2010-05-11, 18:37:09
Hi guys,
I play as Jayzer on the beta servers and have over 200 games in. I am new and picked BTanks up about 3 months ago. I am still not a very good player but I am learning and humbly offer my perspective on your project.
I just wanted to post some thoughts that I've had while playing. I'm posting them before I forget ^^
Impressions:
I played War3 when I was younger and stopped for awhile. Came back about 4 months ago and downloaded this map on accident- I was actually looking for a similar map but where your primary cannon was aimable like the Demolisher's artillery but also upgradable after every level. You could buy add-ons but the real test of skill was aiming and trajectories. BTanks looks the same on the outside but on the inside the skill is more in calculating DPS and efficient gold farming techniques. The map is very addictive in a "skinner box" kind of way (see http://www.cracked.com/article_18461_5-c...icted.html). It's the Warcraft III version of Hungry Hungry Hippos - eat all the small fish and run from the bigger fish. Nothing good or bad about it, that's just how the map works.
Things I Like:
1) Tank versatility. BTanks can just be about DPS but it also offers a chance for more role-based builds, whether it's to creep, gank, heal, cap, or demo. I like the variety of tanks and weaponry
2) No endless recipies. I used to play DOTA but finally lost energy because I felt like my strategy was based more on how I shopped than how I played. I like that the weapons can be upgraded without additional items, and that equipment can be combined to save slots, without making complicated recipies.
3) Defensive strategies. I like that creeps and buildings can be upgraded, and that tanks like the tinker, ghost tank, and guardian exist. I am not a very aggressive player and like to play support.
4) VERY balanced selection of tanks and weapons. I can tell that this project has been tweaked over time, much like a good fighting game. I play king of fighters and street fighter a lot and I think this article is relevant to your map (http://sonichurricane.com/articles/sfint...ation.html) and it's a high compliment. Only that instead of button combos and juggling attacks, its build ideas and dps
Things I Think Could Be Improved:
Movement - I think that one of the flaws in this game is that movement tactics are not reflected well. In real life, as tanks get bigger they get slower, and the smaller ones are able to fight them for being more agile. but in BTanks as tanks get bigger and more powerful they also get faster. I don't like the hull idea but I do think that making the starting tanks be the fastest tanks is better than having a Scout (600hp) have the same starting speed as a demon tank (10000hp).
Teleports- One of my least favorite things about this game is the teleport ability between CPs. I think it really eliminates the strategic possibilities of outmaneuvering your opponents when there is a magical teleporter within 5000 distance in any given direction. It requires little forethought to just run to the nearest CP and tele to where the problem is. I think it's unrealistic and would make things much more interesting if the teleport function had a cooldown based on location instead of based on player (ie, if you tele from a CP the next person that teles from that same CP has to wait x seconds... think TF2), or that the cost of teleporting was also increased exponentially based on the cost of the vehicle just like bounty.
Bounty- I just think it would be nice to have an 'assist' bonus like in DOTA. I've seen a lot of players do selfish moves to try and get the last hit in (straggling to go help at the CP so that teammates can tank the damage and once they are dead you rush in to gank the kills? sound familiar?
)
Votekick system- I think the only reason why people should be kicked is if they are AFK or being vulgar towards other players. However I see players getting kicked for many other reasons. For example, at the start a player disconnects (lags out) and then his team demands that the other team kick a player for 'balance'. Sometimes this happens late in game as well and I have been kicked many many times as I learned how to play for trivial things that weren't even my fault. From a beginner's perspective it's really hard to feel accepted in a new gaming community when everyone looks at inexperience as a problem : (
Profanity / Smack Talk- On the other hand, I have also been in matches where one player is far superior than the rest in kills and income and starts harassing everyone on the server... making fun of the opposing team for losing to him, and ordering his teammates around. I find that these players are much more destructive to the game but when these players have the lead in numbers their team will not kick them because they need his skill.
Instead of trying to votekick them, could the mappers use a mute filter like they do for spamming?
Maybe you could have a feature where a player can "buy" a prescripted stock insult to broadcast to the opposing team for 50 gold or something like that, but the opposing team would pocket the money? Or maybe have some sort of 'swear jar'... that each time a player made an insult, his bounty price goes higher? I used to be a server admin for my clan when I played Counter Strike and if anyone called another person a 'noob' on our server, they swapped health and equipment ^^ Just an example. I share this because I think it's discouraging to new players when they are made fun of and it reflects poorly on the BTank community as a whole.
Other Ideas:
Tank Cannon abilities- I think a lot of people overlook the tank cannon and its a shame because it should be the primary one IMO. Instead of just one button that upgrades its damage, how about several buttons that upgrade several attributes? For example
Level 1 Tank Cannon 60 dmg 1 sec 600 range
+ Level +60 dmg OR -0.2 OR +200 range
When Level 2 comes you have 3 options instead of just one... one for damage, one for cooldown, and one for range. That would mix up the game and keep opponents guessing. After level 20 you could have special effects like poison to slowly drain hp, sniper scope to target a certain player, life steal effect, who knows. Maybe each tank could have a 'cannon ultimate' ie the demo's was super effective against buildings, the medivac has lifesteal, the ghost resurrects its kills, etc.
This is probably another can of worms but I miss the fun of having to aim your primary weapon... I think the game would be a lot more fun if you actually had to aim the guns yourself and you had to rely on your hand eye coordination to gank kills more than just having a huge DPS cloud around you. Are there any maps like that still played?
Weapon variety- I would LOVE to see more effects on slot weapons. When I see all of these weapons like Molotov Cocktail, Lightning Magic, Poison Magic, Death Magic, etc., I was kinda hoping for some special side effects. Ice Cannon and Frost Laser is about as close as it gets, right? What about a weapon that had a radius of effect like a normal rocket tower? A poison or fire weapon that did damage over time? a necromancy weapon that has a chance to resurrect creeps? or guns like the TTC's ballistas that bounce through multiple targets?
I have more ideas but I'm sure everyone does haha
THE END.
If you made it this far, thank you for reading! I've only glanced over this board and I think I followed the rules but if I messed up please let me know! Thanks for a wonderul game!
j
I play as Jayzer on the beta servers and have over 200 games in. I am new and picked BTanks up about 3 months ago. I am still not a very good player but I am learning and humbly offer my perspective on your project.
I just wanted to post some thoughts that I've had while playing. I'm posting them before I forget ^^
Impressions:
I played War3 when I was younger and stopped for awhile. Came back about 4 months ago and downloaded this map on accident- I was actually looking for a similar map but where your primary cannon was aimable like the Demolisher's artillery but also upgradable after every level. You could buy add-ons but the real test of skill was aiming and trajectories. BTanks looks the same on the outside but on the inside the skill is more in calculating DPS and efficient gold farming techniques. The map is very addictive in a "skinner box" kind of way (see http://www.cracked.com/article_18461_5-c...icted.html). It's the Warcraft III version of Hungry Hungry Hippos - eat all the small fish and run from the bigger fish. Nothing good or bad about it, that's just how the map works.
Things I Like:
1) Tank versatility. BTanks can just be about DPS but it also offers a chance for more role-based builds, whether it's to creep, gank, heal, cap, or demo. I like the variety of tanks and weaponry
2) No endless recipies. I used to play DOTA but finally lost energy because I felt like my strategy was based more on how I shopped than how I played. I like that the weapons can be upgraded without additional items, and that equipment can be combined to save slots, without making complicated recipies.
3) Defensive strategies. I like that creeps and buildings can be upgraded, and that tanks like the tinker, ghost tank, and guardian exist. I am not a very aggressive player and like to play support.
4) VERY balanced selection of tanks and weapons. I can tell that this project has been tweaked over time, much like a good fighting game. I play king of fighters and street fighter a lot and I think this article is relevant to your map (http://sonichurricane.com/articles/sfint...ation.html) and it's a high compliment. Only that instead of button combos and juggling attacks, its build ideas and dps
Things I Think Could Be Improved:
Movement - I think that one of the flaws in this game is that movement tactics are not reflected well. In real life, as tanks get bigger they get slower, and the smaller ones are able to fight them for being more agile. but in BTanks as tanks get bigger and more powerful they also get faster. I don't like the hull idea but I do think that making the starting tanks be the fastest tanks is better than having a Scout (600hp) have the same starting speed as a demon tank (10000hp).
Teleports- One of my least favorite things about this game is the teleport ability between CPs. I think it really eliminates the strategic possibilities of outmaneuvering your opponents when there is a magical teleporter within 5000 distance in any given direction. It requires little forethought to just run to the nearest CP and tele to where the problem is. I think it's unrealistic and would make things much more interesting if the teleport function had a cooldown based on location instead of based on player (ie, if you tele from a CP the next person that teles from that same CP has to wait x seconds... think TF2), or that the cost of teleporting was also increased exponentially based on the cost of the vehicle just like bounty.
Bounty- I just think it would be nice to have an 'assist' bonus like in DOTA. I've seen a lot of players do selfish moves to try and get the last hit in (straggling to go help at the CP so that teammates can tank the damage and once they are dead you rush in to gank the kills? sound familiar?
)Votekick system- I think the only reason why people should be kicked is if they are AFK or being vulgar towards other players. However I see players getting kicked for many other reasons. For example, at the start a player disconnects (lags out) and then his team demands that the other team kick a player for 'balance'. Sometimes this happens late in game as well and I have been kicked many many times as I learned how to play for trivial things that weren't even my fault. From a beginner's perspective it's really hard to feel accepted in a new gaming community when everyone looks at inexperience as a problem : (
Profanity / Smack Talk- On the other hand, I have also been in matches where one player is far superior than the rest in kills and income and starts harassing everyone on the server... making fun of the opposing team for losing to him, and ordering his teammates around. I find that these players are much more destructive to the game but when these players have the lead in numbers their team will not kick them because they need his skill.
Instead of trying to votekick them, could the mappers use a mute filter like they do for spamming?
Maybe you could have a feature where a player can "buy" a prescripted stock insult to broadcast to the opposing team for 50 gold or something like that, but the opposing team would pocket the money? Or maybe have some sort of 'swear jar'... that each time a player made an insult, his bounty price goes higher? I used to be a server admin for my clan when I played Counter Strike and if anyone called another person a 'noob' on our server, they swapped health and equipment ^^ Just an example. I share this because I think it's discouraging to new players when they are made fun of and it reflects poorly on the BTank community as a whole.
Other Ideas:
Tank Cannon abilities- I think a lot of people overlook the tank cannon and its a shame because it should be the primary one IMO. Instead of just one button that upgrades its damage, how about several buttons that upgrade several attributes? For example
Level 1 Tank Cannon 60 dmg 1 sec 600 range
+ Level +60 dmg OR -0.2 OR +200 range
When Level 2 comes you have 3 options instead of just one... one for damage, one for cooldown, and one for range. That would mix up the game and keep opponents guessing. After level 20 you could have special effects like poison to slowly drain hp, sniper scope to target a certain player, life steal effect, who knows. Maybe each tank could have a 'cannon ultimate' ie the demo's was super effective against buildings, the medivac has lifesteal, the ghost resurrects its kills, etc.
This is probably another can of worms but I miss the fun of having to aim your primary weapon... I think the game would be a lot more fun if you actually had to aim the guns yourself and you had to rely on your hand eye coordination to gank kills more than just having a huge DPS cloud around you. Are there any maps like that still played?
Weapon variety- I would LOVE to see more effects on slot weapons. When I see all of these weapons like Molotov Cocktail, Lightning Magic, Poison Magic, Death Magic, etc., I was kinda hoping for some special side effects. Ice Cannon and Frost Laser is about as close as it gets, right? What about a weapon that had a radius of effect like a normal rocket tower? A poison or fire weapon that did damage over time? a necromancy weapon that has a chance to resurrect creeps? or guns like the TTC's ballistas that bounce through multiple targets?
I have more ideas but I'm sure everyone does haha
THE END.
If you made it this far, thank you for reading! I've only glanced over this board and I think I followed the rules but if I messed up please let me know! Thanks for a wonderul game!
j
hock:
Some of your comments do have merit but there's been around 70 versions of the game. Some things are what they are for a reason regardless of realism. To be honest, I don't agree with most of the comments on movement, teleport and bounty. 