Celus Ivara
DUST University
Ivy League
333
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Posted - 2015.04.15 12:24:00 -
[1] - Quote
CCP Rattati wrote:Dear players,
I have been mulling and considering an idea passed on to me. So bear with me for a second and read it all before jumping to conclusions.
What if Skirmish, as the most tactical game mode becomes FW only.
Players that want to play Skirmish will migrate over there, which in turn will make queuing shorter and more attractive.
Domination, Ambush and maybe another Game mode will be in the Public Contracts, thematically "smaller affairs" which makes sense. Skirmish to me is taking over a district, for your own in PC or for a Faction in FW.
To make the transition easier, we would add ISK rewards to FW so players can make LP and ISK at the same time. Solid ISK rewards to make it a closer match between PC and FW.
To get rid of the AFKing, as obnoxious as it is, we would add a WP threshold to FW for all rewards.
New players no longer get thrown into a 5 point skirmish, which is always a disorienting experience.
Please discuss.
Other things that are more difficult to do
Team Deploy
Locking to Faction
Deeply disagree with this.
The elephant in the room with FW is, for good and ill, the absence of Matchmaker & Team-Balancer.
Skirmish is (as you said) the most tactical game mode; I'd like to continue to enjoy it against equal opponents. 
The core idea you are getting at though, that FW could be bettered by having a unique and tactical game mode, is very valid.
My fantasy for FW has long been to introduce a new, a-symmetrical game game mode for it.
(Think a classic FPS Base Capture, or maybe the reincarnation of "Skirmish 1.0" that everyone keeps QQing about.)
The great thing about this is that the fundamental problem of the game-mode can be used to solve the fundamental problem of FW.
- A-symmetrical game-modes are incredibly hard to balance so that it's fair for two equally matched teams.
- FW teams are fundamentally un-equally matched.
One can be used to solve the other.
To offer an example, let's say FacWar now uses a mode where the defender starts with full control of a city socket and all of it's installations, and the attacker starts outside and is trying to take it.
So today Gallenttee are attacking Caldari, and are better staffed as usual. They win a bunch of matches and start pentrating deeper into Caldari territory. But, as they get closer to Caldari homespace, the fights become harder. Defender installations take longer to hack; defender turrets deal more damage and have more HP; perhaps even the defending mercs themselves are buffed.
Eventually the randos who joined Cal-FW will find themselves in an even fight against the que-synced Gallentte.
Everyone will have a compelling challenging match, and both FacWar and the game-mode will retain their unique character.
...I was going to call this "Killing two birds with one stone", but it's more "Killing one bird by hitting it with another bird". ;) |