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Alright, it's time for a late night rant. Let's talk about #DoomEternal 's most controversial enemy, the Marauder. A BIG thread because I have OPINIONS. ( @gamemakerstk since there was the other thread involving the Marauder, maybe this is of interest?)
I will state my opinion off the bat, but please don't run! I think the Marauder is a good enemy, and a good addition to the game :O. HOWEVER, I definitely understand why some players do NOT like him. Let me try and break it down.
The Marauder must be interacted with differently than almost any other AI in the game. With most enemies, you often finish them off once you start attacking them. Once you make the prioritization decision of what enemy to take out and how, you usually accomplish it quickly-ish.
The Marauder is meant to be fought differently. His shield prevents you from just dumping the damage in to kill him whenever you want. The times when he can be killed are determined by HIS timer, not yours, and overall he takes a lot longer to kill.
This means that you usually can't just focus on him until he dies. You need to take some time to deal some damage, then disengage and focus on other parts of the fight. When played correctly, I think this actually adds some really awesome depth and variation to combat!
However, this is not something players are used to. Attacking something then changing focus to something else without killing that thing is not only rare in doom, but rare in shooters in general. When you play a shooter you tend to have a mode of thought where you are...
focusing on what target to attack, how to move, what tools to use, etc. But, once you make those decisions, you are in a mode where you are focused on the mechanical execution -- the aiming challenge of hitting a moving target or going for headshots, etc.
When you are in the execution mode, swapping out of it without a satisfying conclusion can be a lot of mental friction for some players. It can feel icky, like something is unfinished. Having the awareness and being comfortable enough to swap target priorities at this point..
Is generally a high skill and high experience play pattern -- newer players will struggle with this. Notice how the other enemies that also go unkilled more often are other pain points for players -- the whiplash and prowler for example, or the summoner in 2016.
Even for experienced players, it's also takes a LOT of encouragement/discouragement to get players to play this way. You need a really strong encouragement, like "OMG THERE'S AN EXPLODING GUY RIGHT NEXT TO ME THIS IS THE NEW MOST IMPORTANT THING"...
Or a really strong discouragement, like "this guy has a shield and I literally cannot damage him anymore". These can feel heavy handed and "lazy" to some (I assure you these devs are *NOT* lazy, I hate when people say this), but trust me...
If you don't make it that heavy handed, players usually just won't get it. Story time! In Destiny 2, the updated Servitor enemy will periodically buff nearby allies and make them invincible. This means you may have to swap targets over to the Servitor! Same general idea.
I tried SO MANY THINGS for that buff to try and be less heavy handed! Even when the servitor buff made the enemies take 95% REDUCED DAMAGE (!), players would see that they were doing damage and making progress, dump 3 mags into a fodder unit, and complain the game felt sponge-y.
When you are engaging with a game on this execution level, you really aren't using your rational brain that much. It can be REALLY hard to accurately understand WHY a thing makes you feel the way you do. It's hard to immediately feel how the Marauder makes the combat deeper.
It feels good, but it's hard to pinpoint WHY, so the Marauder maybe doesn't get the positive checkmark. But when the Marauder kills you, or when you feel that OMG I HATE THAT I CAN'T DAMAGE THIS GUY moment, it's really easy to pinpoint the Marauder as the target of your ire.
(Random side note. It's really hard to make enemies with longevity. High health pools can feel spongey and uninteresting. Even if you add phases for variation (Doom Hunter), enemies that rely on a high health pool are very difficult to balance for different player skills...
The gap in a player's DPS based on skill, especially in a game like doom, is so vast that it's tough to make a consistent enjoyable experience. It often ends up being not great for most players except the one narrow band of skill you can make happy.)
THEORETICAL DESIGN ASIDE. There's also some issues with the execution of the Marauder that I think feel avoidable. For a game that's ok with throwing annoying tutorial popups in your face to make sure you can understand the more nuanced aspects of combat, the Marauder tip
doesn't give you any hints about disengaging! Additionally, the Marauder tip tells you he is resistant to Super Weapons. I don't think "Super Weapons" is a category mentioned anywhere else, what does that mean? I have one weapon with "super" in the name, the Super Shotgun...
But the Super Shotgun is like the EASIEST way to stagger the Marauder! You actually really wanna use it! Also, the "stay at medium range" gameplay is great, but it feels overly difficult because his movement patterns are tough to control and can seem random.
The Marauder can feel a little too reactionary and a little difficult to plan around in my opinion. The moments where you have to stop and wait to react feel dissonant in a game where "wait" is almost universally discouraged. (Reactions vs plans, another rant coming soon(tm))
ANYWAY THERE'S MY LATE NIGHT PILE OF THOUGHTS, THANKS FOR READING. In case my recent obsession isn't clear, DOOM ETERNAL IS AMAZING THANK YOU @idSoftware FOR YOUR INCREDIBLE WORK. GAMES ARE REALLY HARD AND NOTHING IS EVER PERFECT, BUT DAMN THIS IS A FUN GAME!
(end thread on Marauder)
