This is going to be quite a simple post / suggestion revolving around the “Help Up / Get Up” mechanic.
While trying to help someone up your movement is currently not effected and this results in a few too many accidental breaks in the connection between the two players. Currently there is no leniency when it comes to broken help up connections and while due to a players mistake, it can be frustrating to deal with for both the player helping up and the player on the ground. There are multiple simple ways to address this issue and I believe doing so will add that extra layer of polish to the mechanic that should remove the majority of issues players may face.
These suggestions are in no order of preference as each one effects gameplay differently…
1, Decrease stopping time…
By decreasing the stopping time on player movements you reduce the likelihood of accidentally “sliding” out of range after small movements. While this is something that could be activated during a help up only, I would like to make this a suggestion for the game overall. To counter the potential advantage given during left -> right -> left spam I would increase the time it takes to reach full speed from a stop. Simply shifting 75ms from the stopping speed and putting it on the acceleration should result in better movement overall and slightly faster readiness when starting to fight from a sprint or jump.
One potential problem I can see is, if the deceleration speed drops below that of players pings, we could see a judder on the stop if the game has predictive lag compensation. As such I would not reduce the deceleration speed below 150-200ms if that is the case.
2, Invisible Barrier…
As simple as it sounds. By adding a invisible barrier for movement during the pick up animation you can “hard” prevent the playing doing the help up from walking out of range.
This could be jarring for players trying to help up while remaining safe as they may have been willing to break the link via distance but wanted to still give it the best shot possible. Also this mechanic has the potential of abuse by people skirting the barrier while helping up. Also potential frustration for people using toggle help up?
3, Walking Speed Only…
Possibly the most basic of all the ideas. Forcing the player doing the help up to be at walk speed will reduce the chances of people accidentally walking out of range while, ensure your not a frustration to shoot and allow you to keep moving without bumping into a barrier.
While this is both the easiest and has the least negative side effects (of the first 3) it is still kind of a lo-fi solution. Certainly better than nothing but could be better used in association with one of the next couple of suggestions…
4, Increase View Leniency…
Giving the player more freedom to look around while doing the help up would allow them to compensate their movement for their vision. I still feel this is best used in conjunction with the third suggestion but could be used with all suggestions. There are two ways I see of activating the help up if you implement this sort of change.
[1] - Look directly at the downed player and press use to initiate and then be given the freedom to look around within the increased view boundary.
[2] - Cone of vision in front of the players camera can allow pickup without looking down at the player. Should be a lower priority action than arm/defusing C4 and using objectives. Could be used in conjunction with the first suggestion [1] to give best of both worlds.
Communication them increased limits could be a problem and it would certainly take some time to get used to as a player. Large limits = large potential for mistakes (like looking to far) however, since this is already a player requirement the downside should be quite a low concern. I feel the game could do with this in general anyway.
5, C4 Defuse Styled Continue…
If help up progress remained after a break in connection or even if it slowly overtime the connection breaks become must less of an issue. This would also mean a players help up attempt is not completely wasted if downed in the process.
I actually really like the idea of this personally, the only real potential issue I can see is that it may entice players to attempt much more riskier pickups that could result in more dead teammates. That said, if the progress reduction is perfectly paced you could minimize the risk of this happening.
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Now, personally if I had things my way, I would suggest numbers 1, 4 and 5 in combination. The idea of being able to still move, see where the treat is coming from and continue the help up after clearing the threat sounds perfect to me. However, as much as I would like number 1 in the game by default I feel a combination of 3,4,5 being the best for both teams. Making it easier to shoot someone that is helping someone up but at the same time giving them vision adds a small amount of counter play… kinda like a 1vs1 game of chicken.
If I was asked for my Price vs Performance option it would be numbers 3 and 4 as it has very limited side effects, is likely the easiest to implement from a time/cost perspective and will at least add a bit of counter play I was talking about. (hate the words “counter play” need a better term…)
Currently the counter play is not really part of it. Due to the restrictive camera angle you do often not see your attacker before he unloads bullets into you and obviously these deaths are not fun really for either player. When it comes to the movement speed it means that enemy players often have to deal with left -> right -> left spam while taking aim on someone that is helping up a player. Whilst the current system is functional it offers very little to the overall gameplay. Once the mechanic is refined you make the whole function of a help up so much more engaging and it adds depth to a small section of the game that currently is void.