Lonewolf has got to go..

[WaZzUp115]

The game is really hard now without lonewolf, the problem is that lonewolf becomes a perk which totally changes the game due to speed increase and quicker stamina regeneration.

Speed is too powerful, the faster you are the more attacks you will avoid.. You become invincible as long as you don't make a mistake.

This patch really shifted the balance of a lot of perks.
Boss power and man of the moment are not nearly as good as previously due to the bosses now being fewer but having more HP.

[Rhylos]

I agree. Get rid of it and increase the base movement speed slightly, or just buff reflexboost or something.

[WaZzUp115]

It's such a perk which is either too good, or not good at all..
Mostly because of the drawback..

Perhaps we could discuss ways of changing it..

[Rhylos]

I've suggested these before, but I don't mind repeating them. I suggest:

1. Lone Wolf is nerfed a little, base movement speed is buffed a little. End result is the same movespeed currently.

2. Lone Wolf is removed completely, reflexboost buffed.

3. Base movement speed increased, Lone Wolf movement speed and drawback removed. All Lone Wolf does is increase dive stamina.

[WaZzUp115]

I've suggested these before, but I don't mind repeating them. I suggest:

1. Lone Wolf is nerfed a little, base movement speed is buffed a little. End result is the same movespeed currently.

2. Lone Wolf is removed completely, reflexboost buffed.

3. Base movement speed increased, Lone Wolf movement speed and drawback removed. All Lone Wolf does is increase dive stamina.

1. Just makes lonewolf slightly less powerful..

2. Just replaces lonewofl with reflexboost..

3. Best suggestion yet, although it doesn't really fit the whole 'lonewolf' theme.

There should be a new perk for stamina increase though, and lonewolf shouldn't be about speed but perhaps it could increase the damage you deal or something like that.

I also dislike the drawback, because I like the perks that it disables.
Perhaps to live up to the name of 'Lonewolf' it could be a perk only available in singleplayer..

Currently the game is really hard without any speed boosts..
Perhaps too hard, if lonewolf is removed then I think the difficulty could be lowered slightly, at least so that you can easily survive the first 5 minutes..

[fluffybot]

From what I can tell, Lone Wolf is essentially how the developers want this game to be played. I only recently got this game and started playing it (the patch before this one was the "latest" to me) but it was always quite clear that the movement is key to survival, and this latest patch has all but confirmed that beyond a shadow of a doubt. Why a game where almost every perk you get helps you in some way and opens up new possibilities and strategies actually has a perk that limits you as Lone Wolf does is beyond me, but what really doesn't make sense is how favored it is. If movement is such a key aspect of the game, why make the single most important movement perk so exclusive to the other cool stuff you can get?

The way I see it is Nation Red is a zombie kiting game. It's not so much about strategy, thinking ahead, or any of that garbage. Getting high scores has always been a matter of getting your speed up, making sure your mouse cursor is pointing in the same direction you're running and waiting for a break in the path of ahead of you to thin out the crowd; after that it's just a matter of rinse and repeat. Nothing really exciting, nothing new, nothing that really challenges anything other than your patience. This is how high scores are made and as long as you "skillfully" stick to the formula, there's no problems. For me, getting a high score was just a matter of how long I could last without wanting to do something else.

Unfortunately, as long as Lone Wolf remains in the game as-is, this is all Nation Red will ever be. Personally, I'd be all for taking the damn thing out and having the game be unforgivingly hard instead of mind-numbing, but I think there are much better alternatives. Here's a few ideas:

1 ) Make dodging useful. As it stands, there's not a hell of a lot of reason to do it. Make dodging faster and add invincibility / heavy damage reduction while dodging (I've been hit mid-dodge plenty of times so I know that it's plenty risky) and make Lone Wolf take advantage of this by making it into a ground roll: for as long as you hold the jump bind, you continue rolling and avoiding damage, draining your stamina. Keep the stamina regeneration aspect of Lone Wolf but take out the movement speed buff, as having this new functionality would be an excellent backup when things get tough.

2 ) Rename the perk Linebacker and give your dodge damage-dealing properties. Used in conjunction with Firestarter you would be able to do pretty heavy damage to zombies, making your movement itself a weapon. If you added my first suggestion as a separate perk, you could also make a rushing, tackling battering ram of a combination, which would be simply awesome as well as giving the player lots of options. Now, if you gave this damage a boost from an equipped melee weapon and/or made it so the damage was affected by Heavy Iron, that would open up a whole new world of possibilities and maybe even make a melee build viable.

3 ) Completely change the nature of the perk. When I first saw "Lone Wolf" I instantly thought of action heroics, Rambo stuff. I was kinda let down that it was just a movement perk instead of something that adds a random chance for each bullet to do extra damage (a low chance of course), give each bullet limited homing capabilities (more limited the higher the rate of fire is), or lowered accuracy in exchange for higher bullet damage (though I've always wanted a perk like this in Nation Red under the guise of Scattershot or Spray and Pray).

Personally, regardless of the name, I'd like to see this perk emphasize dodging more than just running around quickly. Also, sorry for the wall of text as my first post.

[EDIT] Just thought I'd add that making a perk exclude other perks really doesn't make sense with the reduced projected playtime of the new patch. Getting high levels is already a lot more difficult than before, so why bother closing the door on more possibilities?

[B3RS3RK]

What if you´d just remove the Speed Increase but make the Stamina regeneration even bigger?

[fluffybot]

What if you´d just remove the Speed Increase but make the Stamina regeneration even bigger?

Doesn't change the fact that the dodge isn't useful enough to justify anyone getting the perk. I mean really, do you ever pick Heavy Iron for reasons other than a lack of other perks to get? Also, the stamina regeneration boost is pretty significant as-is, if the regeneration was to be increased they might as well just make it infinite. I'd be a lot more excited to see dodging revamped to make it a useful part of the player's movement scheme, especially now that the difficulty bar has been raised.

[EDIT] Here's another thought: have dodging act as a cloak during the time of the diving roll, in essence confusing the zombies. This would make dodging a hell of a lot more useful for escaping, and would leave you far less vulnerable for using it. I can't count the number of times I've come out of a dive just to eat more damage than I would've taken had I used footwork and suppressive fire to escape.

[Rhylos]

The dive used to be a lot more powerful, especially with trail blazer, but it was nerfed to hell because you could use it all the time and get away with 0 damage all the time. However, as it stands now with lone wolf, you don't need it that much at all since you could just outrun everything.

I like your idea though, make the game focused more on dodging. Buff diving again and nerf movement speed so that you can't outrun everything, but with good reaction times and skill, you can dodge everything.

[fluffybot]

The dive used to be a lot more powerful, especially with trail blazer, but it was nerfed to hell because you could use it all the time and get away with 0 damage all the time. However, as it stands now with lone wolf, you don't need it that much at all since you could just outrun everything.

I like your idea though, make the game focused more on dodging. Buff diving again and nerf movement speed so that you can't outrun everything, but with good reaction times and skill, you can dodge everything.

I think that having a dive that can end in a held roll (my first suggestion) would make Lone Wolf a huge boon for players, giving them an even greater tactical advantage and level of control over the dive. Dan Hibiki is kinda my hero too, so that's a more personal reason for me liking that suggestion.

I'd really like to see Linebacker just because of how darned cool that'd be, and if melee weapons buffed it there might be hope for a melee build, which is something I think definitely needs consideration.