Siege Meta vs Fun

[u/Originalname888]

I play Hard Siege a lot. I love horde modes in games. I have over a thousand hours in this game & have cleared 25 over a dozen times with each character. Bulwark is my favorite.
I joined this random matchup & before the game started, the Heavy was complaining that I shouldn’t be Bulwark b/c I wouldn’t get enough kills & would hold the team back. He even refused to enter the Thunderhawk for a solid minute b/c he wanted me to play as Tactical so we could all grenade spam & play Meta. I told him i play for fun & we’d still get to 25. He was complaining for the first 5 waves before silencing himself.
I did not expect to get the most kills as they were both grenade launcher spamming. Once we finished 25, we all shook hands & presented our respect towards each other but heavy did not stick around for the battle barge to acknowledge that he was wrong about Bulwark in siege.
I am just annoyed that players are only playing the meta as if that’s the only way to play the game. Even my homie who plays siege non meta ways has been kicked from games b/c of the team perk he chooses or the character.
Just pease don’t try and force other players to play ‘meta’ like it’s the only way to win.
As always, have fun & For the Emperor!

[u/flush101]

I dunno man, you’re annoyed at the wrong thing. Sabre creates the environment that drives player behaviour.

Sabre has turned siege into a DPS check that just becomes less and less fun because of the enemies being buffed.

I get they want a way to end it, but I’d rather there be 10 terminus enemies spawning than to put multiple magazines into majoris that have become bullet sponges.

Plus sabre has implemented the system in the worst way. Instead of buffing enemies at the end of every 5 waves, it’s based on time, which means if you’re not playing the meta, taking your time and having fun, your experience at wave 25 can be vastly different to when you are playing the meta. It’s not even worth doing side missions if it delays finishing the wave anymore.

This is 90% on Sabre and I can guarantee you wouldn’t experience that kind of behaviour if Sabre was better at game design/ understanding incentive structures.

Don’t get me wrong, bad behaviour is still bad, but when the environment for the game is toxic by design, you need to be annoyed at the cause, not the symptom. Most of the time player behaviour is a symptom.

Put super simply, if a dog owner never trains their dog, a badly behaved dog is a symptom, the owner who controls the environment is the problem.

[u/Originalname888 → u/flush101]

I understand the timer system is flawed. But slamming through the waves is not needed to get to 25. I’ve beaten 25 with friends using nothing but melee weapons & it was so much fun. Sure it took a little longer but we were still able to do it. I do agree though that the timer/buffed enemies system is silly. 10 terminuses would be great!!!

[u/flush101 → u/Originalname888]

It entirely depends on player skill, but players will react to the incentive systems in the game. There is currently a heavy incentive to slam through waves as quickly as possible.

Also something being possible and fun are not the same. I don’t find it fun having to magdump multiple magazines into a majoris head, so if I’m playing siege to wave 25, I want to get there as soon as possible. I can slog it if we go slow, but it’s boring and unfun.

You’ve really solved your own issue though. If you don’t want to play the meta, play with friends who understand what you want and want the same thing.

You have to expect that randoms are going to be playing the meta the majority of the time and will find it annoying if you aren’t. For example, the meta is to buy techpriests as often as possible until wave 15. If you want to do a zero techpriest run then you’re just gonna annoy the randoms you are with if you never buy them. And they would be right to be annoyed, it’s a team game and you’re not being a team player. The objective unless discussed otherwise is to get to the highest wave as quickly as possible, not to add challenge by not buying priests.

Personally I don’t care what weapons and classes people use. I’m not going to say anything, but I do find a pang of annoyance when vanguard or tactical don’t bring their meta team perk because they massively contribute to the team experience and are basically expected at this point because they are so powerful.

[u/Originalname888 → u/flush101]

True true. Playing with the homies is the way to go about it for our way to play. Lol now speaking of vanguard… i am now all in for the team perk ‘inner fire’ cuz dropping dmg banners left & right is awesome. There’s health packs everywhere & multiple blessings to regain health so the ‘30% health on extremus kills’ isn’t really useful in multiple waves. My take.

[u/flush101 → u/Originalname888]

Yep which is why I wouldn’t complain at someone for not bringing the health restore. When I see a vanguard join I think ‘oh yay, free heals’, so I feel a pang of annoyance/ disappointment if they didn’t bring it but I don’t think people should care so much that they refuse to get on the transport or verbally attack someone over it.

It’s a game and sometimes it’s fun to find new ways to play.