An initial spoiler-free review of John Wick: Chapter 2 and our first thoughts on the trailer for Iron Fist. The latest in VR news, updates to Star Citizen, Valkyrie, Gunjack 2, and Overwatch. Pokey reviews Starwhal and For Honor. Finally, we talk about tiers and progression in games.
Here’s the first trailer for the final Defender, Iron Fist.
Interested in a third party head strap for the HTC Vive? Check out the rEvolve.
The EVE: Valkyrie update, Wormholes, drops February 15th. Here’s the trailer and the dev blog.
Valkyrie’s younger cousin, Gunjack 2: End of Shift, is also getting a major update!
To find out about Overwatch’s new server browser, see their developer update. We also discussed the TAC Pro for PlayStation 4.
Soraya’s shoutouts go to Dog Wick and three amazing commercials for World of Tanks! Pokey’s shoutout went to these great Dark Souls lore videos.
It’s available now on iTunes or you can find it at http://biomassed.net/podcast
I am getting way behind, but I am binging on Biomass this week, so hopefully I can catch up.
On suit tiers, I think there should be Militia (less slots and dirt cheap for when you are broke), Standard, and Officer (very rare). Prototypes should be experimental side-grades which change up the slot distribution or something, rather than being inherently better than Standard suits.
Progression should be entirely focused on skills and modules. New players may be forced to fill some slots with CPU or PG upgrades, but at least they know their suit is as good as the next guy’s. I also want enough slots so you can fit a CPU or PG upgrade and still have lots of room to customize your fit.
I agree with J that it is not necessary for a player to catch up to older players in a game like EVE Online. If you take your new Rifter and attack a Titan, Darwinian roles apply. You should be attacking players who are also flying Frigates or Destroyers. EVE does not force a 1 year old account to fight a 10 year old account. If that happens it is due to player decisions, and can to a large degree be avoided.
However, in a game like DUST where who fights who is governed more by the game, the game needs to do more to prevent 1 year old accounts from fighting 10 year old accounts, at least in PUBs. (PC type matches are player controlled.) Some type of skill ranking system in the match making system would be helpful.
I also like the idea of a risk vs reward match tier system where a Level 1 match has its rewards balanced to only really benefit new players, while a Level 5 match has high rewards to encourage the top players to participate. Let the player decided which Level of match to queue for. If a new player goes into a Level 3 match and gets their but kicked, they will know that is the price they pay for the higher rewards.
Hey, if you loose 3 suits on average in a Level 1 match, and loose 15 suits on average in a Level 3 match, then the Level 1 match will be more profitable for you. Then once you progress and can do a Level 3 match and only loose 10 suits then you might be ready to move up.
Probably would be good to have gear restrictions on at least the first 3 Levels to protect newer players from people who enjoy “Proto stomping” to feel powerful even when the match is not very profitable.