Profile of CieZ

ST = Shock Troops, doesn't seem that complicated...? Although just saying Shocks is easier for everyone.

That has not been happening just with the latest patches ciez. M3flamer,m3sniper, maxim spam, mg42 spam have all been popular in the early game.
With the latest patch the mg42 is finally in a good spot and with the nerfed houses every cover has become more important

I'm not trying to make the claim that the early game is less varied - only that it "exists" for a very short amount of time now. I've been loving this patch, it is a huge step up from last patch where the only thing each side could reliably do was spam Cons/Grens with maybe an AGren squad thrown into the mix. Unless of course you're OMGPOP and somehow magically make M3s viable 23 minutes into the game (but then again OMGPOP is easily one of the best players currently). But the vast majority of what I experienced, and saw, last patch was Con spam vs Gren spam. So yes, this patch throwing other units into the mix is great.

But when doctrinal elite infantry hit the field so early (like 1.5-2 mins or so?) into the game and powerful upgrades like PPSh and G43s come very shortly after that it is apparent that this patch has drastically reduced the amount of time players spend in the early game stage. Prior to this patch it was entirely possible to have a FHT or a 222 on the field before Guards/Shocks - hence the more "mid game" units of each faction hit the field at reasonably similar times . Also if you want to parallel shocks with Pgrens since they fill the same role, albeit in different ways (I'd still argue that they're counterparts to one another in the same way that Grens/Cons are counterparts) they also hit the field at approximately the same time, again I'm talking prior to this patch.

Currently Soviets can have Guards on the field before a FHT or 221/222 which effectively makes the 221/222 completely useless unless you know for a fact that they do not have guards (And even then a 221/222 is pretty mediocre against shocks - I certainly wouldn't waste my fuel on one to kill shocks) and it relegates the FHT to being a completely reactionary unit to shock troops specifically.

Additionally (and I realize team games are not a top priority for balance but the majority of us play and enjoy them) it throws off team game balance. What can Germans really do against 1 CP shocks + guards? It is extraordinarily easy for one Soviet player to get an early sniper and then Guards before any reasonable counter could arrive (you can literally go con, t1, sniper, m3, guards, guards and have Guards BEFORE a 221) while the other gets Shocks. The sniper negates MG42s, the Guards negate German T2 entirely (can't use FHT to kill the Shocks) and that early into the game Grenadiers have the tendency to lose to both Guards and Shocks. Then your only decent counter become the German sniper, which is highly vulnerable to the M3 that will already be on the field, requires a ton of babysitting to not get counter-sniped, and a whole lot of micro to deal with that powerful of a Soviet field presence.

Overall Guards and Shocks coming at 1 CP is simply bad for the game on many levels. Even if you like that the early game phase is significantly shorter in this patch, because at the end of the day that is person preference, it still creates a balance nightmare in anything higher than a 1v1 and also more or less invalidates German T2 - which limits an already narrow faction even further.

I don't post a lot. Whats with all of this bullshit about people citing "SNF" as a gold standard for balance? Balancing for a demographic isn't balancing a game. I'm not saying it shouldn't be something to be considered but there way too many of you fuckers using it like its a law of physics or something [/rant]

As somebody who uses shocktroops there a lots of counters for ostheer. MG42 spam is just as effective as ever. The only way I can ever beat a genuinely good german player is to Scout Car spam + penals to break hole in defensive line then sneak shocks through said hole. Otherwise its GG against a good player. The ability for germ player to lock down sections of map is unparalled.

People reference SNF so often because it is the most recent tournament that we've had. This aspect allows the top players to separate themselves from the rest of the pack and balance should honestly be based around the top players in any given game. This is not to say that casuals should be ignored (hell, I'm a casual player myself and far from being considered a top 1v1 player). However, if the factions are balanced at the highest levels that balance will inevitably trickle down to the rest of us because for us mere mortals perceived imbalances might simply stem from not playing optimally.

Take for example SC2 - the win rates of each faction at the highest levels are all super close to one another (like 1 or 2 % points) and there aren't really any legitimate cries of imbalance from the rest of the community (which includes upwards of 95% or so the the actual active population of the game).

Basically it is best to focus on balance at the highest of levels because the rest of us can simply learn to play better in order to overcome (potentially) incorrectly perceived imbalances.

So challenging someone to a 1v1 is the way to settle balance arguments?

Not necessarily, no one ever claimed that. But Nullist chose to directly attack my skill/knowledge as a player. He should at least have the guts to back up such claims. Among other serious and personal insults.

But he's one of the biggest cowards I've ever met. Constantly insulting people and then whining about people insulting him. Completely ignoring people's arguments to cherry pick specific statements, quote them out of context and then use these sorts of ridiculous tactics to cover for his own horrible arguments and obvious ignorance/inexperience.

He's not the type of person to man-up and put his money where his mouth is.

Replay please !!!!!

Don't get your hopes up. He's still refusing to play me. Apparently I have to suffer through a voice chat session if I want the chance of getting a game out of him. Hilarious.

Then if you decline the offer to settle differences, there is nothing more to say.

I'm sitting here looking at

- INVITATIONTS SENT
Rhoska

on my steam Friend's list. Clearly I'm declining your generous offer *rolls eyes*

Your move.