Switching Characters Between MP Rounds

(R_Shackelford) #1

Should you be allowed to switch characters between MP maps without quitting to the menu?

You get yourself set up playing a few rounds in a good server with your buds, or you’ve found one with a lot of good team players and no lag, but you want to give your Engineer / Operative character a break and work on your Soldier / Medic character. Would be nice to be able to swap them over between matches without having to drop from the game and go all the way back to the menu, no?

Would be even better if you could do it before the match starts, but after the map is selected, so you could pick the body type you like for that map, but some people might have a problem with that.

(IG THOMBOW) #2

Yes. 78910

(wolfnemesis75) #3

Not be able to switch makes it more challenging. And forces more teamplay. By switching, you could keep focusing on what you’re doing rather than the team.

(xzen) #4

It would be between rounds, not during play. Simply so you don’t have to disconnect and reconnect to the server.

(Ghostdog) #5

Would be nice if this could be implemented, eventually, but probably not top of the priority list right now.

(Coolaguy) #6

When it comes to modifying characters’ abilities, I think this should be doable in game in one specific (but important) instance:

When playing in game modes where the selection is “My Rank or Higher”. Since you aren’t limiting the kit possibilities of other players, there isn’t a reason to force players to exit the game. I imagine that part of the design decision to force players to exit the game was to conserve the balance imposed by “My Rank” gametypes, for the benefit of less experienced players. However, this is largely irrelevant in the “My Rank or Higher” game mode selection.

By allowing the modification of abilities (not re-spec’ing), this would chiefly help to keep a group of teammates playing together but it could also help to reduce the latency caused by players who drop and then rejoin throughout the match.

(weeschwee) #7

someone on the steam forums put it really well. he said something like:

splash damage has created a system that rewards players for switching classes on the fly to help out the team. unfortunately the character progression discourages it. people honestly want to play as the class they have invested time and skill points into. some classes have more importance than others so people spend time in them. once a map calls for that other class though, people are less likely to switch which results in losing matches or bad teamwork. this isn’t as much of a problem in clan matches where people have good communication and can setup before hand, but the majority play on public servers without pre-made teams.

this paraphrase is extremely important. it’s hard to say that splash damage SHOULD change the game. but it is important to know that this is the result of their system. it’s unique and not boring from other games, but it isn’t necessarily good or the best way to do it. i think tf2 and bfbc2 have it right, letting you swap out anything on the fly while your choices are very important and balanced.

(dommafia) #8

[QUOTE=weeschwee;321055]someone on the steam forums put it really well. he said something like:

splash damage has created a system that rewards players for switching classes on the fly to help out the team. unfortunately the character progression discourages it. people honestly want to play as the class they have invested time and skill points into. some classes have more importance than others so people spend time in them. once a map calls for that other class though, people are less likely to switch which results in losing matches or bad teamwork. this isn’t as much of a problem in clan matches where people have good communication and can setup before hand, but the majority play on public servers without pre-made teams.

this paraphrase is extremely important. it’s hard to say that splash damage SHOULD change the game. but it is important to know that this is the result of their system. it’s unique and not boring from other games, but it isn’t necessarily good or the best way to do it. i think tf2 and bfbc2 have it right, letting you swap out anything on the fly while your choices are very important and balanced.[/QUOTE]

I’ve been thinking this way for a while now. It sucks that you get penalized for wanting to change classes during the match to help out the team.

(Norb) #9

I dont get this flaw at all, I mean you switch class quickly to do the objective no-one else is going to do then switch back to what you was

(xzen) #10

Agreed, I have no points in Soldier or Operative but do bomb and hack objectives all the time (in pubs of course)

(pinksocking) #11

God, it’s so frustrating to have to quit the game to get anything done… especially on consoling where it’s a warzone in its self to get into a functional game. I think it’d be great if when you level up, you can change your characters appearance (Maybe not body type?) and purchase abilities between rounds as well

(Norb) #12

yep same here no upgrades at all for soldier or operative but do the objectives quite often

:stroggtapir:

(Charles Atlas) #13

I would like to hear why anyone would be against character switches between games.

(jazevec) #14

20 levels. 4 classes, 3 ability slots each.
If you’re careful, you can design your character to be a jack-of-all-trades, it will cost 12 points at most, potentially less with universal abilities. Even less if you HATE a class or two.

No, you won’t have all abilities that way, but you can deffinitely have 3 abilities for each class and be able to switch mid-match. Especially if you rule out some abilities outright - Satchel Charges are nearly worthless on attack, and I don’t like to limit myself to 1 team - I wouldn’t take them.

(wolfnemesis75) #15

Because right now it forces you to stay open to what a map presents as a challenge and promotes team tactics; you are going to be weak/strong depending on the map which adds to the team structure. Plus, it is more challenging currently. Plus, switching characters…that’s a lot more loading screens, longer wait times, and potentially more lag? Plus, you are asking for a lot when the game already has custom characters. And what other game does? Just the mere fact Brink has custom characters and includes them in cutscenes is radically different than other FPS games, and presents its own set of challenges; each character is a set package of information. And you’d also want to be able to switch between maps too? Ultimately, that’s a stretch for a console imo. An RPG can handle that with loading screens and such, but you’d also need time to load up another character. It sounds like a novel idea, but is not feasible in a multiplayer especially when much of matchmaking is optimized to set up a match and get people playing in the shortest amount of time.

The current system is a more streamlined way, and a more realistic design implementation.

(Rubbaduren) #16

A reason not to, would be that you’ll might play with a light on a map you would prefer beeing a heavy, meening that you might have to change your playstyle on that map.

I would like to be able to change though. Mostly because once I find a good game (no lag, good, balanced teams) I want to play with the same people for a while.

(Glyph) #17

[QUOTE=wolfnemesis75;321160]Because right now it forces you to stay open to what a map presents as a challenge and promotes team tactics; you are going to be weak/strong depending on the map which adds to the team structure. Plus, it is more challenging currently. Plus, switching characters…that’s a lot more loading screens, longer wait times, and potentially more lag? Plus, you are asking for a lot when the game already has custom characters. And what other game does? Just the mere fact Brink has custom characters and includes them in cutscenes is radically different than other FPS games, and presents its own set of challenges; each character is a set package of information. And you’d also want to be able to switch between maps too? Ultimately, that’s a stretch for a console imo. An RPG can handle that with loading screens and such, but you’d also need time to load up another character. It sounds like a novel idea, but is not feasible in a multiplayer especially when much of matchmaking is optimized to set up a match and get people playing in the shortest amount of time.

The current system is a more streamlined way, and a more realistic design implementation.[/QUOTE]

Ugh, again with the unfounded logic. Of course it can be done. Claiming that the game can’t manage character switching is laughable as it only has to load the assests for the existing character. It would be no different if you were to load the manu, switch characters and then reenter the same game. In this case it would not load your character until it was selected or a change was made. As all of these changes would be done prior to the map actually spawning your character it would be absolutely fine and work exactly like the game handles it currently, just without having to return to the menu every single time.

(wolfnemesis75) #18

[QUOTE=Glyph;321181]Ugh, again with the unfounded logic. Of course it can be done. Claiming that the game can’t manage character switching is laughable as it only has to load the assests for the existing character. It would be no different if you were to load the manu, switch characters and then reenter the same game. In this case it would not load your character until it was selected or a change was made. As all of these changes would be done prior to the map actually spawning your character it would be absolutely fine and work exactly like the game handles it currently, just without having to return to the menu every single time.[/QUOTE]Not unfounded logic, and I am not sure it’d work exactly how you say. The character loads in the start menu before you enter the matches, then the maps are loading with the story content, your current character is already loaded and appears in the cut scenes. Not as simple as you make it sound. In a RPG you’d have to go back to the menu to load a new character, you aren’t able to switch characters between rounds, right? Brink’s focus is a streamlined style of play, not sure its necessary to switch characters. My opinion.

(Bakercompany) #19

I don’t think its super necessary to be able to switch characters in between matches, but it would be nice to be able to distribute earned ability points, or modify your character/weapons/body type. Note I said not during a match, but in between. Thus preserving the balance of the matches as everyone is stuck with their choices.

(R_Shackelford) #20

I’d rather you just be able to just switch between characters. Then you spend your own time setting up all your loadouts and body types and skill points. Otherwise people will want to hold up the game while they go respec their entire character. And if there’s a time limit put on it, then you can end up being the guy that was in the middle of doing your respec and the game started with half your points unspent.