Feedback on Spotting for Higby

[Rolfski]

Add strategic spotting/scouting that reveals detailed enemy activity on the map and target designation to call in artillery.
I also would like to see some counter to spotting with the infrared/NV optics as they seem a bit OP now, especially on HE canons and rocket pods. Some kind of anti-thermal suit that makes infantry harder to spot with these optics but the trade-off is that it takes a suit slot.

[Mordelicius]

Originally Posted by Peacemaker

And LA and Infils are the most gimped classes out there currently. Sundies are pretty easy to track down by the team. Aircraft are massively visible to everyone already, if you need a little red triangle to see them your just blind.

LA is a top tier infantry along with HA. They have the same kill potential as a high dps HA because they always get a jump on players. Engineer and Infiltrator are medium. Medics are the weakest (and I don't count Max as pure infantry. It's an infantry-vehicle hybrid).

Spotting is necessary for a game with:
- Highly mobile Light Assault that has jumpjets and fast sprint.
- Long-range sniper Infiltrators with stealth.
- ESFs that can swoop at high velocity and hover fire.
- Transport Sunderers that double as a spawn point.
- All terrain tanks like the Magrider than can hide in unexpected places high and low.

Without spotting, LA would run amuck and defeat everything with ease except Aircrafts. Without spotting, Infiltrators would be deadly at long range, at medium range and even in short range.

Here's an example of what I think will happen without spotting:
- LA population will explode.
- Outraged players call for nerf!
- Higby comes out with a statement: Regular infantry isn't meant to be a hard counter against these elusive flying monkeys. If you want to beat a flying monkey, you have to be a flying monkey.

So, as I and many have said earlier, don't fix what isn't broken.

[jepaul junior]

Originally Posted by Artesia

A. make spotting only spot for players nearby, doritos shouldn't show up for someone 1km away

B. make it temporary. If you haven't been spotted in several minutes or you travel far enough, you should have your dorito removed

C. If you fire a weapon it should attempt to auto-spot.

D. spotting should show squad mates direction.


All of the above could be certed/increased by cert ie increased spotting time/range

Pardon me noobs, rebind your spot key to your primary fire key as well. Point C. solved as well as the idiot who uses arrow keys.

(On a side note do you think the majority of people talking about balance issues in fact might be doing things like not spotting and using arrow keys?)

[PredatorFour]

Originally Posted by jepaul junior

Pardon me noobs, rebind your spot key to your primary fire key as well. Point C. solved as well as the idiot who uses arrow keys.

Yeah .... and give away your position to the other guys you have gotten behind by shouting " enemy engineer spotted!" ....


noob.

[ringring]

Originally Posted by PredatorFour

Yeah .... and give away your position to the other guys you have gotten behind by shouting " enemy engineer spotted!" ....


noob.

I must admit I killed a VS today and the only reason I knew he was around was because he spotted something and I heard the 'Enemy medic spotted' sound.

What can I say, it was dark and he was vs and so virtually invisible until he shouted.

[IamEternal]

Originally Posted by Peacemaker

And LA and Infils are the most gimped classes out there currently. Sundies are pretty easy to track down by the team. Aircraft are massively visible to everyone already, if you need a little red triangle to see them your just blind.

Originally Posted by Helwyr

I already have. Planetside is supposed to be a game where player ability is what wins fights it's not meant to be a Sci Fi WoW.

Spotting in PS2 (and other mechanics like Radar) create mechanics that replace the need for player ability, it does the work for you. It's on the same level as an Aimbot, the Aimbot takes away your need as a player to be able to aim your weapon, spotting and radar takes away your need as a player to detect and identify enemy players.

Everyone has their gameplay preferences, heck a lot of people like games like WoW or games that require no player effort of skill whatsoever. It's not for me to tell you what to enjoy. But be under no illusions those of you that are saying spotting is great and should stay are on the side of making PS2 less about player skill.

No Spotting helps team play by allowing quick and time spread of information to friendly units. It is nothing like aimbot. It does nothing except let friendlies know where a target is. We have this same technology in the military today. Blueforce tracker is a computer system that convo commanders use to mark targets and set routes for the rest of his unit to use. We also use radios, hand and arm signals, and verbal communications to relay to each other. So I guess as Soldiers we are getting lazy? Your argument is invalid and slightly retarded. You win a war through information. I do think there should be some adjustments made. I should be able to as an Infiltrator use a radio to tell friendlies where a target is because nowhere will you ever see a sniper stand up and start yelling.

[Dkamanus]

I don't know if people already have suggested this, but I think is something that should be done about it. Me and my outfit though it would be a good idea to give it only for the Infiltrator class, through his sniper scope, as a visual assessment for him with doritos and everything, while for the rest would be a ping in the map for the squad (consider that the future and nanites, and integrated voice and visual stuff between the outfit), it would help people see better and use the minimap more.

A sniper would then have the functionality also of pinging enemy armour and everything, and ALL should appear on the squads minimap. Maybe the sniper pressing Q warns everyone on the squad the type of enemy and direction based on the compass. It would be VERY helpful and add another function to the Sniper.

Meanwhile, all infantry can still spot, but only the voice would be given.

[MyOdessa]

Hitting Q, not only allows me to spot enemies, but also highlights friendlies. Remove spotting and number of TKs will go up, and TKs already are a problem in this game.

[StumpyTheOzzie]

Originally Posted by IamEternal

No Spotting helps team play by allowing quick and time spread of information to friendly units. It is nothing like aimbot. It does nothing except let friendlies know where a target is. We have this same technology in the military today. Blueforce tracker is a computer system that convo commanders use to mark targets and set routes for the rest of his unit to use. We also use radios, hand and arm signals, and verbal communications to relay to each other. So I guess as Soldiers we are getting lazy? Your argument is invalid and slightly retarded. You win a war through information. I do think there should be some adjustments made. I should be able to as an Infiltrator use a radio to tell friendlies where a target is because nowhere will you ever see a sniper stand up and start yelling.

I'm ex-army. Logistics. I brought up real life army stuff once and got flamed. Careful with this whole IRL stuff...

Typical counter-arguments are that IRL there's no red triangle that follows him around.
In game there's no delay in information passing. Press Q and everyone sees the triangle.
IRL you have to point and then every man has to look and work it out themselves. And if the enemy moves, you have to start again. Plus there can be whole minutes while information gets passed up the chain and back down again to the other units.

Some men are better than others. Sure, you get training up to a level, but there's always going to be someone better at spotting. This is where certs can come in. More certs = bionic eyes or some crap, extra training, roleplay it how you want. The effect is similar to a Field of View radar.

On the flipside, enemies can be wearing ghillie suits and proper camo for the region. (I see a lot of giraffe camo on Esamir. That should make you easier to spot IMO) So you should be able to cert into stealth as a universal trait. reduces effectiveness of enemy spotting ability.

There is huge opportunity here for a whole other spotting and counterspotting game.

Or bugger it and leave it all the way it is right now.

[Ohaunlaim]

I love the idea of certing into stealth armor for infantry and vehicles that would reduce the range at which the enemy could slap a Dorito on my head. I would cert this and drop nanoweave immediately.

[IamEternal]

Originally Posted by StumpyTheOzzie

I'm ex-army. Logistics. I brought up real life army stuff once and got flamed. Careful with this whole IRL stuff...

Typical counter-arguments are that IRL there's no red triangle that follows him around.
In game there's no delay in information passing. Press Q and everyone sees the triangle.
IRL you have to point and then every man has to look and work it out themselves. And if the enemy moves, you have to start again. Plus there can be whole minutes while information gets passed up the chain and back down again to the other units.

Some men are better than others. Sure, you get training up to a level, but there's always going to be someone better at spotting. This is where certs can come in. More certs = bionic eyes or some crap, extra training, roleplay it how you want. The effect is similar to a Field of View radar.

On the flipside, enemies can be wearing ghillie suits and proper camo for the region. (I see a lot of giraffe camo on Esamir. That should make you easier to spot IMO) So you should be able to cert into stealth as a universal trait. reduces effectiveness of enemy spotting ability.

There is huge opportunity here for a whole other spotting and counterspotting game.

Or bugger it and leave it all the way it is right now.

I understand the IRL arguement and how it still takes time, but from my perspective if currently information can be nearly instant thanks to wireless technology, and this is supposed to be in the future where we are travel through wormholes. I dont think it is improbable that the technology to do what the game has us doing is unfeasible.

As for ghillie suits. Infiltrators can cloak to drop there dorito and can't be spotted while cloaks. spotting does work just like IRL, if I can see you then I can give away your position. I suggested Certs somewhere on the forum before for both Spotting to improve infiltrators ability and counter to reduce time of dorito and range at which you can be spotted for everyone else.

I do agree that with certs to augment the spotting it would greatly increase the spotting metagame and bring a whole new level to gameplay. Each class should have something that makes them truly unique and gives them a sense of purpose outside the bang bang your dead FPS aspect.