What do oufits need?

[ringring]

I saw Higby had (overnight to me) tweeted some questions asking for suggestions on what will be good in PS2 to support outfits better. These are my thoughts.

The biggest single pain in PS1 outfits was only having one outfit leader position when many outfits operated with co-leaders. My outfit outcasters had 5 co-leaders.

Another issue was the assignment of different outfit abilities, such as being able to pronote/demote and recruit to the outfit.

1. The first requirement is flexible rank structures and capabilities for each rank.

Another issue was that at some times different players would go 'inactive' to the game, unsub but fully intending to return at some later point. In PS1 these characters could clutter up the outfit roster so some way of having a seperate inactive roster would be good and ideally allowing the player to mark themselves as active/inactive.

2. An Inactive roster (or similar)

Similar to inactives, when players first join they could go on a recruit/trainee/trialist position before being promoted to full member. It could be achieved by having this as a position within a flexible roster but I'll put it as a request incase there is a more elegant option available.

3. A recruit/trainee/Trialist status

Many of the larger outfits have different units within them. Of example a Galaxy/grunt division, an Aircav Division, a Air Cav division. A the moment the idea we are playing around with is having a Gal Drop Division and a Aircav/Rapid Response Division. Some features within outfit customisation would be cool that supported this. For example individual division leaders or division camo .. whatever.

4. Support different division within the outfit

Outfit logo. PS1 offered a limited range of outfit logos for each outfit to chosse, which inevitably lead to different outfits choosing the same logo. I know Higby ruled out outfits submitting their own logos because each one would have to be vetted but how about building a graphical tool where you could pick different graphic elements and build a logo. Presumably if the are a standard set of elements (a tiger claw, a camo pattern, an explosion, a gun, a rocket launcher, a mossie/reaver/scythe and so on) no matter what combination a 'rude' image could not be created.

5. Outfit selected outfit logos.

That's it (so far)

[Captain1nsaneo]

The ability to have different divisions inside one outfit be able to use the outfits accrued cert points differently as to avoid the need for having multiple outfits to take advantage of outfit given benefits.

The ability for players to re-cert is also fairly important as that way events don't have bottle necks in the form of needing the people with the right certs to pull the properly equipped vehicles.

The ability to put up more than just a daily message sort of text. Normally that space was used to direct players to the forums where we'd have all the info about any events or such. A calender for the outfit that's accessible by outfit members would definitely be an improvement.

The ability to reward players for their contribution to the outfit in some form, could be resources, could be metals (that cost resources to buy), weapons, could be a marker next to their name. I know in our outfit we had an additional avatar that acted as a badge displaying your rank. Doesn't have to be fancy, roman numerals would work just fine but I'm sure that someone in art already has some idea they'd like to use.

The ability to see which members online are certed for what vehicle (or medic stuff etc) as what way I wouldn't need to ask constantly "do we have any X?"

The ability to buy skins for outfit members in bulk that are only available to current members of the outfit.

An away list that members can be put on if they've had to leave the game but plan to be back at a later date. This would protect them from the occasional purge.

Chat channels are already in, VoiP is already in along with channel management, so those don't really need to be mentioned. Though I'm hoping that we don't need to be playing the game (or using an Ipad) to drop in and check on things. Though probably will need another VoiP server just for community stuff because I don't think PS2 wants to pay for voice chat in other games the outfit will play.

A tutorial or training area would be fantastic. Even if its just a series of informational videos a tutorial is mission critical for getting new players up to speed.

And that's all I can think of right now. I'll come up with more later.

[Stardouser]

Outfit sticky notes that show on the main map screens of members and can be closed temporarily/permanently/minimized by each individual.

An outfit message of the day similar to guild message of the day from Everquest, ie, the instant you log in, a message that can be changed by the leader/officers pops up. That way people don't have to spam text and voice channels for info on what the current operation location is.

[Tikuto]

Outfit load-outs: An optional, additional and customizable Outfit load-outs so that a responsible player 'Tactician' can support or command his Outfit-squads, platoons and whole battalions. Similar to EVE 'Corporation Fittings'.
Super-weapons: In correlation with empire-wide resource-gaining, Outfits have their own diminishing 'eligibility pool' which grants them ownership and activation of an Imperial super-weapon (Warship, BFR, other..). This comes at a cost of dumping Empire-owned resources effecting your Empire, hence the 'eligibility points' in which to dump those resources.
-- ONE PER EMPIRE, PER CONTINENT! with EMPIRE-WIDE COOL-DOWNS! (Controlled)
Battle Log: Timeline history of stuff used to decide who did what, who to promote, etc, with filter options and Highlightable events. Social media export stuff.


Outfit Speciality Super-weapons:
Objective-based (Outfit-only objectives)
Recurring activity (no 'dead-end' skilltree)
Resource-based (enough points to activate)

Replacing idea of Outfit skill-tree. This allows for constant side-objectives until outfit's speciality has prevailed using a points. These points are earned through methods relating to the Outfit's decided Speciality of choice. The points 'at full bottle' allow activation of Speciality, which dumps Empire's resources.

What types of Specialities would there be, then?
Special aircraft [1unit-limited] (Imperial Warship / Air Cruiser)
Special vehicles [time-limited] (BattleFrame Robots)
Special weapons [time-limited] (Crystalline 'Ancient tech'?)
Special deployables [useage-limited] (don't know)
Special augmentation [1unit-limited] (a Super Soldier - a Hero (http://www.extrahype.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Deus-Ex-Human-Revolution-1.jpg))

[SurgeonX]

The ability to see which members online are certed for what vehicle (or medic stuff etc) as what way I wouldn't need to ask constantly "do we have any X?"

I'd like to see this idea expanded to have the ability to drag and drop players that are online into different squads and platoons.

Be able to give each squad and platoon its own name.

Assign each one different orders and set missions.

Design battle orders for each group of squads and platoons.

Integrate this with in game VOIP so that you can talk to any one person individually, or talk to the whole squad, platoon or outfit.

Then be able to track all of this via a dedicated interface with a map and VOIP options.

[Sabot]

I don't know if this is the right thread, or if it has already been confirmed, but apart from what has already been suggested (which are very good points)... I really want the ability to draw "attack plans" etc. on the map to return. Plans that can only be seen by each squad, so to speak..

[Stardouser]

Outfit load-outs: An optional, additional and customizable Outfit load-outs so that a responsible player 'Tactician' can support or command his Outfit-squads, platoons and whole battalions. Similar to EVE 'Corporation Fittings'.


This - the ability to designate(recommend, not mandate) loadouts to outfit members both at squad and individual levels so that you can make sure everyone has the right equipment just by pushing a button to accept recommended loadouts. Equivalents need to be designated though due to the unlock system.

[Dart]

The ability for an outfit leader to trigger a 'recall' (if such a function exists) for the entire outfit with the need for a terminal as in PS1

[Dart]

The ability to click on characters in game via the outfit pane and see their certs. Very simple but saves asking.

[WebCole]

Customise tags as well as outfit name.

Be able to create/upload your own Outfit insignias/logos/decals etc

Outfit moto you can display whereever you want on your main Outfit menu/whatever.

Rival and Allied Outfits, bonuses for fighting against/with them.

Outfit tactical map for planning and giving visual orders within your Outfit.

The ability to designate a frontline base or CP as your Outfit home, or Forward Operating Thingamy and get an Outfit wide exp drip feed for as long as your faction holds said base. Perhaps a long ass cooldown on designating a new one if the base is lost.

[Sledgecrushr]

Charge a 30$ fee to create an outfit.

[Saifoda]

Not to toot my own horn or anything, but...

Once we get into Space, outfit's can purchase and customize large ships for huge resource dumps [also implies outfit resources] (carriers, frigates, patrol craft, cruisers, battleships, etc...):
http://www.planetside-universe.com/showthread.php?t=42578


And an expanded mission system within the outfits (or just within the game in general, I think it would be better received by outfits though):
http://www.planetside-universe.com/showthread.php?t=42560

[Baneblade]

One thing I want and every game I've ever played has utterly failed at is recruiter tracking. I want to know who is inviting the window lickers and/or mouth breathers or who recruited that five man team of RL friends that play 60 hours a week.

I also want to have as many ranks/titles as I want to create and an outfit merit system ingame.

[robocpf1]

The biggest point that is also probably easiest to implement is a fully customizable rank system. Be able to name people's ranks, then set their permissions - allow invite, but don't allow kick, etc.

Then, what ring suggested - an "inactive" rank or roster that keeps the person in the outfit but doesn't include them in leaderboard action, for instance in PS1 the leaderboard stats were calculated by the stat itself (i.e., kills) divided by the number of outfit members. Well, that sort of sucked for the really large outfits because they'd be getting loads of kills but the inactive member count was so high, the ratio was off and not correct. Let us designate people as "inactive" so they can stay in the outfit but not be included in leaderboard calculations, or whatever the equivalent will be.

Designating an outfit home base would be swell, eventually perhaps a mothership or something but I realize that's wishful thinking for now.

Outfit divisions, please, with the possibility of going down different outfit cert trees per division. Members must be in a division, and they can only make use of one outfit cert tree, to keep it balanced.

Outfit-designed camo favorites, so the officers can design a camo or armor customization and give it to all of the members.

[Sabot]

Regarding ranks/titles within the guild.. why not just make it so we can make our own titles? :P If one outfit wants troll-titles in their outfit let them... nobody else is going to see them.

[Meriv]

more than outfits mothership, it would be nice to bring a space vessel (for an incredible amount of resources) for outfits to bring competitiveness beetween them, and to be able if entering something like a space arena to board the enemy vessel and sack it trought space combat.

ok something a bit more outside the idea vault, to make easy the intercommunication beetwen big outfits leaders soo they can arrange strategy at an even bigger point of view strategy

[Luieburger]

The biggest point that is also probably easiest to implement is a fully customizable rank system. Be able to name people's ranks, then set their permissions - allow invite, but don't allow kick, etc.

...

Outfit divisions, please, with the possibility of going down different outfit cert trees per division. Members must be in a division, and they can only make use of one outfit cert tree, to keep it balanced.

Outfit-designed camo favorites, so the officers can design a camo or armor customization and give it to all of the members.

I definitely agree with this. Outfits should be able to set up whatever command structure they want. Flat, or hierarchical. Divisions within outfits are critical for organization, perhaps divisions can have their own sub-logos to put on their suits or profiles.

I think the bottom line is that people are equally as proud of their Outfits as they are of their faction. Why not foster that pride?

[kaffis]

Web interface for outfit management/tracking. Alternately, throw this sort of thing into the 1st party mobile app; my assumption is that 3rd party apps that use all the API data won't be dealing with anything that requires logging into characters, so make sure that this sort of thing can be done through you guys directly.

[Baneblade]

Outfit Command Channel. So OL/VOL of different outfits can talk to each other easily without the annoyances that were in PS1 /c.

[Meriv]

Outfit Command Channel. So OL/VOL of different outfits can talk to each other easily without the annoyances that were in PS1 /c.

+1 for writing in a comprensible english what i meant :)

[Malorn]

Good topic.

Here's my list of what outfits need.

Outfit Management

1) Ranking system
This is really a given, every guild/outfit/clan implementation in the last decade and a half has had this.

2) Ability to sort the roster by last login, name, rank, and some stats (score/min, total score, kills, etc)
PS1 had this, also a standard guild/clan/outfit thing. This is so outfit leaders can easily see people who haven't logged in a purge them, see who top contributers are (possibly for rank assignment, etc). Manu uses for sorting the outfit list.

3) Permissions
Not every game has this, but most do. Simply a custom permission system assigned to each rank showing what that rank can do and see in the outfit. invite, kick, speak/see officer chat, speak/see outfit chat, promote/demote, etc.

4) Officer chat
A given.

5) Announcements / MOTD
A given

6) Calendar
Lower priority, IMO. This isn't an RPG where we are basing our playtimes around slaying internet dragons, but there might be outfit events worth scheduling for fun, like outfit meetings, tank night, liberator night, max crash night, or perhaps events coordinated with other outfits. Many games have calendars now, though admittedly mostly those are MMORPGs which thrive on the raid schedule. In the absence of a calendar, the MOTD/announcements could just as easily be used to communicate this stuff in PS2.

7) Outfit information, contact, etc, link to stats page blah blah
Basic stuff.


The above is all typical stuff I expect to see. Only the calendar would I consider not required. Anything else missing from that list would disappoint me and look like a half-assed outfit system.

Lets move on to more PS2 specific outfit management things.

PS2 Specific Outfit Management

8) Outfit Uniform
Outfits should be able to specify an outfit uniform, AND ENFORCE IT if necessary. Ideally there would be multiple different uniform options

Outfits can have a uniform without in-game support, but enforcing it is a huge pain in the ass. It should be simple enough for an outfit leader to specify a uniform or set of uniforms (which members can choose to use). In the customization windows if the uniform exists it is an option players can specify. If the uniform is enforced, then all other cosmetic options are not selectable except for approved outfit uniforms. Uniforms should be configurable by the outfit leader for all vehicles. I would go so far as to say the outfit itself should be able to purchase via in-game resources or Smedbux the ability to unlock customizations for the entire outfit to use for the purpose of uniforms (and only uniforms). You could tie certain uniform options to achievements or what not, but you get the idea.

A big part of PS2 is identity & customization, and that goes for outfits too. Outfits want to be identifiable by more than just the tag. When you see the Reavers with the gold tails, or you see all-grey prowlers with the red stripe and a skull, you know the outfit.

And most importantly, an outfit needs to make the uniform easily enforceable so all members use them and they don't have to deal with the asshats who don't comply. If people don't like the idea of a uniform they can try to change the outfit policy from within or they can look for another outfit. The power should be in the hands of the outfit.


9) Outfit Objectives
I expect this would tie into the mission system, but give outfit members/ranks with permissions the ability to specify a set of missions for the outfit. When members log in they can look at the missions list and see what the outfit wants them to be doing. Number of missions should scale with outfit size so larger outfits can micro-manage if necessary. Think "divisions" - they're going to do different things.


10) Divisions
Optional additional categorization orthogonal to rank would be divisions. If a member is in a division they might show up differently on the minimap.

I would recommend a possible Division-chat. Number of divisions seem like outfit certs so outfits that care can invest, and outfits that don't can skip. Map filtering on division, and of course outfit Perks should be tied to division. We know they plan on having outfit perks as something outfits choose to specialize in. Each division should be allowed its own specializations. In this way you don't punish large outfits with an outfit specialization/perk system.


11) Outfit Member locations on Map & Minimap
This really is a given. Being able to see where other squads in the outfit are on the map serve several purposes. First, you can see where your outfit is to join them. Second, you can see the assclowns not playing with your outfit so you can berate them, kick them (can you tell I play TR yet?) or perhaps join them if they're up to something fun and interesting.

In a more tactical setting, I expect this to function similarly to the old Platoon system in PS1, which was actually very well done. It was easy to see where every member in the platoon was exactly. In addition to simple numbers, I'd like some sort of icon & color coding which tells which class the player is currently and if they are in a vehicle.

I don't want to see this information for every friendly, just people in the outfit.

Likewise, squads/platoons should have a similar mechanic where you also see people in your own squad/platoon that looks different from the rest of the outfit.

It is important that you give outfit leaders the ability to manage their outfit effectively. That includes knowing where people are so they can assign them positions and objectives. It is difficult to lead anyone if you don't know where people are or even know if they are on the same continent.

Filtering of outfit view should also be available. Filters should include squad/platoon, and division (in case you only want to focus on what your division.


12 Outfit Announcements
Think of WoW's Raid Warnings. I know they plan on having VoIP, but having things written down is important. Verbal messages can get lost in the sound of battle, or idiots don't have headsets on, listening to music, or simply hearing impaired (known a few of those), and outfit leaders hate repeating themselves. Put it in a clear on-screen message that really can't be missed, and write it out in chat too so they can see.

Announcements should have parameters that allow them to go to the entire outfit, a specific division, or specific ranks (like telling all Recruits to show up for a trial-type event or something like that, or all officers to meet up for a leadership meeting, etc). And as always, permission system on who can send announcements. I don't think you have to worry about spam here. If an outfit leader is spamming his own people they have the ability to leave the outfit if they don't like it, or if its an officer they can escalate the issue to the outfit leader. There may be times when an outfit leader intentionally wants to spam - it's important, want to make sure everyone sees it.


13) A method for custom decals/skins or purchasing from the store
An enhancement to the uniforms bit above. For a Smedbux service fee outfits should be able to submit custom decals (please god have an approval process so we don't get penis and swastikas decals, or penises in the shape of swastikas). Pay the service fee, submit the decal, if approved it can be used in outfit uniforms (and only outfit uniforms). This could be true for custom skins as well if they meet certain criteria. I expect strict Empire enforcement on all custom skins/decals for outfits.

I would go so far as to say the Empire Color Palette must be used for all custom outfit skins (and preferably decals too). It is important we don't lose empire identities when creating outfit identities.


14) Outfit Resources & Smedbux
I'm not sure how outfit skin purchasing would work, but if outfits are independent entities then we could allow them to have their own pool of resources, including Smedbux for the purchase of outfit uniform customizations. The question then comes "who pays?" I think one payment option for the store should be a donation to your outfit. Allow members to donate small sums of Smedbux to their outfit instead of the store. Then the outfit leader (or anyone with appropriate outfit permissions) can buy outfit customizations using the outfit's Smedbux. That way the outfit leader doesn't always pay the bill and the outfit can truly be community-owned.

Alternately, outfit customizations could be purchased purely with outfit resources in-game. Just depends on how SOE wants to monetize this. Maybe offer both options. Lots of resources, or a few Smedbux.

I would think donations should be small with disclaimers that the outfit has no special obligations to donors. Donors can be kicked, demoted, etc. To avoid potential problems with this simply using in-game resources for outfit customizations might be preferred, though I think that's a lot of missed revenue opportunity for SOE. And I don't mind giving them revenue for stuff that is not required to play the game competitively.

[Exmortius]

ya more than 1 leader option where you can have maybe up to 3 just in case something happens where one leader goes awol. would be nice. sometimes real life happens and if the main leader disappears for an extended period that can cause issues with keeping the outfit together. that would be my highest priority. to be able to maybe add divisions and division leaders for smaller groups within the outfit would definitely be a very awesome feature imo. would help with organization and make it easier to control the outfit as a whole.

[Baneblade]

Outfit uniforms yes, unilateral uniform enforcement no. Maybe make them forced when in an outfit lead squad. That way you have them for ops, but dont force it during casual or solo play.

[GhettoPrince]

I really love the idea of a spaceship (not a huge one, or at least not at first) for outfits. It's something cool to work towards and gives you a little more incentive to get out that and fight for some resources.

If not that, than at least something that an outfit can work on getting and spending stupid amounts of resources pimping out. World of Tanks style custom logos would be nice.

[Saifoda]

Web interface for outfit management/tracking. Alternately, throw this sort of thing into the 1st party mobile app; my assumption is that 3rd party apps that use all the API data won't be dealing with anything that requires logging into characters, so make sure that this sort of thing can be done through you guys directly.

There should be a function on ps2 website that allow outfit leaders to "log in" (verify credentials basically as the outfit leader) and gives that person (and whomever he shares it with) the info necessary to form outfit-specific apps would be way cool.

I like your thinks. Your brain are a good.

[Meriv]

I really love the idea of a spaceship (not a huge one, or at least not at first) for outfits. It's something cool to work towards and gives you a little more incentive to get out that and fight for some resources.

If not that, than at least something that an outfit can work on getting and spending stupid amounts of resources pimping out. World of Tanks style custom logos would be nice.

Outfits motherships combat would be nice, with relativity steal of resource soo u implement space combat plus high end competitive game beetween outfits. That would push for resource cap inland.

[Meriv]

No banking of resources by outfits. That will get messy. And likely be in direct competition with SOE. Why should I buy anything from SOE if a big outfit promises to take care of me.

The resource giving being just undirectional with the chance of spending it just in what the outfit can (for example the mothership) and not the outfit capable of spamming normal veicles for you.

[Madlaps]

Yki 9

[Saifoda]

The resource giving being just undirectional with the chance of spending it just in what the outfit can (for example the mothership) and not the outfit capable of spamming normal veicles for you.

^ that.


Having outfits gain resources through player action can add greatly to the depth of the outfit meta game (damn you malorn you got me using that phrase way too much after reading your manifesto lol). And like Meriv said, outfit resources would be controlled by mechanics that wouldn't allow it to just go "oh hey we should do a tank column" *spams 87 vanguards*

[Meriv]

It's an EVE sounding idea to me. No thanks.


ok never played eve, is just i am worried about of ppl getting borred of the normal combat with no ending reward exept maybe some score. Soo i was thinking something to push the gaming to something to reach, to an objective, in wot the thing u want to reach is the clan wars, and getting the real gold and dominate up there getting recogniction.

Soo at least for the same reason i would realy like when an outpost is being conquered to show who has conquered it or defended it. Something like xxxx has been conquered by YYYY of the xxxxx Outfit appearing in all the screens of the players in zone.

[Saifoda]

It can also create a BoB (Band of Brothers) drama in PS2 where one big outfit runs it all, and all the little outfit are it's bitches. Let's not repeat EVE history.

I wasn't a player/didn't follow EVE so you have more insight into this than I do, but I don't understand how this could cause a negative intra-empire effect. If you've got a good outfit and are capturing/contesting lots of resources it stands to reason that you[outfit] should have some sort of in-game reward for doing so, like in the suggestions in the space combat thread http://www.planetside-universe.com/showthread.php?t=42578


EDIT: Yes it is a zero-sum game model between outfits necessarily, if we're talking about pop-cap levels of gameplay going on, but otherwise there is no reason that the "big boy" on the block can't be overtaken by the "up and coming" as it were.

[ringring]

+1 to the following..

I suppose these are squad/platoon facilities, but
the (as in ps1) to recall the squad / platoon to the safe area in order to form up and hit a target
the ability to bind as an individual and squad at a specific base
the ability to restrict squads to outfit only witha request to join facility

also a much better modt than in PS1 and someting to support outfit events, whether by calendar, a popup countdown when people log in and perhaps something to allow switching of cert on a temporary basis.

something supportive of outfit alliances

on first login, show something outfit related, perhasp current outfit squads and outfit missions.

[Malorn]

Outfit uniforms yes, unilateral uniform enforcement no. Maybe make them forced when in an outfit lead squad. That way you have them for ops, but dont force it during casual or solo play.

There's more than yes/no options.

Uniform Options:

1) Always Enforced
2) Enforced when squad leader has the "officer" permission
3) Never Enforced

At the basic level, if it is a setting that can be changed any time then you can have outfit leaders toggling it on/off as needed for when they want to enforce the outfit image or not.

The squad leader option is a convenience that allows it to be automatic whenever a squad is led by someone who has a certain permission.

And as always, if you don't like the enforcement, take it up with your outfit leaders, or find a new outfit. The burden of outfit uniform enforcement should not be on the outfit leaders to police people and ensure they're doing it. The above settings should suffice for giving outfit leaders reasonable control over the uniform enforcement.

[Kayos]

The ability to sort players by cert types would be nice.
Easy to see who is spec'd in Libs etc..

[Malorn]

I also greatly like the idea of outfit resources being usable on vehicles.

If they want a sum-zero system, create a simple resource tax for members and do the Guild Bank thing from RPGs where there are permissions that allow different withdraw amounts per day.

For PS2 I'd like more specific withdraw of outfit resources, specifically something like:
- can pay for Galaxies with outfit funds, max X amount per day

The scenario I'm specifically thinking about are the guys who pull Galaxies, Sunderers, and Liberators. These are teamwork vehicles, especially the transports. The entire outfit can benefit from the Galaxies and forcing the driver to flip the bill all the time doesn't seem particularly fair to me.

That's a feature that I think could wait for post-release. The whole outfit resources, outfit bank, withdraw amounts and all that. Seems like a great feature to add in down the road but isn't a must-have for launch.

[Baneblade]

There's more than yes/no options.

Uniform Options:

1) Always Enforced
2) Enforced when squad leader has the "officer" permission
3) Never Enforced

At the basic level, if it is a setting that can be changed any time then you can have outfit leaders toggling it on/off as needed for when they want to enforce the outfit image or not.

The squad leader option is a convenience that allows it to be automatic whenever a squad is led by someone who has a certain permission.

And as always, if you don't like the enforcement, take it up with your outfit leaders, or find a new outfit. The burden of outfit uniform enforcement should not be on the outfit leaders to police people and ensure they're doing it. The above settings should suffice for giving outfit leaders reasonable control over the uniform enforcement.

Maybe take it a step further and allow us to distinguish between a squad and an ops squad. Different rules for each. Like an ops squad could have predefined rules for uniform, roles, etc. If you want to just cleg around, you form a regular squad.

[Madlaps]

Errr, lets try again.

Divisions should be a must, as well as different rank structures, chat, per division etc. Cert points by division would be nice, but possibly exploitable by multiple toons per person in outfit.. "oh i want to rape with tanks, ill go on my toon in tank div"

Customisable rank patches, seperate for outfit logos.

War Banners would be sweet as, placeable on maxes. Maybe a outfit cert that gives a max the banner on long cooldown (like 2 days) that gives a buff to [insert benefits here] for outfit members close by, nothing powerful... Like a resource or xp buff?

Make outfit certs only gained or spendable in how you earned them. If you mainly do infantry, you can only get infantry certs - some may find this annoying but it will make each outfit more unique and harder to max out certs by simply zerg recruiting till you are done (not much harder)

Not so much outfits but, PS2 is much larger than PS1 and should have the next step up from Platoons.. Company? With platoon / company leaders being able move soldiers between squads and players being able to display their role in the leader interface (if im a support playing medic it displays the + symbol near my name)
---------
Am i the only one that sees "MMO" as more than just lots of players in the same place? Make outfits ridiculous, go overboard - people want to be different and want to stand out. Fuck subtelty.

[GuyFawkes]

Outfit levelling and ranks . Individuals earn status points (separate from resources so no conflict with soe shop) towards their outfit . The outfit levels up as status is earned to spend on the outfit for things like an outfit uniform , outfit logos etc.
Use the status to develop the outfit cert tree to gain outfit recalling etc . Make it so the status earned towards the outfit in gained from top 30 players in it so it dosent penalise medium, well-organised outfits that do a lot of the real work in game like resecures away from the front lines etc .

Allow sub divisions within outfits the chance for more recognition . If you in 666th devil dogs, for instance , but your tank team wants to be called the 'skullbuster' division allow them to stick that on side of their vanguards or whatever. Skullbuster 666.

edit:

I think status points could also be chategorised as Infamy /Notoriety or some other title if outfit levelling dosent suit. You could earn notoriety based on scale of difficulty , and would work in the opposite fashion to how easy it is to hack a facility eg

For a front line assault/defense , you gain resources quicker and the hack is easier, say 30 seconds. You gain +10 status for each capture point , +1 for each kill /assist etc , +5 for completing a mission.

If you attack a flanking front line you get +30 for each capture point , +3 for each kill/assist , +20 for completing a mission. Defending you get +20 , +2, + 10

If you go deep into enemy territory , you gain +100 for capping, + 10 for each kill , +50 for each mission .Defending you would get +50 , +5, +25 (since you have home territory advantage and much less effort involved)

So, in this way , if you on the main front line, the cap will be to-and-fro constantly and you get a steady stream. Pushing the game and going on the offensive beyond the obvious big battle with long cap timers has a reward commensurate to the effort. Re-securing, while drawing you away from the main battle, still has a better overall reward if you do so.
That way, the resecure teams /spec ops guys who always have to do the running around to keep the 'house tidy' still gain level .
On top of that, it makes more of the map a dynamic area , spreading the fight , but if you want big front line battles the net result to notoriety will still be achievable.

[Meriv]

Outfit levelling and ranks . Individuals earn status points (separate from resources so no conflict with soe shop) towards their outfit . The outfit levels up as status is earned to spend on the outfit for things like an outfit uniform , outfit logos etc.
Use the status to develop the outfit cert tree to gain outfit recalling etc . Make it so the status earned towards the outfit in gained from top 30 players in it so it dosent penalise medium, well-organised outfits that do a lot of the real work in game like resecures away from the front lines etc .

Allow sub divisions within outfits the chance for more recognition . If you in 666th devil dogs, for instance , but your tank team wants to be called the 'skullbuster' division allow them to stick that on side of their vanguards or whatever. Skullbuster 666.

Nice idea of the outfits own certificates in this way u push ppl to organize themself in outfits to get the bonuses. And +1 to only being able to upper just in what u have received that exp, soo u get specialized outfits too :).

[kaffis]

To add a slightly different perspective on Malorn's Outfit Members on the map notion...

I'd like to see this, yes -- but not on the standard minimap. Make it a terminal at a facility or something. Giving outfit leaders or operations leaders the ability to see, logistically, where their forces at is a good move, but it's also very powerful if it's just outright on-demand, especially if there aren't similar abilities for all friendlies in command certs or something. Tying it to a terminal gives you another opportunity to make facility control a tactical advantage, as well.

[Malorn]

Not giving large outfits the ability to see their members is a penalty for being a large outfit. Small outfits would see all their members in a squad or small platoon. I don't see any difference between a large outfit in a platoon or one spanning multiple platoons.

The PS1 system of showing all platoon members on the map was absolutely vital to organization and coordination. But it shouldn't be limited to just the Platoon. If you have 4 squads instead of 3, the 4th squad becomes the odd man out, difficult to coordinate with compared to the other three squads. It becomes an artificial barrier to outfit size. Can be easily resolved by showing everyone in your outfit at all times so you can coordinate operations. Such a feature scales to outfits of all sizes.

[kaffis]

Well, I don't like platoons in the first place, so perhaps that helps see my perspective a bit better. I'd like multiple small outfits working together to have the same operational awareness as one big outfit of the same size.

Which is why I favor pounding on the mission system until it's hierarchical and naturally supports dividing big tasks (created by proven/popular leaders of high command certification) into smaller ones (and perhaps smaller ones, again) that support it. That's a system that neither punishes brilliant commanders in small outfits, nor unduly punishes large outfits, who will naturally use such a system to support their own outfit's missions. It doesn't create a maximum OR a minimum amount of friends under your command to play the metagame, as it were. It would just reward talent, ingenuity, and effectiveness.

Throwing outfit map visibility onto a terminal gives the outfit officers the ability to check in periodically to identify "problem" members and whatnot, without giving the single outfit of 200 guys an advantage over 4 outfits of 50 working together.

[Saifoda]

...
War Banners would be sweet as, placeable on maxes. Maybe a outfit cert that gives a max the banner on long cooldown (like 2 days) that gives a buff to [insert benefits here] for outfit members close by, nothing powerful... Like a resource or xp buff?

...

Hehe, 40k much my friend?

[Saifoda]

I also greatly like the idea of outfit resources being usable on vehicles.

If they want a sum-zero system, create a simple resource tax for members and do the Guild Bank thing from RPGs where there are permissions that allow different withdraw amounts per day.

For PS2 I'd like more specific withdraw of outfit resources, specifically something like:
- can pay for Galaxies with outfit funds, max X amount per day

The scenario I'm specifically thinking about are the guys who pull Galaxies, Sunderers, and Liberators. These are teamwork vehicles, especially the transports. The entire outfit can benefit from the Galaxies and forcing the driver to flip the bill all the time doesn't seem particularly fair to me.

That's a feature that I think could wait for post-release. The whole outfit resources, outfit bank, withdraw amounts and all that. Seems like a great feature to add in down the road but isn't a must-have for launch.



I see your point, but I'm not so sure about this. As a player it could almost be exploitable (and in part on the outfit leader if they want to be an oppressive twat they can use it as leverage against players with complaints about the outfit) in the way that "oh this outfit has a lot of resources, I'll just join them and get my vics and nades for free" and from the outfit side "oh you don't like that we do business xyz and you want to play abc? That's fine, you can just go and pay for all your own vehicles from now on if you'd rather not be in the outfit..." see what I'm saying?



Also the issue I had before with it with an entire outfit gaining and storing tons of resources and then spamming out vanguards and libs and gals. This, I think, may be less of an issue than what I stated above, but I think it could still ruin the game for more people than make the game better for those who benefit from it.






And about the possible resource system in regards to outfits, I think the best model will probably be a similar active/passive gain based on outfit-player performance in the game. In this way, you're not punishing the player with an "outfit tax" (which would push people away from playing with outfits) but just giving the outfit a sort of dividend based on the performance of it's players. So if your outfit has 20 players that have earned on average 100 auraxium each (or whatever resource, just through the usual gameplay mechanics) for a total of 2,000 auraxium, the outfit is awarded a bonus of, say, 5% of all of that (so 100 auraxium) or 8% or 1% or 50 million %. I can't really see any flaw with this but if somebody's got one I'm all ears.

[HEISTT]

I'd like to see a ranking system within outfits. I have no idea if this was already done in PS1, but if you can tie the ranking system in with a permission system (what an individual is allowed to do within its outfit) it would be awesome. Needless to say, we should also be able to name the different ranks so it actually fits the theme of the outfit.

I'd like to see this idea expanded to have the ability to drag and drop players that are online into different squads and platoons.

Be able to give each squad and platoon its own name.

I'd love to see this kind of functionality!

I don't know if this is the right thread, or if it has already been confirmed, but apart from what has already been suggested (which are very good points)... I really want the ability to draw "attack plans" etc. on the map to return. Plans that can only be seen by each squad, so to speak..

This sounds awesome as well. Drawing shapes on some sort of (mini)map that can be seen by the whole squad would come in very handy, maybe limit the editing of the battle plans to squad leader only.

[Malorn]

In order for resources to remain relevant, outfits would need resource caps just like players. That would encourage them to spend.

If the resources come out of the members' pockets in the form of a tax then joining an outfit for resources isn't really practical, because you'll be paying in as well. They could also restrict the withdrawals to certain things, like Galaxies, and only give that privilege to Galaxy pilots.

So there are ways to do it without screwing anything up. You certainly don't want outfit resource to grow and grow to the point where they don't care about resources. Its more about being able to pool some resources for things that benefit the entire outfit.

Getting into a rough example so you understand the scale I'm talking about...

A small (optional) tax of like 5% or so and a max outfit resource pool size of 2x a player's max pool size seems reasonable to me. Resources would still matter, the outfit couldn't fund everyone, but it could fund a few things, like a tank if someone in the armor division is running low, or a few galaxies / sunderers for outfit use, or a few libs for Liberator night, that sort of thing.

Later they can add outfit-specific things which can cost resources, like temporary towers, vehicle pads, turrets, or other things that outfits can spend to upgrade a facility or outpost. Then outfits would have to manage what they spend those resources on.

So I see the outfit bank as the foundation for much more sandboxy stuff. Start out small with low resource caps and small taxes and see how it works out. Mabye give outfits some control.

If its small they could also award outfit resources without taxing the members, so the resources are effectively "free" but you don't get very many of them.

Instead of the outfit paying for the entire vehicle or upgrade outright, the outfit could also subsidize. For example, instead of paying entirely for the galaxy, the outfit bank might pay 50% of a galaxy, so the pilot still has to pay something, but not the whole thing. That puts some accountability on the pilot to not waste the resources since they also have some personal investment. These are all great things to include in any outfit resource system.

[GuyFawkes]

Nice idea of the outfits own certificates in this way u push ppl to organize themself in outfits to get the bonuses. And +1 to only being able to upper just in what u have received that exp, soo u get specialized outfits too :).

Thanks, since it has nothing to do with resources ,or outfit size. it isn't a tax on players. It cant be used to churn out more vehicles or anything like that. It just allows your outfit to , just like the class system , sidegrade along the lines that they want to specialise in.
If you want everyone in you outfit to look like zebras, great . If you would rather it be spent on tactical stuff like outfit recall , or drawing on map for instance you can do that.

[Stardouser]

I don't know if this is more properly an outfit or a mission system thing but I will throw it out anyway: The ability to see what loadout your guys have, and see what role/mission they are currently committed to doing, by individual, squad, and platoon. For example, if a squad is flying close air support/interdiction with liberators, the leader can mark his squad as doing that, and where, for the outfit to see. Or, if there is a squad of guys providing anti-air with AA vehicles, same deal.

It just seems like it would be good to see what people are doing at all times without having to query the VOIP or text.

[Soothsayer]

In terms of specialization, I think that outfits should be able to develop squad slots that outfit achievements (outfit points for lack of a better word/concept) can be spent towards increasing effectiveness or specialization of a given playstyle.

The problem with making these specializations outfit-wide is that you are pigeonholed into one type of playstyle all the time.

If you have different divisions, the outfit should be able to support them.

If you were a specialist outfit, you could pick to specialize multiple squads into that specialization.

This concept could be fit within the lore as a Nanite Systems narrative device.

[Malorn]

I don't know if this is more properly an outfit or a mission system thing but I will throw it out anyway: The ability to what loadout your guys have, and see what role/mission they are currently committed to doing, by individual, squad, and platoon. For example, if a squad is flying close air support/interdiction with liberators, the leader can mark his squad as doing that, and where, for the outfit to see. Or, if there is a squad of guys providing anti-air with AA vehicles, same deal.

It just seems like it would be good to see what people are doing at all times without having to query the VOIP or text.

Loadout might get a bit too detailed. Roles/class are important to see though.

Simple map/minimap icon + #, with color-coded for squad, like PS1 only with an icon next to the number indicating the class. So I could open up my map and look and see that we have 3 guys watching Point A, a MAX, Medic, and Engineer. I don't need to ask them over voice, and I probably know the members well enough to know what loadouts they are using if I know the role they are in. If there's a specific problem like the MAX is dual-burster guarding indoors then that's something they should probably tell you and not something you should have to go dig up. But again, just by the role you probably know the configuration if you've played with the person any significant amount of time.

[Saifoda]

@Marlon I understand now. The two issues (that would be the tax system rather than non-zero-sum gain along with outfits purchasing or subsidizing the purchase of vehicles for it's players) works out since, in effect, the players aren't getting the vehicles for free as the resources that were used to purchase/subsidize originally came directly from the players of the outfit.

And yeah, I didn't mention a resource cap for outfits (slipped my mind) but I think it's pretty necessary.

[GuyFawkes]

I just think that the idea of taxing outfit members in order that the outfit can buy galaxies etc is a tad unfair .
Better to make it a universal system of if you jump in a galaxy or any vehicle as a passenger or gunner you literally pay for the taxi service and the cost is shared . The driver gets refunded for his expense.No free rides. The longer the galaxy is in the game and not destroyed , the cheaper the taxi service becomes.
Maybe add in the outfit cert tree to reduce the cost of resources outfit wide when acquiring vehicles would be a possibility.

[Tikuto]

Instead of Resource for Outfits, how about a correlating points system that diminishes over-time.


Resources = Empire's - everyone's.
<Outfit Points> = Use of Empire Resources to initiate something.


These points develop as your Empire's resources develop. They also diminish after 40minutes of Outfit inactivity.
The purpose is to respect Resources as an Empire-wide thing and not an Outfit thing, and so these 'eligibility points' grant the Outfit the activation of a super-weapon by using Empire Resources.

[Malorn]

I just think that the idea of taxing outfit members in order that the outfit can buy galaxies etc is a tad unfair .

So it's unfair for an outfit that heavily uses Galaxies to tax the people riding in them to pay for them and instead the Galaxy drivers should be the ones that always eat the cost?

Seems unfair to me that the pilot would always pay the bill and completely reasonable to have the 10 passengers all chip in 10-15 resources for the drop. As if dedicated galaxy pilots weren't hard enough to find, lets shaft them with the resource cost for supporting their outfit too! Support jobs are never fun, the least you can do is provide a way to absorb some of the pain and let the people that benefit from that support chip in.

If you don't like the rate or what the resources are spent on, that's something you take up with your outfit leadership. Not every outfit needs to do this, but it should be there for those that do want to use it.

[Arcticus]

A balance aspect of this game is that a player pays more resources in order to get the loadouts that can cause more damage and raise survivability. E.g., a MAX loadout would cost more than an LA loadout and that is fair since the MAX has advantages.

One thing regarding subsidies of player vehicles is that the subsidized player is receiving FULL XP at only partial cost to that player, with the rest of the outfit having to pay the subsidy.

Does this redistribution of XP to the resource-centric classes/vehicles dictate that less players in the outfit will want to play the lighter classes? If you're a specialized outfit, this isn't a concern, but it might be an issue for the more diversified outfits, specially the larger ones.

Again, I don't think resource subsidization is a problem; I think the XP skew might be. I'm definitely open to being convinced otherwise.

----------
Arcticus

[Stardouser]

Loadout might get a bit too detailed. Roles/class are important to see though.

Simple map/minimap icon + #, with color-coded for squad, like PS1 only with an icon next to the number indicating the class. So I could open up my map and look and see that we have 3 guys watching Point A, a MAX, Medic, and Engineer. I don't need to ask them over voice, and I probably know the members well enough to know what loadouts they are using if I know the role they are in. If there's a specific problem like the MAX is dual-burster guarding indoors then that's something they should probably tell you and not something you should have to go dig up. But again, just by the role you probably know the configuration if you've played with the person any significant amount of time.

Well, part of the reason I said to do it by individual and squad was this - I personally would want to be able to filter the map to show a marker per squad leader, and only show individuals if they are unsquadded, to prevent map spam. But, in order for that to work, the squad leader would have to be able to designate on behalf of his whole squad what they are doing.

Is that even necessary though? How many outfit members need to be online before it's map spam for which seeing the squads of the outfit abstracted to squad leaders only would be helpful, how many outfit members can be comfortably displayed individually before it's too much? 50? 100? More? This also depends on map zoom levels too.

I would certainly want to be able to do this(be able to filter to represent squads by their leader only on the map) if you were going to have it for the entire empire though. Though, this topic was about outfits so that's a different topic.

[Malorn]

First, I have to say something I wanted to say since I first saw this thread subject...

ELECTROLYTES!

Ok on to non-silly things...
Well, part of the reason I said to do it by individual and squad was this - I personally would want to be able to filter the map to show a marker per squad leader, and only show individuals if they are unsquadded, to prevent map spam. But, in order for that to work, the squad leader would have to be able to designate on behalf of his whole squad what they are doing.


I don't think you need anything special to have map filters. Filters are good. Sure, have a filter to show un-squadded, have a filter to only show squad leaders, have a filter to show certain classes. Lots of filter options.

PS1 had a waypoint that signified the "center" of the squad used to determine how much XP you earned, etc, could do something like that too in order to show where each outfit-led squad is, generally speaking.

[GuyFawkes]

So it's unfair for an outfit that heavily uses Galaxies to tax the people riding in them to pay for them and instead the Galaxy drivers should be the ones that always eat the cost?

Seems unfair to me that the pilot would always pay the bill and completely reasonable to have the 10 passengers all chip in 10-15 resources for the drop. As if dedicated galaxy pilots weren't hard enough to find, lets shaft them with the resource cost for supporting their outfit too! Support jobs are never fun, the least you can do is provide a way to absorb some of the pain and let the people that benefit from that support chip in.

If you don't like the rate or what the resources are spent on, that's something you take up with your outfit leadership. Not every outfit needs to do this, but it should be there for those that do want to use it.

Not sure if you read the full part of what i said. If the driver buys a galaxy and it costs him 1100 credits, and 10 people jump in for a ride , the driver gets 1000 credits back immediately , 100 for each passenger. If you are in an outfit , the initial cost of galaxy could be reduced to 900 if you lock it to outfit only.
Hell, if the galaxy pilot has some initiative, he could earn some extra resources taxing a few strays while you are all busy watching a hack timer ;)
This way you dont 'tax' someone else in your outfit who may have flown around all night in the same scythe . Everyone gains resources since you are working together .

Im fully aware and understand what you mean , the drivers have to pay out big time to get a galaxy which everyone gets the benefit of. I just dislike the idea of a global tax system for a leader to have a bad day , kick people etc unless ofc they get a full refund. I prefer it the other way, you jump in a galaxy <cha-ching> 100 credits go from your pocket . Still a lot cheaper than getting other transport bar a quad , and much more organised.

[ringring]

Conductors on galaxies ... "I would have liked a ride but I can't afford the fare" :)

Being serious .... new players, if you have any in your outfit you probably want to put them in the galaxy to make sure they turn up at the right place at the right time. It maybe they are the very ones who are resource poor.

On the other hand the galaxies may be the type of craft that get shot out of the sky often.

Maybe the best solution is to manipulate the price downwards and balance with survivability (and don't have a new player flying your gal).

[GuyFawkes]

At the e3 event a quad cost like 100 , you would only be paying the equivalent of that to ride in a seat on a galaxy. no conductor lol.
At that price its no biggie , you would probably spend more having your quad blown up by mines over and over.
It dosent differentiate between an outfit or non outfit galaxy, so those who just like being a gal pilot arent discouraged from taxing other people.
Plus theres no drama if you pick a friend up and you get derided by your outfit for wasting 'fuel' on a non-member.
Last point, if you pay your 'ticket' and the pilot crashes into a tree over and over, you will think twice before riding again with them , and the cost then induces them to be more careful.

[Baneblade]

Wouldn't the Gal pilot be getting those resources from the activities of the people they are ferrying? So it already balances out.

[Captain1nsaneo]

Not sure if you read the full part of what i said. If the driver buys a galaxy and it costs him 1100 credits, and 10 people jump in for a ride , the driver gets 1000 credits back immediately , 100 for each passenger. If you are in an outfit , the initial cost of galaxy could be reduced to 900 if you lock it to outfit only.
Hell, if the galaxy pilot has some initiative, he could earn some extra resources taxing a few strays while you are all busy watching a hack timer ;)
This way you dont 'tax' someone else in your outfit who may have flown around all night in the same scythe . Everyone gains resources since you are working together .

Im fully aware and understand what you mean , the drivers have to pay out big time to get a galaxy which everyone gets the benefit of. I just dislike the idea of a global tax system for a leader to have a bad day , kick people etc unless ofc they get a full refund. I prefer it the other way, you jump in a galaxy <cha-ching> 100 credits go from your pocket . Still a lot cheaper than getting other transport bar a quad , and much more organised.

http://i49.tinypic.com/epf7mf.jpg

This is a unneeded and overly complex system that would be an absolute nightmare to balance that would be attached to an already complex game. I really think you're just trying to find a solution for this fear of yours:

I just dislike the idea of a global tax system for a leader to have a bad day, kick people etc unless ofc they get a full refund.

No where have we seen info about if outfits will buy tools with resources. We've seen stuff about outfit specific cert unlocks which probably won't take anything from players XP to level up. If they do have some sort of tax it will be only for members of an outfit so if you're that worried about your Araxium going into filthy outfit government coffers then just don't join one. You can still play with them and hang out but you'll just be a second class citizen without access to outfit chat or VoiP. Outfits aren't free, there are sacrifices involved with them even if it's just time and if the outfit isn't worth your resources then don't join it.

[Malorn]

Wouldn't the Gal pilot be getting those resources from the activities of the people they are ferrying? So it already balances out.

That's not necessarily the only thing the gal pilot is doing/spending resources on, and we don't know enough about resource rates and generation to know if that will be sufficient. And then there's always the situation where the galaxy goes down before it can make its drop.

Gals are also AMS so they may not be used to transport anyone but instead used to provide a much-needed respawn point. It would be nice if support resources were granted for such things but we don't know any of that yet.

At any rate, a resource bank would be needed for outfits if they plan to make outfit-purchasable structures, upgrades, etc. It also gives outfits another reason to care about resources if those things can only be purchased from the resources an outfit earns.

Makes sense to do a bank to allow outfits alternative ways to manage resources, alleviate any resource pains designated support players might incur for being a team player, and pave the way for more useful things later.

[Grognard]

I saw Higby had (overnight to me) tweeted some questions asking for suggestions on what will be good in PS2 to support outfits better. These are my thoughts.


I researched a few ideas I have had about this, and I am hoping for this kind of functionality:

A deal breaker for a lot of outfits is... Definable divisions to distiguish members for various outfit-specific reasons, such as "armor branch", "motor pool", etc. Whatever implementation is used, it needs to be plainly understood at a glance, so it is easy to see what resources are available in each. Perhaps a "Table of Organization" visual, can be pulled up to assign, and view, members affiliation with whatever division, complete with the NCO(s) and officer(s) in charge.

One of the most useful things would be a robust outfit rank structure... with a large pool of definable ranks. With that, and very importantly, mouseover rank description, to explain outfit-specific rank responsibilities. I'd also like to see ranks with definable permanencies, ie. some ranks last a certain duration (1hr, 1day...), that revert to previous rank. This is for "brevets" when permanent officers are not on. Rank permissions need to be very specific, perhaps like a tick-box for each rank (dis)allowing; join, kick, promote, demote, brevets, warnings, accolades, etc. Join and kick permissions need to be seperate.

Also nice would be an outfit "billboard" for advertising who we are, and... an outfit "welcomeboard" for important reminders, like a "start kit" for new members, and expectations, etc. In the other direction... a "member resume" would be very good to see what individuals expectations, qualifications, and input are... like a small mouseover blurb about whatever the member wishes to say, this can give officers an idea of their goals. Also an outfit broadcast banner, allowing for a quick message from permissioned members to broadcast a "center banner" giving a quick necessary message like they have in the E3 footage. Also useful might be a "suggestion box" (that can be disabled, and emptied), with an member selected anonymity option.

A member accolade system via color, merit badge, or some-such outfit visable item, with a time-defined termination period, to include permanent. This could go hand-in-hand with a time defined warning system via color and/or sound alarm, and hidden message box for warning content. Perhaps, with this, also a culling tool, by warnings accumulated, or inactivity, etc., governed by permissions use, set by rank. Since, I dont think outfit officers would want to argue with every member about infractions, I envision the warning system to work something like this:

Normal - green, cooldown - permanent.
1st warning - yellow, cooldown - 1 week.
2nd warning - orange, cooldown - 1 week.
3rd warning - red, cooldown - 1 month.

Thusly, it can be known that any infraction, whilst in a red state, means ejection. All of these timeframes should be able to be edited to whatever a particular outfit wants... immediate red-state, longer cooldowns, anything you want. This would provide continuity to a player that they need to settle down, or go. After a cooldown expires, your state would drop down to next lower, so its progressive / regressive. Conversely... there could be the exact same thing used for an approval system. Some method to show approval for doing something good. The twist on this is that the whole outfit sees the good colors... There should still be timeframe limitations to encourage continued effort. Good and bad, both, should fade to normal with time. This should give players some continued sense that they make a difference, and that they are appreciated.

Thats all I have for now.

[Loco]

On outfit uniforms.

A lot of people think about enforcing vs not. How about using a page from City of Heroes.

In COH you have super groups. You earned super group points while in uniform.

I'm not sure if Outfits will have their own resources. If they do this could work.

Say a normal player no matter what contributes X amount of resources to the outfit when they are playing.

If the player suits up in an outfit uniform they earn 1.5x or 2x the resources.

This of course could also work in the way of City of Heroes.

Players earn x resources.
Of that when they are not in "Outfit" mode they keep it all.
When in "outfit" mode they wear the uniform and give 1/2x resources to the outfit and keep 1/2x for themselves.

[SUBARU]

Members?

[Emperor]

If anyone has played Aion recently, that game introduced a "Cartography Function"; basically, you can bring up the map on your HUD, and draw on it. Then you can share that with your group or legion.

It's great for plotting tactics beyond clicking on the map and selecting something like "Attack here," "Defend this position," etc.

This'd also be handy for squads, not just outfits.

[NexAnima]

If anyone has played Aion recently, that game introduced a "Cartography Function"; basically, you can bring up the map on your HUD, and draw on it. Then you can share that with your group or legion.

It's great for plotting tactics beyond clicking on the map and selecting something like "Attack here," "Defend this position," etc.

This'd also be handy for squads, not just outfits.

Yes, this all the way.

There's nothing better then being able to command through specific visuals.

[Slide Surveyor]

My BF3 outfit logo was the best...

[Landtank]

Members?

HAH! Winner!