132 replies to this topic

[Grus]

I do think the Droppships firepower could use a boost. They are just an annoying event for a few moments while you wait for the egg of cbills to drop from the chicken... one (did not) simply walk up to a enemy Droppship in the lore...

[nehebkau]

Grus, on 31 December 2016 - 11:16 AM, said:

I do think the Droppships firepower could use a boost. They are just an annoying event for a few moments while you wait for the egg of cbills to drop from the chicken... one (did not) simply walk up to a enemy Droppship in the lore...

Problem being, PGI has only had the urge to code 1 type of dropship -- so you can't have a *real* dropship in scouting or escort which means you get stuck with a crappy dropship in Invasion.

Would it be so hard to build a stationary Overlord-C dropship in the dropzones that mechs can walk out of -- rather than the whole fly-in crap?

wait -- if we did that then people would just hide in the dropzone... never mind

[Insanity09]

In a real war, you would not choose to drop into a hot zone, right on top of the enemy. That is asking to lose.
So, in the battletech universe, the dropships would see the drop zone overrun, and land a little farther away, so they, and their cargo, weren't under immediate fire. They'd have that power and intelligence. In this game design, we don't have that.

A goal in any game design is to prevent two things, rage quit and boredom quit.
Being spawn camped in any game invites rage quits. It is bad game design. When loading in/dropping there are always a few seconds of (dis)orientation (= vulnerability) that the unscrupulous can exploit. Yes, exploit, like a wall hack or similar, though not quite as egregious.

While I enjoy winning, I try not to indulge in schadenfreude (pleasure from others misfortune). To revel in spawn camping, to say "your tears are sweet", smacks of sadism, just sayin'.

[Willard Phule]

Grus, on 31 December 2016 - 11:16 AM, said:

I do think the Droppships firepower could use a boost. They are just an annoying event for a few moments while you wait for the egg of cbills to drop from the chicken... one (did not) simply walk up to a enemy Droppship in the lore...

The Leopard and the Leopard-C carried a hell of a lot more firepower than just a few ER Larges. Hell, they normally have a couple of aerospace assets as well.

Air support, aka "Air Strikes," could very well be an asset that the dropships could use, if PGI could program that kind of AI.

[nehebkau]

Willard Phule, on 31 December 2016 - 04:40 PM, said:

The Leopard and the Leopard-C carried a hell of a lot more firepower than just a few ER Larges. Hell, they normally have a couple of aerospace assets as well.

Air support, aka "Air Strikes," could very well be an asset that the dropships could use, if PGI could program that kind of AI.

Only problem with boosting the dropship is the inevitable "teams hiding in the dropzone".

[Clownwarlord]

I believe I have a solution for Quick Play drops in Faction Warfare, for the drop zone farming.

Instead of having drop ships that come in occasionally which allow the enemy team trying to farm to setup up to farm. How about having indestructible turrets surrounding the drop zone as well. Thus preventing the enemy from wanting to farm because they will get shot and there is nothing they can do to stop it other than LEAVE the other teams drop zone.

Now how could this be abused? Well the enemy team can get up in kills and then hide int heir drop zone. This would happen, because in the past it has happened in invasion game matches. But I have a solution for this. Remove Skirmish from Faction Warfare. Thus forcing the team trying to stay in their drop zone to come out to participate in the game mode. Like Domination if you stay in your drop zone you are not stopping the enemy team from capping out a victory instead. Same thing for conquest and assault game mode.

There problem solved.

Other issue you might run into is some of the caps might be to close to the drop zone if you follow my suggestion which would be solved easily by moving the drop zone or caps to better placement to prevent overlaps.

--- Edited ---

If I missed anything let me know because maybe if we come out with a correction that would or will work maybe we can suggest it to PGI and get it in game. Because drop zone farming has been an issue since faction warfare came out. That is why drop ships received large lasers, that is why they received insane range at one time, and that is why there has been some other changes to address the issue.

Edited by Clownwarlord, 31 December 2016 - 05:28 PM.

[Dee Eight]

Grus, on 31 December 2016 - 11:16 AM, said:

I do think the Droppships firepower could use a boost. They are just an annoying event for a few moments while you wait for the egg of cbills to drop from the chicken... one (did not) simply walk up to a enemy Droppship in the lore...

Also how come in escort mode the dropship regularly kill MANY mechs... but not in faction warfare.

[David Sumner]

nehebkau, on 31 December 2016 - 05:09 PM, said:

Only problem with boosting the dropship is the inevitable "teams hiding in the dropzone".

1. Are there enemies in the drop zone Y/N. If Y continue
2. Are there friendlies in the drop zone Y/N If N continue.

Drop 2 - 4 air strikes in zone to detonate 3 seconds before 'mechs land

[David Sumner]

Commander A9, on 30 December 2016 - 06:22 PM, said:

I appreciate your understanding of where the fault lies.

I don't think Faction Warfare is dead. Not really. People still play it. It's not dead until its player count crashes to zero.

...

I play it.
When PGI are giving away prizes for playing it that are gettable without a win.
Like now.
Because losing 85% of the time is ... less than fun.
4 PUGs IS vs 4 Clan PUGs, maybe win 50% Problem is that most scouting matches (for instance) are not Clan PUGs

[VATER]

This is a game...blablabla.

There is many games and we play them to win...be it ONLINE or in RL. You just do not spent hours of practice to then hold back.

[Jumping Gigolo]

what's wrong with spawncamping? I re-read the game rules and the Code of Conduct but i cannot see any clause stating that spawncamping is an exploit or a "wrong act". So what's all the commotion here regarding spawncamping?

And its so fun shooting mechs while in mid-air

[Willard Phule]

nehebkau, on 31 December 2016 - 05:09 PM, said:

Only problem with boosting the dropship is the inevitable "teams hiding in the dropzone".

And rightly so.

You must remember that the main people that are crying about being camped are the ones that actually GET camped. Meaning special snowflake potatoes.

The dropzones should be a region of death for the other team. It needs to be a "safe space" for them. With coloring books and safety pins and everything. Maybe there should even be a Tier 5 specific map where the drop zones are within LRM range of each other so they can stay safe in spawn, but still be able to lock targets and make the woosh.

[CharlieChap]

Its not a lot of fun when one side is 'routed' and the endgame comes down to spawn camping.....frankly for either side (unless you are of a sadistic/sociopathic bent.)

A fairly simple solution would be to add an 'Abort' button next to the 'Drop' button in the dropdeck selction screen between mechs. From that point onwards the player becomes a spectator.

This way players in a side that is soundly beaten can choose to voluntarily stop dropping. No longer the frustration of getting wrecked before your feet even touch the ground, or the tedium of having to spawn camp to end a game that is effectively over and the game will end quickly and cleanly.

[Dee Eight]

The game recognises key-strokes during the drop (its possible for example to trigger the missile bay doors on an archer as you leave the dropship)...so you can just drop holding the K.....giving spawn campers less than the usual 3 seconds before ejection to kill you. Any who do hit you at best will manage kill assists and kmdd's but no solo kills or killing blows to boost their ratios.

Edited by Dee Eight, 01 January 2017 - 08:45 AM.

[nehebkau]

Jumping Gigolo, on 01 January 2017 - 04:28 AM, said:

what's wrong with spawncamping? I re-read the game rules and the Code of Conduct but i cannot see any clause stating that spawncamping is an exploit or a "wrong act". So what's all the commotion here regarding spawncamping?

And its so fun shooting mechs while in mid-air

as we have said 1000 times, usually the people being spawn-camped are the newbies to FW and the experience of repeated spawn-camps makes them leave FW and never return. Without adding new players the game-mode runs out of players as there are always a slight bleed of players from any game mode. Think of it as a population that is having no new children.

We are all in agreement that it isn't against the rules and that the whole issue is PGI's fault for not building something more than the "we can code this in 5 minutes" solution.

Edited by nehebkau, 01 January 2017 - 09:22 AM.

[CK16]

Considering how I prefer to DC in our drops...I do not encourage drop zone farming, cutting off the reinforcements yes, but playing a game of can you kill a mech before it hits the ground is very dishonorable to me.

Even at the end I try to have our group make a circle around the drop zone and allow or a 1v1 as long as they stay in the circle. It's not fun to focus fire someone down in less then 5 secs.

[David Sumner]

Marquis De Lafayette, on 26 December 2016 - 09:20 AM, said:

...that can be through getting objectives (like gens) or in many modes killing the other team as fast as possible, which can seem brutal... but they want to move on to another game as well and killing quick does that...

All good points.
But
Typical short sighted human inability to predict long term consequences.
Plus (from others here)
Refusal to accept data that contradicts their own view (much like in politics).

NM.

[David Sumner]

Commander A9, on 29 December 2016 - 04:54 PM, said:

So because we win...

...we're part of the problem?

Therefore...to fix the problem...we should start losing so people find the game to be more "fair..."

Don't you remember when the major teams would switch sides and then the map would flip by occupation?

Sorry, pal. Not my job to make sure everyone has a fair game.

It's my job to help my team win.

Enough whining.

No.
Learn to read.
Because you win
"SWITCH SIDES TO GET ACTUAL WORTHY OPPONENTS"

Hell.
Maybe this would be a simple fix.

When you drop, put ALL the dropping mechs in one dropship until it is filled.
Drop them at the zone furthest from the enemy.
Fill the next dropship
Drop it at the next closest

That way you are LEAST likely to get spawn camped
and MOST likely to at least have some backup.

[Stormie]

CK16, on 01 January 2017 - 09:45 AM, said:

. It's not fun to focus fire someone down in less then 5 secs.

Probably explains why you think the IS LPL is broken.
Focus fire is king!

[Natural Predator]

[Redacted]

Edited by draiocht, 02 January 2017 - 08:31 AM.
unconstructive