SOE plans to monetize KDR.

Discussion in 'PlanetSide 2 Gameplay Discussion' started by BuzzCutPsycho, Mar 20, 2013.

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  1. BuzzCutPsycho

    SOURCE: http://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/index.php?threads/unscheduled-k-d-wipe-item.106330/ (Go down vote that)

    $7.00 weapons and $5.00 cosmetics aren't enough SOE? Monthly memberships not enough? Still trying to get blood from the rapidly eroding stone that is your loyal and paying PS2 player base? I'm not shocked.

    K/D is a cancerous stat that should have never been introduced into PlanetSide 2. PlanetSide 2 isn't a TDM or ticket based capture system where dying or getting kills directly determines the outcome of a battle yet you continue to track this stat.

    The community has been asking you to remove this worthless statistic since tech test yet you've kept it without giving a real reason why until now. You plan to monetize a worthless stat so that players can wipe it and re-pad it up thus making an already worthless stat even more worthless.

    The gaming world has a terrible culture precedent where the barometer of player skill is by default kills-per-death. Try this trick at home - play a session of PS2 or just ask another player how well he did. The vast majority of the time players will read their K/D stat. They will rarely read their score, and almost never cite how many bases they captured/defended. Years of early session shooters have erroneously trained us that the K/D stat is important. Some people think it needs to be present. It does not, and the game will be better off without it.

    The danger K/D poses for PlanetSide 2 is that it discourages risk-taking which leads to derisive game-play. Taking risks increases your chances of incrementing the death stat, which sends the K/D in the wrong direction. Taking objectives, helping other players, being the first man to assault a defended position - these are all behaviors that are discouraged by the promotion of K/D. This is one reason many players will resort to being relatively useless and sit back and snipe so they can preserve their stats rather than assault a well-defended position. If it's a good farm they will have no interest at all in advancing objectives, preferring instead to sit back and rack up stats.
    If the "death" stat were not shown on a score-board or leader-board then you would see significantly more teamwork and objective-based play in PlanetSide 2. It is as simple as this - when there is no perceived penalty for taking risks you will see more risk taking. Risk taking is good in games and especially so in a teamwork environment to keep the game from stagnating. The only thing K/D teaches players is that they should avoid risks. It is a selfish stat which when promoted leads to poor game-play and derisive player behavior.

    The developers of PlanetSide 2 had an opportunity to leverage the priming to influence the game by promoting stats that encourage the behaviors they want to see in game. But choosing any simple stats is meaningless and squanders this opportunity. The best stat for developers to promote is score because it is abstract, defined by the developers, and they can directly control what influences it. Simple stats like kills, captures, and K/D cannot be influenced; they are crisply defined constructs. Score is malleable. For example, if the devs which to encourage more captures, they can increase the score value of a capture. If they want to encourage more kill streaks, then they can increase the kill streak score bonus. If they want to encourage more ammo dropping by engineers they can add score for kill assists from people who were recently given ammo, and/or the score value when ammo is received.

    Score is a universal stat that is defined by the developers and can therefore be controlled by the developers. It is a tremendous opportunity not only to create a universal calibration of how effective a PlanetSide 2 player is, but it also allows the developers to change the impact each action has on it. Playing with medics and utilizing squad spawn and teamwork would be the best way to maximize score. The possibilities are rich here for PlanetSide 2 to influence what players perceive as important and aggregate many similar types of game-play together.

    Deaths as a stat need to be gutted from the game. It is a negative thing that discourages risk taking; just get rid of it. With it goes K/D, and in its place a universal developer-controlled stat can exist.

    Please understand the power that stats have on player behavior. It isn't simply information; it influences the way the game is played. Don't blindly follow tradition and squander an opportunity to set the tone and influence player behavior in PlanetSide 2.
    • Up x 330
  2. ThundaHawkPS

    By far without a doubt the worst idea ever.

    What SOE really needs to do is rework the way score works, separate it from exp gain (so exp boosts don't skew score) and use score as the primary statistic. Capping spawns and securing generators is currently worth about 1/10th what it should be.

    Also, jump pads

    We need more jump pads
    • Up x 20
  3. DemoEvolved

    I endorse pay to reset kdr. Because that is the dumbest thing to waste money on. And anyone that pays for that deserves to have their money taken away.
    • Up x 59
  4. LordMondando

    KDR means jackety **** anyhow.

    So its just enough pointless vanity item. Whats wrong with that? You want a flash looking helmet, SC plox, you want a clean meaningless stat sheet, SC plox.

    Here's how you make this a non-issue. Stop caring about K/D. Wow, suddenly I don't need to pay a penny.

    Indeed, if anything taking away this ridiculous notion that the people with high k/d are good at this game, by making it an open question whether they paid for it. Finally solves the problem.
    • Up x 19
  5. Reventine

    Battlefield 3 did this and it only helped stat padders who ran metro 24/7 make themselves look much better than they could ever wish to be.
    • Up x 2
  6. Riftmaker

    Oh wow,can't even believe they are planning such a thing. Oh wait,we're talking about $OE. Nvm,my bad. In a team based game K/D shouldn't exist in the first place but now they even plan to monetize it...starting to feel bad i spent money on this game... this is what i paid for? This is what i helped fund?
    • Up x 5
  7. Sturmwaffles

  8. CaligoIllioneus

    Well said. I see this every day, with countless people sitting on their spawn fortresses trying to shoot through the doors and windows while they could try to actually go out and make a difference, for example.
    • Up x 6
  9. GSZenith

    oh come on..., brb making 4134123acc to downvote it.
    • Up x 1
  10. Hosp

    Implemented or not. Irrelevant for most. And those that want it, let them pay and support SOE. I'll support them in that regard.
    • Up x 10
  11. BalogDerStout

    Pretty sure my K/D is .5 or so.

    Now ask my team if I'm an asset or a liability.

    I also play Medic in TF2, which has a much better score system IMO
    • Up x 5
  12. VKhaun

    This.

    SOE already knows they need to separate XP and score and once they do that score per hour will be the best judge, since it will include support actions, target quality (tank vs guy on the ground), and naturally fall if the person dies a lot when they shouldn't or wastes time/hides/runs/camps to avoid dying.

    KDR is nonsense in a game this big. If someone is so hardcore l337 that it's all they care about, they and their cash deserve to be parted.
    • Up x 11
  13. Hosp

    Know what, I retract my last statement. They should implement it. Because it is irrelevant. And if people want to support SOE by buying that item, more power to them. Go for it! (No sarcasm intended).
    • Up x 8
  14. omgBAMF

    As a person that primarily plays medic, I'm more interested to know what my R/D (revives/death) than what my K/D is. Why is there any importance put on such a stat in a game that is supposed to be centered on team play? As Buzz said above, someone doesn't care about playing the objective if they have a nice "spot" and are racking up kills (which most of the time contributes nothing to the bigger picture of a battle). K/D is detrimental to PS2.
    • Up x 14
  15. Wasdie

    Don't really care. If somebody wants to pay money to emphasis their K/D let them.

    You can read into it however you want, but at the end of the day it doesn't matter.
    • Up x 6
  16. SgtScum

    /thread

    No one is forcing you to pay a single penny to soe. Everything that effects actual gameplay is attainable with certs.

    The rest is cosmetic fluff and meaningless stat chestbeating honey traps to suck in the epeeners income.

    As they fund the game and let me play for free with only a few key $C weapon unlocks(and a bit of fluff too:oops:) I hope they spend millions on kdr resets.
    • Up x 4
  17. Rejin

    Why brag about something you dont care about? It is an unimportant stat but if people want to pay to reset it ... why not? It gives money to maintain the game you obviously care about.
  18. TintaBux

    :eek: KDR ruins the game, to many guys focusing on KDR , remove the stat already, this is not planetside. :eek:
    • Up x 9
  19. Riftmaker

    Because K/D is promoting the wrong kind of game play. Idk how many times i've seen people just hugging each other in the spawn room and not trying to go out and save that last generator because they "might die and screw their kdr" In a game like this that stat should have never existed. But since MLG is a thing and since they wanted to monetize it we know now why they wanted to keep it so bad.
    • Up x 8
  20. BuzzCutPsycho

    The stat system has been broken in this game since tech test is this is one of the reasons why.

    It does matter. And it matters a lot.
    • Up x 11
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