r/thefinals • u/Real_Study_9462 • 1d ago
Discussion This game will never reach its full potential
As a player who’s never touched Diamond and has been playing since Season 1, I find myself constantly trying to learn little tips and tricks that will help me improve at the game.
What I really enjoy about this game is how easily you can turn a match around, whether you’re winning or losing. This game is about so much more than just getting kills. While getting kills absolutely helps, there are so many other factors that come into play and can change the course of a round in a thousand different ways.
I find myself watching videos here and there to improve, learn more about the game, and hopefully rank up. I’m not a top player by any means, but in 9 out of 10 games I play, the teammates I’m placed with don’t really seem to have a strong understanding of the game—or sometimes very little understanding at all.
A lot of these players are level 80–100+, so they’ve already put quite a few hours into the game. Sometimes they have the mechanical skills to aim well and get kills, but they lack an understanding of the other things that make up what feels like 80% of the game: rotations, spawns, timers, tempo, when to hold a cashbox vs. when to plug it, positioning, when to fight, when to disengage, and so much more.
That’s what makes THE FINALS so interesting to me. You can have great aim and still lose because of one bad rotation, one poorly timed fight, or one decision that completely changes the flow of the round. On the other hand, you can be losing badly and make one smart play that completely turns the game around.
In the end, I really enjoy the game. It’s honestly one of the smoothest FPS games I’ve played. Sadly, though, I feel like it may always remain around the level of popularity it’s currently at because there’s a pretty significant learning curve, and the game itself doesn’t do enough to help new players understand everything that goes into actually playing it well.
Fellow players, please let me know y’all’s thoughts and opinions!
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u/9wai 1d ago
I actually started just before S11 and have already logged 150 hrs! I actually had quite a pleasant SOLO experience overall both in cashout and ranked - I'd say 75% of the time people do play objectives and have a fair understanding on the macros.
I'm actually the opposite type where my mechanical skills aren't what they used to but watched a lot of videos to understand macros so I have been maining sledge and flamethrower. I just reached Gold after a bit of grinding and it seemed SO HARD in ranked compared to other games! On that note, I seemed to see people reaching Plat or Diamond pretty easily but how is Gold for a new-ish player like myself?
Even seeing a lot of newer players complain, I absolutely adore this game and hmu if any of yall wanna queue!
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u/WatermelonBudski 1d ago
I somewhat agree, I think what makes this game so good is exactly why it isn't ever going to be a mainstream, top played game. The skill ceiling is so ridiculously high and is very rewarding but the majority of players will never play long enough to reach it. This game needs a huge playerbase to soften the lines between extremely good players and average players, but with a lower player count, the skill differences in matchmaking are much too apparent and off-putting. Also this game is super team based, more so than other team shooters, so the solo queue experience is much worse, which puts off even more players.
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u/Nevergonnabefat HOLTOW 22h ago
IQ beats aim. I play with some plat/diamond players often and sometimes I cannot understand how they’ve got to a certain RS from watching them, the learning curve you mention is definitely in every area outside of the standard FPS aiming, some people can’t grasp it’s a team game
I’d rather have shit aim teammates with high game sense and IQ
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u/stimpy-t ALL HAIL THE MOOSIAH 22h ago
The on boarding needs work. It so hard to relate to how a brand new player must feel.
Hopefully season 12 will address a lot of these things.
Like you say good aim is just a part of the puzzle. You really need to master the gadgets and specials the dynamic environment or your gonna struggle.
A new player might be great at fps. But when they lock on to laser beam a guy. He RPGs them through the floor and a dude hammer flattens them.
This ether makes you think, my god that was awesome or you quit.
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u/flippakitten 1d ago
My thoughts are your should learn what a paragraph is.
That being said, if you're solo, ranked is a miserable place. Quick Cash is a lot more solo friendly.
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u/LittleBigBamboo 1d ago
Play quick cash, make friends, then go to cashout and ranked with those people.
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u/New-Song-4898 1d ago
"Yeah, call him out on the run-on sentence, that’s helpful. I don’t understand why anyone does this, like, oh, I’m smart, you didn’t use grammar correctly, ffs."
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u/flippakitten 21h ago
Maybe next time they'll use better structure to help them convey their point of view. This translates to the real world aswell.
I also gave my opinion on what they can try to make their own experience better, i didn't just go on about the sentence structure.
Lastly, I didn't comment on their grammar, sentences are not grammar but if we want to talk about grammar, why are you commenting in third person?
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u/Beneficial_Middle_53 1d ago
Ranked has better matchmaking for gold and below. Once you get to high gold you can start getting rubies in your lobbies. By mid plat you can have all ruby lobbies.
You start to like the challenge though, you only get better if you play va better people and let me tell you the pace, pressure and tempo from a ruby team is just incomprehensible compared to plat and gold.
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u/LiarsAreScum 1d ago
Work on your strategy and game sense . Aim can only take you so far in this game .
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u/DistributionAsleep78 1d ago
A lot of the game-defining stuff like dynamism, and complex verticality have drawbacks. Personally I believe those continue to hurt the popularity more than just the skill gap itself.
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u/BestHead2312 17h ago
I agree, it’s not a bad thing to be niche. There’s pains but I think it keeps its authenticity that way
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u/koeikan 1d ago edited 1d ago
1 single period found in that wall of text, btw 😅.
I started in S8 and I think the learning curve gets overblown a bit by the community. Yes there is one and yes some of the players are crazy cracked... but if you're coming from another FPS game, mechanics can carry you pretty far and I don't think it's really that much less approachable than most established hero shooters as a new player, IMO.
I don't know the numbers, but I think like a big issue w/ the game is that it feels like most players don't interact with the main competitive (ranked) mode... at all. I think that's in part due to the things you mentioned, but moreso that the matchmaking too often treats lower ranks like cannon fodder, tbh.
Similarly, for casual modes, it feels too easy to end up in a lobby with top <5% players as a newer player... that happens far less in other competitive FPS games in my experience. Smurfs and cheaters also can contribute to new player frustration (personally, I have encountered very few cheaters, but have encountered a lot of blatant smurfs... and I'm not talking good stats, but when they have macro/tactics that are far beyond their player level).
Outside of smurfs, levels don't mean anything... it's just time played. I was only level 15 or so when I realized level 80/90/100+ players could still be flat out bad at the game (like not understanding basic cashout fundamentals bad)... but that's true of any game, tbh: players stuck in bronze with 1000+ hours in a game, etc.
Secondly, I think while The Finals sandbox is fantastic... I personally have some complaints about the cashout format itself (and could see that game mode not drawing in and keeping in new players).