RedRebelCork
Ahrendee Mercenaries
Legacy Rising
37
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Posted - 2012.11.07 21:52:00 -
[1] - Quote
So tried out the latest patch for the first time yesterday, some nice features and looks like things are trundling along at a steady but slow pace. Got to talking with some other players on the voice comms about skills and points that's lead me to be a bit concerned.
As I understand it, we are now gathering passive SP. We also now have a SP limit of 500k per week. The idea being they don't want anyone getting too far ahead. This seems like an admirable goal to me, but the method is perhaps lacking. Let me explain....
I've drifted between online FPS games for years, following friends into their new games or picking up games on my own and finding new folk to play with. Each game has had a teething period; in some the learning curve was enforced via skill trees and unlocked gear, in others it was simply a matter of lack of experience. But the thing that I was always sure of was that I could catch up through graft and concentration. Let's take a look at a couple of examples:
1. Counterstrike - You started out a n00b. You were crap, you don't know where bomb site A was, you didn't know you even HAD the bomb. But the game didn't limit you. You're avatar ran just as fast as the other guys, you had access to the same weapons and equipment.... so how the hell was everyone else better than you then? Simple, they were just better. The problem was between the chair and the keyboard. But given time, and practice (oh so much practice) you became an AK wielding headshot machine and all was well. This transition was only as hard as your latent ability (or lack thereof) made it. Halo and TF2 would also fit into this category. The only limiting factor was your own skill.
2. Battlefield 3 - You started out this time last year a lowly grunt, a private with nothing to your name. You start ranking up and all these goodies start getting unlocked. M16A3? Yes please! Heavy barrel and ACOG? Get some! Then came Christmas, don't pretend you don't remember! You had your squad perks unlocked, you and your buddies boosting one another in harmony, Squad Sprint, Squad Ammo etc. You had your M320 unlocked and your Co-Op sidearms. Then in came a wave of new players, kids who got BF3 for Christmas from mommy and daddy. The slaughter was glorious. They didn't stand a chance! Not only were they clueless but they were literally inferior in every way. They had nearly no guns, the ones they did have sucked and they had no perks. Eventually though, in the space of a month most had unlocked all the essential gear. Within 2 months there was no difference (sure you had some cooler camo but that didn't give you an edge unless you're into tea-bagging). COD and MAG are other examples of this model.
3. Dust 514 - Based on the latest developments and the claims by the devs that the skill system could take years to unlock (IIRC) then where does that leave us? If my buddy joins in a year late will he always be a year inferior? How long until he becomes competitive enough to start fighting in clan matches? I can loan him cash to fit some good gear but without the skills to back those up what good is that?
In MAG I was able to max out from 0 to 70 in the space of a couple of days. By the end of day 2 I'd have be on an equal footing with any other player on the battlefield. In a head to head it was the best man wins. Will the same hold true in Dust or will the newer players always be at a disadvantage to the older players? In short, is it possible to go from zero to hero and if so how long will that take? |