I was putting together a list of changes that I think might help the game overall, and I figured
I'd like to have you guys take a look at it. Be blunt with your feedback :)
Class tweaks
General Notes: When looking at how classes play, I've taken my experiences
in the game and what I've heard about on the forums and compiled a list of
suggested tweaks to each class that might improve how the game plays.
Take them or leave them, they're simply a list of possible changes that might
help the class, by no means am I suggesting that all of them be implimented,
especially not at once. Keep in mind that some tweaks are to tone classes
down, some are to tone the classes up. I am of the opinion that the medic
could be toned down a little bit for the points it gets as a class, but only
slightly. The other classes, then, should be toned UP so that there are many
opportunities for a lot of points. This is simply because of the huge
requirements for increasing in rank and gaining medals and such. So with that
in mind, most suggestions tweak most of the classes 'up' for teamplay (not
for combat), and attempt to balance them out so no one class is cut-and-
dry better than the others in terms of combat effectiveness and ability to
gain points. How many of these tweaks are implimented, if any, would be up
to EA. Their job would be to determine if the assumptions which I base my
suggestions on are correct, and select a proper course of action from there,
be it implimenting my idea if it has merit, or rather, finding their own solution
to the problem. For example, if stats do show that in fact, medics are
advancing and racking up more points than other classes, perhaps some of
the changes I suggest for the medic should be implimented. The key of
course, is the find balance, to where all of the classes are played near
equally. You wouldn't want to do all these changes at once, however, as you
run the risk of overpowering or nerfing classes and losing players. The
tweaks, by the very nature of tweaking, must be slight, and the effects of
each tweak must be judged before moving on. EA would have to do such
things such as check and see which class generally has the highest average
score after a match, or the total amount of time the community has logged
playing each class, or perhaps the ratio of fights won with one person
crouching and the other running then diving prone.
So, the assumptions I operate off of are...
1.) Medics have more chances to earn points, and as such, earn more points
and advance unfairly fast when compared to other classes. Thusly, they are
overplayed.
2.) Spec Ops is overplayed, due to their relatively good main weapons and
their C4, which allows them to threaten nearly anything on the battlefield. No
other class can make such a boast.
3.) Support, Engineer, and Sniper are underplayed (in the roles they are
intended for, anyway).
4.) Anti-tank and Assault could use some tweaking, but seem ok overall.
...if you believe these are incorrect, please tell me, and I will reconsider my suggestions.
1.) Engineer - Currently, the engineer class is usually only played when
making specific use of vehicles. They hesistate to use mines, as teammates
will often run over them and punish them. Not only that, but due to the
relative rarity of situations in which an engineer can gain a repair point, they
are left somewhat out in the cold for the purposes of class-specific teamplay
points (when compared to medics and support classes). I'd like to see the
person who manages the Second or Final level of engineering repair badge
without exploiting in some manner or Blackhawk hopping for an hour. So,
make it easier for the engineer to earn themselves repair points, fix the mine-
tk problem, and maybe flesh out the engineer's ability to sense and disarm
enemy explosives, if appropriate.
Suggestions:
a.) Get repair point for repairing 25%, not 50%. (anything...bridge, friendly
vehicle, UAV, etc.). Also, they'd need to be able to see when friendly
vehicles are damaged more than 25%.
b.) Friendlies running over mine = suicide? Is no more? No damage at all? How
do you prevent stupid mine usage or tk mine usage?
c.) 'Engineer sense': As far as I can tell, when you're in game and you're near
enemy explosives as an engineer, you usually get a warning. I'm not sure if
this 'sense' is specific to the engineer class, but it should be. Furthermore, it
could be tweaked into a real feature of the class. It could tell you the type
of danger (Claymore, C4, or Mine)? The warning should tell you how close
you are to the enemy explosive, either with a distance meter to the nearest
explosive, or by blinking more rapidly as you approach it. Of course, it should
NOT be indicated by an icon in the HUD like friendly explosives are. Make it so
that given time, Engineers can find where an explosive is and disable it.
d.) Should be able to sense/disarm C4?
e.) Maximum limit for mines = 5? (If you run any more, you run the risk of
n00bs mining off every entrace to a base)
f.) Engineers would be the only class capable of disabling enemy explosives,
and they should get points for doing so (it's a risky job, and engineers are
the only guys who can do it, so they should get points).
2.) Spec Ops - Many people play Spec Ops, but they usually seem to play it
as more of an assault class rather than actually engaging in 'Spec Ops'. Only
rarely have I seen bridges blown or C4 used to set up traps and destroy
Commander assets. Usually, Spec Ops are the guys charging out of buildings
blowing up tanks or going around suicide bombing. Spec Ops, more than many
classes, is capable of taking on any threat and being good at nearly any role,
hence its popularity. The class, in my opinion, should become geared more
towards being sneaky and actually engaging in 'Special Operations'. Leave
Flag Capping to the assault class. My main suggestion is a more inaccurate
and/or less powerful gun (but silenced and with a flash suppressor). If you
want to be sneaky at range, be a sniper. If you want to be sneaky up close,
play Spec Ops.
Suggestions:
a.) Weaker Gun: Tone the primary gun down, and the other aspects of the
kit become critical. Now this 'nerfing' of the primary gun of the Spec Ops can
come in one of two ways. The first is that the weapons are made far less
powerful, like the Anti-tank classes submachine gun is now. The other option
is to make it far less accurate (which is my suggestion). Now, to start making
the class sneaky, while you tone their main gun down in one fashion or
another, make the rifle silenced and/or have a flash suppressor. Since most
Spec Ops guns appear to be very small, they should allow for a lot of
stamina, and by virtue of their small size and short barrel, they SHOULD be
inaccurate. Make the gun only useful for up-close encounters. Perhaps
instead, the rifle could be decently powerful up close, but damage drops off
very rapidly as you get further downrange (that's how Submachine guns
should be, in my opinion). Leave the stealthy long range stuff to snipers.
b.) Reward for destroying enemy command assets and 'enemy' bridges (what
determines an 'enemy bridge'?). This seems to be planned for implimentation
in the next patch, which is a good idea, I think. Perhaps only reward the first
time they are destroyed, then, see g.).
c.) If the class remains overplayed after being tweaked down, perhaps
change how C4 is deployed/works? Make it so that it only sticks to stationary
targets? Or simply unmanned vehicles and fixed targets? You'd still be able to
toss it onto vehicles, but it'd be more iffy if the target kept moving. If it
simply didn't stick to enemy vehicles, then that's one of the problems right
there.
d.) Camo
e.) Reward knife kills with additional class points (promotes people remaining
silent and stealthy).
f.) Reward kills that prevent the enemy team from repairing their assets (IE:
Make it so that a destroyed enemy UAV is something that a Spec Ops class
will want to defend and make sure that the enemy team doesn't get it
functional again). Gamewise, just make it so that a destroyed enemy asset is
not like a Flag Area, and the Spec Ops class gains points for defending it just
like he would for defending a flag.
3.) Support - Relatively few people seem to play Support Class. While those
that do seem to have developed a taste for the class, personally, I think
there might be a few tweaks that might improve players chosing this class in
support of their team.
a.) The support class should be able to 'Deploy' his machine gun using the
bipod that's already represented on the model (while either prone or set up
on a ledge, like sandbags or a window or whatever) for a tight spread, and
the gun would be very inaccurate otherwise. Movement is restricted while
deployed (front 45 degree arc from where you deploy, you'd have to redeploy
to point someplace else). Anyone played Day of Defeat? Like their machine
gunners. This should allow for sustained bursts of relatively accurate
SUPPRESSING fire (accurate enough to make sure people respect it and are
actually suppressed). Those who attempt to run through a constant stream
of fire from a machine gun should die VERY quickly, unless sprinting VERY
short distances perpendicular to the machine gunner from piece of cover to
piece of cover. Short bursts of fire while deployed should allow for near rifle-
like accuracy. Also, perhaps increase the RoF of the machine gun weapons
(Mg42), and make sure you have tracers. In a straight up firefight, if
someone's in front of a deployed machine gun, they should LOSE unless
they're a sniper at range. It should take a moment to deploy and undeploy,
to make grenades effective at rooting out Support guys.
b.) Should get no points for dropping ammo bags. Ensures that in order to
gain teamplay points, a Support class must choose between actively
teamplaying (running ammo), and setting up his weapon to get kills and
defending. Shouldn't be able to do both.
4.) Medic - Few changes needed here, as in my opinion, the class is pretty
good. Many people, however, believe that those being a medic are so
because they simply wish to gain a lot of points. So the solution I offer here
is simple. Make it so that the points a medic gets are from actually taking the
time to do a dedicated healing/revive action. Simply throwing down a health
pack doesn't really seem like teamplay to me, nor does it make sense for a
medic to simply toss down a pack and say 'heal yourself'. Make it a dedicated
action to heal teammates, and still allow points for reviving (which can be a
critical function of a medic and is dangerous), and I have no problems.
a.) Not able to drop healing packs.
b.) Should know which wounded are squad leaders/commander, and gets
additional points for reviving them.
5.) Sniper - Many changes are offered here, because for the most part, the
Sniper class, while certainly not useless, simply seems...off. It can be done
better, and as such, the role of a sniper should become more defined and,
well, sniper-like. So I'm going to throw out a lot of suggestions. I wouldn't
dream that all of these should be implimented, because then you'd have elite
snipers making the game completely unfun by capping you and your entire
squad clear across the map, just like we have elite pilots now. No one person
should be able to determine whether or not a team wins EXCEPT for the
commander, and even then, only if he commands well and his men listen. The
only combat tweaks I'm suggesting are more accuracy (but with scope sway
and restrictions) and a little damage tweaking for the M95 and the semi-
autos (see a.)).
a.) More damage for M95 (1-shot chest kill (if target is unarmored)) (M95
should have large muzzle flash and make a lot of distinctive noise). Also, not
sure if this is already the case, but the semi-auto sniper rifles should be able
to kill in one HEADshot.
b.) A sniper should only be able to scope in when stationary. The moment he
moves he should scope out.
c.) Deviation of weapons should be changed. The American Bolt Action
should be almost perfectly accurate if the sniper is prone and deployed.
Basically, if a sniper can see a target, and the target is stationary, he should
be able to reliably hit it in the head with the American Bolt Action, and in the
chest with every other rifle (let's just say, for argument's sake, the American
Bolt Action has an deviation of 1, and all the other rifles should have a
deviation of 2). Depending on how far a sniper can zoom, at the most
extreme zoom level, an American Bolt action should be able to reliably hit a
target in the chest, while the other rifles would have like a 75% of hitting the
target if you aim for center of mass.
d.) Allow snipers to deploy, like machine gunners, when prone or given a
surface to deploy on, such as a sandbag or a window ledge. While deployed,
you can't move and you can only move your point of view 45 degrees from
the direction you set up. Deploying while standing would give you prone level
accuracy (the good here is that a sniper can set up in a buildling with some
cover), and deploying while prone would give you the best accuracy in the
game (in terms of accuracy levels, it would probably halve current
deviations). The 'x' key could be used to deploy, but only while unscoped and
either a.) prone or b.) near a suitable support surface, such as a ledge or
sandbags. Deploying and undeploying would take a moment.
e.) Higher levels of zoom (re-select sniper rifle to change zoom level, ala
switching firing modes for other weapons). Sniper rifles would have very,
very, very little accuracy when unscoped (the player shouldn't even get a
crosshair).
f.) Put in Scope Sway (ala Day of Defeat's sniper rifles). Standing = most
scope sway, crouching = less, prone = even less sway, deployed while prone
= least.
g.) Accuracy for positions: Standing should be inaccurate, useful at short
ranges only or for spotting, crouching should allow for more accurate shots
but would still be inaccurate, useful perhaps to shoot someone across a small
base or a few dozen yards from you. Prone would result in more accuracy,
allowing you to say, hit a target across a sizeable river (like the one in
Dragon Valley). Deployed and prone would give you the most accuracy,
allowing you to hit anyone you can see (keep in mind that the sniper would
be required to factor in travel time of the bullet, so don't worry, it'd still be
hard to hit someone at that range). Note that all this is only if the rifle is
scoped in. If unscoped, the sniper would be lucky to hit someone 5 yards in
front of him.
h.) Gets kill assist or teamplay points for enemy vehicles spotted that are
destroyed by teammates during 'spotted' duration (not infantry, because the
sniper can just kill those)
i.) Sniper hits reduce stamina to zero (represents the dangers of snipers and
their pinning ability)
j.) Gains additional points for killing enemy Squad Leaders (5 points) and
Commanders (10 points) (would be able to know who the squad leaders and
commanders are if he can see them). Reward careful, deliberate sniping (and
patience), where he sets up, shoots, then moves to avoid detection.
k.) Sniper sense: Knows when he's been 'spotted' or UAV'ed (if visible to
UAV) or both?
l.) Name doesn't show up when enemy aims at you? (Allows camo to be more
effective, especially if you remain still). See notes below on camo in general.
m.) Fix Claymore Teamkills just like Engineer Mine TK's.
6.) Anti-tank - The anti-tank class, while pretty good overall, could also use
the opportunity to make some more points. Also, if any ground trooper
should be set up to fight aircraft, I think the Anti-tank might be a good
candidate, since there seems to be a general complaint out there that air
defense weapons simply don't work all that well (a good pilot is neigh
invulnerable in an aircraft, and chopper pilots can be an absolute terror).
Point is, anti-air emplacements offer precious little protection from aircraft,
and besides, the better pilots know exactly where the emplacements are and
when someone is in them (and it's not hard at all to dodge missiles, even
after you've dropped counter-measures) by the fact that the emplacements
cease the appear grey and empty on the minimap.
a.) Stinger? (switch firing modes on anti-tank rocket to target aircraft?)
b.) Teamplay points for taking out vehicles in general? Additional assist points
for helping to take out vehicles, to promote multiple anti-tank guys to work in
unison to bring down enemies?. Perhaps 1 point for every hit against an
enemy vehicle?
7.) Assault - The Assault Class, for the most part, seems to do pretty well as
is. They could use more opportunities for teamplay points, however.
a.) Since assaulting points is most of what the Assault class does, they
should probably gain additional points for assaulting and capturing a point
(always get points as though capturing, rather than assisting?).
b.) Takes points faster than other classes (say, 50%?)
Tweak Vehicles
a.) Attack choppers should only take one tank shot before going down (or
being buried in the red)?
b.) Transport choppers should take 75%+ damage from a tank round?
Change Team Damage/Punish system
a.) Change it. Fix what counts as a tk to actually represent tk's.
b.) Make friendly explosives warning symbols denote C4, Claymore, or Mine
c.) Make Claymore and Mine TK's count simply as suicides? How would you
counter intentional tk'ers then?
d.) Forgive should fully remove all point loss.
e.) Fix physics and kill allocation so that tk's are really tk's (rather than
someone tripping on their way out of a helicopter)?
f.) Tk should default to 'forgive'
Change Team Balance system
a.) Switch Lone Wolves first, then entire squads (if possible), smallest squads
before larger ones, Squad Members before leaders. This means that the lone
wolves get switched first, then 1-man squads, then a member from a 2-man
squad, then the squad leader from the same squad, so on and so forth.
Game Mechanics
a.) Can't shoot while jumping (takes a moment to bring gun back up)
b.) Can't shoot while diving (takes a moment to bring gun back up after
proning) (This makes crouching a more worthwhile option in a firefight)
c.) Jumping takes 30% stamina? Not able to jump below 30% stamina level?
d.) 3-d warning for for incoming friendly arty
e.) More effective anti-air (against planes) (missiles should seek
better/faster, or chance that flares won't work), and choppers that are
slightly less tough. Also, take the ability to drop bombs away from airplane
pilots. Let them have guns and missiles, that way they're effective against
aircraft and at strafing positions. Let BOMBERS drop bombs, and leave that in
the hands of the Bombadier. This will balance the aircraft just like other
vehicles are balanced. As is, a skilled pilot can kill just about anything on the
map. They may not be able to hit infantry spread out across the map, but I'll
be damned if they won't bomb a position that's being taken and completely
abort an offensive. If they want to attack ground vehicles, let them use a
chopper or a bomber, but be vulnerable to fighter aircraft. Everything should
be effective against some things, and vulnerable to others. Like the Spec
Ops class, no other vehicle but a fighter-airplane can take on everything on
the map (and the fighter can do it easily). Perhaps allow the Bomber to have
flares, but deny them to the fighter, so they have to outrun and dodge the
missiles.
f.) Easier to get lots of points as any class (that, or change the ranking and
medal requirements to something more realistic and attainable).
g.) When you leave a squad, you cannot rejoin for 15 seconds (prevents
leaving and rejoining to change squad leader)? 30 seconds? This makes
keeping the squad leader alive very important.
h.) Extend Flag Defense Area to twice radius to capture flag? Flag Defense
assists? (reward defense more, because being stationary and suffering
through arty and bombing sucks). Perhaps for the entire area of a base?
i.) Pistols less accurate than just about any other weapon overall, decent
power, except against Body armor.
j.) Give different symbols for different threats, C4, Claymore, Mine, class-
specific warnings?
k.) Parachutes only for jumping out of helicopters/aircraft (not jumping off a
high ledge)
l.) Commander not punished for poor use of arty? Punished less? Not at all if
he tk's lone wolves, can only be punished if he doesn't warn squads
(assuming 3-d arty icon tweak).
m.) More incentives to command (and command well) (fewer points
for 'active duty' commanders, as they should be commanding, not running
around capping points), Commanders only get teamplay points for defending,
not capturing points or kills.
n.) Longer 'spotted' time to reward taking the time to 'spot' something or
someone? 10-15 secs?
o.) Fix VOIP support (multiple times I've played on a VOIP server and not
been able to communicate via VOIP)
p.) Get additional points for destroying/killing spotted targets (spotter
wouldn't get any extra points if they kill what they spot). (Gives Planes,
Armor, Helicopters, Snipers, etc. incentive to help out their teammates in
distress).
q.) Capping goes half as fast in vehicles? (1/2 in ground vehicles, 1/4 in
aircraft/helicopters?)
r.) Capping a point takes 50% longer? (discourages lone wolves assaulting,
encourages lone wolf play focused on something other than points capping as
well as squad functioning and teamplay). Encourages people to squad up
(this leaves Lone wolves to do lone wolf stuff, IE: Snipers, Pilots, Spec Ops
Infiltrators, etc.).
s.) Medals, Badges, and Ribbons should use TOTAL stats, not 'x in one round'
values. Otherwise, badges such as the knife or pistol badge, which require a
score of 'x in one round', are detrimental to a team. Rather than do awards
by a person's performance in a round, do it by their performance overall, or
over time as a rate (perhaps get an award for reaching a RATE of 3 teamplay
points, or Commander points, or Squad Leader points, or Squad Member
points a minute, or kill assists, or vehicle points, something like that), or a
percentage. Increase the incentive for teamplay, not individual glory, with
awards. Make it so that going for any award and playing as best you can for
your team are not mutually exclusive. This also prevents people from
choosing a server based upon round time and how long they have to try to
get a medal.
t.) Take a look at the records of each top player. If they have exploited,
bust them down to private or ban their CD-key. If they've been warned
before, ban their CD-key.
u.) When voting, the amount of votes required to get something done, such
as a map change or kicking a player, should not take into account those who
abstain from voting to determine the required number of votes. Say, if 66%
or 75% of those who voted vote for something, then the vote would be
successful (probably 75%).
v.) Spec Ops and Snipers should be able to disable THEIR explosives and pick
them up, probably using their knife like an engineer would his wrench.
w.) Reward for defending command assets and bridges from Spec Ops.
x.) Camo, while also helping you visually blend in, should prevent your name
from showing up when an enemy aims at you (when you're on foot) (applies
to sniper and possibly spec ops).
y.) ENTIRE TEAM SHOULD BENEFIT FROM WINNING, not just commander! 25%
extra points for being a squad leader/member on the winning team, x2 for
being commander, and NO BONUS for lone wolves (let them form a one man
squad if they want to wander around on their own, at least the commander
can communicate with them then).
z.) Teamplay needs to be emphasized more. Commander should get teamplay
points for each order he gives to a squad that they complete. The squad
leader should get teamplay points for each order he gets from the
commander that he and his squad complete. The squad members should get
teamplay points for each order he gets from his squad leader (and by
extension, the commander) that he completes. When giving orders, the
orders are considered 'completed' if even a single member of a squad
completes them. Only the members that actually follow the order get the
additional points (and the commander gains the additional points for having
his order followed). No additional points for 'move' orders. There should be a
way to set up waypoints and a set of commands for squads. Squad Leaders
get teamplay points for following orders (not 'move' orders) from commander,
and squad members get teamplay points for following orders from squad
leader (and by extension, the commander).
Orders that the Commander/Squad Leader/Squad member would get points
for would be 'attack' (capture a point), 'defend' (defend a point), 'destroy'.
Squad Leader would get a point for forwarding a request from a squad
member onto the commander. Commander gets points for honoring requests
from squad leaders.
Orders:
ATTACK: The Commander gains points if the squad he orders to attack a
point captures it.
DEFEND: The Commander gains a point each time the squad he orders to
defend a point defends it (see h.)). This will cause commanders to consider
defense more. Each member of the squad gains an additional point for each
Flag Defense kill they get during this period (order should last say, three
minutes before the game determines whether or not it was a successful order
and determines whether or not the squad deserves additional points for
completing the order).
DESTROY: The Commander gains a point if the squad he orders to destroy a
target does so.
Leave the other commands in, but no additional points are gained by
completing those (For example, tell an engineer to mine an area, and they will
do so, then tell them to defend it, then both the commander and the
engineer benefit from the flag defense kills the mines net).
Commanders should be able to queue up multiple orders for a squad (perhaps
by holding shift).
There should be a more concrete system of giving orders, where the game
recognizes when an order is complete and awards the squad and commander
accordingly (perhaps an auto-request for new orders when old orders are
complete?). For example, if a commander gives a squad an order to defend a
point, the order should last three minutes, and if, during this time, the squad
gains any Flag Defense Points (and the flag remains in friendly hands), the
order is successful and the Commander, Squad Leader, and Squad Members
get points. Also, if a squad is given the order to attack a point, they have
three minutes to capture the point. If they do so, they and the commander
gain additional points.
So...thoughts?
I'd like to have you guys take a look at it. Be blunt with your feedback :)
Class tweaks
General Notes: When looking at how classes play, I've taken my experiences
in the game and what I've heard about on the forums and compiled a list of
suggested tweaks to each class that might improve how the game plays.
Take them or leave them, they're simply a list of possible changes that might
help the class, by no means am I suggesting that all of them be implimented,
especially not at once. Keep in mind that some tweaks are to tone classes
down, some are to tone the classes up. I am of the opinion that the medic
could be toned down a little bit for the points it gets as a class, but only
slightly. The other classes, then, should be toned UP so that there are many
opportunities for a lot of points. This is simply because of the huge
requirements for increasing in rank and gaining medals and such. So with that
in mind, most suggestions tweak most of the classes 'up' for teamplay (not
for combat), and attempt to balance them out so no one class is cut-and-
dry better than the others in terms of combat effectiveness and ability to
gain points. How many of these tweaks are implimented, if any, would be up
to EA. Their job would be to determine if the assumptions which I base my
suggestions on are correct, and select a proper course of action from there,
be it implimenting my idea if it has merit, or rather, finding their own solution
to the problem. For example, if stats do show that in fact, medics are
advancing and racking up more points than other classes, perhaps some of
the changes I suggest for the medic should be implimented. The key of
course, is the find balance, to where all of the classes are played near
equally. You wouldn't want to do all these changes at once, however, as you
run the risk of overpowering or nerfing classes and losing players. The
tweaks, by the very nature of tweaking, must be slight, and the effects of
each tweak must be judged before moving on. EA would have to do such
things such as check and see which class generally has the highest average
score after a match, or the total amount of time the community has logged
playing each class, or perhaps the ratio of fights won with one person
crouching and the other running then diving prone.
So, the assumptions I operate off of are...
1.) Medics have more chances to earn points, and as such, earn more points
and advance unfairly fast when compared to other classes. Thusly, they are
overplayed.
2.) Spec Ops is overplayed, due to their relatively good main weapons and
their C4, which allows them to threaten nearly anything on the battlefield. No
other class can make such a boast.
3.) Support, Engineer, and Sniper are underplayed (in the roles they are
intended for, anyway).
4.) Anti-tank and Assault could use some tweaking, but seem ok overall.
...if you believe these are incorrect, please tell me, and I will reconsider my suggestions.
1.) Engineer - Currently, the engineer class is usually only played when
making specific use of vehicles. They hesistate to use mines, as teammates
will often run over them and punish them. Not only that, but due to the
relative rarity of situations in which an engineer can gain a repair point, they
are left somewhat out in the cold for the purposes of class-specific teamplay
points (when compared to medics and support classes). I'd like to see the
person who manages the Second or Final level of engineering repair badge
without exploiting in some manner or Blackhawk hopping for an hour. So,
make it easier for the engineer to earn themselves repair points, fix the mine-
tk problem, and maybe flesh out the engineer's ability to sense and disarm
enemy explosives, if appropriate.
Suggestions:
a.) Get repair point for repairing 25%, not 50%. (anything...bridge, friendly
vehicle, UAV, etc.). Also, they'd need to be able to see when friendly
vehicles are damaged more than 25%.
b.) Friendlies running over mine = suicide? Is no more? No damage at all? How
do you prevent stupid mine usage or tk mine usage?
c.) 'Engineer sense': As far as I can tell, when you're in game and you're near
enemy explosives as an engineer, you usually get a warning. I'm not sure if
this 'sense' is specific to the engineer class, but it should be. Furthermore, it
could be tweaked into a real feature of the class. It could tell you the type
of danger (Claymore, C4, or Mine)? The warning should tell you how close
you are to the enemy explosive, either with a distance meter to the nearest
explosive, or by blinking more rapidly as you approach it. Of course, it should
NOT be indicated by an icon in the HUD like friendly explosives are. Make it so
that given time, Engineers can find where an explosive is and disable it.
d.) Should be able to sense/disarm C4?
e.) Maximum limit for mines = 5? (If you run any more, you run the risk of
n00bs mining off every entrace to a base)
f.) Engineers would be the only class capable of disabling enemy explosives,
and they should get points for doing so (it's a risky job, and engineers are
the only guys who can do it, so they should get points).
2.) Spec Ops - Many people play Spec Ops, but they usually seem to play it
as more of an assault class rather than actually engaging in 'Spec Ops'. Only
rarely have I seen bridges blown or C4 used to set up traps and destroy
Commander assets. Usually, Spec Ops are the guys charging out of buildings
blowing up tanks or going around suicide bombing. Spec Ops, more than many
classes, is capable of taking on any threat and being good at nearly any role,
hence its popularity. The class, in my opinion, should become geared more
towards being sneaky and actually engaging in 'Special Operations'. Leave
Flag Capping to the assault class. My main suggestion is a more inaccurate
and/or less powerful gun (but silenced and with a flash suppressor). If you
want to be sneaky at range, be a sniper. If you want to be sneaky up close,
play Spec Ops.
Suggestions:
a.) Weaker Gun: Tone the primary gun down, and the other aspects of the
kit become critical. Now this 'nerfing' of the primary gun of the Spec Ops can
come in one of two ways. The first is that the weapons are made far less
powerful, like the Anti-tank classes submachine gun is now. The other option
is to make it far less accurate (which is my suggestion). Now, to start making
the class sneaky, while you tone their main gun down in one fashion or
another, make the rifle silenced and/or have a flash suppressor. Since most
Spec Ops guns appear to be very small, they should allow for a lot of
stamina, and by virtue of their small size and short barrel, they SHOULD be
inaccurate. Make the gun only useful for up-close encounters. Perhaps
instead, the rifle could be decently powerful up close, but damage drops off
very rapidly as you get further downrange (that's how Submachine guns
should be, in my opinion). Leave the stealthy long range stuff to snipers.
b.) Reward for destroying enemy command assets and 'enemy' bridges (what
determines an 'enemy bridge'?). This seems to be planned for implimentation
in the next patch, which is a good idea, I think. Perhaps only reward the first
time they are destroyed, then, see g.).
c.) If the class remains overplayed after being tweaked down, perhaps
change how C4 is deployed/works? Make it so that it only sticks to stationary
targets? Or simply unmanned vehicles and fixed targets? You'd still be able to
toss it onto vehicles, but it'd be more iffy if the target kept moving. If it
simply didn't stick to enemy vehicles, then that's one of the problems right
there.
d.) Camo
e.) Reward knife kills with additional class points (promotes people remaining
silent and stealthy).
f.) Reward kills that prevent the enemy team from repairing their assets (IE:
Make it so that a destroyed enemy UAV is something that a Spec Ops class
will want to defend and make sure that the enemy team doesn't get it
functional again). Gamewise, just make it so that a destroyed enemy asset is
not like a Flag Area, and the Spec Ops class gains points for defending it just
like he would for defending a flag.
3.) Support - Relatively few people seem to play Support Class. While those
that do seem to have developed a taste for the class, personally, I think
there might be a few tweaks that might improve players chosing this class in
support of their team.
a.) The support class should be able to 'Deploy' his machine gun using the
bipod that's already represented on the model (while either prone or set up
on a ledge, like sandbags or a window or whatever) for a tight spread, and
the gun would be very inaccurate otherwise. Movement is restricted while
deployed (front 45 degree arc from where you deploy, you'd have to redeploy
to point someplace else). Anyone played Day of Defeat? Like their machine
gunners. This should allow for sustained bursts of relatively accurate
SUPPRESSING fire (accurate enough to make sure people respect it and are
actually suppressed). Those who attempt to run through a constant stream
of fire from a machine gun should die VERY quickly, unless sprinting VERY
short distances perpendicular to the machine gunner from piece of cover to
piece of cover. Short bursts of fire while deployed should allow for near rifle-
like accuracy. Also, perhaps increase the RoF of the machine gun weapons
(Mg42), and make sure you have tracers. In a straight up firefight, if
someone's in front of a deployed machine gun, they should LOSE unless
they're a sniper at range. It should take a moment to deploy and undeploy,
to make grenades effective at rooting out Support guys.
b.) Should get no points for dropping ammo bags. Ensures that in order to
gain teamplay points, a Support class must choose between actively
teamplaying (running ammo), and setting up his weapon to get kills and
defending. Shouldn't be able to do both.
4.) Medic - Few changes needed here, as in my opinion, the class is pretty
good. Many people, however, believe that those being a medic are so
because they simply wish to gain a lot of points. So the solution I offer here
is simple. Make it so that the points a medic gets are from actually taking the
time to do a dedicated healing/revive action. Simply throwing down a health
pack doesn't really seem like teamplay to me, nor does it make sense for a
medic to simply toss down a pack and say 'heal yourself'. Make it a dedicated
action to heal teammates, and still allow points for reviving (which can be a
critical function of a medic and is dangerous), and I have no problems.
a.) Not able to drop healing packs.
b.) Should know which wounded are squad leaders/commander, and gets
additional points for reviving them.
5.) Sniper - Many changes are offered here, because for the most part, the
Sniper class, while certainly not useless, simply seems...off. It can be done
better, and as such, the role of a sniper should become more defined and,
well, sniper-like. So I'm going to throw out a lot of suggestions. I wouldn't
dream that all of these should be implimented, because then you'd have elite
snipers making the game completely unfun by capping you and your entire
squad clear across the map, just like we have elite pilots now. No one person
should be able to determine whether or not a team wins EXCEPT for the
commander, and even then, only if he commands well and his men listen. The
only combat tweaks I'm suggesting are more accuracy (but with scope sway
and restrictions) and a little damage tweaking for the M95 and the semi-
autos (see a.)).
a.) More damage for M95 (1-shot chest kill (if target is unarmored)) (M95
should have large muzzle flash and make a lot of distinctive noise). Also, not
sure if this is already the case, but the semi-auto sniper rifles should be able
to kill in one HEADshot.
b.) A sniper should only be able to scope in when stationary. The moment he
moves he should scope out.
c.) Deviation of weapons should be changed. The American Bolt Action
should be almost perfectly accurate if the sniper is prone and deployed.
Basically, if a sniper can see a target, and the target is stationary, he should
be able to reliably hit it in the head with the American Bolt Action, and in the
chest with every other rifle (let's just say, for argument's sake, the American
Bolt Action has an deviation of 1, and all the other rifles should have a
deviation of 2). Depending on how far a sniper can zoom, at the most
extreme zoom level, an American Bolt action should be able to reliably hit a
target in the chest, while the other rifles would have like a 75% of hitting the
target if you aim for center of mass.
d.) Allow snipers to deploy, like machine gunners, when prone or given a
surface to deploy on, such as a sandbag or a window ledge. While deployed,
you can't move and you can only move your point of view 45 degrees from
the direction you set up. Deploying while standing would give you prone level
accuracy (the good here is that a sniper can set up in a buildling with some
cover), and deploying while prone would give you the best accuracy in the
game (in terms of accuracy levels, it would probably halve current
deviations). The 'x' key could be used to deploy, but only while unscoped and
either a.) prone or b.) near a suitable support surface, such as a ledge or
sandbags. Deploying and undeploying would take a moment.
e.) Higher levels of zoom (re-select sniper rifle to change zoom level, ala
switching firing modes for other weapons). Sniper rifles would have very,
very, very little accuracy when unscoped (the player shouldn't even get a
crosshair).
f.) Put in Scope Sway (ala Day of Defeat's sniper rifles). Standing = most
scope sway, crouching = less, prone = even less sway, deployed while prone
= least.
g.) Accuracy for positions: Standing should be inaccurate, useful at short
ranges only or for spotting, crouching should allow for more accurate shots
but would still be inaccurate, useful perhaps to shoot someone across a small
base or a few dozen yards from you. Prone would result in more accuracy,
allowing you to say, hit a target across a sizeable river (like the one in
Dragon Valley). Deployed and prone would give you the most accuracy,
allowing you to hit anyone you can see (keep in mind that the sniper would
be required to factor in travel time of the bullet, so don't worry, it'd still be
hard to hit someone at that range). Note that all this is only if the rifle is
scoped in. If unscoped, the sniper would be lucky to hit someone 5 yards in
front of him.
h.) Gets kill assist or teamplay points for enemy vehicles spotted that are
destroyed by teammates during 'spotted' duration (not infantry, because the
sniper can just kill those)
i.) Sniper hits reduce stamina to zero (represents the dangers of snipers and
their pinning ability)
j.) Gains additional points for killing enemy Squad Leaders (5 points) and
Commanders (10 points) (would be able to know who the squad leaders and
commanders are if he can see them). Reward careful, deliberate sniping (and
patience), where he sets up, shoots, then moves to avoid detection.
k.) Sniper sense: Knows when he's been 'spotted' or UAV'ed (if visible to
UAV) or both?
l.) Name doesn't show up when enemy aims at you? (Allows camo to be more
effective, especially if you remain still). See notes below on camo in general.
m.) Fix Claymore Teamkills just like Engineer Mine TK's.
6.) Anti-tank - The anti-tank class, while pretty good overall, could also use
the opportunity to make some more points. Also, if any ground trooper
should be set up to fight aircraft, I think the Anti-tank might be a good
candidate, since there seems to be a general complaint out there that air
defense weapons simply don't work all that well (a good pilot is neigh
invulnerable in an aircraft, and chopper pilots can be an absolute terror).
Point is, anti-air emplacements offer precious little protection from aircraft,
and besides, the better pilots know exactly where the emplacements are and
when someone is in them (and it's not hard at all to dodge missiles, even
after you've dropped counter-measures) by the fact that the emplacements
cease the appear grey and empty on the minimap.
a.) Stinger? (switch firing modes on anti-tank rocket to target aircraft?)
b.) Teamplay points for taking out vehicles in general? Additional assist points
for helping to take out vehicles, to promote multiple anti-tank guys to work in
unison to bring down enemies?. Perhaps 1 point for every hit against an
enemy vehicle?
7.) Assault - The Assault Class, for the most part, seems to do pretty well as
is. They could use more opportunities for teamplay points, however.
a.) Since assaulting points is most of what the Assault class does, they
should probably gain additional points for assaulting and capturing a point
(always get points as though capturing, rather than assisting?).
b.) Takes points faster than other classes (say, 50%?)
Tweak Vehicles
a.) Attack choppers should only take one tank shot before going down (or
being buried in the red)?
b.) Transport choppers should take 75%+ damage from a tank round?
Change Team Damage/Punish system
a.) Change it. Fix what counts as a tk to actually represent tk's.
b.) Make friendly explosives warning symbols denote C4, Claymore, or Mine
c.) Make Claymore and Mine TK's count simply as suicides? How would you
counter intentional tk'ers then?
d.) Forgive should fully remove all point loss.
e.) Fix physics and kill allocation so that tk's are really tk's (rather than
someone tripping on their way out of a helicopter)?
f.) Tk should default to 'forgive'
Change Team Balance system
a.) Switch Lone Wolves first, then entire squads (if possible), smallest squads
before larger ones, Squad Members before leaders. This means that the lone
wolves get switched first, then 1-man squads, then a member from a 2-man
squad, then the squad leader from the same squad, so on and so forth.
Game Mechanics
a.) Can't shoot while jumping (takes a moment to bring gun back up)
b.) Can't shoot while diving (takes a moment to bring gun back up after
proning) (This makes crouching a more worthwhile option in a firefight)
c.) Jumping takes 30% stamina? Not able to jump below 30% stamina level?
d.) 3-d warning for for incoming friendly arty
e.) More effective anti-air (against planes) (missiles should seek
better/faster, or chance that flares won't work), and choppers that are
slightly less tough. Also, take the ability to drop bombs away from airplane
pilots. Let them have guns and missiles, that way they're effective against
aircraft and at strafing positions. Let BOMBERS drop bombs, and leave that in
the hands of the Bombadier. This will balance the aircraft just like other
vehicles are balanced. As is, a skilled pilot can kill just about anything on the
map. They may not be able to hit infantry spread out across the map, but I'll
be damned if they won't bomb a position that's being taken and completely
abort an offensive. If they want to attack ground vehicles, let them use a
chopper or a bomber, but be vulnerable to fighter aircraft. Everything should
be effective against some things, and vulnerable to others. Like the Spec
Ops class, no other vehicle but a fighter-airplane can take on everything on
the map (and the fighter can do it easily). Perhaps allow the Bomber to have
flares, but deny them to the fighter, so they have to outrun and dodge the
missiles.
f.) Easier to get lots of points as any class (that, or change the ranking and
medal requirements to something more realistic and attainable).
g.) When you leave a squad, you cannot rejoin for 15 seconds (prevents
leaving and rejoining to change squad leader)? 30 seconds? This makes
keeping the squad leader alive very important.
h.) Extend Flag Defense Area to twice radius to capture flag? Flag Defense
assists? (reward defense more, because being stationary and suffering
through arty and bombing sucks). Perhaps for the entire area of a base?
i.) Pistols less accurate than just about any other weapon overall, decent
power, except against Body armor.
j.) Give different symbols for different threats, C4, Claymore, Mine, class-
specific warnings?
k.) Parachutes only for jumping out of helicopters/aircraft (not jumping off a
high ledge)
l.) Commander not punished for poor use of arty? Punished less? Not at all if
he tk's lone wolves, can only be punished if he doesn't warn squads
(assuming 3-d arty icon tweak).
m.) More incentives to command (and command well) (fewer points
for 'active duty' commanders, as they should be commanding, not running
around capping points), Commanders only get teamplay points for defending,
not capturing points or kills.
n.) Longer 'spotted' time to reward taking the time to 'spot' something or
someone? 10-15 secs?
o.) Fix VOIP support (multiple times I've played on a VOIP server and not
been able to communicate via VOIP)
p.) Get additional points for destroying/killing spotted targets (spotter
wouldn't get any extra points if they kill what they spot). (Gives Planes,
Armor, Helicopters, Snipers, etc. incentive to help out their teammates in
distress).
q.) Capping goes half as fast in vehicles? (1/2 in ground vehicles, 1/4 in
aircraft/helicopters?)
r.) Capping a point takes 50% longer? (discourages lone wolves assaulting,
encourages lone wolf play focused on something other than points capping as
well as squad functioning and teamplay). Encourages people to squad up
(this leaves Lone wolves to do lone wolf stuff, IE: Snipers, Pilots, Spec Ops
Infiltrators, etc.).
s.) Medals, Badges, and Ribbons should use TOTAL stats, not 'x in one round'
values. Otherwise, badges such as the knife or pistol badge, which require a
score of 'x in one round', are detrimental to a team. Rather than do awards
by a person's performance in a round, do it by their performance overall, or
over time as a rate (perhaps get an award for reaching a RATE of 3 teamplay
points, or Commander points, or Squad Leader points, or Squad Member
points a minute, or kill assists, or vehicle points, something like that), or a
percentage. Increase the incentive for teamplay, not individual glory, with
awards. Make it so that going for any award and playing as best you can for
your team are not mutually exclusive. This also prevents people from
choosing a server based upon round time and how long they have to try to
get a medal.
t.) Take a look at the records of each top player. If they have exploited,
bust them down to private or ban their CD-key. If they've been warned
before, ban their CD-key.
u.) When voting, the amount of votes required to get something done, such
as a map change or kicking a player, should not take into account those who
abstain from voting to determine the required number of votes. Say, if 66%
or 75% of those who voted vote for something, then the vote would be
successful (probably 75%).
v.) Spec Ops and Snipers should be able to disable THEIR explosives and pick
them up, probably using their knife like an engineer would his wrench.
w.) Reward for defending command assets and bridges from Spec Ops.
x.) Camo, while also helping you visually blend in, should prevent your name
from showing up when an enemy aims at you (when you're on foot) (applies
to sniper and possibly spec ops).
y.) ENTIRE TEAM SHOULD BENEFIT FROM WINNING, not just commander! 25%
extra points for being a squad leader/member on the winning team, x2 for
being commander, and NO BONUS for lone wolves (let them form a one man
squad if they want to wander around on their own, at least the commander
can communicate with them then).
z.) Teamplay needs to be emphasized more. Commander should get teamplay
points for each order he gives to a squad that they complete. The squad
leader should get teamplay points for each order he gets from the
commander that he and his squad complete. The squad members should get
teamplay points for each order he gets from his squad leader (and by
extension, the commander) that he completes. When giving orders, the
orders are considered 'completed' if even a single member of a squad
completes them. Only the members that actually follow the order get the
additional points (and the commander gains the additional points for having
his order followed). No additional points for 'move' orders. There should be a
way to set up waypoints and a set of commands for squads. Squad Leaders
get teamplay points for following orders (not 'move' orders) from commander,
and squad members get teamplay points for following orders from squad
leader (and by extension, the commander).
Orders that the Commander/Squad Leader/Squad member would get points
for would be 'attack' (capture a point), 'defend' (defend a point), 'destroy'.
Squad Leader would get a point for forwarding a request from a squad
member onto the commander. Commander gets points for honoring requests
from squad leaders.
Orders:
ATTACK: The Commander gains points if the squad he orders to attack a
point captures it.
DEFEND: The Commander gains a point each time the squad he orders to
defend a point defends it (see h.)). This will cause commanders to consider
defense more. Each member of the squad gains an additional point for each
Flag Defense kill they get during this period (order should last say, three
minutes before the game determines whether or not it was a successful order
and determines whether or not the squad deserves additional points for
completing the order).
DESTROY: The Commander gains a point if the squad he orders to destroy a
target does so.
Leave the other commands in, but no additional points are gained by
completing those (For example, tell an engineer to mine an area, and they will
do so, then tell them to defend it, then both the commander and the
engineer benefit from the flag defense kills the mines net).
Commanders should be able to queue up multiple orders for a squad (perhaps
by holding shift).
There should be a more concrete system of giving orders, where the game
recognizes when an order is complete and awards the squad and commander
accordingly (perhaps an auto-request for new orders when old orders are
complete?). For example, if a commander gives a squad an order to defend a
point, the order should last three minutes, and if, during this time, the squad
gains any Flag Defense Points (and the flag remains in friendly hands), the
order is successful and the Commander, Squad Leader, and Squad Members
get points. Also, if a squad is given the order to attack a point, they have
three minutes to capture the point. If they do so, they and the commander
gain additional points.
So...thoughts?
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