Commander Badges
DhovaKhiin
US Join Date: 2013-02-25 Member: 183341Members, NS2 Playtester, Reinforced - Shadow
US Join Date: 2013-02-25 Member: 183341Members, NS2 Playtester, Reinforced - Shadow
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could take like 3 minutes top to colortweak to make them different
That's a bloody good idea!
I like this, but I'd probably even increase that. Second tier at 40 and the third tier at 90 hours. That way, it promotes people to not only comm more often, but learn the mechanics inside and out. NS2 can be time consuming, but goddamn is it rewarding.
That way, you can determine the good comms from the great ones.
second and third tier should require at least half of that time spent commanding marines
After you've reached Gold you could go into all the precious metals from Titanium all the way to Unobtanium badge ^:)^
Give us more Badges to unlock! ... And Achievments!
Same would go for unlockable skins, but that would require much more complicated changes
@Asraniel, I always wondered why steam achievements never made it into NS2? Suppose it wasn't a priority at the time?
http://forums.unknownworlds.com/discussion/134812/commander-badge-frustration/p1
I like this.
Current commander badge at whatever number of hours (4 hours of wins I think?)
Gold commander is for people who command on a regular basis, 2 hours per week or something and if your time lapses you actually lose the badge. You require the regular badge before you can start earning gold. It should give good commanders a little more reason to KEEP commanding.
Splitting alien/marine commander up wouldn't be a bad idea either. I do NOT command marines and I would appreciate if people didn't assume I did based on my com badge.
That debate didn't really solve much though however a good point was made by @Cannon_FodderAUS which you agreed upon too!
If a tier was introduced it would ease this problem by relegating the position to the most qualified person first for example ;-
Gold Comm Badge person 1: Oh god looks like it falls to me to command this one!
Silver Comm Badge person 2: Yeah dude since your gold but if you dont want to do it I suppose I can..
Bronze Comm Badge person: I like turtles!
lolz.
@Yojimbo
And the Rookie Commander who don't communicate drops 2 Robos in base first, followed by turrets :-)
@Yojimbo this debate has been had (I can't remember where - there were multiple times where progression and Steam achievement were mentioned). The Pros and cons are more or less this:
Pro:
-everyone likes achievements, gives you something to work toward
Con:
-NS2 being such a team orientated game will be not benefit from one or more on the team trying to chase "that" last achievement (eg. welder kill an onos or rifle butt kill an onos...). Yes we can design achievements to avoid some of this, but the problem is still people will try and get the achievement instead of the game objective.
What I don't like is having a badge that just requires X hours. For one thing, pointless grinding sucks (and is pointless). If you need 100 commander hours most people wont even bother. Worse, it encourages AFKing in the chair for the people who do want it. And then once people finally get their top tier badge they have no extra motivation to keep doing it.
That's why I was saying 2 hours per week, though I'm thinking 2 or 3 wins per week should also work just fine. If you want to keep the badge it means you have to keep commanding somewhat frequently, and someone who has the badge has definitely been comming recently so he should have some idea what he is doing (especially important if there are any more major game changes).
I wouldn't use a flat "resets on tuesday" but more of a rolling total. If you com an hour on monday and an hour on wednesday you get the badge, by next monday if you haven't commed any more you will be back down to 1 hour and lose it until you work your way back up to 2. That keeps you interested in comming throughout the week instead of just racing to get your badge back at the start of the week and never touching it again.
That'd be the best solution but not the easiest to set up. I completely agree with you though. Your badge can be removed automatically if you stop commanding or something, which prevents the biggest part of the people who decide to command until reaching the amount of hours required to get the badge.
People used to be adamantly against steam achievements. The thought was that they would encourage bad behaviors and add absolutely nothing of value. The latter I strongly disagree with, as for encouraging bad behavior it depends on the achievements. Kill an onos with a welder would be bad, kill 50 onos would be boring... I can kind of see how it might be hard to make enough good ones to be worth including.
This and the other debate are not illogical when the problem is introduced the way it was. What about another approach ?
Right now it's:
-Some people without commander badge don't get in because of several reasons like:
*fear of shame to be too unexperienced and fail.
*don't want to command (simply).
*don't have a clue of the game rules and stuff (not aware we need a commander).
The other part is the one with badges:
*Some with a lot of experience.
*Some with just the needed hours to get it (farmers).
Usually it ends up that the ones without badges wait for anyone with a badge to get in. Ignoring if they are actually WILLING to get in or not. Lines like "They're commanders this is their jobs, it always have been like that... for the greater good... for the greater good... the greater good..." can be heard sometimes.
Also, it can end up in situation like @MuckyMcFly linked.
Last time i talked to @RioS he told me that LS was over and one of the reason was he wanted to be on the field... more... moar... I can understand. Recently I lowered the "commanding stuff" to get on the field a little more.
YES guys; commanders want to play the FPS part too. Especially when they know if they get in the chair, this will weaken the team on the field.
Stressful ? ... Several reason to that :
1/ Public play is far more stressful than clan play. When you have a real team they try to execute order when you ask. That changes a lot from public games. The mood is quite more polite and cool. I say "order" but in reality it's quite not the feeling. "I need somebody there" asked one time and someone will get there. On public games sometimes you feel you baby sit kids but there are too many of them (Tex Avery cartoon).
2/ Everyone blame the commander. Frankly some ppl should learn before opening the pie hole they use as mouth. No need to debate on that.
3/ Sometimes you're just not in the mood.
4/ We always have a jerk in the team that can do far better than what he's doing in the game. But you know he "just stop by to warm up before a comp game"... So he does whatever he wants and leave as soon he's called on another game. Game ruined.
Badges
What about giving to player the ability to hide/un-hide the commander badge. That would clearly change the deal. "I'm willing to command" or not is far preferable than petty badges that will just scale up the already annoying behavior on servers.
I explain : 3 colors for badge meaning a number of hours (leveled) will definitely make the one who has more hours always be the one; we wait... "Jesus,.... god not me again". You get the point ?
Boot camp
What about a commander boot camp badges. Something that states someone did the commander tutorial (or fake game) and is able to deliver 10 medpacks in less than 5 sec. We need more commanders. Moaaar!
The issue is not that unexperienced commanders get ejected because they're new. I do (at least me) eject the guy that just have a 1000$ PC while he can't get 10$ together for a decent microphone. Wait what ? I'm ok with people testing the com-chair but not jerk that don't even tell us before. You see the game starts well and after 3 minutes you realize the guy did nothing... You probably end up in this situation. I'm happy to tell a new commander to do things here and there but he has to be able to speak to me asking this or that.
Also I think the game has to tell to the player getting in the chair all these little things. "Get a microphone! Talk to your men (and woman)".
Special Game mode for learning/teaching.
What about a game mode (like Pregame) for commander training: Fake game.
Rules could be we can't kill the first base, people train their aim and upgrade they usually don't use (alien), commander train their skills and shortcut use. So there is not stress for newcomers, no stat as it is fake.
Also this would a perfect time to explain the game mechanic to people. Helped by a special "you aim at the guy and use the talk only to this guy" (or only to those who are close) shortcut to explain something that others don't care about (or listening to someone else) will definitely help. Many aspect of the game could be taught without annoying the rest. This would allow 4 players to teach and deliver information to say 2 new players. Exponential isn't it?
It could be enabled by voting a "fake game session".
Help the game isn't something easy for that kind of game. But hey, getting more badges will just annoy real commanders more.
I think that showing this great side of the community could also be the reason for a badge. Like "teacher badge". This guy can answer questions. I mean, if UWE wants a game supported and pushed forward by the community. Maybe it would be good to have the tools for the job.
But... Would someone mod it ? CDT ?
People can know how to command but not play it every week. I don't think you should lose your badge based off of taking a week off for whatever reason.
Defining active is another ball game.
Active is simply a decaying counter. You must have commed 10 games in the past 10 days. Every day the games that happened 10 days ago no longer count towards the limit. I think 10 commanded rounds (win or lose) is sufficient to say I'm an active comm.
This will fulfill the purpose of the badge. Or at least what the purpose should be. "Trust me, I command a lot."
I wouldn't mind seeing some tiered badge though for how much you've commanded overall (since Hive started keeping track anyhow).
That is why I mentioned defining it is hard. We play a lot but some great commanders may not. I was thinking maybe 10 games in the last 30 days. I would still consider that a more active comm. I only comm once in a blue moon yet have the commander badge. I would never earn this enhanced badge.
That's exactly what I said. Twice.
The purpose is less about people knowing how to command and being able to recognize them as it is to help encourage people to command. Want a badge? Command once every few games. Don't want to command? It's OK, the badge will be there to earn again when you feel like it. In fact, it even has a built in fix for the misleading nature of badges (people assuming you want to command). After just a week of not doing it you don't have to worry about people making assumptions off your badge anymore, because you won't have it.