CQC Where is the fun in CQC?

[Ketzerfreund]

With all due respect, but I don't think you're making terribly much sense at the end there, Enride. You state that CQC feels shallow, yet you suggest something far shallower. I don't think you really thought the consequences of removing gimbals through:
-The F63's chaffs don't serve any purpose anymore.
-The Sidewinder's shield battery becomes a heavy detriment to gameplay and havily impacts balance in a negative way. It has to be removed.
-Possibly, all players might need to fly the same ship/use the same weapons, or else you're opening up another can of imbalance. A huge can of Foster's. A lot larger than what perceived imbalances may be in CQC right now.
-The whole ship-specific tactical aspects - correct and well-timed use of chaffs/shield battery/heat sink alongside all the flying and shooting - disappear completely. That's a huge chunk of gameplay (in relation to what's usual in arena shooters) that wouldn't be viable, at all.

In the end, all that'd be left would be a bunch of the same ships, all doing the same thing. I can see why some purists out there might like that better, but I find that to be utterly uninteresting.
Now, I wouldn't be against the implementation of such a "pure mode". But only as an additional mode, and most certainly not as a replacement of what CQC presently is.


On a more general note on CQC: I like it well enough to throw in a couple of rounds every now and then when I'm under mild time constraints or warm myself up for the main game. CQC isn't what I bought ED for, but it's nice to have.

 

[Fendalton]

There is, combat training. You have to choose it in the Launcher.

 

[Camen]

I have found it an ok distraction. It's certainly not bad and I am sure it will have it's fans. I think I will appreciate it more when I am next out of a long distance exploration trip.

My main issue with it however (or rather with myself) is the same one I had when I regularly played Planetside 2: I have a totally childish and ridiculous obsession with K/D. It is the stat I would most like to see vanish as if it is not greater then 1 I start regressing into an 8 year old and getting ratty.

Given how quick and easy it is to die or by ganked by multiple ships (everyone goes for a ship that is already damaged), if you are a so-so pilot like me, then keeping the K/D positive is tricky and I find myself not enjoying the game any more.

As said however, this is an issue with me as opposed to an issue with the game.

I am certainly not trying to offend you here but your expectation is a bit off. If, as you say, you are "a so-so pilot" then the K/D ration is going to reflect that. By not playing CQC you are being counter productive and not getting better!

 

[who?]

I am certainly not trying to offend you here but your expectation is a bit off. If, as you say, you are "a so-so pilot" then the K/D ration is going to reflect that. By not playing CQC you are being counter productive and not getting better!

Well, the "K" part is relevant, the "D" part isn't really. One pilot could have a match K/D ratio of 5:0, the other 10:10 (or 1:1), and it's the pilot with 10 kills who gets most XP / credits.

I too am a little obsessed with the K/D ratio, but mine is annoyingly not budging from the 0.990 to 1.0 range. I think I'm one kill short of parity at the moment. For some reason, I do a lot better in Team Deathmatch than in Deathmatch. Possibly because the match-making in TDM struggles to fill games so throws people in together more regardless of rank/quality.

 

[Camen]

Well, the "K" part is relevant, the "D" part isn't really. One pilot could have a match K/D ratio of 5:0, the other 10:10 (or 1:1), and it's the pilot with 10 kills who gets most XP / credits.

I too am a little obsessed with the K/D ratio, but mine is annoyingly not budging from the 0.990 to 1.0 range. I think I'm one kill short of parity at the moment. For some reason, I do a lot better in Team Deathmatch than in Deathmatch. Possibly because the match-making in TDM struggles to fill games so throws people in together more regardless of rank/quality.

While I don't disagree that there is a certain amount of luck (not being the one everyone always chooses to attack). The K is Offense and the D is defense - and there are plenty of strategies and skills to being good at both.

 

[who?]

While I don't disagree that there is a certain amount of luck (not being the one everyone always chooses to attack). The K is Offense and the D is defense - and there are plenty of strategies and skills to being good at both.

Sure. The thing is though - there's no huge benefit in avoiding death. If you're damaged from a dogfight it's arguably better to die and respawn with full shields than spend a certain period of time running and waiting for your shields to come back up (and with damaged hull, which doesn't) or just running and ending up being killed anyway.

Even if you don't do that, I think the current system leads to very "gung-ho" style of play. Where people tend to rush out and engage in a big furball instead of using cover and avoiding being killed. If your score was: Kills - Deaths instead of Kills + (Assists * modifier) then people would play a lot differently. It wouldn't necessarily be 'better', but it'd be interesting to see the difference.

I'm sure the best players are able to do both, but you don't really need to in order to win matches/rank up.

 

[Jigster]

I wish there was a training mode against npc.

I would like to see a view mode so I can see others' tactics.

 

[Vasea Azure]

I would like to see a view mode so I can see others' tactics.

I`m all for spectator mode - its pretty standard for this type of games.

 

[Vhaegrant]

I wonder, what's the fun in CQC? I've played for an hour, i've been killed 1000 times and i've not killed even 10. Am i that bad or CQC is crap? Once someone locks at me, i'm dead in less than 5 seconds, no matter what manoeuvres i do. So, everybody else has gimballed weapons and i'm the idiot with the fixed lasers?

There is an unfortunate aspect to the vast majority of PvP games out there (CQC is no different) that you need a gear/ unlock system to reward players.
In a game where the potential player pool at any one time is small it means that the good players get rewarded faster (more wins) thus getting better gear/unlock, thus getting more wins.
While those that are on the middle ground end up cannon fodder, get rewards far slower, and are more likely to walk away and not return.

Personally I've never liked the gear imbalance in PvP. If you want a skill based comparison let it be on skill and skill alone.

I'm resigned to the fact it is so deeply ingrained in PvP designers mentality that the only reason players stay is to unlock new kewl cookies.
But, I have to wonder why, outside of professional competition, so many sports have handicap systems that attempt to level the playing field in the poorer players favour rather than kicking their legs out from under them by giving the better players the better rewards.

I would think one of the simpler ideas would be to give a buff on respawn after death.

 

[RafeZetter]

I will never use it so I think there should be a way to remove it from your cockpit display if you want to.. better than looking at the rank of poor!.

 

[Deleted member 38366]

Since the Main Game so far did fairly little in terms of Coop Play - but spent alot of focus on optimizing PvP (and still carries the well-known imbalance of consequences between both parties), that's something I'm kinda missing from CQC.

A pure Coop Mode that throws wave after wave against a group of 4 or 8 Players.
"Last Man Standing" so to speak with an effective Team effort being the key to success.

At least it would spice it up and involve Players better that don't care much for PvP competition (we got a crapload of such-themed Games in the past already) - but would enjoy battling waves of enemies in Cooperation with other Players.
(think : that Training Combat mode of enemies coming in waves - only now you're in Wings)

Small detail but would nicely fit the Arcade-meme of CQC, plus it would fill some void it still kinda has on the non-PvP guys.
Not many Online games shipped with a good Coop mode, so I'm quite sure something like this would be appreciated within the CQC world.

 

[sovereign101010]

Use the structures as cover. Keep close to it. My experience is if you keep close to the structure you will reduce massively your number of deaths. What you will also find is that you can come around a corner on to a fight. Have a few free shots before anyone realises what is happening. The other problem at the moment is you have a lot of good pilots at low levels so you are not getting matched against similar expertise. If it's any consolation I am rubbish, before I started doing the above I would regularly finish last with loads of deaths and the odd kill.

If you have the silently running modules and your shields are seriously depleted as slow as they are to recharge you can run for cover but it is risky to go to silent running since an enemy ship maybe has you in its cross hairs then toggle the silent running again to reboot your shields it is quicker then a waiting a long time for a full shield recharge and risky at the same time but once your shield rebuild is complete you will have fully charged shields like on a F63 Condor I am not sure about the other ships but it is probably a plus or risky calculated tactical move to do the silent running thing then quickly turn off silently running to off then on to allow your shields to reboot to nearly full shield strength then wait for them to recharge short of being near a super shield boost power up.