Since before Brink released, the general consensus here and at the Bethesda forums was that “Most Kills” is not the focus of this game, and that Kill/Death Ratio is meaningless in a team game. I strongly, strongly disagree.
While I started out playing Brink as a Medic (which was how I played BFBC2), I tried out a Heavy Soldier with a Gerund and Carb and fell in love. Due to Gerund ammo consumption, playing as any class other than a Soldier isn’t really viable, since there’s no way a teammate could keep up with my ammo usage and sustain themselves and the rest of my fireteam.
Anyway, I fit right in with this combination and began racking up a huge amount of kills. There are definitely times when I “hang back” and just lay down suppressive/covering fire for my teammates, as well as times when I just spawn kill or camp a bottleneck.
Playing as the Slayer is an important role. By killing my opponents, my teammates face less resistance. For example, on security tower, rescuing the hostage is very difficult when you get to the second half of the level, from the ramp through the end corral section. Instead of having my teammates hurl their corpses at the objective, hoping to inch him further, I stay back and high and kill the enemies as they exit their spawn. I spam flashbangs and Molotovs, I mow people down as they exit the spawn, and I make sure I stay alive. Why? Because if I’m dead, I’m not helping my team.
K/DR shows how productive you were in a match. Yes, as an Operative, you may have died 15 times trying to hack an objective. Certainly your hacking is critical to the team’s success. But why did you die 15 times? Instead of running up to the objective and advancing the timer by 5 seconds before dying, why not hang back and clear out the room? Isn’t it more efficient to only die 5 times and not waste time either on the respawn screen or DBNO?
After the first week I played Brink, I stopped changing my class to suit the current objective. With limited skill points and the inability to change characters or body types during a match, you’re basically stuck with what you bring to the game. My high level characters are Soldier/Medics, so I’m not going to switch to an underpowered Operative to complete an objective. And since I’m always a soldier, my job is clear: kill as many people as I can without dying, and keep myself and my teammates stocked with ammo.
Unfortunately, since giving ammo is a pain, I don’t do that as often as I should. Usually, I’ll have 1 pip of supplies left, and I’ll face a teammate with low ammo, hold down X, and instead I’ll give ammo to the wrong person. Now I make sure that I only give ammo to someone if there’s no one else within 10 feet of them. In many situations, this is so difficult that I don’t even try.
So where does this leave me? As a lone wolf. I keep myself alive and kill everything I see. When it’s convenient, I help my team. But at the same time, by acting as the Slayer, I’m helping my team. They’re able to achieve objectives unopposed, they don’t get spawncamped, they’re bailed out of trouble when they’re surrounded, and they’re able to get through bottlenecks and chokepoints far easier than if I wasn’t helping them.
In a game based around shooting and killing, isn’t K/DR the most important stat? Isn’t it true that the only way you can achieve a goal in Brink is to be alive and kill your enemies? And if that’s the case, why regard K/DR as something only “noobs” want?
And before you check my Gamercard, let me assure you, I haven’t played a COD game since MW1, and I rarely touch Halo. I’m also one of the few people who loved Shadowrun, which was the most balanced FPS ever released on a console and VERY similar to Brink–only 9 maps when released, only 1 viable gametype, heavily team-oriented, and class/race based.