Space Marine - Multiplayer Current State
Channel: Daemeous
Date: 13/09/2011

So I've been playing Space Marine quite a bit and this frequently happens. The host will disconnect from the game, leaving the other 15 players frozen. Text & voice chat works,so I'm able to confirm it's not just me.

This session was about 2 hours long and this was the 7th time this had happened. I'd tried quitting the server and looking for another one, but matchmaking decided to put me on this server every time.

Can we get dedicated servers please?

Here's a lst of some of the problems I have with Multiplayer:
No dedicated servers = (As a Brit) waiting 20 minutes in matchmaking to be thrown into some game where the host is some whiny little 13 year old yank probably hosting via G wireless on his daddy's laptop.

No option to choose or prefer sides, doesn't matter in most games but in 40,000; everyone has a favourite.

Everyone's Mics set to constant broadcast. Add the fact that Windows Vista loves to use speakers as Microphones and you're in for some lovely ear rending screeches.

Sprint stops for practically no reason, infinite sprint and touching the smallest piece of rubble means you have to go through the long slowdown to a stop and then speed back up to a sprint animation...lovely.

There many not be a cover system but there's still a focus on cover, given the fact that nothing is destructible you'll find safety cowering behind a thin wall, until a pair of grenades come you way killing you instantly. You see that Bolter you're holding? It fires rockets that make a mockery of any kind of cover...

Inability to swap shoulders with ranged weapons like Bolters. It sounds stupid but actually makes a big difference. The fact you always shoot from the right means coming around a left handed corner lets you inch out and shoot while protected. Coming around that corner the other way means you have to expose your entire body before both the Camera and Weapon can aim down the corridor. Space Marines are ambidextrous there's no excuse, this actually unbalanced maps as the side that can approach anti-clockwise can fire from complete cover against the side which has to fully expose themselves and then run another 10 meters one way to even see a fraction of the hitbox of the person shooting at them...who can then shrink away slightly, obscuring themselves whilst still maintaining fire.

It's completely generic, no innovation, it's clearly just tacked on with no thought behind it than minor balancing and even that fails:
The Bolt Pistol, Bolter, Stalker Bolter, Storm Bolter and Heavy Bolter all feel realistic and balanced, the problem is every other weapon is overpowered. Lascannon headshot is instakill,  generic sniper rifle! Yes, that's realistic, but what isn't realistic is it being fielded vs Infantry, it's an Anti-Vehicle weapon.
Plasma Cannon, Rocket launher, one charged shot = 10 meter Instakill radius, even against a Devastator with an Iron Halo. Frankly I don't know what's less realistic, a Devastator with an Iron Halo or the fact they still get Intsakilled.
Meltagun - Shotgun, Instakill up close. When I first got this weapon I just knew they were trying to take 40,000 weapons and pigeon hole them into today's shooter categories. This is an Anti-Tank weapon which is a focused beam, not a shotgun!
Melee, if an Assault Marine you didn't spot lands next to you, chances are you're dead before the game even register's they've landed. You can even dodge out of the way and still be killed due to lag. On the other hand you can make it physically impossible for them to hit you. I once got bored and survived 35 seconds as a Tactical Marine just dodging around 2 of them...until a Devastator came in and killed both of them with a single Plasma Cannon shot...
Martyrdom on crack...An Assault Marine Perk that means when they die, their pack explodes which will instakill in a rather large radius, but even out of that radius you'll still likely to be finished off by it. That's right, they took the perk from Call of Duty and upgraded it...The worst part is that it's the Assault Marines who get it, the guys who can jump in the air and appear next to you. Devastators physically can't get out of the instakill blast radius. Land right next to a Devastator with an Iron Halo, don't do any damage to him and die, you're guaranteed to kill him no matter what.

What I would've liked to see:

A Battlefield type game, with Vehicles and destructible cover, how cool would it be drive a Predator or a Dreadnought (due to the nature of Dreads you'd have to spawn as on to be lore friendly), it'd give a reason to have all those Anti-Vehicle weapons in there!. Terminator Armour, Librarians, Apothecaries, Techmarines. How about some kind of mode where each side gets supported by Imperial Guard/Cultist NPCs. How about assigning an NPC squad to players? A Terminator would get no one but a Tactical might get 2 Marines. That way you're not the sole member of your chapter, but you're supported by your own Battle Brothers.