![[Veteran_Kahn Unn]](https://forums.dust514.com/themes/ccpDust514/dust-avatar-128.png "[Veteran_Kahn Unn]")
[Veteran_Kahn Unn]
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Posted - 2012.06.11 06:04:00 -
[1] - Quote
I am a player who likes to play as a team, I rarely fly solo. I like to work with my teamates whether they be random guys from across the world of friends of mine on PSN or EVE.
Currently we haven't been given any real details or a look at the squad mechanics in the next build so I'd like to address some problems with the current one I find now, and hopefully we can improve the mechanics for future builds.
I'll break this post down into sections with my input for each one, I ask that everyone else adds on to this thread with their own thoughts! 
TEAMS
As of now, loading the menu to see who is on your team takes some time to load, and isn't really viable as there are the three sub-sections which are separate menus to navigate-all whilst in real time i.e. when in the game, or before you spawn. It is a hassle to see who exactly is on your team. I think a quicker menu would do better, either a scorecard with all the players and the members of each squad highlighted by color code, and your current selection a different color(gray or something along that lines) another option would be to make it separate from the "start" menu and a more transparent screen.
SQUADS
As of now squads are essentially useless, we cannot spawn on teammates, we get no bonus for being in a squad, it serves no actual function as of now other than grouping you with other green dots. Seeing as how everyone is in one central chat channel and we're not split up into squad only voice channels we don't necessarily need them to co-ordinate with each other. I like the idea of squads, but with out the option to say spawn on your Squad Leader, or get a bonus for being grouped up it really is just useless and more so for aesthetics.
(As we have yet to see what exactly "Command" dropsuits, assuming those are for SL's, that player might be the one giving out the bonus)
Here are some ideas from other games that could be implemented to improve the "Squad" mechanics of DUST 514.
-Give a bonus to squads, i.e. *SMALL* shield recharge rate, repair rate, ammo, movement speed-something to make us want to group up together..
-Give the SL the ability to be a mobile spawn regardless if he has a (forget the name but the spawn uplink) - you could limit the amount of spawns per phase on the SL, or the distance from certain objectives, etc.. something to make it balanced and viable.
-Ability to share more data with squad mates than with your team mates, i.e. more detail of their shields, armor percentages, or perhaps damage they are taking and what direction(these are just suggestions.. but for direction it would be a red arrow pointing in the direction of the damage the squad mate is taking)
-These are just a few ideas off the top of my head! 
PRE-GAME LOBBY
We have the Merc Quarters, and the Pre-game lobby as the two "social areas" for in-between matches, and right before a match. As of now the Pre-game lobby or PGL timer is really short about 45 seconds... not enough time for me to look at my team mates, talk to people or just walk around(which is limited) or even get information on the match I'm going to be going into. I think the whole Merc Quarters and PGL need to be revamped into a model like so; The Merc Quarters would remain as it is but there would be a door that leads to the PGL where you would be transported to the PGL with other characters in matchmaking and you could virtually interact with other players, see current battles that are open, etc.. When you queue there would be a pop-up menu that would indicate a match is ready and you may join... this could be elaborated on but this is a simple description of it :-P
IN-GAME OVERVIEW
What I mean by in-game overview or IGO is when you press down on your PS3 controller D-PAD, and it opens the real-time map or as I like to call it the IGO. As of now it's horrendous, you can zoom out too far, I don't need to see the WHOLE map(i.e. the outer parts of the map that are not playable-cannot access) It is slow, cumbersome and kind of pointless.. a simplier version of the map i.e. just a 2D map with real-time moving icons as they become visible. The current IGO would be more suited for a commander role - one responsible for calling in airstrikes among other things :-P
SQUAD LEADER ROLE
As I stated before I think the Squad Leader or SL should have a more constructed role- the act of issuing orders for example is almost impossible and very hard to due, it requires you to be out of the combat area to open the IGO.. we need a quicker way to give and issue orders, a one-click button similar to BF3's command system that utilizes the "Select" button.
Among some other things I think the SL should be able to give a bonus to his squad either it is up to him or something done beforehand by the game(as I mentioned earlier) - Also as of now the SL is chosen at random.. which I am okay with but it would be nice if we could create our own squads, perhaps even name them, and have people join them if they see fit or just stick with the squad they're already assigned too. I would also like to note that; as of now I am unable to join other squads or leave my current squad in the current build
Just some other things it would be cool if we had SL or Command only perks that we would get as being the SL like, having a personal "drone" that followed the SL(of course it being a module and what not.. or maybe not :-P) There would be several different types.. but think of it as a external module; shield repairer, armor repairer, combat, defender drone(shooting incoming missiles from Launchers, and Infantry [yes I know about the Swarm Launcher Nerf])
This would give you an instant recognizer of an enemy SL or friendly SL, and who doesn't like chopping the head off the snake? :-P
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[Veteran_Hunter Cazaderon]
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Posted - 2012.06.11 10:55:00 -
[3] - Quote
Kahn Unn wrote:SPOTTING
I'm not too sure on how the current mechanics go for "spotting" enemies but it seems to wear off rather quickly and I can't really alert my team mates of enemies sneaking around, and with a compass non-existent it's kind of hard to indicate to my teamates where exactly said enemy is. Maybe if we had a "spot" button that would spot these enemies and keep a red icon over them for X amount of time..
Well what do you guys think?!
=>Every little red arrow you see comes from someone having the guy in sight. Thus, spot button is here a passive function.
Regarding the other suggestions you made, they're outdated. sorry to be crude....
=> Team menu too slow => corrected on E3 build.
=> Spawning on teammates ? What is the point of drop uplink ? Vehicles with CRU ? Conquering CRU ?
=> Bonus for being grouped ? Why ? People are supposed to play as a team.
=> Pre-game lobby timer ? gone with the E3 build..... Also war room are supposed to be a lobby where you and your friends will join before you even selected a battle. Allowing you to chat, prepare fits etc... And then, go to battle.
=> 3D map slow ? yes. Useless ? No.
=> SL roles. Agreed that giving orders should be quicker. But you can already select the option "move to new squad" and then be SL yourself. There will be a lot more options added later on.
In fact, i agree with you about how important all those stuff are. But clearly, there's a lot missing in that build to make suggestions yet. I think we'll have to wait and see what they already got in stock before we can really discuss it. |