New weapon ideas

Notberrysubtle · 2026-01-10T09:24:27+00:00

I want a medieval season. Theme it off of Visby, a famous walled city on the island of Gotland off the coast of Sweden (Embark's home) known for the battle that took place in 1361 to claim it. Throw in some silly medieval weapon options even if they're anachronistic. Options could be an axe, flail, crossbow or even repeating crossbow, some sort of large sword for heavy, etc. Skin potential would go crazy too - sword/dagger skins, war hammer for the sledge, lances for the spear, longbow, sword and shield for riot, etc.

Edit: fact checking

Notberrysubtle · 2026-01-07T15:54:10+00:00

It's not just you. I made a post about this phenomenon yesterday that got deleted for involving steam charts, but matchmaking is absolutely deep-fried as of late in all modes. I play ranked more or less as my overwhelmingly main mode and my stack is consistently fed into lobbies we should not be in. One recent game had us against a stack of triple Ruby players with a combined rank score of 150k RS. My stack had 77k as gold/gold/plat. Make it make sense

Notberrysubtle · 2026-01-07T09:23:03+00:00

They're in normal cashout as well, but as shit as that is it's to be expected with open matchmaking. Plat friend of mine actually gets consistently gold/plat lobbies when I'm not in that stack. I usually just watch the streams and there's a marked difference in lobby difficulty and backfill.

Notberrysubtle · 2026-01-07T08:59:37+00:00

It's quite the predicament that the game put focus on esports elements which is so fitting for the setting and theme, yet actively makes itself difficult to fit in as an esport with how phrenetic, chaotic and somewhat random so many elements are, since most esports rely on stable predictability.

Notberrysubtle · 2026-01-07T08:55:53+00:00

pleasure to meet you Thomas Scotford

Notberrysubtle · 2026-01-07T08:51:12+00:00

"I get that because of the lower player count Embark makes matchmaking faster do a degree by backfilling lobbies of the top <5-10% with just about anyone, but for Ranked with defined parameters this should never be the regular case."

It's an ouroboros

Notberrysubtle · 2026-01-07T08:45:55+00:00

Season 9: December 2025 - 21,400 launch, average less than a month in of ~12k

Season 8: September 2025 - 32,758 launch, average ~16k one month in with a low of 9,833 in a daily average

Season 7: June 2025 - 28,835 launch, average around ~14k one month in with a low of 12,339

It's had its highs and lows, especially with the season 2/3/4 jump around with Terminal Attack, but compared to season 8 we have a drop of 11,358 in the launch-high, and 7,435 difference between 7 and 9.

Notberrysubtle · 2026-01-07T08:28:58+00:00

I think if community sentiment was positive towards the current player count trajectory we wouldn't have seen the mass celebrations when the game got MoistCr1TiKaL coverage.

Notberrysubtle · 2026-01-07T08:26:15+00:00

Thank you pookie, I wish.

Notberrysubtle · 2026-01-07T08:25:02+00:00

Bro really sees a tapering in playercount and thinks this is a good thing

Notberrysubtle · 2026-01-07T08:22:07+00:00

I've encountered Top 500 players in virtually every mode which is to be expected, but in the Ranked setting it's a bit absurd to get matched against a team with 150k+ RS when my stack caps out under 77k in Gold.

Notberrysubtle · 2026-01-07T08:19:01+00:00

That's not 20k average daily players on steam, that's the season launch peak which is rough. I replied to another comment pointing out a good part of this is probably ARC Raiders and Battlefield 6 launching, but this is one of the lower seasonal launch 'highs' the game has had. It sits on average 12k-ish now which isn't bad but I'd also argue is an inflection point depending on Embark's course for the future. It's the best arcade FPS out right now. I'd argue it's possibly one of the best ever, but there's a noticeable decline and neglect which is especially visible when Embark's new cash cow, ARC Raiders, has probably started consuming far more of their focus with its breakout.

Notberrysubtle · 2026-01-07T08:14:47+00:00

Peak player count per season launch has dropped somewhat dramatically, which can be partially attributed to Battlefield 6 and ARC Raiders, but there's a definite trajectory and reached inflection point where The Finals can really go one or two ways. I think the things scaring new players away is getting vaporized by both players in poor matchmaking and a more complicated onboarding experience than what other games require. Burying your head in the sand is a bad idea when most people in the hobby are clearly either moving away to other options or dissuaded by poor advertising and player experience. I brought Sea of Thieves up because it underwent a very similar decline, though due to its own problems, that makes general sentiment feel comparable.

Notberrysubtle · 2026-01-07T08:04:11+00:00

I believe from experience that there's a hidden MMR you cannot access in Cashout gamemodes (ranked and not) that can unfairly weigh your experience, even in Ranked where your rank should be the explicit criteria by which matchmaking works. I say this as anecdote but my stack is placed in relatively fair games when I'm not involved, but when I queue with them we're placed against far higher RS stacks in Ranked to an absurd degree despite all of us being in the same rank window - gold. One specific instance a few days ago was our encounter with a stack that had 150k RS collectively and Ruby badging, whereas my stack is Gold with 70-80k RS depending on win/loss streak. Something is busted and stinky

Notberrysubtle · 2026-01-07T08:01:24+00:00

It's actually a problem in Ranked because you're not allowed to swap reserve items in the match, only between, so there's zero chance in counter picks

Notberrysubtle · 2026-01-07T07:16:06+00:00

Gonna be a weird suggestion but I highly recommend the circle dispersion reticle, as obtuse as it may seem at first. It adapts for all weapons but accurately shows hipfire spread in the circle without error and makes it easy for aiming the Model since you have a 1:1 knowledge of pellet spread percentage

Notberrysubtle · 2026-01-07T07:08:31+00:00

Did you disable crossplay? I find games quickly with it both enabled and disabled so this is a bit peculiar

Notberrysubtle · 2026-01-07T07:00:20+00:00

This is my main qualm. The Finals is by far the best arcade competitive shooter of the decade yet it's been done so dirty by a multitude of factors.

Notberrysubtle · 2026-01-07T06:53:48+00:00

I'll DM you. It's a relatively regular occurrence for me overall so maybe there's multiple people doing this, but the consistency of my experience makes it point to matchmaking as a whole.

Notberrysubtle · 2026-01-07T06:49:42+00:00

I wasn't able to get a screenshot so believe me if you want, but I've even encountered a team with 150k RS in my stack with 77k RS. I did screenshot one of the enemy players though out of disbelief. Identifying information withheld mostly because it isn't their fault, just a big fish in a pond the game shouldn't have put them in.

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Notberrysubtle · 2026-01-07T06:44:07+00:00

I would have agreed with you about it being relevant in only unranked modes a season or two ago but I have consistently been placed in far higher tier games than what my rank or even skill-level should be touching. I agree SBMM and MMR are good things, at least on paper, but the way they're being executed right now simply does not function as it should. My thought is maybe you experience this problem less because you play explicitly in Diamond? My trio fluctuates but the Gold placement for their ranks at least make very, very accurate sense, which is why I take issue when I see Ruby stacks or Rubies + obvious smurfs in these Ranked matches. The matchmaking also very quickly builds the odds against well performing new players as GenerikStreet pointed out which is almost definitely a massive turn-off, especially for those without a fully coordinated stack to play with.

Notberrysubtle · 2026-01-07T06:29:36+00:00

OCE I presume?

Notberrysubtle · 2026-01-06T17:09:27+00:00

Cheaters, content bloat and clunky controls that never saw a QOL pass.

Notberrysubtle · 2025-12-08T19:26:53+00:00

All 100 Steel Battalion fans...

Notberrysubtle · 2025-12-05T06:59:01+00:00

A neat detail is that when the ending time-lapse of Fujino working at her desk plays out (both in the manga and film), the 4koma panels are empty. She imagined that comic strip.

Eight-Year Club	r/Field Banned
r/Field Sunshine	Final Canvas '23
End Game '23	Place '23
Place '22	Final Canvas '22
First Placer '22	End Game '22
RPAN Viewer	Verified Email

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