I'v actually been giving this some good thought while at work today.Trying to balance a speed increase is a really though challenge and I can see why ZOE failed. Twisted logic puzzle = understatement. Players are really smart and can do allot with very little. ZOE was logically flawed: In hindsight personally feel what was wrong with ZOE, was that it provided both evasive (dodging / escaping mechanism) as well as providing attacking benefits.(mobility, as well as increase damage) There was a risk in taking more damage yourself, but intelligent use of ZOE limited that the consequences of that. Why It Matters: I think in order for any speed increase to "safely" be implemented you have to take out the element of attacking entirely. I think this is also why no one really complains about Max Charge. You cannot fire from charge, and trying to do so snaps the player into walking speed. The same thing also goes for infantry with sprint, you cannot fire from sprint, or drop mines, or do anything tool related. The player quickly drops into walking speed, and only then can they perform the action. This also prevents ADS, at least mathematically for about a second. Which in turn prevents Sprint ADS cloaked headshots from being possible. There will be amount of wait time regardless of the players speed based on animations and scope. Further to that, when the player does have to uncloak, the sound we have is the perfect warning mechanism. How This Helps: By ensuring that an infiltrator can only use their speed bonus in a state where damage is NOT possible, it enables a much more balanced approach then seen with ZOE. The mechanics of attaching a speed increase to sprint, while cloaked could be effective at helping to balance our cloak to be less punitive. We all know 100% stealth is not something attractive to SOE, perhaps a very minor boost in speed, while cloaked and sprinting could provide a squishy class a little more breathing room. The trick would be making sure the speed increase isn't enough to drastically run down enemy players. Or make escape overly trivial. Such minor alterations would be useful in giving the infiltrator an extra 5-10 yards (just as an example) which is all you really need to get behind some cover if the infiltrator is trying to escape tactfully. It would require them to find cover quickly in order to survive and pick good corners. If anything maybe adding this to stalker cloak as a test would be a fun way to increase player survival rates in urban environments. On Speed Implants: My idea of hoping for implants for everyone ins't such a good idea either. In a sense that it could result in everyone moving 20% faster IN COMBAT... I came to realize this very bad. Keeping speed increases completely separated from combat / attacking is probably much more balanced approach. The good news however is in theory sprint would function SIMILAR to how Max charge works but with a few major differences we should note: #1) Having a speed boost tried to sprint alone, while prevents damage, does not prevent it being spammed without consequence. #2) The overall benefit is much larger then an ability tied to cloak + sprint would be. #3) Someone could make major gains in distance on a target and provide them with a tactical combat advantage. Which brings me back to the green section where its important not to give someone the ability to drastically run down enemy players. Imagine for example, your a sniper, and there is a HA and friends running around the hillside with these speed implants wrecking you and all your semi- transparent infil friends. This would be a grievance because once they got wind of you, nothing you could do short of killing them would allow your escape. That is a pretty huge advantage for a little implant. So yeah... disregard that implant idea. Threads like these interest me greatly but I don't want to be seen as trying to promote something which could be perceived as based on self interest either. Anyway I question on if I should continue to contribute to this thread because of my play style. So I wish you all the best, and hopefully something useful comes from random thoughts this afternoon.
I think you forgot a few colors, you might want to make this a bit longer so you can use them all. I'm kidding, but I agree with a lot of your points and I don't think you have to worry about bias too much because the devs are supposed to be on top of that. As long as its interesting, the finer points of balance can be made by a team of people all working full time on it, and all you as the idea person has to worry about is is it fun and would it fit in the game.
Was thinking of making a thread sometime ago about more cloaking variance, but forgot the whole thing. So i'll add my thoughts into this post instead since it coincides with my idea. Numbers totally up for debate. Cloaking sub-certifications ----------------------------- Point of this would be to provide the player with more customization options, same method can be adapted to other class' abilities. Hunter cloak: - Regeneration speed - the current certification that increases cloak regeneration - Duration - Would increase the maximum duration the cloak could stay active, maybe something along the line of 2s increase per level with 3-5 levels - Speed - Increased speed while sprinting when the cloak is active Nano-armor cloaking: - Damage resistance - Added damage resistance over the base, 1-2% increase per level with 5 levels - Duration and/or regeneration speed - Either bundled up together or separate lines for each like with hunter cloak Like i mentioned this could be adapted to other abilities also, like jetpacks having faster takeoff and traveling speeds at the cost of more rapid fuel consumption. (i believe the icarus jets were something like this?) There is my 2certs.
Let us not get to far off track here, we're talking about 1 cloak which gives only a sprint peed bonus, these other ideas are great, just a bit on the outskirts of he subject.
1 faction unique bolt-action rifle OH GOD OH GOD TR: This bolt-action features the highest magazine size in its class Literally loling - enjoy having a 'UNIQUE' ammunition belt huehue (edit: I really hope for the TR bros that this is just a miss communication.... having what 10 bullets before reload? or 100 bullets in snipe ? rofl useless. Make them re chamber faster or reload much faster or something as this so far seems to be the most useless thing) NC: Highest damage in its class I wonder it will probably make them 2 body hit kill again at 250-300m? meh then honestly i expected to read something like VS: CHARGE UP particle sniper - AOE damage. VS: Higher mobility when compared to all other bolt sniper rifles Higher mobility mobility
Interresting Roadmap. The stalker Cloak will give a sense of PS1 infiltrator, but still, in PS2, having no primary... I hope it will very close to invisible when stationary (and crouched?). How a sniper rifle will have more mobility ? less CoF than the other when moving ? The Bolt attachement looks like a real perk. As for adrenaline pump, well good for infil but they should buff it (with different level, each level granting a speed buff in another movement: level 1 => added sprint speed, level 2=> added forward and backpedal speed, level 3=> added strafe speed). This will make it usefull and get a sense of PS1 too (for those who doesn't know, in PS1 you chose a type of armor, and each armor had different protection value and weapons slots (and inventory space); the more armor and inventory space you had, the less movement speed you had.)
I don't even know what this means, and I already know it's going to be nerfed like the Magrider and ZOE!
