Yes i know it’s something “modern” fps games just do, but is there some kind of reasoning behind it that i’m just not seeing? Some way it makes the game play better, it seems to me it’s there just to make people grind their way to better tools.
for example, in an et server that has xp leveling, the first three levels of light gun feel a little bit like a grind to get a gun that functions normally. more so when joining mid campaign.
Splash Damage kind of introduced xp to fps, so it’s not really fair to accuse them of jumping some kind of grind bandwagon.
I like the idea of putting in effort to get to a certain speciality. There’s a bit of a risk involved as you could be spending time on an idea that works good on paper but doesn’t feel right at the end, but that only puts more emphasis on making the right choices during the levelling.
I do however think that Brink needs a rigid points system for competitive play otherwise leagues will simply resort to enabling all unlocks which would ruin the idea of having specialists.
well may be grind was too loaded a word choice 
having played some bfbc2 beta, while it’s kind of fun in its’ way, i don’t really like the leveling up aspect of it, to see how much people who haven’t put in the hours are disadvantaged by their gear alone. plus the pile of “medals” they give you during maps is just silly.
Unlocks can be a good thing and I do hope it will be done right in Brink.
Things to do wrong (apply to Battlefield or Call of Duty):
That applies to ET(QW) as well. And I think it’s important you level the class respective to the specific unlock, otherwise people will quickly attempt to find out which class levels the fastest and use that to get the build they want.
Campaign unlocks I’m all for, persistant unlocks, no thanks (aside from body types seeing as they are unlockable, why is that again?)
Do we know how many maps are in a campaign yet?
The level in demo (I appreciate it was for show only) didn’t seem take too long to complete, maybe add 5 more mins to make up for dev cheats used and it would be around 15 min perhaps? 3 map campaign 45 mins, 5 map campaign 75 mins.
We can’t reveal how many levels are per campaign yet, but the demo for Container City actually wasn’t the whole level.
[QUOTE=tokamak;214234]That applies to ET(QW) as well. And I think it’s important you level the class respective to the specific unlock, otherwise people will quickly attempt to find out which class levels the fastest and use that to get the build they want.[/QUOTE]If the system works you will get the most xp by playing the class and mission that is the most needed. Isn’t that what the new mission system is all about?
I didn’t like the way it worked in ET / ETQW but there it didn’t make much of a difference because unlocks didn’t change that much. In World at War I basically played with the same 2 weapons all the time because once I upgraded them I couldn’t be bothered to do the same with the other weapons.
XP should be universal and independent from how you gained them. It gives you the most freedom on how to play the game.
[QUOTE=chr1s;214240]Do we know how many maps are in a campaign yet?
The level in demo (I appreciate it was for show only) didn’t seem take too long to complete, maybe add 5 more mins to make up for dev cheats used and it would be around 15 min perhaps? 3 map campaign 45 mins, 5 map campaign 75 mins.[/QUOTE]
They left out one phase in the objective.
Yeah you have a point there. A perfect xp system would prevent this.
Call me a cynic but IMO the XP system in modern games is there as a yardstick for gamers to judge their “progress” through the game. Dress it up with as much “character development” and “perks” and “upgrades”. Call it an “RPG” aspect. End of the day is that it’s there because in modern multiplayer FPS games a large chunk of the audience NEED these things otherwise they get bored playing the same 10 maps over and over.
And as there is no perfect XP system its inclusion in games encourages grind, cheating, exploiting, douche/negative behavior.
I’d much rather see the game AI drop upgrades in a similar way to L4D than do the XP race to upgrade as seen in ET/ETQW or worse.
Scattered is a loaded term but yes, have the AI determine the balance of play and drop/grant upgrades accordingly. Works nicely in L4D and lets you just play the game rather than having to grind toward some known xp score for an upgrade.
Hmm that’s a very interesting concept. (sounds like fun too)
And are these upgrades temporary?
(as in: ‘you die, you lose the upgrade’, or ‘out of ammo, bye bye upgrade’)
Right, so any tactics right out of the window, players just play with whatever they stumble on. Ridiculous.
[quote=Senyin;214277]Hmm that’s a very interesting concept. (sounds like fun too)
And are these upgrades temporary?
(as in: ‘you die, you lose the upgrade’, or ‘out of ammo, bye bye upgrade’)[/quote]
I guess that’s a balancing issue. I would think there there had to be some way to limit their use though as you’d want the game to continue to balance the battlefield and avoid the whole “working towards a stacked arsenal” mentality.
Hahaha,what tactics? Exploiting the XP system to get weapons/upgrades faster than the other team and so gain an advantage? Every map, every time. Sounds like more of a necessary grind than a tactic.
I liked the XP per campaign system best for balance. No one wants those XP whoring/rank nub dbags on their team. Persistent unlocks better not add as much advantage as are promised. Cool gear, skins, etc make more sense for persistent unlocks, but SD has said all weapon unlocks only allow for gains in one area and sacrifices in another; thus everything is balanced (I can only hope). I do think that body types should be available from the start, but maybe that’s supposed to be one of your first feel good rewards. Let’s hope the xp system is as perfect as everyone wants it to be…
Yes, at least you can decide which role you have and what tools you use instead of being completely dependant on some random nonsense.
[QUOTE=SockDog;214280]Hahaha,what tactics? Exploiting the XP system to get weapons/upgrades faster than the other team and so gain an advantage? Every map, every time. Sounds like more of a necessary grind than a tactic.[/QUOTE]If unlocks are permament you won’t unlock anything while you play; you get the stuff between rounds.
And randomness is evil! If I remember correctly unlockable items like hats in TF2 dropped randomly as well in the beginning. It got quickly changed as too many kittens were killed.