Body Type Switching Ideas

(Misnomer) #1

I think there have been several discussion about this and I thought the community might have some good ideas on how to implement it.

The problem is that if you can switch the body type whenever then the depth of design of the character is lost. Some people will buy abilities and create a look just for a certain body type and frequently changing that will be a waste of the game’s design.

Here is my suggestion to actually create more depth:

Allow players to switch to other characters at the beginning of each round.

This means that you will have incentive to create more looks and builds for various characters as they will always be accessible in a game and useful in various tactical situations.

If beginning of the round is not enough, switching entire characters could have a doubled or tripled respawn penalty to prevent it being used too often.

(cptincognito) #2

I have no interest in fighting a team full of heavies everytime there’s an escort round. I think it’s fine just the way it is. In fact, I generally play with a self-imposed limit of sticking to the same body type (once I’ve unlocked it), for the lifetime of the character. Just more fun that way for me.

(Happymonster) #3

the only reason u can get a server full of lights or heavys is because there is no penalty for doing that
it is not because u can switch bodytypes, on the contrary the fact that u CANT switch bodytypes is only making it more likely that u end up on a server where ppl all use the same cookiecutter build,which can do all

(Misnomer) #4

[QUOTE=Happymonster;310201]the only reason u can get a server full of lights or heavys is because there is no penalty for doing that
it is not because u can switch bodytypes, on the contrary the fact that u CANT switch bodytypes is only making it more likely that u end up on a server where ppl all use the same cookiecutter build,which can do all[/QUOTE]

Agree. Plus, there is depth to the game that makes body type stacking not as bad as cptincognito makes it sound. In TF2, you can switch between different body types essentially by going Heavy or Scout. While all scout and all heavy teams are possible on most servers, they very rarely happen because the game has built in counters to such things. All Light in Brink would be countered by Turret spamming, Heavies with Gotlings, or Mediums with spray weapons (drum mag Euston for example).

Maybe I am giving Brink too much credit for being balanced, but I feel like an all heavy team would not necessarily be a problem if you would also switch. Going light and flanking above and behind the enemy team would still be very possible on escort. Changing to a character who is set up better for sniping missions or for setting traps could be a good counter too.

A varied team composition adds depth to the game. Currently the game is moving towards an all Medium and Light setup due to the only situational usefulness of Heavies. It also prevents the specialization of characters.

The worst part about allowing this would likely be the specialization of characters and the amount of time it would take a new player to be able to counter another who has 5 level 20 characters specialized for the game. This is why there need to limitations to switching like only at the beginning of rounds or with a massive respawn penalty to prevent fast swapping.

(Gokudo) #5

+1 op allow us at least to change character at the start of each new mission