Spawn system re-working

[Propkid]

Once again I got an idea that I can't stop myself from sharing This time it's extremely simple, however the implications of that idea are the important part. Please read about the implications before commenting, because such a seemingly little change to the game can result in a significant improvement. Let's split this post nicely...

Inspired by:

• http://forums.legionsoverdrive.com/...or-no-line-between-lo-and-camping.2155/page-2 Various posts on this and other pages which talk about the offence/defence balance, especially the ones mentioning how D is at a greater advantage than O. Also the mentioning of skilled players dominating the enemy spawn area in pubs.
• The IA server glitch that gave people invincibility. I used to fly really high up using overdrive and then drop in a freefall on a hill.
• A screenshot of Fallout :]

The idea:

Instead of the player spawn spots being in the base (or behind it, like on Quarry) the players would spawn above their home bases, in a spaceship of course :]. If deployables will be items that can be picked up from specific stations, then these stations would be placed up there. As far as I'm concerned, there will be no more restricted load-outs in L:O, so the players will also be able to choose their armour/weapons/items in these stations.​

While on their own floating spaceship/platform all the players are invincible. The platform will also be placed quite high, so that the enemy will find it hard/impossible to get in and so that the players will be able to jump off it onto a hill/ onto their base on land. The platform/spaceship will be designed in such a way that the players on it won't be able to see much more than the intermediate surrounding of their base, hence no sniping involved. After jumping off the player has just enough 'Fresh meat invincibility' to land on flat ground without suffering from fall damage.​

+something to prevent the flag from getting on that platform. Think edge-of-the-map-like barrier that will also trigger the end of player invincibility. Leave that to Mabel and his coding skillz ;d​

The implications:

• Less base-rape. This is an issue with low-skill pubs; players are often engaged in combat as soon as they spawn, and not all spawn-points allow for a quick departure from base.
• Defence debuff. There will be less surprise factor in fighting the LO. It will also take a bit longer for D to arrive in place.
• The respawn timer might be eliminated due to this. The players won't be as annoyed by 'not being in the game' since they will be actually playing, though not in action.
• 'Unskilled capper buff'. At first it might sound that this idea will buff up the cappers a lot, however the height of the first drop isn't hugely beneficial to a capper. Believe me, I've 'tested' this on the invincibility glitch servers in IA; after a super-high drop you either lose the speed really quickly or you can't manage to stay on your route due to lack of maneuverability. However, newb cappers will find it much easier to start their routes if they'll be able to drop off large distances. Learning curve smoothened, at least a tiny bit.
• A safe area for selecting your weapons/items/deployables/armour in game (if that's how it will be done). Base will not necessarily be safe with all the ninja LO and o-snipers lurking about.
• The awesomeness rating of L:O will increase by a lot.
• A new area for content to be added to.
• Promotes capping as the heavy. Not sure if it would help at all, but people would try more.
• EDIT: no need for players to worry about their spawn points being good or bad. No 'respawn button spamming' before each game starts.

Worth it? I can't really see any disadvantages to this besides the thing not being worth the effort, so I'd love to hear from mabel or other code-freak on this ;p.

Also, it can be easily tested if anyone thinks this gives the player a huge capping advantage. All that a dev would need to do is set the spawn point above the base and see for himself.

God I can turn the simplest idea into a wall of text...

 

[Fissurez]

sounds interesting but there is still the issue of the speed you gain and fall damage if you decide not to jump immediately down when you have gotten off the platform, it would also cause problems for the LO as people could just sit there sniping or raining explosives down (saying the base will be designed in such a way isn't good enough, give an example e.g. shutes or tunnels that enter the map)

i can see this maybe being implemented as part of one map as a unique feature, but only for one map.
and im not sure capping as a sentinel should be encouraged....

and why will the awesomeness rating increase?

 

[Propkid]

(saying the base will be designed in such a way isn't good enough, give an example e.g. shutes or tunnels that enter the map)

That's really easy to come up with. The best thing I thought of is the players spawning in a room in the ship and jumping into tubes that have jump-pads mounted in so the players are launched out. The room could have a window/ glass floor so people see where the action is taking place so that they can pick the right tube/exit to get there.

sounds interesting but there is still the issue of the speed you gain

It does seem like a lot of speed, but believe me I've tried a lot of high free-fall drops back in FE:L and I didn't manage to keep the speed for very long.

i can see this maybe being implemented as part of one map as a unique feature, but only for one map.
and im not sure capping as a sentinel should be encouraged....

and why will the awesomeness rating increase?

Not sure about the sentinel myself, but somehow I just 'feel' it ;p.
Also, don't get mistaken: the ship won't be the base, it will float above-behind it (I'm kindof thinking about Quarry here, but also all the big maps). And, well, the 'awesomeness rating'... I'll leave it at that

 

[PureWhoopAss]

play section 8, or look it up... same thing

 

[Piggeh]

play section 8, or look it up... same thing

I was thinking about Section 8 when the whole free fall idea was introduced. As others have mentioned, the issue of a freefall drop in Legions is that you can gain considerable speed, which would kinda of OP. This also kind of defeats the purpose of bowlparty/LO because often times, the LO will try to focus on killing cappers leaving the base. With this system, it's a little hard to do that when the moment they touch the ground, they have invincibility. It takes <3 seconds (that's not a heart!) to ski away from base.
You mentioned your concern about low-skill PUBs. In all honesty, I'd rather tailor updates to the higher end of the skill spectrum. While this does not necessarily mean making the game uber hard, it definitely does not entail making things really easy for cappers/defense.
While a strong defense can definitely seem "OP" (scrim vs Zeta - they had a 3 sniper defense :O) I don't think that a defense debuff will be necessary. A strong LO can easily base-rape a weaker defense. There will always be aspects of this game that seem "OP" because of sheer differences in skill.