back in MAG squad leaders could call for anti-infantry bombardments, special bombs that would set on fire vehicles and a lot of other tools, same for platoon and company leaders, who could also disable the enemy ability to set waypoints. they could be kicked from squad leading if the majority of the team wanted it, they could set waypoints that granted their squad DOUBLE exp when conquering/killing/healing/repairing within their range, they could easily target enemy vehicles so the entire squad could locate it and get double exp from the kill, they generally got a bunch of exp from leading, in a way that a lot of ppl wanted to lead, and the only way to do it without being kicked by the team was getting good at leading. in ps2 no1 wants to squad lead, there is pmuch no reward for leading, there is no reward for following orders, there is no reason to be good at leading, there is no reason to be good at organization, there is no reason to try something different from zerging the enemy. we have lot of tools that feel like placeholders (attack/defence markers anyone?), right now I think no1 would join a squad if not for the passive exp gain boost, unless you play with your outfit. we need to motivate people to go for sunderers when defending, we need people to roll liberators and drop fire where is needed, so much can change if we change how the game deals with squads and platoon leadership. IMHO, SL should get a good amount of exp upon conquering/defending a base related to the amount of/quality of players in his squad, so he will have a reason to have a full squad, and passive exp boost should be increased and obtained only when operating where the squad waypoint is (in a to-be-decided area), in this way no1 will enter a squad where the SL does nothing and he will be motivated to be good at leading if he wants the exp boost. squad and platoon leaders should have the ability to set special time-limited markers on the map, one every ~5 minutes, lasting ~5 minutes, where he requests ground armor OR air armor support. the units requested should get exp boost from killing stuff, engineers should get exp boost for supporting requested units etc. just imagine where we could be now if a system like this would have been implemented from the start and be optimized and refined for years. what u guys think?
The squad leader is supposed to serve as a rapid deployment taxi. That is their only purpose and function in Planetside 2. Need to get your entire squad to a base on the other side of the map that is already overpoped with your forces? Send your squad lead there.
I'm all for it. Though the larger issue is a lack of meta game. PL/SLs tend to burn out fast due to lack of purpose. Territory/resources needs to mean something if we want people to care about it.
Good squad leaders with good teammates is the most dangerous threat of Planetside 2. It's called a tactical squad, or tacticool. Squad leaders have access to : - leader channel for cooperation - /order to give order to the whole continent - markers - squad beacon Good squad leaders give objectives, decide what their squad will do next (a gal drop ? a vehicle squad ? hold this building ?). I have already led open squads like this, it's exhausting but feasible.
I remember when it gave no XP, no ribbons, and couldn't easily ban trolls in open squads. I remember because it was several months ago.
Well you tend to win more, with a good one. But yes, look at Planeside 1 and see all the command stuff that didn't make it to Planetside 2 (along with all the engineering stuff, vehciles, lattice, continents, doors, weapons etc. etc.).
Totally agree... Organization and teamwork is supposed to be the heart and soul of this game, but as it stands there are no incentives to nudge you in that direction. In a well designed game it should be happening naturally. There is a bunch of showstopper problems: - the spawn beacon. People pass around leadership a hundred times a night because it lets you deploy unlimited beacons. This must get fixed for "squad leader" to ever mean anything, because currently you'd just severely **** yourself to not exploit this. (it might just be to keep mechanics as they are but just let anyone put down a beacon) - No ingame incentives to squadlead. WHAT A WASTE!! Squadleading (well) is demanding and tiring, but rewarding for everyone by making for better gameplay, but currently squadleading is ONLY a burden on an individual with no payback aside from possibly some outside-the-game recognition. This means that few people bother to lead, and those that do get burned out fast. I don't know why they did away with command-ranks (from PS1). Even if the CR rewards were purely status-stuff instead of orbital bombards and such, it would at least give some recognition to the best leaders and a reason to keep doing it. Same thing when it comes to outfits and outfit-captured bases. Outfits should be able to level up based on squads/platoons making points under their name - gaining abilities and/or status with actual effects. Then it would actually matter to be the outfit that captured a base, as it would count towards something, - instead of something utterly trivial like it is now. Also the mission system... I mean ... talk about the mother of unfinished mechanics... such wasted potential. SOE/Daybreak has this weird unfocused way of starting to work on ideas that might actually be good - and then completely forgetting about it by the time they reach 10-15% completion... -Stigma
I think main reason why people get burned out by squad leading is because most players don't follow orders. I think it is a bad habit from other FPS which condition you to chase after kills instead of following the squad leader and holding squad formation.
They don't follow orders because they don't see an immediate reward for their actions. A New player should be motivated to kill that sunderer if the squad/platoon leader says so, even if he doesnt know what is it. right now there's no communication and new players don't even know they have to go for sunderers while defending.
I agree but I still think root cause of this behavior is extreme focus on killing stuff. I see this pattern in other games. People go all Leeroy Jenkins into the enemy and chase kills. Their attention is on killing stuff rather than helping their teammates survive (which funny enough tends to give you more kills than going Rambo) I'm sure if most players would focus on following the squad leader and holding proper squad formation in order to minimize casualties all other stuff would get auto-fixed.
