The main thing that annoys me the most in MMO’s nowadays is the lack of team work. Games that are specifically played online to interact with other people, and everyone will gladly spend 9 hours running about soloing because it’s the fastest way to level (see Star Wars TOR, two weeks after launch). Things will be different on Planetside 2 to be sure, and none interaction with other players will be impossible, but I still propose this idea.
Each squad has an extra Noob slot that will automatically assign a player to your squad who is between level’s 1 and 10. You’re probably saying, what’s the point, people will automatically get assigned to squads anyway.
The point is that the Noob will be easily recognisable to the squad as a new player, if they ask any questions they will be answered accordingly, and will avoid the in game help bar chat spam. And a new player will not have to spend several days before they get in a squad that actually knows what they’re doing. (I spent 2 years on Planetside 1 not being in a squad that knew what they were doing).
The idea is, the squad gets an experience bonus for having a newbie player in their team, so if they want to level fast it’s better to have a new guy around. And similar exp rewards will be granted to the team for doing support actions on that player, healing them, rezzing them, repairing their tank. (Much like battlefields Squad reward, but doubled for the Noob player).
This works in two ways, the new player is enjoying the game more by getting more positive attention because of their Noob status. And other players are getting more overall experience for what is essentially helping a new player to play.
Those of you that are saying “I don’t want a noob player following us around!” which is the kind of unfriendly attitude that annoys me, but hey. All you have to do is uncheck the Noob slot in your squad leader screen, and your fine. Of course you sacrifice the exp bonus, and an extra man on your team (squad lead skill tree allows you to train that slot with a standard player, or something?)
This may not be necessary with the way the game works, but I think it would go a long way to keeping new players a positive aspect to Planetside 2, whereas in most games they’re considered a hindrance or a waste of space.
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2012-02-28, 08:35 AM
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