cwmartin said:
Many of the changes you would like to see create a skewed playing field in favor of those who have time over others. Play more and get better guns! Frankly that doesn't sit well with a lot of people, and intimidates new players, players will less time to "sink", and creates a smaller and smaller more hardcore crowd.
You're objectively wrong, simply based on the numbers of MW2
Beyond that, you're subjectively wrong on the specifics of the gameplay. I can comfortably pick up CoD4 or MW2 at level 1 and do
just fine against a max level player. In fact I did so regularly, with the prestige system! In both games, they gave you one of the 'best' guns in the game immediately.
When done properly (which CoD4 did almost entirely, and MW2 did
mostly), leveling/investing time unlocks
more stuff not
better stuff. They dropped the ball in a few areas (such as not having serious anti-air in MW2 until level 30, which could suck - but level 30 can be reached in a few evenings).
More critically, the overall leveling is not at all punishing in MW2. Even my more casual friends reached max level in just a few weeks of play. Hardcore poopsockers could hit max level
very quickly.
Essentially, you got out what you put in, effort wise. But (and this is the important part), you were not completely screwed if you were progressing more slowly than other players - no more screwed than you would be by playing against a vet as a newbie anyway (just as true in Reach as it is in MW2 at any level)
Black Ops looks to be removing the few issues the system had by allowing you to buy whatever you want whenever you want, so leveling, performing well, playing what you enjoy, etc, will let you unlock whatever you want.
There are absolutely ways to create an incentive system that a) rewards players b) rewards skilled play and c) does not punish players who are new to the system unduly
I find MAG pretty intimidating, because from what I can tell, you
are at a marked disadvantage at a low level, irrespective of any skill gap. I don't play BF heavily, so I don't know if that's true in BC2 as well.
Photolysis' critique about Reach's credit system are absolutely spot on.
... with that said, who gives a shit, because in Reach, your credits unlock new parts for your space barbie man, or voices you can only use in Firefight
Note that I'm not advocating "Unlock the DMR at level 30!", that would be absurd in the context of Reach's gameplay, but there are many, many other ways they could incentivize and reward skilled play, objective play, and teamwork, even if the rewards are largely cosmetic.
Players
do care about that sort of thing, a massive percentage of the posts in this thread are generated by the daily Challenges, and people gripe about the experience needed to rank up,
even though rank does nothing but unlock more shiny spacemenz armor
A more critical application of these types of reward and incentive systems is the way that Arena's rating system is currently structured, where you're playing a 4/8 player 'FFA' with the top 2/4 progressing. Rewarding selfish play over teamplay is pretty clearly an awful idea.
The thought and implementation behind these systems is important, both for the longer term health and popularity of the series (from a strictly business/sales standpoint) and for the enjoyment of the players (from a, you know, having fun with your time standpoint)
