Rumor has it that squad-hopping will go away in the next patch.
Hence, the benefit of being a squad leader (acting as a mobile spawn point) and a squad member (having a mobile spawn point) and being able to leave/join to rotate the squad leader goes away.
While this will have a profound effect in match play where this technique is used/abuse on a significant basis, the effect on public play will be different.
In short, what will the benefit of being a squad leader or squad member?
My opinion is that the scoring system should be based upon rewarding players who contribute to the success (win) of the team either through killing (which protects those performing teamwork duties) or through teamwork (capping flags, repairing assets, defending flags, etc.) while participating in the chain of command (not a lone wolves).
Back to the incentive to be a squad leader. Why not reward the squad leader by giving him a bonus for the teamwork that his squad members do? Let us say that the squad leader gets his American squad to the Suburb flag on Karkand and hangs back to provide a mobile spawn point for his squad members. In the current scoring system, the squad leader gets no points (reward) for neutralizing/capturing the flag while his squad potentially (based on 5 members) gets 12 total teamwork points.
Based on a loosely defined (by me) reward scenario, let's give the squad leader a reward of a percentage (example: 20%) of his squads teamwork score. From the above scenario, he'll get .2*12=2.4 points. If any other teamwork activity by his squad occurs during the time slice (heals, repairs, support) he also gets a percentage of that. Without detail, let's say the squad generates 12 teamwork points in addition to the 12 for turning the flag. That gives the squad leader and additional 2.4 points for a grand total of 4.8. This is comparable to the average teamwork score of the squad members (24 / 5 = 4.8 : this won't always work out this way but is dang close).
Now, on to the squad members, should they not be rewarded for being part of the team/squad effort also. My loosely defined reward scenario is based on the percentage to which each squad members contributes through teamwork and through killing. From the aforementioned scenario, the total teamwork score for the event was 24. I'll leave out the complexities of arriving at the percentages but let's give each squad member the following:
Bonus = 50% * (Individual Points / Total Squad Points) * Total Squad Teamwork Points
From the aforementioned example, let's say the squad killed 10 people in the process of capping the flag which contributes 20 points to the total squad score.
Total Squad Teamwork Score: 24
Total Squad Kill Score: 20
Total Squad Score: 44
That gives us 12 points (50% * 24) to distribute amongst the squad as a bonus with the individual bonuses based on their contribution to the total score. That way, if one person is responsible for all of the killing (Member Socre: 20) they will get 5 points (50% * 20/48 * 24). In the case of another member who got 10 total points (4 capping, 4 killing, 2 revive) the bonus would be 2.5 points (50% * 10/48 * 24).
(Note: bonuses can be treated like repair/heal where a running percentage is kept in-game and rounded down at the end of the game)
In addition, let's give everyone a 2X bonus for the bonus points that they recieved while on the winning team (deals with autobalance).
I would be interested to hear what people think of this system such that I could maybe refine it to deal with scenarios I may not have considered which would result in people being penalized or rewarded due to autobalance or being kicked from a squad. Also, there may be an equivalent bonus scenario that would be a little less complex and, if so, I would be interested in hearing ideas.
In conclusion, I think that the above method would serve to:
1) Reward the commander by giving him organized units working to win the game and get him the 2X bonus
2) Reward the squad leader for putting his squad in positions which lead to scoring points and winning the game to get a 2X bonus
3) Reward the squad member for supporting his fellow squad members in acheiving their goals and therefore getting a bigger bonus
4) Penalize the lone wolf for not participating in the teamwork aspect of the game (yes, you could be doing everything possible to help win the game but you aren't participating in the organizational structure that facilitates a targeted approach to winning the game)
To reiterate, the effect of removing squad hopping on match play is a totally separate issue since everyone in a match has the sole goal of winning the game by default (you either win or lose, no one cares about how many points you get). This reward system is designed to encourage team play on public servers where people are trying to increase their global score such that they can get unlocks (not available normally in match play) and advance their rank (getting rank related advantages means nothing in match play).
Thanks for reading.
Hence, the benefit of being a squad leader (acting as a mobile spawn point) and a squad member (having a mobile spawn point) and being able to leave/join to rotate the squad leader goes away.
While this will have a profound effect in match play where this technique is used/abuse on a significant basis, the effect on public play will be different.
In short, what will the benefit of being a squad leader or squad member?
My opinion is that the scoring system should be based upon rewarding players who contribute to the success (win) of the team either through killing (which protects those performing teamwork duties) or through teamwork (capping flags, repairing assets, defending flags, etc.) while participating in the chain of command (not a lone wolves).
Back to the incentive to be a squad leader. Why not reward the squad leader by giving him a bonus for the teamwork that his squad members do? Let us say that the squad leader gets his American squad to the Suburb flag on Karkand and hangs back to provide a mobile spawn point for his squad members. In the current scoring system, the squad leader gets no points (reward) for neutralizing/capturing the flag while his squad potentially (based on 5 members) gets 12 total teamwork points.
Based on a loosely defined (by me) reward scenario, let's give the squad leader a reward of a percentage (example: 20%) of his squads teamwork score. From the above scenario, he'll get .2*12=2.4 points. If any other teamwork activity by his squad occurs during the time slice (heals, repairs, support) he also gets a percentage of that. Without detail, let's say the squad generates 12 teamwork points in addition to the 12 for turning the flag. That gives the squad leader and additional 2.4 points for a grand total of 4.8. This is comparable to the average teamwork score of the squad members (24 / 5 = 4.8 : this won't always work out this way but is dang close).
Now, on to the squad members, should they not be rewarded for being part of the team/squad effort also. My loosely defined reward scenario is based on the percentage to which each squad members contributes through teamwork and through killing. From the aforementioned scenario, the total teamwork score for the event was 24. I'll leave out the complexities of arriving at the percentages but let's give each squad member the following:
Bonus = 50% * (Individual Points / Total Squad Points) * Total Squad Teamwork Points
From the aforementioned example, let's say the squad killed 10 people in the process of capping the flag which contributes 20 points to the total squad score.
Total Squad Teamwork Score: 24
Total Squad Kill Score: 20
Total Squad Score: 44
That gives us 12 points (50% * 24) to distribute amongst the squad as a bonus with the individual bonuses based on their contribution to the total score. That way, if one person is responsible for all of the killing (Member Socre: 20) they will get 5 points (50% * 20/48 * 24). In the case of another member who got 10 total points (4 capping, 4 killing, 2 revive) the bonus would be 2.5 points (50% * 10/48 * 24).
(Note: bonuses can be treated like repair/heal where a running percentage is kept in-game and rounded down at the end of the game)
In addition, let's give everyone a 2X bonus for the bonus points that they recieved while on the winning team (deals with autobalance).
I would be interested to hear what people think of this system such that I could maybe refine it to deal with scenarios I may not have considered which would result in people being penalized or rewarded due to autobalance or being kicked from a squad. Also, there may be an equivalent bonus scenario that would be a little less complex and, if so, I would be interested in hearing ideas.
In conclusion, I think that the above method would serve to:
1) Reward the commander by giving him organized units working to win the game and get him the 2X bonus
2) Reward the squad leader for putting his squad in positions which lead to scoring points and winning the game to get a 2X bonus
3) Reward the squad member for supporting his fellow squad members in acheiving their goals and therefore getting a bigger bonus
4) Penalize the lone wolf for not participating in the teamwork aspect of the game (yes, you could be doing everything possible to help win the game but you aren't participating in the organizational structure that facilitates a targeted approach to winning the game)
To reiterate, the effect of removing squad hopping on match play is a totally separate issue since everyone in a match has the sole goal of winning the game by default (you either win or lose, no one cares about how many points you get). This reward system is designed to encourage team play on public servers where people are trying to increase their global score such that they can get unlocks (not available normally in match play) and advance their rank (getting rank related advantages means nothing in match play).
Thanks for reading.
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