Let's Talk About Movement

[Mithie]

All this discussion about HP and Shields highlight one key point: no one's talking about movement because surviving by tanking hits is far more efficient than dodging hits in the current state of the game. One of the key appeals of this game should be movement. We're given a variety of different movement options, and no chance to use them.

So. Wall of text incoming.

1. Hitscan weapons should not be the primary damage dealers in a movement-based shooter. Why? Because the best way to defeat hitscan weapons is to get behind cover, and that's when the game devolves into cover-based-whack-a-mole. There needs to be more projectiles with a travel time which forces the player to move. There are already assets in game for rockets, missiles, and grenades. Give them out!

Make it so that every time a player stands still, he gets 10 vertical launch missiles coming down on his head. Make grinders more than an annoyance. Give them bigger hitboxes (so you can actually kill them), weaker armor, and actual lethality. Stand still with a grinder at your feet and you don't stagger - YOU DIE. Make slow travelling missiles which, once locked on, can only be shot down or outrun. Make fast travelling missiles which requires a sharp change in direction (like going vertical) to dodge. When was the last time you saw anyone run up a wall to evade a missile? Make movement a neccessity, rather than an inconvenience that can more or less be handwaved away by stacking shields. If a player is standing still, PUNISH him for it.

But you say, wouldn't this favor gun play over range play? Since the closer you are to the enemy, the harder it would be to dodge his rocket? Then have your teammates hose down the incoming rockets and play point defense for that rushing excal. Make launch animations long and easily staggered by melee. High risk, high reward.

Oh and make hitscan weapons do less damage.

2. There needs to be a reason to flank.. The maps are not small. They are sizeable, but there's hardly any reason to move around. Give the players reason to flank. Give enemies weak points in the backs and sides. Add enemies with setup times and defined cones of fire. Think deployable guns like heavy machine guns on a bipod or hand that Grineer heavy gunner an automatic grenade launcher. It takes 5 seconds to deploy, can only fire forward in a 45 degree cone, but if you try engaging them from the front, you'll get shredded. Make it so the most efficient way to take them down is to come from around them or behind them. Make them stagger and undeploy on being meleed. Have two players pin them down and the remaining two flank. Teamwork!

3. Extraction should be fun. When that extraction objective pops up, instead of asking the players to run through half the levels again, make it challenging and rewarding. Add mines which pop up everywhere - from the ground, from the ceiling, off the walls, FROM SPACE ITSELF, that needs to be shot once to deactivate. Pile more enemies in your way. Make it so you can still clear through them methodically with the team, but if you try running through them, better make sure you have damn good aiming at high speeds. Make it so rather than dashing straight for the exit, it would instead be dash, slide, shoot, mine, F***, missile, wallrun, shoot, slide, shoot, slide, shoo... missed, eat mine to the face, dash, etc. Make it so when the guy actually runs his way to the extraction point, the reaction isn't "Ah, dammit, I wanted to take it slow" it should be "holy balls, he did it!".

Edited April 2, 2013 by mithie2

[contractkiller4]

I've felt like the movement in this game should be similar to the scramble in the new Tomb Raider. Whenever you use it while moving between cover, you felt like you were dodging just a few bullets to get to the next cover. In this game, sliding, then doing a frontflip doesn't noticably make the enemy less accurate, or feel like a dodge at all. The only dodge I remember doing is spamming left and right while running at a corpus to throw off his prediction. As a space ninja, I want to feel like my crazy acrobatics are saving my life, not getting me killed because I'm not behind a crate.

Also, regarding flanking. I would prefer a "last seen location" system similar to some stealth games to make flanking during a firefight better (As you actually surprise enemies, rather than them just turning around before you shoot) and making it possible to hide/sneak after the alarm has been sounded.