So why does it unlock mercs per level now anyway? I preferred the system of earning in game currency to unlock mercs of your choice regardless of level. I assume it’s because you’re trying to limit the number of mercs people encounter based on their level? But really is this even necessary considering how shallow the mercs actually are?
Unlocking Mercs: Level vs NX
tokamak
(tokamak)
#2
I think the current system is just a placeholder to simulate not everyone having access to the same options.
That said, I think a really neat combination is possible between trees and tiers. The idea of having common, uncommon and exotic mercs is exciting for the game as well as for an F2P economy.
I´m going to use the colour wheel to explain this one.
So we got the ‘primary’ mercs. Red, Yellow and Blue. These are just the most basic rudimentary roles that are required to play DB on a basic level. Nothing fancy.
Then there’s the ‘Secundary’ mercs. Bit harder to pick. But if you play one of the primary mercs, say, the blue one, really well, then you gain access to the green and purple mercs much easier. These mercs are slightly more niche and advanced. Like Red-eye or Nader.
Chosing to go down this route without fleshing out the other primaries however, will make it considerably harder to obtain the mercs opposite to this circle (orange).
Then we move to the tertiary mercs. These are the real niche guys. Like Phantom. Every player should be able to obtain one of these exotic mercs easily. Just one. From there on you can, with effort, find your way to other tertiary mercs near that circle. However, it should be extremely costly (in time or currency) to obtain an exotic merc on the other side.
So having obtained a red-orange merc means that you’re going to be spending ages or fortunes to get a green-blue one as well. However, it should be considerably easier to get a yellow orange or red-violet one, as they’re closer to that merc.
I know this is really abstract. But then again, so is this subject matter.
Having a circle like this means all the current mercs and potential mercs can be distributed among this circle as fittingly as possible. At the centre there´s the main classes and further outward there´s the mercs that have less affinity with their hereditary class.
If all the available mercs are categorised this way you´ll also see that gaps will appear in the circle. Having these gaps there is useful because it will immediately spark new ideas for mercs to fill those niches.
Magic has a similar system like this. Conveniently they use 5 colours.
The advantage of starting with 5 is that you immediately can use these for the 5 ET classes. Engineer, Fops, Covops, Soldier and Medic.
stealth6
(stealth6)
#3
So you’re saying I’d have to make multiple accounts to play the game normally? Either that or play for ages to unlock all the mercs?
Loffy
(Loffy)
#4
I’ve been clicking on that last image several times, but it does not rotate!
Yes, I’m trying to be funny.
tokamak
(tokamak)
#5
You can easily play the game normally without all the mercs. In fact, you only need three. Having to work hard for your content is perfectly acceptable in games like Tribes, Dota, WoT and Hawken.
And it doesn’t have to be about unlocking the mercs. It depends on what further customisation options SD has in store. If there’s more to it then by all means unlock the mercs as fast as possible but apply this same circle system to the customisation. IE, it’s easy to customise mercs in the same direction of the circle but extremely hard to customise them at the opposing end of the circle.
tokamak
(tokamak)
#7
Which is fine because that circle system allows you to easily obtain the five basic mercs or even, with some extra effort the 10 secondary mercs that surround it.
What I’m saying is that when it comes to exotics, you’re going to have to make very tough choices.
And whether that’s through unlocking the mercs or your capacity to customise them is still open.
If unlocking mercs isn’t the important part of the game then you can easily unlock them all, but customising one merc will make it very difficult to customise the opposite end. This means you can still put both of them in one squad but only one of them will be truly fine tuned to your needs.
Anti
(Anti)
#8
The idea is primarily to ease new players into the game, so they have a few Mercs and abilities to start with and they grow their knowledge base over time. We felt having this as a pre-defined path (rather than currency) was a good idea as it allowed us to funnel their new experiences towards specific Mercs that would show them new play styles (there’s a good reason Nader is the first unlock).
I know you might think that sounds a bit daft as the Mercs aren’t always that ‘out there’ in terms of mechanics yet, but never be too surprised at what other players don’t know.
We agree there needs to be more autonomy in this system now though, based on your feedback. You should have more choice over who is next for you to unlock, so we’ll be making some changes to that effect in the coming patches. It’ll still likely be slightly more structured than an open currency system, but it won’t be locked to a specific order.
In terms of unlock rate we’re simply testing it at the moment and then will balance it. Right now I’d say it’s probably a touch too slow to reach level 20.
tokamak
(tokamak)
#9
Stuff like ‘double xp’ for first match of the day. Or double xp for first time each map really helps in this. It’s not just to keep players coming back. It’s mainly there to bridge the gap between the casuals and hardcore.
Blizzard uses a bonus xp (as well as a ladder points) pool that accumulated per hour. This way people who don’t play for a few days can still catch up by consuming that bonus xp.
What I’d like to see though, is something that simply never ends. I don’t want to finish at level 25, or at level 50 or at level 9000. I want to work towards a position that lets all the other positions decay, and then have that position decay again while I move to a new configuration.
Like moving a bowling ball over a waterbed.
And it shouldn’t decay over time I must stress. Over effort. Decay over effort. And then, if people are really attached to their previous achievements, they get to pay for fixating that point and not having it decay while they move elsewhere.
This means there’s an ongoing process. The game is never done, there are goals to work towards but there’s no finish line.
Mustang
(Mustang)
#10
You’ve played Tomb Raider right?
It uses credits to unlock things, at first the number of things are limited, as you you play through the game more and more things get added to the list of stuff you can spend credits on, the same principal can be applied to a “pool of available mercs” to spend your merc unlock point on, where the pool grows as you progress through the game.
+1
Bloodbite
(Bloodbite)
#12
haven’t played for awhile, but just did a few maps on a decently populated server.
I have to say I like this unlock system alot. While there are benefits to the currency system, choice and all that. I think this is a the preferable system when it come to mercs because, as the F2P setup goes, this eliminates any potential misconception that there is a P2W market in place to unlock the uber-tank classes/mercs at any given point in the games longevity.
Doesn’t matter how untrue that myth may be, the fact that anyone that argues P2W, like a League of Legends character unlock… all that would be quickly dispelled when a new player logs in.
I also think this is a good way o f encouraging people to divert their addictive behaviour towards something relatively productive… leveling up, and ultimately learning the nuances of each variant merc. Anti is right, though I think this is just as useful to encourage experienced players to beef up their pointless levels/stats just because, and not become too comfortable with their preferred mercs… willing to not just try but properly explore the new ones that comes out in the future.