jacob

I’ve said for years that if Gears was going to release another game, they needed to go all in and take a chance. With Gears of War: E-DAY, I think they’ve done that in some areas. I’m just not sure they’ve nailed it yet. It’s obvious E-DAY was designed to be more accessible to casual players, and I actually think that’s a good thing. We need more people playing the game, enjoying it, and hopefully falling in love with the franchise. That being said, there’s a lot with the current Beta that I think needs to be addressed before next week and especially before the game releases in October. - Trades More often than not, the trade window feels way too forgiving. Dying well after you’ve already killed your opponent is extremely frustrating, especially when that player was out-positioned and outplayed. I noticed this happening the most during Up A’s and when players were sliding into me. - Aim Assist Although aim assist can be reduced, I’d argue that it shouldn’t be in the game at all. Similar to Gears of War: Reloaded, if it were up to me, players would need to hit each pellet and accurately aim their weapons rather than having the game aim for them. The aim assist in E-DAY feels similar to games like Apex Legends and Call of Duty. It becomes an even bigger problem when players are using secondary weapons or power weapons. With the lack of horizontal movement combined with stopping power, it creates a suffocating dynamic even for the most experienced players. - Gnasher Damage Drop-Off I think the Gnasher damage drop-off is a larger problem than most people realize. Yes, it’s a shotgun—and one with only six shots—but with how quickly players can close distance because of the current Up A speed/boost and the new sliding mechanic, you often don’t have enough time to switch to and effectively use another weapon. I’d like to see the damage drop-off be less severe or see an increase in the Gnasher’s damage to compensate. - Weapon Balance Gnasher - I don't mind the damage from close range but I'd like the mid range to be adjusted. Lancer - I think the damage is good as is and without stopping power it would be better. Pistol - hard to say because of the overwhelming presence of aim assist but I'd say it's probably too strong and should be nerfed a bit. Retro Lancer - Way too strong needs a large nerf. Incinerator - from 6 --> 4 shots. Gut-Puncher - from 6 --> 3 shots. Longshot - Pretty easy to use given the strong aim assist - Stopping Power The game already feels very limited when it comes to movement and your ability to make players miss shots. Adding stopping power on top of that makes approaching someone feel nearly impossible at times. I’d like to see stopping power heavily nerfed or removed completely, especially if the speed of the current movement animations is going to be reduced. If players have fewer ways to avoid damage, they shouldn’t also be punished this heavily just for trying to close distance. - Sliding I actually like the new sliding mechanic and don’t want to see it removed, but right now it feels inconsistent. The speed of someone sliding should never randomly change. It should be the exact same speed every time. Right now, some slides look and feel like someone hit a boost pad in Mario Kart instead of performing a standard run and slide. Because there’s very little ability to strafe side to side, when someone slides directly at you it often feels like an almost guaranteed death or trade. Sliding directly at another player should be a high-risk, high-reward decision. Right now, it feels much closer to a guarantee than a risk. - Up A’s Up A’s simply feel too fast right now. With the chunk range being as large as it is, they’re extremely viable, and I’d argue that more than 50% of Gnasher fights end with someone Up A’ing. That creates a very one-dimensional style of play. It often feels like your options are either sit back with the Lancer/use power weapons, or Up A with your shotgun. You can "Bot Walk" but that leaves you extremely vulnerable when multiple players are approaching you. There needs to be more variety and counterplay within Gnasher fights rather than one movement option being this dominant. - Strafing Strafing is a critical part of every Gears of War game, but in E-DAY it is impossible because of the new running animations. Without the ability to properly strafe, you’re often at the mercy of someone sliding directly at you. Increasing the walk speed and bringing back effective strafing would give players more ways to outplay opponents and open the game up to more styles of play. - Camera Shake / Bounce The camera shake and bounce feels like a cutscene from a single-player game rather than a competitive multiplayer experience. It’s distracting, unnecessary, and needs to be removed from PvP. - Ranked Play Ranked should be Solo/Duo Queue only. With a game mode like Conquest, I truly believe it’s way too difficult for a solo player to consistently compete against stacked teams. If you aren’t playing with a full squad, you’re immediately putting yourself at a significant disadvantage and are much more likely to lose. I don’t think forcing players to stack just to have a fair chance of winning is an ideal way to structure Ranked Play. - Maps Market - has too many Power Weapons. Incinerator, Frag Grenades, 2 Retros, and a Gut-Puncher is a lot for a map of that size. Outpost - also has a lot of Power Weapons. One which absolutely should never be in Ranked which is the Vulcan. Similar weapons are fine for casual modes but should be removed from Ranked. - Reload / Revive Having reload and revive on the same button creates unnecessary problems. When I’m trying to save a teammate, I’ll sometimes end up reloading instead of reviving them. I'm pretty sure this is partial user error, I still don’t think two actions that are this important should be tied to the same button. They should be separated. Overall, Horde is pretty cool and I think most people seem to enjoy it. PvP, on the other hand, still feels like there’s a lot to be desired, and I’m not sure there’s enough time to sort everything out before release. I want this game to succeed. I’ll obviously be playing E-DAY and creating content around it like I have for the last six years. I want new players to find Gears. I want people to have fun playing it. And I want people to fall in love with the same game so many of us grew up loving.