No character swapping = impossible pub games?

(jfunk) #1

I haven’t played enough yet to know for sure, but it seems to me that having decent pub games is going to be made extremely difficult by the inability to switch characters without disconnecting from the server.

Any given character can only really unlock the skills from two classes. So once everybody is leveled and most games contain all level 20’s, it won’t really be viable to simply switch class to a Soldier if you’re playing a character will all his ability points in Medic and Engineer, etc.

While this is a non issue is clan matches or private games where teams can be planned in advance, it could be a big obstacle in pub games where random players are constantly joining and dropping.

Am I missing something here or does that sound right?

(veganzombiez) #2

It’s not that big a deal. If you have all your points in say, Universal and Medic, and no one on your team is hacking/repairing/destroying the objective, you just switch to that class, run over to the objective, do it, and then switch back. All that matters with the objectives is the kit of that class, nothing else.

Soldier and Operative don’t have any “hack/plant faster” skills, but engineer does have Nerves of Steel, which lets you disarm faster, so worst comes to worst, you can just have one point in that.

(DarkangelUK) #3

Abilities allow you to hone your play style, they don’t make you an unstoppable force to be reckoned with. If you’re being steamrolled by the other team, then it’ll be down to team work and skill… not abilities.

(tokamak) #4

This is intentional. You can’t switch characters so that the choices you make for your character matter. If everyone could change and include a character that fits the situation it would lead to a really annoying meta game.

(Wieke) #5

It think it would be nice to be able to switch between classes in between maps (without having to leave the server).

That said I will train my main to be a jack of all trades. I usually feal like I’m contributing more if I play a class that is under represented.

(jfunk) #6

[QUOTE=veganzombiez;301587]It’s not that big a deal. If you have all your points in say, Universal and Medic, and no one on your team is hacking/repairing/destroying the objective, you just switch to that class, run over to the objective, do it, and then switch back. All that matters with the objectives is the kit of that class, nothing else.

Soldier and Operative don’t have any “hack/plant faster” skills, but engineer does have Nerves of Steel, which lets you disarm faster, so worst comes to worst, you can just have one point in that.[/QUOTE]

If you can just “run over to the objective, do it, and then switch back”, then your opponents really suck.

That being said, what if the missing class is anything but operative? You may not need upgraded skills to complete the objectives, but you certainly need them to be effective in the given role for your team in general. If your team doesn’t have any currently loaded characters that are fully leveled in Soldier or Medic for example, you’re screwed.

Why not let us switch characters in game? The inability to do so makes the ability to switch classes effectively 50% crippled. You can switch classes if you want, you’ll just be useless as two of them.

(jazevec) #7

I would be fine with the current limit. There aren’t than many abilities which sound useful to me, especially Operative. Comm Hack, maybe Caltrops, ummm…

But yes it’s going to discourage people from switching:
“I’m an awesome soldier 24/7 and don’t switch classes ! STFU.”

(Dorian Gray) #8

20 can’t be the level cap? can it?

Reaching 20 just means i have all 5 star abilities unlocked.

If I unlock the 5 star stuff at level 20 and don’t keep leveling up till at least 25 then I should save a bunch of stars for those 5 * abilities. That doesn’t make much sense.

What’s the level cap?

(Szakalot) #9

level cap is 20.

(Sparrow) #10

[QUOTE=Dorian Gray;301606]20 can’t be the level cap? can it?

Reaching 20 just means i have all 5 star abilities unlocked.

If I unlock the 5 star stuff at level 20 and don’t keep leveling up till at least 25 then I should save a bunch of stars for those 5 * abilities. That doesn’t make much sense.

What’s the level cap?[/QUOTE]

Level cap is 20…

(jfunk) #11

Yeah, I realize it’s intentional. I didn’t think somebody forgot to click the checkbox before they compiled the game.

I understand the theory behind making individual characters limited in their choices. Just seems to me that this mechanic is going to prevent pub games from ever being played at a high level for more than a random map or two.

If some players leave that have been filling certain roles for your team and nobody currently has a character loaded that is leveled up in that class, nobody can switch to take over that role effectively and that’s unfortunate. It’s not that there are no people capable playing that class well, it’s just that they are prevented from doing so by this game mechanic.

(Wieke) #12

[QUOTE=Dorian Gray;301606]20 can’t be the level cap? can it?

Reaching 20 just means i have all 5 star abilities unlocked.

If I unlock the 5 star stuff at level 20 and don’t keep leveling up till at least 25 then I should save a bunch of stars for those 5 * abilities. That doesn’t make much sense.

What’s the level cap?[/QUOTE]

If you respec at lvl 19 (drop a level due to respec), spend 15 out of your 18 points and don’t spend a point when you’ve reached 19 again, you’d have 5 points at lvl 20 so you could pick up all tier 5 abilities.

(Apoc) #13

I like how it is, i will be running a universal skill build when attacking, as i will be changing class often, then use a class specific character for defenses where i will be mainly sticking with one role (obvs change if necessary, but most of the objectives are defend the obj from other team and so can be done without changing class each time)

(jfunk) #14

So you’re going to quit the server every time your team winds up on the opposite of attack/defend from the last map you just played?

And what skills is this universal attacker going to have? I’m not sure about Operative, but it certainly appears to me that Soldiers, Medics, and Engineers need to almost if not entirely max out their skills trees or be significantly less effective in their roles.

(system) #15

[QUOTE=Wieke;301602]It think it would be nice to be able to switch between classes in between maps (without having to leave the server).

That said I will train my main to be a jack of all trades. I usually feal like I’m contributing more if I play a class that is under represented.[/QUOTE]

You can change classes even during the match, you can’t switch characters…

(Deltaz) #16

OP: That is my main concern about it. I am not high level enough to see how much of a benefit these abilities give so I will see how it all turns out.

On ET it was hard to get someone to switch to the needed classes and your character wasn’t set on stone, I wonder how having a specialized character will affect games were everyone joined with their operatives character.

Hopefully all my concerns are proved wrong in game.

(veganzombiez) #17

[QUOTE=jfunk;301603]If you can just “run over to the objective, do it, and then switch back”, then your opponents really suck.

[/QUOTE]

Haha, maybe I was a bit too simplistic. If your team is working together and holding off the enemy, sometimes you have time to run back to the CP, switch to the necessary class, and then get the objective done.

Say your team has to blow up the gate on Container City, but your two soldiers have been able to push past the gate to suppress the enemy. Rather than have one of them move back to plant and possibly lose your beachhead, it’s sometimes best to have someone else run back, change classes, do the objective, and then change back. It’s generally my playstyle as a Light: let the rest of my team suppress/distract the enemy, and then I run around doing all the necessary objectives.

I do see what you mean, as there have been times when I’ve been playing and none of the medics are competent, but my (overly simplistic) point was that you don’t need to have abilities in a class to do its basic job.

Face it, if your team’s unable to protect you long enough for you to get a bomb planted, or something repaired/hacked more than 20% at a time, your teammates are not very good, and you’ll probably lose regardless. It takes a while to find a good enough pub where people will switch. Sometimes, all you gotta do is type, “You do know we need [x] to win, right?” to get someone else to help out.

(tokamak) #18

They’re not prevented at all, they’ll just have to make do with a non-specialised class which requires creativity and skill.

It works both ways, this measure encourage players to organise themselves and play in parties to ensure all slots are filled.

(jfunk) #19

[QUOTE=tokamak;301732]They’re not prevented at all, they’ll just have to make do with a non-specialised class which requires creativity and skill.

It works both ways, this measure encourage players to organise themselves and play in parties to ensure all slots are filled.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, that’s basically a private game. I wouldn’t be concerned about it if I only intended to play pre-planned matches with set teams.

However, I get to play when the opportunity presents itself. So I jump on and find a server to play on. I can’t schedule specific dates and times for Brink or any video game for that matter.

People seem to be unconcerned with the possibility of having your team stuck with a “level 1” Medic for example and I don’t see why you would think that’s no big deal. A medic without Adrenaline Rush, Fast Metabolism or whatever it’s called, multiple supply upgrades, the Lazarus grenade, etc. is going to put your team at a MASSIVE disadvantage. The current game mechanics prevent you from doing anything about this situation, even if you’d like to. I may even have a level 20 Medic I’m really good at…too bad I can’t play him because I didn’t choose him when I joined the server an hour ago.

My only option is to completely disconnect from the server, go all the way back to the very first game menu, choose my other character, then attempt to reconnect. Maybe my slot is still there, maybe it isn’t. Maybe there’s a slot on the server, but it’s on the other team now and they don’t need a Medic, they need the Solider I was playing 5 minutes ago on the other team.

Silly. At the very least you should be able to pick your character after joining the server so at least you can see what classes are currently being played, even if they still require you to disconnect to change later. It’s just a pointless burden that will only serve to decrease the quality of games being played.

(Ainokeato) #20

It’s not necessary, many of the abilities in every skill tree minus operative, only goes to enhance other people. If you find yourself needing to switch roles because no one else is playing the necessary role, chances are one ‘Effective’ person really isn’t going to change much. I say that because once again, most of the skills only goes to enhance others. That said, it’s not like it’s hard to grab the absolute necessary skills in each class including Universal. Splurge (if you find it necessary) on your preferred class and run that way.