Limiting the number of mercs?

(Steve Martin) #1

I know this goes against the grain of the way the squad system is setup.

I just keep reading things about Nader/Aura/etc. being OP… but I don’t think they are OP unless there is a team full of them.

For instance…

As we all know when there is an escort objective and the other team stacks the skyhammers it can suck the fun out of the round instantly… but I couldn’t honestly tell you that skyhammer is OP.

Same with nader… if the other team has 5 naders and they work in tandem… then it feels like the fun is getting sucked out. But nader, at least imo, isn’t OP… it’s just having 3 or 4 of them on a team spamming the ingress areas, for example, can become OP.

Same with aura… if there are 3 or 4 of them running around together it’s almost impossible to bring them all down… but I don’t think aura is necessarily that OP at the moment… maybe needs a little tweak here and there… but whatever.

Like I said I know that this completely fuxorz the way the squads are setup because you could get screwed if you choose a squad that already has all 3 of your mercs at their limit…

Anyone else feel this way?

Maybe I’m alone here.

Thanks.

(Mustang) #2

This is half the fun of having a metagame, if everyone is rolling with 5 aura’s then find a squad combination that can break it, this then becomes the new meta until someone finds something that can break it, and so the cycle continues, although usually most teams will find a balanced selection works best.

(Steve Martin) #3

I agree with that… but in pubs we all know this mindset doesn’t work. In a pug/scrim/match… sure. But it takes communication to do this…

Enabling voip in-game is like listening to Country Music. It’s my own personal hell.

Just thought I’d get some opinions on this potential for imbalance… but then again it’s an issue that all games could see and not just this one.

Thanks for the input.

@Mustang: btw it’s fun playing against you, sir… you’re a hell of a shot.

(TheEagleTrooper) #4

[quote=“Steve Martin;433”]I know this goes against the grain of the way the squad system is setup.

I just keep reading things about Nader/Aura/etc. being OP… but I don’t think they are OP unless there is a team full of them.

For instance…

As we all know when there is an escort objective and the other team stacks the skyhammers it can suck the fun out of the round instantly… but I couldn’t honestly tell you that skyhammer is OP.

Same with nader… if the other team has 5 naders and they work in tandem… then it feels like the fun is getting sucked out. But nader, at least imo, isn’t OP… it’s just having 3 or 4 of them on a team spamming the ingress areas, for example, can become OP.

Same with aura… if there are 3 or 4 of them running around together it’s almost impossible to bring them all down… but I don’t think aura is necessarily that OP at the moment… maybe needs a little tweak here and there… but whatever.

Like I said I know that this completely fuxorz the way the squads are setup because you could get screwed if you choose a squad that already has all 3 of your mercs at their limit…

Anyone else feel this way?

Maybe I’m alone here.

Thanks.[/quote]

Im not 100% sure if u ment limiting to 3 mercs like, skyhamer phoenix and nader or something, or a maximum per merc per game but i think u ment the second thing.

If u limit the mercs per game, u limit the game which Splash Damage as a developer don’t want. A developer wants you to play what ever you want, when ever you want. Like the Battlefield series, the developers make their game, you can pick sniper when ever you want, custom servers comes out, players make 2 snipers per game max. That really sucks.

There might be a solution to this: Let players make their own rooms and edit rules or let players buy and host their own servers via gameserver host services.

(Kitsunami) #5

I don’t think the limit idea is a good one. What happens when you get players (like myself) who have a select few we enjoy and are trying to learn how to play/get better with?

The Meta is fun enough as it is.

Perhaps, as has been suggested, some custom rule-sets would be in order?

(RedSerpent) #6

Multi medic is real terror, especially in pugs/scrims. Revive spam on top of an aura station with fat mercs camping it is really hard to deal with.

(Tekky) #7

This could also just be solved by removing the squad system and allowing people to pick from the full selection every spawn. I’m not saying it’s brilliant, but it would tackle some of the issues at the moment.

Then again, I like the squad system as being limited means you don’t just cycle classes every death with the expectation of rock-paper-scissoring the other guy. The best way to go about it would probably just be to wait until a real metagame is developed that can combat most of these situations. At the end of the day, it’s a team game and communication will always be king, even against a team with better individual players. That’s the point of having classes.

Maybe a better system for picking mercs pre-game? I’m not sure. There’s a lot that could be spitballed around, but you’re right, pub games aren’t fun when the team composition isn’t favorable.

(Steve Martin) #8

Airstrikes or Molotov to solve this one. But it’s gotta be done right and with other people in on it… which is where it goes to shit… imo.

[quote=“LG.Tekky;3077”]This could also just be solved by removing the squad system and allowing people to pick from the full selection every spawn.

I’m not saying it’s brilliant, but it would tackle some of the issues at the moment.[/quote]

I’m going to go ahead and say this is bordering on brilliant.

That would solve almost every class-based lockdown issue any map has if you could counter with any merc in your stable.

HOWEVER… 4 skyhammers on Chapel can get stupid really fast.

(Szakalot) #9

I’d rather the game tried to balance the classes so that any extreme build can be punished with an appropriate counter. So far it seems to be working okay.

I don’t think its a good idea to let players choose from all mercs, it dilutes the experience:

  • its nice to know that a particular player = particular merc for a specific game. Typically people don’t switch mercs, even within their 3 available. ‘see that sniper in the distance - dmnit thats the same guy who got me last time’. Keeping the game tight and personal will make small stories&drama within the game, making for the best moments.
  • it promotes people choosing from a variety of mercs: you’ll need one ammo giver, one medic, one engineer, etc.
(ev1ldarks) #10

But since the objectives can be completed by any “class”, these roles are less important, now you only need ammo giver and medic, engineer and soldier are not needed anymore :confused:

(Szakalot) #11

In a comp setting, having an engineer is a huge advantage, both for arming and defuses, defusing with plyers only will seem impossible.

Soldier was never ‘needed’, even in QW, if your team had better vehicle spam, it was enough to counter the spam.

I agree that the team is generally advantageous if having a bit of everything. Doesn’t mean that some interesting builds shouldnt add to the game.

Pubs always suffered from people not giving a damn, and the same will happen in DB. In the end, even now, an average game contains way more teamplayers than most of the titles out there.