Current Multiplayer Issues and Suggestions

[Iceman_IX]

1) Rounds can end too abruptly. # of CPs does not reflect Reinforcements.

 

Perhaps I need to do more testing on this but I think I've noticed it properly and consistently to suggest a change. Scenario: One team is overall winning but the losing team still has many players and a CP or 3. They are rapidly running out of RI (Reinforcements for short). The winning team gets lackadaisical and lets the losing team take some CPs but the losing team runs out of RI shortly after that and they lose, even though they still had a CP. The RI/CP system should be modified so that when you take over a CP from another team, you get a set # gets of RI added to your pool (say 30). This #, however, would not be added when you lose control (CP goes white) but gain control before the other team does. This would prevent possible exploitation.

 

Adding to the RI pool would highly benefit a team who is making a comeback from being nearly killed and but the winning team didn't push their advantage. Lackadaisical and non-aggressive play should be punished. This would allow change of momentum swings to vastly affect the game and would prolong games. At current they end rather abruptly. The battle is in mid-swing and the losing team happens to run out of RI because a large group just spawned in and the game ends then.

 

2) Server browser needs filters

 

At current, the server browser is not just buggy but it's hard to find a game you want to play. You have to click on multiple servers and see what the settings are. It would be nice to have filters for map, age (Civil War or Clone Wars), # of players, filter out low pings, filter out full servers, filter out empty servers, etc. Filter out friendly fire and so on.

 

In addition the server browser currently has many bugs. Since they haven't exactly been fully listed I'll do so now (this won't be exhaustive I assure you but you're probably aware of almost all of them)

1. Right clicking on a server brings you to a busy window where it counts to 2 and then goes back to server browser. What is this?

2. When a server is full it backs you out to the "Join/Create" screen. It should just leave you at the server browser

3. Server browser can show an unfull server, you go to join, and it says server is full. Apparently clients are trying to join but the server hasn't been updated yet because the players are not currently playing. Server should show full if you can't join. Not sure what mechanism could be used for this but other games don't seem to have this problem.

4. Clicking on a row does not necessarily select that server. You must click on the text. This can cause you to highlight one server, go to join another, and the double click doesn't change the highlight and you join the previous server, not the one you were clicking over.

5. Server browser updates sporadically and it's way too hard to join a server before the list is updated fully. Your highlight bar moves off and on the panel. The way Steam handles this is pretty good. It updates the server list but doesn't update the order of the servers until a second or two after. The list should update, putting new servers at the very bottom of the list. When I click on "Ping" it should then re-list all the servers in the proper order. This would work but there are multiple ways of fixing this.

 

2a.) Can't see what map I am joining till I get to the Spawn screen. I haven't memorized the planet-zooming in business to be sure yet.

 

Because of the nature of the server browser, the lack of filters, and the limited number of servers, when I join a server I don't join because of the map (atleast for now). But I generally want to know what map I am playing on. I can't learn this till the spawn screen and even then I'm confused. The name of the planet should be listed on the loading screen or something. I just want to join a good server, map doesn't matter that much right now (still learning game) but it'd be nice to know. The players need a reference so that everyone can understand maps. When I play CounterStrike, everyone knows what "dust" "prodigy" "aztec" etc. are. Same with UT. When I play a round of BF, I can play through the entire Hoth round without seeing the word Hoth. This is okay for Hoth, everyone KNOWS Hoth. But no one knows Geonosis or the other map with the waterfall or the plains map... see what I mean? We need a way to say "I wanna join this map" and know which map we mean. List the map name in multiple places, please. I still don't know how many maps there are in the game, which ones are which, etc. Not to mention I THINK there are two Hoth maps... we need a "Hoth city" and "Hoth shield generator" etc. or are there just two frozen planets?

 

3) Cannot view player list unless you are actually in play. And then it takes your control away till you stop viewing player list.

 

You should be able to view the player list when you first join and when you are on the spawn menu (to see which team needs the most help or which team will get you killed less, whichever the player prefers). You should be able to view the player list when you are dead or when you are respawning (with the counter). When you view this player list, it should just overlay the screen and you should still be able to move. This is a convention in games since Doom. The player list is important, it gives you an idea of what you're up against and what strategy to pursue. You shouldn't be stopped and not able to move when you're viewing it. All most players need is a quick glance (Tap Tab for a sec, it comes up, you see the names/colors).

 

4) Team colors (constant red/green) is somewhat confusing.

 

Green/red are conventional colors for rebel/alliance. But when you go to join a Hoth or other Civil War game, you can click on the rebel icon and it turns green (for team color: ally). This is rather confusing. Keep the colors the same. Blue could be Clones, Purple or Yellow droids, Green Imperials, Red Rebels. Just a suggestion. This could be a global option. (Game Option: Team colors. Selectable Options: Traditional or Friendly/Foe). Those who like the green/red can keep it. Those who want traditional, constant colors can have them. This would help with immersion. I was totally confused trying to read the minimap because green was rebels (and their base was overrun this made it even more confusing )

 

5) Spawn killing could get to be a major issue. Perhaps an invincible-on-spawn would help.

 

In a game where a team can only die so many times, spawn killing (a rocket troopers, assault droid, or vehicle stands in enemy spawn and waits for them to spawn) is becoming a problem. He doesn't take the CP just stands off and kills everyone who spawns in. Since players don't always spawn in large groups, he has an easy time at it. This whittles down a team's RI and could totally affect the outcome. It becomes an exploit when one player can get so many "non-combat" kills and basically have an undue sway on the game. Lots of kills aren't a problem but free kills and the intent to kill players who just spawned and not take the CP are problems. When a player spawns he should be invincible for 1-2 seconds. This would require testing to perfect but spawn killing is going to affect this game heavily. Needs to be worked out. Spawning more in larger groups would fix this as well. The guy would only be able to kill 1-2 before he would be overwhelmed.

But the general CP system is a good protection against this. Somewhat unique and it's really cool. Nice job.

 

I think that's all I can think of now. Great game, hope it can be improved in the near future.

 

Edit: oops one more. FPS!

 

6) FPS lock of 20 in multiplayer. No FPS counter.

 

Not sure if there is any debug feature to show FPS but I haven't seen one yet. You should be able to type "fps" or "/fps" or something and the game should show an FPS somewhere at the top/bottom corner. It would be very nice.

 

And the FPS lock of 20 in multiplayer. This has been so widely reported that I don't much doubt it anymore. While it's nice to have a constant FPS, the user should have control over this. Or atleast cap it at 30 or 35. That's the well-recognized natural detection number for the human eye. I noticed a bit of difference between MP and SP but I can't completely decide if it's placebo.

[Ny152]

I agree, with most of those.

 

1. It does list the map in the server info when you highlight a server, but.... it really should just list it in the main line of the server with the server name / player # / ping, etc.

 

2. The MP fps cap is a big issue... and if you have a semi newer processor and/or vid card you can notice a big difference between MP and SP. I don't mind a cap as long as it caps it at no less than 50 or 60.... I'd probably say 50 bare minimum.

 

The spawn protection thing isnt that big of a deal if you look at game like Battlefield.

 

Im really hoping they add the filters to the browser, add some info about the server you're on in the scoreboard, and fix the MP fps cap, and I'm a happy happy man.