Couple of loadout question

(croshad) #1

Let me preface this by saying that i’m looking at this from a “casual” perspective. I’ve been playing FPS’s since '97, most of them competitively (huge ET fan, played it to death) but i’m passed that for a while now and i’m just looking for a relaxed shootout :slight_smile: So, on to the questions:

  1. Why are there only 3 mercs per squad allowed ? I can see this in competitive being considered part of the tactics (altho i doubt it matters much in an organized team) but in a quickplay casual shootout this brings nothing to the table except inconvenience.

  2. Some missions seem more like an annoying chore. They should be either fun or something that you do while having fun. For instance, earn xp with x in your squad, where x often being a merc i don’t enjoy. Now i’m basically down to two slots. Won’t even comment the competitive one. Missions are too specific, make them like “Earn xp playing a medic” or something more flexible.

I usually run with an Engi, Medic and something that kills. Which means if i’m in a team that doesn’t distribute ammo (happens often), i’m screwed. I’d gladly switch to ammo support if i could without gimping my squad.

  1. Why can’t i have 2 loadouts of the same merc simultaneously ? Maps are long, some parts are good for a shotgun, some for a longer range engagement. Again i don’t see the point in this except inconvenience.

  2. It can be really hard to test stuff you might want to buy. Which is bad for business. For instance, i’d like to buy Kira (real money) but as much as i love semi-autos, i dislike burst rifles. So even when she goes on a rotation, i still need a card to try it out. Maybe introduce some kind of offline tutorial style try mode or like in Planetside 2, where you could try a weapon (for 30min i think) but it had a very long cd of 30days so it couldn’t be abused.

I guess there are a few suggestions in there as well :slight_smile:

(Amerika) #2

[quote=“shd;15464”]Let me preface this by saying that i’m looking at this from a “casual” perspective. I’ve been playing FPS’s since '97, most of them competitively (huge ET fan, played it to death) but i’m passed that for a while now and i’m just looking for a relaxed shootout :slight_smile: So, on to the questions:

  1. Why are there only 3 mercs per squad allowed ? I can see this in competitive being considered part of the tactics (altho i doubt it matters much in an organized team) but in a quickplay casual shootout this brings nothing to the table except inconvenience.[/quote]

It most likely just a tactical choice. You’re going to have to choose to play but you can’t be everything. Or force yourself into a role if the others won’t do something (engineer/medic/ammo). It’s also partially due to technical reasons. As this game gets bigger loading in more and more mercs that have to be kept in ram, each with individual loadouts and skins for every player on the server, would be taxing to lower end PC’s I’d wager.

  1. Some missions seem more like an annoying chore. They should be either fun or something that you do while having fun. For instance, earn xp with x in your squad, where x often being a merc i don’t enjoy. Now i’m basically down to two slots. Won’t even comment the competitive one. Missions are too specific, make them like “Earn xp playing a medic” or something more flexible.

I usually run with an Engi, Medic and something that kills. Which means if i’m in a team that doesn’t distribute ammo (happens often), i’m screwed. I’d gladly switch to ammo support if i could without gimping my squad.

I definitely agree that a mission shouldn’t say, “put X merc in” and should allow for at least some choice. But mostly the missions are generic to not force people to do too much outside of what they do not want to. I am currently against requiring a competitive match as a mission bonus. I think SD needs to give comp matches their own incentive as opposed to potentially taking credits away from people who do not want to play ranked MM.

  1. Why can’t i have 2 loadouts of the same merc simultaneously ? Maps are long, some parts are good for a shotgun, some for a longer range engagement. Again i don’t see the point in this except inconvenience.

Why can’t we have 3? Or 4? Or all 9? People are forced to choose one based on what they think they will need to use during a full match. It’s a tactical choice. And mostly also a technical one for the same reasons listed above. It also probably has to do with user experience as it would make things more complicated for the player to have to learn how to min/max things which could be annoying for many.

  1. It can be really hard to test stuff you might want to buy. Which is bad for business. For instance, i’d like to buy Kira (real money) but as much as i love semi-autos, i dislike burst rifles. So even when she goes on a rotation, i still need a card to try it out. Maybe introduce some kind of offline tutorial style try mode or like in Planetside 2, where you could try a weapon (for 30min i think) but it had a very long cd of 30days so it couldn’t be abused.

I guess there are a few suggestions in there as well :slight_smile:

I wouldn’t mind an offline try before you buy. At least the good thing is once you get the cards for the mercs you have that you’ll use all the time you can start going for cards for mercs you don’t have or don’t really play yet. I eventually got the two Aura cards and one Fletcher card I want despite never playing them because what else is there to do with tradeups? So it might be a problem for you now but it won’t be in the near future as you unlock more things.

(croshad) #3

Thanks for the answers :slight_smile:

I can understand the tactical component behind the loadout limitation but i just don’t think they have a place from the casual perspective. And this game is on a f2p model, it needs a strong casual appeal. Keep it for competitive, there i can see it.

As for the technical limitations being a reason, i really can’t buy that. There are tons of games out there with multiple classes and custom loadouts that don’t have this as an issue. This game even has preset loadouts, so the possible strain is even less.

(Amerika) #4

The game might be F2P but it was created with the intent to be competitive. The results of that can be argued but the original intent was that it was built to be a competitive objective orientated FPS.

The reason I cite the technical limitations is due to Anti, one of the devs, multiple times saying the reason why their is a 15 second wait time after you deploy within a match that has already started was due to allowing your client and everyone elses to sync. Most newer machines do this in a few seconds but some older machines do that. Scaled that up by a factor of 3 currently with a factor of 6-7 by the time all the mercs that were in closed alpha are released and you might end up with some issues.

I can believe it is a potential issue because 3d models can take a bit of time to load in on less than fast machines. Take any current 3D fighting game on consoles with 5400RPM harddrives (but much faster ram than PC’s have). Notice how either they have a 2D portrait in place of the 3D one or a 2d portrait in place of the 3D one until the 3d one becomes available (MKX does this) or simply lags behind on displaying the character entirely (killer instinct). So I very easily buy this as a potentially limiting factor. Especially when you scale up all the mercs.

So it’s probably a combination of forcing a choice for tactical reasons, technical limitations and simplifying gameplay so that people don’t feel as though they are forced into roles or have to min/max.

It’s a good topic to discuss but would really need a devs answer to get to the bottom of. Might post this on the Warchest forums where SD devs sometimes do answer.

(croshad) #5

I see. I’d imagine the load time of the match in progress has mainly to do with the actual match development (positions, objectives, stats) rather then the loadouts.

Nevertheless, it would be beneficial to hear from the guys themselves, so if you manage to get some answers, please do share :slight_smile: