Oh man.... well I promised to give an actual reply so here it is. I honestly want to talk a lot more about a lot of these topics but I feel as if typing isn't the best place to share these thoughts. Also most of the people on discord already know my thoughts on basically all of these points so this is more just me setting these ideas and points into stone. I feel as if I've missed a lot of what I did want to talk about as well since I was a bit short on time, but hopefully this is enough for now ^-^
1) Do you think the game is balanced right now, in every aspect? If there is an aspect you think is unbalanced what is it (it may be a perk, kit, maps, etc)?
At this point in time and as an overall for every aspect of the game, I do believe that it is balanced for the most part. This doesn't however mean that there are a lot of changes that could be made and should be made to better improve the game as a whole. A lot of the balance right now was only created due to the massive paradigm shift in how the game is played and I personally believe that this isn't just a good thing. I'll get into the reason why this is in the other points but for now, all I want to say is that a lot of the old maps are unbalanced. If it were even possible to mass pump out solid revamps for these maps that come with huge improvements to hiding spots and tanking areas, then I would say the map issue would be completely solved for the most part (and No, not remakes, revamps. Map that don't have their layout changed but instead have aesthetically changes gameplay changes (please refer to question 4 and Dome). Now I do also want to talk about kits and perks but in the context, they are currently pretty balanced as it is so please refer to question 3 for more information on what I believe should be changed about them (and yes I'm re-directing to other questions because they only fit into those question's context without me explaining the way around and connection of everything).
2. What do you think the game should be more like, tanking or hiding? Why?
For this question, I know It's meant to be a one or the other but from my standpoint, I want to give points for both. Personally however if people must know, The progression for PvP and tanking is the content I would want to focus on as it is the most important for me as a player who enjoys the game for tanking and the optimization of tanking (prestige perks). I do want to point out though and put a heavy emphasis on having no bias towards tanking as hiding is equally as important especially in a game like Mcinfected due to the nature of the rank system and the multiple styles of gameplay that exist within the game.
Right now in it's current state, Mcinfected has been stripped in terms of tanking and hiding spots and although I want to stay neutral, I'll only be focusing on my thoughts on tanking since that's what the question asks. Tanking spots were especially hit the hardest after giant holes were ripped into them, ladder spots were basically removed, and anything else involving tanking was nerfed. That's why on a personally level and at this current point in time, I believe the game should be more focused on tanking as that is what majority of the player-base aims to achieve. Before I move onto the next question though, I do want to mention that at the server's current state without looking into other content and issues that stem from these two categories, tanking and hiding are pretty good respectively.
(cont...)
3. What would one change be you would make to the game?
Honestly there are so many things that I would change personally about the gamemode at it's current standpoint. There's a lot to think about and a lot to talk about especially in terms of what would make the game better and what would make the game worse. A lot of these changes sadly will objectively make the server better as a whole while also harming a great portion of players because as we've all seen, the more that's taken away and the more that's added to the game, creates a situation in which some players will still have issues with the change itself.
The one thing that currently stands out the most however and that I believe needs to be changed is the state of Infected classes and Survivors alike. This includes things like the removal of punishment for commanders, the implementation of more prestige perks that have greater use and bring more utility to the game, a system in which brings prestige pro perks back in the form of upgrading perks via normal means (or adding something similar to prestige perks that can be earned via different means), the addition of a meaningful progression system for Infected that will inherently remove the mundane and stale feel of Infected after 3.0 stripped them of actual progression and content, and finally, the implementation of the ability to unlock Infected classes that doesn't take an eternity to grind (This is probably the most important point). There is a lot more to talk about in terms of changing the state of Infected and Survivors alike but the ones mentioned are the ones that should be dealt with first as they are the most important in terms of how they will change the game and in terms of what impact they will have on the game.
Right now personally, I hate that the ability to unlock Infected classes is locked behind a paywall. Most of these classes are objectively better than Zombie (excluding Mother Zombie) and are in most cases, just upgraded versions of Zombie itself. This leaves a bad taste in people's mouths especially people who haven't or can't donate $100 sparingly. The same can be said for basically all of the points I made against the state of Infected and Survivors. They all involve the previous removal of something that brought meaning and must needed content/playability to the game. I want to go into more detail about each point here and why I would change it but sadly, that would just be too much even for me so for now I'll just say this, please add Kevlar Vest, Flash, and some form of Surge and Firemind back into the game (Cleave was a really nice idea and I do not believe any explanation is needed to why these perks specifically should be added back into the game (if it's needed though, I'll add it later)).
4. What are things we have done that you don't think were good changes? Why?
First off I want to mention, a lot of the things I don't like or think were a bad change for the game, occurred during the MCI 2.0 to 3.0 transmission period and have been pointed out on question 3. So ignoring those, I'm going to specifically focus on the things changed during the life-time of Minecraft Infected (which is what I think the original question was meant to be?). These changes can be noted as, The Commander Tax implementation (a wonky, short term solution to a bigger problem), the addition of Commander Camping Punishment (Like actually why? It doesn't even make sense outside of the gamemode's new game period), and the removal of tanking and hiding spots. Basically all of these have been mentioned about so for this part I'll leave it at short as possible.
For the removal of tanking and hiding spots, I feel as if the way this was gone about was way too harsh. A lot of the tanking spots removed were only good due to numbers and could have easily been fixed without the entire spot being either removed or torn a new asshole. The same can be said for hiding spots, I feel as if there are far too little hiding spots left on maps especially the older ones (newer maps, especially the remakes fix this problem. Dome is a perfect example of how much a remake can revitalize a mundane and linear map). Finding a better solution such as adding more paths to get to certain spots or just allowing some tanking spots to still exist (look at you ladder and void spots), should have been thought about before completely removing anything resembling tanking (And honestly I hate this the most, the soul reason I played Mci, tanking, was nerfed into the ground not only due to map changes, but because of all of the constraints placed upon them(Commander Camping Punishment, lackluster prestige perks that aren't sustainable, and buffed infected classes)).
The Implementation of both the Commander Tax and Commander Camping Punishment however, were in my eyes, really bad for the game as a whole. Commander Tax as it was and is, is a simple solution to a much bigger problem that only presented itself in 2.0. I understand that accommodating for expected circumstances is a really big and iffy thing in design and development, however implementing an endless scaling tax was a horrible solution to this problem. The 5% down to 2.5% change was amazing in itself but I still believe that there should also be a tax cap on top of the lowered tax in order to prevent endless scaling (which is something that is always seen as problematic with any game). Now although I believe the tax is way better than it was before, I can't say the same about the arrival of the Commander Camping Punishment System. I can understand the reason behind It's implementation but as I said before, this was a dumb and simple solution to a much bigger issues that stems from the fact that the server was only at It's early stages and just entering mid-game. I personally believe at this point in time that this entire system should be removed completely. There isn't a purpose to keep the system, especially if players are actually give a reason to prestige for once (yknow, question 3 ^). I do believe however that more meaning behind prestiging and rewarding players more for progression would be a far easier to something that wasn't even a problem to begin with. Punishment for a play style isn't the way to go about things, especially when it was never a problem in the first place (This was only the effect of the problem, not the cause or root).
To end this all off, I just want to say. If you guys want me to go into more depth or have any questions about what I mean for certain things, I'll gladly explain on here or on discord. Whichever works better :3 Anyhoo, sorry for the long post. Wanted to make sure I got down mostly all my main points for each question but I hope this was helpful. Oh and one last thing.... Please for the love of god nerf Mother Zombie holy shit XD
p.s. If a mod could merge these two posts or have the max character limit raised, that would be greatly appreciated ^-^
