24 replies to this topic

[TemperWolf]

One of the biggest tragedies I witness in so many matches is the utter lack of Experience Points some people merit just because they aren't getting any kills. So I figure there should be some form of alternative goal for people to achieve during a match, but there needs to be some specifics involved to make it work.

Experience Point Pods

• In random locations during Deathmatches, which means locations that are cannot be recorded and tracked by long-time players --- Experience Point Pods will burst open on the battlefield. Like golden orbs that appear after killing a mech, these can be green, significantly larger orbs that ping on the map.
  
• Orbs are not instantly collected, like orbs which repair you -- you need to be stationary need the orb as you siphon experience points from it
  
• Why would this be a good idea_ To give people who are losing something to do if they feel winning is impossible -- also gives them reason to avoid certain hotter zones of the map camped by higher ranking players.

Restrictions of the Pods

• Leading Rank 1 players cannot acquire Experience Orbs.
  
• Orbs do not even appear on the Rank 1 player's screen or radar, so he/she can't camp them.
  
• People who collect Orbs can only gather so much experience per 2 minutes.
  
• Only a handful of Orbs should appear on the map at one time.
  
• Orbs should only appear in inactive portions of the map.
  
• The lower your rank, the sooner the orbs will appear on your radar. Ranges reduces as you gain rank.
  
• Orbs give 250 Experience points total. If it is siphoned off by another players, yet still remains -- the orb will only retain what Experience it has left.
  
• Once the Orb has been touched by a player for a siphon, it begins to decay and will vanish in 1 minute even if that player doesn't siphon all 250 exp.
  
• Orbs can be completely consumed in just a handful of seconds.

Other Modes

• Random Locations: Deathmatches.
  
• Team Deathmatch: Orbs have a chance of dropping from a winning team's mech, and can only be accessed by the lowest ranking players during the match and decay in 1 minute.
  
• Missile: No Exp Pods or Orbs.
  
• Siege: No Exp Pods or Orbs.

Edited by TemperWolf, November 23 2012 - 09:39 AM.

[Frenotx]

The concept is interesting, but I'm not a fan of the execution. I don't like the simplicity of mysterious little orbs. I'd much rather see small devices that a player can interact with. Come up with some little mini-objective, of sorts. Perhaps small drones that can be shot down_

[TemperWolf]

Well, Orbs might be a good way to test the idea before dedicating resources towards making drones and activated objects etc.

They already have gold orbs that appear when people die, why not just add some greens ones to random locations to see if the idea actually sticks to people_

Edited by TemperWolf, November 23 2012 - 09:32 AM.

[-Lone_Wolf-]

That is an intresting suggestion but I dont belive it rather fair for anyone getting more xp because they ran around the map collecting them vs a team that is working together and sticking in a group and taking out targets quickly and decicivly.

If your in a balanced game as far as teams are concernd and you are losing badly to the other team it is not always just because the other team has more experiance, its also the lack of teamwork and grouping up of your own team. I can guarantee you no matter how much experiance one has it will not change the outcome of 5 mech rushing in at the same time and targeting it or catching it alone and spereated from its pack.

I do belive however there should be few more options for team commands and exp rewards for team play rather than just runing around alone or camping to score a kill, unless well its just Deathmatch.

[TemperWolf]

-Lone_Wolf-, on November 23 2012 - 09:32 AM, said:

That is an intresting suggestion but I dont belive it rather fair for anyone getting more xp because they ran around the map collecting them vs a team that is working together and sticking in a group and taking out targets quickly and decicivly.

Due to my personal favoring of Deathmatches, I humbly admit I did have this idea in mind for Deathmatches -- let me edit.

[Manoloco]

So, instead of learning and practicing the mechanics of the game so the pilots get better, they would be given almost free XP, this could work for MMORPGS but i dont think it would be that good in an FPS, people learn to play and get better at the game, thats the idea of a fast paced dogfight.

If everything is easy then you will have a game were people gain more XP but dont learn skills, it think it would end in a less fun game.

[TemperWolf]

The idea is to inspire low level rankers to isolate themselves to fight each other and learn in a crowded match of higher level players. They will learn, but it gives them reason to particulate in the match and also reason to avoid the best player.

It's not just GIVING them free EXP, they will likely have to fight to get claim of the orb and still have to sit still to siphon it, which is risky. If you purely leave them with just the option to fight high level players to exp, then they'll likely get turned off of the game and not learn very easily because they will keep getting killed before they can get a handle on things.

This is a not a recommendation to handhold lowbies, it's a recommendation to spread out numbers in a deathmatch so everyone isn't clustered up into one place. Spreading out people will mean more 1v1 encounters and people will start to learn the game faster.

[Titzilla]

This leads to people abusing this by finding where an exp drop is, then camping it. This only serves to make whoever tries to get it get killed more. Also trying to make people AVOID the best player just sounds silly. If you're playing deathmatch, you're going to be in dogfights all the time, or enemies will find you. Running to avoid people doesn't work too well in deathmatch. Not to mention, if everyone is running away from the top players, it just makes the entire match boring and slow.

[AsianJoyKiller]

I'm not a fan of giving people objectives that have little or nothing to do with the main objective.
It only detracts from good gameplay.

[Beemann]

I'm not interested in promoting XP farming in deathmatch games, as much as I generally couldn't give two fuzzy bunnies about the gamemode
You should be rewarding players for playing well, not for losing and then playing Farmville to make up for it

Edited by Beemann, November 23 2012 - 02:41 PM.

[Necro]

Another idea for this possibly. Perhaps only the bottom players are able to even SEE the exp so they are the only ones that know it exists and the only ones who can gather it. Also change it from an orb to a randomly generated area and if one of the low level players dies in the area it's moved. This will give people who are going 2-10 something to do and someone to fight near there skill level.

[NotKjell]

[ItsThatGuy]

TemperWolf, on November 23 2012 - 09:17 AM, said:

• Orbs are not instantly collected, like orbs which repair you -- you need to be stationary need the orb as you siphon experience points from it

You have to stand on repair orbs and EU drops to collect the full amount. If you just run over it, you leave some of it behind.

To me, the experience orb mechanic you suggest already exists in the form of the repair orbs since these will help you acquire more XP, though not directly.  But I must admit, I never play deathmatch.

[z121231211]

TemperWolf, on November 23 2012 - 09:17 AM, said:

Why would this be a good idea_ To give people who are losing something to do if they feel winning is impossible -- also gives them reason to avoid certain hotter zones of the map camped by higher ranking players.

You know what they could also do if they felt winning was impossible_ Damage and Kill mechs to get XP and HP. They can't win, but the encouragement to at least try is there. Maybe in a different game mode (change EXP Orb to EU for Siege and we're going somewhere) but this is DM/TDM. You learn how to play the game better by killing and being killed.

[TemperWolf]

You guys who are making little comments towards mine, like "maybe only the lower ranks can see them" and "people will just camp them".

I already stated in the first post, it needs to be TRUE RANDOMIZATION so they CANNOT BE CAMPED.

Second: I also stated that ONLY LOW RANK PLAYERS will be able to SEE the Orbs so that way it's a non-issue of being stalked by higher level players watching orbs.

Finally: 250 Exp an Orb with 2 minute restriction (in a crowded match of 10 people) in a 15 minute match is only 2000 exp. And that is only assume one person can safely collect all the orbs.

I get the feeling you guys are being overly negative towards what actually is a pretty good idea.

Edited by TemperWolf, November 24 2012 - 09:44 AM.

[RipperT]

I think a simpler method for new players to gain experience without losing interest ar getting frustrated would be to have some match servers in the training section of the game with a time limit, of say one week or less, to allow them to get used to the game mechanics and battle other new players.

[Dreizehn]

Eh. Not a fan of coddly woddling the weak. They just stay weak that way.

Honestly, if you're not as good a player in a straight up fight - you should either practice more, or just play dirty. Hide, wait till fights happen, join them! Kill steal! Only pick on weakened opponents!

And heck, you can accumulate EXP in Siege and MA by doing those objectives.

[Analysis]

TemperWolf, on November 23 2012 - 09:17 AM, said:

One of the biggest tragedies I witness in so many matches is the utter lack of Experience Points some people merit just because they aren't getting any kills. So I figure there should be some form of alternative goal for people to achieve during a match, but there needs to be some specifics involved to make it work.

Experience is based on how much damage you do(assuming no objectives). So if you kill a mech completely you get around 120 exp. If you do half health and someone kills the other half you get around 60 exp. The people that have higher exp means they are doing more damage during the match. If you want to get more exp I recommend moving around the map. Also don't be afriad of going solo or trying to flank a mech pack. If you want more exp in a match you just need to be more active.

[Beemann]

TemperWolf, on November 24 2012 - 09:43 AM, said:

I already stated in the first post, it needs to be TRUE RANDOMIZATION so they CANNOT BE CAMPED.

People will just look around the map for them
Why bother fighting people who are better than you when you can just play farmville and get more XP than you normally would
Why bother even getting better amiright_

TemperWolf, on November 24 2012 - 09:43 AM, said:

Second: I also stated that ONLY LOW RANK PLAYERS will be able to SEE the Orbs so that way it's a non-issue of being stalked by higher level players watching orbs.

Why not just give them their own queue up until a certain level (e.g. until level 10 you're in the newbie queue, at the end of which you get enough points for your second mech and you get to join the big kids)

TemperWolf, on November 24 2012 - 09:43 AM, said:

Finally: 250 Exp an Orb with 2 minute restriction (in a crowded match of 10 people) in a 15 minute match is only 2000 exp. And that is only assume one person can safely collect all the orbs.

That's a pretty impressive amount of XP for doing NOTHING

TemperWolf, on November 24 2012 - 09:43 AM, said:

I get the feeling you guys are being overly negative towards what actually is a pretty good idea.

We're being negative because it's a terrible idea that gives people incentive to not fight, and to a certain extent trivializes trying hard unless you top the scoreboard

[ReachH]

People who are better get better faster. Sounds good to me. This might just be yet another case of people wanting to turn this game into a rpg.

Edited by ReachH, November 24 2012 - 04:44 PM.