Merit Discussion

Hamma · 2006-02-07, 08:02 AM

What do you guys think about the Merits now that they have been in game for a while?

Personally I am slightly dissapointed, many of these merits focus to much on the individual and not the empire. For example, you always get ahat commanders and squads that would rather sit around at one base and "farm" for 7 hours rather than gain some headway. IMO this is a side effect of the Merit system.

What do you guys think?

Ait'al · 2006-02-07, 03:01 PM

I think the merrits would be good if they took away group xp in sqauds. Then It would really go along with BEP and personal ability. The game would be very interesting if you only got shared exp for base capture BEP points and CEP. Then sqauds would be nothing but strategic work again. I know it doesnt affect the merrit but it would be a better environment because it would simply cut the way people zerg and hopefully stimulate well grouped sqauds to go against to get merrits. I know tank fighting against organized collumns would make interesting merrit stories.

It miss the old ordered fighting. Noone fights with any consideration for other people or even empire need or battle need anymore. I couldnt even get a full sqaud of lancer users(or even partial sqaud) to take down bfrs anymore. People have no idea how quick the game face would change if they used organization and set themselves to actually follow the sqaud leaders again. If you could just get a agroup to do AV or one or two other reavers to fly in formation to hit a selected BFR and sweep back and forth at them. The game would change fast. They always say the AA is to tough but they dont get what happens when you fly in formation and how it affects an AA user to have to aim at 2 or more oncoming Planes from the same direction.

Hamorad · 2006-02-07, 03:19 PM

I fully support the support merits, as they give rewards to people helping the empire, but the other merits are just... ugh

They simply promote killwhoring and soloing

Hamma · 2006-02-07, 03:30 PM

Aye there is nothing worse when you are trying to help rescure a continent and a CR5 says its the best farm all day, dont bother retaking the towers or bases. Merits were meant to be gathered in normal gameplay not specificly farmed for

Nitsch · 2006-02-07, 04:35 PM

But i must say... since the merit system went in, I do get repaired and healed more. There seems to be plenty of ams's and routers around now.

Also I see a wider variety of kits being used than before too.

I think the farming comes from 2 factors:

1. Population -- Right now there are only enough people to really have a big fight on one planet. There used to be enough people that you could have fights on two contients plus a few minor fights on other planets/caves.

2. Zerg mentality -- People go to where the big fight is... If you want lotsa exp and kills, you go where the fodder is.

Hamma · 2006-02-07, 10:38 PM

I agree that is one great side effect to merits, lots more people running support now, medics, engy's, ams's - its great to see that

Lonehunter · 2006-02-08, 05:53 AM

For more support you need more whoring, thus Merrits where born.

SOE might not be so dum : /

BDMJ · 2006-02-08, 09:57 PM

They are a good addition, sure they focus on solo killwhoring, but they also increase the rewards for support activity. It ends in a balance.

GForce05 · 2006-02-08, 10:29 PM

I like them, but thats probably because Im always an Adv Med and Engi, so I get my nice support merits... I wish I could get red crosses on my uniform so people can identify me more easily

Holgarth · 2006-02-10, 12:10 PM

I must agree that most of the merits seem to be solo merits with a few that require other, like Calvery driver (needs gunner kills), or the mass ones like assists from AMS/Loadstars.
Below is a list of merits that I think could help teamwork within the game, they are squad, platoon, and outfit bassed and awarded to those that help others attain the same merits.

-------------------------------------------------
Squad merits: (note � applies to full squads only and should allow 2 mins for squad members that LDs and rejoins the squad)

Squad sabotage � Squad destroys and holds either Gen room or the Spawn room within a enemy base for a set time (15-20 mins), also a set amount of enemy deaths need to have happened in that room to get credit for the room hold.
e.g. 20min hold and 5 enemy deaths qualifies for a hold,
Bronze = 15 room holds
Silver = 30 room holds
Gold =60 room holds.

Survival Squad � Where the squad has over all a better kill vs death ratio within a set time-span when attacking or defending a base, there has also to be a set amount of enemy within the base soe to trigger the merit point.
e.g. All squad members within base soe for 30 mins, and have a positive kill to death ratio for that time period, and minimum of 10 enemies in soe for the 30 min merit time period. 30 min timer starts as soon as above criteria is met and either a squad member dies to enemy fire or a squad member kills within the soe.
Bronze = 15 Squad survival
Silver = 30 Squad survival
Gold =60 Squad survival

Platoon merits:
Basically same merits as the squad merits but on a platoon level, aim is to help inter-squad interaction and focus on team play.

Platoon Campaign Merit � Where a full platoon sets an enemy base to attack and take for their faction. Once one friendly base is held on a continent the platoon leader then goes to the master console and access the platoon menu. The platoon menu lists all enemy bases on the continent, the platoon leader then selects a base for the platoon to take, the further the base is behind enemy lines the greater the merit points awarded (max 5 points).
The platoon must then stay on the continent until the objective is taken (all platoon members must be within the soe for most of the hack timer or involved with the LLU transporting. A base already under contention i.e. already under hack, or in a direct link to a friendly base�. i.e. the base must be at least 1 link behind enemy lines.
1 base behind lines = 1 Platoon Campaign merit point.
2 base behind lines = 2 Platoon Campaign merit point.
3 base behind lines = 3 Platoon Campaign merit point.
Etc�. until max 5 points (5 bases behind lines)
There must also be an enemy presence of at least 5% during the whole time of the campaign.

Outfit merits:
Basically same merits as the squad and Platoon merits but on a outfit level, aim is to help outfit interaction and focus more on team play.
Platoon Campaign merit would be Outfit Campaign merit the only change would be in making the chosen base into a HQ for the outfit.
In theory players could get points for both Platoon and Outfit campaigns.

Outfit xxxx Campaign � where xxxx is the name of the continent the outfit is fighting on. The outfit leader (or nominated officers) goes to a master console in one of the Hart hanger buildings and selects a continent from the outfit menu, this will select a continent that the outfit wishes to fight on (as long as there is a faction link to that continent and that their faction has not started a hack or friendly bases already on it.).
The outfit must maintain a 75% online member base on that continent, if they fail then the campaign would be reset and another continent target would need to be set.

Hamma · 2006-02-10, 12:33 PM

Some very good ideas there, we most certainly need more team play merits.

Marsman · 2006-02-10, 01:52 PM

Plus I think Hamma mentioned this sometime, how about one for empire loyality too. Might cut down on many of the 4th empire players if there was a merit for staying true to your empire on a particular server.

GraniteRok · 2006-02-10, 02:12 PM

A merit alone for this won't do anything to lessen the 4th empire switchers. If an empire specific weapon was added to this merit that awarded empire loyalty, then it'll make some of them go to one empire only.

Originally Posted by Marsman

Plus I think Hamma mentioned this sometime, how about one for empire loyality too. Might cut down on many of the 4th empire players if there was a merit for staying true to your empire on a particular server.

Merits, as they stand now, are purely for bragging rights based on kill counts. With the exception of the Vulture (if I'm not mistaken), they don't do anything to the game. It'd be interesting if merits unlocked weapons/abilities but they can't go too far with that either as it'll unbalance the game even more so.