Zoolooman said:
Slayer: The best way to balance the medium in my mind is to make it 80% as agile as the light and 80% as armored as the heavy, making it the staple armor that is surrounded by the extremes.
In other words, not only making it middle of the road, but also making the middle of the road wider.
As for 2 weapon slots, it's not a nerf, it's a restriction. There are three aspects of Tribes combat, and if you can't fight in all three, then your loadout won't be very useful. There is a reason certain loadouts float to the surface and get used more than others.
My opinion is that attempting to balance between armors by the number of weapons they can carry is a bad idea, when you can balance the armors better by simply balancing them and their statistics.
Just playing Devil's Advocate here Zooloo, but if I get really good at MA'ing people in T:V then my 2 weapon light loadout is capable of all three combat arenas.
Short Range vs. Ground - Disk
Long Range vs. Ground - Gren
Air - MA the fool.
Also, as I've been thinking about it more, the light armor always seemed to me that it shouldn't be sticking around to really fight. It has weapons for defense, or for a lightning fast strike. But the Light's main weapon should be it's mobility, to hit and fade fast, possibly taking something valuable with it (like a flag or ball).
A light should be fast enough to evade everything but another light. In which case it'll come down to the skill of the light players to keep the fight in the 2/3 of the Combat spectrum that they can fight in, while restricting the other.
*TOPIC CHANGE*
However, Zooloo makes a VERY good point about sudden changes in beta. While yes it's easy to make changes in beta, especially something as simple as changing "max weapon on heavy" from 3 to 4. However, I've never seen a major gameplay change suggestion(from anyone but a dev anyhow) be well received in beta. Especially when it only effects one armor/class/thing.
Why? because of what Zooloo said, there are people who will love it in 3-3-3, probably people who haven't played much if any Tribes and just come into the series with 3-3-3 being the way it is. Then when someone posts that they think the Heavy should be given the variety of weapons (as per Zooloo's theory, not counting staple weapons as choices) they will be shot down by people saying he just wants to be a one man army in a team based game.
The heavy armor should be able to outgun in a standup fight anything but another heavy. A Light armor should be able to outrun anything but another lightarmor. A medium armor should be somewhere in the middle, able to keep up with the lights (assuming superior skill/luck/aim on the mediums part) while not having to immediately wet itself upon seeing a Heavy dug in where it needs to go.
I really think you guys should try the other loadout numbers in testing before Beta (for extensive periods of time) to at least try it out. Then when Beta comes out, I dunno, as you will need public opinion. Maybe rotate the weapon selections every week and see which people like more? (like week 1, 3-3-3. Week 2 2-3-4, Week 3 3-3-4) then cycle back and ask which people liked the best.
*TOPIC CHANGE*
The more I think about it, the more I'm actually coming to like a 2-3-4 though.
If only as I see it more like this.
Light (super-light I guess, as it is not the light we all know and love) - Scout, harasser. is NOT SUPPOSED TO be in long term combat, and so isn't equipped for long-term combat. Job is to hit, and fade really fast. Or to chase and stop other scout-harassers if a medium can't do it.
Medium - your jack of all trades. Able to defend and attack well, maneuverable and fast, but still able to take a few good hits. Is ABLE to be able engage in, and emerge victorious, but relies more on mobility to dodge shots than to sit there and take it.
Heavy - Walking tank, lotsof guns. Able to attack stationary targets and defend well, relying on firepower and superior armor to get the job done. is EXPECTED TO engage in long term combat AND emerge victorious.
With this, I think you'd see the medium getting the most use, especially with Zooloo's idea of a much wider middle of the road for it. And it also doesn't have the "paper-rock-scissors" mentality that Thrax stated the dev team hated.
Lights shouldn't be in long fights (look how little armor they have if you need more proof), but they COULD win won with superior skill.
Which when it comes down to it, is what us vets seem to want. We want skill to mean something,and I think that whatI described above does it well, while still keeping the versatility we all love in tribes.
Standardized loadouts will exist, I'm sure. But they already do. Most cappers bring Disc - Gren - Chain. Gren so they can clear, disc so they can move the HoF, and chain so they can chain defenders.
with 3-3-3 this doesn't change. with 2-3-4 it means a capper will probably bring Disc-Gren (as clearing and getting the flag are all important) and then either use the terrain to their advantage, have an escort, or just plain be better than the defenders to get home with it.
It encourages teamplay, as an escort/clearer will make the job a lot easier, but doesn't force it, as the capper can still do the job alone.
Course, now I'm rambling too
MOST IMPORTANT POINT: The devs should test out 3-3-4 and 2-3-4 extensively before Beta, and then make their decision on what they like, and then give the people in beta the choice of which they prefer (not from goingby people asking for more weapons, but by actually forcing people to try the other choice and then asking which they preferred)
Edit - fixed some sentences, and added *topic change* flags as I talked about 3 things in one post with no real linking.
