KillCam poll revisited - post March 6th footage.

[Tom Peters]

People complain far too much about killcams, believing they "REVEAL ENEMY LOCATIONS."

I always tend to know where someone killed me from without a killcam anyway. You can see the tracers location, so you shouldn't really die without knowing what hit you. This only happens if you get sniped from a mile away. IMO, I find the killcam to not be that big of a deal in terms of "balance."

Does that mean I want it in this game? Fuck no. Especially not that shitty BF3-clone killcam we saw.

Ideally, I'd rather just watch your character die/await revival. But I want to see -some- info about the guy who killed me (definitely his BR/CR, weapon used, perhaps their displayed merit).

[VioletZero]

BF3 clone killcam?

What video were you watching?

I thought it reminded me of TF2 more.

[Talek Krell]

Originally Posted by VioletZero

I thought it reminded me of TF2 more.

I thought the TF2 killcam did a zoom and freeze thing?


I understand that killcams, at least in some forms, can have merits but I think the one they're using is the worst possible choice because it:

1. Rewards failure with intel. Giving away snipers and cloakers is bad, yes, but this can affect anyone. The killcam in Bad Company 2 worked like this, and I regularly used that to determine where my killer was, what he was using, whether he was alone, what his objective was, and where I could intercept and kill him in the future. Here was a guy that was actually being clever and flanking around and his reward was me waiting around a corner with a shotgun because I saw him on the teevee. The size of the battlefield can only do so much to mitigate this.

2. Doesn't teach anything. Despite providing a wealth of information to the dead, none of it is especially useful in preventing future deaths. It doesn't even tell you whether there's a medic about to revive you. Much more useful I think would be footage of what was happening prior to your death.

3. Is immersion breaking. Your mileage will vary, but for me having an out of body experience around someone else's body cracks the surface even more than the respawning process in and of itself. The way they had it set up for this demo is even worse than usual. The transition is so sudden that there's no real sense of having died. You health hits zero and you just immediately switch to watching a guy bunnyhopping behind a wall. Presumably your body is collapsing out there somewhere. It's like tripping an unexpected cutscene with no transition.


I think the idea in here I like most so far would be this:

Originally Posted by DayOne

How about a death animation type thing? so you fall to the ground and your view stays locked to where your eyes are until you respawn.

With local radar (to watch for medics) followed by a fade to bloody black to transition to this:

Originally Posted by Vancha

Again, I'm going to suggest a "simulation" killcam. Imagine the camera replaying the kill from a cool angle, with the players/weapons/bullets rendered but the environment replaced with a digital sort of effect... You could play it off as a mental black box in the soldier, replaying the scenario for learning purposes.

[Vancha]

Originally Posted by Talek Krell

I think the idea in here I like most so far would be this:

With local radar (to watch for medics) followed by a fade to bloody black to transition to this:

I was thinking earlier that I couldn't decide which of those I preferred more, and you solve that problem by going with both.

[EVILoHOMER]

Originally Posted by Ragotag

So true. I've often found that the majority of players against this style of kill-cam are convinced that it gives them away - usually this is a sniper/camper gripe more than for any other play style. Not that I'm opposed to sniping or camping, both are valid play styles/tactics, but I'm not convinced that the BF3 style killcam is really all that compromising.

Well, it might be slightly compromising verses an experienced player who has played on a specific map a gazillion times and knows the shape of every rock and the 360 degree backdrop to every tree. In a game as massive as PS2 is, do you really think this will happen? I don't think it will. Ever try to use BF3 style kill-cam information to feed your squad precise targeting information, only to get back a "behind which which tree" or "on top of which rock" response; questions that you are unlikely to be able to answer. Not too terribly useful from that perspective.

As long as the kill cam is a close up of the shooter so as to not give away too much specific locational information, and only exists for a few seconds before prompting the player for a respawn location, then the positive purpose served is to let you know how you got killed more than from where. IMO, this is important player feedback.

I really like the idea of a snapshot version of the BF3 style killcam on a short display timer. It gives the necessary feedback, especially if you add in class/kit selection info, without compromising the 10% on their play-style. I like this idea much better than the PS1 style killcam or no killcam.

I want that feedback so I can not make that mistake again, also it makes dying more fun and less frustrating. There is nothing worse than being randomly killed and not having any feedback to why, it just angers you. I don't like COD but the one thing I love is how you get to see how that person killed you, it's fun. TF2 also makes it fun with the blood and guts and all the funny emotes and hats, I love seeing who killed me and what emote they're doing.

I don't care if the other person has seen where I am, I wont be in that spot again. If I'm a sniper and on some position trying to hide, in planetside you'll be seen via the tracer or the 20 other people beside you doing the same thing. As Planetside showed us it is really hard to get to these sniper positions and kill people without being killed yourself due to the amount of people in the battle.


I really don't want SOE to listen to the forums all too much, I want them to follow the design they want and open the beta up to everyone, not Planetside veterans or people with the PC gamer key because most of them will be Planetside veterans. SOE needs to have feedback from all kids of people and I bet you 90% of new players will want the kill cam to stay.

I don't want Planetside 2 to be made into this niche title like the first one was, it was no fun even only a few months after launch when the population was dying fast. The prime of Planetside really only was only up to Sept 2003 and then in decline until BFRs which just killed the game. I want people to play with...

[Firefly]

Do not want.

[Goku]

Wheres the I don't care option?