Leither Yiltron
KILL-EM-QUICK
RISE of LEGION
418
   |
Posted - 2013.03.21 04:31:00 -
[1] - Quote
Here's something that has been on quite a lot of people's minds for the past couple months: Public match Skirmish isn't very much fun to play. Why is that?
Two words: Terrible spawns.
Every single Skirmish map in the pool, with an anomaly in Ashland's 5-point variant, have too few spawning points. Those CRU's that we do have are placed with one end goal in mind: one team being redlined.
There are huge number of truly critical issues with the way CRU's are placed and function in public matches. Just one of these could be bad, but taken together we get the redline fests of Skirmish today:
(1) CRU's are placed within line of sight of a letter's console - This completely stifles any dynamic reinforcement on the map. It stands to reason that if one team had the ability to lock down and secure a console practically 20 feet away from a CRU, that CRU is under their control as well. This wouldn't be THAT bad, but then there's the fact that...
(2) CRU's offer 0 protection on spawning - Put another way, you are at an expected disadvantage if any member of the enemy team has a line of sight. This entire aspect kills the whole purpose of CRU's. If the intent was to make CRU's battlefield emplacements that can provide a foothold and steady stream of reinforcements, then something went very wrong from paper to practice. As it is, CRU's are mostly death traps. Players have been talking about this issue for months, and it's evident that they're more a hindrance, much less a help, to the team holding them.
(3) CRU's are way too easy to hack - On top of CRU's practically being a death trap during a redline game, there's even less point in spawning at them because it takes all of 8 seconds to for an enemy to flip them and cut off all reinforcements.
(4) There are no ISK variants of the hacked uplink - Drop uplinks are all fine and good, but 4 people hardly make a difference against 16 guys who stop scratching their balls on the redline to crash on the next objective lit up like a beacon. Is it possible to take 4 guys, a few uplinks, and some will to win a pub game? Yes. Is it fun? Most of the time, no.
All of these problems have basic solutions that would public Skirmish matches to tactical battles, rather than tactical snoozefests:
(1) Place CRU's in flanking positions and in positions that are oriented towards one team's side of the map, so that the MCC and ground spawns are typically spawns of last resort. Above all, take more time and effort in deciding where the default spawns are placed.
(2) Add spawn protection of some sort to CRU's. In all honesty, MAG's bunker system was one of Zipper's actually good ideas: When a player spawns, they're inside the CRU. They get to look at the CRU in a third person perspective and decide when they want to exit. Worried about people camping in the CRU's? Just kick them if they stick around too long. It would be less safe than the MCC, anyways. If a player's in the CRU when it turns red? Kill them.
(3) Replace the current hacking rule set associated with CRU's with the one for letters, with the critical difference that a player can spawn on a CRU while it is in its "hacked-but-not-captured" state. Combined with the other changes, this should cement CRU's as full-fledged secondary objectives, rather than simple nuisances.
(4) Add an ISK variant of the hacked drop uplink. Whatever trepidation you might have about doing this, you're wrong.
Dust is a game about action, death, tactics, and fights. Public Skirmish ends up being more about setting the record for number of players who break out snipers on the first spawn of Manus Peaks.
I'd really like to see one of our only three game modes relevant again.
YARRRR
SPAWNS |