I think it might be interesting to discuss the pros/cons of having blind-fire (à la the classic third-person shooter series Gears of War) in Eternal Crusade. Although we're likely at too late of a stage of development to implement it even if it is a good idea, it might be fun to consider how it would impact the game. Also, I apologize if this has been posted before; my search did not turn up any relevantly-titled threads. For those of you who've not played a Gears of War game and are wondering what I mean by blind-fire, the series had a similar (albeit "stickier") cover system to EC, and there were two methods of firing from cover. Players could use the aim button and then fire, which would allow accurate aim through a reticle, but would expose one's top half to enemy fire. Alternatively, if the player only pressed the fire button, they would stick their gun over the cover and fire without looking. There's no reticle, and the fire is relatively diffuse, but the player exposes relatively little of his body. Anyway, as I see it, blind fire would positively impact EC thusly: Immersion: Adding new postures and context-sensitive actions lends an increased sense of "realism." Fun: It was always cool-looking and enjoyable to blast a locust in GoW without even looking at him. Faction Variance: Every faction would have their different methods of blind-firing, and some might choose not to do so at all. Kind of strange to imagine the Eldar blind-firing, for example, whereas the orks might be way into it. Maybe certain classes could have access to scopes that link to their in-helmet HUD, allowing for slightly more accurate (and not technically blind) blind-fire. Weapon Balance: Blind-fire capability adds another parameter around which weapons might be balanced. Sure, that autocannon is great when you have a chance to set-up with it, but good luck hitting the broad side of a titan when attempting to blind-fire it. This is a particularly salient point given that EC's monetization strategy is built in part around weapon sales. Any meaningful metric for differentiation is helpful when tasked with the creation of 300 unique guns that people will actually want to buy. And the downsides which I can foresee: Animation budget: Somebody has to animate all this blind-firing, and that costs money, and (I freely admit my ignorance on this subject) potentially additional server-strain? Gameplay Pace: Having put a fair share of time into Planetside 2, I know that if there's a safer way to get kills, some people will adhere to it, well past the constraints of reason. Spawn-room snipers come to mind here. If we give people the option to fire from the safety of cover without exposing much of themselves, battles might have an increased tendency to devolve into stale-mates, as both sides stay behind cover and spray each-other down. Additionally, this mechanic will make attacking more dangerous, as every approach could lead to a chance of getting blind-fired in the face, with little opportunity to successfully return fire. Balance: Blind-fire (to my knowledge) worked out fine in the Gears games, where player counts were much lower, but in EC, where you might have a 200 v 200 battle, I expect the mechanic would need some serious tweaking. Even diffuse fire from 20 people focus-firing on one subject can wreck house, especially when said 20 people are safely behind cover for the most part. Lore adherence: I'm not sure that this is the case, but there may not be precedent for blind-firing in TT. How much this bothers you is something that only you can decide. So that's how I see it. Again, perhaps not a practical change, but interesting to discuss nonetheless. Does anyone weigh any of these factors far more heavily than the others, or maybe you've thought of some pros/cons that I missed? Anyway, I'd like to hear your thoughts.
Not sure how this will work without sticky cover, it will also be very effective against melee classes (specially classes with no jump pack that have to run around to get to places... like eldar ).
Well, we have sorta-sticky cover. The way the cover works now you push the crouch button to drop into cover and when you press the fire you raise into the firing stance (youtube). Regardless of zoom or hip fire you do show a lot of your upper torso/head to the enemy. This is a good idea, adds an extra level of gameplay
