Improvement: Explosives Overhaul

[Corvo]

INTRO

Hello my fellow Auraxians, today feels like the right time to talk about explosives in Planetside 2 and how they can be improved.

Let me start off by saying that I really really love using mines and traps in online games! It always puts an unholy smile on my face when I see that notification pop up telling me another poor guy fell victim to an elaborate setup I absolutely love figuring out the best ways to place mines and snares and needless to say, I immediately fell in love with Planetside 2 death traps. However, I believe the current system needs an overhaul for the following reasons:

• the variety of items that could be used as traps is low
• the way the traps work is inconsistent across factions
• existing traps are one-hit kills for infantry, which adds to player frustration
• there is no interface to keep track of deployed mines

Here is my list of suggestions to improve that.

Note: The main reason I felt like writing this is the need to redesign the current AI mine system, however, the whole explosives section seems lacking so I will probably be covering AV mines, c4 and grenades later on based on feedback I receive from this post.

PART 1. AI MINES

Problems
Firstly, AI mines in this game are under normal conditions (that is, no high-grade nanoweave/flak armor, no severe lag and explosion not obscured by any objects) a one hit kill to any infantry. This by itself adds to the frustration of the players, many of whom feel like mines need to be merely a nuisance and not an instant death.

The second problem many players point out here is that the design of mines across factions is inconsistent with TR being somewhat disadvantaged, and as a TR player I can't agree more here. Basically, the NC and VS get the jack-of-all-trades AOE hard-to-spot flat mine, while the TR get a brick with directional damage, with the bug that frequently lets enemies see the green lasers coming from the sides of the mine to go with it. However, I do agree that TR Claymores might have a situational advantage over Bouncing Betties and Proximity mines. Let me throw you an example here.

One of the most popular options for placing mines is either in the doorway or on top of the stairs. As illustrated below, the way Claymores are placed makes them completely invisible for anyone entering the doorway or running up the stairs from the expected direction, while BB's and Prox mines are hard, but still possible to spot for an experienced player with an IR/NV scope.



However, this advantage is merely situational, and for the most part BB's and Prox mines are just more versatile overall and outperform Claymores in most situations - when placed near terminals and control points or in narrow corridors where the flow goes both ways to list a few.

Solutions
To fix these two problems at once I suggest the following.

1. Make all mines universal across factions split into two different classes of Nanite Systems mines: a lethal mine and a non-lethal mine.
2. NS Spring mine - a non-lethal AI mine capable of crippling an enemy, leaving him at 50% health and no shields under normal conditions. Available to infiltrators, engineers and light assaults, works like current NC/VS mines (maybe add an ability to stick them to walls, if the engine allows it?) This category may then be expanded with EMP mines, concussion mines etc.
3. NS Claymore - lethal mine that instantly kills an enemy under normal conditions. Available to engineers only, works like current TR Claymore, becomes potentially non-lethal with Nanoweave 4-5.
4. Make mines the same slot as C4 on all classes.
5. Add a simple interface to keep track of all deployed mines.

Note: Why add mines to light assault? As the game progresses, more and more people will be getting higher levels of nanoweave and flak armor, thus needing more harassment tools to keep TTK reasonably low. Increasing the number of players with immediate access to effective harassment tools like non-lethal mines will mean that more people will be running around with less hitpoints. Honestly, I don't expect it to change the game much since most LA's will still probably run with C4. This goes well with the whole concept of the LA as a "commando" class with acess to c4, tactical grenades and a jetpack. Adding an option to carry a variety of spring mines will add to the versatility of the class and provide more tactical options.

Results
As a result of these proposed changes:

• the total number of lethal explosive devices on the battlefield will be reduced since less classes will have access to them and they will be a lot more situational
• the overall number of things to look out for will increase, keeping the gameplay challenging as the game progresses
• more toys to play with mean more tactical options and more variety, improving gameplay

Well, this is it for Part 1: AI Mines, please let me know what you think of it!

Note: Please keep in mind that parts of this post are subject to change since I may find a better way to convey the message.