Nova Knife
Seituoda Taskforce Command
Caldari State
789
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Posted - 2012.09.06 23:21:00 -
[1] - Quote
Long story short, these need to be looked at. Passive scanning is not fun.
The chevrons appear for a moment when someone spawns, even if no one has line of sight on them. This makes it easy to dart toward someone as they get their bearings and kill them. This is considered 'unfun' and I am fairly confident that this is a bug.
The range at which chevrons appear is also far too long. This makes it far too easy as a vehicle driver to stay at ranges where I am untouchable to counterattack and just fire high damage splash rounds at enemy chevrons without having ever seen them. It clutters the screen. I get that this is the future and all, but should I really get to see -exactly- where four enemies are, through walls 200m away? It eliminates wandering which is good for large maps, but it really is unfun for me to know exactly where people are without any active effort on the part of myself or my teammates to convey that information.
Not only the range is bad. The angle is bad. I don't even need to have my crosshairs on someone to make their chevron appear. All I need to do is look in their general direction as they shoot from seemingly any range and the game nicely highlights their exact position for me and my entire team. It makes it too easy to pinpoint and kill anyone attempting to hide. I cannot tell you how many AV dudes in hills were well hidden and I would've never seen them ducked back behind their hill had the game not conveniently broadcast their exact location for me just by me pointing my turret in their general direction. This contributes the the 'immortal tanks' issue. People need to be able to hide. The easiest solution is to limit passive spotting. Make it so someone has to actually be in scan range while in someone's crosshairs and 'scanned' for their chevron to appear to the whole team without visual contact. Snipers may take issue with limiting the range that a chevron will appear at. Maybe extend chevron range for snipers while scoped only. No naked eye 600m chevrons.
Currently, someone firing their weapon will get a chevron and an indicator on the map. This indicator is mostly fine. Knowing the general direction someone firing loud bullets and missiles from is important and a core FPS mechanic. But knowing their exact location without having to actually look for them is not fun. Knowing from my map exactly which way an enemy is facing is bad as well. I should need to be cautious when nearing a red dot on my map. Knowing that he is looking the other way without ever having seen him though? That's terrible. It removes alot of challenge from the game. It is not really fun when I can look at my map and go "Teehee I can go knife this guy and he'll never see me!"
All of this is easily explained by 'This is the future, they obviously have the tech to make all of this possible!!!" But the lore/story excuse is bullshit. Gameplay defines story and lore, not the other way around. Unfun gameplay is not good.
TL:DR : The problems &Solutions
- (Bug?) Chevrons appear for a brief moment whenever an enemy spawns nearby. The chevron actually appears before their model does! (Even if no one saw them spawn.) This makes it too easy to kill someone as soon as/shortly after they spawn.
Solution : Add a scanning immunity (Not damage immunity) to players for a few seconds after they spawn. This will prevent them from being marked before they have a chance to do anything.
- Enemy positions can be pinpointed from too far away, allowing some weapons(Railguns, missle launchers, etc.) to fire on enemies without actually seeing them, and from ranges where counterattack is usually impossible.
Solution : Reduce the range at which these appear. Maybe replace with a 'hotspot indicator' so a teammate knows fighting is occuring further away and they should get over there. Knowing the general location of enemies is fine, knowing their precise location at extreme range is not. Related: Reduce maximum flight time of missile launchers to cap their range.
- Enemy positions can be discovered without any real effort from anyone to mark them
Solution : Make the firing effect of weapons more pronounced. More muzzle flash from snipers, etc. Add ways to visually distinguish a location instead of handing the exact location on a silver platter to anyone remotely looking in that direction. Prevent chevrons from appearing automatically to anything that has them in their field of view. The scan radius and range of the crosshair should determine if someone gets a chevron when they shoot in visual range. This makes it possible for someone on your screen to 'hide' if they are firing their weapon from a range further than the optimal scan range and/or not within or reasonably close to your crosshairs. Also differentiate between you seeing the chevron and it being broadcast to your team. The enemy chevron should not appear to your whole team unless you have 'scanned them' with your crosshair.
- Map showing the direction someone is facing even if there is no visual contact
Solution : Make the indicator on the map a simple red dot for enemies. Keep the current friendly indicators.
- Knowing exactly where an enemy is, even through walls without prior visual contact. This removes the chance of them flanking you if you follow itas they run around.
Solution : Without someone actively scanning them, make their chevron vanish more quickly when visual contact is lost. This makes things exciting when someone is playing cover games as opposed to you knowing exactlywhich way they arecoming out, every time.
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