Blogs Why Dawn of War II Is Doomed

http://www.bit-tech.net/blog/2009/02/22/why-dawn-of-war-2-is-doomed/

 

The single player game is brilliant, however I don't believe it should have been released as a Dawn Of War game, it's sufficiently different for it to stand on it's own as a single player ONLY franchise that for me is exactly what Commando's 40k would be like if I tried to picture it.

But after that awful open beta I'm going to have to work hard to convince my friends it's worth their money.

 

Italic tags under the first picture are off btw

I had the same feeling in a lot of RTSs these days, mainly though I stopped playing since AOE2 because I never had the time

 

beta wasn't great, played a couple games doing 3v3 with my housemate as teammate, and i had no idea what to do...... even after the 5th game, still spamming tactical marines and sending them all in, hoping for the best.

 

A little early to sound the death of the game. This is a fairly new multiplayer style of gameplay. I think your underestimating people's ability to adapt. Sure there's going to be a learning curve, which for some is going to be tough, but Company Of Heroes has done well (which is harder). No reason to think this won't either, given time.

 

Funny you mention that as CoH is my fav online game - I play a good 10+ games in 1v1 automatch a week, but it's criminally tough to get into. I'm somewhat playing devils advocate in this blog post - I REALLY don't want it to happen as DoW2's multiplayer is awesome, but I can see so many people being deterred by the ludicrously steep learning curve that I don't think it'll become as successful online as it deserves to be.

 

DoW2, like all multiplayer games, is best played with people you know anyway
random games against random people suck in every game vOv

 

Isn't there a skirmish mode where you can practice the multiplayer aspect against AI?

 

There is. The first time you select Multiplayer, the game says "This is the first time you've played multiplayer. You should play against the easy AI first." And it gives you tips and instructions on the left hand side of the screen.

 

playing through the first couple of missions in the single player helps too, as it teaches you alot of the basics, including unit types strengths and weaknesses. personally i think that anyone who whinges about having their ass handed to them in a multiplayer RTS without having played any portion of the single player part first (the part that actually introduces you to the gameplay mechanics, tactics etc) deserves to have their ass handed to them every single time.

 

Again with the game difficulty being too much to handle - LMAO!

I played the Beta and played the retail version. Currently playing the single player campaign and had a 3vs3 LAN over the weekend with the game. Here is what I observed - yes it does take a while to get into the game to even the playing field. In my case I was the only one playing the BETA and the 5 other guys had no clue. Took two games for the guys from running around like maniacs to actually using the correct units (Two Tyranid, Three Eldar, One Ork player was the final game) to putting up a very good and smart fight.

I generally do not understand what type of players would deem the likes of DOW2 too difficult to a point where they will give up playing the game? Maybe there is a whole can of problems somewhere else (attitude, character and general viewpoint on things out of the norm) and not with the game ...

 

Yeah Harry, im afraid im with grolph on this, it seems you failed :/ and are consequently discouraging people from playing an otherwise highly enjoyable multiplayer game.

Every time you click "multiplayer" untill you actually finish a match you are prompted with a massive "this is your first time playing multiplayer, would you like to play a cpu first to learn not to be a noob"

or something to that effect.

Yes, "trueskill" is messed up, i feel Valve could have done it 10x better. but not following simple instructions on the screen also doesnt help.

 

isn't this a problem with all multi-player elements to some extent.

not being a seasoned gamer (in the mp world that is), i find that no matter how little time the game has been out, there's inevitably a gap. no matter who i play, they're generally more experienced than me, even if not in that particular game, in the skills required for that genre online. and there's no real forgiveness unless you're playing with a mate who takes it easy on you.

someone did that for me in cod4, and as a result, i got to ease into it, then i was playing in a whole group having tonnes of fun. ok they were still killing me a lot, but that was cos i was still learning, not because i didn't know what the heck to do - it's a lot less frustrating that way.

but the fact is, the real gaming world generally doesn't work like that, and anyone coming new to a game is usually left feeling miles behind.

of course from your description this game punishes more than usual, but in my experience, this is basically the multi-player world

 

CoH has epic multiplayer. It is very tricky to get to grips with, but that's because the strategies are so immense. Last time I played online, I was using a fairly spammy tactic of going Axis, defensive doctrine, lots of volksgrenadiers (a *bit* like scout squads in DoW), couple of MGs and building medic bunkers aroud the map. Then your volks run and cap / gank enemy units with weight in numbers and if they are looking unwell you pull them back to the medic bunker (reinforce squad) with an MG inside it. Then you fast tech up to T3 and get your armour out and it's GG.

The only counter really is if the allies go for a fast M8 (like mini-tank) but that's a risky strategy, and even if they do unless they execute it flawlessly your Stugs will be coming out pretty quick.

In CoH you need to learn all the units, all the maps, in depth. At least there is an AI to start on for some fun.

 

OMG you have to think for once while playing multiplayer!!!! You can't be the guy that wastes 45mins building a base, mass troops and ends up losing. A game with a challenge and a heavy learning curve, sorry casuals this might not be for you. If you want an easy match play the worthless CPU in multiplayer. It's been awhile since a good RTS came out (RA3 was pure donkey ****! Long live RA2). Why play a game if you're just going to quit because it's to challenging? If it takes you a month to master it then that's money well spent.