I recently made a YouTube video trying to answer the question of “How do we increase Enlisted’s population that uses developer time and resources efficiently”. I also wanted to do this in a way that:
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Entices the existing playerbase
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Is easier to learn than Squads for new players
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Is quick and easy to launch into, no squad and loadout management pre-queue
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Focuses on historically-accurate loadouts, to satisfy Historical Accuracy purists
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Doesn’t replace Squads, but compliments it
CAMPAIGN QUICKPLAY is the result of trying to meet all of these parameters. I will try my best to describe it:
It’s an expansion of the “Even Fight” modes we’ve seen in the past, but rotates through the campaigns every week (Battle of Tunisia one week, Battle of Pacific another week, Battle of Manchuria another etc). The rotation occurs in a way that each faction gets equal play time. When you load into the match, your faction has 10 or 11 squads of different types, all with preset weapons, equipment, and perks (Even Fight soldiers were perkless). These squads, while having different equipment depending on Faction and Campaign, would always be in the same order. There is no progression to unlocking the squads, they are all available from the beginning. An example of such a loadout could be the following:
1. RIFLEMAN SQUAD
2. ENGINEER SQUAD
3. RADIOMAN SQUAD
4. ANTI-TANK SQUAD
5. ASSAULTER SQUAD
6. GUERRILLA SQUAD
7. MACHINE GUNNER SQUAD
8. APC SQUAD
9. TANK SQUAD
10. FIGHTER SQUAD
11. ATTACKER SQUAD
These preset loadouts for these soldiers only contain equipment that would have been used in the corresponding Campaign, and weapon selection of soldiers inside and between squads will be varied. For example, the British Assaulter squad could have a combination of Sten Mk.IIs, Lanchesters, M21/28 Box Thompsons, and M1928A1 Thompson 50s. Perhaps the British assaulter squad is considered stronger than the German assaulter squad, but the British team has a lower winrate (the CAMPAIGN QUICKPLAY matchmaker puts you on a random team), the British Assaulter squad could be given more Thompsons to accommodate for Stens. An Assaulter can be swapped for a Rifleman. There is intentional asymmetrical balancing in the loadouts, but since it isn’t reliant on the player to pick the loadout, there is some degree of strategy to which squad to pick, and when. Perhaps a rifleman squad is equal to BR 1, but the MG squad is equivalent to BR 4. These sorts of things (while prioritizing things like the weapon service quantities for immersion) would have to be considered during play, but would also play a part in balancing. The primary factor of balance, since loadouts are predetermined and queueing is equal and ramdomized, is winrate.
An example of Asymmetrical Squads. Total loadout strength should be equal.
CAMPAIGN QUICKPLAY is selected from the game mode menu, the same way “Practice” or “Custom Games” is selected. The loading screen would be similar to previous events such as “Even Fight”, “Leadstorm”, or “Gates of Destiny”; you are greeted with a progression bar with different rewards up to 40,000 XP. This XP isn’t tied to daily or bi-daily limits, it’s all a single XP pool that can be grinded out all at once in the week, or in small increments throughout the week.
The final two rewards at 35,000 and 40,000 XP earned are ex-gold order and event primary weapons, corresponding to that week’s factions. In this example, the rewards for Battle of Tunisia are the Event Thompson .30 Cal and Event Breda PG Carcano, though something like the ex-gold order T20E1 or Breda PG CR are also something that could randomly show up in this scenario. These weapons roll randomly, and there would be duplicate protection baked into the randomization system. Depicted below is an example of what the Soviet weapon loot table would be. At least one of each of these would be available for unlock each week the Soviets are involved in CAMPAIGN QUICKPLAY, until each one has been available and resets:
NEW PLAYER PERSPECTIVE
Let’s say a friend tells you about Enlisted, and you download the game. After you’ve played the tutorials, the game has you play your first couple of matches in CAMPAIGN QUICKPLAY instead of SQUADS. You don’t have to worry about squad management, Battle Rating matchmaker traps (bringing BR 1 to BR 5), your focus is entirely on learning gameplay mechanics, such as rally building, bot management, map presence etc. This makes it very easy to casually play Enlisted against players with equal loadouts, but graduate to squad management with loadout and battle rating freedom if the player later desires. It also makes introducing the game to friends easier, since they can just load in, spend a couple of minutes on tutorials, and hop straight into the action!
HISTORICAL ACCURACY
The SQUADS game mode in Enlisted is what I would call ‘Historically Referenced”: It uses (99%) equipment of periodic relevance. Even if they are based on prototypes that never saw combat, they are (99%) based on historical information about the weapon, and are accurate representations of how the weapon would perform under perfect conditions. There’s a place in video games for something like this, but this is a turn-off for players that want an entirely authentic WW2 experience. CAMPAIGN QUICKPLAY provides this feature, focusing on squad loadout accuracy (with some wiggle room for balance); no prototypes or anachronistic gear will be present in the game mode.
MAIN REWARDS AND INCENTIVES
As mentioned previously, the primary rewards for this game mode for Veterans is the ex-Gold Order and Event Weapons for SQUADS at 35k and 40k XP earnings. However, CAMPAIGN QUICKPLAY and SQUADS have separate ranking systems. Rewards in the form of cosmetics such as Name Decorators, Portraits, and Vehicle Insignias would be earned from reaching Marshall, collecting all of the rewards multiple times, earning a certain amount of eliminations in a single match, capturing a certain number of objectives, so-on and so-forth.
The XP earned in Campaign Quickplay is tied to the weekly rewards that rotate, but DO NOT correspond to XP progression in the squads game mode. However, the XP Bonuses earned in the weekly rewards can be turned off and saved for SQUADS gameplay. The Silver would also be transferable too, making loot boxes equally as purchasable when they are available. In addition, each major update (or as infrequently as twice a year) should include a new batch of cosmetic rewards for each campaign. These would be based on historical emblems and reference photos.
OTHER REWARDS
Developers could consider a currency that equates directly to CAMPAIGN QUICKPLAY earnings. These could be used to purchase:
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Exclusive Cosmetics
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XP Boosters
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Silver Boosters
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Vehicle Camouflages
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Perfect Perk Soldiers (Expensive)
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30% Premium Squad Discount (VERY Expensive, equivalent of 50-100 hours of playtime)
DEVELOPER NOTES
This game mode would require relatively minimal setup to create, considering the UI and preset squads are already features from previous temporary events. Old Campaign loadouts can be referenced for the new squad loadouts. Aside from these, I believe the largest amount of developer time would be on setting up the loadouts for each faction per campaign, the randomizer system for the weapon rewards, and of course the cosmetic rewards.
PUBLISHER NOTES
In order to spread the word that this new game mode is added to the game, Gaijin should consider running ads on social media to let players know about a campaign mode with no setup, just login and play! These would likely only need to be 10 and 30 seconds. I would also highly recommend sponsoring content creators who are large and have played the game in the past (such as TheRussianBadger and OperatorDrewski) to check out this new mode as well.
MY YOUTUBE VIDEO ABOUT CAMPAIGN QUICKPLAY
Here’s the video about the topic that I have created:
SUMMARY
Hopefully you guys think this is a good idea for Enlisted! Please vote in the poll below. Thank you for your support and feedback!
- Yes
- No (Please Provide Feedback!)
