Annoying things about WOHD that are not bugs

[RedScar]

Saturn is Right, even if I have raced with AG-S since the start it is a bit OP.

Collisions, This ties into the net code but I Can't stand them. Nothing ruins my racing fun knowing that I died because I get stuck under someone on a longer turn and push into the wall killing 30 shield energy. I realize this is a racing game and physical contact is unavoidable, but when I lose more shield to laggy collsions then weapons there is a problem.

[Darkdrium777]

Correction: the Leech Beam was always like it is now, it's only with the change with the Rocket that it started to pull people backwards and become over powered, as it even cancelled a turbo! So they changed it back. Yes, the Leech Beam remains virtually useless as it does not cover the energy expense in absorption or use for a single Barrel Roll.

Guys, I'm really happy for you and I'ma let you finish, but I have to post some of the best annoyances of all time! OF ALL TIME!

Right, now I'm plugged in and charging, so let's go on:

Online menus

First, let's start by the online game list. You have a way of listing every game available that is appropriate, you list the player, the race track, if the game has started or not, etc. However, the problem is that such information is only available for a fraction of a second! It keeps flashing back and forth, back and forth, to the point of driving you insane just because you can't read what the whole race is about in one second! My recommendation is to create stylish icons or even new categories to denote if the race is in progress, and what speed, track and etc it's played at. Sure, you can read this information right now, but damn it's tedious just having to wait for the little thing to flash back to what you want to read.
Besides, it makes the whole lobby look like some hyperactive disco party.
Then, you have added so many icons at the bottom that it has become so cluttered, and these too flash back and forth with the track list if it's a tournament, arrgh. Please, allow the option to check up in a list what the track (tracks) that are being raced are.
Conclusion: less flashing, more readable information, please.
Now it concerns the filters by which you can search. This part needs some serious extension. You have added in so many customization options in the new patches, yet we have about what, three filters? Friends, region and speed class? How about what tracks, how many laps, barrel rolls on or off, pilot assist, etc.

brb, gonna post more later (probably, if I can remember)

[SaturnReturn]

I'm pretty sure it ever so slightly pulled people backwards before it became super powered. It was subtle, but I'm pretty sure it was there. Then after that update it pulled people to a virtual halt, so by comparison it felt like it did nothing before.

[Darkdrium777]

No it had no effect, it just sucked energy. I am 100% certain. It's back at exactly where it was, and where it was like in Wip3out where the energy drain first appeared.

[DISRUPTOR]

1.Records that work. With cheats and glitch times removed monthly.
2.Wall scraping is unrealistic and slows you down more than a head collision with a wall.
3.Ghosts available for all TT's and SL would help arrange to leaderboards into it's correct order and ensure all races, TT's and SL's are based on ability rather than secret Barrel Roll locations and shortcuts.
4.Damage collision is broken and needs reworking.
5.Ship to ship collisions are broken.
6.Remove or disable all small objects from the track that can stop your ship dead. Would they really make tracks with stupid little items on them to make you crash, for example a street light that over hangs over a track where you jump.Or a wingnut on the metalwork walls on tracks like metropia.

[SaturnReturn]

OK. Well I still think I might be right. No matter. It is what it is now.

[Aeroracer]

leech did pullback im sure of that. It does on pulse still. leech suks now..pointless weapon

Leech beam=absorb ..yummy.. yummy

[Darkdrium777]

Leech beam does not slow down on Pulse, it only impairs vision because of camera effect. Anyways, this thread isn't about leech beam only (which is by far the smallest of weapons on the annoyance scale)

[Aeroracer]

by the look of the thread it seem the same things keep popping up time after time.

but regardless of these bum issues we all gotta remember that wipeout is still to cool game cos we all still play it ..it just could be even better with a bit of attention from SL.

[XBARNSTERX]

Leech beam did pull you back(i'm 100% certain), now it does **** all.
Online ghosts, my own ghosts glitch, in TT more so. Does anybody really want to download a ghost that glips 5 seconds ahead. I think not.
Rockets take the biscuit, too many mines/ bombs and shields seem to be all i pick up.
Ship collisions, fed up being pushed sideways into a wall because i cant maintain the path i want to take.
Spectator should be removed, totally useless IMO, and dull.
Back dropper bombs shouldn't effect those in the lead.
Lastly i agree with DD, online menus = to much info , not enough games.

[Kyonshi]

I know its not a technical issue like most of the reports here are about, but i think its a considerable issue, regarding online playing and replay value. Without being actually annoying, it should be developed nonetheless for the following reasons.

WipEout HD/Fury in mainly based and conceived on online playing. No elborated story mode and no characters introduced, its not hard for anybody to point out the main purpose of the game. Therefore, in any multi-player, online game, you have proper identification of your character or ship, in the case of WOHD. I know this feature was already implemented in Pulse, and now im clueless about the fact it has been rejected for HD.

There's already in-game skins for every team, but there's only 3 and all are elaborated in very singular way according to the respective team colors and sponsors. Plus, the neon and silver skins are not that original, even less when everybody unlocked them and think its cool to show it... but everyone on the grid had the same idea.

Personal visual signature would acutally be very interesting for lots of players, its always fun to be recognized around, to develop something original about your virtual persona. Now some may ask "What's the use of this beside being only aesthetical? I would suggest having some images and elements of design, unique color shades, to be unlocked when reaching specific rank and other achievements on the track, may it be the current "Badges". Although lots of us have already got most of the badges and some are highly ranked, this would mean having new trophies, badges to win, or new in-game challenges to have a chance to win design elements.

If its not for the current WipEout title, custom skin design must be introduced in the next one at least.

@SaturnReturn

I'd like to differ about your opinion on Mines. There's actually 3 ways to get rid of them - Cannons, Quake and Shield. There's no reason to remove any amount of them, its not impossible to get rid of, and you must learn to avoid them. Plus, maybe Missile and Rockets; even if you can't blow all 5 Mines, you can at least save some damage with those weapons. Of course, everybody will learn to put them where they're the most lethal; on the narrow portion and/or the overpass on AP, the uphill on Ubermall, over the gaps in the tunnel on Vineta K, etc. But i say its part of the strategy! That's what WipEout is all about. If there wouldn't be no narrow track portions at all, people would learn to spread them wall-to-wall, and its already happening actually. One thing you're right though: Rockets are over-powered by the fact they slow you down ****ing too much, that's ridiculous beyond reason...

[billychanxtr33m]

Leech beam does not slow down on Pulse, it only impairs vision because of camera effect. Anyways, this thread isn't about leech beam only (which is by far the smallest of weapons on the annoyance scale)

in pulse the leach beam had a pseudo disruption bomb effect where it would randomly jerk your ship around a bit. i dont know how it was when hd was first released, but when i first started playing the leech beam did slow people down a bit. now that it doesnt, it is completely useless in single race and only sorta usefull in its supercharged eliminator mode.

anyway darkdrium i really like your points, and ima let you finish, but kanye had one of the best YTMNDs of all time http://yotaylor.ytmnd.com/

my biggest beef that hasnt been mentioned is the cannon. it does no damage, and will only work if you have a flat enough track to not deflect the bullets away from your target. so really the only place where the cannon can be used as an advantage is the long strip around the start on anulpha pass.

for those complaining about weapon damage and lapped mines i think they come with the territory. if everything was puppies and kittens and nobody got eliminated during races where would the thrill be? lapped mines help keep the first guy to get some separation from just running a time trial and being insured the win. to put it harshly, if you dont want to get hit with weapons, go play another game.

@Kyonshi
i dont agree with you about custom skins. i think having no custom skins makes hd way more classy. most the user skins for pulse looked like crap anyway, and that was on a tiny screen. plus everyone would be running with the few skins that were actually good looking anyway so they wouldnt be good for identification. when you are within visual range of a ship you see the user name above it, ive never had trouble identifying my opponents.

and for the online; wipeout hd was a 20$ technical tour de force. you play through the grid, work on some hard trophies, and have leader boards for time trials ect... as far as im concerned, the fact that there is a stable online component with user ranks and badges is a bonus.

[Darkdrium777]

Moar:

Off duty announcer/get your priorities straight!

Needs little explanation. The announcer sometimes omits to warn us about incoming weapons fire, and sometimes even the visual cue does not show up.
It's gonna be quite long because it concerns multiple game modes, and I'll skip lines to organize in paragraphs, but this all concerns the announcement and warnings until the next bolded title.

Detonator. If you read the forums frequently enough, you know that there is a problem in Detonator where the Bomb is not announced properly. Very often it is just the audio that is missing, but even sometimes the visual warning can be missing, my theory about that is incorrect spawning of the bomb inside a wall/off the track, etc. (Which should be fixed too if it ever happens!)

Single race. How many times have you been first, only to run into the bomb of the last place guy after a tight turn? I feel the announcer should still warn about the bomb, even after a few seconds it's been laid on the track. It should warn everyone until the bomb explodes. My suggestion for that to happen is this MS Paint art (I'll be selling it on eBay, 300$ minimum bid)



As you can see from this magnificent piece of modern art, there is some heavy symbolism employed that I will have to explain.
First, the blue vertical lines on either side are the track walls. Then, we have the grey circular object with the red cross as the star role: the bomb. Finally, we have two ships racing, one resembling Goteki 45 and the other some kind of Piranha; these have the cyan trails behind (Just like in the game!) Finally, the weird part is the red circle which appears to be all around the bomb (It is.) This circle is the key. This circle is special. I'll explain:
This circle is actually a spherical volume encompassing the bomb and part of the track before and after it. This spherical volume has the ability to detect ships coming in and going out of it. This spherical volume is the trigger to the announcer yelling for any pilot inside this volume: "OMG JC A BOMB. A BOMB."
This way there would be no **** up in Detonator, and no **** up in Single Race either, cause every bomb will give a warning, doesn't matter how much time it's been since the bomb was placed. That would be better.
It should be the same for Zone Barriers too. And MINES. Forgot Mines.
I hope you understand this fine piece of art.

Next, the quake. Ohohoho, it goes up to get the guys six seconds in front now does it? Except these guys get no warning whatsoever. It seems you've accelerated the quake and it moves at a faster speed, but didn't extend the warning zone in consequence (Actually, not seems, you did.) You should attach one of these lovely spherical volumes to the "wave" so it moves along with it, and it would warn everyone of the quake, everyone who is in range of that volume at least. That would solve the problem.

Now about those priorities, this would be the shortest part probably:
I don't care if I do a perfect lap, or eliminate someone, what I care about are weapons being fired at me. Right now, the announcer will prioritize these trivial announcements over say: "OMFG THERES A ****ING QUAKE BEHIND YOU!" You know, kind of annoying. Needs to be in reverse. Also, same for the new Zone Battle or whatever else, make sure that stuff that can hurt you is sent first in priority to you before say "Five Point One" or "You just killed JohnDoe, I bet he's really pissed off, and oh by the way nice perfect lap." and then kaboom you just got hit by the missile fired three seconds ago while you had a shield, "OH **** MISSILE, I'm so sorry. "

Speed Lap and Time Trial energy restoration

Aigh't guys, this one's simple. Engage God Mode. No more of this % by % increase, 'cause on tracks like Sebenco where you can do 87 bazillion barrel rolls per microsecond, the energy goes down fast, and when you reach these fifteen (15, five plus ten), it goes DING! then back up to 16, then DING again, back up, DING, etc. In case you didn't figure it out, that DING is annoying. So yeah, God Mode that thing and just leave 100% on at all time.

[SaturnReturn]

Kyonshi - What makes mines annoying for me is the quantity of them. Sometimes half the field gets them at the same time. Maybe that's more a weapons randomisation problem or something. I am getting better at avoiding them but in terms of narrow tracks I'm talking about places like Ubermall, where they can be dropped in places that makes them impossible to avoid. It wouldn't be so bad if you could slow down just a little and go round them, but often that leads to a load of ships running straight through you and ramming you through them at the same time. But if you hit them then you'll pretty much come to a stop and be rammed up anyway. I also don't really find there's much strategy in dropping them in the really obvious places. So yeah, not saying they shouldn't be in it at all, and maybe I really only find them so annoying when linked to the other issues, but they're still annoying.

[Aeroracer]

wow @Darkdrium777 detailed post...really good..love a picture to make things simple

[yeldar2097]

hooray for leech beam: it didn't, then it did, then it didn't. end of.

Another thing: Some people being solid at the start of a race when most others are ghosted. GRRR

[IH8YOU]

Kill dead hosts, whether by a.d.d. or rank padding, sitting in a dead lobby sux. No controller activity within 5 minutes total, get punted from race / room.

Ditto Yeldars bit on leech beam. Useless / Sweet ( for 2 weeks ) / Useless yet again.

[Motorsagmannen]

@finngers: the countdown used to work alright up untill the release of fury. but hosting a full room means you get mo time to change. if you keep idle at the track select menu only the other players are able to change

[Kaede]

Concerning the "Off duty announcer/get your priorities straight!" (interesting), I would like to add something : maybe it could be useful to make the trigger bigger when playing in fast classes, smaller when you play at low classes ?
That could also be useful for the weapons sounds attenuation relative to distance, btw ? I haven't paid enough attention checking if the weapons sounds already work like that (I doubt so, though)

[Darkdrium777]

There is a Doppler Shift effect in the game already, if you are wondering.

Reverb/Sound effects and modifications

This one will be short, but please make sure that anything you make in the future as a reverb effect is not as obnoxious as the effects you get when playing in 5.1 surround sound on the new WipEout HD Fury tracks.
I don't know if it's a bug, or if it's actually been implemented this way on the new tracks, but there clearly is a difference and IMO the new effects are intolerable as they completely mute out the music. So if you're playing HD tracks and Fury tracks alternatively, you have to keep modifying audio settings.