I semi-agree, but i just dont think this item is even OP like the phone was. The phone was at least somewhat boring to use and didnt have a risk factor like the molotov. If the molotov was in the old games no one would complain. People just are addicted to outrage
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As a non-competitive, non-speedrunning, and non-elite player, the only usage I have for the leaderboards is to compare my own final scores to my own earlier final scores. I like the graph that appears showing where my own final score lands compared to the rest of the player community. I will almost automatically discount the top group of players from whatever calculation I do in my own head as I know I’m not at that level and never will be (nor would I try to be, in fact).
That all said, there is a usage for leaderboards beyond multi-player competition. If I only ever compare my own scores to my own scores, that’s still, technically, competition I guess. I’m competing against myself (the only person I EVER want to compete with, frankly, in any capacity).
I think that there are players who use the leaderboards for metrics beyond just whatever the world records are. If I want to better my own score, that’s just me trying to outdo myself and has nothing to do with world records. There are also use cases for scores that have nothing to do with speed running. Leaderboards naturally tend towards “leaders” but just knowing what your score is can be useful, even if you’re nowhere near the top, as a metric for your own level completion.
I think that the Molotov is a perfect example of IOI having a no-win scenario. If they provide new items that are not different enough from existing ones (a new pistol, a new katana, a new fiber wire), they get called out for “yet another reskin”. If they provide something that actually introduces new gameplay, or a new mechanic, or a new effect, it’s “overpowered” and needs to be either reduced in utility or removed outright. They cannot win with that sort of reaction. The only way they could introduce a new item that A) isn’t already in the game, B) isn’t overpowered, and C) isn’t a reskin is to put something in that is so useless that it won’t matter. The sedative gum they added fits all those criteria and I have heard almost no one talking about it since it was introduced. Players are simply not interested because it’s so underpowered.
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Yes, obviously the leaderboard can also be used to compare your own score to your old own score (or scores in your group of friends), but, honestly, I personally don’t see an incentive to compare my score to the score of people who finish the mission within a minute, so me placing in the (non-bugged out) 500s of the global leaderboard has no meaning. It’s like comparing the time a marathon runner needs for 100 metres to the time a sprinter needs for 100 metres. Yes, those are both the results for them finishing the same task, but they approached the task differently.
That’s going off-topic, though, and I feel like I’m not englishing today. 
Just to be clear: I’m not arguing for the removal of leaderboards, all I’m saying is that new items that may help some people place higher on the leaderboard shouldn’t be used to argue for nerfing those items.
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Plus its really funny that people argue for integrity of the leaderboards which still have people who cheat for the top spots using a mod to put themselves at the minimum amount of time, or the fact they never wiped the leaderboards after people used the wallbang sniper to get fast times on the first month. Youd think theyd be more outraged at IO failing to do regular upkeep than something that the devs intended as a way of playing the game
I dont want to get accusatory but I think some people just like the idea of controlling a specific niche where theyre the best. Anything that means they have to get better or risk not having control is a threat to them. This is not an E-Phone situation. Even if you hate this new item, not as many people are on your side anymore. The item is at least better than the phone. Some speedrunners actually dont mind it. Just suck it up. Try to at least be more diplomatic and try to argue for non-molotov categories or for IO to fix bugs with the molotov like the kalmer giving you an extra use or it wallbanging
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When talking about community-created competitions, any optional in-game thing is completely fine. If the community creates a competition, it’s their responsibility to make that competition balanced/fun with rules. Since a rule can easily be made to disallow any item, no item will ever ruin community competitions. If it does, that’s the fault of the lack of rules in the competition to account for that.
A leaderboard already corrupted by cheaters, boosts, tranq glitches and glitched items (even if they were already patched out). We always go off each others videos anyway, which is a much better system and you can determine who ‘won fairly’ in terms of beating times with/without whatever items/glitches/cheeses you disagree with. It could be a tad hypocritical to want a single wallbanging item removed when speed runners have been wallbanging in missions and contracts for years and making times impossible for more casual players to beat, with no complaints. It has never been fair to anyone who doesn’t want to use cheesy glitches. At the very worst you’re in their shoes now.
Contracts mode is an evolution of Absolution’s mode… I don’t feel it has ever been good to the point of the game being centred around it. Its popularity is great, but I feel people are wanting it to be something it was never built to be, and some creative contract makes have made some great things out of its limited capability. Still, I don’t think the rest of the game should be limited by it. I’m more interested in freedom in the main missions being enhanced over limiting them to keep contracts limited so nothing is ever considered ‘unfair’ by anyone ever. Like with community events, it’s up to the community to share runs and judge for themselves which ‘count’ for a level of competition. It’s what we do anyway. A contract can freely be made with fire and say ‘No molotovs’. Sure, people won’t listen and can still get SA, but who cares? Leaderboards are already busted and we usually use videos to compare runs. Let live to those who want to play by their own rules. It’s the same concept as making contracts that are any/any, to allow that Hitman creative freedom rather than trying to control their fun.
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Is the Molotov Cocktail too unbalanced？
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I don’t see how the Molotov impacts contracts mode at all really. I can tell you for an absolute fact that if your contract requires a suit-only solution, I’m not meeting all of your objectives. If you tell me I have to use a specific weapon, there’s a really good chance I’m not meeting all of your objectives. If you tell me I have to kill the target wearing a specific disguise, it’s probably 50/50 I’m not meeting your objectives. You can craft the most intricate puzzle contract anyone has ever seen and I guarantee there will be players who complete it while meeting zero of the objectives. It’s just the way it is.
This is true with or without the Molotov (or Electrocution Phone or anything else) in the game or not.
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Games are ruined when their developers cater to the competitive crowd.
Some of y’all have a strange idea of “fun”.
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Most of all of that can be avoided by fixing the major issue I have with the item. The fire goes through walls. I have only minor issues with a molotov death being considered an accident.
Is the molotov overpowered to what I would consider normal molotov reaction and behavior? Yes, very much. I don’t want to take away toys, but like the druzhina, this cant be intended.
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Of course the wallbanging issue is the worst thing about it yeah, and might be due to a limitation in how fire works in the game currently (it was not built to be created in arbitrary spots). I might be fixed, but if it’s not, it doesn’t seem like the biggest deal in the world. If anything it renders the item less useful outside of ‘everything goes’ competition as you have to worry about killing people behind walls/floors/ceilings unintentionally. It can also be solved by just not using the item, but obviously it would be better to have an item we can actually enjoy using. I just don’t find any form of community competition to be a reason it needs to change. And having the item, even in its current state, adds more to the game than not having anything at all.
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comparing to the e-phone or any other items, the feature of shot 3 times on a wall or the body of a guard to make them stupid enough to IGNORE agent 47 with suit existing in even a hostile area is insane. 9 of 10 speed runners use this feature, I don’t like it, but as they are having fun with it, I wouldn’t ask anyone to remove this feature, I just don’t use it.
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you heard wrong, no speedrunners i know are against the molotov cocktail,its much more balanced than the phone.
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That’s the thing though, I don’t think the people complaining about these items are doing it from a competitive standpoint. Because I’m competitive and I couldn’t give less of a fuck.
We ALL get to use these items so there’s no competitive edge or advantage other than people sucking at how to use them effectively.
Which makes me think it’s THOSE people who are making the complaints.
Cheating (which we don’t encounter on consoles) is people on PC using a program to do shit that no one else (not using the same cheat tool) can do. I get THAT frustration and THOSE complaints. Because that’s not a level playing field.
But an item we can all use? No.
Real talk, all top 5, even top 10 players across all platforms (minus PC cheats) STILL get #1 and are STILL capable of getting #1 regardless if the game has these items or not.
Show me a player on any platform, who only started getting #1 on stuff after ioi introduced the Electrocution Phone but then disappeared from the leaderboards once ioi removed it? Or is currently getting #1 with the introduction of the Molotov Cocktail?
I just have serious doubts that it"s speedrunners complaining about these items.
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Im a competitive player and I’m only upset because my ideal molotov in hitman isn’t a broken glitchy mess of code.
I would still rather have this than nothing though. So thanks i guess.
I am an advocate of including fun interesting stuff that isn’t for speed running. I want a minigun, I want a rocket launcher, i want a flamethrower. But I also want it done to my standards. So im sorry if it sounds like I want it removed just because of leaderboards.
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I don’t think it’s too unbalanced or unfair.
There’s at least some margin of error or obstacle in that it’s an illegal item, something the EPhone didn’t have at all.
After playing around with it a bit in Ambrose (haven’t got to lvl20 yet) I see the appeal.
The Seiker shot exploit I think I’m okay with, since at least that requires some amount of skill in hitting it.
The buggy wallbang nature of it should be patched out though. That’s just silly for a molotov item.
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As for the phone, eventually if you play long enough with it, you’ll get the target to pick it up.
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I agree with you, and wasn’t meaning to imply that most competitive players were complaining.
I think that the best competitive players, given an even playing field, use the tools available to them, knowing these tools are shared by all, and do their best to best their peers. I get the impression the majority opinion on this item is “cool!…shrug.”
I do stand by my statement though, that for any game, once the niche competitive sphere becomes the focus of the developers’ attention and the arbiter of their decisions, the game in question becomes worse for more players than it ostensibly became better for.
I do not think this has happened to Hitman. I get the argument over the zap phone, but I think it was removed for gameplay and experience improvements rather than for competitive reigning-in. Sure, some items will be rebalanced over time (fire extinguisher, breaching charge in loadout, hopefully never the broadsword folding into a briefcase…) — but I don’t think this game’s quote unquote competitive scene works in such a way as to hog the spotlight and make the developers primarily cater to them.
Were there an uproar and were IOI to focus on the demands of a single small slice of the gaming public, their product would suffer. I can happily say I don’t think that’s happened yet, or will happen. Fire away baby.
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yea look at TF2. the bot crisis, lack of updates, underpowered weapons, sniper being OP, every problem can be boiled down to the team trying to cater to competitive around 2015 to 2017
they revamped quickplay and gave it a less relaxed feel to encourage people to try to compete and take the game seriously, which enabled some arrogant people
weapons like vita saw where already considered weak, but because they gave medic an advantage in 6v6 competitive it got NERFED. so now there’s a weapon competitive and casual players never use
items like the caber where nerfed because they could be used by demomen to one shot snipers, effectively removing a counter that couldve been used against these sniper bots
the update was so bad that it killed the desire for valve to put effort into updates. jungle inferno was intended as a sort of last hurrah attempt to get new players in but didnt do well enough despite being a decent update and the game has been on ice since
If ioi wanted things to be easy, then why remove the ePhone? Why remove lancer wallbang? Why reduce the distance heard with the Napoleon (and other audio distractions? Etc etc.
When they introduce something, I don’t think they have enough time (or even man power compared to the millions playing it) to really test out its full potential functions. They design it and say “let’s balance this by doing this (Molotov fire accident but drawback is explosion kill and radius).
At the end of the day, look at what happened with something like violin boosts. Did they ever think that was possible when they made it? I doubt it.
And look at h1? Somebody found a new kill condition with the big one electrocuting in water. A function that ioi said themselves was never an intended feature.
So who knows if they ever thought that the fire wallbang was ever a design feature or flaw. I just think they can introduce lots of new items that do new things (aka the flashbang, shaman powder, the crossbow) that are not Op’d. But in order to balance them sometimes, they need to see how the community uses it because at the end of the day, the players are the ones that find everything, not the studio.
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