Posted September 27, 2023
I've put a good 30 hrs into a new playthrough for the new patch, haven't even gotten to the expansion yet, but I had some feedback I wanted to share.
On the positive side, I'd like to say that I find the new cyberware system interesting and I mostly like it. I don't think the way that it was implemented is great though. I had started a new game for the update. I like that you can now upgrade all of your equipment, but I still think that this whole system still needs some work. And it whatever changes are made for the update should not break existing characters.
I will say that whoever decided to just delete all of the old attachments for equipment and get rid of the option to use that, in a way that would completely break old characters and not give us any options or ability to continue using that stuff until we could gracefully change over to the new system just...I have no words for how dumb that is. And that's coming from someone who didn't bother to load my old character and just started a new character for the new version. What happens for the folks who don't have a way to walk back the version to a prior version where their character is actually usable?
I've been playing a netrunner build, and my opinion is that the only improvement is the QoL ability to have a upload queue for enemies. I don't mind the tracing bit as much for early gameplay, and I can see why it was implemented, but for the high end, there needs to be a lot more options for stealth. Especially considering this is a single player game, there's not reason to go and nerf a bunch of stuff. If you don't think other abilities are as good, then make them better, but there's not reason to reduce the viability of something because you think it might be too powerful when it doesn't effect anyone except the player who was enjoying it.
There wasn't really any reason to change any of the quickhacks and what they were capable of doing, since they were all working fine. In fact, I think just about everything got nerfed in one form or another except maybe Bait and Call for Reinforcements. If I didn't want to play stealth, I'd just run in there with guns and grenades or a sword.
Crafting still needs work. The buy cost for components has increased to unrealistic levels. I miss the fact that we can't break down a lot of the consumables from the earlier days that would have helped to alleviate some of this issue.
Quickhacks suffer the issue now that you can't upgrade a quickhack for a reduce cost, and you can't craft upgraded components for them like you can normal equipment.
Also for the perks that lets you choose different stats for cyberware as you upgrade it, that system needs some work. I've been seeing stats actually reduce as you upgrade cyberware for some of the bonuses, and there's no way to change the options on a piece that's already been upgraded, so if you're buying a new piece of cyberware later in game, or made a choice you don't like anymore, so sorry, you're just screwed now.
Have you guys considered setting up some kind of voting board for when you're going to make changes. Maybe something that says "We're looking at changing this things, which of these options would you like most like to see?"
I have more thoughts, but this is already getting long enough, so I'm going to leave it here.
Edit: After playing around with it a little more, the upgrading equipment part isn't quite as bad as I initially though. I didn't realize it went up to Tier 5 ++. Originally when I saw stuff dropping and being available at 5+ I thought that was just it and you couldn't change it from there. It does still stand that if you screw up on your choice you just have to remake it. I also have some equipment with mods in them, and I have no idea how to replace or remove those so I can put other stuff in.
On the positive side, I'd like to say that I find the new cyberware system interesting and I mostly like it. I don't think the way that it was implemented is great though. I had started a new game for the update. I like that you can now upgrade all of your equipment, but I still think that this whole system still needs some work. And it whatever changes are made for the update should not break existing characters.
I will say that whoever decided to just delete all of the old attachments for equipment and get rid of the option to use that, in a way that would completely break old characters and not give us any options or ability to continue using that stuff until we could gracefully change over to the new system just...I have no words for how dumb that is. And that's coming from someone who didn't bother to load my old character and just started a new character for the new version. What happens for the folks who don't have a way to walk back the version to a prior version where their character is actually usable?
I've been playing a netrunner build, and my opinion is that the only improvement is the QoL ability to have a upload queue for enemies. I don't mind the tracing bit as much for early gameplay, and I can see why it was implemented, but for the high end, there needs to be a lot more options for stealth. Especially considering this is a single player game, there's not reason to go and nerf a bunch of stuff. If you don't think other abilities are as good, then make them better, but there's not reason to reduce the viability of something because you think it might be too powerful when it doesn't effect anyone except the player who was enjoying it.
There wasn't really any reason to change any of the quickhacks and what they were capable of doing, since they were all working fine. In fact, I think just about everything got nerfed in one form or another except maybe Bait and Call for Reinforcements. If I didn't want to play stealth, I'd just run in there with guns and grenades or a sword.
Crafting still needs work. The buy cost for components has increased to unrealistic levels. I miss the fact that we can't break down a lot of the consumables from the earlier days that would have helped to alleviate some of this issue.
Quickhacks suffer the issue now that you can't upgrade a quickhack for a reduce cost, and you can't craft upgraded components for them like you can normal equipment.
Also for the perks that lets you choose different stats for cyberware as you upgrade it, that system needs some work. I've been seeing stats actually reduce as you upgrade cyberware for some of the bonuses, and there's no way to change the options on a piece that's already been upgraded, so if you're buying a new piece of cyberware later in game, or made a choice you don't like anymore, so sorry, you're just screwed now.
Have you guys considered setting up some kind of voting board for when you're going to make changes. Maybe something that says "We're looking at changing this things, which of these options would you like most like to see?"
I have more thoughts, but this is already getting long enough, so I'm going to leave it here.
Edit: After playing around with it a little more, the upgrading equipment part isn't quite as bad as I initially though. I didn't realize it went up to Tier 5 ++. Originally when I saw stuff dropping and being available at 5+ I thought that was just it and you couldn't change it from there. It does still stand that if you screw up on your choice you just have to remake it. I also have some equipment with mods in them, and I have no idea how to replace or remove those so I can put other stuff in.
Post edited September 28, 2023 by u2mad