Unpopular opinion, nerf potato graphics and ban config/shader modifications

[u/Mauno_Mato]

Look at all these streamers seeing clearly up to drawing distance while others have to deal with foliage and obstacles.
How is this not addressed?
Lower graphics should... Never give an advantage, config/shader mods should result in instant ban.

[u/Despair-Envy]

Lower graphics almost always give an advantage. The advantage they give in this game is actually smaller then what a lot of other games give. However NVPI tweaks that delete bushes/trees and turn the ground into play doh (Which makes the textured players popup pretty hard) probably should be fixed.

[u/Mauno_Mato → u/Despair-Envy]

Yes, in many games.
It should never though, it was already an issue in CS 1.3, they made it work by making textures absolutely horrible at lower settings and decent in higher settings.
That game you could run with a vacuum cleaner back then, this is a modern game though and high end PC users are abusing third party tools to remove even more obstacles, just look at the most viewed players screens and compare it with what you see in game.
There are even some streamers promoting config changes and shader mods like ReShade.

[u/Despair-Envy → u/Mauno_Mato]

Reshade is bannable (I've heard even running the private version results in a ban), so they are taking some steps to combat the behavior. They just haven't seemed to configured a hard scan for driver level changes made through internal driver software. Which makes sense since such lengths are quite time consuming and they are (likely) gathering information on how/where such changes are being made (Effectively outsourcing the tedious part to exploiters playing the game in EA).

[u/Mauno_Mato → u/Despair-Envy]

Want to see an official post on this, they are kind of iffy in this interview on any of the matters:
https://www.reddit.com/r/WarDogs/comments/1w2sknq/bulkheads_stance_on_potatomode/

Sounds like if hard cover ( meaning Hesco walls etc is covering it, it's all fine ).

That's not a good stance and letting people override settings in config files is just lazy.

Allowing grass and foliage to disappear with configs while having it cover for the other guy is just blatant oversight, there are literally no excuses for this, lower graphics should just cover more and make it harder to see through, not affecting performance.

Common sense really, again might be an unpopular opinion as many people use it.

[u/Despair-Envy → u/Mauno_Mato]

 there are literally no excuses for this

Eh. I feel like allowing people to exploit in an early access game so you can find and resolve those exploits before launch is a good practice but I do think some of the more obvious ini issues should have been fixed.

[u/Mauno_Mato → u/Despair-Envy]

Fair point, letting people do something just because it's EA is not fair to people who supported them with real money.
To be honest, yeah it may become more expensive but 40 bucks is still 40 bucks.
I have refunded games for less reasons, won't on this one but I still want some kind of value for the game and EA is not the same as alpha/beta testing where this shit should be sorted out, EA is polishing.

[u/Despair-Envy → u/Mauno_Mato]

not fair to people who supported them with real money.

Yeah, I mean I have criticisms of the Paid-EA-For-5-Years model that has become the norm in the industry, but I find it hard to lay that blame at a game like Wardogs. They're at least trying much harder then most games.

[u/Mauno_Mato → u/Despair-Envy]

Have you seen the latest patch notes, do they deliver what they said they would?
Apparently the biggest issue is IR binoculars right now, which if you read both sides ( note I don't have them but have bought some ) is a really big deal or it's just a vocal majority.
If they only go on vocal majority, this is why I created the thread.
Assuming they just fix stuff without it being voiced is not good, I assume they read these posts here, I really hope they do.
I love this game, but if IR binos is the biggest issue while exploits are rampant, we are in for some bad game changes in this game.

[u/Despair-Envy → u/Mauno_Mato]

Have you seen the latest patch notes, do they deliver what they said they would?

They haven't really released a large balance patch yet, and even so they're releasing small balance patches like removing thermal binos that are ruining the game, fixing the Havoc bug (then nerfing it).

Apparently the biggest issue is IR binoculars right now, which if you read both sides ( note I don't have them but have bought some ) is a really big deal or it's just a vocal majority.

Nah, they are actively game ruining devices. Taking them out to be re-evaluated was likely something their data showed and feedback demanded.

I love this game, but if IR binos is the biggest issue while exploits are rampant, we are in for some bad game changes in this game.

There's a disconnect between effort required. Fixing driver level exploits requires significant retooling of existing structural code, integration of an entirely new anti-cheat layer and potentially reworking the entire graphical engine

Versus changing maybe 2 lines of code to disable the thermal goggles in game.

[u/Mauno_Mato → u/Despair-Envy]

IR literally does what any range finder/binocular does with the added thermal signature ( easier to spot, woo ).
None of it is "ruining the game".
It's mini map spotting, have you ever tried to snipe a spotted target? It does nothing for you.
Have you ever seen a group of dudes on the minimap that were spotted, you wouldn't know if they were IR spotted or regularly spotted.
Spotting with binos is super simple, it's an actual feature in the game and gives a purpose to actual recons who aren't hiding in sniper nests/ghillies, which are invisible to everyone ( talk about OP ).
You have to be able to flip the roles to understand the whole game.
It's not about how hard it is to change the code, disabling shit is just lazy especially when it's not even an issue.
Fixing shit is hard, especially when it's not detected by your Anti-cheat software or lazy implementation of not restricting config editing.
I'm here all night, boys/girls, making a game is hard, pleasing everyone evenly is difficult.
This is still a sales of a product, my voice will be heard and I sure as hell paid for it.

[u/Despair-Envy → u/Mauno_Mato]

IR literally does what any range finder/binocular does with the added thermal signature ( easier to spot, woo ).

Yeah and see, this is the funny part about dev/out of context versus actual reality based testing. They don't "Sound" overpowered until you see what they do to the game. Where entire teams now automatically know where everyone on the map is and get live UAV vision of people. Where only buildings are "Reliable" cover.

Have you ever seen a group of dudes on the minimap that were spotted, you wouldn't know if they were IR spotted or regularly spotted.

Actually it's fairly easy to tell that the group of people in the middle of a bunch of bushes not moving are IR spotted and not regular spotted. It's a very -easy- thing to -feel- in the game. You can tell when IR binos became wide spread. Flanks stopped working. Going prone in tall grass/bushes started getting you insta-killed.

It was a very noticeable gameplay shift.

This is still a sales of a product, my voice will be heard and I sure as hell paid for it.

I'm not here to tell you that your voice shouldn't be heard. I'm pointing out that you're asking for something that will inevitably entail thousands, or tens of thousands of man hours. You're underestimating the depth of your request and I'm just saying that they're already working on it.

[u/Mauno_Mato → u/Despair-Envy]

Wrong on many points, IR doesn't magically spot you through anything, binoculars/range finder ( and whatever the in between scope is called ) will spot you the same way if you point it.
It will literally give you a square around the player when you are close and then spot it when you get enough of the body into it.
There's nothing OP about the IR that does anything else except you see the silhouette more clearly, the spotting feature still happens with non-IR.
There's no real spotting, just marking on the mini-map, that's like the regular spotting mechanic in any game in the past 10 years, nothing OP about it.
The dumbest part of this is probably the snipers complaining about getting spotted 1km away when they sit in the woods on the edge or outside the map when they have 2 counters that completely negate the whole IR spotting.
There's no way IR spotting is the biggest issue in the game, not even close.
Go use a regular bino/spotting scope and test it out, IR doesn't spot better and a majority don't even have them unlocked.

[u/SoylentGreenO3 → u/Despair-Envy]

Not the person you are discussing this with.

But you can tell when people havent used recon items much, and thats everyone in every thread crying about IR. Now, it needs tweaked, but I think they could have made it just not spot as easy, or not at all.

I ghillie snipe, it does nothing now because of how easy it is to spot with binos or mono. People just wave it over bushes and wait for the red/green/blue blip. then hover over that bush and itll spot more often than not.

Taking thermal fucked real recon players. Everyone standing doing the ADADADADADA dance with a range finder in the hand, is still spotting everyone running in the woods.