My 3 years in XO, summary and forward-looking statement

I started just like most everyone else, Free to Play and in Adventure Mode and raiding, and when I hit 4000 ps, PvP.

But lets stop there for a minute to talk about my experience up to that point; it was a quiet experience in Adventure Mode. Not a lonely one as I met survivors here and there. I had no idea gen chat existed, so, sitting at the gas station in between the little green “raids” and watching newbie and long-time players drive by, taking pot shots at the raiders, my chats were the small ones had between lost strangers finding unexpected company.

At that time I had Tortuga, a 4 wheeled standard Huntsman with rapiers, and Tortuga carried me a long way. Yeah, the wheels went from starters to racing tires, to apc’s. And the modules got switched around to what ever I could experiment with.

Damn, starting to ramble…

Up to the point right before starting PvP at 4k ps, I thought I had found the perfect game. I dropped Star Trek Online and Second Life like hot potatoes in favor of the Wasteland Experience.

Not being any spring chicken to PvP of any sort, having spent nearly 10 years in WoW, not to mention the PvP systems that SL had to offer in its heyday, as well as in STO. However, none of that experience prepared me for what I was about to step foot into with Crossout’s PvP.

I’m going to unload my smelly crap about it, and some of you have heard this rant before, so,

The TLDR;

  • Crossout’s idea of PvP is a goddamn circus!
  • Once you accept that, then, things aren’t so bad.

It really does seem that “Balance” (or whatever concept we can come up for the word) is left in the hands of the players to piece together (or figure out). But, because not all players are intellectually equal, massive issues are glaringly apparent. I used this analogy before, and I’ll use it again, looking at things like a theme park:

We have a park (crossout), it has Raid Land, Adventure Land, and an open field with a jungle-gym to let everyone expend some energy trying out all the things they’ve collected while inside the park. Then, of course, we have a bunch of people enjoying its facilities.

On any given day, a group of long-time park attendees with their season pass that show up at this park to settle a score, they’ve been at this for a long time and there’s a bunch of “unspoken rules” between them all (rules learned over the years that don’t need repeating), they don’t need protective gear, nothing, and they get to having fun.

Then, we got the high school and college gangs showing up during spring break and summer, and Xmas to use the same park. Some of them even brought their cute little costumes from the last time they came to park, and the long-time attendees chuckle at how the newbies squabble about dressing-up or not because one of them don’t got enough money for a dainty costume to wear to the park.

Then, the sad part is, when someone goes and use the Gaijin vending machine for a costume, they get mocked for being able to afford one when someone else can’t.

Then, we got the pee-wee league fully geared up in their parents stuff, completely ignorant of the rules, charging full bore into everyone’s knee caps all over the place. Doesn’t matter if you’re in Raid Land, Adventure Land or out in the wide open field, getting knee-capped outta nowhere is just a part of the Crossout PvP experience.

The long-time players just vacate the field into the bleachers (gen chat) to join the party while we watch the high-school get plowed by the OP college leagues while, at the same time, there’s a bunch of pee-wees in OP gear knee-capping anyone dumb enough to stop and whisper “@#$% TRASH!”

Rant over.

Moving on. Over the last 3 years, I think, the weapons and modules and cabins in the rare, special and epic tiers have really been rounded out very well. Yes, there are a couple straggler items yet to be tooled properly. What are those items? You may ask. Well, that’s between me and the ones that can actually do something about it, the devs.

I’ve made my suggestions on weapons (based on community outcry) and I’ve made my suggestions on game content (based on my own ideas of what the game lacks). The things I will say that have happened (that I’m all on board for) were nerfing of Lancelots and Reapers. Not to mention the inertia changes to cripple the effectiveness of Wedge builds. Hate me if you must. I’m also VERY happy about the addition of destructible terrain.

Hot Topic. I’m becoming satisfied with the evolution of the bot AI. I haven’t been pinned by an ally bot in almost a year, nor have I run across derp-bot trying to lick old chewing gum off the walls. The bots God-Mode aiming is still very present, however, it seems like (and I could be wrong) and I stress “it seems like” their aggro-zone or target prioritizations have been ramped down just a tad bit. What makes me say this? Well, just that I’m able to shake bots off my tail a little more easily. In short, it seems like their leashes have been tightened, and I like that.

I would like to say that, I think, the camera steering should now be solely restricted to the ariel combat mode. If that’s not possible, then I understand BUT, and it’s a big Smely BUTT! Hovers and other omni directional builds VASTLY benefit from camera steering over Wheeled-Gun builds. I do think that, since we’re passed forming the foundations of the ariel mode, it is time to erect stringent partitions between the modes in order to save Wheeled-Gun Builds from completely going obsolete. It’s either that or we watch the continued rise of Auto-aim assisted builds. The caveat to all of this is Crossplay.

Crossplay has been teased for the better part of 2 years now and, rumor is, there was never a plan to be a crossplay game. Add on top of that, the gaming communities shared opinion that the PC version takes more skill to participate in, i.e. PC version is Hard Mode compared to the console versions. It seems this has to do with the consoles already having auto-aim assisted builds. Can you see where I’m going with this?

I do not honestly think we’re going to get a game with strict partitions between the modes, in order to separate camera-steering from the rest of the game. I honestly think that the devs are tooling down the PC version in order to align it with the console versions. This is sad on several fronts for many, yours truly included. But, and here’s the biggest smelly butt of them all, BUT tides change. They change all the time. Where once the deep end allowed for death defy dives, now the shallows sit, just because we can’t dive does not mean we can’t find new ways to enjoy the shallows…for the time being that is…because as I said, the tides change all the time and, when the console gamers have gotten used to how the PC gamers play…I’m certain all platforms will begin to get ramped right back up to where PC used to be. But that’s gonna take time. Years. I’m in it. Are you?

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In pc, camera steering is something mostly used by newer players or the mid to lower skill part of the player pop.

It was used by most in the beginning but now most good players that i encounter seem to have it off.

I stoped using it myself because i was really feeling uncomfortable with the camera and i felt it made harder to do some crucial emergency maneuvers.

All this is about hovers, i highly doubt any other movement part can actually take advantage of camera steering properly, anywhere else i tested it i felt like i was playing with a handicap.

Maybe im not used to it enough though.

Other than that, i remember watching some Ps4 clan wars in Tin a year or so back and competitively it felt very far behind pc…

However, i do believe that people will adapt to a merge scenario.

Other than that, you are right, crossout is a theme park and its pvp is not to be taken seriously

Clan wars is an entirely different matter that im not going to get into.

I pvp 90% percent of my time is in high ps above 15k and the rest 9% is above 10k.

My experience there feels like it has worsened since summer and im not sure i can pinpoint why.

I must say though that imo as long as they keep copters separate the game is in a good state atm

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That sounds about right.

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you couldnt be more wrong. i have been relentlessly stalked by bots in pve. theres certain bots that also, once im in their line of sight they shoot at me without any concern on who else is near them. i could have 7 team mates near the spike / toadfish bots but as soon as i peek out it INSTANTLY targets me and shoots only at me. even when i didnt shoot at it first.
however the problem is i have been harassed by bots in game before, trust me its like having an internet stalker… the only way i can escape them is to kill them or if my team mates come in and pin them to a wall and destroy them. they will follow my car to hell and back, it doesnt matter where i am in the map, they will follow me and shoot at me. :expressionless:

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fair enough. I’m not going to discount your experience. Thanks for weighing in on it.

yep. but i always wondered why the spike / toadfish bots target me. do you think they dont like my bigfoot wheels? or maybe its something about running a certain weapon or something? maybe i got my cabin a little dirty?

It feels like those bots prefer to target people who are further away. Maybe they don’t have the firing angles to hit people who are close and low?

They are slow though, so I find I can usually shake them if I break line of sight long enough.

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I think if you just back off for a match or two and let somebody else win, they will call off the death warrant. You can switch builds too, and they will back off, until you start gorging yourself on resources again.

Personally, I like their more refined, competent, and aggressive new nature. As a lone random in PVP with the added self-imposed disadvantage of shunning the META, I find them very useful as proper team-mates where teamwork is rare. I’d hate to see them nerfed.

In Patrols, I like that they are dangerous and aggressive. I didn’t like the cake-walk they used to be and had never saw Patrols as a legitimate game environment before recently. It just wasn’t competitive, and if anything, I might like to see them dialed up just a touch still. Maybe? IDK. I’m enjoying them now, and I hardly miss the BS live players bring into matches.

I think Bots need trash-talk A.I. so they can taunt players too. A :fu: would be hilarious for when they pwn somebody hard…that’s probably against the rules though, so maybe they need horns they can lay into when they win, or flares.

#BotLivesMatter

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I need camera steering because I got a broken r3. I had a new controller arrive in the mail the other day and I don’t want to ruin that controller too. There is back buttons on it but I can’t get it to program right, still trying to figure it out. There is no bigger controller killer than constantly pressing in on L3/R3 to strafe.

Pressing L3/R3 to strafe doesnt necessarily kill a controller. Its how you press them (force, angle, how much you move it around while pressing). Ive used the same controller on PS4 for 4 years, and it has not one iota of stick drift.

That ain’t the first controller that happened to. It happened to all my old xbox controllers especially back in the day’s when I use to use L3 to sprint in call of duty which in turn caused broken l3s and a drifty left stick. That happened to countless controllers that I owned. My ps5 controller was fine until I started playing crossout again.

Wait, your on Playstation? How have i never seen you in game? Do you ever play high PS PvP or CWs?

I’m a PC player that uses a ps5 controller.