Malfunction purpose

Lonehunter · 2004-11-23, 08:53 AM

I put this on the official forums wich I rarely do, but I thought I'd bring it here. This plus WoW coming out today is a pretty bad thing for SOE and me, so damn close to canceling.

In the recent patch when an air vehicle reaches about 10% armor the ability to bail is removed. I was wondering what the purpose of this feature is. Is it to keep somebody in an aircraft after a dog fight? Some people think that they should remain in the cockpit and let the enemy pilot kill them but actually the person being gunned down could do more to aid a battle after bailing. Is it to add realism to the game? Then why not add the affect of Afterburners not working, can't turn one direction, why not put these features on ALL vehicles or weapons and not just the aircraft? I really do not see a logical reason of implementing this into the game.

Lookin for some answers and reasons, let's try to keep it a nice discussion.

Warborn · 2004-11-23, 09:06 AM

It's to make it so that when you get "shot down", you die, with "shot down" being anything that will damage you enough that your eject will not work. It's not to add realism, but it will improve (in the opinion of many) the quality of air combat by pilots actually getting a kill worth reaver exp for shooting down an enemy. The part where pilots lose their vehicles and then bail and jackhammer a few infantry before dying will also be avoided in some cases. The fact that you can do a lot more to aid a battle after bailing is actually something I'll be glad to see done away with, both when friendlies do it, and when enemies do it.

Lonehunter · 2004-11-23, 09:42 AM

Originally Posted by Warborn

The fact that you can do a lot more to aid a battle after bailing is actually something I'll be glad to see done away with, both when friendlies do it, and when enemies do it.

Why? That's my main arguement as to why it shouldn't be in the game.

mrpwase · 2004-11-23, 10:02 AM

Would you find someone who has just bailed out of a (possibly burning) aircraft fully healthy and ready to fight immediately? If you took an armour hit for bailing out of a vehicle, then that would be alright, since you wouldn't be a killing machine but you'd be able to defend yourself against inept people - as it would be in reality.

Pilots stay in the air unless they LAND. This should apply to all pilots bailing, no matter if they're damaged or not - this will stop people using single-seater aircraft as quick transport by flying to a base and bailing over it.

Lartnev · 2004-11-23, 10:18 AM

It's mainly so that someone winning a dogfight or doing significant damage to an aircraft gets some phyiscal reward for their efforts instead of seeing the pilot bail without a scratch for their efforts.

Warborn · 2004-11-23, 11:01 AM

Originally Posted by Lonehunter187

Why? That's my main arguement as to why it shouldn't be in the game.

I'm not a dedicated pilot, but in my opinion if you get shot up that much you should be giving someone a kill, not bailing with ease to go HA some guys to death. It just makes sense that pilots who get shot up go down with their plane. Yes, it's partly to reward someone else with a kill and prevent you from denying them a kill despite the fact that they deserved it, but it's also about roles, in my mind. Not realism, it's immersion. People who fly reavers or mosquitoes are pilots. Pilots who get shot down should die. They should not all of a sudden become gun-toting infantry. It just doesn't seem right.

Lonehunter · 2004-11-23, 11:53 AM

Originally Posted by Warborn

It just makes sense that pilots who get shot up go down with their plane.

In that case they should make ground vehicle bails just as malfunctionable. Seems to me like they're just giving in, ONCE AGAIN, to all the whines of "it's not respectable to bail." it's good to know that at max hight all a pilot can do when his vehicle isn't working is just sit there, and glide all the way down, not being able to do anything, because the Eject feature breaks no matter what.

Baneblade · 2004-11-23, 01:12 PM

Then they shouldn't have gotten shot down.

Warborn · 2004-11-23, 02:25 PM

Originally Posted by Lonehunter187

In that case they should make ground vehicle bails just as malfunctionable. Seems to me like they're just giving in, ONCE AGAIN, to all the whines of "it's not respectable to bail." it's good to know that at max hight all a pilot can do when his vehicle isn't working is just sit there, and glide all the way down, not being able to do anything, because the Eject feature breaks no matter what.

It has nothing to do with what's respectable. Pilots aren't being rewarded for shooting down enemy aircraft. They aren't getting the experience, they aren't getting the kills. There is very little you can say that can justify this total lack of reward for their success.

Furthermore, the drivers of ground vehicles cannot bail from the vehicle, only their passengers can. You know, like how aircraft work. They need to come to a complete stop and then go through the exit animation, as they currently need to.

And lastly, you're very naive if you believe this change is only the result of people "whining" (even though the people who tend to ask for this are pilots themselves who're tired of being denied air-to-air kills). It is Samhayne's job to improve the game. If he adds in any old change that happens to have people support it on the forums and it doesn't improve the game, he looks bad. If he does it enough, he gets fired. Changes are only added if Samhayne and the rest of the developers believe that the change will improve the game. And given how obvious a change this is, I seriously doubt he's only doing it because people might have asked for it in the past anyway. He's just fixing the myriad of stupid features Planetside has (or doesn't have, like Warp Queueing) to make the game better. That people might have asked for this in the past is purely coincidental.

GreyFlcn · 2004-11-23, 07:24 PM

Good

Hell, I'd agree to remove Aircraft Driver bailing if it meant that BFR Flight Varients and BFR AA equip were removed from the game entirely.

KIAsan · 2004-11-23, 08:26 PM

No, I can't support this line of reasoning. I can't actually believe they are putting this crap in the game. The bail function is there for a reason. If your too shot up to fly, bail. This is just catering to those whining about losing kills. If your that intent on killing the guy, then kill em on the ground. I have absolutley no problem with folks bailing from an aircraft in any condition.

Now, if you want to really reduce bailing, then add a modifier to the timer, say an additional 5-10 minutes if you bail. That way, the pilot makes the choice, go down with the ship so you can get a new one quickly, or bail to stay alive and take the penalty.

Man, this kind of crap is just getting more ridiculous every patch. If I wanted to play arcade games, where kill counts were the only goal, then I would run down to the mall and drop a buck there.

Baneblade · 2004-11-23, 09:20 PM

The way I would have prefered actually is to simply not allow a pilot to bail until they lose control. Which is more realistic and still accomplishes the same thing.

EarlyDawn · 2004-11-23, 09:59 PM

Originally Posted by Sobekeus

The way I would have prefered actually is to simply not allow a pilot to bail until they lose control. Which is more realistic and still accomplishes the same thing.

The Overwatch agrees.

Baneblade · 2004-11-23, 10:06 PM

The what?

Lartnev · 2004-11-24, 07:36 AM

Overwatch