Merc picking system with one merc rule

(HELGA_bunga) #1

With the introduction of rentable servers, its more than ever the time to implement one of the most requested feature of all time as an option for the servers, which would i am absolutely certain boost the number of rented servers : a one merc rule.

The general counter argument that firts comes when talking about a one merc rule is : it cant work with the 3 mercs squad, what if you only have mercs that are already played in your squad ?
Hence my proposal of merc picking which would totally eliminate that issue without having to rework the squad system.

The system i would like to see being implemented :
-at the start of each map, every player of each team picks a unic merc, you have to be the only one to equip the merc in your team but mirror composition between teams is totally allowed
-the 2 remaining slots are free choice, you can pick a merc that is already picked but if a teamate spawns with it you cant spawn with it, you have the priority to spawn with the merc of your first slot

with the 3 base mercs being aura, skuhammer and bushwhacker plus the three mercs from free rotation, this system can be relevant even for lvl 1 accounts which havent bought any merc for up to 5v5 and 6v6 servers

I do not ask for it to be a standard on all official servers yet, just to implement this as an option for rentable servers and maybe having it on a few official ones, if for some reasons there are players who dont like less spammy one merc rule matches they could always join a no one merc rule one

best regards, please excuse my faulty english

(Press E) #2

It’s still not ideal. In theory in a 7 man team, everyone could pick Aura, Skybro and Bush plus the 3 freerotation mercs, leaving the level 1 player with no choices. Sure it works for 6v6 and below, but stacking mercs on a low player team usually isn’t a very good idea anyways. It gets even worse if you wanna do stuff like merc limits plus merc bans, like a lot of people like to do. I’ve seen comp games ban aura or thunder occasionally, but I could also imagine people wanting to ban recons too.

I suppose you could just make mercs free in rentable servers too, but then you run into players who have no idea how to play their merc because their main was already taken.

With all the stuff that has to be accounted for I’m not really surprised SD hasn’t prioritized it tbh. And imagine the pain when a new player picks your main or some other merc you really wanted to play before you can, then proceeds to do trash as them lol

(HELGA_bunga) #3

Thats the case for many games using a one merc rule and players just deal with it, if someone took your “main” (having a main in DB is a bit stupid but nevermind) you learn to play smth else

also back in the days of ranked, if your team already had 2 medics or 2 dps you wouldnt pick a 3rd medic or a 3rd dps because its your “main role”

thats also why i dont want to force it on official servers but having it as an option on rentable ones, complaining about the one merc rule would be like joining a FF server and then proceed to complain about FF.

(WatchAsILead) #4

Definitely not the most requested feature, just a vocal minority.

(bgyoshi) #5

rofl

(LifeupOmega) #6

“Hey guys, our game is balanced around one merc, ff on, but we’re not gonna let you have one merc rules”

That’s DB, you’d think the standard for balance and such would also be an actual in game option, no?

(Ptiloui) #7

While I agree that the one merc rule should be standard in a game like Dirty Bomb (just take a look at other competitive games), the system you’re proposing couldn’t work :

In a team of 6 players, if each player equip one unique merc, and if those are each of the six that are free, this means that the other 2 mercs that you can equip must be of those that are not actually in free rotation.
Furthermore, if unluckily the 3 mercs you unlocked are those that are in free rotation, you are doomed. To prevent any issue with this system, you must have unlocked 5 mercs.

And here we’re even talking before any possible ban rules :wink:

This is definitively ONE of the most requested, the other request are often Execution, merc ban and non redux maps.
Also, considering every official tournament that have taken place in DB were played by the one merc rule, this is definitively something that should be in the game if it ever wants to be competitive. (even if some may say that it’s too late). And furthermore, as stated by @LifeupOmega while i was replying :slight_smile: eveyr updates and balance patches were tested in the PTS with the one merc rule. It’s just dumb not to have this feature in the base game.

(DarkangelUK) #8

SD are about to face off against OCB on the live stream and they’re going with 1 merc rule as well, the irony :smiley:

(B_Montiel) #9

No merc limit ruined ranked for many players, including I. In a match with two evenly skilled teams, the team who generally won was the team who was stacking one or even 2 aura with 2 fraggers or 2 artys when needed on defense. Pretty much no counter solutions available, even with the new countering merc : Phantom, Hunter and Guardian are dead weight picks as soon as there are more people against them. This made me stop playing ranked more extensively on season 2 and 3 at least.

No merc limit ruined public since the Phantom addition in the game.

In my view, it’s about time it does not ruin something.

As long as they don’t provide proof of proper performance limitations, I definitely ask for broader merc deck to allow the one merc rule to be applied.

Either way, the 3 slot merc deck is too narrow for diversity. In any more or less competitive context, if the choice is too narrow, the players will always pick the most versatile choice at their disposal. Hence Fragger, Arty being notably dominant in this context.

(Teflon Love) #10

To prevent players from being locked out just make it a requirement that you can join a merc limited server only if you already unlocked 10 (or something the like) mercs.

I wouldn’t worry too much about low level players who only have the default mercs available. They are still busy figuring out the game on official servers without any merc rules.

The main audience for merc limited servers would be players that try to escape the current crapfest with insane skill spread, no-medic-no-engi meta and recon fetishism. They mostly want to have a good time playing at least somewhat organized tactics with like minded people.

(Jigstraw) #11

bit off topic but it was more like target practice for Mordrag than a match :joy:

(K1X455) #12

I’ve explained the pros-and-cons of this issue previously from a player perspective.

To re-iterate/summarise:

Choosing/committing an archetype has advantage and disadvantage

  • Guarantees the advantage of well composed team (flex player’s advantage)
  • Disadvantaged in terms of archetype rigidity to leverage tactics based on a certain map (eg. 2 medics, 2 obj spec, 1 fire support)

Implementing a rigid 1 archetype rule will require SD to provide at least 2 archetypes in free rotation all the time (RECON & Assault class) so as to give new players access to an archetype they have not unlocked in order to participate in such servers.

Operators and administrators of the match does not currently have a method of monitoring archetypes to call an illegal switch (eg 2 Naders, 2 Rhinos, etc). This is nice to have but I doubt if they can ever be implemented.

To implement a 1 merc rule, the only possible solution is for SD to monitor if a player has at least unlocked all archetypes for a player (Assault, Fire Support, Medic, Objective Specialist, Recon) and systematically allow only 1 choice of archetype chosen per match. A role switching mechanism is required and needs to be systematically implemented to observe this rule. This means that the potential for any merc to be available to the player and the only limitation why a player cannot choose a certain merc is if he/she hasn’t unlocked the merc or someone else is playing that merc in the team (or the opposite team if strict character implementation is applied). In this type of server, this necessarily means that a fresh player in DB will not necessarily be able to play sufficiently well which makes the competition accessible at a very low player skill base, so the competitive level of matches will have an over reaching admission to a wide player base.

(Runeforce) #13

I’d prefer a neo-classical approach; that all mercs (that are available) are available at all times (i.e no three merc limit*), perhaps with the limitation in some sort of ‘ranked’ mode, that no duplicate mercs (f. ex. having two Fraggers) are allowed at any one time pr. team.

*(Yeah, yeah, I know, not available, because of ‘engine limitations’, which is obviously an euphamism for design decisions, because apparantly you can’t do in 2018, what you could at the turn of the century.)

(HELGA_bunga) #14

i would prefer too, but since SD aint gonna change the 3 merc squad i would rather deal around with it rather than nothing

(HadronZodiac) #15

I found a server that bans javelin, guardian, rhino, shotguns, redeye, and something else (i forget) so basically ^ is an example of what u are sayin lol

(HELGA_bunga) #16

yea i played on it, 5v5 no stacking is actually the most fun DB can get, too bad they dont ban aura