There’s a raging debate within the The Finals community that many PC FPS fans will be very familiar with. This is a brand new Wrath Pit controller aim assist compared to the excellent keyboard and mouse. “The Finals” emerged on the scene as a popular FPS at a time when the giants of the genre were not yet so popular, seemingly inheriting the genre’s common problems.
But for those unfamiliar, what’s up with aim-assist frustration? In short: When a first-person shooter crosses platforms between PC and consoles, gamers using controllers will obviously be matched against keyboard and mouse users. Without developer tweaks, mouse and keyboard players largely outperform controller players in terms of accuracy, regardless of individual skill of course. You know, even computer gamers can be trash.
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To solve this problem, aim assist has been added! This makes it easier for controller users to aim, which will hopefully bridge the gap between the two input methods. This comes in the form of some degree of auto-tracking, some auto-aim rotation, etc. If done right, everyone will smile and have a good time. When used harshly, you’ll irritate computer players, whose argument is that it’s unfair for controller users to gain an advantage, allowing less skilled players to win firefights. This is a simplified explanation, but you get the gist of it.
In the opinion of many PC players attending the finals, the current balance is heavily skewed in favor of controller users. To bring some credit to the Finals community, they were very careful in presenting their issues. Take Reddit user Thwoc, for example, who has been curating visual examples of target-assisted actions in short, easy-to-digest videos. Following the finals patch that tweaked aim assist, they compared the changes before and after the patch and highlighted the strong impact of the rotation changes.
They later released a short video showing off “aim capture” – a term that refers to your scope catching enemies near the crosshair – and the ridiculous limitations of its power in the finals. In some cases, aiming in the finals can take an almost 180-degree turn, which can be a bit unfair.
That’s not the only factor players believe contributed to the failure of assist targeting in the Finals. Recoil smoothing is also a pain point. Simply put, it reduces the vertical recoil when you strafe.All in all, you’ve achieved goal assist, which is definitely It seems wilderness. There are tons of clips for you to watch.
So, what’s the upshot of all this talk? A recent post on The Finals subreddit showed game developers’ responses to the question of whether they monitor these ongoing debates. They’ve essentially confirmed that they’ve received the feedback and are looking into it, but there’s no word yet on what changes the community can expect when it comes to aim assist.
On the developer side, the game’s creators will almost certainly have access to more data showing how aim assist works at different skill levels. Reddit users, or anyone invested in issues like community and the impact of aim assist on gaming, are probably more skilled than a 45-year-old dad who turns on his console after get off work and plays a game or two. In the hands of competitive players, assists do look strong, but for super casual players, it can drop off.
Regardless of the game, this is what the aim assist conversation is about. It takes a long time for things to settle down and make everyone happy. More often than not, it never gets to that point and people remain forever angry. That’s how people are! If the Grand Finals has anywhere near the staying power of modern Call of Duty or Apex Legends, you can expect it to be a constant battle that never ends. Hopefully Embark Studios can strike a good balance. Otherwise, expect this to happen again in the future!
