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[AeusDeif]

Hear me out. There has been talk in the town halls about having all game modes 'mandatory' and your pre-launch choice would only be considered a 'vote'. This is undesirable. Also there is a problem with assault mode -- capping is basically griefing players, who may wait some time only to join a match that ends in a no-fun, low reward way. Conquest is similarly avoided because the caps are basically a distraction in a game that is centered on mech vs. mech combat. The design of these game modes has moved away from the majority of the gameplay features. Aside from mech vs. mech there is only mech vs. turret, which have now been removed. So the idea of forcing everyone to play assault/conquest is really forcing people to play game modes that are underdeveloped and not incentivized.

Here is my solution: Put every objective on every map. Instead of choosing a game mode before launching, players choose their mechs' role, and this will determine their 'mission' in game instead of the game mode. That will then determine how they interact with the objectives, what they are rewarded for and how much. Each lance should share a single role to help coordination.

This will eliminate the burden of matchmaker dealing with split queues for different modes. Instead, matchmaker will balance mech roles on one team vs. another. But it will be working with a larger population, and players might be allowed to select a secondary or tertiary role to give matchmaker more options for where to put them, further speeding up MM.

Now about roles. As I see it with the resources we have right now, These are the main aspects of gameplay:

1. Pushing aggressively into an area
2. Camping defensively in an area
3. Close fire support (think lights defending assaults from other lights)
4. Long range fire support (lrms and snipers)
5. Capturing enemy resources
6. Defending friendly resources
7. Infiltration/Evasion
8. Interception
9. Destroying fixed defenses/buildings
10. (possible - capturing fixed defenses/buildings, mechcommander style)
11. (possible - hunting a specific mech or mech type, or defending it, or surviving as that mech/mech type)

It seems to me that roles and rewards can easily be based on these parts of the game. Every role can have an 'anti role' directly opposed to it, as well as simply competing with enemies that have the same role and same objective. Here are some tentative ideas for roles.

• 1. An Aggressor is given a certain area to take, and is rewarded for dealing damage and destroying mechs -in that area-
  
• 2. An Occupier/Defender is given a certain area to defend, and is rewarded for taking damage and surviving over time while in that area.
  
• 3. An Escort is given a certain lance to defend, and is rewarded for dealing damage to and killing mechs which damage that lance, as well as for staying in close proximity to that lance.
  
• 4. A Fire Supporter is given a certain lance to support, and is rewarded for damaging/destroying enemies which are closest to that lance. more rewards the closer the enemy is.
  
• 5. A Salvager (pirate?) is given buildings to capture similar to conquest mode buildings, but for this to be compelling you may need to implement some sort of salvaging dropship to fly in and claim the resources after a set period of time.
  
• 6. A Guard is given -capturable- buildings to protect from salvagers and is rewarded for time spent 'counter capping' (stopping the cap bar)
  
• Note: for 5 and 6, an end-of-match reward for total buildings the team possesses, could be shared with the whole team to encourage teamwork.
  
• 7. An Infiltrator is given an array of buildings to scan to find intel. Similar to capturing in that scanning takes time. However the enemy team is not notified -until the intel is found- which then must be 'hacked' (like capping). The infiltrator is rewarded for escaping to a friendly dropsite and downloading the intel. This could be repeated at multiple sites for multiple rewards.
  
• 8. An Interceptor is given an array of buildings to protect intel from and is notified if intel is located. The interceptor is rewarded for damaging, destroying, or merely legging the infiltrator (possible: upon destruction the infiltrator drops its intel and the infiltrator may 'cap' and return it)
  
• 9. A Destroyer is given buildings to disable or destroy and is rewarded more the sooner it destroys them. Also rewarded for damage taken from base defenses.
  
• 10. A Conqueror is given buildings to capture, whether they start out in enemy possession or unpossessed. Sensors, turrets, and gates working for team are their own reward.
  
• 11. Survivors and Mech Hunters - should be pretty obvious, a Survivor gives the entire team a reward if survives, and Mech Hunters are rewarded for destroying a survivor -- would be interesting if it were a hero mech.

Of course more roles might be made plausible by inserting more game elements, like more dropships, more dynamic bases, AI infantry and vehicles, etc. But the basic idea is to work with the basics of combat without cutting combat short and without removing incentives. Matches should continue until all 'primary objectives' have either succeeded or failed and teammates should share some reward for the success of eachothers' primary objectives.

Finally, in past MW games there have been primary, secondary, and tertiary objectives. Some of these roles compliment eachother, so a player should be able to select more than one role (say, up to 3). Whether the MM awards the player an objective for each role depends on whether it can put them with a lance that can utilize that role (more role overlap is better). Once in match, the UI should inform them of their objectives. In game there could be some tooltip explaining roles or recommending what class, speed, and weapon range your mech should have for that role. Academy could also be useful for introducing new players to roles. The more technical roles might need to be unlocked by the player as they progress through the simpler roles and learn the ropes.

Edited by AeusDeif, 24 October 2015 - 11:07 AM.