I've been playing SC for about four years, not new to alpha, imbalance, unfinished features but that didn't really bother me as much as it does now. I don't think it was ever to the point it is currently, feeling so much more of an alpha than it did before. The variety and depth that we used to have was slowly stripped away, 'temporarily removed' to rework it who knows how many patches or even years later. Understandable but then some intentional changes hint at some strange direction that everyone jumped into but not sure how many actually like it. One would think the issues of the flight model were clear, or mistakes learned from the previous one. As flaws in the game were found and abused, eventually leading to the pip wiggle meta, where a pilot of low skill could spam random inputs and be rewarded with unfair levels of evasion, not to mention those who were more experienced. People "teach" these methods and then everyone replicates, accepting it as the new standard, even being proud of it... forgetting the entire playstyle is built around abusing flaws in the game that should not exist and we should be vocal against them. Instead of a fix, a ship was released that ticked all the right boxes to capitalize on said "playstyle" More power on thrusters, forever afterburn, very good Hp for a small frame (surviving chip damage if wiggling) and high alpha guns that destroyed anything else, almost meant for it. Anyone who tried otherwise died.. or their ship was nerfed to the ground (rip sabre +20k mass silently without a reason or mention on patchnotes) A lot of changes were done to ESP (more on that later) but the meta remained until the flight model was reworked, never addressed as how toxic it was for the game itself (this is independent of if people had fun or not, those things are not mutually exclusive) Skip many patches ahead and we're still dealing with small fighters with more power on thrusters than racing ships. RACING SHIPs!!! superlight frames with powerful engines designed for it. They have more power on AUX thrusters than most ships on their MAINS. Not sure where they fit an engine or fuel tanks big enough as well as all components (I challenge you to find space in the arrow, with the landing gear and the existing interior there is barely any place for components, let alone enough fuel to sustain the G forces it pulls so casually) But that's not really the worst part, its that at some point people figured out that a lazy corkscrew replaces the standard wiggle, holding two inputs causing shots to miss, Pips to be inaccurate and ESP to go completely haywire unless you are doing the same thing (enjoy if you don't have analog control for the roll axis) Its just so underwhelming, watching all the ships and playstyles die and be replaced with every average joe using the same ships, with the same weapons, the same flight style and the saddest part is that it works very well against anyone who isn't doing the same. It is painful having to unlearn everything I picked up over the years of playing SC and watching as mindlessly pressing two keys is by far more effective than anything that I've been doing previously, punished heavily by a malfunctioning ESP otherwise, sabotaging the entire fight, FORCED to play in the one specific style or struggle with the game itself, not my opponent. I used to win my fights in my own style, my own ship and weapon choices through extensive trial and error, meta ships meant nothing if the pilot wasn't up to par. I wasn't a clone of anyone else and that was highly rewarding, now everything I do feels wrong and rewarded the closer I get to what every one else is doing. I don't want this... How did combat become like this? the message I get from the next changes doesn't inspire confidence either, instead of the overperforming ships being toned down leaving room for the other 90+ choices, we're picking another light fighter to buff up to those standards, reinforcing that direction? does anyone even care anymore? :confused: TL;DR= Unhappy with the current direction, strange ship stats and how frustrating is that the flaws in the game turn all combat into lazy corkscrew / wiggle, as a huge boost before skill. On top of that, unsure if CIG is working around broken things and concepts or what the players do / say instead of what they should. Many times it feels they create or even encourage those things. (btw who didn't see the Ion or Perseus disaster miles away? why wouldn't they?)