Celus Ivara
DUST University
Ivy League
262
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Posted - 2015.01.07 15:25:00 -
[1] - Quote
CCP Rattati wrote:benandjerrys wrote:...and he has returned to talk about shiny things. How bout pirate faction? The whole blood raider covenant being caldari was silly. I don't know what happened with the current pirate faction gear and would like to erase them from memory and game. My, and a few CPM's idea is to use pirate factions as "post level 5" content, as in not more powerful, but sidegrade dropsuits maybe
I love the idea of pirate factions following the EVE mechanic of being rule-breaking side-grades.
Dust right now has a bit of an issue where the vets have used all the gear, played every role, mastered every map and ground every game-mode into the ground. With nothing left to learn, boredom seeps in. :(
I feel something wholly new on a mechanics level would be very good for the game.
A few off-the-cuff examples:
- Ghost Scout:
A Scout with vastly reduced Cloak shimmer, but only has a Sidearm slot and no Light weapon ability.
- Endurance-mando:
A Commando without an equipment slot, but slowly passively regenerates ammo over time.
- Hunter Assault:
An Assault where everyone they shoot is lit-up for a few seconds like they were Actively Scanned, but missing the Sidearm.
- Pure Logi:
A Logi with a 20% DPS nerf, but paired with a 20% EHP buff.
- Un-sneak-up-on-able Sentinel:
A Sentinel with a Scout's level of Scan Precision & Range, but missing most of their damage resistances.
Edit 1:
A note on my underline above: I was annoyed how for a long time players were asking for more Rifles, and CCP to their credit gave us what we were asking for, but I was just thinking "This is a bullet hose by any other name. Point and spray. Yes, we need this for racial balance, but let's not think this is truly new content."
A very fundamental rule of games is that once a game has been "solved" it stops being fun. (The trope example here is Tic-Tac-Toe. It's fun for kids, but adults don't play it because we know the entire move-sequence needed to guarantee Win/Stalemate.)
A few months back some new games dropped and Dust lost a lot of it's vets. While the simple perspective on this is that these new games were "better", on paper it's more complicated than that.
All the vet's friends, progression and mastery were here; money and time was deeply invested in Dust. Hypothetically there should have been little reason to leave; so why did they?
I'd argue a big part of it wasn't that the new games were per-say better, but that they were new. Their assets hadn't been seen yet; their mechanics hadn't been explored yet.
Vanity items are positive additions to the game; we needed it for revenue and personalization.
Racial parity is a positive addition; we needed it for lore and for certain balancing actions.
By no means am I saying we shouldn't be pursuing these things.
But I am saying a known game is boring. We must also be adding new gameplay.
Edit 2:
I am deeply looking forward to the new Warbarge feature, and the related PC/FW/Pub mechanics. ;)
May this be the beginning of the march out of the well trod Arena-FPS into the great wild lands of the MMO-Sandbox-FPS. :D o7 |