Quake champions

Quake 2 BFG + Quad was worse hah - had those beams that scorched everything as well as the projectile itself - kind of satisfying though when you fragged a whole room.
 
Which i could play it, installed launcher, made an account and still no quake :( waiting for an invite i spose

You are now signed up for the Quake Champions Closed Beta Test. Keep an eye on your email for your personal invite.
 
Hearing people say how good and fast it is and comparing it to quake 3 makes me happy as i love all the quakes. Unfortunately it would also mean it has no hope in e-sports as people cant handle games like quake these days. If it actually takes a lot of skill then it will be inaccessilbe to the casual base which is unfortunately the only way into esports. If hundreds of thousands of people wont watch it because they cant just pick it up and do well (overwatch) then i worry for it.

At the same time i am looking forward to trying it now!

Quake has always been accessible to every level of player because fundamentally it is quite a simple game - get a gun and shoot anything that moves! :p Movement, map knowledge and item timings come with experience in the duel scene, but if you have good reactions and a good aim you can still do OK in any of the team based game modes or even FFA. Plus unlike the early days of Quake 3, youtube is now a huge resource for people wanting to learn and improve their game. I think that is the crux of it though, it is a title you need to work at and it isn't a kill to be killed cluster **** like CoD where silly TTK and 3 lane map design make it near impossible to cover all the angles and anyone can rack up kills.

It's a shame the esports scene tends to focus on duels rather than CTF or TDM, though. By simple logic it would get more people involved at semi-pro / pro level if you had teams rather than a few individuals which has made the esposts scene for Quake quite niche. Having said that, the skill meta seems to be phenomenal with modern players compared to what I remember back in the Q3 days so I can't knock it in that regard.

But unfortunately, yes, gamers these days are conditioned into believing they should be able to pick up a game and do well from the get go. Quake, whilst accessible, has always been an open game not limited by levelled lobbies. You get better or die lots. Like you, I fear the current generation of gamers won't be able to cope without levelled lobbies and matchmaking which is something I think a proper Quake game should never have.

It seems like QC will be a PC only release and whilst that may be a good thing in some regards, it reduces player base dramatically. Perhaps as gaming has become more acessible in general, a side effect has been that it has become more casual. Is there an appetite for serious esports games amongst the average gamer, or do they want pick up and enjoy titles to while away a couple of hours on the sofa? It seems to me people are more interested in watching esports than training to play in them? :confused:

A full fat version of a Quake online MP is always going to be a hard sell to the console audience - no campaign, controller issue and game pace + console game price tag. But I can't see it ever taking it off without support from the console market. The recent trend of console player base overtaking the PC is quite telling.

Also, Overwatch has been really well received by the console market and is nearer Q3 in spirit as an arena shooter than anything esle out there. Blizzard seem to be doing a fine job of encouraging and supporting the console user base which remains quite healthy. Compared to Valve's efforts with CS:GO which basically boiled down to them not wanting to invest in the console player base, Blizzard are showing what can be done and that an arena shooter can work on console. So perhaps there is hope for QC yet? If it stays purely PC it will be up against Overwatch, Battlefield and CS:GO and a limited player base so will have to be something truly spectacular, pushing both technological and gameplay boundaries or it will likely fizzle out.

If you look at the division in player base in BF1, consoles are way ahead of the PC with PS4 being the most popular system by far. BF4 was also extremely popular on console and had (and still does) a massive player base. I think it overtook the PC back in 2014. CoD has been more popular on console for years.

Console games have some key benefits. Generally stable, quick to get into, no hacking (other than XIM users), no hardware differences giving tangible benefits or hinderances and all easy to play on the sofa with a cold beer!

I know for a lot of PC gamers having a multiplayer game on console as well as PC will be seen as a limiting factor but can any development studio really afford not to these days? With the right support and regular updates and content there is no reason why a full fat MP FPS game can't do well, be inclusive of the console audience and still cater for elite tier players and esports.

I have my own feelings on skill ceilings and development limitations on PC vs console, but I cannot escape the fact that including the console market is essential for any modern game (not withstanding niche indies).

I can't help thinking QC is trying to run up a slippery slope and is trying to sell a dated concept to a very limited audience. Dare I say it, the days of a Quake game being massive in the esports scene seem long past. In that regard, Counterstrike won the fight! It seems a risky strategy and QC is going to have to be groundbreaking to work so I am not that hopeful.

But I will be genuinely happy to be proven wrong :)
 
It's a shame the esports scene tends to focus on duels rather than CTF or TDM, though. By simple logic it would get more people involved at semi-pro / pro level if you had teams rather than a few individuals which has made the esposts scene for Quake quite niche. Having said that, the skill meta seems to be phenomenal with modern players compared to what I remember back in the Q3 days so I can't knock it in that regard.

I would love to see a CTF competitive scene develop from it. If they can capture the clan based scene from the Q3 days and give it some coverage I think it would do well.
 
Does anyone know when the next Beta will be? Will you need a new key for it?

The coming weekend IIRC late Thurs through to late Sunday or something.

It's a shame the esports scene tends to focus on duels rather than CTF or TDM, though. By simple logic it would get more people involved at semi-pro / pro level if you had teams rather than a few individuals which has made the esposts scene for Quake quite niche. Having said that, the skill meta seems to be phenomenal with modern players compared to what I remember back in the Q3 days so I can't knock it in that regard.

But unfortunately, yes, gamers these days are conditioned into believing they should be able to pick up a game and do well from the get go. Quake, whilst accessible, has always been an open game not limited by levelled lobbies. You get better or die lots. Like you, I fear the current generation of gamers won't be able to cope without levelled lobbies and matchmaking which is something I think a proper Quake game should never have.

Hate the way these days the meta is so focused on the stack, etc. much more a numbers game and avoiding engaging unless the numbers are 100% on your side - makes it a bit less interesting than the days when it was mostly just timing the red armour (sometimes MH as well) and largely down to prediction of the opponent's positioning, aim and reaction skill which was much more of a spectacle spectator wise.

I thoroughly detest levelled lobbies - when I first got into these games I got my arse handed to me but I got better, I tested myself against better opponents and improved not just from fighting against them but seeing what they did and didn't do and while I will never be beating the top level players I progressed to a point where I could respectably hold my own against the likes of fatal1ty (for prosperity :D https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNj2F_0EawE - merkillist was absolutely insane even better player than fatal1ty but rarely duelled that I know of competitively).
 
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Hate the way these days the meta is so focused on the stack, etc. much more a numbers game and avoiding engaging unless the numbers are 100% on your side - makes it a bit less interesting than the days when it was mostly just timing the red armour (sometimes MH as well) and largely down to prediction of the opponent's positioning, aim and reaction skill which was much more of a spectacle spectator wise.

I thoroughly detest levelled lobbies - when I first got into these games I got my arse handed to me but I got better, I tested myself against better opponents and improved not just from fighting against them but seeing what they did and didn't do and while I will never be beating the top level players I progressed to a point where I could respectably hold my own against the likes of fatal1ty (for prosperity :D https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNj2F_0EawE - merkillist was absolutely insane even better player than fatal1ty but rarely duelled that I know of competitively).

I can't argue with stacking, but I suppose it is a skill in itself and knowing when to engage and not. I agree its less fun to watch but perhaps a natural progression of the duelling scene?

Ah the good old jump pad nade kill. I often left one at the top of a JP just in case, particulalry if I am being chased.

As an aside, I liked Q4 for how you could be creative with nades on JP's.

I also agree with learning. I started Q3 with no former experience and 280-300 ping and 12-15 FPS. Yes, you read that FPS right and I used to play on low graphics too!! Got absolutley spanked. Most people these days would not play a game with that kind of hinderance and simply disconnect. But back then it was the best I had and I made the most of it.

After a year or so I was one of the best HPB on Gifford FFA servers and my rocket prediction was insane. Lost my rocket skills now though. Low ping made me lazy! :p
 
Ooof - I don't think I've played online ever with less than 40fps heh.

It was a "Time" computer. AMD K6 or something or other (I think it was a 686). But it had intergrated SIS graphics. Was actually my brothers PC and it cost a fortune. Ran Q3 like a dog though and I don't think a lot of people remember that Q3 was quite hardware intensive when it came out. Minimum of 64MB RAM when the norm in systems at the time was 32.

Got a RAM upgrade and a Riva TNT2 eventually (although I think we may have had a Voodoo 3 first) :)
 
It was a "Time" computer. AMD K6 or something or other (I think it was a 686). But it had intergrated SIS graphics. Was actually my brothers PC and it cost a fortune. Ran Q3 like a dog though and I don't think a lot of people remember that Q3 was quite hardware intensive when it came out. Minimum of 64MB RAM when the norm in systems at the time was 32.

Got a RAM upgrade and a Riva TNT2 eventually (although I think we may have had a Voodoo 3 first) :)

Those were the days. Most played 800x600. You were classed high end if you could run 1024x768 or even 1280x1024. I remember the game developers used 1600 but that was only for promotional shots on their fancy high end 19" CRT's.
 
They said mod support may come with time but it wont be native like it was with Doom (IE user mods and snap maps etc). Something to do witha hybrid engine. It will also not support VR out of the box so I have read.

I guess we will know more nearer the time.
 
Those were the days. Most played 800x600. You were classed high end if you could run 1024x768 or even 1280x1024. I remember the game developers used 1600 but that was only for promotional shots on their fancy high end 19" CRT's.
Still have my £400 19" crt monitor, no current led/lcd screen comes close to it.
 
It was a "Time" computer. AMD K6 or something or other (I think it was a 686). But it had intergrated SIS graphics. Was actually my brothers PC and it cost a fortune. Ran Q3 like a dog though and I don't think a lot of people remember that Q3 was quite hardware intensive when it came out. Minimum of 64MB RAM when the norm in systems at the time was 32.

Got a RAM upgrade and a Riva TNT2 eventually (although I think we may have had a Voodoo 3 first) :)

Ah had some friends at the time who didn't have good enough PCs for quake 3 but wanted to play dm6 - I did a really bad remake of it (bare in mind this was like 1999 and I had barely any experience of level editing) in Quake 2 and for some reason made a mod with some kind of weird weapons lol.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFAjkA5iaLE

(EDIT: Fixed video sort of youtube doesn't seem to like it for some reason).

As well as for some reason adding smoke trail tracer things added ejecting brass to most weapons (was quite funny seeing someone getting lit up by the chaingun though), added a knife which was just the handle of the bfg, a really bad plasma gun, nail gun and some whacky grenades including a random teleporting one and some kind of sniper/shotgun with slugs hybrid.

At some point the chaingun got upgraded to better tracers, higher quality ejecting brass model as well https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tnZAShzirI (old capture and I don't have a working copy of that version of the mod any more).

End of the day we had fun with it though.
 
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