Balancing Factor: Resource Storage Limit

[Malorn]

First this has been confirmed in the AMAA. It was one of my resource questions.

Originally Posted by Higby's Reddit AMAA

there will be a cap to resource pools, ideally you won't ever feel like you have more than enough resources.

And its absolutely needed. No player should ever feel like they have enough resources. The moment they do they stop caring about resources and the whole point of fighting over them loses steam.

A limit forces a use-it-or-lose-it mentality. You'll use it on certs, or you'll use it on store items, or you'll use it to build a stockpile of grenades or medkits. The point is that you get something for spending them and you always want more. Nothing is wasted, and it ensures everyone cares about resources.

It also puts a limit on how effective sitting AFK or semi-AFK on a continent is for generating resources. No limit? We're going to see a lot of AFK bots farming resources.

Having a limit also makes costs matter more. If for example they balanced Orbital Strikes by making them require near-full resources then an OS not only becomes a huge resource sink and a costly decision but it also naturally limits how many people could do one at any given moment. If doing an OS means I need to save up, and doing one will cost me the ability to pull a tank for a while then I'm going to think carefully about using it. And of course I will certainly care about replenishing my resources after I use one no matter how long I've been playing the game.

And lastly it can be a differentiator or a monetization point. Having a 20% higher resource cap could be a benefit for subscribers, or it could be an implant buff or some other form of tradeoff in the game.

If you allow people endless supplies they'll stockpile over time and then you won't have the ability to limit OS on resources, and you'll see lame behavior to facilitate the stockpile specifically so people don't have to worry about resources. A cap ensures that lame behavior won't get you much and that you always have to care about resources. It'll also encourage people to use resources more and to pull upgraded vehicles vs stock vehicles. People who have played the game for a long time might not have certs to unlock with the resources but they will certainly have some highly customized vehicle and infantry loadouts that will use resources and they'll go after it.

Think of the model like Counter Strike. You can save up a bit for a gun or two, but you really want wins and to not waste the guns you buy/acquire because that brings in the most cash. But there's also a limit, and its wiped on map changes to ensure that you always care about money in counter strike (unless you run around with a pistol or knife, but w/e).