FPS 101: Reward Player Aim & Skill

Dust is a game that defies and rejects many of the cheaper, dated and bad mechanics of FPS past [hopefully murder taxis will join the list of past mechanics very soon] At the same time its core FPS mechanics could use some upgrading. While we anticipate this and framerate being resolved, A very worthy recent thread on the forums by C Saunders tinyurl.com/kyg5bsf  recently remarked on the way contact grenades are hurting gameplay. The thread had overwhelming support [29 likes as of press time] so why are people so up in arms regarding them? In our opinion its because Dust has set a hard line against easy, cheap kill mechanics. When these elements exist they stick out like a sore thumb.




Its essentially law in Dust that easy-to-use weapons that dont require as much skill are lower damage. High-damage, OHK weapons are saddled with low fire rates, ammo counts, low splash or require large amounts of coordination to prevent exploits. One look at sniper rifles, railguns, forge guns and remote explosives confirms this. Often discussion about missing weapons mentions the Dust 514 equivalent of Claymores. While we were of the 'claymores should be a one hit kill' group months ago, we realize it was only because that was familiar and the way it had always been done in FPS. Lower skill requirement, AOE and fire-and-forget weapons like the swarm launcher should always do wounding damage rather than reward users with cheap kills [except to militia LAVs of course] So with this line of thinking shouldn't contact grenades do less damage than their timed counterparts as they require less skill? We say yes. As a result shouldnt we should see their damage in the 200-300 range? Yes again. Giving higher damage to the easier to use grenades is a very, very bad idea and goes against the core of Dust.

Now the HTFU crowd will be quick to chime in with their patented catch phrase, but as usual it fails hard. Many issues are simply poor mechanics and need fixing, not adaptation from the playerbase. Imagine how poor a game Dust would be if the HTFU contingent had their way when swarms were OHKs on infantry, Tanks were Godly, Heavies were near-indestructible and Tactical ARs were the best weapon at close range and at 100m. Not a pretty picture is it?

In the interest of avoiding more cheap mechanics, The Mass Driver, Plasma Launcher and Flaylock pistol need to be added to this list. Let's reward player aim instead of shooting at the feet of a person or in their vicinity and depending on splash for Accuracy by Proximity. We're certainly not saying remove these weapons but lower their splash damage considerably. Some relevant comments on the thread we mentioned really hit home:

CPM member Cazaderon remarked: I Did the exact same thread maybe 2-3 months ago and it had a massive success. but those nades are still in the game. IMO, they dont belong in Dust. Hell, they dont belong in any FPS as they encourage petty "aim at the ground" gameplay.

Reiki Jubo said: AOE weapons should be low ammo, low rof and low damage from splash as a rule just like the forge. want full damage? hit the actual person.

Bendtner92 said: Good luck with this. We've been telling CCP to get rid of them ever since they introduced them.

 Doc Noah said: Weapon has no place in this game, either it needs to be removed or reworked.

These are all excellent well thought out points of view. We hope CCP considers them. Lastly, one of our writers did point out one glaring issue that Dust needs to correct in regards to its Aiming. To many it feels weighted, and poor hit detection adds to the problem. The final straw is that on some weapons the sights are more 'guides' than actual indicators of where our rounds will hit. This is not good. Sights should be close to 100% hit indicators on stationary targets. Especially with weapons like the Missile and Plasma Launcher and Mass Driver. Add arc if you must but have the weapon crosshairs account for this. This is the future, right? Screwing with player aim is never a good idea as its confusing and inconsistent. Many FPS mechanics need changing and we're happy CCP recognizes this, but sights that relay to the user where the rounds will hit isnt one of them.