Improved Merc Deck by adding Merc Skin slot

(Ptiloui) #1

With the release of the Proxy Obsidian Operative card tied to a shotgun loadout (which a non negligible part of players don’t like/hate), I get an idea to offer a way to choose whatever skin we own for whatever loadout we own. And this come with one picture :

Mercdeck_Skin_separated_from_loadout
Mercdeck_Skin_separated_from_loadout.jpg1920×1080 254 KB

In the merc deck edition, add a slot for another loadout card which will be use to load the character model and skin (merc + weapons). No need for a deep rework of the system, just an addition with everything that is already in the game.

The pros are many :

  • People that didn’t buy any Obsidian Operative because of the loadout can now buy it without hesitation because they’ll be able to use it on their prefered loadout (more money for SD) ;
  • Give more use for previous rolled or bought loadout cards for people who had bad rng or because the loadout are meh (The Humble Bundle ones for example) ;
  • Once trade will be available for Special Edition cards, give more value for cards with meh or bad loadout because bad rng during the event ;
  • For those ancient ones who still own them, you can now use Lead and Iron skins (and the gen1 Proxy skin with her 2 eyes) with gen2 loadout ;
  • For those even more old, use the Founders skin on recent loadouts ;
  • Don’t mess with the loadout balance ;

If you find any con to this, please tell :slight_smile:

(DarkangelUK) #2

The con is SD won’t do it. It was suggested quite a while to them, but for reasons or another it was shot down, be it technical reasons or the fact that people would just stop grinding for cards as they could pretty much build their ideal loadout and stop trying/spending/earning.

I and others have a ton of SE cards we don’t use due to the loadout hence the original request, at this point I’ll take anything (reasonable) that will make them usable for me.

(KeMoN) #3

Similar, but different concept by myself.
The cons in this case are that you can’t use skins from past loadouts. Another huge con is, that the loadout system needs to be reworked.
Pros are, that players don’t stop grinding for their cards. Rather they level up their cards bringing them to cobalt, which adds another incentive to play ranked (once it’s back). People will have to level up all their cards to cobalt, because skins are patterns and not colors. A cobalt skin on a bronze loadout has the cobalt pattern, but the bronze color overlay.

Same thought to separate skins from loadouts, because I’m one of those people who won’t spend money on cobalts, because they are fixed.
However, the realization of this concept will require extensive rework. If there is a time to introduce sth similar it’s for the 1.0 release, but I’d say the odds are slim. Still…who really knows^^…one can still hope

(Ptiloui) #4

The only thing people will stop grinding are the silver to cobalt skins, even though, it’s still 50k credits + 20k fragments per merc and per cobalt, and more if you want each variant for silver and gold which are still rng, so it’s still kinda expensive.

For Special Edition ones, you’ll still need to grind, because you still need to drop a special loadout for the merc you want. And if you didn’t drop for who you wanted, you’ll be able to trade to other players.

Here an example : A friend of mine was very lucky (and rich) during the Nuclear Winter event and was able to get 10 special edition loadout cards for 10 different mercs. Some for merc he wanted and some for those he didn’t want. Add to this that he also didn’t got some for other mercs he likes to play. With my system, he could easily trade the cards for the mercs he doesn’t want with another players for special skins he wants, whatever the loadout. So someone who was unlucky and got an underwhelming loadout for a merc he doesn’t like can still trade it for smth he would like to play instead of gathering dust or recycling it for a laughable amount of 2150 fragments.

As for technical reason, and unless the loadout system is a real kludge, it shouldn’t be hard to do. As @KeMoN explains for his idea, you usually have the 3d model pattern on one side, and the file texture on the other. This avoid the unnecessary amount of work to create a file for each variation.
Actually, and im pretty sure it is done like this considering some actual skins, there is ONE texture file for each different skin which is applied differently depending on the 3d model (be it a character or a weapon). This is also the reason why you sometimes see blue 3d model without texture, your pc wasn’t able to load the corresponding texture file, only the model file.
With the system i’m proposing, the code will only look after the texture file attached to the loadout card and apply it on the model for weapons, and the complete set of model and texture for the character.

(DarkangelUK) #5

Yes one per merc, but then you’ll stop. I think the idea is that they want you to keep grinding to get the right loadout per merc rather than just any loadout then slap the skin ontop of your favourite loadout.

You’re preaching to the choir here but they don’t want to reduce the incentive to grind, for a f2p game they need it, and when the grind is high they rely on other methods either via rads, boosters or case bundles, and being able to build your perfect loadout with a single skin reduces that immensely.

(Meetrock) #6

An even better idea is developing a crafting system where the player gets to craft his own loadout card. Using your own logic and expanding a bit more, the system should be like the following:

  • Instead of dropping “loadout cards” as we know them, the system must offer cards for weapons, skins and augments separately. So the player can craft his own loadout card from these cards. For example, the player would want an obsidian skin, with a pristine weapon card (The weapons won’t be affected, all mercs will have their system weapons, just their skins that change) and a a bomb squad, enigma and extra supplies augments (In this case, augments can be accessible by all mercs, but I know some augments can only be acquired by some mercs, so this is just an example).
  • Once the user has a set of cards to craft a loadout, they can like drag them to a box (Just like the Steam crafting system). Once the loadout is crafted, it can’t be undone.

This is good for both the players and SD, players can choose what their loadout has to be. And SD will make profit from it, they can offer skins for moneys (model skins, weapon skins already have a case system of their own).

In this system, the player won’t be trying to get a certain loadout, but will be trying to get pieces of a loadout to fight his most perfect one. This is very beneficial for SD, since people will actually have to create a new loadout just to change a model skin or weapon skin.

(Ptiloui) #7

Show me only one player that achieved to get any special edition loadout card for every merc during ONE event :wink:

Having an inventory full of shiny skins but unpractical loadout is only creating frustration and burn out. If SD wants to keep players interested in grinding, buying what they’re offering, or event trading, they need to give value to these things.

The grind will still be there every event, because players want the shinies. And only the happy players will keep on grinding every event, not the frustrated and burnt out ones. And tbh, the grind is only happening in terms of in game credits, which don’t make SD earn money. Proposing a way to grind with real money (by buying bundle elite cases for example) is the most terrible thing you can offer to your player :

  • He either get what he wanted and stop spending money (following your logic :wink:)
  • Or he didn’t get anything valuable and just plain stop spending or playing.

Also, a F2P game will make sure that most of their possible customer will buy what they’re offering. And proposing ONE single loadout in the store is the exact opposite.

(Meetrock) #8

Check out my reply just above yours.

(Ptiloui) #9

Honestly, this is one of those good idea many players had. And if the game or the system could be scarred and done again from the start, this is one of those system I’d like to experience.

Unfortunately, SD won’t do it, at least in Dirty Bomb. This is why I’m proposing the simplest improvement possible without destroying anything that has already been done (be it loadout balance, or merc deck functionality).

(Sparkinson) #10

Very good idea.

(Meetrock) #11

I gotta admit, implementing such system is nearly impossible at this point. But giving the fact that Dirty Bomb was in open beta for over 3 or 4 years. The system must actually improve, the game is now mature, even with a low playerbase, it has been through a lot, the devs should have learned a lot from the community by now. Changing the system will be of crucial importance for the game to become better and bigger in the long term. SD should care for its small player base, and should actually do what they suggest, because they’ve been around for a long time and are true fans of the game. The system I suggested will actually be very beneficial.

(DarkangelUK) #12

Just telling you the reasons they wont add it, as i said, choir, preach… making things too easy (Easy being VERY loosely used here) and reducing incentive/grind for anything wont be added, i can guarantee it. The method is good for us and not SD, even though i’d beg to differ that it’d help the game, they just won’t see it that way.

Your 2nd point though just isn’t accurate, people that dont get what they wont dont just stop, that’s where the whales come in, and those spending way more to ensure they get it. We’re the 99% that won’t splash out, and tbh they don’t care about us, it’s the 1% that are hooked on this method that spend 10x what me and you spend that are being catered to here, and there’s no chance in hell they’ll stop that.

(Ptiloui) #13

Whales are a thing in F2P games that mainly require little to no interaction between players. Games like Candy Crush (0 player interaction) or Hearthstone and Clash of Clans (1v1) are still viable even with really low numbers of players. So, even if they’re only populated by whales players, those games can still be enjoyed.
But Dirty Bomb, despite being a F2P game (and I’m sure there are whales in it, I agree), is mainly a multiplayer fps game. Having whales can be good to help the game rise or, if they’re also content creators, to make the game known. But having the highest amount of players are more important than pleasing a few with large wallets, because it guaranties the game is viable in the long run.

Just by looking at the reason about the removal of CMM and Ranked is enough to understand why pleasing the largest amount of players is more important than only doing so to a few ones. And the constant complaints about unbalanced games are not because of the ingame balance system, but because there are too few players to ensure that everyone always face players of their own skill range.

(K1X455) #14

The view models will change drastically.

Ever notice that the left arm of most mercs are rather “deformed” (ie, long slender forearm, oversized hand and disproportionate fingers)?

(Ptiloui) #15

Until recently, the viewmodel was completely different from the worldmodel. That’s why we had the viewmodel with default skin even when using a cobalt skin.
If they did the job right, it won’t a problem to load the correct model, animations and textures.

#16

Oh, they could definitely do it if they wanted to. But I think @DarkangelUK hit the nail on the head. They simply won’t do it. It’s a shame, really, because it would probably be the greatest addition to the game in a long time. I suppose If we could finally get freaking loadout trading, it would make something like this less desirable. I’m still desperate for a Jackal’s Eve SM83 or CR81 Nader…