| CHANGES TO THE NEW FRU? |
| Written by RAFTER |
| Tuesday, 19 October 2010 14:00 |
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We have been evaluating the success of the PPO feature since we released 1.32 and overall we are really pleased with the feedback from players and the effect they've had on game play. 80% of players from a recent survey love the PPOs. The Field Resupply Units especially are a hot topic in the forums and in-game. While the majority of those surveyed felt they had a good impact on the game, we see that there is a need to modify some of the rules that govern them.
 RAFTER: Regarding the FRU, some background would probably be helpful in framing this reply. Initially, we designed the FRU to be a PPO deployed only by trucks. The design provided truck drivers a way to deploy/drop the FRU and drive away for other duties/action. This feature was delivered into 1.32 as described. We have been working on a long-term plan internally described as, "groups" which has a long list of capabilities for players to remain engaged in a mission that has dynamic origins and targets, changing mission goals, and moves with the mission leader after each goal is achieved. It changes the static nature of current missions into a sort of grouping mechanic that allows players to stay together through a series of goals that could even extend after a capture or defense objective is met. Of course this means new mission types/objectives, a way to keep groups persistent and a change to scoring. It also needs to provide a way for players to group with the mission leader through these objectives.Aha! So there's the connection to the FRU. In the later stages of 1.32 development we saw an opportunity to inch forward the "groups" plan by allowing players to stay with the mission leader in a new way: having the mission leader drop a new spawn point that wouldn't require a truck to drive out to the new, preferred location and deploy. As with any change to mechanics, we have to battle test them to find the "sweet spot" for game play. What we're learning from the first addition of mission leader spawning (FRU) is that it is having the desired effect of keeping players better grouped on a mission and giving the mission leader a new tool for leading. We're also learning that without the need for a truck to spawn, travel and deploy, the mission leader FRU is being moved/rebuilt at a pace that makes defense more challenging than the intended feature design. We have observed the common situation where an FRU is being destroyed only to have a new one built in a new location moments later. What's missing is the time it used to take for a truck to deploy a new spawn point- time for enemy forces to ready for another attack. We are working on a modification to the placement rules that govern the FRU which will see a mission-based timer that restricts the ability to move or rebuild an FRU. Similar to how a "cool down" timer works for other PPOs, FRUs will be moved/rebuilt only every 15 minutes. When destroyed by enemy action the rebuild timer means the mission leader cannot replace that destroyed FRU for 15 minutes, approximating the time you buy when "destroying the truck/UMS" in the past. The mission leader will be provided alerts on availability of FRU move/rebuild which will be passed along to any subsequent mission leader. The length of the timer will be a variable that we can adjust if warranted but we want to serve the benefits of keeping infantry grouped in a meaningful way. In short, we want the new grouping tool to remain in the mission leader's hands but we see a need for balance in its use. The mission leader FRU is really only a piece of a bigger pie that we are baking. In future we hope to deliver some of the capabilities described above. We will be keeping an eye on the FRU timer and seeing how that might affect the rest of those plans.
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http://forums.battlegroundeurope.com/showpost.php?p=5343831&postcount=63
S!