Please do not record death counts.

[Xyntech]

It would be nice if the statistics were available to the player (if they chose to look), but if there was a toggle option whether to make the stats public or private, with several check boxes such as public to friends, to outfit, to squad, to platoon, etc, with all of them unchecked equaling private.

[Toppopia]

Awesome idea. Right here. What this guy said ^

[Kipper]

Originally Posted by EVILoHOMER

Taking this one simple stat away will have a massive effect on how people play the game.

Um, can you back up that comment?

In all the games I've played - I can tell you this hasn't had any effect on how I play them. I've looked at the stat, used it as a measure to improve my play, which may result in doing less stupid stuff etc - but that's to make me better at the game, lifetime stats are just a passing curiosity.

[Baneblade]

What EVIL is getting at is K/D stat tracking longterm. PlanetSide 1 didn't have it other than a session tracker. People tend top judge other people by K/D even when it isn't appropriate. Some outfits might require a certain K/D for recruits... it just adds discrimination as a longterm stat.

[Kipper]

Discrimination? Does not compute...

If anyone wants to look at how I perform in game, go right ahead. If anyone wants to pass comment on that, go right ahead. If anyone expects any comment they make to cause me to give even the slightest of shits, I sense they will be disappointed.

As someone who plays games for fun and relaxation, the idea of some armchair general imposing rules and regulations on me to be part of their group turns me off completely tbh.

I prefer to play a game with people on a much more casual footing than that.

[capiqu]

I have an instinct to go after enemy tanks, aircraft vehicles or any other impossible situation . I feel I sacrifice a lot for my empires benefit. Too often that gives me a bad K/d rate. As much as I am not looking forward to others seeing my K/d ratio, I love the game. So i'm preparing for the worst of some people.

[capiqu]

I agree with sonar and Xyntech. There should be a public display selection on your stats.

[Xyntech]

I agree with Neurotoxin about being able to reset all of your statistics to zero if you so choose. It's not like SOE wouldn't still have access to the info for their own personal information, but nobody else needs a copy that can never ever be erased.

I mean, why not? Maybe you used to play like shit, and suddenly started caring and trying harder, and want to see what your stats look like to reflect that, not your previous noobish ways.

I see nothing wrong with that.

You could say just start a new character, but maybe they like their current name and want to keep their unlocked equipment.

It's not like people wouldn't be able to tell that you had reset them, by the fact that you have a level 25 character with 18 kills.

Who gives a shit? Placate people, as long as it isn't fucking up anyone else playing the game.

[Toppopia]

Originally Posted by Xyntech

I agree with Neurotoxin about being able to reset all of your statistics to zero if you so choose. It's not like SOE wouldn't still have access to the info for their own personal information, but nobody else needs a copy that can never ever be erased.

I mean, why not? Maybe you used to play like shit, and suddenly started caring and trying harder, and want to see what your stats look like to reflect that, not your previous noobish ways.

I see nothing wrong with that.

You could say just start a new character, but maybe they like their current name and want to keep their unlocked equipment.

It's not like people wouldn't be able to tell that you had reset them, by the fact that you have a level 25 character with 18 kills.

Who gives a shit? Placate people, as long as it isn't fucking up anyone else playing the game.

I wish i could do this in Modern Warfare 3, (which i think you can once you reach prestige 15, but thats soo far away from prestige 3) because after knowing the game and getting better, i would rather reflect my new style, not when i was running around with a rocket launcher destroying every aircraft in the sky and getting killed 10 times for doing it, then you would have the would reset as soon as they went bad but it doesn't affect anyone when they are playing, all people will see is a level 15 character with 100 kills and 20 deaths and we will know, "Yip, he reset his stats", would we want to beable to reset all of our stats or choose which ones to reset? Would give people more freedom in choosing whats more important and stuff.

[Kipper]

I don't think people will pay much attention to lifetime stats anyway, they're a meaningless curiosity. Once you start playing better for a longer period of time than you sucked for, everything will start to even out.

Personally, I'll be looking at my stats for the last week/month/90 days to gauge my own performance. A graph over time will tell me way more than a fixed, all-time number.

[Xyntech]

Yeah, having graphs and stuff would be cool to, be able to see timelines and comparisons and shit.

Some of this may be more for 3rd party apps though. I guess it all depends on how much information they are willing and able to release.

[Graywolves]

There's a gain in casuals feeling less bad for amounting high death count.

There's a loss in people not knowing how much better they are getting.





I'm completely indifferent. Having a high amount of death in a game where hundreds of people are trying to kill you from the ground and air/on foot and in vehicle doesn't really have much weight imo.

[Gandhi]

I would prefer tracking K/D (and by extension deaths) as a secondary stat. Something you can call up in your character profile but isn't displayed somewhere prominent by default. And by all means, allow people to see it on various time scales; just today, past 3 months, lifetime etc.

But I think the larger issue here is how different actions are incentivized in the game. Just take a look at the CTF mode in Tribes: Ascend for an example of a really good (but not perfect) system for incentivizing team based gameplay. Deaths are not displayed publicly and end match rankings are sorted by score, not kills or assists. Points are awarded for any action that helps the team achieve the objective, rather than just who can kill more people. All this has the effect of pushing new players toward the style of play that CTF mode requires in order to be fun.

And that new players bit is important, especially new players coming from a Rambo style TDM background. The point is not to tell you how to play the game or to force people to play a certain way, it's to give new players a kind of passive guide to how the game is intended to be played. There's a difference between discouraging a style of play and outright disallowing it, which is why deaths should be tracked regardless. If you absolutely want to play PS2 as a Rambo TDM shooter then you should be able to, but you shouldn't be rewarded for it because it's not what this game is about.

Considering PS2 also has the resource system to work with, which should be a lot more meaningful than just points you can spend on the odd OS here and there, there's a huge opportunity to incentivize the right kinds of activities. Repairing friendly vehicles, repairing base assets, planting CE, holding capture points, killing enemies who are holding capture points, destroying CE, clearing mines, destroying generators, all of these things can and should be encouraged over racking up kills, which should always be secondary. A means to an end, not the end.

[Gonefshn]

Originally Posted by Gandhi

But I think the larger issue here is how different actions are incentivized in the game. Just take a look at the CTF mode in Tribes: Ascend for an example of a really good (but not perfect) system for incentivizing team based gameplay. Deaths are not displayed publicly and end match rankings are sorted by score, not kills or assists. Points are awarded for any action that helps the team achieve the objective, rather than just who can kill more people. All this has the effect of pushing new players toward the style of play that CTF mode requires in order to be fun.

An interesting point and comparison. This is very much what I was talking about before. In Ascend you can play an entire match and not fire a shot and capture the flag a ton of times. If there was a K/D ratio included people would have less incentive to play in that passive aggressive style.

I agree for PS2 there is so much depth to the game that K/D and TONS of statistics are just necessary but I think the point lots of people here are making and I was earlier is simple. No one ever said this applies to everyone. But Many or if you want to be more gentle, some, players will adjust their tactics in game to match whatever makes them look good on the scoreboard. Tribes did a great job of making the scoreboard match the intentions of the gameplay. Go play conquest mode in BF3. People camp objectives even when they are losing the game because it's an easy way to get kills without dying. You KNOW people are going to show up because the point of the match is to take the point. And you have the camping advantage. My point is people don't care about a Win/Loss ratio because it has little to do with their actual skills since so many people contribute to whether or not a match is won or lost. but your lifetime K/D is all you.

Still think it needs to be in PS2 because it's a persistent game and people will expect these features. But I still think it's inclusion will cause some of the CoD or BF3 players to focus on kills when they should focus on how to take territory.

[IMMentat]

it'll be like eve allover again, i'll make a tag.
Welcome to (EVE online)planetside2 you WILL (loose ships)die