First of all apologies for the title, but it crudely summarizes my input on the state of the gameplay atm. So please bear with me while I elaborate my point.
-Game pace
As a lot might have noticed the pace of the game is extremely high. Suprisingly, it is considerably higher then for instance the BF3 alpha was, and arguably even higher then CoD at times.
Firefights are decided within seconds (if they can even be counted in seconds, it's that fast), and the amount of times that they actually turn into an extended back and forth fight is utterly negligible. Assuming that most players are still rather new, it's a safe bet that this is not something that will change for the better. In fact, the game will only get faster paced as the game matures, as both player skill and weapon handling bonuses will come into play.
An extremely high pace in itself is not really an issue, but combined with other factors it does add up to a problem. I'll eventually try to bring all these elements together so keep it in the back of your mind.
-Distance to the fight
Compared to the amount of time spend in actual combat, the amount of time spend walking from spawnpoints to the fight is immense. The longer I've been playing the more awkward this thing has become to me. It just doesn't feel right anymore after experiencing it hundreds of times. There is a serious issue with how long it takes to get into the fight, compared to how long the actual fights last.
-Squad spawn system
A mobile player spawning system is what can rectify this issue. If you look at Bad Company 2 for example, you have a spawning system that matches the pace of gameplay. The pace is relatively high, so the system allows you to spawn on every single one of your squadmates to nearly always provide you with a reliable way of jumping right into the fight.
But back to Ro2.
A vaguely comparable system is also available in Ro2, except that it is limited to squadleader spawning only. While I am aware that the system is partially bugged, even a perfectly working version of what there is seem completely inadequate and highly unsuited to Ro2 gameplay.
Squad leaders play the game like everyone else. Basically meaning they die a lot, already denying you a forward spawn a very large percentage of the time. There also seems to be a block of some sort on spawning on squad leaders that are in certain areas (even though the game will still happily allow you to pick them as spawn, before dropping you on default spawn 1).
In short, it's not practically usable at all. It doesn't make squads stick together, and it doesn't provide a reliable way of getting you into the fight quicker.
So where does all this leave us?
With classic RO lethality, and RO map design (windows corners windows corners), it simply makes for a lot of camping. Sitting in cover and waiting for an enemy to show up in your field of view is such an absurdly strong tactic right now that it overshadows nearly all other styles of play.
This is evident by the sheer amount of players occupying windows, trenches and corners and just waiting. Personally I'm a player that likes to stay mobile and flank and take objectives, but the amount of people in the average server that are with me on this is dishearteningly small.
Yes it is satisfying to break through the basement of Station and run through the building to kill 15 Russians that are staring out of windows, but it doesn't feel right at all.
Every time I drop into a far objective and find out I have 2 people with me I am just perplexed, where is my team? I bring up the scoreboard and surely enough, there's 32 players on my team. But where they are? Somewhere in a high window waiting to pick off an enemy or two probably.
All these elements brought together, extremely high pace (frequent death), a spawning system that doesn't compensate for this absurd pace, and map design that inherently gives hundreds of concealed camp spots per map that are utterly impossible to keep track off for a moving player, makes for gameplay that feels incredibly geared towards keeping players passive.
There's no sort of encouragement for actually getting up and moving out there (no, not even the 15 odd points for a cap is sufficient motivation). When 2 teams have silently agreed that a war of the campspots is gonna be the flavor of the day, there is no way to not participate in that unless you want to frustrate the hell out of yourself.
Yes, as I said sometimes you can flank and get behind a bunch of guys but it isn't right. There's never any prolonged fight going on, I never feel like I'm in the thick off a battle. Only once in 2 weeks of playing have I experienced sitting pinned by an MG in cover together with clanmates and it was awesome!
But it just doesn't happen enough, gameplay simply is not geared towards creating situations of prolonged back and forth firefights. While those, without a doubt are the most intense moments of any game.
Exchanging fire, flanking, grenades, wearing the enemy down and mopping them up eventually is the best feeling ever, especially when playing with friends. But no matter how much you want it, the game just won't have any of it.
Changing the spawning system will already help tremendously in achieving this. Please don't burn me at the stake for this but look at how Bf3 spawning worked in the alpha. You could only spawn on your squad leader, and when your squad leader was taken down he could respawn on any of his still surviving squadmates. It made people actually stick together, and with a little point bonus for the squad leader every time someone spawned on him he was encouraged to stay alive and in a good position for his squadmates.
I'm not saying this is the only solution, but I'm just putting some examples out there. I highly doubt the pace of the game itself is going to change (lethality and maps probably won't undergo extensive change), so the main thing to work with is going to have to be a better spawning system.
I like the game, and I think it has some awesome ideas and innovations, but it just doesn't all come together properly to turn all those awesome ideas into equally awesome gameplay. Things are a bit off, and it's getting more nagging after every play session lately.
I hope that some other people agree with the points I've made in one way or another, so we can think of suggestions to improve the situation.
-Game pace
As a lot might have noticed the pace of the game is extremely high. Suprisingly, it is considerably higher then for instance the BF3 alpha was, and arguably even higher then CoD at times.
Firefights are decided within seconds (if they can even be counted in seconds, it's that fast), and the amount of times that they actually turn into an extended back and forth fight is utterly negligible. Assuming that most players are still rather new, it's a safe bet that this is not something that will change for the better. In fact, the game will only get faster paced as the game matures, as both player skill and weapon handling bonuses will come into play.
An extremely high pace in itself is not really an issue, but combined with other factors it does add up to a problem. I'll eventually try to bring all these elements together so keep it in the back of your mind.
-Distance to the fight
Compared to the amount of time spend in actual combat, the amount of time spend walking from spawnpoints to the fight is immense. The longer I've been playing the more awkward this thing has become to me. It just doesn't feel right anymore after experiencing it hundreds of times. There is a serious issue with how long it takes to get into the fight, compared to how long the actual fights last.
-Squad spawn system
A mobile player spawning system is what can rectify this issue. If you look at Bad Company 2 for example, you have a spawning system that matches the pace of gameplay. The pace is relatively high, so the system allows you to spawn on every single one of your squadmates to nearly always provide you with a reliable way of jumping right into the fight.
But back to Ro2.
A vaguely comparable system is also available in Ro2, except that it is limited to squadleader spawning only. While I am aware that the system is partially bugged, even a perfectly working version of what there is seem completely inadequate and highly unsuited to Ro2 gameplay.
Squad leaders play the game like everyone else. Basically meaning they die a lot, already denying you a forward spawn a very large percentage of the time. There also seems to be a block of some sort on spawning on squad leaders that are in certain areas (even though the game will still happily allow you to pick them as spawn, before dropping you on default spawn 1).
In short, it's not practically usable at all. It doesn't make squads stick together, and it doesn't provide a reliable way of getting you into the fight quicker.
So where does all this leave us?
With classic RO lethality, and RO map design (windows corners windows corners), it simply makes for a lot of camping. Sitting in cover and waiting for an enemy to show up in your field of view is such an absurdly strong tactic right now that it overshadows nearly all other styles of play.
This is evident by the sheer amount of players occupying windows, trenches and corners and just waiting. Personally I'm a player that likes to stay mobile and flank and take objectives, but the amount of people in the average server that are with me on this is dishearteningly small.
Yes it is satisfying to break through the basement of Station and run through the building to kill 15 Russians that are staring out of windows, but it doesn't feel right at all.
Every time I drop into a far objective and find out I have 2 people with me I am just perplexed, where is my team? I bring up the scoreboard and surely enough, there's 32 players on my team. But where they are? Somewhere in a high window waiting to pick off an enemy or two probably.
All these elements brought together, extremely high pace (frequent death), a spawning system that doesn't compensate for this absurd pace, and map design that inherently gives hundreds of concealed camp spots per map that are utterly impossible to keep track off for a moving player, makes for gameplay that feels incredibly geared towards keeping players passive.
There's no sort of encouragement for actually getting up and moving out there (no, not even the 15 odd points for a cap is sufficient motivation). When 2 teams have silently agreed that a war of the campspots is gonna be the flavor of the day, there is no way to not participate in that unless you want to frustrate the hell out of yourself.
Yes, as I said sometimes you can flank and get behind a bunch of guys but it isn't right. There's never any prolonged fight going on, I never feel like I'm in the thick off a battle. Only once in 2 weeks of playing have I experienced sitting pinned by an MG in cover together with clanmates and it was awesome!
But it just doesn't happen enough, gameplay simply is not geared towards creating situations of prolonged back and forth firefights. While those, without a doubt are the most intense moments of any game.
Exchanging fire, flanking, grenades, wearing the enemy down and mopping them up eventually is the best feeling ever, especially when playing with friends. But no matter how much you want it, the game just won't have any of it.
Changing the spawning system will already help tremendously in achieving this. Please don't burn me at the stake for this but look at how Bf3 spawning worked in the alpha. You could only spawn on your squad leader, and when your squad leader was taken down he could respawn on any of his still surviving squadmates. It made people actually stick together, and with a little point bonus for the squad leader every time someone spawned on him he was encouraged to stay alive and in a good position for his squadmates.
I'm not saying this is the only solution, but I'm just putting some examples out there. I highly doubt the pace of the game itself is going to change (lethality and maps probably won't undergo extensive change), so the main thing to work with is going to have to be a better spawning system.
I like the game, and I think it has some awesome ideas and innovations, but it just doesn't all come together properly to turn all those awesome ideas into equally awesome gameplay. Things are a bit off, and it's getting more nagging after every play session lately.
I hope that some other people agree with the points I've made in one way or another, so we can think of suggestions to improve the situation.
