@ OP: This is an outright horrible idea. Why? Because SLs and PLs that want to lead from the front lines already have a hard time doing both fighting and leading. Additional focus on them for being high value targets makes being leader an even harder job and less attractive. This idea might sound good on paper, but is contra productive all the way.
No. No one would mind a small XP bonus for killing squad or platoon leader, even if it's squad-wise. I'm pretty sure you can put xp bonuses on cooldowns too. Also, squad/platoon leader passive bonuses could be nice if done right. But it will never be done right, and thankfully SOE is probably not going to try this.
I am talking about leaders being marked as such. Some people even had they idea to make them glow a little...
I play PL quite a bit, and I'm down with getting a target on my ***. Why the hell not? I'm no weenie. I'm here for a fight, and so are my mates. They'll be down with covering me; especially, if they get a special buff for it. The devs have discussed adding missions. I think that could be great. PS2 can only benefit if the battle experience offered a wider range of objectives for players to peruse. Assassinations could absolutely work. Yes, on paper it sounds cool as hell to track and tag leaders. But, who says it has to be a worse experience for the leaders? With proper love in their direction, leaders shouldn't mind it one bit. And, it also depends on when infiltrators are permitted to assassinate them. We can't have a PL being spammed. PL will have to get a grace period, afterwards.
It would make more sense to keep the SL and PL bonuses objective- or leadership-based, for example the SL or PL highlighting an objective to cap and getting a little xp bonus for each squad member involved in taking it (or the entire squad benefiting with the SL getting a bigger slice)? I'm not sure how easily a squad could protect the SL if they were clearly marked to an infiltrator (thinking how many nooks, crannies and towers there are that would have to be checked when your squad is securing an amp station), but to even it out you could give the infiltrator a small 'bounty' (or maybe just move them straight to Extreme Menace level instead) every time he takes out an SL that would be granted anyone in the squad/platoon that kills him. That way if there's a sniper repeatedly causing issues for a squad there would be much more incentive for them to hunt him down.
Why have to mark them? Why not have the game automatically mark them after achieving 2000+ EXP/Extreme Menace title? The cool thing that u probably haven't thought of is marking them with a hat, or medal, but allowing each player to choose the kind of hat that appears (in the customization loadout) once this Extreme Menace title/rank has been achieved. "'Yeah Im a bad *** and see this hat? It means Im laughing at you. I dare you to try and kill me." lol
Maybe they could make it so that SL and PL only grant the said reward if killed with a knife or pistol. Talk about a challenge.
That would be more of a challenge, but until they give the inf more CQB survivability I think it would be too limiting. On the other hand, sniper range (especially with the render distance upgrades on Miller) might be a little bit too far the other way.
Do you mean that leaders should have unique outfit items (ie hats)? Or, do you mean that only enemy infiltrators should see this difference if they've ranked high enough? I prefer to see a custom look offered to leaders. One that changes their appearance to all players. For just infiltrators on an assassination mission, I'd like to see them get a special map icon to find the leader (once the leader has been marked/spotted)... and a special icon above the leader's head might be worth having, too. The time period for a marked (spotted) leader should be longer than a typical enemy spotting, but not so long that it ruins the leader's chances for surviving. It should make a leader sweat. Just not want to throw down his/her gun and say "get it over with".
I might be more in favor of giving only a bonus for method. Assassinations need to difficult no matter how you approach it. A sniper method shouldn't necessarily be easy. But, ya, an up close and personal melee kill should be the ultimate score. What if a knifed leader dropped something? What could it be? I agree that the Inf needs access to better melee weapons. Give us a laser sword or whatever. Something that can kill in one strike. I'll trade my pistol for that.
Before squad and platoon leaders have more bonuses other than commanding and setting waypoints I don't see a need for this. Also part of the theme of this game is death is meaningless since you only truly die if the last server containing your resurrection matrix or whatever its called is destroyed. Maybe I could see infiltrators having an ability where if they kill an enemy with a head shot it doubles(or just increases) the time the killed player has before they can respawn.
Being a squad/platoon leader has very few perks already, and there is really no benefit your team can get by killing a squad/platoon leader instead of a random guy.
I'm not usually this harsh but this idea is useless, the leader can still put down waypoints and give orders via voice chat all you will succeed at is pissing him off.
IMO it's a great concept but it needs to have some negative impact on the SL/PL apart from just dying because as the guy above me said, they can still do everything that can ordinarily do when they're dead. Something like squad members cannot spawn on beacons while the SL is dead, SLs can't spawn on their own beacons if PLs are dead etc. Also, I don't like the special terminal part - I think it should be that infiltrators get a different HUD marker when anyone on their team spots a SL/PL. Like a double arrow for SL and a star for PL. That way it's more of a tactical decision to take the shot while the person has been identified. Just my 2c
The best choice for a negative impact is tough to pin down. So many game breaking possibilities. Whatever penalty the victim's team receives has to make sense, and be fair. It should also be interesting. The only way I see it working is if the leaders get something new that can then be taken away (or just f'd with) for a brief period. Can't take away a team's ability to work together. So, give leaders a slight edge... Give 'em an extra thing they can do to help their team do more damage...or heal...or capture...or... something worthwhile. But, nothing over the top. That works, too. Less complicated. Would be fun. I still like finding ways to encourage players to, as Walken put it, "Explore the SPACE". That, and add another layer. It might also work to lessen the leader kill frenzy. Make it so there are period when leaders get a chance to catch their breath. Breaking it up should make the hunting period more predictable, more memorable.
