Vance Alken
Commando Perkone
Caldari State
161
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Posted - 2014.05.14 09:34:00 -
[1] - Quote
The apparent focus on PvE with Legion could be an amazing setup for a more open game, an EVE game, at all levels/styles of play. (excepting the bloodsport style quick matches at least, the key appeal of which is that they are rigidly structured/enforced, that doesn't mean no friendly fire though!)
Start simple, use the same old lobby system and the new open world PvE system, but link them. Open format PvE that gives you some experience as well as drops that you can sell to buy other people's drops or use in closed format PvP that gives you experience/few drops/some ISK. What is open format? Open, large playercount servers on large maps, drop in, kill some stuff, drop out with the stuff. Go on the market to sell it, or go to your fitting room to fit it. Closed format PvP being the classic lobby based shooter (in-universe: Bloodsport!) that will be the mainstay for many players, at first at least.
Go on from there. Make getting that stuff in PvE require more effort. Instead of picking up something and having it magically transported to the station to be sold/used later, require the player to use an inventory to hold things (a suit inventory or vehicle inventory) and that inventory has to make it off-planet for the loot to be yours for good (if you can, call down a dropship and hitch a ride after hitching your vehicle to it, otherwise walk/drive/fly back to a spaceport). Make sure drops are visible to everyone, induce open format PvP by making it possible not just to steal a good spot where drones drop from space all the time, but possible to steal loot, to kill someone and steal some of THEIR loot.
You're getting players to act against each other, now allow them to act with each other, an open squad system that allows someone to request anyone they can see (be it physically or through comms) to be a squadmate. This allows for the lowest level of group play, the core of corporations, a group who just want to control a nice area of drops until they have enough of a haul and want to get out. Allow players to use the same inventories to store separate loot via a simple loot tagging system that can be overwritten at will, this allows you to share a single LAV both for transport and storage as well as for conflict to arise in a new way, betrayal at the game's lowest levels of interaction. All that stuff is being transported to the same station, the logistics drones need some way of telling what goes to who's storage.
This inventory system needs to be streamlined though, the looting between the shooting canGÇÖt be boring, just a calm between storms. The ability to move around with your inventory open and watch as items on the ground nearby pop up on screen for a quick drag-and-drop action (see: DayZGÇÖs loot pickup/transfer system) would be amazing. Not to mention the ability to drag select your entire storage space and drop it into your LAV all at once, youGÇÖre a super-soldier after all, your dropsuit can handle the specifics of inventory tetris, itGÇÖs just up to you to micro-tractor beam what you want.
You've put so much effort into keeping that that loot you should probably be able to do more with it than "use" or "sell". Add new types of manufacturing loot and the ability to use the same awesome manufacturing tool that Eve players will be able to use soon. This allows for deeper play, hunt for rare materials used in manufacturing high quality or even entirely different weapons. Then either manufacture and use those yourself or sell them, or the materials to make them. Or even perhaps share them with friends/corpmates through corp storage or just in-person trades using loot tagging. A corporation of players could amass enough materials to make themselves a warbarge, Legion's roaming POSes that open up the capability for true long term control of the ground.
Then expand from there, the squad system to a nested chain of command from SMs > SLs > MCC Commander, all sourced from a fittable MCC (which has inherent control of all deployables from players under it) deployed from a warbarge. The loot tagging system can be expanded to a corporation role/access tagging system that allows you to pick out your best soldiers/pilots/tankers/commanders/etc and give them access to the best related equipment, or in the case of warbarges/MCCs, control of where it goes and/or how it is fitted. Tag your trusted officers/manufacturers/etc access to the ability to tag itself or access to corporation owned industry facilities.
Facility drop-pods are the first step of territory control, drop a command HQ to stake your claim and act as the core of control for an area of the ground of your choice. Drop command routers (Pylons essentially) to expand your control/act as alternate capture points. Drop in turrets, clone bays, storage, manufacturing, etc.
That's Eve-like gameplay in an open FPS setting. Clone jump from planet to planet as a new, roaming, merc while dropping down for loot/exploration and clone jumping into NPC bloodsport matches along the way. Find a group to hangout with or forge your own, gather materials and ISK, form a corporation, build a warbarge, station your warbarge in orbit over a favored planet/sector and drop in permanent (until somebody destroys them) pod based corporation facilities based off the designs of turrets and spawn points in Dust.
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