The criticism of the online shooter called Quake Champions is growing. More and more players are complaining about missing game modes, ongoing technical issues, and a noticeable decline in players – but there is also hope! Read our reader DevilRon1989’s impressions in a reference test for Quake Champions.
Everyone has probably heard the name Quake. It is a popular shooter franchise from id Software, which dominated the market since the mid-90s and was largely well-received by players. Especially the multiplayer mode was popular!
Quake established eSports with John Carmack’s Ferrari!
What many don’t know is that Quake is partly responsible for establishing the eSports scene. While there were numerous multiplayer tournaments before Quake, they had low budgets and prizes. Such events did not receive much attention from outside.
However, this changed in 1997 when Microsoft sponsored a Quake tournament. At that time, you could seriously win John Carmack’s 1987 Ferrari 328 GTS, the developer of Quake!
From Quake Live, which was marketed in 2010, things remained quite quiet around the brand. However, this changed when Quake Champions was announced at E3 2016. Now, a year later, Quake Champions is available as an Early Access title on Steam, among other platforms.
You can also play the game for free via the Bethesda launcher. However, you won’t have all heroes from the start and need to unlock additional characters.
A pure shooter without frills!
First of all, Quake Champions is fun. Yes, it is fast, yes, the graphics engine looks beautiful, and yes, the game is minimalist. This means: No aim assist, not much frill like grenades, and the abilities of the characters provide only strategic advantages.
You can’t just stand in the middle of the enemies and take out four players with the special ability at the push of a button, like in Overwatch. If you want to experience a truly different shooter experience, then you are in the right arena with Quake Champions!
But somehow not everything is gold that glitters. Quake Champions also brings some problems that currently annoy the community.
Always trouble with microtransactions
Microtransactions? No, don’t worry, it is by no means as bad as in Star Wars: Battlefront II, nonetheless, you can unlock complete outfits and other cosmetic skins in Quake Champions with real money.
Players do not see it as too dramatic, if only the in-game currency exchange rate wasn’t so stupid. The user “zastels” describes the following situation on reddit: He wants to buy something worth $5, but he has to exchange his real money for Quake’s currency called “Platinum.”
Inconvenient change annoys!
The problem here is that there are no $5 packages in the game. So he has to resort to a $7 exchange to be able to buy an item of his choice and is left with some Platinum that he can hardly use to buy something meaningful.
Opinions are widely divided at this point:
- Some players are excited about the new Quake and are happy to invest alongside the equivalent of 30 Euros for the Early Access access into microtransactions to continue supporting the game.
- Others are critical of it.
The game speed – Faster than CoD, but still too slow
Even though Quake Champions is still quite a bit faster compared to Destiny 2 or even Call of Duty: WWII, longtime Quake fans complain about noticeable changes in some characters.
In Quake Champions, the playable characters have different values regarding mobility, health, and shield strength. The crazy punk named Anarki glides like Marty McFly in “Back to the Future” on a hovering skateboard and slaughters through all opponents.
More speed for old-school Quakers or a more leisurely pace for newcomers?
No question, Anarki is one of the faster characters in the game, but he has also been significantly slowed down, as the reddit user “JizzusChroist” writes. By jumping strategically, Anarki could not only accelerate quickly but also maintain a high speed as long as you mastered this character well. Now the hero feels way too slow for the redditor. However, players are by no means united on the speed topic.
Older Quake veterans miss the old, higher speeds of the characters, but especially newcomers appreciate a bit more stability between the various player characters. A rather throttled pace clearly serves the beginner-friendliness.
Server problems – The ping from hell!
Well, one must fairly say at this point that Quake Champions is still being distributed as an Early Access title and accordingly, not everything can always work as hoped. Nonetheless, there are some technical problems that id Software has not managed to tackle for months.
This refers to lags caused by high pings in the game. Especially the European servers are reportedly extremely affected by this. The ping display in the game also seems to be lagging behind.
Some users are shown pings in the normal range between 30-50, but reality in the game often feels different. Given the high gameplay speed that defines Quake, these circumstances can be extremely annoying!
Regional player decline – “Is anyone still playing this?”
If you want to play a round of Quake Champions, you not only have to wait a long time until you find enough players. In some regions, it is currently nearly impossible to find other players. In countries like Australia, the servers resemble a ghost town, as user “jimjambanx” states on reddit.
If a team is found after a long wait, you have to expect to face the same players in the next few rounds because the game simply doesn’t find any additional persons. Whether there will be a remedy for this problem in the future and how it can be solved remains currently unclear.
Missing game modes – “Hey man, where is my Clan Arena?”
No one really understands it, but where the hell are the most popular game modes of Quake? A Quake without “Clan Arena” is like a Destiny without a raid, FIFA without the ball, or Mein-MMO without Gerd.
If you don’t know what Clan Arena is, here’s a brief summary: Team Deathmatch without direct respawn and with crazy actions like “Rocket Jumps”. This term means: You take the rocket launcher, shoot a rocket at your feet, and you are catapulted upwards.
You don’t take damage from your own shots. This seems trivial at first but increases the game tempo significantly, also requiring a lot of practice and is thus the top tier of any Quake.
This feature should not be underestimated, as it has led to Quake’s absolute popularity. But so far, there is no trace of it in Quake Champions. However, there is still hope!
Hope for 2018
In a recently released community stream, they talked about the upcoming patches and also about further future plans. The topic of Clan Arena was addressed, and players should look forward to it next year. More detailed information, such as a release date for this mode, has not yet been revealed.
Conclusion – A purist shooter with many flaws
One thing is clear: Quake Champions has not really gotten rolling yet.
The game still has technical difficulties, missing game modes, and other inconsistencies just before 2018. It is still in Early Access phase, and you can clearly feel that in the game.
However, the developers’ response is to be positively evaluated. They send a clear signal and are working on known problems and community wishes.
I stand by my opinion and say clearly: If you want to play a truly pure shooter, if you really want to test your limits, you should enter this arena. Maybe we will see each other in 2018 in the “Clan Arena” again.
This guest post is by our reader DevilRon1989.
