Experimental weekend poll results
About two months ago, in early December, we ran a little experiment over a weekend – we would lower the health for all players, in all playlists and game types, to be roughly the equivalent of activating the Crushing variation in a Custom game.
We wanted to see what you – our player population – thought about this change. We also invited everyone to take a poll on NaughtyDog.com to let us know what you thought.
After a couple of months had passed, we took the poll down and looked at the data we got from running the poll. The results are in the graph below.
What did we learn?
Overwhelmingly, to the tune of 39% of everyone who replied, you let us know that you enjoyed the lowered health during the Experimental Weekend. Coming in at a close second, 33% of you felt that it was a good thing as well, but that we should keep it within its own playlist, rather than have the lowered health active across all playlists and game types.
By contrast, only 20% of respondents disliked the lowered player health outright. If we take into account everyone who responded critically to the Experimental Weekend – adding those who didn’t like it along with those who thought the health was lowered too much – then 24% of all respondents didn’t like the change to player health.
Even counting our margin of error (at the bottom of this post), the results are pretty clear – the majority of you liked the lowered health.
So… where does that leave us?
We hosted the Experimental Weekend to see if the lowered health addressed criticism that opponents were “bullet sponges” without affecting the overall game mechanics. After reviewing gameplay data and the poll results, if this is something we really wanted to do, then the answer would be far more complex than just changing health.
After a lot of tweaking and a ton of internal play-testing, we collectively determined the only correct way to tackle this would be to tune a broader range of multiplayer mechanics rather than only change player health.
Our upcoming Title Update 1.05 will reveal the minor weapon damage and attribute balancing we’ve done based on this poll, which we feel evolves our multiplayer game and keeps it fun to play and true to our gameplay philosophy.
(Results are based on a poll hosted on NaughtyDog.com which had 5,920 respondents, after removing duplicate and invalid responses, that was conducted from December 4, 2009, to January 30, 2010. For results based on the total sample of our unique player population, one can say with 99% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±1.7 percentage points.)
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I loved it too. Specailly when I feel motivated to do some pwning. Anything for ST.Vaalentine? Double Cash? :D
I’m hoping there will be a Double Cash soon. I’ve missed out on all of them. Dx
Ya we need something for St. Valentine day!!!!
run a new poll on the lobby page on the ps3 of uc2 where the players are enough is enough thanks
hated it
nah i liked it when the health was full cuz u can see the blood effects
I’d be more impressed if patch 1.05 stopped people from getting their level and rank reset.
There’s a ton more about Title Update 1.05 we have yet to talk about.
That’s good news but unless part of the update is restoring peoples levels to what they were before 1.04 wiper then I’m afraid a lot of people are still going to be disappointed. There were a lot of level 50+ guys who you really let down.
I played some Ranked today. We won the match and my rank went from 23 to 1..
Catching rounds through a wall from the FAL..
Lets deal with the major issues before we decide whether 2 less bullets should kill someone or not.
Thanks.
some sort of killstreak reward? like UAV or something?
yeah maybe not the uav part because the booster where you can see people through walls covers that. Maybe the tank and helicopter but they stay longer instead of just passing by and much much stronger. That’s a very good idea man. I was thinking the same thing to in the past.
Definitely not something like that. sorry!
God no, I hope not.
...i like uncharted because its not call of duty…
I think you actually have a good point there. The a kill streak would actually be a little too much and it would just turn into call of duty.
go play COD scrub
1 DISLIKE
UAV and killstreak rewards is the reason I hate COD Stoopkid I couldn’t have said it better
Exactly!
NNOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!
Killstreak? Really? This is Uncharted not Call of Duty. Let Uncharted be Uncharted.
Go play call of dookie!!!!!!!!
First of all I would like to say that UC2 MP is the best MP on the PS3 IMO..On topic, I think it will be a great idea if you guys just add a separate “crushing mode Playlist” because there are a lot of people including myself who didn’t really like the “Lower health experiment”. lowering the health will make UC2 a campfest, and to be honest, Camping=NO FUN AT ALL.. PLZ ND leave the game the way it is and focus more on fixing the random disconnection problems and the overpowered grenades etc..
Have a great Day!!
yo arne can u guys put more levels in the game im a level 60 and im soooooo bored
yeah any valentines double cash arne?
Like how you completely removed pistol and short range weapons from the game by making the FAL and Sniper Rifle over powered? Blind fire specialists no longer have a place in this game.... THE PATCH SUCKS
thanks for messing up the game nd now its like invaled is on all the time.do you play what you sell.what do you need the neg boosters for nowlevel 60 over 54,000.000 in wallet an nothing to buy with it an you want me to buy more skins an maps fix the glitchesnot the guns people still get behind gates in fort
I agree completely. You’ve done away with blind fire and short-range weapons as any newbie with a FAL can camp and take me out multiple times. CHANGE IT BACK!
Naughty Dog, for one thing, posting the poll only on your website was sneaky. I hate the new patch. I’m not a noob, I’m not a 12 year old gamer, and I haven’t posted before now because normally I lurk. But I feel driven to post now because you have ruined a good game for me. UC MP is the only multiplayer game I play online. It was fun. I didn’t mind the bullet sponges because I too could soak up bullets and come out with a sporting chance of surviving. That was fun. That lent chance to the whole game. You have diluted down an excellent experience. I was at level 30. I say ‘was’. You are very close to losing me and my money, which I will NOT spend on you to support awful upgrades like this. I don’t like being killed instantly when I spawn by someone with a FAL who doesn’t even have ‘Down the Irons’. I don’t like having cover be useless because I again get plugged in the head by a FAL. I don’t like getting hit in the foot by a sniper bullet and dying instantly. Where is the challenge of head shots? I don’t like being killed before I take 2 steps to try and roll away. I don’t like being penalized money for connection errors when it’s not my fault!!! I don’t like having the medals/cash pop up in the middle where I can no longer read them if I get killed (but this is a minor issue). Do you understand??? I’m bitterly disappointed in you. If I had seen that poll I’d have posted I hated it. I hate it now. You have killed this experience for me and all I want to do is cry when I think of it. I’m afraid this will cost you in terms of money, at least for me, as I will heartily recommend to my friends that they NOT play this game. I myself will probably stop playing. Please change it back again. Thank you.
If you were glitching you deserved to lose your rank/level.
Also on another note ranked level reset due to internal system errors.
glitching is fun but of course I don’t do it in public but I do it in parties where everyone does it.
If you add the ones that didn’t like it + the ones that thought it was too much + the ones that think that it should have its own playlist (basically people that do NOT want all games to be like that) then it’s 56% of people who doesn’t want health to be changed in all game.
sign, I am on of the people who had chosen that think that it should have its own playlist and that is exactly what thought and would be the best solution
I agree, I was one who said give it it’s own playlist. Could be good to change things up every now and again. Not always however.
“56% of people who doesn’t want health to be changed in all game” is exactly the way I read it too. I hope this doesn’t ruin the experience. Time will tell however.
First off there is not enough players to make a separate playlist. Second having players be able to run off is just a pansy move, it is just as bad as campers. I personally stopped playing U2 because of all the newbs complaining about high levels being too strong when in truth you should expect that. Higher levels have more experience in game. I understand that you don’t want this game to be like the others, but in order to be so wide spread with popularity then eventually it will be like every other game. The only unique part about this game is that its 3rd person.
Without only two choices, there are many ways to interpret the stats, many of which can suit your point of view. Taking the stats in a pure level, the majority of people without question preferred the gameplay encountered via lowered health.
I know this has been said before, but just because a majority of poll respondents liked the new game play doesn’t mean everyone will, there is a massive self-selection bias on your poll, in that only gamers who were here on your website participated. Not to stereotype, but the people who look at game blogs tend to be the hardcore gamer types. Uncharted, IMO has some of the best multiplayer on the PS3, and i would hate for it to ever become inaccessible to new players and casual gamers because of a difficulty change.
hey
can somebody explain in other words, what they are going to do? I not sure if I got it right, because it is hard for me to understand!(It is not my first language)
And Yeah, I liked it too, but for me it should have their own playlist!
We will be adjusting weapon damage and weapon attributes.
so it won`t be excatly this way it was in this week? then i am happy with it, because if you will improve it, i trust you that it would be greater then great!
any chance you’re going to restore the ammo capacity back to 15 for the Dragon Sniper in coop?
so if you lower health...but then make weapons do less damage...isn’t that essentially what we already have?...i mean if you lower both things then it’ll stay proportional...i’m guessing one isn’t tweaked as much as the other...but in that case all you’d have to do is just alter one as much as you need and keep the other as a control...should’t have to change both
Are all the weapons going to be affected by this? Guess I’ll find out tomorrow.
I didn’t like it, sorry ahah. I would rather not see it at all, not even in its own play list. I hope you guys don’t tune anything up or down to much and make the game less fun, which at the moment it is with all this lag, cheaters, glitchers, disconnections etc. I would like to see that fixed first!
We work on addressing pretty much all those things with every Title Update we release.
What makes UC2 great is the traversal and the cover system. If I can’t use my knowledge of the maps to turn an enemy encounter from a probable death to a clean kill based on making smarter decisions about how to react to his attack, then what’s the point? I really hope ND doesn’t throw the baby (the tactical side of UC2 online) out with the bathwater (COD-babies complaining about “bullet sponges” because they are used to a game that rewards camping and encounters always go to the guy who gets the drop on his opponent).
As someone who is just so-so at this type of game to begin with, I agree with the vsrobot. Stick some square pants on me and shot at me all the way to my pineapple under the sea. I am having a great time doing well by out thinking people as opposed to waiting in a certain spot. Though, I loves me some Moss!
I voted to “Give it its own playlist” because I knew that was popular, but that I personally disliked lower health.
I’ve always liked Uncharted 2 because it was more a game of smarts and skill BECAUSE you rarely “surprise” kill anyone. Whoever won in a gun firefight was the one with the better accuracy, better timing, and better movement. And I loved multiplayer for that.
So, I am not the only person who lost a level getting randomly kicked out of a game for no obvious reason? Yeah, I would really like that fixed. That really sucked. I mean I don’t need the level redeemed, but if it happens again, I may move on. From the sound of it other people have it worse than I?
Here’s hoping you change it up for the coming week, I have some vacation time, and I can think of no better way than to spend it playing UC2. Thanks ND!
I think i have offically seen you everywhere.
On:Killzone 2
Killzone 2 forums
Playstation Forums
Youtube comments
And now ND’s site lol
Arne, is there any way that you could comment on my post at http://boardsus.playstation.com/playstation/board/message?board.id=uncharteddf&thread;.id=148369
For a short summary, the game locked up on me and when I returned, I was a level 1. I was previously a level 56. I have never had the error syncing player data, so I have no idea why my account rolled back to a 1. Can my account get fixed back to a level 56? Please comment on this as it is happening to more and more people. Thanks
“After a lot of tweaking and a ton of internal play-testing, we collectively determined the only correct way to tackle this would be to tune a broader range of multiplayer mechanics rather than only change player health.”
So does this mean that you are NOT changing the player health, or that you ARE changing the player health AND other mechanics?
Awesome, thanks for finally posting this!
i oppose lowered health. the game’s health and weapons are well balanced. the game only needs to be patched in a matchmaking, glitching, and removing game freeze zones sense. you die plenty fast in this game. i cant help but think about which demographics voted for lowered health - they definitely wanted the game to be easier, and this game is simple enough already.
It’s the same demographics who are commenting here—people who visit the blog and PS.com forums
if ya’ll just give it its own playlist everyone is happy...those who don’t like it don’t have to play it...and those who do like it...can go play it...its a win/win situation...i voted give it its own play list cause i figured it made the most sense...i personally like the way the game is...it creates a skill gap between good and bad players and makes camping tough to do effectively...great concepts...that’s why this game is sooo great
@Naughties - here’s the idea you should follow
Make DTI booster as default, go figure out most used booster stats, I’m sure there’s like 90% o people using it anytime ; this is because DTI is a must, and of course it kills the freedom of choosing from variety of other interesting boosters
Good idea blackmamba.
I will have to disagree, I really hope this game doesn’t become a “Call of Duty” Who sees Who first Game. The greatest part of this game comes down to who has the better shot. I love being able to get shot in the back bust a juke move turn around and three shot, or Deagle headshot my opponent.
That is true THE_DIGZ, you have all the reason, this game doesn’t have to become another “Call of Duty” this game has its own originality.
And… taking about lowered player health, my opinion is that you create a separate playlist. Beacuse for example, I use “Invalid” booster, so that puts me in disvantadge. So my opinion is that you create a different playlist.
I think developers shouldn’t take the opinions of their audience for changes like this, I understand “Listening” to you fans but there comes a time when there is just too many cooks in the kitchen, Stick to what makes this game the most competitive game out there and please, please don’t adjust for the purpose of the few
“less skilled” – Just look at what happens to franchises like Halo, they make it more and more easy for the average player to have a “good experience”. Halo CE is still the most competitive console shooter out there, the skill gap was unparalleled, fast forward to Halo 3, you can press a button and be protected (bubble shield). I’m just saying don’t change the game based for the masses, make the priority to be competitive. You don’t see the NBA lowering the height of a basket ball hoop, because most people are short, and they put a poll and everyone voted for a lowering the hoop.
Actually I beg to differ. Team Fortress 2 on the PC is one of the best mp games out there because valve listens to the pc community. With the exception of Sandman the game balance is almost completely unblemished.
The developer should listen to its community, however its up to he developer to create a balanced gameplay experience. well balanced = good times, poorly balanced = mass ragequit.
No game is completely perfect but some games are better than others when it comes balance. So far ND has done a pretty darned good job. I fit into the slightly below average in terms of skill, and i think they are well on the right track.
That’s exactly the reason I use to tell people why Uncharted 2’s so brilliant online.
I got MW2 for christmas and it’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever played. There’s no skill involved at all, if someone spawns behind you then you’re dead, there’s no way out of that; If someone sees you you’re a goner, skill isn’t even part of the equation.
I’d HATE for Uncharted to become that way. You’d have campers in full force, so many cheap kills, you’d be dying more than actually playing. As it is now; if you’re better than someone then you have the chance to make that clear and that’s what makes it so satisfying.
Lowered health would have to be optional or I’m out.
Then bye. Yeah, it is very skillful to run away like a bitch. It takes more skill to play MW2, if you can’t your reaction time is terrible. Your saying that your way too slow to play more advance games.
I think you’re following the right thing, there’s nothing wrong with health as it is, but I’ve always felt weapon & melee damage balancing is a little off. I’m eager to test those tweaks!
right track*
weapon adjustment? OH i would like to see damage-reduction on shotgun/pistole and will see how many players rely on those weapons! Shotgun is a reeeal powerful weapon in reality, yes, but you have no chanse when you turn around, and see your opponent is about to shoot you because these weapon ONLY requires blindfire! Skills in that? Hell no!
I agree 100%. I wonder if a lot of the people upset with the changes, even though they haven’t even been implemented (LOL!), rely on the lower skill weapons such as the shotguns.
Shotgun = “brainless” weapon. No skill required, no brains required, no accuracy required.
I love using the shotgun but i only use it to a certain limit.... when i play deathmatch there will always come a team who just picks up the freaking shotgun and use it ALL the time. Some games i only go dying becuz of those lol
it does take some skill to juke and dodge someone who is shooting at you with an ak or a fal unitl you get close enough to them to blast them with a shotgun. the brainless weapons IMO are the rpg and hammer. that is why u only get two rounds of rpg and 6 rounds of hammer (takes two shot to kill) which equates to 3 rounds.
If a shotgun bearer is located on a mediun distance he has no chance against AK-47 or 92FS-9mm. I am getting hit in my back with it most often. I am not using shotgun on principle. RPG and M32-Hammer are also brainless. I hope that NDI will cut those weapons to pieces.
A separate play list like rifles and handguns only with NO grenades would be great. I think they had an option similar to that on the Beta.
Over using the shotgun is lame but it is fun blasting someone in the back or running around a corner and getting them in the face. I’m really done with getting killed by random grenades. I’m just as guilty though.
the hammer takes some skill i’m deadly with it, but will own with an ak, won’t use shotguns or pistole as they are scrub guns that require no aiming at all
I admit I didnt play during this weekend so I have no real understanding of how the game played, but I have to say I am a bit concerned that lowering health could break gameplay. It’s pretty friggin good as it is. Tread lightly and with great caution ND....we dont want this thing to go South.
The health is fine as it is, I just want universal Grenade times. Im tired of grenades exploding when ever they want to, please just make a grenade that goes 1,2,3 boom, no matter who’s around or how close you where to it. You should also add a booster that lets you roll away form grenades without dying but you will still take damage. Im tired of killing people and have them throw a grenade at my feet right as they die and I can’t do anything about it (I do it too but its beacuse I have too ;P).
The grenades do have a certain countdown - starting after they hit the ground. It just seems really short when the grenade is thrown directly at the ground.
In a way, I agree with you - the grenades shouldn’t have such a large “kill” radius. Instead, they should have a larger “knockdown” radius. This way the current anti-knockdown booster would be much more useful.
Sweet, I loved that experiment. Hoping to see those other updates too!
And… I noticed that there was a longer time to render map textures and character teextures after 1.04, which left me entering some of the maps to feel stale when I first spawn. Anything you guys can do to fix this, arne?
Also! Fix the melee! please!
If its possible I think it would be pretty cool that if two players (on opossing teams) Melee eachother at the same general time, then they would each bounce back about 5 feet (Same animation you get form being hit by the ‘mutants’ with the gatling guns?) and take no damage, so bassicly both players are reset away 10 feet away from eachother and they can resolve the encounter some other way. Gun, grenade, flee whatever.
And if that does’nt work you can try an FPS approach (dear God I never thought I’d say this)and make melee one hit kills, lol maybe the melee could even be a drop kick or superman punch
If you can pull it off a get an experiment weekend going it could workout for the better...maybe.
hey NO WAY do i want to get hit by noobs who just kill me because of one press of the square button
You speak for all of us, I love the idea of a 2 hit melee, it just sometimes really ticks me off when I punch someone, he’s not stunned at all, and he turns around and blasts me with a shotgun, or his buddy shoots me with an AK-47.
Arne, PLEASE PLEASE address the following problem.
Currently I live in South Korea, but I purchased the game from Hong Kong during trip there. Now I am back in South Korea and have tried to download skin pack from American PSN store and Japan PSN account, but neither seems to work.
I haven’t tried downloading skin pack from Hong Kong PSN account which I have as well.
So my question is this.
I’m going to forget about downloading skin pack but will download map pack that you will have available in the future. In order to download future map pack,(1) do I need abandon the Hong Kong game disc and buy South Korean version of the game and also the map pack from South Korea PSN account? OR (2) Can I keep the Hong Kong game disc and simply download the future map pack from Hong Kong PSN account?
Again, I emphasize that I am in South Korea but with Hong Kong version of the game.
The PSN store download info page should provide detailed information on which versions or SKU of the game the DLC will work on. You’ll have to check there versus the version of the disc you have to ensure compatibility.
naughty dog need to fix the disconnecting problem cause a lot of people are getting disconnected only when playing uncharted 2
This is once again, a terrible idea. It makes it so that when you are out in the open, and being shot at you have no chance for survival. Right now, you still have a chance to roll out and make a move back. Don’t shorten the lives. Don’t turn this game into Duty.
thats very nice, thanks for continiusly improve the game, with new characters, and new maps etc, it would be pretty nice something for st valentin day like double cash
plesee .
pd:sorry my english im chilean
If these adjustments play anything like the experimental weekend, I will surely RESELL my copy of the game. Everyone in my clan (and that I know) severely hated that weekend. We all played other games instead.
C’mon Naughty Dog! Spread the love this Velentine’s with double cash weekend! Also can we get a word and the map packs, can we confirm there going to be out by the end of the month?
Hey ND, This is off topic but I was wondering if you could add silenced weapons into online play, I think it would add a new layer to the online mode, being stealth is really fun and we need more ways to do that then just stealth melees
guess i wont be playing uncharted 2 no more. it would have been better to put separate playlist for this instead of making it mandatory
uc2 is 1 of the best MP games out there, but it wont take much before it becomes another COD. im not computer savy.......i dont know how this clitching (CHEATING) works....but ND should have a place to report cheaters so they can be speced and when found cheating ND can bust there rank back to 1… im tired of being shot through the walls and being pulled through the walls and killed and even being killed by a single shot pistol from across the map.
Hahahaha. Learn how to use the Desert Eagle Noob! It’s a power weapon. One Shot kill with a head shot.
Im sick if idiots who like´s to use the word NOOB! What makes you think his not good at aming? Just because he gets hit by one shot? Once again, idiot!
uh oh!...i think this is a little too late! the veterans of UC2 MP will be outraged and most likely stay away from this game...the health is perfect as it is...you die quick if you know how to aim! the ones who love the lowered health weekend were new players! ><
the implementation is too late...a lot of players are now accustomed to the current health..
Double Cash for St. Valentine’s Day! Pleaseee!
Arne, Im sorry but this is NOT the best idea with this update it will encourage camping and more kill farming for people to level up in Plunder WHICH I HATE campers , You should keep it this way because when 1.05 comes out all you will see is people camping , This isn’t your best idea i HIGHLY DICOURAGE your idea which will sadly make me play this less because i can’t stand campers. hope you read this Arne and Stop this idea.
The multiplayer of this game was perfect at release but this idea is going to kill it please stop it.
kinda worried about this.
i think ND should just up the headshot damage
I find this concerning also. I choose this game over COD 10 times out of 10 because of the mechanics. It does require more strategy and maneuvering than COD which makes it more fun. I didn’t get to play during the experimental weekend nor did I vote on the poll, but I’m a firm believer in “if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it”.
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