I will address some points.
"First, you state that the difficulty present in dodging weapons with homing capabilities makes the game a war of attrition. I hardly see how you can give TM 2012 this label without applying it to the entire series. In every TM you're using vehicles with a specific number of hit points using weapons which deal a specific amount of damage, but most importantly, each vehicle possesses varying capabilities to deal and negate damage."
Trust me they dont play anything like TMX. Nothing at all. When I say attrition, I mean most of the shit wont be avoided in TMX. Or to a degree that is diminished from older games (i will drill that point home because thats the kicker). Older TM games there is more finesse and nuance, driving matters far more to determine an outcome then straight up who has more guns. NOT ABSENT IN TMX. Just greatly diminished.
"Consider it this way. If you're playing Darkside in Black, is it worth the effort to go to the effort of dodging a homing missile that takes away less than 4% of your health? While your enemy is spamming you slowly over a long period of time, you should take the opportunity to set up an attack of your own that is more powerful, deals more damage with a shorter amount of time required, has knock-back attributes that allow you to set up combos, etc.. The same logic applies to TM 2012, as players in current day can consistently nail strong, single-hit damage like power missiles, turbo rams, napalm bullseyes, even ricos, as well as multitudes of vehicle specials."
I think you are making the incorrect assumption many people... unfamiliar with dodging make. Its not just a defensive technique. Yes, it is worth it to dodge, if you can, whenever you can. You save AA (where you might have shielded) that can be used against stuff that matters. And dodging in the "pocket" (close range) is great for small cars to stay offensive RIGHT WHERE ACTION IS. Rather then run away like a pussy and rear fire everything or corner hop from cover to cover. Dodging takes a mere second and you can fire your own shots or prep your own combos WHILE doing so. It isnt an all or nothing maneuver/playstyle.
What you are advocating is something very TMX in style. Why bother dodging (which really cant do), when its a 4% damage weapon, when you can spam your own offense. Dodging is BOTH offense and defense.
No one is arguing you dont have any combos or knockback. We are saying the actual dependency and relevancy on these things is diminished GREATLY from previous games. Like big time. When most weapons fire 3 times faster than ever... and are more accurate than ever.... yeah its a no brainer, you dont NEED to setup shots as much as before. You just don't.
You didnt answer me when I said what if Reaper has no cover and 2 people have him in the open spamming homings/other undodgeable turret special crap. Because you know the answer is he would die and has no options. Instead you copped out and said a good Reaper would never get stuck in that scenario.
"The parallel you draw to fighting games isn't relevant because character's attributes don't vary to the extent that the attributes of vehicles in TM do."
Bad example then. My point was it is dumb and boring. Imagine a game of basketball where the ball never misses. There, thats what I meant
"Tell me how landing power missiles is so much easier in TM 2012 than it is in any other title. If powerful attacks are supposedly so easy to land, why are weak homing weapons such an issue? Whatever you're attempting to argue, it doesn't add up. If homing attacks are so easy to dodge in Black, why does anyone ever bother firing them? Obviously, setting up strong attacks is never a sure thing, but all TM games hold a balance of risk vs. reward. You can choose to spam in any title if you wish, but you run the risk of getting outplayed with a more powerful attack."
Another GIANT misconception that we heard a lot.
"why would we want dodging weapons! it means the game would be too easy, and no one would die. Why bother firing anything if everything will miss!"
Exact opposite is the truth, it makes the game harder. Not to mention dodging has always been part of TM balance. Small cars better to dodge with, big cars harder but more armor to soak up the damage.
Its not "easy" per say, but it is "easy" when your opponent simply spams off the weapons and has no regard for timing as to WHEN they should fire a weapon. Homings despite being dodgeable, are one of the best pickups in the game. Yep, fact.
This is why so many had issue with the new game. There is less regard for the timing on firing weapons. They fire 3x faster... and home much better than ever before. Hence the "spam".
You can be at some retarded angles, and shit will land. This is where we have issues, you can fire most things at MORE instances, and it will land. We dont care one bit what is balanced, because believe me I 100% believe you when you say homings are balanced. No one has issue with that. In other TM games, being MORE conscious of where your opponent is and where you are before firing a weapon was the name of the game smart play. Hence, why we call this game "spam", its far more forgiving on where you fire from and where your opponent is... because it fires faster, and homes way better (yeah im broken record lol)
EXAMPLE: You and an enemy car are facing one another across a battlefield, not straight across from one another, but off to the side of one another. You both head forwards, keeping side distance. Firing weapons along the way. As you get super close and you both are off to 75-90 degree angles from one another, missile will start to miss because the angles are getting broken. This situation in TMBO/TM2PC is interesting, in that depending on the angles and the weapons, stuff will miss quite a bit, and as you approach the 75 degree mark... it just won't because its not probably angle. In TMX, shit will land throughout the entire phase, and even at the 75 degree mark, weapons might curve right around and follow to a far greater extent than TMBO/TM2PC. @ 80+, TMX freeze will turn around and follow.
Meaning? You can be less consciously aware of your placement and where your enemy is when it comes to firing weapons in TMX. There is A HUGE MARGIN OF ERROR, and more weapons will land, irrelevant of where enemy is in relation. MORE. Some weapons sure don't curve around or make angles in TMX, but with speed and accuracy boost its a noticeable change for the worst. This is the "spam" argument expanded. Spam = you can just fire and forget, more than before.
"I've already stated that there are multiple weapons and specials that exist for their knock-back and stun capabilities. So, once again, rather than hanging your full argument on hyperbolically stating that you can't dodge anything in TM 2012, explain to me why Death Warrant is so generic, and Outlaw II and Spectre in the respective games I mentioned them in are such great, unique cars from a gameplay standpoint."
O2 for TM2 has one of the lowest damage specials in the game, that tazer... might look retarded and seem generic but its fucking overpowered and amazing. That car was called the combo queen because it was used to cause massive knockup to set up combos... Spectre missile very average at best. DW has a special relatively the same as a number of cars in TMX. And in comparison to old games, setting up attacks is less than needed as before. When stuff lands easier now, it means you need less weapons that do knockback, or need for them. You had greater need back then.
But when people say originality they say Slam, Twister, Grasshopper, Hammerhead, Manslaughter, Yellowjacket... Very unqiue cars and specials. Most cars in TMX have undodgeable or near undodgeable tri-gun specials, flamethrowers, or aoe splash damage... not very engaging and not all that creative. Pretty bottom of the barrel. We go from tornados and jumping cars to all auto aim specials. TMX is basically every car is TMB Minion. Mr Slam you had to PHYSICALLY aim and land, timing was hard because there is self-knockback. Roadboat now is kinda fun and similar but hes the auto aim vacuum version of Slam.
"As well, how do you expect to ever hit fast, lightweight vehicles if power missiles moved slowly and can be easily dodged? How do you expect to hit them with anything if homing weapons have no effect on them, and their speed and agility should allow to prevent being hit by kick-back and stun weapons? Ought as well just fire missiles into empty space and hope they drive into them by random luck, in that case."
I think you have a mindset that is indicative of not playing the other games to see how they worked. Not meaning that offensively or anything but this paragraph above sums it up.
Fact: Dodging is big in TM2PC and TMBO. Freezes and other shit is not easy to land on people and require more use of knockback weapons, and aiming... and small cars can dodge the best of all cars in both games.
Result: And yet... small cars in both games are typically underpowered STILL. You think that by granting them dodging power they will be OP. Sure in TMX adding more dodgeability would change things drastically and the game would need an entire arsenal overhaul, but the fact remains is dodging did NOT make small cars OP in old TM games. Did NOT.
The new game they basically balanced around the fact that not much misses and it is MORE of a war of attrition.
It meant timing, aiming, combos, all mattered quite a bit more than TMX.
Dodging/missile speed+accuracy, and specials that are so boring are just a small part of it too. There is so much more absent in TMX that people liked too. You like audio depth of swamers clearly. So you would love TMB because thats a huge part of TMB, and not just one weapon but nearly all