Quick thought: Personalized merc rotations?

(PixlePi) #1

With all the people complaining about teams full of Rhinos and Proxys, I thought I’d test the waters on the idea of each player getting a different, randomized merc rota. You still get extra free mercs, but when a new rota comes out you don’t have to worry as much about everyone playing the exact same merc you are. Or, at least have more than one rota, maybe divide the 13 mercs into 5 groups of 3(with 2 overlap mercs) and have each player get access to a random one of those groups, changing sets every 2 weeks. Idk if it’s a good idea, but this is a good place to discuss it.

(JesseKomm) #2

I actually really like this idea, it allows people to not stack up on the three free mercs and as a result you don’t get massive spam of one merc in matches. Problem is though every rotation needs at least 1 engineer in the roster, which limits the options considerably.

(XavienX) #3

It’s been brought up before where instead of having a universal rotation, each player has their own rotation. I believe in one of the devstreams, one of the devs said it was a good idea.

(PixlePi) #4

@JesseKomm well, with 13 spread about 5 rotas we’ed need 2 mercs in more than one set, so just take fletcher and bushwaka out twice

(PixlePi) #5

@Xavien Yea I suspected as much, thought I’d make it anyway. Still think having 4 or 5, or maybe even 7-8 different sets might be better than everyone having their own set.

(Samniss_Arandeen) #6

Ever since I tried to get my friend into the game, but he couldn’t try out the Merc he wanted and quit because of it, I’ve always been against the Free Rotation.

Each Rotation should have two per-player randomized Merc selections (the game won’t Free Rotate Mercs the player already owns), and a third of the player’s own choosing. Alternately, players who choose not to select a Merc can opt for a lump sum of credits, or maybe an Elite Case or something nice like that.

Or even just the ability to hire one Merc for one match for a set amount of Credits, just to test drive them.

EDIT: The problem of “Each Rotation needs one Engineer” can be solved by making a free Engineer to join Aura and Skyhammer. I vote Proxy be made free, everyone already owning her gets their 30K credits back. A bonus is that Proxy can then be made part of the Tutorial to teach players about the objectives.

(MarsRover) #7

This idea was discussed a few weeks ago, but it’s good to keep talking about it because I think it’s a good idea.

(Yes) #8

Yes, introducing something like this should be made one of their top priorities.

(ProfPlump) #9

Good idea - but also when the new mercs are released those new mercs should be standard in everyone’s free merc rotations for a week.

(Mister__Wiggles) #10

See the problem I run into with this idea and let me say it is a good idea and one of the better ones I’ve come across. The problem is some people have all the mercs except maybe one or two, so does that mean they will always get them mercs for free? This will mean they will never need to buy them aslong as there are no new mercs added. This will make dirty bomb lose money and is not good from a business point and I don’t think it’s good from a gaming point either, unless you can overcome that problem with always having the same free merc then I can’t see this idea taking off, but I’m open to the possibility because the current system is not my favourite to say the least.

(Yes) #11

Why would it only be mercs they don’t have?

(Fiktio) #12

Why would it only be mercs they don’t have?
[/quote]

I was wondering the same and I have to agree with Clown.
(Don’t forget that some players already can’t get any fun out of free rotation, because they have those mercs already.)

(Mister__Wiggles) #13

Because free rotations are mentioned for people that want to try a merc out before they buy him, giving someone a merc in rotation that they already own is kind of unfair in that respect. I think the op has hit a pretty good point and solid idea but I just can’t see it working properly. The only real problem now is the spam of certain mercs. Maybe private servers will have the option to toggle one of every merc or that not more than 2 people can use the same merc. What I was trying to express with my first comment is, free rotations are the perfect chance to try mercs you don’t own and I think it’s what SD are going for so if you were tobjave a random rotation that would factor in mercs you own then somebody that I’d only missing 2 or 3 mercs would always have a thevsame mercs for free. Highly unlikely that this would be the case or would even be implemented like this but I think if they were to go along the lines of what I said then the issue I mentioned is the biggest problem for that idea.

(MarsRover) #14

But that’s exactly how current rotation system works - if you already have Redeye, Fletcher and Sparks the current rotation gives you zero new mercs. So nothing changes here.

(Mister__Wiggles) #15

@MarsRover
Thats the problem right now, its catered to new players which is awesome but for people that own most merc’s it can be underwhelming or even annoying. Tailored rotations would be better but then you run into the problem that I mentioned. Its difficult to implement something new to change it up and make it something all players can look forward to. I guess my issue is with the free rotations not having such an effect on the gameplay or on players attitudes towards the idea of the free rotation.

(Yes) #16

It’s not unfair, they own all the mercs and they will get to try ones they don’t own occasionally. I don’t see how it’s any different to now? If someone has all mercs except Vassili, they haven’t been able to try him out for about 4-6 rotations.

(PeneTraitor) #17

If it is always ones you don’t own, then you never have to buy 3 of the mercs. Just sayin.

(Halosheep) #18

I had the same thought earlier this week, glad someone else said it!
I would love personalized merc rotations. This week is extra awful because not only do I own all 3 mercs, but my normal loadout is the current trio. The only thing that makes me look like I’m not a free-weeks chump is my cobalt fletcher!

(Fiktio) #19

@Mister__Wiggles I don’t really understand why it should be unfair if free rotation include a merc that someone happen to have already.
I always saw free rotation like small boost for beginners: helping them to start the game. Meanwhile if someone a bit more experienced happen to have a lot mercs, I don’t really see any valid reason why should this player be butthurt if free rotation include a merc that this players already hired earlier. The rotation changes anyways, so maybe this person could have later a chance to test the merc that (s)he doesn’t have already. Meanwhile waiting for the free rotation getting changed, probably this certain player have time to hire the merc (s)he doesn’t have yet. :wink:
After all I doubt not that many even care about free rotation, if they own already majority of released mercs.

(Amerika) #20

I am personally a fan of being able to pick your own rotation each week that doesn’t allow you to pick the same mercs as the week/weeks before (until reset). It would definitely make things more diverse and give people slightly more choice.

However, there might be solid economic reasons why the rotation needs to be 3 predetermined mercs for everyone associated with F2P gaming that we’re not aware of. I am not an expert in the field but quite a few games use the same type of pre-picked rotation and there is probably a solid monetary reason for it. But there also might not be and it would be simply a matter of dedicating developer time to implement it and might eventually make it into the game.