Actually, I think your description shows the problem with its gameplay: there's no middle ground or back and forth. No Tug-of-war literally by design. the game is one-sided by design. Either the hunters catch the monster early and curb stomps or the monster reaches stage three and curb stomps. Saying "that's by design" is dumb since it means it's not designed to be an engaging game, just a game to hurry up before you literally cannot win. You say the hunters may as well quiet when the monster reaches level three, but that doesn't encourage players to keep going... it encourages them to quit.
eh, a noob monster will have an advantage against noob hunters, other way around at the top. there must be a middle ground otherwise advantages simply would never change.
every game has a timer and conditions where you if you fail to compete you will inevitably defeated. that argument is literally the same for the most popular genres on the planet. if your team sucks and won't be able to catch-up before the timer runs out, what keeps people going in that case? the only difference is that it stands and falls with the monster instead of curbstomping the whole enemy team. shit players were more spectating than playing 20 years ago in counter-strike, didn't keep the game from becoming popular.
However, I do agree that some more issues with gameplay should be brought up. So let me go over a part of the balance that does affect gameplay: the map. The map is only ever beneficial to the monster, and only ever detrimental to the hunters. In theory, the terraforming of the map is meant to give the hunters the edge with their jetpacks, but I've never actually seen that make a difference; the jetpacks only ever make navigating less annoying on the way to the monster, who can move without issue from the start. No, the traps on the place, the plants that instantly trap the player being the worst. And if you get stuck, injured, or attacked? Better hope a teammate can/will help you or you're dead. And if you're dead, the team is fucked. Royally. Just quit and try to find a new game.
As for rebalancing, I can't just magically offer a better solution. Fixing a game like this would take time and I personally don't think Evolve was a good idea to begin with, but that's a story for another day. Instead let me just mention that with Evolve, the Monster needs 1 good player to win. The Hunters need 4 good players.
unless you played wraith map still affected you, remember there were fucking bird swarms everywhere and other shit signaling your location, and you had to constantly move around to feed so you could evolve. you were also big af thus easy to spot. circling the monster is part of the hunt, which of course is harder to do as hunters since you have to cover more ground and need more coordination to not let it slip through.
traversal as a hunter wasn't really an issue, the chase and getting there fast is part of the job - admittedly some people like it some don't, same for the hide & seek part. although there later were modes which removed that aspect (just hunters vs stage 2 monster which was considered equal in power).
if one hunter goes down you're out 25% capacity, but that's the same for every team pvp, I think there were some handicaps for the monster as well in form of not regenerating health or other effects - and to be fair it usually only happens if you don't stick together or when you're fighting the monster, so you either fucked up and are doomed to fail anyway or it doesn't really matter since the game is almost over one way or another.
gotta admit I'm usually not even a fan of asymmetric pvp, but it still baffles me how evolve got all that shit when it's merely considered slight flaws or "part of the game", even in the same genre. maybe they are more more casual thus more accessible, which was always one of evolve's biggest issues. still, the basic formula itself was fine. but then people think overwatch has good gameplay because it has waifus and MUH BLIZZARD, so who even knows...
EDIT: Forgot to respond to this part:
True, but:
- there's also a difference between a Co-Op RPG FPS that people enjoy right out of the gate, and a PVP game that everyone thinks needs some work on top of basically requiring you to know the Meta to have a remotely good time. It might seem unfair, but people don't mind them milking the Bordlands because they simply like the Borderlands (I personally don't).
- Borderlands doesn't cost as much to get its DLC.
- Purchasable characters in a single-player/co-op game aren't nearly as detrimental as in competitive games. If a new Borderlands character goes on sale, it only affects you if you get. In Evolve, you have a new threat you have to face, and can't practice using to get an idea of how they work (and therefore learn to counter), you gotta pay up.
1. if you suck at a co-op rpg you will either get no rewards or get kicked, either way you won't go far. just stings less since it's not competitive and less potential teabagging involved
2. complete borderlands 2 dlc is currently ~166€ on steam (and some not even covered by the first season pass, too bad if you bought it and thought you'll get everything).
3. depends if the new characters are powercreeped, then the same as 1) applies. heck gatchas make literal billions with that concept alone.
people just homed in on the price (same way they complain about genshin ironically) without ever considering or even knowing what that actually entails in the game itself. for example I don't remember any "must have" characters or monsters, _maybe_ a certain healer because easier to play (I do remember one was pretty meh and harder tho), but it has been years at this point. for me there is not much difference between a character that plays differently and a map that looks and plays differently in the end (unless there are other factors like powercreep involved of course), both are a form of sidegrade.
And then that part at the end:
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A game studio is more than just talent, it's also the experience to apply deliberate design choices that makes a good game.
I read chris chin as chan for a second, ho boy...
