#dontfearthenovel
Before reading any of this post I want to make it very clear what the overall point is. I think a lot of people will agree that we have been focusing on way too many topics lately, when we should first be making sure that all of the core mechanics get finalized before we become spread too thin too quickly. There are a lot of obscure things that get discussed in great detail however just about every one of these issues is entirely influenced by the most simple parts of the game. Instead of continuing to have layer upon layer of changes to try and make things work with the existing core mechanics, maybe we instead need to make the core mechanics less problematic to begin with.
I strongly feel that it is problems with the simplest parts of the game that are causing the numerous other problems we have been addressing as separate items when they are really directly connected. As it stands I don’t see any progress being achieved unless we abide by the rule of building things from the ground up and accurately identify the real source of problems before trying to correct them individually. The core mechanics all work cooperatively together, thus a change in one area is going to directly affect another. Any slight change in one of these areas will result in a ripple effect across the board, so that is why it is so essential that we put all our energy into perfecting them before trying to move forward.
Movement
Speed:
Sprinting speed seems to be wholly agreed upon as satisfactory. The base movement in strafe however is significantly slower. If the problem with fast movement is tracking difficulty, then we have a contradiction with unlimited sprint. The fast paced feeling is definitely there while sprinting, but not maintained in strafe. An increase in strafe speed is worth testing considering the noticable disparity between the sprint and strafe.
Acceleration:
What is the purpose of acceleration to begin with? It is simply not clear what acceleration does to benefit the game or make the experience more interesting. Acceleration makes the movement feel clunky and also makes aiming while moving inconsistent and intrudes on player control. Unless a positive argument for acceleration can be explained, it is a negative feature at the core and thus impossible to respond to positively.
Gunplay
Creep spread:
All of the weapon functionalities are completely dependent on weapon spread. The theoretical stats of weapons become entirely inaccurate when spread is not a consistent variable in the equation. The base spread is inarguably low, however the creep spread is significantly higher. This results in initial kills being very fast, but consecutive kills becoming too unreliable. The first solution for this was to increase weapon clip size however this was not the source of the problem- it was the creep spread all along.
The soldier class is only as powerful as it is because the ability to attain multi-kills is entirely based off of ammo capacity to compensate for unreliable spread. It isn’t that weapons can’t be different, however all the details cease to be significant if spread reliability forces ammo count to be the deciding factor after 2 seconds of shooting. This is the reason why weapons give more realistic definition than actual class specific roles currently. If this was the intention, then it is working well. If this is not the case, then it needs to be first changed at the source before we keep asking for small incremental tweaks across the board. We can’t begin to deal with class/weapon balance without solving this first.
Maps
Spawn Times:
Spawn times are a problem on every single objective on every single map. They more than likely differ, but it’s more the mechanics rather than the time values that are the problem. No spawn wave on defense prevents offense from capitalizing on well timed attacks to secure the objective more successfully. Individual spawns for defenders allows for a constant flow of obstruction to the offense as well as discouraging any form of regrouping. Lack of visible spawn timers on the HUD makes timing and awareness non-factors. Spawn waves are the means of preventing a TDM atmosphere and promoting one of strategical teamwork.
It has been constantly suggested that spawn times need to be drastically increased, but this is undesirable for larger audiences. What we want to avoid: long spawns and long distances between spawns and objectives. So how can we satisfy these requirements without having such a defensive bias in ability to return to the objective after death? I can think of one method that has already been proven to work from ETQW, defensive forward spawns. Having a defensive forward spawn capture point does a few great things. Firstly it creates another point of significant interest to the defenders as it allows them to spawn much closer to the objective. Secondly it grants offense the ability to force the defense back to the main objective, cap the defensive forward spawn, and then proceed to attack the main objective. With the forward spawn captures, the offense would now have enough time to secure the objective with a successful attack, and the spawn timers would not need to be altered. Defense would indeed have to travel further after the forward was capped, however in most cases the objective would be fairly lost at this point. The opportunity to risk a re-take would still be viable, however defenders might consider it a better choice to set up at the next objective instead.
Example of a possible layout for this;
Map Layout:
NOTE: If we can’t do anything to the current maps, at least take this into mind for future maps.
The map layouts are hugely responsible for a lot of the biggest problems we are experiencing. Simply adding spawn waves with the current map layouts will more than likely result in defense becoming inherently weakened. Defense only has a single choke point zone in very close proximity to the objective itself for most objectives, thus discouraging motivation to even attempt a forward defense in most cases because there’s no good opportunity for it. Having at least two forward defensive zones in addition to the objective area itself is vital to increasing the success and strategical capabilities of the defensive team. If this isn’t available, the objective will get taken as soon as the first wave of defenders die because they were forced to initially defend directly at the objective itself. The lack of consecutive defensive zones also adds to a really repetitive experience on defense as your always stuck playing in the same area.
The addition of a forward spawn for offense will further motivate defense to become less confined as well. Forward spawns usually act as a precursor to the main objective itself, which allows for more dynamic game play and also spreads action across all areas of a map. Forward spawns aren’t required to reach the main objective, however they are very helpful. Forward spawns also become more necessary when the defense has the opportunity for a forward defensive setup, thus allowing the offense to be rewarded for breaking through the first zone and maintaining momentum. These would also motivate defenders to attempt to de-cap these points too if able, again stimulating more dynamic and complete use of the maps
Another addition that would greatly benefit the map dynamics are more significant side-objectives, which could also be interactive over the course of an entire objective (ex a barricade that can be destroyed and rebuilt).
Additionally the objects within the maps such as cars, trashcans, couches, trashbags, etc shouldn’t over crowd an area, and should have purpose if placed in the path of a player (ex. cover/trickjumps). Immersion is appreciated, however these things can interfere with the player experience in a negative way a lot of times, and greatly reduce mobile space.
Objective Specific:
Doc run (fuel cell) objectives are currently faulty because of how they are implemented on the maps. All of the changes that have been made regarding this type of objective is to try and force them to work with the maps, where really it should be the objectives implementation on the maps changing instead.
Pickup-time; this is only here because of White Chapel. The objectives are way too close to the transmit point, which allowed lemming tactics to work. In response we had more and more objectives added, and then the pickup time to top it off. This filled the time sure, however the objective itself is lackluster and chaotic. A transmit time doesn’t even serve a purpose on WC either, as the offense has no means of capitalizing on the mechanic. You can easily see the problem here with all of the additional doc run objectives because of the inconsistent layouts. I can only suggest that these return to how they worked previously.
These are some examples of how they were done in ETQW as one example, and you wouldn’t even need the pickup time like this either. Doc runs are some of the most enjoyable objective types we have had, but the way they are being done in DB isn’t doing them justice.
As far as escort missions go, all of the above map related issues apply. Escorting the EV is essentially FFA between barricades. This is more due to map design rather than the escort objective itself. Again this relates to the lack of forward choke points in a lot of cases. White Chapel I will admit has more opportunity for a forward defense strategy and you can usually disable the EV at specific locations, however it’s not consistent. I would account that to the linear layout there.
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