An Argument For Stopwatch Mode
IMO, ET is much more challenging and fun when played in Stopwatch mode vs. campaign mode. Not only does Stopwatch drive more competitive, more dynamic games (IMO), it also facilitates balanced play over the course of a day.
Stopwatch makes for more exciting games
Stopwatch rewards good offensive play - not just sitting back and racking up experience points. For example, on Goldrush, a quick rush to fix and steal the tank is heavily rewarded in Stopwatch. In campaign mode, I’m more incented to take a cautious approach where I can kill lots of people and eventually fix the tank. There is little reward for taking the risk to steal the tank early.
Stopwatch rewards those players who can drive a quick close to a game by being sneaky, efficient, or both - currently, those people, the engy-covert ops who sneak thru to the Fuel Dump early get little XP bonus to reward their winning the game vs the person who just focuses on building the foot bridge during the first phase
In campaign, one is incented to just sit back and shoot it out (arty, panzer, etc) because you can see the immediate pay off in terms of points and promotions
Campaign rewards a team for keeping the game stacked because the higher XP team will be able to kill more efficiently and therefore rack up XP faster
Stopwatch adds needed variety
Stopwatch changes the game up and allows people to play offense AND defense. 90 minutes on defense gets old fast.
Stopwatch drives more aggressive play and I believe, faster games because of the time element. In campaign, there is no reward for a quick game, the incentive is to drag the game out so that players can build more XP
Stopwatch returns game focus to good solid gameplay and away from gaining skill levels and ranks
The game is about the map, not who makes Colonel - which I think too many people are unduly concerned about.
IMO, high experience builds the same poor habits that FF-off does because in many cases the normal constraints (resources, rate of fire, etc) are just tossed out the window
Stopwatch facilitates more balanced games
At a minimum, every 30 minutes, XP and maps reset to level the playing field for everyone, which minimizes the impact of late joins and the loss of experienced players leaving mid-campaign. Team shuffles also seem to fit in better at the end of round of Stopwatch than mid-campaign.
Campaign (without shuffles) incents people to hang out as spectators until a slot opens up on the higher XP team. If I know that I have an option of 60 minutes of beating my head against the wall or massacring the attackers on the beach, which do you think I’ll pick?
Stopwatch better ensures that a level playing field exists consistantly throughout the day - hard to do when you join at the end of round 2 or in round 3 when everyone already has a billion experience points. I haven’t seen a whole lot of people who want to shuffle mid campaign and it seems like people miss shuffle votes at the beginning of a new campaign
Stopwatch still preserves the experience system
Players still get the benefits of building experience, which can be substantial if you’re playing a hard 30-minute round. We just finished a game of Goldrush with a couple of LTs.
In fact, ranks are more meaningful in SW because you have a limited amount of time in which to make your rank. In campaign, it seems like every fricken person is an LT+
SW really only limits the number of people getting to level 3 andd 4, where the really gross benefits start to accrue.
Just my 2 cents
