Feedback on Spotting for Higby

[StumpyTheOzzie]

Originally Posted by Vashyo

I'd rather have the spotting work automatically, maybe each class has to keep their aim at enemy for 3 seconds. Expect infiltrator could do it in 1 sec, since that's kinda what he's good for.

Right now, it's just tedious use of extra button and I'm quite annoyed at people constantly spotting and yelling ENEMY SPOTTED ENEMY SPOTTED ENEMY SPOTTED ENEMY SPOTTED SPOTTED SPOTTED SPOTTED SPOTTED.

So my G-15 keyboard with a "Q twice a second" macro would upset you to be around then?

Before anybody calls hax (or whatevs) it's automating a thing I already do 'all the time' anyway. I'm reducing wear and tear on my ring finger and keyboard with this, not actually doing anything more or less.

[VGCS]

Considering that you also light up like a Christmas Tree everytime you spot a target... I wouldn't call that the smartest use of current resources....

[infinite loop]

Hardly an issue that should even be given consideration compared to the massive flaws in the game. That said, spotting is probably the worst goddamned mechanic ever added to an fps game. It caters to the lowest common denominator and rewards people who have zero situational awareness. Get rid of it.

[Sunrock]

Well all this BS about spotting taking out player skill aside. There is one good reason to leave it in and that is to avoid team killings. Hell most of the time I can see and I think we all can see where some one is but not what faction he belongs to. If there was not for spotting in this game I would have team killed a hell allot more players then I have now. Now main reason I team kill some one was because I did not manage to stop my vehicle in time because some infantry run out in front of me.

But if you so worried about the spamming of spoting 24/7 PS2 can do what BF3 did. Give spotting a 10 sec cooldown. But as this game has a bit more players then 32 Vs 32 players. I have seen 3 way fights where there have been more like 100 vs 100 vs 100. 10 cooldown might be too long but a 3-5 sec cooldown for PS2 might do the trick to stop some one to macro spotting.

[Sunrock]

Originally Posted by StumpyTheOzzie

Before anybody calls hax (or whatevs) it's automating a thing I already do 'all the time' anyway. I'm reducing wear and tear on my ring finger and keyboard with this, not actually doing anything more or less.

You can call it what you want but using any 3rd party program to automate anything even if it's built in to your keyboard or mouse is still a banable offense so if I where you I would not go around telling people I use it.

[StumpyTheOzzie]

Originally Posted by VGCS

Considering that you also light up like a Christmas Tree everytime you spot a target... I wouldn't call that the smartest use of current resources....

I roll in libs. What you gonna do?

Originally Posted by Sunrock

You can call it what you want but using any 3rd party program to automate anything even if it's built in to your keyboard or mouse is still a banable offense so if I where you I would not go around telling people I use it.

I've proven in the past I'm an arrogant dick on these forums. In order to get banned I'd hope they can prove that I'm hacking or using 3rd party programs. You can't just take my word for it. Maybe I'm a liar as well as an arrogant dick? Maybe I mean "Someone I know" but I'm saying "me" just to sex it up and make myself look cool and edgy.

[Gatekeeper]

Spotting works fine as it is, it's useful, doesn't break the game and has some fun downsides in terms of giving your own position away.

There are definitely some improvements that could be made though:

1) Allow Infiltrators to spot at longer range than other classes (cert?).
2) Give Infiltrators some kind of option to spot silently (but with some kind of other downside - reduced range, or require special equipment or certs?)
3) Mark infantry, vehicles, air vehicles and turrets with different spot markers.

And most important of all: add in old-school voice macros for calling out enemies, and make their callouts distinct from the spotting ones.

If I spot an aircraft then "aircraft spotted" or something is fine, but "incoming enemy aircraft!" should be a macro I activate manually. That way I can alert people nearby of a particular threat, and they can tell the difference between that and me spotting a flier a mile away. This would also let me run around spamming "hostile cloaker nearby!" when I know there is one but can't spot him because he's cloaked

[musefrog]

Great suggestions, Gatekeeper.

For those protesting that spotting reduces the impact of individual skill, yes, it does, a bit. In return, it increases teamwork a little. It's a tradeoff. If you're a highly-skilled player who works well solo, I can understand why you wouldn't like spotting. But as a less skilled player, I like it, as I'm able to pass warnings to my more skilled teammates.

So from my perspective, if you want to remove spotting, you'll be reducing teamwork (or making it more difficult).

[MaxDamage]

Spotting should stay.

[MacXXcaM]

I'd like spotting to either be removed completely or make it 2D spotting --> markers on the mini map.

Also I'd like to completely put away with the colored triangles either blue or red on players and vehicles. It's just immersion killing.

[BlaxicanX]

Some of the exaggerating going on in this thread is ridiculous.

It's so incredibly easy to fix spotting that it being removed is just a knee-jerk reaction.

How to fix spotting

1. In order to spot a target, the target must take up X% of the spotter's cross-hairs. That way, the further away an object is, the harder it is to spot. It also means that you can't spot objects you can't see. Since vehicles are much bigger than infantry, it also means that they would be easier to spot from a distance, which is logical.

How hard is this to implement? Shouldn't be too difficult. I'm no expert in programming, but an example of the trigger would be "Is target filling 30% of retical? Yes, spot. No, don't spot."

2. Make it so that the only people (and vehicles) who can spot during the night-cycle are people using NV scopes (must be ADS in order to spot with one) and people with flash-lights. It's night, it's darkness. This should be the prime opportunity go sneaking around and such. When it's night time I want to feel like someone might pop out at any moment.

How hard is this to implement?Not hard at all. The only difficult aspect I guess would be that you should be able to spot as normal indoors, since there's lighting. In that case, I guess that the same coding that prevents Sunderers from deploying within X distance from other sunderers or buildings could be used so that you can spot targets so long as they're within X distance of a light-source (or building, for simplicity).

3. Remove all the extra information you get from spotting, and have the dorito break if you lose LoS to the spotted object. There's no logical reason for why you can tell how many people are inside a sunderer just by looking at it. Similarly, its health bar shouldn't pop up unless you're aiming directly at it with your targeting reticule. When an object is spotted, only the dorito above it's head should be displayed, and the type/class should be called out.

The dorito should follow the target as it moves, for the sake of simplicity (if the dorito only hovered over where the object was last seem, you'd run into the problem of there being 50 dorito's in the air after 12 people spot the same guy), but that marker should disappear or simply not appear to anyone who doesn't have, or loses, direct LoS to the spotted target.

How hard is this to implement? Not hard at all.

4. Tanks (Sunderers count under this category) can only spot other vehicles, infantry and aircraft can spot everything. Aircraft spamming the spot function is already solved by solution #1 above- they'll be moving too fast, and will be too far away most of the time, to be able to spot infantry reliably, but should have no problem with spotting vehicles, which makes sense. Aircraft are designed to provide overwatch, so while they may not be able to spot as well as infantry, they shouldn't be gimped entirely. For tanks, there is no reason for them to be able to spot infantry. You already have infantry on the ground to spot and fight infantry, tanks are supposed to rely on infantry for situational awareness, and focus primarily on bombarding enemy positions and destroying other tanks. Preventing tanks from being able to spot infantry creates a more balanced synergy between them and infantry, forcing the tank to rely on infantry to spot threats and the like.

How hard is this to implement into the game? Not very hard at all.

- - - - -

So there you have it. Four (relatively) simple solutions toward making the spot-function balanced, but still useful.

[Emperor Newt]

There are several issues I have with it:

- Useless for close up due to the shouting giving your position away. Surely intended but this makes forward scouts to give positions kinda useless. You have to rely on snipers on elevated positions and hope that infantry is still in render distance
- too easy to use -> spamable
- Arrow that follows the player makes them too easy targets. I would like to see something more in the lines of Tribes Ascend where the arrow sticks for a second at the position the enemy was and does not follow them
- I also mildly dislike that everybody can spot, especially with the current accuracy that spotting works with. Maybe make 3D /stanard only 2d spotting) spotting a cert or/and introduce a cert that makes you harder to spot.

[ringring]

Originally Posted by StumpyTheOzzie

I've proven in the past I'm an arrogant dick on these forums. In order to get banned I'd hope they can prove that I'm hacking or using 3rd party programs. .

They don't need to prove all they need is evidence, which you have just provided.

[MacXXcaM]

Originally Posted by Emperor Newt

There are several issues I have with it:

- Arrow that follows the player makes them too easy targets. I would like to see something more in the lines of Tribes Ascend where the arrow sticks for a second at the position the enemy was and does not follow them

THIS!

[IamEternal]

Personally I love spotting. As an Infiltrator, I dont normally spot anything because I am to busy popping other Infiltrators or Heavies, but I have the best view of the battlefield usually so if I come across a Sunderer parked outside behind cover, I spot it so my team can move in and take it out before we get over run. I would like to see one change to it though; as an Infiltrator, I will never just start yelling anything. If we are supposed to be so advance why cant my Infiltrator just put it over comms? It makes no sense that a stealth unit behind enemy lines spotting as going to start shouting at the top of his lungs. I also think someones should only stay spotted as long as they dont move or the spotter is able to maintain visual contact. If you move out of my field of vision then I can no longer confirm your location and You become hidden again.

/mytwocents.