What gives balance, horizontal progression, and realism?
Equipment budgeting.
TL;DR:
-different equipment is worth points
-each squad has a set point budget
-progressing campaigns could mean unlocking gear that costs less or performs better, not necessarily getting better and more expensive as you progress.
More expanded:
When I read up on the MP 34, it was described as “the Rolls Royce of SMGs”- high quality but very expensive. The exact opposite of how it works in game.
That’s not unusual for technological progression irl either. The PPSh is a cheaper PPD. The grease gun is a cheap alternative to the Thompson. Mosin Nagant production was reintroced in the war because the SVT was impractically expensive.
Right now in game, the PPSh ahistorically performs better than the PPD, because the PPSh replaced the PPD and the devs needed that to make sense in the context of the game.
Budgeting could make this more historical by making the PPD the more powerful SMG, but the PPSh being cheaper to budget, making the PPSh more practical overall in a cleverer way and keeping it later in progression like it is now.
What this could mean for max level players is that instead of getting a checkbox of “best gear” to all collect, they would have to mix and match gear to experiment with what combinations are optimal, leading to more variety in equipment being fielded.
People have been suggesting something like this since alpha. The usual counterargument is “but I want to always use what I want to use, I’ve unlocked it and thus I deserve it”.
Regardless of how legitimate the ocunterarguments are, it may be too late for a change so major, even if developers were willing to go through with it. Just look back at how this game progressed over the years. The way it looks to me, Enlisted features are 100% set in stone.
The real testing is over (if it even started, because alpha was just as stale) and we’re well into the “take it or leave it” phase. I’m curious how many dreamers here realize that, and how many of them would quit if they did.
//Edit. Forgot to add. First of all, I obviously agree. The current meta of rigid vertical progression is awful on several levels. It makes the game too static and ruins the experience for new players. Secondly, this mechanic is probably even more necessary for vehicles if they are ever to fit into this game.
All I need is my bolt action. There are many like it, but this one is mine. My bolt action is my best friend, it is my life. I don’t need automatics spam, instead I must master my bolt action as I must master my life. My bolt action, without me, is useless. Without my bolt action, I’m also useless. I must fire my bolt action true, I must shoot straighter than my enemy, which is kinda easy as all my enemy is doing is spamming automatics, praying to kill me. My bolt action and myself know that what counts in this war is not the type of rounds we fire, the noise or the smoke we make. We know it is the hits that count, especially with a bolt action. My bolt action is human, even as I, because it is my life. Thus, I will learn it as a brother, and gave him a homey nickname: “Bolty”. I will learn its weaknesses, its strength, its parts, its accessories, its sights and its barrel. I will ever guard it against the ravages of weather and damage as I will ever guard my legs, my arms, my eyes and my heart against damage. I will keep my bolt action lovingly named “Bolty” clean and ready. We will become part of each other.
The devs are going to have to bite the bullet and do an extensive rework at some point in the future.
As everyone keeps saying, this business model is unsustainable.
Infinite vertical progression is unsustainable.
Infinite division of the playerbase with campaigns is unsustainable.
I thought they could make a separate ranked que for players who reach marshall rank or max rank in like 4 campaigns.
Each week a new campaign is chosen to be played instead of splitting the que up into another 12 ques.
You can only join the que if your squads are ranked mode compliant.
And ranked mode compliance would be something like every squad can spend 20 points.
Every weapon has a cost ranging from 3-6 points.
Equipment and grenades also cost points.
So you could choose to take like an assault squad with 3 stgs but you wont have any backpacks/grenades.
Or take a grenade spam squad but with bolt actions.
IMO would be a great way also to force sweaty max lvl players to fight each other instead of pubstomping new players.
Uhh, if you would have a limited budget you would get to experiment even more with your builds =D
And you still would be able to run a max lvl mp34 it just would be limited and against players of equal skill.
But the main goal would be to move the sweaty players out of normal que and into ranked que, so that newer players would be able to play the game without getting pubstomped every game.
If this is too extreme alternatively you could introduce a personal ticket system, you can use whatever you want but once you use up your tickets you can only spawn in with a default basic gear set.
thats it: adjust weapons characteristics and silver orders price for them
lets say PPD costs 3, PPSh - 2, but PPD should be a little bit better maybe and so on
