The ultimate method of gaining XP in Brink

(Cep) #21

Since the weapons themselves aren’t really any better than any others in this game (with the exception of the unbalanced few) your points kind of moot. The trouble with games like BC2 is that none of the weapons are on the same level of access to new and long term players. If all guns are worth the same XP then the game would work fine.

The suggestion is not to price the “best” gun higher than another or to price a pistol as less than an AR but to leave it at the discretion of the player to buy what he wants at the same cost. If a weapon they chose, didn’t suit their style of play they could trade it in for a reduced amount of XP.

(zenstar) #22

The leveling system (in my eyes) is basically a long tutorial allowing you to come to grips with the mechanics of the game & the character you are leveling. Yes the game only really starts at max level, but why not have the tutorial part be fun too?

If you know what you’re doing you’re through it in very little time and into the game proper. If you don’t know what you’re doing then it’s helpful to have this 20 level tutorial.

As for the “too few skills at 20” part: In some ways I agree. You should be able to switch between 2 classes without feeling underpowered in either. I don’t think you shuold be able to switch between all 4 “willy-nilly” as part of the game is choices about your abilities and how you play with them. The DLC is raising our level by 4 but only introducing 1 new ability per class which means 3 more points into your alternate class. This goes a long way to making me happy about ability choices. I assume future DLC will do the same.

I don’t think you should buy skills for XP. Then you’re being rewarded simply for having played longer. Once you hit 20 you should be on par with everyone else no matter how much time they’ve spent at 20. From that point on it should be about your individual skill at the game and not how long you’ve spent grinding the skills. Same with gear. It’s more balanced if everyone has the same access to everything.

(suho) #23

[QUOTE=zenstar;344523]The leveling system (in my eyes) is basically a long tutorial allowing you to come to grips with the mechanics of the game & the character you are leveling. Yes the game only really starts at max level, but why not have the tutorial part be fun too?

If you know what you’re doing you’re through it in very little time and into the game proper. If you don’t know what you’re doing then it’s helpful to have this 20 level tutorial.

As for the “too few skills at 20” part: In some ways I agree. You should be able to switch between 2 classes without feeling underpowered in either. I don’t think you shuold be able to switch between all 4 “willy-nilly” as part of the game is choices about your abilities and how you play with them. The DLC is raising our level by 4 but only introducing 1 new ability per class which means 3 more points into your alternate class. This goes a long way to making me happy about ability choices. I assume future DLC will do the same.

I don’t think you should buy skills for XP. Then you’re being rewarded simply for having played longer. Once you hit 20 you should be on par with everyone else no matter how much time they’ve spent at 20. From that point on it should be about your individual skill at the game and not how long you’ve spent grinding the skills. Same with gear. It’s more balanced if everyone has the same access to everything.[/QUOTE]

Agreed. Getting to lvl 20 for the first time the normal way was alright and is kinda like a tutorial. But I just dont wanna spend time just leveling to get at least one char for each class which has every ability. I also like that after the DLC there is gonna be 3 more points I can put elsewhere. FYI Im probably going from 20 to 24 the usual way by playing :slight_smile:
Not for ervery char though.

(Cep) #24

But isn’t that what your already doing since to gain levels you must gain XP? In affect the system is already declaring that a level token costs initially 500xp, then progressively gets more expensive. With your original point in mind, surely its better to make all abilities the same cost in terms of XP since that does make it fairer to new players.

The fact you also have to “unlock” level 20 abilities or weapons already gives the in-balance that suho was disagreeing with in my post on purchasing.

(suho) #25

I can only think of two ways you can acomplish that though. Making defusing faster is not really an option because the maps are already defensively favoured.

One way would be to change the AI. The other way is ensuring defuse/hack speed is never the same. Because it could very well be possible that one can compensate a faster hack with the distance to the hack box.

(zenstar) #26

[QUOTE=Cep;344539]But isn’t that what your already doing since to gain levels you must gain XP? In affect the system is already declaring that a level token costs initially 500xp, then progressively gets more expensive. With your original point in mind, surely its better to make all abilities the same cost in terms of XP since that does make it fairer to new players.

The fact you also have to “unlock” level 20 abilities or weapons already gives the in-balance that suho was disagreeing with in my post on purchasing.[/QUOTE]

Firstly weapons are all unlocked via the challenge and XP doesn’t take part in it.
Second: The 20 levels are (as I said previously) IMO basically a long tutorial. The game only starts at level 20 and everyone is equal from that point on regardless of time spent. Before level 20 you are segregated by rank to make things fair and ensure that noone is rewarded more for playing more.

New players should have to go through the 20 levels to learn the game but by the time they’re 20 they should be on equal footing with someone who’s been playing 23 hours a day since release.

If you had to buy things for XP then you’d either have to put a cap on how many things you can buy or you’d only be equal after you’ve bought everything possible (ok… maybe just after you’ve bought all abilities) and you wouldn’t be able to segregate out the people learning from the vetrans which means newbies will be stompped on a lot.

Unlocking 20 levels isn’t really getting rewarded for playing longer. Those 20 levels are fairly quick to go through and cap out early in your playing lifespan. They’re more a slow introduction to all the facets than they are a reward for playing longer. The game only starts properly at 20. You don’t get any extra rewards for playing after 20 other than the fun of playing.

To do a similar structure with XP purchases rather than levels you’d have to have everything being really cheap so that after the same amount of time you’re in the same position. If that’s what you mean then I don’t see the difference.

TLDR: No. the few hours you spend leveling is an introduction. from level 20 everyone should be equal and noone should be rewarded for time spent over another person.

Also: I think SD are right in limiting the number of abilities available to you. Noone should have all 4 classes maxed out. Those choices are part of your character and your gameplay. I think you should get enough points to make a main (pure) class and an alternate class (fair number of skills), or a jack of all trades that doesn’t work as well as a dedicated class but can do a bit of everything.

(zenstar) #27

[QUOTE=suho;344582]I can only think of two ways you can acomplish that though. Making defusing faster is not really an option because the maps are already defensively favoured.

One way would be to change the AI. The other way is ensuring defuse/hack speed is never the same. Because it could very well be possible that one can compensate a faster hack with the distance to the hack box.[/QUOTE]

Or put a max xp bonus on for a single hack.

(suho) #28

The reason why I am quite opposed to these non-resetting XP systems is that it just doesnt work in competetive play.
And I like games which are the same for everyone like Quake Live or Starcraft. When I watch a replay on youtube and I see some pro pull off some nice moves I know how hard it is even as a player who is not much into competetive play because everyone is essentially playing the same game with the same abilities and stuff.

In ET:QW there was a pro-mod which I did not play a lot because I was not part of a clan. I would very much like it if pub-play and pro-play doesnt differ much because it kinda splits the community otherwise.

(suho) #29

Oh my bad why didnt I think about that :slight_smile:

(zenstar) #30

[QUOTE=suho;344592]The reason why I am quite opposed to these non-resetting XP systems is that it just doesnt work in competetive play.
And I like games which are the same for everyone like Quake Live or Starcraft. When I watch a replay on youtube and I see some pro pull off some nice moves I know how hard it is even as a player who is not much into competetive play because everyone is essentially playing the same game with the same abilities and stuff.

In ET:QW there was a pro-mod which I did not play a lot because I was not part of a clan. I would very much like it if pub-play and pro-play doesnt differ much because it kinda splits the community otherwise.[/QUOTE]

It could work in competative games but the competative scene don’t want to use it. Look at something like arenas in WoW. They have Comp play now (for large prizes) where you purchase your entry and then get given a top level character which you then customize as if you’d levelled them. You then play arena games until a winner is decided (format of the competition is unimportant)

Brink example would be using a level 20 character for competition play and you select the abilities and then play the competition. Perhaps there can be some rules about switching characters or respeccing (and suffering level loss) but I don’t see the issue with customizable characters.

A pro playing in those competitions has the same access to a character that you do. It’s just that they may choose a different customisation. I agree with you that if there were 100 levels in Brink and you unlocked things every 5 levels and could buy things every level then the competition scene at 100 would be silly and completely removed from the average joe.

The comp scene for Brink / Quake wars / W:ET and even TF2 (and other FPSs I’m sure) have always segregated themselves though. They have various rulesets that the public tend either “not get” or “not like to play”. And then you end up with (at a minimum) public play and pro play. Sometimes pro play is split up even more, sometimes the line is blurry with clans pubbing and pubs making pro teams, but in general there’s always a hobbyist and a proffessional in every passtime.

(SinDonor) #31

Please fix it so hacking is FASTER than de-hacking. Now that I’m maining an Ops, it’s so freaking frustrating to see my 90% hack go to 0 in a matter of seconds since the Engy can de-hack like a beast.

Why is the Engy able to de-hack faster than the Ops can hack? On the flip side, how come the Engy can repair, but nobody can de-repair? Assault charges can be removed, Ops hackboxes can be removed, but Engy repairs are for forever.

(Exedore) #32

They can’t. Currently Engineers can de-hack at 90% of 5 bar hack speed, and this is already in for another nerf.

(AmishWarMachine) #33

[QUOTE=SinDonor;344725]Please fix it so hacking is FASTER than de-hacking. Now that I’m maining an Ops, it’s so freaking frustrating to see my 90% hack go to 0 in a matter of seconds since the Engy can de-hack like a beast.

Why is the Engy able to de-hack faster than the Ops can hack? On the flip side, how come the Engy can repair, but nobody can de-repair? Assault charges can be removed, Ops hackboxes can be removed, but Engy repairs are for forever.[/QUOTE]
SinDonor,

Exedore (Lead Game Designer) posted on page one, and stated that the Hack and De-Hack were identical values. If you’re being out-hacked, it’s because there are more of them (engineers), than you (operative).

(suho) #34

It could work but I can see why one would be opposed to it. When you are playing you might want to have a different class layout for each objective. Also you want to be able to switch between classes during the match and not be at any disadvantage whatsoever. Maybe a situation arises where you decide on the fly to go with a crazy different tactic which requires switching a lot of classes. Fortunately it is possible to set some server vars and have everyone have certain specified abilities for every class and I hope that a lot of servers will adapt this. Thus making it basically unimportant what level your character is.

(FireWorks) #35

Thanks but i got my 10 20s in a legitimate way.

Remember kinds: Say no to exploits! Get a gaming addiction!

(kiunk) #36

What an awfully sad way to spend your time.
Personally i would have preffered challenges for unlocked perks be the requirement for level 20.
ie. kill 100 with mines, revive/buff 100people, spot 100 with homing beacon etc

It discourages pepole focussing on XP solely and inventing inane methods to gain it. like this thread suggests above. :frowning:

(suho) #37

Exactly that is what you should do. I don’t want you to focus on XP but playing your role in combat FTW! Playing to help your team succed and not care about XP. It really seems to be that in past few years where every shooter throws all this unlockable stuff at you the sole purpose to keep going has become to gain XP and unlock stuff. Man what would I give to come back to the old days where people actually played for FUN.