13 replies to this topic

[Tristan Winter]

On what maps does Domination contribute to new and different matches from what we had before?

Assuming that there are some maps where this "King of the hill" leads to new and interesting situations, which maps are those? And which maps have basically the same kind of gameplay whether it's Domination or Assault or Skirmish?

For example, I would suggest that Domination on River City leads to a lot of circling around the Citadel. And that's the sort of gameplay we've seen since River City was released in 2012, except now you've totally eliminated any incentive to move away from the Citadel. So on that map in particular, the addition of Domination is exclusively negative, in my humble opinion.

Your thoughts?

[Quicksilver Aberration]

It either focuses on a terrible place to play, or it is biased towards one team. Either way, I don't like it since most maps were not designed with KotH in mind. Now if they made it crazy KotH, then we can talk about interesting.

[Roadkill]

I'd say it makes for a different game on Polar Highlands, primarily because normally no one goes out into the vast white expanse in the center of the map. Domination forces the issue, and at least for me has led to a better understanding of the center of the map.

Basically, the center of the map isn't as bad as it looks on the mini map.

[Roughneck Cobra]

Domination is a failed game mode on every map Ive played it on, but PGI will still cram it down our throats for the 5% that do like it.

[Troutmonkey]

Quicksilver Kalasa, on 22 March 2016 - 12:29 PM, said:

It either focuses on a terrible place to play, or it is biased towards one team. Either way, I don't like it since most maps were not designed with KotH in mind. Now if they made it crazy KotH, then we can talk about interesting.

They really missed some good opportunities here. Instead of placing the cap point on the "middle" of the map they could have had it randomly appear in one of the lesser used portions of the map with player spawns to accommodate.

[Tristan Winter]

Troutmonkey, on 22 March 2016 - 03:00 PM, said:

They really missed some good opportunities here. Instead of placing the cap point on the "middle" of the map they could have had it randomly appear in one of the lesser used portions of the map with player spawns to accommodate.

I wonder if it would have been more fun to put the cap point along one of the edges on some maps. So instead of putting the cap point between the two opposing teams, it would form a kind of triangle where both teams are equidistant from the cap point and each other. Maybe it wouldn't work, I don't know.

[KrazedOmega]

Tristan Winter, on 22 March 2016 - 12:27 PM, said:

On what maps does Domination contribute to new and different matches from what we had before?

None.

Domination is just a worse version of Skirmish. It takes what everyone does already, fighting at the center of the map, and makes it mandatory. In a few cases one team has a disadvantage with their spawn points (like the southeastern team on Canyon) and the Domination point on Alpine is terrible. There's literally one small spot of cover in between G7 and G8 and that's it, the rest of the space is wide open.

PGI had a chance to make something interesting but instead chose to just slap a cap point at the center of each map where everyone goes already, and which is a horrible place on some maps, and call it a day.

Oh and while we're at it, lets talk about the new Skirmish spawn points on Alpine. They took some good advice, tweaked it, and make the western team spawn points even worse. The change was supposed to promote fighting in the lower part of the map but the eastern team spawn points are still too close to the hill and it can still be quickly and easily reached well before the western team can get anywhere close. Now the eastern team has the hill and a height advantage whereas the western team is stuck in the valley below or faces an even longer trip up to the hill than they did before. I really wish they would let us play test this stuff before just throwing it out there.

[Sergeant Random]

Grim Plexus in my experience has at least 2 domination points... so if other maps are pretty static with just 1 we can still hope PGI can add other random locations.

I like domination because it forces the playerbase to learn *firing line* versus *coordinated push*. God save the pugs...

[Lynx7725]

Domination turns Skirmish into something quite brutal from my limited experience.

In Skirmish, both teams have the luxury of being able to disengage and regroup if they find the opportunity. Such opportunities actually tend to occur in every game, maybe once or twice as the teams briefly engage and break off. Usually early game, or mid.

In Domination so far, it's a brutal bash, because neither side want to risk the other team being able to chip seconds off the counter. So both sides tend to stick in and brawl hard. Much more high intensity than Skirmish, where cooling ability is stressed more and is important.

The more obvious example for me is on Bog, where the typical Skirmish dances around the two hills with both sides trying to wear each other down. This becomes a brutal armoured bash in Domination as both sides ran headlong into each other. Whereas second-line, support units are more critical in Skirmish, in Domination the ability to concentrate heavy metal in a pointed manner is more important.

[AdrenaHawk]

Terra Therma benefits from Domination. Since the central area is the place where most of the fighting is anyway, making the central area the cap point means that people who don't push through the entrances aren't just indirectly responsible for losing matches anymore, they are the clear identifiable reason!

[TyphonCh]

KrazedOmega, on 22 March 2016 - 07:22 PM, said:

It takes what everyone does already, fighting at the center of the map, and makes it mandatory.

This pretty much sums it up. Some maps like HPG work well for it, because it's symmetrical. Or Terra, because everyone rushes mid anyway.

What they should have done... To make it a truly different game mode would be Crazy Hill where the cap circle will move to a different location of the map every 2 minutes or so. It would force the fighting to different locations of the map, and give a reason to run lights and mediums, to race for the point when it comes up

Edited by Team Chevy86, 23 March 2016 - 12:00 PM.

[Mo125]

I haven't had the luxury to play many domination games, but it seems as stated it's basically a different skirmish mode. I'm thinking domination would benefit from having 2 cap points on each map and both are required to be held for the timer to countdown. Not totally sure about being held with all 3 ways as it is now tho.

Of course it would probably never work due to this requiring (dare I say) teamwork! Just my 2 cents...

mo

[sycocys]

Really none of them as far as I can tell. They picked the worst locations on all the maps to try to force fights over, and at least half of them are unbalanced because one team can path to the zone well ahead of the other.

The mode has some promise, PGI obviously wasn't working on it nearly as long as they wanted us to believe they were.

[Roughneck Cobra]

Only map Ive seen it work is Mining collective, the rest seem be biased to one team getting better vantage points and getting to the point quicker to run the timer down.

PGI messed up a new game mode, who'd of thought?