Is there any talk of including squad composition in the class pick screen? I would love to be able to pick based on my squads needs, but right now, I have a hard time telling what everybody is playing as (not to mention that people don't play together as a squad anyway). Maybe a squad comp exp bonus for playing as a unit with balanced make-up (bolter, apothacary, squad weapon, or HeavyWeapon squad, or Jump Assault squad etc) Just thoughts.
I usually use the scoreboard while waiting to spawn to see what other people in my squad are using. Though i will admit i'm only recently getting used to the symbols for the Eldar for what class they are, but I have basically gone with "Do we have a DA? If yes pick Warlock. If no pick DA and hope for the best".
We over at Chaos just spam MoN raptors and we seem to be doing okay. Seriously though, any feature that rewards a balanced squad is cool in my book.
agreed .... no TA or raptor on my builds just stalker bolter, lascannon, and sorc (though I havnt even played CSM since eldar dropped)
las cannon, sorcerer, heavy bolter, plasma cannon, bolter, autocannon is what I have. I like big weapons.
Promoting squad balance sounds like a good idea, so long as there is no 'reward' for doing it, tying balance to exp for example means that there is only one optimal playstyle and it limit's player choice. No one should feel obligated to play a particular role just to get extra exp or requisisition or any other benifit. A possible solution is to have 'suggested class' be highlighted by what the squad composition currently lacks, another workable solution would be to have your squadmates class icons displayed on that same screen, so you can at a glance see who is playing as what. As for promoting actual squad play, the better players will stick together anyway so im not sure if there realy needs to be a benifit beyond that. Perhaps when squad leaders are implemented, such as loyalist space marine seargents, ork nobz etc, they will have a spawn beacon (or a healing aura or some other reason to be nearby) to help promote squad play naturaly.
The squad banner on the leader has a danage reduction aura (10% I think, but it could be different) for L/CSM. I'd like it if my squad members were highlighted on the scoreboard, that would be enough to know what my squad needs (always tactical/avenger, but sometimes I niche as support or anti-tank)
That sounds pretty reasonable, both the squadleader bonus and the highlight on scoreboard. UI elements such as that will hopefully make into the game at some point.
Slightly joking, slightly not... Tacticals have capture potential to get exp, sure you can get some for doing it alone, but why would your buddies pass up free exp for hanging out and slaughtering others who show up! Assaults kill, and are good at pursuing/harassing and killing...yep, let's just go with that for now. Devestators suppress and destroy vehicles, points there for every Dev! Support heal of course, kill some folks, etc Ground assaults, much like assaults, kill now as well. Don't recall if there's a "block damage bonus" but it'd be neat to have I guess. Then by being near your squad leader you get a bonus which can be changed later, currently toughness I think, may add other things suited to certain squad comps, depends on what effects. Also squad leader tells you to go somewhere, whether a point or a zone, you get points for going there and doing stuff. Then you can mark folks, get points, then ally can kill them and you get points for squad kills. These are all in, minus the one ground thing, I can't claim it's perfect, suited for everyone, or equal, but this is a decent chunk of reasons to change your class to certain ones based on what you encounter. I personally play a bunch of assault, I kill an average amount of folks, run around with some allies, squad or not, and generally focus on high threat targets, works out well and is satisfying. Support I do my best to keep everyone going and I get those bonus points for helping them kill folks, capturing, etc. I only have a Lascannon Dev and I tear apart vehicles and quadguns, also try to repair the vehicles that we have as well. Funny enough, most of my tactical work is with a bolter and supporting/supression, killing when I can but otherwise focusing on the objective. I'm satisfied with my work and it has decent payout.
