What does Dirty Bomb need?

(-BigRed) #1

So what does this game need? This game has great mechanics and is a lot of fun but there are really only two ways to play this game. You can play ranked or casual. OBJ and SW are the same modes aside from the timers. The content and new special edition cases are nice but they don’t change the core issue I have with the game, there’s only one game mode. Grind ranked and get elite sure, but then there’s nothing to do. Try to get nice skins? Is that what keeps people playing? Maps are great, I love vault and dockyard, but I don’t think even 100 more maps will bring the player base back up. Most players in public matches are below level 10.

(watsyurdeal) #2

Stopwatch really needs work, I feel like the first round should feel like Objective mode, then the second round plays like traditional stopwatch.

(-BigRed) #3

@watsyurdeal I like a lot of your thoughts on weapon changes. Even if they changed stopwatch. its still really the same as objective if you mean changing the timers. Anyhow, its not hard to predict timers in OBJ either. You can see when enemies respawn in hud.

(BloodySin) #4

Basically, more content and a way to allow players to play with people of equivalent skill. The things that seem to shoo most people away are the game eventually getting down to repeating the same limited list of things, and repeatedly getting set in uneven matches where they feel they aren’t having fun.

So more maps, more mercenaries, more game modes, more skins (in ways that people can actually know they will get some, not the current heavily unfair RNGs), more balanced matches, etc.

(Melinder) #5

@-BigRed said:
@watsyurdeal I like a lot of your thoughts on weapon changes. Even if they changed stopwatch. its still really the same as objective if you mean changing the timers. Anyhow, its not hard to predict timers in OBJ either. You can see when enemies respawn in hud.

He means how in Stopwatch you have 15 minutes in the first round from the very beginning, whereas in Objective you have a shorter amount of time, and the timer extends as an objective gets completed. As it is, Stopwatch can run into two annoying scenarios:

  1. The Defenders are superior to the Attackers, leading to the Attackers being spawntrapped for the entire 15 minutes, unnecessarily wasting a lot of time, or

  2. The Attackers have too much time to continually brute force their way onto the first objective, and use the momentum they received to push through the other objective(s) immediately after.

(watsyurdeal) #6

@Melinder said:

@-BigRed said:
@watsyurdeal I like a lot of your thoughts on weapon changes. Even if they changed stopwatch. its still really the same as objective if you mean changing the timers. Anyhow, its not hard to predict timers in OBJ either. You can see when enemies respawn in hud.

He means how in Stopwatch you have 15 minutes in the first round from the very beginning, whereas in Objective you have a shorter amount of time, and the timer extends as an objective gets completed. As it is, Stopwatch can run into two annoying scenarios:

  1. The Defenders are superior to the Attackers, leading to the Attackers being spawntrapped for the entire 15 minutes, unnecessarily wasting a lot of time, or

  2. The Attackers have too much time to continually brute force their way onto the first objective, and use the momentum they received to push through the other objective(s) immediately after.

EXACTLY

This is why I am opting for the first round of Stopwatch playing exactly like Objective mode does. That way we also get two complete rounds and more ways to get less draws.

(-BigRed) #7

Being a part of the competitive scene, I like how stopwatch works. It seems to work quite well. Add objective to stopwatch and it could also be two complete rounds of stompage making a thirty minute game last longer. Anyways, I don’t think fixing stopwatch is a top priority.

(-BigRed) #8

@BloodySin they have been doing skins every other week it seems now. And a map a month on the current trajectory. I don’t think those two are enough to keep players interested. Skins don’t add depth to the game.

(watsyurdeal) #9

@-BigRed said:
@BloodySin they have been doing skins every other week it seems now. And a map a month on the current trajectory. I don’t think those two are enough to keep players interested. Skins don’t add depth to the game.

This, 100%

@-BigRed said:
Being a part of the competitive scene, I like how stopwatch works. It seems to work quite well. Add objective to stopwatch and it could also be two complete rounds of stompage making a thirty minute game last longer. Anyways, I don’t think fixing stopwatch is a top priority.

It happens like this anyhow, I just don’t see why it should last for 15 mins in the first round is all. If you can’t get the first objective in 5 mins I don’t see why the Defending team should be punished for your lack of teamplay.

Melinder described the current problem perfectly. If I see a large amount of pushback with changing the duration to be instead of 15 minutes, based more on how objective does things, where you start with 4-6 minutes, then gain more time as you complete objectives, then I’ll leave it alone.

At least having the option to test it wouldn’t hurt

(BloodySin) #10

Maps or a game mode that was more dynamic for both sides could be interesting. Right now, it’s all about holding contested points as much as you can, hopefully staying in there as much as you can if you are a Defender, hopefully trampling past it if you’re an Attacker, i.e. the game plan is extremely linear. Maps with branching objectives might be interesting (maybe even make more sense than the current ones), so instead of going A - B - C, you could have A1 or A2, depending on who won, then B1, B2 and B3, depending on if the same team won again or if the opposing team won this time, etc, in the end whoever time completed most objectives along the way wins.

(BloodySin) #11

@-BigRed said:
@BloodySin they have been doing skins every other week it seems now. And a map a month on the current trajectory. I don’t think those two are enough to keep players interested. Skins don’t add depth to the game.
Skins don’t add depth, but they attract and retain players, as weird as that might sound. As Dirty Bomb’s biggest overall issue is keeping and increasing the player base, anything helps.
The game has been going for years, so “a map a month” is something very recent - which just might be them seeing the same I do. The maps also have to be entertaining, and Dockyard and Vault seem to not be all that liked, being considered by many to be unfair.
Lastly, I listed a bunch of things, not just those two, and as examples of “more content,” which is the only thing that keeps a game fresh. You can add tweaks and fixes and nerfs and buffs, but if the content stays the same, it sooner or later becomes stale for most players.

(CO_Grit) #12

There is definitely an audience for skins if Overwatch and TF2 are any indicators. Being a f2p game, SD has to strike a balance between paid content like skins and free content like maps. And recently, they’ve been doing a fine job.

(TheStrangerous) #13

Modding, execution maps reincarnated as KOTH or Turf war or Spotwatch/Objective, Dome to be back.

(-BigRed) #14

@BloodySin does it actually attract players though. in tf2 you can trade. At a certain point you stop caring about skins.

(BloodySin) #15

@-BigRed said:
@BloodySin does it actually attract players though. in tf2 you can trade. At a certain point you stop caring about skins.
It does, trust me. Point in case, if it didn’t, we wouldn’t be getting pretty much weekly new skins in ridiculous low chances, people showing off what they got, people whining about not being as much of a special snowflake anymore because a skin was re-released, etc. What else even is in the store?

PS: Another thing Dirty Bomb needs: an enforced tutorial on pressing page up to help kick afk people. It’s getting really old to not only have to deal with teams of 75 vs 200 total levels, but also having kick votes on afk people never passing.

(XavienX) #16

First they should make capture the flag instead since it’s team based and objective based and use the different objective bases of each map as a separate map itself for that game mode. They can also use the execution maps as well.

(ImSploosh) #17

I’m probably the unpopular opinion here, but how about BETTER maps? Current maps just don’t cut it in my opinion. Dome was the best and just needed a rework to make it perfect, but I doubt they’ll make the right changes to it. Vault and Dockyard had potential, but the maps are too narrow and filled with invisible walls. Movement has always been a big part of DB, but I feel like these maps don’t cater to it. The invisible walls and oddly placed random debris block a lot of paths, sightlines, or trick jumps. Dome has the least of these, but considering how Vault and Dockyard turned out, Dome will be killed.

Then of course there’s the need for other gamemodes. Personally, I’m a big fan of CTF and would love to see it in DB. I love Execution, but now they’re doing away with it so we’re stuck with no variety, just one gamemode. :’(

(watsyurdeal) #18

@XavienX said:
First they should make capture the flag instead since it’s team based and objective based and use the different objective bases of each map as a separate map itself for that game mode. They can also use the execution maps as well.

I’m not sure how well that would work, for something like Tribes or TF2 it makes sense, but Dirty Bomb’s merc classes seem to work better for game modes involving point capture or or something to that effect.

(-BigRed) #19

Most fun ive had playing this game in the last 2 months was a scrim team vs team yesteday… other than that. nothing in this game is appealing. After a page of each ranked skin who would care about skins.

(XavienX) #20

@watsyurdeal said:

@XavienX said:
First they should make capture the flag instead since it’s team based and objective based and use the different objective bases of each map as a separate map itself for that game mode. They can also use the execution maps as well.

I’m not sure how well that would work, for something like Tribes or TF2 it makes sense, but Dirty Bomb’s merc classes seem to work better for game modes involving point capture or or something to that effect.

I mean something like HQ or Domination are all cool as long as it’s fast paced and objective based I’m all down for.