A Proposal for the Inventory System

Zulthus · 2012-06-17, 01:14 PM

I posted this in a different thread, and I felt like I should make a poll about it.

My suggestion for the inventory system, is to have classes keep their special abilities (reviving/healing for medics, ammo for Light Assault, etc) while still giving them the freedom to customize their inventory in a fashion similar to PS1. This gives both a degree of personal customization, while not directly locking you into a template as shown in the loadout screen.

This would be an option, too, for the people who prefer to not think about anything or don't want to figure simple things out, as this inventory grid would be accessed in the loadout window under a button that says, say, Detailed. Otherwise you can still change your loadout in the default manner. You could change things like how many grenades you're carrying, how much ammo, medkits, and other tools.

I feel that this would be a balanced solution because it keeps the class system, where everyone is needed for different roles and no one can be a one man army, but still gives you the freedom to change things up to your personal taste.

I also feel that this could pave the way to looting enemy equipment. (not special abilities) Here's what I think:

Infiltrators have a special inventory block, restricted to sniper rifles and one 3x3 block for any tool/pistol they want.

Light Assault gets two 3x3 blocks for a weapon/tool and one, say, 5x3 block for a small carbine.

Medic gets two 3x3 blocks and a 7x3 block for a larger medium assault weapon.

Heavy assault gets a 8x3 block for their large AV/HA weapons, and only they can carry them.

Where I'm going with this is I'm saying that any class should be able to loot and carry a weapon from a class that is their own or below theirs. For instance, HA should be able to loot AV/HA weapons and anything below, such as MA or carbines. Medics cannot loot AV/HA weapons because they are too large, but they can loot carbines, etc. They can also take the ammo/tools of their bodies, but as I said before, the class specific abilities remain the same to preserve the need to have different classes in the squad to be effective.

What say you? I think I could have wrote this better but I was in a rush.

Unless they had already said you could change all of that in the window, this would be awkward.

Crator · 2012-06-17, 01:18 PM

I'm sure the DEVs already created an inventory system for the game. And someone just told me that we will be able to save loadouts in favorites. I don't think I care either way if it's a free-form box like PS1 had or just some other UI element. In fact, I think I'd prefer some other, better looking, UI element then PS1.

EDIT: But, my answer to the main suggestion in the poll is, yes. I do like the suggestion in order to facilitate the looting of weapons and such...

Blackwolf · 2012-06-17, 01:22 PM

It's a waste of time to tinker with inventories. Time the DEVs don't want you being forced into wasting.

It's also too detailed and unnecessary.

Hmr85 · 2012-06-17, 01:23 PM

I put yes because I don't see the devs moving away from the class system. I feel this would be the best way of bringing back inventorys.

One of the main reasons I support this is because it brings back scavenging which was just awesome in PS1. The ability to take ammo off of opponets while you where trying to hold a area was just plain cool and from a spec ops standpoint a life saver in some situations.

Zulthus · 2012-06-17, 01:29 PM

Originally Posted by Hmr85

I put yes because I don't see the devs moving away from the class system. I feel this would be the best way of bringing back inventorys.

One of the main reasons I support this is because it brings back scavenging which was just awesome in PS1. The ability to take ammo off of opponets while you where trying to hold a area was just plain cool and from a spec ops standpoint a life saver in some situations.

That's why I liked it. Picking up insane amounts of ammo from a tiny little box on the floor is just, IMO, stupid. It was great trying to scavenge ammo to stay alive in situations like a gen hold.

DarkChiron · 2012-06-17, 01:42 PM

Originally Posted by Zulthus

That's why I liked it. Picking up insane amounts of ammo from a tiny little box on the floor is just, IMO, stupid. It was great trying to scavenge ammo to stay alive in situations like a gen hold.

It makes much more sense to have bullets that work in multiple guns to you?

Overall your idea is needlessly complex and punishes people for picking a class 'lower on the ladder' because they won't be able to loot anyone else's gear.

Looting items off people removes class specialty, and mixing up guns between different Empire is counter to the idea of every Empire feeling/operating in a different manner. An NC with a TR HA's assault weapon is now just an TR. And why is there gun more appealing than yours? Just because?

Zulthus · 2012-06-17, 01:50 PM

Originally Posted by DarkChiron

It makes much more sense to have bullets that work in multiple guns to you?

Overall your idea is needlessly complex and punishes people for picking a class 'lower on the ladder' because they won't be able to loot anyone else's gear.

Looting items off people removes class specialty, and mixing up guns between different Empire is counter to the idea of every Empire feeling/operating in a different manner. An NC with a TR HA's assault weapon is now just an TR. And why is there gun more appealing than yours? Just because?

They will still be able to loot other people's gear, just not their main weapon. They can still take ammo, grenades, medkits, etc from corpses. It's just that way so we don't have a Light Assault guy running around with a rocket launcher he looted, but the Heavy Assault can loot carbines/etc because they're already significantly lower power than the weapon they already had.

As I said, the solution does not remove the class specialty. Downgrading from a HA with a rocket launcher to a HA with a Carbine is less powerful, but maybe he needed it because he was out of ammo and there was no equipment terminal around. He will still be the only one that can use the AV weapons, and Light Assault will still be the only one with a jetpack. This makes looting primary weapons a last resort, and not giving them any more power than they had before. And why wouldn't I want to embarrass a TR by killing him with his own weapon?

DarkChiron · 2012-06-17, 01:58 PM

As I said, the solution does not remove the class specialty. Downgrading from a HA with a rocket launcher to a HA with a Carbine is less powerful, but maybe he needed it because he was out of ammo and there was no equipment terminal around. He will still be the only one that can use the AV weapons, and Light Assault will still be the only one with a jetpack. This makes looting primary weapons a last resort, and not giving them any more power than they had before.

Everyone has their own weapons to fill different roles. There is literally no reason to want the weapons from someone else outside of wanting to fill a different role (AA, AV, AI), and the way they allow you to instantly change your loadout at terminals accomplishes this.

You also have still not explained how this system doesn't screw over guys who are 'lower on the chain' by not allowing them to loot anyone they want to when other guys can.

And why wouldn't I want to embarrass a TR by killing him with his own weapon?

Because it doesn't matter.

RandomNPC · 2012-06-17, 02:01 PM

Why need a clunky inventory system for this?

Allow the player to pick up the gun if their class can use it, if the enemy died with unused consumables that you can use have them drop as pick ups that refresh your grenades or whatever they had.

PS2 is meant to move away from the mmorpg elements while moving towards the mmofps elements, things like inventory management slows down gameplay significantly in exchange for very little enjoyment.

edit: also, universal ammo is lame.

qbert2 · 2012-06-17, 02:02 PM

I have to disagree with this idea. I'm willing to give the devs the benefit of the doubt that the new system is more fun and fits more inline with their new design ideas.

I enjoyed the versatility that the old inventory system allowed for, however, I did not much enjoy the mechanisms that enabled that versatility. I think that the new system has the potential to provide the same, if not more, level of versatility that the current system does while allowing you better ways to change and evaluate your options for the current battle situation.

Crator · 2012-06-17, 02:10 PM

I must say, I did enjoy occasionally being able to use the other empire specific weapons. It gave more variety to game play at times and let you see how the weapon works which is always good to know your enemy. The issue about making it so it only works for a specific class is this, I think: The class system is open ended in PS2. Meaning, you pick and choose the class you want at whatever given time you are able to choose it (Terms?). So you'd actually be more restricted in what you could use by just picking it up on the battlefield b/c you might not have the right class at the time for the weapon....

EDIT: Not really and issue per se actually... But eh, was thinking while typing...

IgloGlass · 2012-06-17, 02:11 PM

T-ray just confirmed via twitter that there would be "too many custom loadouts to count".

To me these were news that I had not heard of previously and therefore I am creating this thread.
I asked mainly because I was afraid that there would only be something like three custom loadouts per each class/vehicle and that would in my opinion be bad.

Now "too many to count" can be interpreted as alot or as infinite, I think both would be quite valid but I'd personally prefer having infinite custom loadouts so that I could have a loadout ready for every possible scenario. But that's just my view on the matter.

How is your view on custom loadouts? Do you think there should be a finite number of them so that people couldn't rush into battle immediately as they are killed by an AI Max but now having AV weapons equipped? Instead having to customize their class for a minute or two. Or would you like to see an infinite number of loadouts like I mentioned?

Also I'm hoping that we can name the loadouts, otherwise it could turn into quite a mess!

Crator · 2012-06-17, 02:13 PM

Awesome story! Should have posted this in the other inventory thread though Poll: A Proposal for the Inventory System

IgloGlass · 2012-06-17, 02:14 PM

Originally Posted by Crator

Awesome story! Should have posted this in the other inventory thread though Poll: A Proposal for the Inventory System

That's entirely accurate of you, mods are free to move! (Like they need my permission)

GreatMazinkaise · 2012-06-17, 02:14 PM

We had ten before, which according to most was far too few. Tribes 2 at least had 20 loadout slots.

View Poll Results: Do you like this solution?
Yes, I like this solution and I think it would work well	11	30.56%
No, I'd prefer just keeping classes and limiting them to their weapons	18	50.00%
I don't want classes and would just like a completely freeform inventory	4	11.11%
None of the above, I will post my opinion	3	8.33%
Voters: 36. You may not vote on this poll