Hi Folks,
This is my first post to the forum, so I’ll try and make it a good one. My first introduction into team shooters was with Counter Strike 1.6, and later down the line even Brink (which was one of my all-time favourite games). Having now logged over 100 hours with Dirty Bomb, I can safely say this is one of my new favourite games =). The Maps are interesting, large, and the gunplay is fantastic. But apparently that is not enough… the game is dying and player numbers are dropping.
In short (and I don’t believe I am alone in this thinking), loadout cards SUCK as a concept. More than that, they are a terrible wasted opportunity and a lazy way of implementing “balanced” characters. There are brilliant examples of customizing player loadouts in other hugely successful franchises that could be used as an example to turn Dirty Bomb into a contender for one of the best competitive team shooters out there. And with hugely popular games like CS:GO already established, and newer competition like Overwatch just around the corner, it’s time to make some changes to get more people involved and make this game thrive. According to steamcharts.com, there are around ~3,600 average players in the last 30 days for Dirty Bomb, and that number is falling. Compare that with CS:GO - over 360,000 average players in the last 30 days, and that number is RISING.
So let’s look at the basics. I am happy to pay for content I enjoy, and have in fact purchased the three merc bundles and a couple more with in-game credits. I like that I can see and choose the best bronze loadout for each of my mercs that suit my playstyle. But after I’ve bought my mercs, and maybe a bronze card or two for each one… there is no point, no character progression, no CHOICE left to make. The idea is supposedly that higher rarity loadouts have more “bling”, yet I literally cannot tell the difference between a base, no-loadout enemy, and a cobalt-loadout enemy when I am running around during a firefight. Maybe there is a slight blue tint… but meh. Sometimes I see a blue or red tinted gun while watching a teammate while I wait to respawn, whoopty-doo. Add to that the RNG of trade-ups, when I already have a perfectly selected bronze card, there is no incentive to trade up. Just more “meh”, I have these spare, lousy cards that I’m not using let’s see if I can trade “up” to a better one… aaaaannnnd… nope. Now I have another loadout I’ll never use, its just a different colour. And the “meh” continues.
I just don’t understand why this system exists. To me it just seems lazy, and there are several examples in other games that would make so much more sense in a game like Dirty Bomb. Let’s start with “bling” - look no further than Counter Strike Global Offensive. The addition of Steam marketable skins, obtained from opening cases with keys that cost $2.49, hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of items are bought and sold every hour. And the skins are 100% COSMETIC, no Pay-2-Win. People love collecting, trading, showing them off, bragging about how rare or expensive they are. Some special skins feature “Stattrak”, tracking the exact number of kills from that weapon over it’s lifetime. Dirty bomb is already on Steam - imagine if you could buy/sell/trade weapon skins to use on any character that can use a given model of weapon. You could even implement it without changing the loadout card system! (although that would be pretty disappointing). It’s a proven, hugely successful business model.
Next issue is with the loadout cards themselves. You look at the available loadouts, and to begin with - they are finite. You only have a dozen or so possible loadouts per character, and alot of the pre-defined combinations are just terrible, no-brainer choices vs. other loadouts. Even then, some mercs don’t have any “great” choices, just loadouts with perks that aren’t quite as lousy as the other possible choices (looking at you Redeye).
You want a balanced, player-customisable loadout system? Look at the perk system from Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. Individual, CHOOSABLE perks that you EARN by levelling up, creating that element of player progression. In Dirty bomb - the early tiers could allow you access to the newbie talents like Try Hard, or the one that warns you when an airstrike is incoming. Later talents give you access to things like extra magazines, better medpacks, or the extended cloak time on Phantom. How do you balance it? By making different perks cost different amounts of points to add to your character, and you only have a limited number of points to spend. This also lends itself to the CHOICE of any weapon on any character. You want to use that MOA-SNIPR1 on Nader? Go for it! But you won’t have any points left to buy a decent sidearm. Want to choose a KATANA on Sparks? Go for it! But you might only be able to afford three cheap perks. (I hope you see the basic idea here, plenty of room for discussion!)
I hope I’ve made some sense here. Let me know what you guys think in the comments below 
- Oridiian
