Hey
I think W:ET and ET:QW had some flaws in design. Parts of these games seemed to be designed for flavour, not for gameplay.
- Sniper the sociopath
W:ET and ET:QW gave sniper rifle to Covert Op. This is unlike RTCW which gave Mauser to Soldier. The problem ? Covert Op in both games had tools which were most useful up close, and worked well with teammates around:
- satchel/camera was good up close, almost no use for a sniper
- disguises were great to stab that disarming engineer, or stab mg42 soldier right before your teammates attacked.
- smoke had obvious team benefits, it could potentially clear the way for entire team (admittedly, it was too thin to be very useful).
- Radar in ET:QW was best placed near frontline to maximize its range. Either way far away from the campers’ hill
- hacking worked up close
- awesome scrambler grenades only worked up close
Moral of the story: I think sniper rifle should be given to the most sociopathic class. A class with no or little other duties. This way teammates won’t be yelling at him to do X or Y (deploy Radar, pick a disguise and open door). There was some (probably unintentional) wisdom in giving Mauser to Soldier in RTCW.
- Rambo medics in W:ET
In ET:QW they were only kept in check by vehicles, really. But generally I mean this: make sure class description indicates function !
- amazingly, players use the toughest class for combat. If you want them to mostly use Soldier for that, make Soldier best at absorbing damage !
- players use the most self-sufficient class for behind the lines disruption. Please give Covert Op some (limited) healing ability, for example healing for kills at close range, healing for getting disguises, getting ammo from corpses etc. It’s a pity covert op was much less self-sufficient than medics in most games. Lone wolf class should get self healing and self ammo restock.
- Give covert op / infiltrator weapons which actually reward stealth. Knife stab is one. Fg42 was okay because you were at a disadvantage if you didn’t manage to sneak up close. Handgrenades would make an ideal covert op weapon, because they rely heavily on stealth and you’re dead meat if you’re caught with grenades in hand (just take care of spam !). And last, as crazy as it sounds… shotguns and flamethrowers would make good covert op weapons because they require stealth to use effectively.
Basically covert op/stealth class should have specialised weapons, which work best in right circiumstances. Using Quake Live / Q3 as example…
- Plasma gun can be considered stealth weapon. It has awesome damage potential but only really shines if you can make sure your opponent move predictably (tight corridor, shiny item, distracted by teammate, narrow ledge, doesn’t see you)
- Shotgun, especially in latest patch, can be considered stealth weapon because it sucks at anything but close range.
Note that typical sniper rifle does NOT reward stealth. It rewards sitting on a hill, and snipers often don’t care if something can see them because they’re out of range.
