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[Metagame Design Meeting Idea]
Communication, Information & Coordination
Summary: Whatever the metagame is, we need better tools for communication,
information and coordination in order to meet that challenge & involve everyone.
1. DeploymentInstant Action is designed to be a good way to get people straight into a fight. And it generally
does this job well. Except sometimes the fight it drops you into is not the most useful one to be in.
We've all seen places like The Crown and Eisa Tech and Wokuk Amp being held by our factionwhilst being surrounded by enemy territory. With Instant Action these locations can become apopulation sink. More and more friendly troops join these defensible locations whilst enemyfactions swallow up territory elsewhere.
Suggestion 1:Reinforcements Needed weighted by Request Reinforcements
The 22nd January patch added Reinforcements needed to the spawn/deploy selection. This
currently has no link with leadership certification Request Reinforcements. Commanders needbetter tools to direct players to meet strategic objectives. The reinforcement certification and thereinforcement deployment should be linked.
Example:
Highlands Solar is being capturedby friendlies, but they are under alot of pressure, so an 'Offensive
Request' is placed.
Ceres Farms is being captured by TR,and so a 'Defensive Request' s placed.
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The algorithm that decides what locations are available to deploy should be weighted by how many and if reinforcement requests have been posted on that location. This would guarantee that that
very first action jumping into a fight is one that has a meaningful relationship to whatevermetagame strategy the current commanders on a continent are pursuing.
In order to avoid abuse (commanders setting up deploy locations anywhere on the map) the
selection must be based on local player numbers, but be weighted by number / presence ofreinforcement requests.
We also need ways to avoid lost causes and strategically pointless fights becoming sinks for ourfaction.
We've all seen places like The Crown and Eisa Tech and Wokuk Amp being held by our factionwhilst being surrounded by enemy territory. With 'Instant Action' and, now, 'ReinforcementsNeeded' these locations can become a population sink. More and more friendly troops join thesedefensible locations whilst enemy factions swallow up territory elsewhere.
These reinforcement requests (placed inareas of high activity) should appear inthe Reinforcements Needed deploylocations.
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Reinforcement deploy locations need to be designed so that they avoid lost causes andstrategically pointless fights becoming population sinks for the faction. The best way to do this isto entrust commanders to direct the faction.
2. OrdersThe current orders system needs some love and attention. Some yellow text that then gets pushedout of the chatbox by people asking for ammo is not enough.
Orders needs to be able to direct the flow of battle. They need to be seen and given priority.
Suggestion 2:Regional orders
Add /reorder. This would be a local orderin order to encourage groups of players whohave just won a large fight to continue towork together as they push onwards.
Also: Fix /region. It can be a usefulcommand to share information & coordinate
during a fight, but it currently only worksintermittently.
An aside: Clear the chatbox
None of this should appear inany of the Squad, Platoon orCommand tabs. The Outfittab should only containoffline/online notifications.
Ideally: Allow us to create ourown tabs & customise whatappears in them.
On this map, Vanu are held up at
Eisa whilst NC and TR surroundEisa and push towards the VSwarpgate.
Offensive requests at Glacier, BlackRidge & Old Shore will keep these asdeploy locations. Defensive requeststo the south of the map overridedeploy locations at Eisa & Frostfall.
If we then start pushing back, andconnecting to Eisa, then drop somereinforcement requests here and it shouldopen as a deploy location again.
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Suggestion 3:Orders remain in the chatbox for longer
Currently anything sent through /orders appears in the chatbox along with everything else, and sodisappears soon after as it is pushed off by everything else. If there is to be a significantmetagame, orders are going to be even more important. Give them priority. Add a small area to thetop of the chatbox where recent orders remain.
Suggestion 4:Orders appear on the score screen The last four or five messages sent using /orders should appear in a dedicated area on the scorescreen. Why this screen? Because it's mapped to the button that's the default go-to for FPS gamesto get information about the current battle. Orders are just as important as your K/D ratio.
3. CommunicationCommunication tools need to improve. /command is useful, but it is limited. Command chat needsto be used for two main things: sharing information (enemy status, friendly movements) andcoordinating battles (sharing tasks and deciding upon orders). Both of these things can be madeeasier.
Suggestion 5:Add outfit tags to the chatboxOutfits are an incredibly important part of Planetside 2. They are core to how many playersorganise themselves. But currently inter-outfit coordination is not made easy by the game. Outfitleaders should be getting to know one another and their different capabilities. One of the easiestways of achieving this is to add an outfit tag to the chatbox. I need to know who I'm coordinatingwith; and what outfit someone is in is an important part of who you are in Planetside 2.
Anything sent over /orders remains in this box.
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Suggestions 6:Situation reports1. Anyone with the relevant leadership cert can send a sitrep request to a territory:
2. The request appears in the same area as covered by /region:
[Eisa Tech Plant] [RPS] Cooper: Sitrep request
3. Within 5 minutes of a request being sent, anyone in the area can respond by using /sitrep
4. Anything sent over /sitrep appears in its own channel / chatbox tab that anyone with thecommand channel certification can see.
[SITREP Eisa Tech Plant] [XXX] Name: Pinned down by mossies. Need air support
4. InformationThe best information is that which is shared deliberately through communication systems. Thatbeing said, automated access and display of certain information can be useful. In particular,Planetside 2's radar / proximity detection systems are under-developed.
Suggestion 7:Empire-wide shared radar
Collating the proximity detection information (on the Flash, ESF, Infiltartor's tool etc.) and sharingit would much improve this currently lacking mechanic.
This could be linked to a small strategic / metagame component. Rather than all informationcollected by vehicle radar being sent to everyone, the player will need to be in proximity of acommunication tower (these are already dotted about the map). These comm. Tower control are belinked to ownership of the territory or satellite control point of a major base, but can also bedisabled in the manner of shield generators.
Another aside: Make leadership certs available to Platoon leader (when they are not also squad leader)
All leader ship certifications are currently onlyavailable to squad leaders. Not platoon leaders (unless
they are in a squad leader position). It is not always best to have the PL also being doing the job of SL.Leadership certs (command channel, reinforcement requests especially) should be available to platoonleaders, regardless of other status.
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Some of you will remember PS1's tactical map. This is the best screenshot I could find:
The following mock-up displays the tactical heat map as well as an icon for owned comm. Towers.The data would be only that relayed by players, through the various vehicle and infiltrator certs,rather than area-of-effect radar as in PS1.
Aqua = Radar cover (no one present)
Blue = Majority NC
Red = Majority TR
Purple = Majority VS
Yellow = Mixed
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5. CoordinationWith decent communication and information, coordination should come naturally. There are someminor changes needed to squad coordination. Primarily, though, the focus here is on rewardingcoordination.
Suggestion 8:Platoon leaders can see and set squad waypointsI think this is clear enough. Why I can't see where my squad leaders have set their waypoints, Idon't know.
Suggestion 9:Expand Squad Objectives cert to include shield generators,
SCUs etc.Again, fairly self explanatory I feel. Being able to highlight capture points is not a particularlyuseful tool. Even so, this is not the best of tools. It can be improved, along with most of theleadership certs, with the following suggestion.
Suggestion 10:Reward coordinationThe most obvious form of reward in Planetside 2 is XP. It would be good to add (small) incentives toworking together in the form of bonus XP. This can be within platoon as well as faction wide,following this pattern:
1. Responding to Reinforcement Requests gives bonus XP.- This bonus would only appear if you enter into the territory where a reinforcementrequest appears after it has been placed.- It would also not count for fellow platoon members (to avoid being farmed)
2. Capturing points / blowing generators marked by Squad Objectives gives bonus XP.
6. Communication, Information, CoordinationWhatever the metagame changes turn out to be, they will need good communication, goodinformation and faction-wide coordination to achieve. Moreover; players will create their owninteresting strategic / metagame play if they have these tools. Years of MMOs have shown that
player interaction is key. Whether it be it EVE's spaceships or Wurm's wooden carts; it's playingwith other people to meet that challenge & make your own challenges that is vital
Currently the in-game tools for these aspects are somewhat lacking, and so I have presented 10suggestions to improve this. These suggestions are based on a couple of hundred hours playing asoutfit / platoon leader for a large VS outfit on Miller. Certain problem solutions are old bug bears(especially the limit of command certs to SL only...). Others are a consideration of what tools wewill need so that when the metagame changes come about, we can meet the challenge.
Give us the tools SOE, and I can promise you we will step up to whatever challenges you presentus.
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Cooper.The most purple of giraffes.
Outfit Leader of Rock, Planet, Shotgun. The Vanu outfit for the community of the Rock, Paper,Shotgun PC gaming website.
21st January 2013, updated 23rd January 2013
