Kurbrow Impressions

[DeccanTraps]

So I've ranked my Sunika to 10, and already a few things are apparent. None of these are actual bugs but they are concerns with the new system. In no particular order. I've tried to array the good, and bad, but there is more of the latter than the former.

 

1: Too many sticks, not enough carrots. Ownership comes with a lot of baked in penalties. Die, and loose 40% of loyalty. simply keep it accessible and loose 20% of health. Replenishing either is sharply limited 3/day for loyalty, 6/100,000c for health. Fail to log in and keep health topped up long enough, and the critter dies. Or put it in stasus, and face a 3 hour wait... I'm not sure I've had 3 uninterrupted hours to myself this year. All this is negative enforcement. There is a place for that in games certainly to promote caution. But its not in pet raising. 

         If you want to have us bond with the things, then reward us for doing things right, rather than punishing for doing them wrong. That way when we interact with them we feel good rather than bad and the associations are consequently positive. 

         This is especially important based on how little impact our actions have on their conduct in missions, meaning that its wholly possible to be punished over the AI's poor action.

 

2: The Kurbro, combining the  agile self sufficient independence of a dog, the helpfulness of a domestic housecat and the brains of a concussed mollusk. AI is shockingly bad and inconsistent. Linked to this attack animations take far too long to resolve.

            Theres no way to anticipate which foe the thing is going to go for and so avoid wasted effort. It frequently stands idle for seconds at a time while I am trying to feed it a lone aggressor (and in what was a fast fluid game several seconds is an eternity) while if faced with groups it runs about like a toddler whose taken to sweetening its espresso with methamphetamine unable to pick a target and deal with it. When it does finally pick a target, if the foe is not so trivial as to fall in one hit, then the long cycle time of the animation means its faster to hunt the foe down myself. Even melee only. Path finding is another problem, its just epicly bad and frequently results in the thing getting lost.

 

3: Very hard to keep track of. Please, give it an icon to track on map, and flag the thing when its down and bleeding out please? Given the player has absolutely no command of its path or action the game needs to do a better job of communicating its status and location so we can pull it away from deaths door.

 

4: Walkies. Yes, walk is the operative word. Remember that cool game where you jumped and wall ran with predatory abandon, crafting an deft and spontaneous ballet with gun and blade? Yeah shame about that really. With  Kurbro all that will be a thing of the past. The poor critter is confounded by a catwalk railing and utterly incapable of following a master making use of anything so complicated as the jump button. This makes  point 3 all the worse if you briefly forget you have one with you, and as a result loose track of it as it bleeds out.

 

5: Twice the cost, but half the slots. Well rather infinitely more cost as Sentinels have no upkeep. But the point stands that where a sentinel has a full 2x4 grid for its own mods and another for its weapon. Meanwhile Kurbrows have one single 2x4 grid, that pulls duty for all its mods, what ever they are. Worse, while a Sentinels weapon is an accommodating thing happy to accept any spare weapon mod of a compatible type you have lying around Kurbrow 'weapon' are only modified by their own special mods, that drop from one type of creature, on maps on one planet. 

 

6: WYSIWYG. But what you get is random. 4 breeds, each with its own role and purpose. No way to determine what kind you have or of it suits your play style. Want to get rid of it and start over? Slowly starve it to death over a period of days. Now I know the bonding thing doesn't really jive with one you want to discard, but if you want us to care about them, invest in them, you need a better way to free up slots, or more control over what you get. 

 

7: The heavy on death punishments means that for all the cost, complexity, and hand holding even if you do have a max ranked ell modded Kubero, its never worth taking it into the kind of fights where a max rank well moded Kubero would be useful. Its just too dangerous. The result isn't the sense of a hunking gene modded killing machine, but one of those delicate over bred pedigree breeds that once upon a time was used for hunting. 

 

8: Fluff is terrible. These creatures are so sickly that 20%, one fifth, of their genome unravels every day? again that's no proud barrel chested Orokin apex predator, its Steven Hawking in a fur coat. You're dragging a shambling genetic mistake that frankly should not be along with you on your crusade. Now that might be the point but it makes all the atempts to make us bond with name and care for them schizophrenic. The Game telling us to dote upon them, care for them lavish constant attention and funds on them, but any animal lover knows what the poor genetically molested beast wants is an Ol Yeller special with a charged drakgoon and an end to what only a sadist could call a life. 

 

9: actually quite fun. Despite all these, the animation is fluid, sleek, they are undoglike enough that even an abject cat person like me becomes rather fond of them, the fur looks great the animations convey an almost ursine sense of mass and power, and its a joy to watch, when the AI is working and the animations synch up briefly, as my pet rampages though grineer with feral abandon. Its a shame they are hamstrung by so many flaws because I can see the love and care that went into this. 

 

[castem]

I hope DE reads your post, because it does a wonderful job of pointing out the numerous issues with Kubrows that need attention.

There's a reason why so many people go back to Carrier...

[Taletreader]

I woudnt mind giving mine some Nano Spores...

Almost one million...

 

Anyway, I really hopes DE reads your post too.

[(PSN)TurtleyHawkward]

My kubrow impression is I wan't one :) and I'll gladly wait for a stable U14 for ps4.

[Kayco38]

I hope DE reads your post, because it does a wonderful job of pointing out the numerous issues with Kubrows that need attention.

There's a reason why so many people go back to Carrier...

Carrier currently is defitely superior to kubrow and other sentinels too 

Why we would pick a dog to have to care 24/7 of them if we can have a sentinelle work perfectly without doing anything ?

and also i will add no way to color him without plat ? and its random WTF???

sentiennel definetly far away better from kubrow

[Rydian]

Very good post there, yeah Kubrows need like half their mechanics reworked.

[DeccanTraps]

Lets do a little bump to keep things on the front page and hopefully get some more attention shall we?

I hope DE reads your post, because it does a wonderful job of pointing out the numerous issues with Kubrows that need attention.

There's a reason why so many people go back to Carrier...

 

Thank you.

I woudnt mind giving mine some Nano Spores...

Almost one million...

 

Anyway, I really hopes DE reads your post too.

 

And thank you too!

My kubrow impression is I wan't one :) and I'll gladly wait for a stable U14 for ps4.

 

Um, even after that? points 1-8? We read the same thread right

Very good post there, yeah Kubrows need like half their mechanics reworked.

Only half? Thats... Charitable. 

[Rydian]

Only half? Thats... Charitable. 

Well to be technical kubrows are more than just the management done in the chamber between missions.  Their "mechanics" include everything such as how they attack, their mod set, the very fact that they are equipped and taken into missions, etc.

[DeccanTraps]

Well to be technical kubrows are more than just the management done in the chamber between missions.  Their "mechanics" include everything such as how they attack, their mod set, the very fact that they are equipped and taken into missions, etc.

That was my point really the only think work keeping is the art assets in my opinion. The concept is good the execution deeply flawed. 

[castem]

That was my point really the only think work keeping is the art assets in my opinion. The concept is good the execution deeply flawed. 

 

Sadly, this quote not only very accurately sums up my feelings on Kubrows, but on Update 14 as a whole as well (especially the part I bolded).

[SmashEmDown]

Agree with most things said in this post. I've supported the game for over a year now. Spent some money on this F2P game and I usually dont spend money on F2P games AT ALL. 

 

However, after I returned from a short AFK and was excited to play this new update with Kubrows, I have never felt so disgusted by this company. It is fuccking hideous what they did with the Kubrows.

 

1. Kubrow is completely passive, it even looks $&*&*#(%& if you stop what you're doing and just observe your Kubrow.

 

2. Kubrow dies much more easily because they are basically brain fking dead (terrible AI).

 

3. Kubrow requires a ton of credits to maintain (I am mastery rank 14, I CAN farm the credits to maintain him, but if it REQUIRES me to farm that much after a short AFK, I will feel discouraged to even come back to the game at all)

 

4. Kubrow is really buggy. (size shift bug, not performing abilities properly bug, flying off the map bug, freezing in place after performing 1 ability bug)

 

5. Kubrow stasis is.....yea fucck you DE. No offense, I am a Canadian and FULLY support and love DE, but 3 hour stasis time with a 10 plat rush option, are you asking to be bashed? Seriously....are you out of your mind? Please tell me you guys just wanted to TRY THINGS OUT and will VERY SOON remove this stasis feature. I really don't want to drive down to your headquarters and throw eggs at your employees.

 

6. Kubrow is uncustomizable unless through plat spending. Sorry DE, I dont know if you guys own pets, but I'm sure if you went to a pet store to buy a pet, you would CHOOSE the one with colors and furs that match your taste. I'm sure if in real life, in order for you to own a pet, you'd have to phone a pet store and have them mail a random breed of puppy to your house with ugly furs and ugly body shapes, you'd immediately start to dislike your pet.

 

7. Kubrows are not just some virtual creature that you guys made in order to generate money. You guys disgust me by using these cute creatures generate revenue for your company. It's absolutely disgusting.

[DeccanTraps]

ok in spirit of fairness. Upkeep is no longer an issue.

 

My new soap box is Kurbrow AI.

 

It is just awful, just heinously bad and passive.