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Starhawk |OT| Not Quite Warhawk, Yet Not Quite Like Anything Else

Jaeyden

Member
Yeah, I stopped using quickmatch pretty early on. Now I just start my own server when ever I play. It usually fills up within a few matches.
 

Bollocks

Member
Why am I struggling to find full matches. Is this game dying already?

It is.
I can't even find 4bar servers until well into the evening, besides that if I do a server search for a dedicated game mode, it hardly ever fills the server window. Last night 8 servers in total for the zone mode, wtf
 

eroots

Member
I don't understand why this game isn't doing better... It's absolutely fantastic in multiplayer and there's nothing else like it, except Warhawk of course.. But, I think it's so much better than Warhawk, once you figure out the battle & build aspect.
 

Gustav

Banned
I don't understand why this game isn't doing better... It's absolutely fantastic in multiplayer and there's nothing else like it, except Warhawk of course.. But, I think it's so much better than Warhawk, once you figure out the battle & build aspect.

First hurdle: It's not very appealing visually or as a concept to the mass market
Second hurdle: It's a third person multiplayer game
Third hurdle: You get destroyed immediately by good pilots after joining a server
 

Sorc3r3r

Member
I don't understand why this game isn't doing better... It's absolutely fantastic in multiplayer and there's nothing else like it, except Warhawk of course.. But, I think it's so much better than Warhawk, once you figure out the battle & build aspect.

Accesibilty.
Balance.
Late in the generation.
Marketing.

Not listed by importance.
 

eroots

Member
I think the graphics are great, better than most out there...except the Uncharted or Killzone series.. But, yea there is a learning curve, but it only takes a few hours to really get into it.. Hopefully it will pick up steam and the community will grow, cuz there's really nothing else like it.
 
Well, I for one adore it. Like I've said before, even if you are getting a bit destroyed you can still find little moments of personal success. There is a lot to learn, but once you get the hang of it, the battlefields become moment after moment of glorious team fun.
 

TheSeks

Blinded by the luminous glory that is David Bowie's physical manifestation.
First hurdle: It's not very appealing visually or as a concept to the mass market
Second hurdle: It's a third person multiplayer game
Third hurdle: You get destroyed immediately by good pilots after joining a server

Fourth hurdle: 32 item TEAM limit.

Who the fuck thought that was a good idea?
 
Fifth hurdle team only Zones is enjoyable for nearly everyone that plays it. People buying the game not on message boards (nearly everyone) don't know that.

But build and battle is the main cause for frustration. Not to sound like a broken record but if it was used to flesh out existing structures and capturable bases it would have worked 100x better, and I would have least bought it then. Instead most games, from my experience in the beta and from lurking here and the official starhawk boards, end up being base A and B and barely anything in between. It is a recipe for disaster that people should have been better prepared for.
 

Z3M0G

Member
Co-op mode with a buddy seemed IMPOSSIBLE for a while... then yesterday I finally tried building vehicles early on and it all came together... then noticed that you indeed could repair the main base you are defending and then we were able to beat the first Co-op level.

Awesome fun!

Edit: As far as the game "dying", I'm sure that game about the red demon is impacting everything else.
 

KalBalboa

Banned
Co-op mode with a buddy seemed IMPOSSIBLE for a while... then yesterday I finally tried building vehicles early on and it all came together... then noticed that you indeed could repair the main base you are defending and then we were able to beat the first Co-op level.

Awesome fun!

Edit: As far as the game "dying", I'm sure that game about the red demon is impacting everything else.

I know I keep posting about it, but Co-op is my main draw so far to Starhawk. It's a damn joy.
 

GodofWine

Member
It is.
I can't even find 4bar servers until well into the evening, besides that if I do a server search for a dedicated game mode, it hardly ever fills the server window. Last night 8 servers in total for the zone mode, wtf
Isn't there a server list bug? Keeping it from showing the complete list of games...if I were to believe my list, 200 people are online. If I make a fane it fills up fast...i doubt I pulled in 20% off the worldwide player base :)
 

Niks

Member
I don't understand why this game isn't doing better...

Learning curve is definitively an issue (imo)
Played the demo(beta), spent quite some time figuring out how what buttons to push to get on the warhawk, then another to get it to fly... thats not even mentioning the bases, while getting killed every minute.

One of the appeals of warhawk, was that it was pretty much pick up and play. Starhawk failed in that aspect imo.
 

Loudninja

Member
Learning curve is definitively an issue (imo)
Played the demo(beta), spent quite some time figuring out how what buttons to push to get on the warhawk, then another to get it to fly... thats not even mentioning the bases, while getting killed every minute.

One of the appeals of warhawk, was that it was pretty much pick up and play. Starhawk failed in that aspect imo.
What? Warahwk is not pick up and play at all.
 

The Lamp

Member
Isn't there a server list bug? Keeping it from showing the complete list of games...if I were to believe my list, 200 people are online. If I make a fane it fills up fast...i doubt I pulled in 20% off the worldwide player base :)

Yeah it's probably the server bug. It's not showing everyone and all the games online.
 

Bajan32

Member
Can I get a clan invite please?
PSN: Bajan32

Also I went to that light box link and put in my info for my beta gifts days ago..haven't heard shit back.

Guess I'll trade this in soon because I don't have anyone on my f/list playing this and I've asked like 3 or 4 times now for a clan invite to play with you guys.......
 

params7

Banned
Fifth hurdle team only Zones is enjoyable for nearly everyone that plays it. People buying the game not on message boards (nearly everyone) don't know that.

But build and battle is the main cause for frustration. Not to sound like a broken record but if it was used to flesh out existing structures and capturable bases it would have worked 100x better, and I would have least bought it then. Instead most games, from my experience in the beta and from lurking here and the official starhawk boards, end up being base A and B and barely anything in between. It is a recipe for disaster that people should have been better prepared for.

i played Warhawk, 4 days ago. The CTF-Large servers are still maxed out.

Action happening all over the map. Soldiers buzzing around in light speed, gunfights, jeeps and tanks were in motion at every base throughout the map (it was badlands).

Jet mechanics feel like a sequel to this game. Much more faster paced and fluid, and free, with balanced weapons (i got more kills with the homings than i did with uncharged LG)

The CTF itself played epic. It took us 17 mins just to get the flag slightly outside their base. Then for the next 5 mins the flag barely moved as that spot turned into a clusterfuck of a tug-of-war zone, one of ours would pick up and the next second he would die and so on. To describe in one word: Intense. One of the players took a sniper, got in a warhawk and landed on top of a mountain hill behind the first base and got some great shots as the enemy came in groups to return the flag. I was thinking if he was playing Starhawk he'd be limited to a tower.

Tanks are balanced. There's no zoom, no double shots. I took out two tanks with the flamethrower alone as a groundy by circling them. It does take skill but its very doable.


After experiencing this round I decided Starhawk will forever be a shadow of the game that Warhawk is. The Incognito split hurt them more badly than I thought. I think David Jaffe was part of Warhawk's development but he left to form Eat Sleep Play (and used Warhawk's engine in Twisted Metal) while the new LB while still under Dylan Jobe just lost focus on what made WH great, got over ambitious, and Santa Monica's consulting didn't help.

I just hope Sony gives them a chance to make a WH2 someday.
 
i played Warhawk, 4 days ago. The CTF-Large servers are still maxed out.

Action happening all over the map. Soldiers buzzing around in light speed, gunfights, jeeps and tanks were in motion at every base throughout the map (it was badlands).

Jet mechanics feel like a sequel to this game. Much more faster paced and fluid, and free, with balanced weapons (i got more kills with the homings than i did with uncharged LG)

The CTF itself played epic. It took us 17 mins just to get the flag slightly outside their base. Then for the next 5 mins the flag barely moved as that spot turned into a clusterfuck of a tug-of-war zone, one of ours would pick up and the next second he would die and so on. To describe in one word: Intense. One of the players took a sniper, got in a warhawk and landed on top of a mountain hill behind the first base and got some great shots as the enemy came in groups to return the flag. I was thinking if he was playing Starhawk he'd be limited to a tower.

Tanks are balanced. There's no zoom, no double shots. I took out two tanks with the flamethrower alone as a groundy by circling them. It does take skill but its very doable.


After experiencing this round I decided Starhawk will forever be a shadow of the game that Warhawk is. The Incognito split hurt them more badly than I thought. I think David Jaffe was part of Warhawk's development but he left to form Eat Sleep Play (and used Warhawk's engine in Twisted Metal) while the new LB while still under Dylan Jobe just lost focus on what made WH great, got over ambitious, and Santa Monica's consulting didn't help.

I just hope Sony gives them a chance to make a WH2 someday.
But the fact that Starhawk is different means it doesn't replace Warhawk by default. Was never meant to. Keep playing both... Profit?
 
What? Warahwk is not pick up and play at all.
Warhawk is nowhere close to pick up and play. It did have a rather in-depth offline Interactive Tutorial Mode, which made the player pass challenges in certain aspects of the game.
But the fact that Starhawk is different means it doesn't replace Warhawk by default. Was never meant to. Keep playing both... Profit?
I swear I kept typing this over and over in the beta thread...
 

DireStr8s

Member
2 things piss me off about this game:

No post match cinema mode

The inability to set up dogfights against AI

!!2 GLARING OMISSIONS!!*

*imo
 
Warhawk is nowhere close to pick up and play. It did have a rather in-depth offline Interactive Tutorial Mode, which made the player pass challenges in certain aspects of the game.

I swear I kept typing this over and over in the beta thread...
In that thread, I was not liking what I played. Of course, there was no zones mode. Also, that was before I played twisted metal and started thinking how much I love the unique online games that Sony presented us with over the years. TM's vehicular combat, Warhawk's multifaceted battlefield, Uncharted's traversal gameplay, and now Starhawk's chaotic build and battle structure. Love the variety. Camera on a stick games can fuck off. Devs and publishers better recognize the importance of that uniqueness and not continue to play "me too" and never reaching the success of COD.
 
I've never played Warhawk, but Starhawk is fast becoming my favourite multiplayer yet. It does take a long time for everything to click, and to learn the vast array of tactical options open to you.
 
I've never played Warhawk either but just got Starhawk on the strength of MP.

I need a good clan to show me the ropes, any suggestions?

I imagine it is going take a few months yet before people start learning and using good strategies/tactics (it took me months to work out what was going on in MAG but I'm glad I persevered!)

Can anyone give me some good tips esp. avoiding getting picked off by bloody hawks while on the ground?
 
I really wish I could fly a hawk for more than 5 seconds without getting blown into a million pieces. No amount of dodging, flares or boost seems to help very much.

I usually just stick to jeeps/bikes.
 

KalBalboa

Banned
I've never played Warhawk either but just got Starhawk on the strength of MP.

I need a good clan to show me the ropes, any suggestions?

I imagine it is going take a few months yet before people start learning and using good strategies/tactics (it took me months to work out what was going on in MAG but I'm glad I persevered!)

Can anyone give me some good tips esp. avoiding getting picked off by bloody hawks while on the ground?

I might be on tonight if you want to play a few rounds. Join the Gaf clan and you'll see everyone on Neogaf who plays Starhawk when you login (you don't even need to add them to your friends list- they'll just be listed right in front of you when you go to multiplayer).


As for taking down hawks, it's always a good idea to have at least one or two pilots in the air to keep them distracted from ground troops, and beam turrets go a long way (especially if you carefully build two at your home base with a repair arm keeping them healthy). Also, if you have a mech version of a hawk stomping at you and all you have is your starting weapons (three grenades and that machine gun), toss your three grenades in front of it and then aim for the driver with your machine gun (using fine aim). You might even snipe them out of the driver's seat and get a free hawk.
 

zroid

Banned
Really, Sony?

xlarge.jpg


(Credit goes to Stephen Totilo)
 

Dragnet

Member
Fourth hurdle: 32 item TEAM limit.

Who the fuck thought that was a good idea?

I thought that too, but the framerate get's bad enough when there's 32 players and 32 buildings per team, and I don't want to know how bad it would get if more were allowed.

Yeah, look for it near rift. It's a blue/purple powerup. It's slow to get started but is super powerful when its fired up.

Yeah, it's amazing. I had a few games last night where all I did was collect mines and the grinder on my jetbike thing, get behind enemy lines and when nobody was looking, fuck up a bunch of their buildigs and put mines everywhere. So much destruction, so much fun! Sabotaging in this game = awesome!


Haha, that's amazing!
 

TheSeks

Blinded by the luminous glory that is David Bowie's physical manifestation.
I thought that too, but the framerate get's bad enough when there's 32 players and 32 buildings per team, and I don't want to know how bad it would get if more were allowed

Sounds like they should've done Warhawk 2 instead of Starhawk, then.
 

Dragnet

Member
Sounds like they should've done Warhawk 2 instead of Starhawk, then.

That or just work on the tech a little longer. It's so close to being the best multiplayer game I've played this gen, those frantic moments where the framerate drops, I lose the ability to aim preciesily and I then die just make me sad. I'd take a Warhawk 2 with some of Starhawks mechanics though. Love Warhawks world. Love Starhawks world! Aaaah..
 

Loudninja

Member
Starhawk Update 1.01.001
It's about damn time!!! -- We're finishing up the last bit of testing and "packaging" so we can deploy the Starhawk 1.01.001 Update world-wide early next week
B&B OutPost cost reduced from 8 to 4 Rift
Field Mechanic Skill now auto-repairs Hawks far more slowly
OX Tank HE Shell direct-hit damage reduced by 33%
OX Tank HE Shell blast damage reduced by 33%
OX Tank HE Shell now has slower rate of fire
OX Tank HE Shell accuracy has been reduced a small amount
OX Tank vehicle construction cost increased from 2 to 4 Rift
Hawk Cluster Bomb blast damage reduced 40% per bomb
Hawk Cluster Bomb blast damage area reduced from 30' to 20'
Hawk Cluster Bomb blast damage fall-off increased
Hawk Shield damage absorption-capacity has been reduced by 50%
Hawk Cloak time has been reduced by 33%
Hawk Homing missile Max speed has been increased by 25%
Hawk Homing Missile target acquisition speed has been increased by 70%
Hawk Homing Missile thrust-delay reduced by 50%
Player Complaint System is enabled
SkillScore now factored-in for Matchmaking
Updated "Player-Danger" icons & logic for server-list
Auto-Turret dismantle now twice as fast
Well of course we are finishing the testing of our 1.01.001 Update but we are also finishing a "stability" patch that includes many fixes for lots of annoying locks that we have seen in our global crash report. This patch should make a *HUGE* difference for Starhawk stability and includes a completely new system for network error reporting that automatically logs any player's network error with our game analytics database. This way we can correlate disconnects by region, by player and if needed, by discreet activity in the game.

The network team here at LightBox Interactive is also working very closely with the SONY Network team to isolate the issues that some players are reporting about our voice chat. After a few games the voice relay system is breaking-down and that's resulting in players being "dropped" from voice communication.

Beyond that on the horizon, we have more updates for game balance, protections against "base-ravaging" and the team is continuing to make great progress on the FREE Cypress Map Pack and we're really looking forward to sharing more info on it in the coming weeks!

The Design Team here at LightBox Interactive also had a playtest this week of a new prototype gameplay mode called "Flight-CTF" although to be honest... it had more in common with Quidditch!

Team-based air-combat, 1 "ball" in the middle of the sky and 2 goals one at either end of the map. You score points by getting the "ball" and flying through the goal. The prototype was early and rough but it was hellua-fun and we'll keep you posted on how it develops, and when it looks like we'll release it for all of you guys to get your hands on!
http://www.lightboxinteractive.com/blog/2012/5/25/starhawk-update-101001.html
 

Dragnet

Member
I like that they're exploring new game modes. There's potential for some fun stuff, some Jetbike races would be fun too I reckon. Imagine if Jetbikes had their own pickups like the Starhawks in a mode specifically for battling/racing!
 
B&B OutPost cost reduced from 8 to 4 Rift
Field Mechanic Skill now auto-repairs Hawks far more slowly
OX Tank HE Shell direct-hit damage reduced by 33%
OX Tank HE Shell blast damage reduced by 33%
OX Tank HE Shell now has slower rate of fire
OX Tank HE Shell accuracy has been reduced a small amount
OX Tank vehicle construction cost increased from 2 to 4 Rift
Hawk Homing missile Max speed has been increased by 25%
Hawk Homing Missile target acquisition speed has been increased by 70%
Hawk Homing Missile thrust-delay reduced by 50%
Player Complaint System is enabled
SkillScore now factored-in for Matchmaking
Auto-Turret dismantle now twice as fast
3369810_o.gif
 

tusken77

Member
Ha, that Flight-CTF mode could be really fun. It sounds like the kind of thing the Top Gear boys would do if they got their hands on some Hawks.
 
Accesibilty.
Balance.
Late in the generation.
Marketing.

Not listed by importance.

Sounds right to me. As someone who was possibly interested in the game, from an outside perspective this game has had almost no publicity. I never heard of it until I saw the beta thread (heard of Warhawk, but I wouldn't call that a mainstream title). I've seen a couple of website banners near release, and no other marketing. To me, it was almost sent out to die, especially given the other factors you said.

Now I've heard here it is already hard to find games....that will slow down purchases no end.
 
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