If that damage scaling table is true and the way you explained it correct Draco. Why do we even have damage numbers to begins with as they are completely misleading. If it says 500 but you are actually doing half that why bother displaying an incorrect number? I know it's mostly the same as the mooks just having higher health.

I wonder if this applies when fighting other players to some degree?

Is it not more akin to a fighting game were you are playing single player but other people randomly challenge you, you can't decline to play with them either.

If you win back into the fight with the AI you go, if you lose the same however, if you are one hit away from finishing the AI on multiple occasions it gets annoying fast.

Say it takes 30 minutes to get through arcade mode, it will be increased up until nearly an hour if random people invaded. If you just want to see the end for each character it could nearly double the time by the time you finished it will all the characters.

I feel the system is the way it is to gate progress in the game to a degree, because by playing as or against an antagonist the level and weapon progression is slowed. This stops people rushing through and then forgetting about the game to a degree. Here the rate of progress if you are just starting is incredibly slow so it isn't needed.

In addition the level differences and forge differences can make any PvP match horribly unbalanced. I feel like everybody should be on an even playing field in this regard. Which again having it separate helps with as you won't dive in with underpowered gear if you don't have to. As whether it's an issue or not a 500+ player stomping a group of new players will not feel fair from their point of view, and as you have to play as a raider for the first 10 levels will make some people just give up on the game straight away. This is exactly what we are seeing and why all the complaints are about antagonists, mentor matches and people quitting or throwing games.

It's less of a problem for the antagonist as you can choose to play the mode with a 200+ character with all the guns maxed out, new players can't do that.

Sorry that's a bit long in the end Niether side is right or wrong, but we can all agree more people sticking with the game is a good thing, so why wouldn't any changes that help with that be added?

I am definitely in the should make the antagonist mode optional. It would make the game a lot easier to balance, and more people may stick with the game if they didn't get annihilated in their first few matches. The amount of new players that just quit is quite high compared to any other game I have played.

The mode can be quite fun sometimes, but when weapons like tolchok and levels like white noise exist it kills the will to play the game unless in a team.

Just make it push without stagger that seems the easiest fix.

No I am 100% with you. The last few sets of changes have added more frustration to the game. The difficulty spiking being one of them. Apparently no-one play testing the game noticed. A cynical person may say it happening just after the game goes free to play, seems like it may have been in order to slow progress. But it is equally likely to be a glitch.

Issues like making all the  objectives harder to do, half the cast being unless on around half of the levels, tolchok and the instant killing of the prorector, and the insane gold costs for the guns are harder to look look past, because they are either super obvious and/or have been complained about for months.

I agree people get a bit too bitchy with the posts. This I believe is because a majority of people's issues are really obvious ones, that have been around for months in some cases. I understand that some may seem simple but be difficult to fix. Just acknowledgement that it is an issue goes a long way, as at least then people aren't shouting into a void.

Just a small we are doing something about this helps. I have seen it in action in my own job. Two months over with analysis and no contact makes people angry and edgy. A few emails explaining why and people are completely fine. The results get there at the same time if both situations, but  the client is less likely to give bad feedback when they know what is going on and it stops things from escalating.

Yeah warm kills him super quick when upgraded as he just stands still and takes it.

I want to know how the playtesters haven't brought this up as an issue. As every long time player noticed it quite soon. New players notice this quickly too. It's a shame as fistful of sand is one of the best levels.

It's not a scaling issue though. If he dies super quick still because you have a good team it's no different to now, as an antagonist will still be able to kill him in a few shots.

It will alleviate the problem for newer players though which is a step in the right direction.

What do your metrics show for the win rate on this map?