SOE removing the tactical aspect of camouflage, good or bad?

Rolfski · 2013-11-11, 12:58 PM

With the recently added camo's that are in empire colours only and the adjustment to vehicle textures, as can be seen below, it is clear that SOE wants to get rid of the tactical aspect of camouflage in this game. What do you think, is this good or bad?

I can think of three reasons why they're doing it:

Performance issues
You can't really argue with this but there's a price to pay. With all these identical looking empire camo's, there's really little reason to buy them any more. Who cares about these different textures if they look more or less the same on your uniform anyway?

Identification Friend or Foe
Making faction colours less visible is not that much of an issue imo in a game where you can spot enemies and friendlies. If you need safe, consistent an stealthy IFF, then spot friendlies, not enemies.
They also have plans for empire specific walk animations, which should make IFF even more easy.
Solving the "camo is p2w" issue
If this is the reason behind the camo nerf, than SOE is completely solving it the wrong way, pissing off their own customers who paid hard cash for them.
What they should have done is making one good camo per continent (plus a night camo) grindable.

All in all, I'm not favouring the direction they are going with camouflage, as it takes away a tactical aspect of the game that was hardly an issue to begin with. The map design in this game is way too static and blunt for camouflage to ever become an OP issue and blending in with the environment/enemy (giraffe camo) is naturally balanced by the increased risk of taking friendly fire damage.

EDIT: The real reason seems to be, surprise surprise, upcoming vehicle hacking. While nice, this still feels like a trade-off to me and I would prefer a win-win solution.

maradine · 2013-11-11, 01:24 PM

I was a big fan of full-model camo. Swapping into the right colors for the terrain at the beginning of an Op was kinda one of the little guilty pleasures of the game. I'll wait to see what shakes out, but I'm not pleased thus far.

KarrdeBRBU · 2013-11-11, 01:25 PM

I'd argue it's all just cosmetics. Anyone who's been in the game for more than 5 minutes essentially doesn't bite on cammo. It's just recoloring to fit the tastes of the user.

VampireCrono · 2013-11-11, 02:47 PM

gotta be honest, i thought this was going to be the coverage when i played back in beta. as of now it's a little p2w and as far as we have been told, it takes up resources that could be deleted to spare some frames. if this means i get more frames in a bigger fight then i am all for it. cosmetics are cosmetics: they should not have any sort of p2w aspect and should just be to make you look better

GeoGnome · 2013-11-11, 03:09 PM

I don't think it's that big of a deal. It's for vehicles, and vehicle Camo has always been aesthetic IMO.

I'm sorry, but you just can't camouflage a tank effectively. Also one of your examples in the Galaxy. The only thing that would be a good camo for a galaxy, would be if it were a sky blue camo, which it isn't.

Eggy · 2013-11-11, 03:15 PM

Isnt this just so they can add another cammo slot?
I saw some pics not so long ago with galaxys that had tonnes of cosmetics on them so its not too far out there to see them wanting to sell primary and secondary cammos.
Or even that the areas in the new screens are where future cosmetics will be placed.

Its not too long ago that there was both an in game and out of game push for more cammo sales and even instructions on how and why cammos worked.

typhaon · 2013-11-11, 03:22 PM

If we're just talking about vehicles, I agree with the OP.

If anything, I'd just make slight visual modifications to each faction's NS vehicles.

If we're talking about infantry camo. Then I'm definitely in favor of changes - despite some of the early efforts being rather crude.

Locke · 2013-11-11, 03:24 PM

Originally Posted by Eggy

Isnt this just so they can add another cammo slot?

This wouldn't surprise me actually although I hope it is to save fps.

The advantages of camo on a vehicle are hard to measure. The Empire specific vehicles are always 100% easy to recognise but I guess on a NS pattern vehicle I might hesitate a second or two to spot the target before firing. I doubt this will change things much.

Ghoest9 · 2013-11-11, 04:27 PM

The way they have nerfed infantry camo is terrible. It used to be that camo actually helped in you hide were smart about using it.

vehicles - it doesnt matter - the vehicle camo never hid anything anyway.

Rivenshield · 2013-11-11, 04:43 PM

I hope I don't rustle too many jimmies by saying so, but.... it got to the point long ago where I couldn't even tell which side a combatant was on, hesitated, and died. Maybe I'm just slow and dumb, but this sounds to me like it's long overdue. In a three-way nonstop war, you need to be able to ID things visually -- the more so when the little blue Dorito doesn't always show up.

Having said that, it's really going to piss off everybody who paid cash for camo. More ham-fisted mismanagement. I'll put up with dying more often due to my own uncertainties if the alternative is another slice in a death-by-a-thousand-cuts to PS2's player base.

MaxDamage · 2013-11-11, 04:56 PM

Edited. Doesn't seem to affect infantry.

Maidere · 2013-11-11, 05:09 PM

Good. It's p2w right now.

GeoGnome · 2013-11-11, 05:30 PM

Originally Posted by MaxDamage

Not cool with it.
I wouldn't have bought half the camos I did for infantry.

They need to make their friggin minds up and stop pissing around with peoples money.
Legitimately angry.

Does ANYONE struggle to tell the difference between a Magrider, Prowler and Vanguard?!

Originally Posted by Maidere

Good. It's p2w right now.

Well here is the problem. They increased camo coverage and people complained, so they decreased camo coverage, and people complained again. So then they added ES colors with the camo, and people complained.

This isn't something that just happened out of nowhere, I mean we have seen this happen multiple times. No matter what they do with Camo coverage, people complain. Either it's Pw2 or it's stealing people's money. You can find plenty of frustrated messages and interviews on this subject if you look it up.

Seriously, people just need to chill on both sides and buy cosmetic camos. I bought 3 camos I thought better blended my infil into the background... and then one day I bought black flames and never looked back... because Black Flames and a headscarf makes my guy look like an Immortal from the 300, and that IMO is the best camo money can buy.

BlaxicanX · 2013-11-11, 05:31 PM

There never was a tactical element to the camo anyway. I never had problems spotting even the white on white TR camo on Esamir.

Calista · 2013-11-11, 05:32 PM

T-Ray touched on this during Fridays 1337loungelive.com's News Talk Live but I can't remember exactly what all he said

Seem to recall he said it was for another camo slot and also improved performance but was adamant it was an all around win for everyone. Matter of fact, I thought he was going to go into his soapbox tirade and probably would have if he taken one with him from SOE

Time will tell...