The new patch brought item repair into play and it made it so that regardless of what you do, you still get experience and money.
Both of these factors have ruined the game for me and my friends. We liked the way you had to stay with your team, form shield walls and generally just be a team player. That and ganging up on tin-cans was just entertaining and rewarding. (We went back to playing L4D which we hadn't done for months because of cRPG's high level of fun.)
Now people just go all over the map because they'll get money and experience even though they're not close to the team. I see a lot more horse riders that constantly sneak up on you because of poor map design (No, they're not flanking, they're sneaking up on you.)and because they'll get paid even if they're not in close proximity of the team.
The damaged items are just nonsense. When I'm not hit for an entire round or do not use something in my inventory, I shouldn't be charged for repairing items.
I thought the repair thing was going to be a bit Diablo-like but now it just feels like a silly way to punish everyone at the end of the round with the random dice roll. It doesn't even feel genuine, it's more like a speeding ticket or something.
One of the enjoyable things about cRPG was saving up for that nice piece of armour so you could take a few more hits or just look a bit more cool but now everyone seems to dabble with low-cost equipment with makes it feel a lot more like Native than cRPG. I didn't agree on the tin-can tank armies and the high level of attack / movement speed you could attain if you just played long enough but it didn't need to be nerfed like this.
This patch is making more people quit than it's getting people back in, I'm pretty sure of that. It's not like cRPG was so horribly broken that people were putting their gameplay on halt until another patch came out. People will be doing so with this new patch, though. (Me and my friends included.)
I also think the massive weapon changes are unnecessary but the removal of the unrealistic weapons is a good thing.
The horse charging friendlies is a good thing as well. Not sure why the archers need to be changed. I don't play an archer but they seemed just fine. Dangerous, but not impossible to defeat.
Nothing has been done about the poorly designed maps, which is/was the main point of frustration for many players. Guess that's a server thing but cRPG should just enforce maps that offer both teams the same advantages and allow for multiple strategies.
Other than that, this patch ruined the fun grinding and made it more like a team death-match kind of game where everyone can just take whatever risk they want; payment will wait for 'm at the end of the round regardless. The multiplier does't really seem to motivate people. If they suck, they're going to suck. No amount of promises of a better life is going to change that.
People should be rewarded for their efforts, not for just playing the game. And they shouldn't be part of some lottery contest at the end of the round that hands out speeding tickets. Games shouldn't be about making the player feel uncomfortable because he might receive punishment even though he could have done really well.
Me and my friends will probably go back to playing Native from time to time to get our swords-play fix but cRPG isn't really the kind of game we're looking for anymore. It was highly addictive before 0.200 and now it's just run-of-the-mill and frustrating.
Not disrespecting chadz' his hard work but I am questioning his design decisions which are too radical and thus alienating part of his user base. That's never a good thing.
