Rework of Pinging
Woehler
Join Date: 2013-10-13 Member: 188684Members, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Gold, Reinforced - Diamond, Reinforced - Shadow
Join Date: 2013-10-13 Member: 188684Members, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Gold, Reinforced - Diamond, Reinforced - Shadow
Putting a ping on the map is nowadays rarely done. And if so, easily over looked and ignored. And I have yet to see anyone else complain about this. Or come with any ideas for improvement. Etc...
So, after playing to much Evolve I've now accumulated enough annoyance for our current solution in NS2 to write this.
First of all to those who might not have played Evolve(You can skip this if you have played evolve): The default key for pinging the map is used by pressing Q. When this is done it will place a marker on everyone hud and map. However. Where the real usefulness of this really comes in is how the ping appears. It's not just a 2 dimensional dot you can see if you pull out your map. No, you can actually put your ping exactly where you want it. And that way you can use to show your team what you are talking about. But the usefulness of the ping doesn't stop there. The default color of the ping is yellow. However, if you ping a creature or plant it will be orange. Thus alerting your teammates about the possible dangers (your character will even make comments towards whatever you ping at times). If you ping directly on the monster you will get a red dot. But the usefulness of the ping doesn't stop there as it also let you know how far away you are from the dot you have placed.
Using the ping in NS2 is rarely done. And in comp play I've only seen it done when making people aware of where the first building will be dropped for a quick power build.
My first idea for improving the mechanic of the current ping would be to incorporate a 3 dimensional dot such as the one in NS2. However. It should neither show distance nor color code whatever is underneath. The thing where I really could see this effective is when trying to communicate the exact place of the opponent to your teammate. For example if you know the alien is hiding behind a corner or prop. This should only be for the actual players. As the commander would not gain any benefit from this. However, I think the commander ping should be harder to overlook. So it actually does it purpose...
This is kinda a sidetrack.
But to continue I would also like to use the time to complain about the alien commander ability to "micro manage". As the marine commander can set a ping and individual objectives for each marine. Who will then get a way-point with actual arrows on the ground. The best thing the commander can do is putting down some different kind of pings. That is just as easily overlooked. And thus never used.
I would as a minimum love to see a way to give aliens way-points. Not because I think it would solve every war on earth. But because I know how useful it would be when playing with rookies and new players who don't know every map yet.
I would love to hear what my fellow NS2 players think of this. Hopefully I'm not talking madness here :P
So, after playing to much Evolve I've now accumulated enough annoyance for our current solution in NS2 to write this.
First of all to those who might not have played Evolve(You can skip this if you have played evolve): The default key for pinging the map is used by pressing Q. When this is done it will place a marker on everyone hud and map. However. Where the real usefulness of this really comes in is how the ping appears. It's not just a 2 dimensional dot you can see if you pull out your map. No, you can actually put your ping exactly where you want it. And that way you can use to show your team what you are talking about. But the usefulness of the ping doesn't stop there. The default color of the ping is yellow. However, if you ping a creature or plant it will be orange. Thus alerting your teammates about the possible dangers (your character will even make comments towards whatever you ping at times). If you ping directly on the monster you will get a red dot. But the usefulness of the ping doesn't stop there as it also let you know how far away you are from the dot you have placed.
Using the ping in NS2 is rarely done. And in comp play I've only seen it done when making people aware of where the first building will be dropped for a quick power build.
My first idea for improving the mechanic of the current ping would be to incorporate a 3 dimensional dot such as the one in NS2. However. It should neither show distance nor color code whatever is underneath. The thing where I really could see this effective is when trying to communicate the exact place of the opponent to your teammate. For example if you know the alien is hiding behind a corner or prop. This should only be for the actual players. As the commander would not gain any benefit from this. However, I think the commander ping should be harder to overlook. So it actually does it purpose...
This is kinda a sidetrack.
But to continue I would also like to use the time to complain about the alien commander ability to "micro manage". As the marine commander can set a ping and individual objectives for each marine. Who will then get a way-point with actual arrows on the ground. The best thing the commander can do is putting down some different kind of pings. That is just as easily overlooked. And thus never used.
I would as a minimum love to see a way to give aliens way-points. Not because I think it would solve every war on earth. But because I know how useful it would be when playing with rookies and new players who don't know every map yet.
I would love to hear what my fellow NS2 players think of this. Hopefully I'm not talking madness here :P
Comments
I'm not sure how useful an evolve/battlefield/etc style target-marking system would be- if shown on the main HUD it could get distracting and obscure vision you need for skulks. Though I feel like I'm having a bit of trouble understanding exactly what kind of implementation you'd be after, could you perhaps do a mock-up of what you would have it look like?
I feel that currently having aliens within LOS revealed on the map is exactly enough for knowing where they are- since they move fast and erratically any kind of lingering marker would quickly become inaccurate. For times when one is needed, the ping is usually adequate.
That said, improvements to ping would definitely be welcomed. It seems like it has issues pinging exactly where you want it to. The ability to do a couple of different pings for perhaps "gorge tunnel here" etc would be nice to have.
Have been lerking around on the trello board. But have never seen a card about this