Respawn Locations would be little healing huts where you can choose to respawn at when you are killed, assuming you have VIP (or the healing potion).
It would look something like this (Spawn points are indicated by Yellow Triangles):
http://oi8.photobucket.com/albums/a4...pslmdkgorz.png
So let's assume you and I decide to raid Tachi.
We would first stop at the respawn locations nearest Tachi (#2 or #3 in the picture), select that as our respawn spot, and then proceed to raid.
That way, any time we die, we would respawn there.
What these respawn points would do is extend the time that you have to “celebrate” after killing off opponents – either use the time to kill off the rest of your enemies, bring the flag more into your gang’s favor, or heal yourselves.
As it is now, you literally have to pulverize your opponents to advance in a raiding or defending effort.
If you’re fighting three people and you kill one, you have to kill the other two within the next 15 seconds, because he’ll be back at full HP; it’s almost like it rewards them for dying.
This would also permit good gang leaders to rise above the bad ones, as raiding efforts would include the element of regrouping and organizing a wave with which to raid, if they are to take over a base successfully.
As for “what would replace the base exploding upon takeover”: respawning would.
The whole point in the base exploding is to clear out the base so that the new owners can have time to celebrate their victory.
Unfortunately, it comes with the side-effect of encouraging people to neglect the fight, and opt to rush the flag instead.
Also, when you take the base over and it explodes, everybody who was in the base is now at full HP, and you’re being hit with the most concentrated raid effort imaginable – so your brief celebration is quickly turned to “Get ready, boys! Everybody’s coming at us full force now!”
As I pointed out in my discussion about remote respawn locations, defenders would have this “celebration time” upon every opponent they kill, thus conducting the flow of the fight to be in tune with the people playing it; without the side effects mentioned.
My current favorite base is Neo Zone, because it already has the remote respawn system in effect, healing is moderated, and the base layout (particularly the area around the flag) has enough room to where your superior fighting ability can count for something.
A lot of the other bases, as nice as they may look, almost seems as if they did not consider the fact that combat was going to take place within them.
Most of the layouts encourage and reward sissy behavior, where the defenders achieve victory primarily by a camping advantage.
The areas around the flag do not permit enough room for a real fight to break out – it’s generally defensive campers vs offensive campers, and the defensive campers have the advantage of getting a few hits on the offensive campers before they can even get into the fight.
Here’s what it looks like in action:
The gameplay yielded by “camper vs camper” bases is extremely watered down, rewards quantity instead of quality (after all, a newbie can camp just as effectively as a veteran-- there isn’t enough room for a veteran to really showcase their superior fighting ability), and worsens the barrier-to-entry faced by newer gangs going against established gangs.
Bottom line: The more emphasis we have on
the fight, the better the basing experience is.
Camping is not a suitable substitute for fighting, nor is flag rushing, or shoving hotdogs in your mouth.
Adjusting these gameplay flaws (
plus altering the healing items as prescribed here) would have been more effective in improving the basing experience than nerfing guns.
