antagonist game and just threw the game to lower my MMR.

Maybe after I force myself to lose, like the game seems to want me to do, I'll be able to get some decent games.

I think it also needs to be said that a "harder game" is not necessarily a better game. Especially when high MMR means bullet sponge enemies with high damage (knock you down or kill you in 2-3 seconds, or set you up to be finished by the antag).

That isn't a meaningful increase in difficulty that feels rewarding and challenging. It feels like a chore, where your options are limited and you have to play the game in the most inch-worm manner, fighting tooth-and-nail for the same rewards.

It isn't rewarding from a challenge perspective because the AI becomes a greater contributor than the players or their skill. You can be as good as you want, you're gonna run into difficulty when a swarm of enemies focus-fire on you, down you, and the antag calmly walks up and kills you.

I know MSE has acknowledged the game isn't balanced and that it's a work in progress, but this MMR system definitely feels like a band-aid fix.

As OP noted, it is also difficult to understand why the game has enforced MMR (longer queue times) when the population is so sparse.

You want to get in the game and try it out, make progress, get exp, unlock stuff. You don't want to sit down and hope you can squeeze in a match or two, assuming the MMR holds up, the playerbase is in the right ballpark, and you aren't shafted with AFK teammates or ultra powerful AI.

I'll say it again, the fact that antag mode can result in some hugely skewed matches against Raiders (with a low level antag getting pinned against high level and/or experienced Raiders) is largely a flaw of the antagonist system as it is presently structured.

Many people have constantly noted their dissatisfaction with the antagonist system, particularly the "you're gonna play this mode and like it" attitude that MSE promotes by locking blueprints behind it.

Antagonist mode seems like a mode for the type of people who would like antagonist mode. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy. There isn't much effort to get players comfortable with the game, all the characters, the weapons, and then give them the option to do antagonist mode to really test themselves.

It feels like antagonist mode should be played by people who are inclined, of their own free will, without having rewards kept from them - or reserved for high level players with many options/weapons and experience at their disposal.

As it stands, antagonist mode can very quickly, and frequently does, turn into 4v1 beatdown that leaves many players either quitting the game or not liking the mode at all.

Figures that being thrown into a mode where you could potentially encounter people who already have the maps memorized, know all your spawn points, have stats buffing their characters, cards unlocked, weapons all stat'd out, and coordinating together would be exceedingly frustrating and serve as a impediment to enjoying an otherwise fun and interesting game.

Cutscenes? Characters? Style? Mechanics (ehhhh melee is really wonky)? Content? Good stuff.

Balance? MMR? Skin prices ($30, as much as all 3 DLC - just no lol)? Antagonist mode? Blueprints locked behind antagonist mode? No meaningful PvE? Come on, dude.

You can also queue for antag game and just quit lol - it will auto lose the game.