Support Classes

[OmegaGryphon]

I somehow doubt there will be any support abilities, if so very little. (Like dropship pilot) Why do I think this? Well why would you need a medic or engineer if your armor automaticly regens? And if spawn times are so short (Five seconds from what I heard)

[Saint]

what would make you think that your armour automatically regenerates.

The only game i can think of that does this is halo 2 and thats if you have a sheild.

[OmegaGryphon]

Originally Posted by Saint

what would make you think that your armour automatically regenerates.

The only game i can think of that does this is halo 2 and thats if you have a sheild.

A outfit member of FS went to E3 and played the demo, and a few articles which said it regenerated. The article saying if you stick close to your squad leader you got armor and health bonuses, as well as armor regen.

edit 1 - Oh and go to youtube search for Huxley Videos and watch the three from E3 2006, one of them shows the armor regenerating if you look at the hud.

edit 2 - http://e3.sonsofvanu.com/Site/d1.movie.huxley_3.html Look on the lower left hand side during the begining

[Shinigami]

The only otherclasses that I think will be part of the game are the following (if any):

<> Pilot
<> Field Technician (to repair vehicles in combat)

I doubt there will be much function for medics or such since the combat will be so fast and furious.

[Mantis]

There will be support skills. Support is a major part of every modern FPS.

Field medic. Driver / Pilot. Engineer / Repair vehicles / armor. Supplies. Radar / Communications / Surveillance. Drone Operator.

These are only a few of the most likely possibilities.

If the game was so simple that no support classes were needed, it would probably suck ass.

[Archerofgun]

Yeah no support class's would be like giving everyone the same gun and putting them into an open field with no cover

[Shinigami]

Personally I hope we'll see a whole variety of support classes - they help to make the game detail, varied and give it game play depth. I'm just hoping it'll be workable given the game system and layout.

[Archerofgun]

The only additional thing i want to see go in with support class's is symbols on the chars darn uniform that symbolizes what support talent he/she has

[vernes]

In PS you could see it as a symbol hovering above their head, along with their name.

[Shinigami]

Personally I'd opt for distinquishing uniforms and loadout which would be visible on the Model itself with regards to more obvious support classes such as a Medic or a Pilot - with regards to something as sublte as a for example a Combat Engineer, however (should there be such a class) I would not expect to see much of a differnece from his fellow troopers.

[Archerofgun]

I just dont want to be looking at their names like in planetside because Huxley is going to have pretty sick graphics to aww at instead.

Maybe a logo on their front and back armor plates, maybe shoulders

[OmegaGryphon]

Hey look! There's a medic! Kill him first! RAWR!!!!

No... thank you, distinguishing uniforms would make medics easy targets since in most cases medics give up offensive or defensive capabilities. And that the enemy wouldn't want the other team to have their medics. If I saw a medic I would kill him first before anyone else if I can

[vernes]

So no visual signs for class?
So people will have to keep an eye out for other signs...

1: Alright, I'll draw their fire while you guys head towards the entrance.
2: How are you going to make them shoot you?
1: *pulls out medikit* I know a way...

[mipe1984]

Originally Posted by vernes

So no visual signs for class?
So people will have to keep an eye out for other signs...

1: Alright, I'll draw their fire while you guys head towards the entrance.
2: How are you going to make them shoot you?
1: *pulls out medikit* I know a way...

3: yells LEEROY JEEEEENKINGS *lol*
1: wrong game dude
3: ups sorry :-P

[vernes]

Originally Posted by mipe1984

3: yells LEEROY JEEEEENKINGS *lol*
1: wrong game dude
3: ups sorry :-P

I agree, that is the best way to draw fire...
probably even from your own squad.

[mipe1984]

hehe yeah well i loved the movie, and his "sword" in WoW.. they made his stupidity a legend :-P even got his name in game show..

[Archerofgun]

I would probably be more afraid of the medic with a medikit than the idiot shooting in the air and at buildings...fun to watch tho

[Nukewarm]

I don't think support classes are needed, mainly because UT99/2k4 were so great as they were, and they had none. That's just my opinion though. What I don't want to see us give up for support classes or anything else for that matter is SHORT RESPAWN TIMES.

I think everyone can agree that waiting to play SUCKS. There are plenty of ways to balance the game without touching spawn times. If anything we should be requesting shorter spawn times. I for one insist on instant spawns. I hate waiting, and believe there are numerous ways in any FPS to have a strategically sound and balanced game without having to wait to play.

The whole concept of spawn times is, in my opinion, a flawed one that is counterproductive to the very purpose of a FPS: Fun.

[vernes]

Originally Posted by Nukewarm

The whole concept of spawn times is, in my opinion, a flawed one that is counterproductive to the very purpose of a FPS: Fun.

But this ain't just a FPS where the point is to collect kills, it's a FPS set in a persistant world where land is ment to be conquerd and area's need to be swiped clean for your own side to reside in.

To kill someone that will be back in position withing 5 minutes is useless. You might as well have him NOT die and simply have you have the kill-point.
To clear an area of the enemy, you need to have any killed targets OUT of the area.
When you've dispatched enough enemies, you get a chance to disable any method they had to get INTO the area easy.

Only then you can actually win a battle, or else you're just playing Quake.

[Nukewarm]

I understand your point of view. It's one that many people hold. I'd like to point out that we don't have to compare this game to anything. Quake, WoW, whatever. We only need to ask ourselves: Do we want to wait to play? If the answer to that question is "no", then I'm sure there are many different ways to balance battles so that killing people results in a noticable reward, be it a reward of territory conquered, XP gained, or other things.

My opinion is that there are many ways to balance the fine points about a game. There are many ways to change the general goals to fighting. What I want to steer clear of, is sacraficing game play so we don't have to think up alternative ways to fighting battles.

Spawn times are a natural and easy solution to being killed. It rewards the other team with extra time to gain territory, but it's a lazy solution to a problem that doesn't exist. I say instead of changing the entire way the game is played (waiting to spawn), change the goals of each battle. If the enemy arriving at the battle field 5 minutes after being killed isn't good enough, why is 5 minutes, and 5 seconds of waiting to spawn, fine? Maybe we should increase that to 1 minute of waiting to spawn? You could go farther and farther down that road of thinking, but it would just decrease the fun of playing.

We don't even know the game types that we'll be playing, and that's the biggest factor that will decide whether or not spawn times are used. The only instance when spawn times are considered necessary, is when you're fighting for territory. I think we can all agree that waiting more than 5-10 seconds to spawn would just be down right BORING, so what noticable difference is gained by 5-10 seconds of not playing? I say spawn times simply aren't needed.