Vyzion Eyri
The Southern Legion
RISE of LEGION
517
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Posted - 2013.04.20 23:50:00 -
[1] - Quote
It'd be interesting. The soul of a game, as the OP notes, can be diluted by outsourcing. See Skyrim, for example. Not all the mods created by the community revolve around an epic storyline, dragons and the simply majestic nature of the open world. Most do, but not all. You could say, then, when players browse those mods and try them out, what Bethesda's core intentions for Skyrim are shunted to the side for the fun of the mod.
Here, though, crowdsourcing may have its place to an extent. In DUST, we're mercenaries. Typically, we fight for money. Why should our equipment not reflect that? If the cheapest dropsuit is a Frankenstein's monster of different bits and pieces of dozens of whole dropsuits, I'd use it. If I was a sniper, and that meant my helmet should be the smallest one, but I still needed equipment slots, hell, why can't I take a small frame dropsuit head and throw it on a medium frame dropsuit?
Mercenaries aren't militia soldiers or part of armies. We don't conform, nor do we wear a single uniform. To the extent that we could express individuality which actually affects the gameplay, that would be worth outsourcing. It'd enhance the immersion instead of detract from it, I'd say. And this way, matches would be so much more fun if each person's gun is unique to them. It'd make more sense that you couldn't simply pick up a dead person's weapon and use it without confusion, even if you could detach it from the dropsuit.
However, I suppose it should be mentioned that if everyone did have their own equipment, the ability for commanders to work their RTS game high above the battlefield will be severely impaired. Usually, "two fatties and logis" means exactly that. Two heavies who're supported by logibros. But with this, who's to know what the logis and heavies have equipped. Imagine a heavy suit wielding a heavy machine gun that has its bullets replaced by ammunition-resupplying nanites, spewing ammunition into the mass driving logibros, one of whose MDs is firing flux rounds, with the other heavy dual wielding prototype repair tools. To keep track of 16 unique mercenaries and create strategies to counter not only their movement, but also their equipment? Suddenly the position doesn't seem so appealing anymore.
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