Playing again after 8 years -> is development done?

[cockerpunk]

Went out and played for the first time in 8 years last weekend. had a blast. indoor airball, gun owners night, 5.5bps or mech. had to buy a new tank (my 45/45 was made in 2005!) and mask. new tank, was way lighter, and a 68 instead of 45. so who cares about efficiency?

and guys, i gotta say, i think its done.

like, the Emek, these new tanks ... like the arms race is over. broken paint, a thing of the past. unreliability? lol. barrels? accuracy? all in the paint.

like i think we found the end of this development cycle. what more do you want than an Emek, a revvy, and a modern 68/45? masks, solved that problem years ago, barrels? take your pick ... like what else is there?





i'd posit i think the tech tree for paintball is basically done.

[river031403]

Lol

[Trbo323]

This is what everyone said when electros started stagnating and before the new round of cockers came out, then again when the 2nd age of cockers started slowing down and before the current mechanical spools.

The current race for mechanicals isn't even slowing down yet, once it does innovation will just move to something else.

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[cougar20th]

This is what will happen. Innovation will just move to the next thing whatever it is. Because there's always someone with new ideas and new ways of doing things.

[iamthelazerviking]

Agreed. Which is why if and when I get to play, it's an Emek (basically stock) and Revy. Don't need anything else.

So all these companies can stop releasing new guns, barrels, hoppers, and start actually investing in manufacturing GOOD PAINT.

That's all that we need now. All the technological advancements have been achieved. High quality paint is where the focus is needed more than anything.

[cockerpunk]

This is what everyone said when electros started stagnating and before the new round of cockers came out, then again when the 2nd age of cockers started slowing down and before the current mechanical spools.

The current race for mechanicals isn't even slowing down yet, once it does innovation will just move to something else.

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just because someone is trying to sell you something new, doesn't mean its better. what problem does it solve?

like what problem is current paintball gun/tank/loader development trying to solve? when i left it was all about making things smaller and lighter, but we learned actually you dont want smaller and lighter eventually, you want ergonomic. which, we then promptly solved. efficacy as a little bit of an issue, but light/big tanks solves that easy.

we have a shrinking market, shrinking R&D, and shrinking appeal. combined with cheap, high quality, all the problems ironed out equipment ... and what else is there?

[Ecapnation]

The gamma core is pretty much the smartest design in recent times.

A low pressure gas dwell controlled spooler that can be reliable enough for a rental or tuned enough for tourny use

*Closes cad software* yep done!

Prior to the emek release I was tinkering up a modern mag valve that would have done away with all the level 10 quirks but still have been antichop and all while running way lower pressure. The machining alone would have been the retail cost of a new complete emek, never mind markups. I ended the "nomag" project completely.

[jpdgas]

Paintball has been failing and has reached its pinnacle so many times over it's lifespan that it's basically it's own running joke. I think we may be in a valley, or at least a plateau as far as the current platform is concerned. But even then, it's still a blast!
Fortunately paintball has a strong core of tinkerers and their imagination is what leads to a lot of the innovation. Once we lose that core, I think we are in for some darker times. There is always something to change, but it's difficult to see what until someone stumbles across it. Paint is definitely an issue as it's on a backward slide. Why not propellant? HPA is great and all, but maybe we can get away from compressed gasses altogether? Who can say?

Or maybe it's all pointless and we should just go back to watching TV.

[RPP]

Until i get 30,000 shots out of a HPA tank there is room for improvement.... #C3.

[gabe]

Lol

Lmao even

This isn't just a paintball thing it's many many hobby industries. You can look at cars which you're familiar with and even there we see a plateau in development. The internet has made the world so connected that ideas travel between people instantaneously so after a brief period of rapid advance we are now only incrementally improving designs.

There will be improvements, new guns etc going forward. People have been saying there isn't any real improvement with new designs for as long as I've been in paintball. Sure they are still spool or poppet but every year of incremental improvement has led us to here where guns are greatly improved over designs from 10 years ago. Thus is the nature of small improvements regularly adding up to a large step forward in user friendliness of paintball guns.

[Trbo323]

just because someone is trying to sell you something new, doesn't mean its better. what problem does it solve??

You could ask this about the whole sport since it's invention though. The first markers shot paint that broke on contact, that's kind of the whole point so what other problems where there?

I never said anything I listed was better, just that's where the "innovation" was, call it attention if you want. It will always shift onto something else when whatever the current thing has run it's course

Hell how about HPA tanks. $20 48/3k to get the backwoods scene up and running again? How about a home compressor that can fill a scuba tank to bring out into those woods that's only $200?

like what problem is current paintball gun/tank/loader development trying to solve? when i left it was all about making things smaller and lighter, but we learned actually you dont want smaller and lighter eventually, you want ergonomic. which, we then promptly solved. efficacy as a little bit of an issue, but light/big tanks solves that easy. ?

People thought range and accuracy had peeked in the sport and then FSR came along and flipped those notions upside down

we have a shrinking market, shrinking R&D, and shrinking appeal. combined with cheap, high quality, all the problems ironed out equipment ... and what else is there?

Just because you can't see around the corner doesn't mean the road ends



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[martix_agent]

Method is still attempting to make engineering strides in terms of reliability, and reparability i think. The guys seem like they still have a passion for engineering.

Is it "better" than what things were 10 years ago? I suspect that's the real question being asked in this thread.

[cockerpunk]

You could ask this about the whole sport since it's invention though. The first markers shot paint that broke on contact, that's kind of the whole point so what other problems where there?

I never said anything I listed was better, just that's where the "innovation" was, call it attention if you want. It will always shift onto something else when whatever the current thing has run it's course

Hell how about HPA tanks. $20 48/3k to get the backwoods scene up and running again? How about a home compressor that can fill a scuba tank to bring out into those woods that's only $200?




People thought range and accuracy had peeked in the sport and then FSR came along and flipped those notions upside down




Just because you can't see around the corner doesn't mean the road ends



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so answer my question ... what problem is it solving? what problem is around the corner?

we already had the shoebox compressor, i still have one lol

[Chuck E Ducky]

The only way forward is a better ball that is backwards compatible. I see these companies clamming FPS +/- figures that are impossible to achieve with today’s paint.

Better Ball that’s what the industry needs.

[iamthelazerviking]

This is the only major thing I whine and cry about

[Ecapnation]

Absolutely!

Paint today is if such poor quality I've entirely stopped bore sizing.

I've seen paint at .689 polar and .67 on the seems

[Chuck E Ducky]

Yeah I’m a .681 Detent Ring and Chill kind of guy.

[RPP]

so answer my question ... what problem is it solving? what problem is around the corner?

Just becasue the margins are smaller now in some areas does not mean its not.. "easier to work on", "more efficent" and/or "handling paint better".

[RPP]

I would say it is. Agree to disagree.

[Chuck E Ducky]

It’s all relative Todays markers are more complex then ever. Making them more simple to fix takes us in this giant technology loop. We make it complex then we make it less complex so it’s easier to work on. Right back to the mech gama core lol

[gabe]

Using the "same operating system" is such a vague claim that it's crazy. It's like saying a dragunfly cocker uses the same operating system as a Karnivore. Yes they are very similar but the higher end guns get neat features like the ability to tune shot feel/speed.

That being said the operating system is not the main thing anymore. You're largely paying for nicer materials, cool anno patterns, and other pride of ownership details with the higher end guns. Just as it's always been lol

[Trbo323]

so answer my question ... what problem is it solving? what problem is around the corner?

Well I gave you two already. It's not like I have a magic ball that can see what will be developed next

The biggest problem i see is the lack of new players getting into the sport. If I had control of an R&D department there's where I would be putting my efforts.

Everyone sees different problems though so it's not like I can say which one will get the focus next, nobody here can. You're asking for the impossible, for someone to predict the future for you but assuming that because you can't see it then it doesn't exist.

You're not the first person to say these things and you won't be the last one to be wrong about it either. Paintball will always find something new or reimagined to move on to once the current trends have run their course. Whether the new thing is worth while or not is up to each person. There was a time when everyone thought tanks were not going to get better but as you found out recently, they were wrong as well

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[cockerpunk]

neither of those examples were answers to my question.

[Chuck E Ducky]

I don’t disagree. But I also believe not all innovations are necessarily better. Not that we should stop trying to achieve better. More so Having the ability to recognize better I think is more important. I’m sure something new and better will definitely come along in the sport. I just really hope when it does it’s a better ball.