3
For far too long we have witnessed the flame war that has arisen out of the High Pinpoint Alpha meta-game. Many of you have proposed radical changes to the heat system, targeting mechanics aswell as the fine tuning of particular weapons such as the PPC. I think it is time for a real, easily implementable system that will finally address this most confounding of issues.
I believe of speak on behalf of the community when I say that the PPC is ultimately the crux of the problem, as it is easily used in conjunction with other weapons such as the Gauss, which has now created the ultimate cookie-cutter build:2xPPC +Gauss, largely on Victors and Highlanders.
The reason why this build is so powerful is because all weapons converge perfectly on the target, and in the hands of a competent player, will efficiently destroy Side-Torsos on XL, Leg 'Mechs and even Cockpit fairly easily.
The solution I am about to propose is not only lore friendly(PPCs are unstable charged bolts of energy with immense power), but has appreciable potential for satisfying, skill based gameplay.
PPCs should be "charge and release".
Making PPCs charge and release will require players to first prep their PPCs before firing the weapons(think "Dum dum dum dum dum-CHTHOINK"). Onomatopoeia aside, this change could have profoundly beneficial gameplay impacts.
-Assuming Left Click as our binding, you can either click once and wait for charge sequence to complete before clicking again to release the charged projectile, or you can click, hold and let go-whatever is more comfortable for you.
-PPCs released before charging sequence is complete will do damage scaling from 1-10, depending on how far in the charge sequence you released at. Supposing we set the "charge time at 2 seconds(easily changable just an example(!)), releasing your primed PPCs at the 1 second mark will do 5 damage, while releasing at the end will do the full, 10 damage.
-Finally, and this part I see as optional but potentially viable, prepped PPCs will slowly begin to build heat, proportional to how many PPCs are currently prepped. This means you cannot simply hold charged PPCs forever, as the immense power and intensity of the weapon systems places you under pressure to get the projectile down range! However, I would imagine the heat creep should be relatively low all things considered.
So how will this affect our gameplay?
- Convergence-Charging the PPCs first means that the 2xPPC+Gauss build is largely hampered right off the bat, as players will no longer immediately be able to produce an opportunistic 35 damage pinpoint-Alpha as naturally, the PPCs will have to come after the Gauss slug once charged unless they have already been prepped.
-Poptarting will also become slightly more challenging, as players will have to prep their PPCs before, or even mid jump before firing, making timing a more integral part of this combat strategy.
-Scouting: Additionally, tentative scouts popping over a dubious ridge to test for targets will not be immediately punished by an onslaught of PPC+Gauss to the face and CT(unless the enemy has "pre-prepped" their PPCs in waiting, in which case they are slowly building heat), as there will be a small grace window to retreat before the walls of energy come slamming in.
At this stage I'd like to draw your attention to what this weapon mechanic could potentially look like in terms of charging, though not the nature of the released projectile:
Go to 0:40
This excerpt from Doom 3 shows a powerful energy weapon, the BFG 9000, being prepped and charged before the release of the projectile. You will have to imagine that instead of a slow moving Orb of green, that the released projectile on a 'Mech is a fast streak of blue energy
.
Not only does this solution address many of the community concerns in terms of gameplay balance, but a would allow for some pretty cool looking animations, as a highly visible, blue electrical charge starts to build on your opponents PPCs, indicating they're prepping to shoot you.
I hope you will agree that this is an interesting, easy to implement weapon mechanic that will deal with much of the cheesy gameplay we're seeing now, whilst still preserving the viability of the weapon as a powerful alternative to ballistics. I am highly curious to see your feedback on this, it took me a while to write up!
Edited by C12AZyED, 05 August 2013 - 04:31 AM.
