So freak'in excited to finally be able to play KF2. I pretty much built a new gaming rig in anticipation of it's release and it has not disappointed. Can't wait for new character classes to get released during early access. New Graphics are amazing and the leveling system is much improved. Still getting used to the POV shift when swarmed, though.
I sort games on wave and then join a near full one on 1/7 or 1/10 if I want to play normal. You can afford the missed money easily.
On hard that's less viable though, but I'm also not sure I want to pug hard. I'm a decent roll player but I'm not good enough to cover for other peoples mistakes so if I'm covering a mistake, nobody talks and suddenly I'm swarmed because the rest either left or got themselves killed my fun diminishes quickly.
Also, any tips on the Eviscerator? Can you even parry with it?
It's a baffling weapon, to be honest.
The thing is pretty powerful, as the blade will one-shot any zed except Scrake or Fleshpound (on Normal), and the penetration makes it great for clearing out mobs. Its alt-fire is an effective melee attack that shreds through stuff and doesn't eat ammo quite as fast as you might expect (especially if you grab the ammo perk at level 5). Also, the saw blades can get stuck in the environment and become single-ammo pickups which is nice.
The problem is that it isn't a melee weapon. You can't parry with it, which is a giant drawback. I think the blades can stagger a Scrake (dunno about FP), if they get a headshot, but it's not as sure a thing as the Pulverizer's alt fire. Despite being able to pick up shots that get stuck in stuff, it has low ammo, and the thing is honestly hard to aim from a distance (which I guess makes sense being a melee class's weapon). But the most damning thing about it is the massive weight, meaning you have to forgo just about all other weapons. You can carry your shovel still, but do you really want to be using your starting weapon in the final waves?
It's also a weapon with a bit of an identity crisis. We already have a class that is adept at clearing out packs of weaker trash (Commando, with their solid fast firing weapons, and arguably Support with their nice penetrating shotties), so I question the value of being able to clear groups of clots and bloats at the expense of the class's niche (melee).
Also, any tips on the Eviscerator? Can you even parry with it?
It's a baffling weapon, to be honest.
The thing is pretty powerful, as the blade will one-shot any zed except Scrake or Fleshpound (on Normal), and the penetration makes it great for clearing out mobs. Its alt-fire is an effective melee attack that shreds through stuff and doesn't eat ammo quite as fast as you might expect (especially if you grab the ammo perk at level 5). Also, the saw blades can get stuck in the environment and become single-ammo pickups which is nice.
The problem is that it isn't a melee weapon. You can't parry with it, which is a giant drawback. I think the blades can stagger a Scrake (dunno about FP), if they get a headshot, but it's not as sure a thing as the Pulverizer's alt fire. Despite being able to pick up shots that get stuck in stuff, it has low ammo, and the thing is honestly hard to aim from a distance (which I guess makes sense being a melee class's weapon). But the most damning thing about it is the massive weight, meaning you have to forgo just about all other weapons. You can carry your shovel still, but do you really want to be using your starting weapon in the final waves?
It's also a weapon with a bit of an identity crisis. We already have a class that is adept at clearing out packs of weaker trash (Commando, with their solid fast firing weapons, and arguably Support with their nice penetrating shotties), so I question the value of being able to clear groups of clots and bloats at the expense of the class's niche (melee).
I was going to say, it sounds like a good counter to siren's. But if it prevents you from using higher tier melee...
I guess it kind of sounds like the chainsaw but with a ranged component on it.
"It's also a weapon with a bit of an identity crisis"
I think that applies to the Zerker class as a whole.
I think the Berserker's niche is there, but it has no synergy with the buffs and talents. A bunch of stuff for Berserkers losing HP, but Commandos and Medics get the HP increases. The static damage reduction is nice, but 5% less damage is basically like gaining 5 HP so it's a tremendously worthless buff compared to what seeming less "frontline" perks get. And then there's shit like "Gain 20% more ammo!" which is really baffling for the class that doesn't really have ammo issues, which I guess I withhold judgment on since we may get more ammo-based melee weapons like a chainsaw.
The Berserker is supposed to get in the mix and hold tougher zeds at bay by staggering them with a mixture of parrying and hard melee attacks. But there is very little support for this role if you look at their stats and talent choices.
5% damage reduction does seem pretty weak. Although I we wonder how it stacks with other defensive modifiers. It would be pretty badass I'd it stacked additively with other bonuses. An armored zerker might be able to negate the chip damage entirely and perfect parry scrakes all day long.
It regenerates 2% of their max armor per heal. So for most people, that's 2 armor per dart. If they are a medic or have some other buff boosting their max armor, then it can regen more (it rounds up to 3 for me).
It works on people with no armor.
It works on self heals and grenades.
The armor regen is instant, unlike the healing which is a hot. If someone is low on health, I can rapidly pincushion them with heal darts to regen several points of armor.
Supposedly it "Stacks" with the vaccination perk (vaccination boosts max armor, which in turn boosts the raw number of armor points regened by the armament perk).
Also, I guess if you were trying to pinch every penny and game the system, a team could stand around a siren so that they can be constantly healed until full armor.
Personally I've been equipping the "spawn with armor" perk for gamestart and then swap to the "heal armor" perk for wave 2.
Tier 1: +20% more ammo for Perk weapons. I don't even think this even increases the max ammo you can carry, but just how you you have when you obtain the weapon. Ammo is such a non-issue for berserkers unless you are really into the eviscerator.
Night vision is...alright? Whenever I take it I tend to forget to use it. In most maps there are plenty of well-lit spots that are fine for fighting except maybe the lab.
Tier 2: +??% damage for every 15% health lost. Hard to say just how good this talent is without exact numbers, but you really do not want to be fighting stuff with like 15 hp left. Also, Field Medics that are on the ball will be basically rendering your skill useless. Maybe if it had a cap of like five stacks and Berserkers had appreciable health pools?
Can't be grabbed by clots, which is useful but man is it not exciting to wait until level 10 to give up more damage for something Berserkers started with in KF1.
Tier 3: +5% chance to stagger an enemy for every 15% of your HP lost, and this caps at +25%. Do you really want to be swinging at a Scrake for a 1 in 4 chance to stagger him when you're at 25 HP? Also has the same issue as the other HP talent in that Medics can quickly make it vanish, and +5% chance to stagger suuuuuuuucks.
Enemies hit by melee attacks deal 15% less damage, making it the only talent so far to get excited about. Can allow you to save teammates when you can't get a Scrake or FP to attack you, and I imagine reducing boss damage will be huge.
Tier 4: +15% speed when HP is under 20%. When you are at 20 HP, a 15% speed bonus is likely not going to be fast enough to escape whatever is about to kill you. This might be the biggest joke of all the skills.
10% chance for light attacks to deal double damage, and hard attacks have +15% knockdown chance. So light attacks have a 10% crit chance and heavy attacks are better at staggering, definitely one of the better skills but feels a bit underwhelming?
Tier 5: I have no idea how these skills work. The way the game displays them, it implies they are only active during Zed time. But, what does +10% max HP do for you doing Zed time? I feel like some of these bonuses are passive buffs and other rely on Zed time to be active. How good these skills are also depend on how many classes will extend Zed time in KF2, because with ten classes it's more likely you get stuck without commandos which suddenly make these skills less good. Especially for a melee class since you find yourself frequently in slow-mo with nothing to fight, and extending it gives you precious time to actually hit stuff.
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StragintDo Not GiftAlways DeclinesRegistered Userregular
Are there any PA servers up right now that has room?
PSN: Reaper_Stragint, Steam: DoublePitstoChesty
What is the point of being alive if you don't at least try to do something remarkable? ~ Mario Novak
I never fear death or dyin', I only fear never trying.
Yeah, zerker needs a ton of love overall. I just think that it wouldn't take much of a defensive boost to make them near invulnerable upon a successful parry.
I imagine the parry system will get quite a few changes.
Bigger weapons taking less parry damage is apparently a recent change.
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StragintDo Not GiftAlways DeclinesRegistered Userregular
Did a 7 wave hard mode match. It was fun, played support. We lost on wave 7.
So I have all the settings down off or low and I still get lag at some parts. It doesn't kill the game but it is a bit of a pain. I also have trouble aiming properly because of it though it might also be because I don't have a ton of space to move my mouse.
PSN: Reaper_Stragint, Steam: DoublePitstoChesty
What is the point of being alive if you don't at least try to do something remarkable? ~ Mario Novak
I never fear death or dyin', I only fear never trying.
I think the idea behind night vision is after a few fights/grenades in an area, there are little to no light sources, making it really dark. I've only seen this in one of the Paris tunnels and it made it next to impossible to fight in until people turned on their flashlights. This might be a bigger issue on maps we don't have access to yet, or when you have a group that doesn't want to fight in a new area.
Another thing I don't like about the eviscerator is that it doesn't have the directional attacks. Adding a parry and a wide swing with it would help to make it feel more like a melee weapon. Does anyone know how much damage the secondary attack does (the one that uses gas)?
I just won my first long-hard match with some pubbies. The medic perk to regen armor is AMAZING. It triggers on every tick of a healing grenade. Some poor soul on the verge of death who wanders into a health nade for its full duration might find himself with 15+ armor!
I've also been trying to get better at dealing with scrakes. AA12 spam works if you have an abundance of ammo, but that can become problematic as more of them keep spawning. I think having someone on guard with a pulverizer to stun the scrake with parries and heavy attacks may be key until we get the sharpshooter to take care of scrakes from a safer distance. I've recorded a few videos of my scrake antics.
Parrying with a scalpel. I joined a match late and found myself up against a scrake with nothing but my medic pistol and a scalpel. I missed the subsequent parries. I don't know if I just missed the timings or of the crawler somehow messed up the parry. Keep the trash off the guy dueling the scrake folks! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDnuzBX5HbE&feature=youtu.be
I use night vision because while call-out or extra ammo might be nice, neither of those are particular important and NVG can potentially save your life. The ability to use it with any weapon is a huge plus that has saved me more than once.
The Eviscerator is a pretty good sidegrade to the Pulverizer but it fills a slightly different role. It can clear crowds at range, hit extremely hard from a distance, and you still have the alt-fire and the weapon bash which are both pretty good. However, you get all that in exchange for your ability to tank. It really depends on how you want to play berserker, melee tank or high damage at any range.
Another thing I don't like about the eviscerator is that it doesn't have the directional attacks. Adding a parry and a wide swing with it would help to make it feel more like a melee weapon. Does anyone know how much damage the secondary attack does (the one that uses gas)?
The Eviscerator isn't a melee weapon. It's a ranged weapon that just happens to have a melee alt-fire.
(it also seems to have a high damage melee bash like other guns)
I don't know about you guys, but I hate skills that require me to be at low health to trigger. I always feel like it effectively punishes me for being good.
Berserker definitely needs way higher percentages on some of its skills and passives. The class feels fine-ish on Normal, but gets progressively worse and worse as difficulty increases, more so than other classes, thanks to needing to be in melee range to do its job. 5% damage reduction is NOT enough - unless the game is just being obtuse about information on the perk screen, and these numbers actually go up at 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25.
I don't know about you guys, but I hate skills that require me to be at low health to trigger. I always feel like it effectively punishes me for being good.
Berserker definitely needs way higher percentages on some of its skills and passives. The class feels fine-ish on Normal, but gets progressively worse and worse as difficulty increases, more so than other classes, thanks to needing to be in melee range to do its job. 5% damage reduction is NOT enough - unless the game is just being obtuse about information on the perk screen, and these numbers actually go up at 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25.
Nah, skills that trigger at low health can be good for skilled players too. Both as effective escapes if defensive and as something that encourages you to live on the edge.
Though I don't think it really works in Killing Floor because your health isn't really in your control so much as your medic.
I still don't like the Hans fight, but I'm fairly sure now that his damage escalates through his phases. Which means that in earlier phases all you need to do is move away from grenades/poison, keep health topped up and chip him until he heals up, and when he goes bright red you go all in. Just had the fight on normal/10 where I convinced people to wait with their grenades until the final phase, and he just exploded right after his final heal was up.
I also feel he has more hp on a long map than on a short, is that correcct.
The thing I don't like about the boss fight is that the damage reduction phase is not obvious. The Patriarch was straight forward. His defense mechanic while healing was to run away. That is obvious to understand.
I expect to be explaining the Hans fight every other match for the rest of eternity
Registered just for the Mass Effect threads | Steam: click ^^^ | Origin: curlyhairedboy
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frenetic_ferretwildest weaselEast Coast is Best CoastRegistered Userregular
Is there a voice server for this?
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StragintDo Not GiftAlways DeclinesRegistered Userregular
So what time are people usually playing? I've looked at the servers periodically throughout the day in the OP and it seems like they aren't really being used.
PSN: Reaper_Stragint, Steam: DoublePitstoChesty
What is the point of being alive if you don't at least try to do something remarkable? ~ Mario Novak
I never fear death or dyin', I only fear never trying.
I think the idea behind night vision is after a few fights/grenades in an area, there are little to no light sources, making it really dark. I've only seen this in one of the Paris tunnels and it made it next to impossible to fight in until people turned on their flashlights.
I was playing in a random PUG when the PA servers were empty, and on the Paris Streets map they kept holing up in the apartment building up the scaffolding from the starting spot.
A few grenades later and we were fighting in the dark.
It did not go well for us/them.
Eventually I just abandoned the room to fight in the spawning area, which went much more smoothly, what with being able to see things as they came at us, and the survivors from the Apartmentocalypse seemed to understand this 'fighting is easier when I'm not blind' concept from there on.
First they came for the Muslims, and we said NOT TODAY, MOTHERFUCKER!
I think I've found my preferred upgrade path for the medic:
Round Start: Spawn with medic pistol and body armor
Upgrade 1: Purchase the medic SMG (If I find any crovels or katanas on the floor, keep them)
Upgrade 2: Sell any crovels/katanas and purchase Pulverizer.
Upgrade 3: Replace medic SMG with medic Rifle.
I just love the medic SMG. It reminds me of the bullpup in KF1. Headcap trash for days and capable of killing husks and sirens if you put several bursts into their heads.
The Pulveriser lets me go toe-to-toe with scrakes. I'm still trying to get good at it though. I think right now the pulveriser provides the best protection when blocking/parrying. I hang onto crovels and katanas in the early game because they're better at blocking/parrying than my scalpel.
Although I won't know until the weapons are added to the game, I suspect I may give up the pulverizer for a lighter weight melee weapon for parrying if it would let me equip a LAR or Xbow to take care of sirens/husks.
One thing I've been enjoying with the medic weapons is how capable they are of making zeds stumble. You can easily lock down a husk at range by peppering him with the assault rifle every few seconds. It's a great way to prevent damage and pick up assist cash/exp.
There's in game voice chat that feels pretty reliable.. If you can convince it to play out of your headset instead of your speakers.
If that's happening, I imagine that it's using whatever's set as the communication device in Windows. Right-click the speaker icon in the taskbar -> Playback Devices to change it.
I'm sort of expecting the "heal armor" perk for medics to get nerfed. It is amazing with healing grenades.
It is also super-good for the boss fight.
*hans grabs a man*
"oh god, I'm dying. Help help"
*two medics pin cushion him with heal darts*
"oh god, oh god..... Wait..... I have full armor now :biggrin: "
General_Armchair on
3DS Friend Code:
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
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DrakeEdgelord TrashBelow the ecliptic plane.Registered Userregular
edited April 2015
While KF2 is best enjoyed with pals, it continues to be totally awesome with pugs too in my experience. As long as you are open to a looser style of play and more wipes the community continues to be one of the cooler multiplayer communities around. It's a great way to get outside of your comfort zone and pick up new things too.
There's in game voice chat that feels pretty reliable.. If you can convince it to play out of your headset instead of your speakers.
I try to disable everything in game as quickly as possible and use external clients. In game chat is pretty much never worth it. Nobody worth a buck of warm piss ever uses it, so you're automatically stuck with the short of end of the gene pool, plus people use it to troll.
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On hard that's less viable though, but I'm also not sure I want to pug hard. I'm a decent roll player but I'm not good enough to cover for other peoples mistakes so if I'm covering a mistake, nobody talks and suddenly I'm swarmed because the rest either left or got themselves killed my fun diminishes quickly.
The thing is pretty powerful, as the blade will one-shot any zed except Scrake or Fleshpound (on Normal), and the penetration makes it great for clearing out mobs. Its alt-fire is an effective melee attack that shreds through stuff and doesn't eat ammo quite as fast as you might expect (especially if you grab the ammo perk at level 5). Also, the saw blades can get stuck in the environment and become single-ammo pickups which is nice.
The problem is that it isn't a melee weapon. You can't parry with it, which is a giant drawback. I think the blades can stagger a Scrake (dunno about FP), if they get a headshot, but it's not as sure a thing as the Pulverizer's alt fire. Despite being able to pick up shots that get stuck in stuff, it has low ammo, and the thing is honestly hard to aim from a distance (which I guess makes sense being a melee class's weapon). But the most damning thing about it is the massive weight, meaning you have to forgo just about all other weapons. You can carry your shovel still, but do you really want to be using your starting weapon in the final waves?
It's also a weapon with a bit of an identity crisis. We already have a class that is adept at clearing out packs of weaker trash (Commando, with their solid fast firing weapons, and arguably Support with their nice penetrating shotties), so I question the value of being able to clear groups of clots and bloats at the expense of the class's niche (melee).
I think that applies to the Zerker class as a whole.
I was going to say, it sounds like a good counter to siren's. But if it prevents you from using higher tier melee...
I guess it kind of sounds like the chainsaw but with a ranged component on it.
The Berserker is supposed to get in the mix and hold tougher zeds at bay by staggering them with a mixture of parrying and hard melee attacks. But there is very little support for this role if you look at their stats and talent choices.
It's pretty much the chainsaw and the buzzsaw bow on the same weapon, with all the good and bad that entails.
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
It works on people with no armor.
It works on self heals and grenades.
The armor regen is instant, unlike the healing which is a hot. If someone is low on health, I can rapidly pincushion them with heal darts to regen several points of armor.
Supposedly it "Stacks" with the vaccination perk (vaccination boosts max armor, which in turn boosts the raw number of armor points regened by the armament perk).
Also, I guess if you were trying to pinch every penny and game the system, a team could stand around a siren so that they can be constantly healed until full armor.
Personally I've been equipping the "spawn with armor" perk for gamestart and then swap to the "heal armor" perk for wave 2.
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
Tier 1: +20% more ammo for Perk weapons. I don't even think this even increases the max ammo you can carry, but just how you you have when you obtain the weapon. Ammo is such a non-issue for berserkers unless you are really into the eviscerator.
Night vision is...alright? Whenever I take it I tend to forget to use it. In most maps there are plenty of well-lit spots that are fine for fighting except maybe the lab.
Tier 2: +??% damage for every 15% health lost. Hard to say just how good this talent is without exact numbers, but you really do not want to be fighting stuff with like 15 hp left. Also, Field Medics that are on the ball will be basically rendering your skill useless. Maybe if it had a cap of like five stacks and Berserkers had appreciable health pools?
Can't be grabbed by clots, which is useful but man is it not exciting to wait until level 10 to give up more damage for something Berserkers started with in KF1.
Tier 3: +5% chance to stagger an enemy for every 15% of your HP lost, and this caps at +25%. Do you really want to be swinging at a Scrake for a 1 in 4 chance to stagger him when you're at 25 HP? Also has the same issue as the other HP talent in that Medics can quickly make it vanish, and +5% chance to stagger suuuuuuuucks.
Enemies hit by melee attacks deal 15% less damage, making it the only talent so far to get excited about. Can allow you to save teammates when you can't get a Scrake or FP to attack you, and I imagine reducing boss damage will be huge.
Tier 4: +15% speed when HP is under 20%. When you are at 20 HP, a 15% speed bonus is likely not going to be fast enough to escape whatever is about to kill you. This might be the biggest joke of all the skills.
10% chance for light attacks to deal double damage, and hard attacks have +15% knockdown chance. So light attacks have a 10% crit chance and heavy attacks are better at staggering, definitely one of the better skills but feels a bit underwhelming?
Tier 5: I have no idea how these skills work. The way the game displays them, it implies they are only active during Zed time. But, what does +10% max HP do for you doing Zed time? I feel like some of these bonuses are passive buffs and other rely on Zed time to be active. How good these skills are also depend on how many classes will extend Zed time in KF2, because with ten classes it's more likely you get stuck without commandos which suddenly make these skills less good. Especially for a melee class since you find yourself frequently in slow-mo with nothing to fight, and extending it gives you precious time to actually hit stuff.
What is the point of being alive if you don't at least try to do something remarkable? ~ Mario Novak
I never fear death or dyin', I only fear never trying.
Ah, I did not notice that. Good to know. Thank you.
Guess I'll go it alone for now.
What is the point of being alive if you don't at least try to do something remarkable? ~ Mario Novak
I never fear death or dyin', I only fear never trying.
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
Bigger weapons taking less parry damage is apparently a recent change.
So I have all the settings down off or low and I still get lag at some parts. It doesn't kill the game but it is a bit of a pain. I also have trouble aiming properly because of it though it might also be because I don't have a ton of space to move my mouse.
What is the point of being alive if you don't at least try to do something remarkable? ~ Mario Novak
I never fear death or dyin', I only fear never trying.
Another thing I don't like about the eviscerator is that it doesn't have the directional attacks. Adding a parry and a wide swing with it would help to make it feel more like a melee weapon. Does anyone know how much damage the secondary attack does (the one that uses gas)?
I've also been trying to get better at dealing with scrakes. AA12 spam works if you have an abundance of ammo, but that can become problematic as more of them keep spawning. I think having someone on guard with a pulverizer to stun the scrake with parries and heavy attacks may be key until we get the sharpshooter to take care of scrakes from a safer distance. I've recorded a few videos of my scrake antics.
Pulverizer party! Everybody gang up on the scrake!
Scrake showdown! A scrake singles me out from across the room. Our eyes meet and we know that we must duel in glorious one-on-one combat!
Parrying with a scalpel. I joined a match late and found myself up against a scrake with nothing but my medic pistol and a scalpel. I missed the subsequent parries. I don't know if I just missed the timings or of the crawler somehow messed up the parry. Keep the trash off the guy dueling the scrake folks!
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
The Eviscerator is a pretty good sidegrade to the Pulverizer but it fills a slightly different role. It can clear crowds at range, hit extremely hard from a distance, and you still have the alt-fire and the weapon bash which are both pretty good. However, you get all that in exchange for your ability to tank. It really depends on how you want to play berserker, melee tank or high damage at any range.
(it also seems to have a high damage melee bash like other guns)
Berserker definitely needs way higher percentages on some of its skills and passives. The class feels fine-ish on Normal, but gets progressively worse and worse as difficulty increases, more so than other classes, thanks to needing to be in melee range to do its job. 5% damage reduction is NOT enough - unless the game is just being obtuse about information on the perk screen, and these numbers actually go up at 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25.
PSN: ShogunGunshow
Origin: ShogunGunshow
Nah, skills that trigger at low health can be good for skilled players too. Both as effective escapes if defensive and as something that encourages you to live on the edge.
Though I don't think it really works in Killing Floor because your health isn't really in your control so much as your medic.
I also feel he has more hp on a long map than on a short, is that correcct.
I expect to be explaining the Hans fight every other match for the rest of eternity
I wish my game played that smoothly.
What is the point of being alive if you don't at least try to do something remarkable? ~ Mario Novak
I never fear death or dyin', I only fear never trying.
Registered just for the Mass Effect threads | Steam: click ^^^ | Origin: curlyhairedboy
What is the point of being alive if you don't at least try to do something remarkable? ~ Mario Novak
I never fear death or dyin', I only fear never trying.
I was playing in a random PUG when the PA servers were empty, and on the Paris Streets map they kept holing up in the apartment building up the scaffolding from the starting spot.
A few grenades later and we were fighting in the dark.
It did not go well for us/them.
Eventually I just abandoned the room to fight in the spawning area, which went much more smoothly, what with being able to see things as they came at us, and the survivors from the Apartmentocalypse seemed to understand this 'fighting is easier when I'm not blind' concept from there on.
Round Start: Spawn with medic pistol and body armor
Upgrade 1: Purchase the medic SMG (If I find any crovels or katanas on the floor, keep them)
Upgrade 2: Sell any crovels/katanas and purchase Pulverizer.
Upgrade 3: Replace medic SMG with medic Rifle.
I just love the medic SMG. It reminds me of the bullpup in KF1. Headcap trash for days and capable of killing husks and sirens if you put several bursts into their heads.
The Pulveriser lets me go toe-to-toe with scrakes. I'm still trying to get good at it though. I think right now the pulveriser provides the best protection when blocking/parrying. I hang onto crovels and katanas in the early game because they're better at blocking/parrying than my scalpel.
Although I won't know until the weapons are added to the game, I suspect I may give up the pulverizer for a lighter weight melee weapon for parrying if it would let me equip a LAR or Xbow to take care of sirens/husks.
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
There's in game voice chat that feels pretty reliable.. If you can convince it to play out of your headset instead of your speakers.
If that's happening, I imagine that it's using whatever's set as the communication device in Windows. Right-click the speaker icon in the taskbar -> Playback Devices to change it.
It is also super-good for the boss fight.
*hans grabs a man*
"oh god, I'm dying. Help help"
*two medics pin cushion him with heal darts*
"oh god, oh god..... Wait..... I have full armor now :biggrin: "
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
I try to disable everything in game as quickly as possible and use external clients. In game chat is pretty much never worth it. Nobody worth a buck of warm piss ever uses it, so you're automatically stuck with the short of end of the gene pool, plus people use it to troll.