Ok, we've played this long enough now, let's post our final evaluations on what we think. I'll start, since it's my thread. 
VCTF
As a game mode, I find it fun for the first 20 minutes, and as boring as anything I can think of after that, especially as it goes into OT. May be a function of the number of players, but I think it's map size. Larger maps, I hope, are more fun and easier to grab flags.
The loss of VOIP is a HUGE disadvantage also. I think being able to work on voip, especially with those who have worked via VOIP on UT2k4 and BF, will make it much easier to coordinate flag attacks. They do have to fix the voip errors. I ended up disabling it completely today because the only thing I've been able to hear with no problem was today's Asshat of the Day spamming "Error 22" nonstop on VOIP.
Suspense (VCTF Map)
This map just really sort of sucks, to tell the truth. For those who are skilled with tank-craft, it's incredibly, insanely unbalanced in their favor. The ease of defense however, makes it so that often those tankers (i.e. me) are forced to play defense in OT to make sure the other side doesn't get that last cap, and it lengthens the round. Even using it in a more offensive role, it's just dominant. Which is testiment to just how bad the map design is since Goliaths were seriously nerfed, as I'll get to in a moment.
The design of the flag house makes it too easy to sit something in the room and spam the heck out of it, making defense that much easier. And the smaller spawn house is very poorly thought out, making it way too easy for campers to flatten spawners with mantas.
Because it's easy for passengers to fall off mantas, you're limited to maybe one or two ways for a teamwork pass to get the flag with those. A bit more with Raptors because you have much more freedom. But lack of coordination makes these combinations hard. If you could leap the entire way from the Spammer ledge to the far hill and keep the passenger, it would be much easier with a manta/hoverboard run.
Deathmatch
Insane, shear action. Fun, but also at times annoying because there is always someone waiting at the spawns to camp it. However, with SLIGHTLY larger maps, this has a lot of potential. The darkwalker is so fun that it cannot be underestimated just how much one looks forward to more Necris vehicles to try. Same for other Necris vehicles that you can spawn up in instant action. On that note, Paladins still suck, and not being able to see through the shield is a big handicap. I hope they fix that. Map design ok for both maps. I would like to try team DM.
Vehicles
Some pretty significant changes to many vehicles. Here's what I think of each one. I'm going to use quotes to help with format.
Manta: Significantly better than ONS. Tighter turn radius, so that even those who were good, but not masters (like me 
) are better than they were in ONS. Even novices can do well. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but in the hands of a true master, these things are very powerful. They strafe a bit quicker, and their shot strength was increased SIGNIFICANTLY. This is probably the single most powerful increase to any vehicle. A manta makes short work of a Goliath in skilled hands.
Some may say this is due to the map. To some degree that may be true. But by and large, they are more powerful than in ONS. I think the shot damage needs a slight downward tweak, and then it'll be a good balance that will help average/new players learn them and increase their fun factor, while not overpowering them for vets.
Scorpions: The new flak gun homes in too well, and has too much range. It should not be able to take out a Raptor that is almost 200 feet up. It's absolute death incarnate for hoverboarders and mantas. I still prefer sticky goo, but it's not bad for anti-manta work. I can't stand the suicide run option, speaking as a tank whore, but one can adapt to them (and no, I'm not telling you how. Not yet anyway). They are definitely more useful than they were in ONS overall, which means that despite the suicide run, I think they did well with them. They're still underappreciated overall, but that should change with time.
Hellfire SPMA: Too powerful. They were pretty weak and lame in ONS, but now, they can easily pop Raptors out of the air and for some reason gun camera kills seem very easy to accomplish. The shot spread takes out a Goliath with ease, and they're very easy to use. It's a noob vehicle right now. It needs to have some skill added back into it, and could use a better alternate weapon than the same ole shock balls. A rocket turret could be pretty cool. They need to bring down the rate of fire (you can now have 3 shots in the air at once), and slightly reduce the damage, maybe 10 percent.
Paladin: Paladins suck. :P That was my ONS motto. I don't know if it will be here or not. Faster forward, still slow in reverse. Need to see through shield to be useful. Pretty much the same as in ONS.
Cicada: seems a bit faster and more manuverable. Rate of fire is quite high, so it may need a slight tweak. Need to see it in action against humans. By the by, SR needs to have more push-back capability. Not being able to toss a Cicada round likely makes it too powerful.
Weapons:
Shock Rifle was nerfed way too much. It's a heck of a lot harder to track a target now (some function of where I have mouse sensitivity, haven't found sweet spot, but even so it's harder to track). I really miss the push-back ability, especially against aircraft and mantas. Without that, it's nowhere near as useful as it once was.
Avrils are too easy to use now, and too hard to knock down the shell with splash damage.
Enforcers are weak, and the alt fire sucks. Dual enforcers are much better.
Stingers were greatly increased in power. This is the weapon of choice for most everyone, because they work against hoverboards and mantas fairly well. Too good right now. Most people, even the vets, are going to use stingers for much of their combat, which will remind us all of noobfests in ONS, but since they're so good, we'll just shake our heads and pull them out ourselves.
Rox are ok, link ok, sniper ok, flak is about the same. Impact hammers should go off even as you die. Right now they're fairly good against mantas and push them back (but not enough to get a second charge going most of the time), but you have to hit it DEAD ON. Slightest sideways turn and you go squish and they fly off unharmed.
Well, that's what I see. What do you all think?
-Rand
VCTF
As a game mode, I find it fun for the first 20 minutes, and as boring as anything I can think of after that, especially as it goes into OT. May be a function of the number of players, but I think it's map size. Larger maps, I hope, are more fun and easier to grab flags.
The loss of VOIP is a HUGE disadvantage also. I think being able to work on voip, especially with those who have worked via VOIP on UT2k4 and BF, will make it much easier to coordinate flag attacks. They do have to fix the voip errors. I ended up disabling it completely today because the only thing I've been able to hear with no problem was today's Asshat of the Day spamming "Error 22" nonstop on VOIP.
Suspense (VCTF Map)
This map just really sort of sucks, to tell the truth. For those who are skilled with tank-craft, it's incredibly, insanely unbalanced in their favor. The ease of defense however, makes it so that often those tankers (i.e. me) are forced to play defense in OT to make sure the other side doesn't get that last cap, and it lengthens the round. Even using it in a more offensive role, it's just dominant. Which is testiment to just how bad the map design is since Goliaths were seriously nerfed, as I'll get to in a moment.
The design of the flag house makes it too easy to sit something in the room and spam the heck out of it, making defense that much easier. And the smaller spawn house is very poorly thought out, making it way too easy for campers to flatten spawners with mantas.
Because it's easy for passengers to fall off mantas, you're limited to maybe one or two ways for a teamwork pass to get the flag with those. A bit more with Raptors because you have much more freedom. But lack of coordination makes these combinations hard. If you could leap the entire way from the Spammer ledge to the far hill and keep the passenger, it would be much easier with a manta/hoverboard run.
Deathmatch
Insane, shear action. Fun, but also at times annoying because there is always someone waiting at the spawns to camp it. However, with SLIGHTLY larger maps, this has a lot of potential. The darkwalker is so fun that it cannot be underestimated just how much one looks forward to more Necris vehicles to try. Same for other Necris vehicles that you can spawn up in instant action. On that note, Paladins still suck, and not being able to see through the shield is a big handicap. I hope they fix that. Map design ok for both maps. I would like to try team DM.
Vehicles
Some pretty significant changes to many vehicles. Here's what I think of each one. I'm going to use quotes to help with format.
Goliath: Nerfed significantly from ONS. The biggest changes are a huge reduction in turn/slew speed, and a big reduction in splash damage. I think they nerfed them too much, and in a better map, they're going to be dead meat if they remain the same. They need to increase turret slew and tank turn speed by quite a bit, I would really like it back as it was in ONS, but even just slightly (instead of significantly) less would be good.
An increase in splash would help also. I don't like hitting 5 feet in front of a guy and watching him bounce away, or how hard it is to stop an AVRIL rocket now. Accuracy at distance needs looked at as well. There is more spread than in ONS. I can deal with it as it is, because there does need to be some check to Goliath power aside from powered-up Raptors, Mantas, and Scorpions, but if I hit a Raptor at long range, I want it to die just as if at short range. There is a bit more shell lag (i.e. the shells are slower than ONS), and a bit of lateral lag going after a Raptor. This, combined with shot spread increase, makes it a lot harder to hit a Raptor at distance. I've had a couple dozen (literally) shots that would have been eagle eyes in ONS that miss now. Though I also have dozens of Eagle Eyes in the beta already.
The increase in forward speed is greatly appreciated. A very slight tweak to shot spread at distance, a 10-20 percent increase in slew speed, and a 10 percent increase in splash will make them just about perfect, good like a tank should be, and in balance with the increases to other vehicles.
As you can see, a lot of stuff on Goliaths, but I know more about them than almost anyone except the Epic guys working on the code.
An increase in splash would help also. I don't like hitting 5 feet in front of a guy and watching him bounce away, or how hard it is to stop an AVRIL rocket now. Accuracy at distance needs looked at as well. There is more spread than in ONS. I can deal with it as it is, because there does need to be some check to Goliath power aside from powered-up Raptors, Mantas, and Scorpions, but if I hit a Raptor at long range, I want it to die just as if at short range. There is a bit more shell lag (i.e. the shells are slower than ONS), and a bit of lateral lag going after a Raptor. This, combined with shot spread increase, makes it a lot harder to hit a Raptor at distance. I've had a couple dozen (literally) shots that would have been eagle eyes in ONS that miss now. Though I also have dozens of Eagle Eyes in the beta already.
The increase in forward speed is greatly appreciated. A very slight tweak to shot spread at distance, a 10-20 percent increase in slew speed, and a 10 percent increase in splash will make them just about perfect, good like a tank should be, and in balance with the increases to other vehicles.
As you can see, a lot of stuff on Goliaths, but I know more about them than almost anyone except the Epic guys working on the code.
) are better than they were in ONS. Even novices can do well. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but in the hands of a true master, these things are very powerful. They strafe a bit quicker, and their shot strength was increased SIGNIFICANTLY. This is probably the single most powerful increase to any vehicle. A manta makes short work of a Goliath in skilled hands. Some may say this is due to the map. To some degree that may be true. But by and large, they are more powerful than in ONS. I think the shot damage needs a slight downward tweak, and then it'll be a good balance that will help average/new players learn them and increase their fun factor, while not overpowering them for vets.
Raptor: Shot damage also increased. Up/down speed slightly lowered. Manuverablility GREATLY increased. All in all, I appreciate these changes. It's a bit more fun to fly, and it's a bit easier to get ground splat kills, which are just hilarious. 
Missiles are FAR too powerful right now. I've mentioned this before, and experience during the beta reinforces it: Air-Air combat is even more random than it was in ONS, and that says quite a lot. Also more brutal and much quicker because of the rate of fire. Missiles should do less damage against parked ground targets. You can take half the health off a Goliath before it knows you're there with those things. Reduce the rate of fire and damage on the missiles by 15 or 20 percent, and I think they're right there.
Missiles are FAR too powerful right now. I've mentioned this before, and experience during the beta reinforces it: Air-Air combat is even more random than it was in ONS, and that says quite a lot. Also more brutal and much quicker because of the rate of fire. Missiles should do less damage against parked ground targets. You can take half the health off a Goliath before it knows you're there with those things. Reduce the rate of fire and damage on the missiles by 15 or 20 percent, and I think they're right there.
Hellbenders: Nerf city. The twin beam cannon turned into a puny SR gun is a very poor decision. Their high profiles still make them easy to hit, and they're a bit slow. I do like that the driver can also be the ball gunner now, so no more asshats moving your ride. But the loss of the twin beam is huge. Bring back the twin-beam cannon, and it becomes acceptable again. Now? It's easily the worst of the multi-purpose attack/defend vehicles. No contest.
Hoverboard: useful, especially if you adapt to the utility of it. I quickly started using it for short trips while gathering goods or advancing, ready to leap off before I get knocked off. Very useful for chasing after flag carriers, and INCREDIBLY useful for fast flag runs (and presumably, Warfare assaults). Needs more coordination via VOIP, but if you can find someone like a Dr. Sin flying a manta, latch onto him. He knows exactly what to do, and you can do your part and get a flag cap. I'm not enormously bothered by how hard it is to knock folks off: just as useful as it is annoying. Fine addition overall, but need to have 2 guys on each vehicle, not just 1.
Fury: Fun. Like all Necris vehicles. It DOES seem like the beams track somewhat based on my chasing a bot in a raptor. Burst of speed in any direction useful. can't wait to see this in action.
Nemesis: Seems interesting enough. Superb defense vehicle, seems ok on attack.
Shock Rifle was nerfed way too much. It's a heck of a lot harder to track a target now (some function of where I have mouse sensitivity, haven't found sweet spot, but even so it's harder to track). I really miss the push-back ability, especially against aircraft and mantas. Without that, it's nowhere near as useful as it once was.
Avrils are too easy to use now, and too hard to knock down the shell with splash damage.
Enforcers are weak, and the alt fire sucks. Dual enforcers are much better.
Stingers were greatly increased in power. This is the weapon of choice for most everyone, because they work against hoverboards and mantas fairly well. Too good right now. Most people, even the vets, are going to use stingers for much of their combat, which will remind us all of noobfests in ONS, but since they're so good, we'll just shake our heads and pull them out ourselves.
Rox are ok, link ok, sniper ok, flak is about the same. Impact hammers should go off even as you die. Right now they're fairly good against mantas and push them back (but not enough to get a second charge going most of the time), but you have to hit it DEAD ON. Slightest sideways turn and you go squish and they fly off unharmed.
Well, that's what I see. What do you all think?
-Rand
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