Gameplay: All Points Bulletins

[Ratstomper]

As was mentioned in the bounty thread (http://www.planetside-universe.com/s...ad.php?t=43581) by Synapse, some folks wanted me to make a new thread with a refined "bounty" idea that dealt with killstreaks and rewards/risks for them. Heres my thought, let me know what you think.

Killstreaks: Have a set number of kills (dependent on average player killstreaks) against a particular faction in a single life that, once surmounted, puts the player in a "bounty" mode. At this point, the killstreaker will receive small cumulative bonuses (XP and maybe resources?) on each additional kill they make. Once in bounty mode, the only way to get out of bounty mode is to achieve no kills for a set amount of time (a couple mins?).

Bulletins: When someone passes the number for killing members of your faction, an all points bulletin goes out to all troops in the hex the killstreaker is in that gives the name of the killstreaker and a basic picture of what he looks like. A considerable kill bonus (XP and resources, cumulative depending on how well the offending player is doing) is awarded to the player that brings down the killstreaker.

Merits: I haven't heard much about merits or how they'll work, but assuming we'll have a similar system as in PS1.

Headhunter Bronze/Silver/Gold: collect X number of bounties on members of opposing factions.

Shock Trooper Bronze/Silver/Gold:Achieve X number of kills with a bounty on your head.

[Toppopia]

Originally Posted by Ratstomper

As was mentioned in the bounty thread (http://www.planetside-universe.com/s...ad.php?t=43581) by Synapse, some folks wanted me to make a new thread with a refined "bounty" idea that dealt with killstreaks and rewards/risks for them. Heres my thought, let me know what you think.

Killstreaks: Have a set number of kills (10-15?) against a particular faction in a single life that, once surmounted, puts the player in a "bounty" mode. At this point, the killstreaker will receive small cumulative bonuses (XP and maybe resources?) on each additional kill they make.

Bulletins: When someone passes the number for killing members of your faction, an all points bulletin goes out to all troops in the area that gives the name of the killstreaker and a basic picture of what he looks like. A considerable kill bonus (XP and resources, cumulative depending on how well the offending player is doing) is awarded to the player that brings down the killstreaker.

Merits: I haven't heard much about merits or how they'll work, but assuming we'll have a similar system as in PS1.

Headhunter Bronze/Silver/Gold: collect X number of bounties on members of opposing factions.

<help me think of a merit name> Bronze/Silver/Gold:Achieve X number of kills with a bounty on your head.

This sounds awesome, it will give the COD people something to work towards, instead of calling in a few million dollars worth of airstrikes, they get bonus xp

[I SandRock]

I don't like bonuses that focus on killing. It'll make it too much a TDM game.

[SztEltviz]

Merits are ok, but don't promote the l'art pour l'art killing with XP.

[Knotz]

You lost me at the french words...

Anyway, OT, I like the idea, but I think showing people a picture of the guy wont really do much... when theres going to be upwards of 600 people on that faction, then recognising one guy in the crowd is going to be near impossible, even if you know he's wearing generic_desert_camo#43

[Jinxsey]

Rather than rewarding killstreaks I like the idea that someone who gets one is worth increased XP when he gets shot.

Players who get very very big killstreaks say X kills, could be posted to a bounty board which you could "tag". If you kill a bounty within the vincinty of a mission objective (set by the mission system) you get a "Bounty Hunter" merit, that you can wear on your uniform, or weapon (kill markings?) and bonus resources.

So long as the focus is on integrating bounty play into mission play, I think this could add a realy interesting little meta-game.

Bouties could also be placed on players who cap multiple objectives, or set by high-level players who spend their own personal resources as a reward payout.

Hell an outfit could post bounties on players from a rival outfit.

[Baneblade]

Rewarding killstreakers will only have one effect on the game ultimately: It will promote the worst kind of online playstyles.

[vampyro]

Originally Posted by Sobekeus

Rewarding killstreakers will only have one effect on the game ultimately: It will promote the worst kind of online playstyles.

^^

The reward is there already. Gaining resources plus the kill.

[Nemeses]

Originally Posted by vampyro

^^

The reward is there already. Gaining resources plus the kill.

This!

[Cuross]

The idea is amusing, but I think the killstreak bounty should start after much mucher more kills than even 15 or 20 for more bonuses. We already have killstreaks and bonuses that start to accrue after three kills in one life, so everyone already has a goal to work towards as far as that goes. Depending on position and tactics, I can foresee many people getting fifteen kills rather easily, and I'm suspecting that those people will be earning great big gobs of xp after that.

A bounty system would be a fun and diversifying way to create a sense of stress, but with two thousand players on that faction, it will literally be like finding a needle in a haystack. A black and red, blue and yellow, purple and teal haystack. I honestly think it might be more trouble than it's worth for the time being, and the benefits are slim.

I also personally think that these should remain out of the statistics because people really don't need to have their ego boosted any more than it will be once the game starts

[Ratstomper]

Originally Posted by Sobekeus

Rewarding killstreakers will only have one effect on the game ultimately: It will promote the worst kind of online playstyles.

Originally Posted by I SandRock

I don't like bonuses that focus on killing. It'll make it too much a TDM game.

That seems reasonable. However, the bounty idea actually makes it difficult for certain players to steamroll others, because after a certain point people are seeing you as priority over others. The bonus, in my mind, was to offset the increased difficulty of having people gunning for you. Noone should be penalized for doing well, but encouraging other players to fight and kill killstreakers seems like a good idea to me. I think it's a fair risk/reward mechanic, but I'm open to other suggestions.

Also, don't forget that the more cumulative benefits the killstreaker gets, the better the payoff would be for the soldier killing him.

Originally Posted by Knotz

You lost me at the french words...

Anyway, OT, I like the idea, but I think showing people a picture of the guy wont really do much... when theres going to be upwards of 600 people on that faction, then recognising one guy in the crowd is going to be near impossible, even if you know he's wearing generic_desert_camo#43

It's obvious I typed this up while tired. I'll need to revise it. I was thinking the system would provide at least the location (because it's broadcast in a local area, I think per hex would work well), the name of the player and what he looks like. It's up to everyone around to spot him out of the crowd. Nothing too easy to find, but enough info for people to be on the lookout. I think paid customization will also play a factor in this.

Originally Posted by Jinxsey

So long as the focus is on integrating bounty play into mission play, I think this could add a realy interesting little meta-game.

Bouties could also be placed on players who cap multiple objectives, or set by high-level players who spend their own personal resources as a reward payout.

Hell an outfit could post bounties on players from a rival outfit.

I wanted to keep away from any involvement from outside of the fight itself. I feel like posting bounties on people might be too easily used to grief and it's not really conducive to helping your empire take objectives, which is what they main thrust of the game should be about.

I think the local automatic bounty system could take into account captures and other offensive actions. I'm not sure how it would all work in, but it could probably be ironed out somehow.

Originally Posted by Cuross

The idea is amusing, but I think the killstreak bounty should start after much mucher more kills than even 15 or 20 for more bonuses. We already have killstreaks and bonuses that start to accrue after three kills in one life, so everyone already has a goal to work towards as far as that goes. Depending on position and tactics, I can foresee many people getting fifteen kills rather easily, and I'm suspecting that those people will be earning great big gobs of xp after that.

A bounty system would be a fun and diversifying way to create a sense of stress, but with two thousand players on that faction, it will literally be like finding a needle in a haystack. A black and red, blue and yellow, purple and teal haystack. I honestly think it might be more trouble than it's worth for the time being, and the benefits are slim.

I also personally think that these should remain out of the statistics because people really don't need to have their ego boosted any more than it will be once the game starts

Well, it's 2000 people on a continent. The idea is to have the system work locally (per hex?). As if someone in another faction has been causing problems and your empire broadcasts it to all troops in the area. I don't think it would be too hard to find someone in that small of an area. Besides that, it's more like a target of opportunity than something people will be really going for. Captures and objectives should be first priority.

I agree on the number of kills. I was pretty tired when I wrote this, so I just spitballed a number off the top of my head. It would have to take into consideration how well an average player does once we get some test data on it. I also didn't think about the fact that people ALREADY get killstreak bonuses. The system they have for it now would probably work fine for this idea.

I personally like the idea of merits and they should be awarded for anything that takes time and work to do. It's a facet of the game that awards players without messing up the game balance at all.

[Femtobyte]

This seems to be a way of penalizing people for doing well. :/ I don't like it. Maybe if you get extra xp for killing / assisting the kill of someone who was doing extremely well, but there was no announcement. It was just like; "OH, I just got the guy who was kicking our rears! Sweet!" and not like "$@*!, #$%#, I was really on a roll there, now the entire map is zerging in my direction.. -_-"

[Ratstomper]

Originally Posted by Femtobyte

This seems to be a way of penalizing people for doing well. :/ I don't like it. Maybe if you get extra xp for killing / assisting the kill of someone who was doing extremely well, but there was no announcement. It was just like; "OH, I just got the guy who was kicking our rears! Sweet!" and not like "$@*!, #$%#, I was really on a roll there, now the entire map is zerging in my direction.. -_-"

It would have to be pretty high K/D ratios that it affected. The risk is that people are gunning for you once you do so well, but the reward is that bonuses stack (in fact, they already do) for kills and once you die, your bounty mode resets. Not to mention it would only broadcast to people in your hex, which is a fairly large place and it doesn't give away your exact location, just your general area (the hex), name and what you look like. No markers or anything, as I think that would be a little too unbalanced. The focal point of the game should still be capturing objectives and fighting a tactical war.

It's just something to raise the skill cap for the good players and give them bragging rights for being able to survive being hunted and it gives the average players bonuses for finding and killing the guys who are causing the most damage.

[The Degenatron]

Originally Posted by Femtobyte

This seems to be a way of penalizing people for doing well. :/ I don't like it. Maybe if you get extra xp for killing / assisting the kill of someone who was doing extremely well, but there was no announcement. It was just like; "OH, I just got the guy who was kicking our rears! Sweet!" and not like "$@*!, #$%#, I was really on a roll there, now the entire map is zerging in my direction.. -_-"

Yea, that's another reason I threw out the idea of a modified spotting icon for bountied players. You wouldn't KNOW he had a bounty unless he was spotted (had the icon above his head). But it would give people quick recognition both that this is an enemy who must be stopped and feared.

[Dacrim]

i think including a picture is a good idea (there will be lots of appearance variations in PS2) as well as a note about what class or vehicle they were last seen in and their general area.

[Insert Picture here]
"This player was last seen in a MAX suit within .5km of so-and-so amp station"

or
[Insert picture here]
"This player was last seen in a Vanguard within .5km of blahblah biolab"