Edit: Formatting
Edit 2: Click the arrows to see stuff
I might edit this at a later time to contribute more, but this is what I have off the top of my head for now.
Hi there. So while we all know that the game has a ton of bugs, it is still easy to evaluate the mechanics that ouline what Outpost Rush (OR) is, and how they can be improved. I’ll try to break this down into easy to digest sections.
Scoreboard
I don't want to insult the individual(s) responsible for UI design, but the scoreboard in OR suffers from the same deficiencies that the Trading Post does. Simply put, the information density is EXTREMELY low, and the information that is provided is insufficient.
- There should not be 3 separate tabs to see basic information, period.
- We do not need to see player portraits.
- We do not need 20%+ of the screen real estate being used to display 4 redundant numbers.
- We do not need a CONTINUE button taking up screen real estate that could be used to display information.
Consider the information density of this UI piece from a game I used to play called EverQuest II:
It is a night and day difference compared to this:
While the EQ2 screenshot is missing some information that the NW screenshot has, it is still miles more information dense and easy to parse.
Azoth Essence
The current implementation of Azoth Essence (how it is collected, and how it is spent) could use some work in my opinion. I will outline my suggestions below, and my reasoning.
- Economics
I do not believe it is a positive thing for players to be able to bypass normal means of acquiring consumables (mob drops, crafting) in any game mode. It is essential that crafting remains as relevant as possible.
- Ammunition should not be infinite while in Outpost Rush, and should be acquired in the open world by normal means. This is currently bugged anyway, and certain abilities are still consuming ammunition despite the intent here.
- Potions should not be acquirable via Azoth Essence, and should be acquired in the open world by normal means.
- Food should not be acquirable via Azoth Essence, and should be acquired in the open world by normal means.
- Noob Trap
Outpost Rush matches are not particularly long, and early game decisions can have a drastic influence on match outcomes.
Time spent farming Azoth Essence for potions and food is a detriment to your team. The player who brings potions and food from the open world is at an advantage. Several people farming for potions/food at the start of a match is a recipe for disaster.
Azoth Essence should be exclusively used for summons, and maybe a mechanism to provide players with temporary buffs (not via food). Using it for any other purpose is, at its core, a selfish decision that saves you a small amount of money.
- Adversarial design
Azoth Essence currently is not automatically granted to your character, and is instead a loot drop. It is also shared, meaning that other people can yoink Azoth Essence from your kills.
Azoth Essence should be granted automatically to all players who meet a minimum level of participation in a kill. There is no reason it should be required to be picked up from the ground.
- Disincentivizes Direct PvP
Azoth Essence should be granted from player kills instead of exclusively PvE. In addition, Azoth Essence should not be dropped on death like other resources. I believe it should exist independently from other resources (wood, hide, ore), in that it shouldn’t be dropped/wiped on death.
At most, maybe players can incur a penalty to their current Azoth (-50%?), but wiping it completely is not good.
Baroness Hain
- Basic Design
Simply put, last hit is just not a good solution in a 20v20 mode. In a game like League it works well due to small team sizes. However, 20 people of opposing factions sitting on top of the spawn competing for last hit is basically RNG.
On a tiny handful of occasions I have managed to snipe Baroness from the enemy team with a well timed bow shot, but this is extremely hard to pull off reliably.
I think the spirit (no pun intended) of the Baroness mechanic is fine, but I think it would be better if it were based purely on whichever team did the most damage.
- Player Awareness
Even as a relatively experienced player, it is way too easy to get lost in the sauce and forget that Baroness is due soon, or even that it has spawned.
We need much stronger auditory/visual cues for this. It is a big deal, and is probably the singularly most match defining mechanic in the game mode, so it should be presented as such.
Control Points
- Gates
Gates are, to put it simply, too minor of an obstacle to matter. I actually think that spending time gathering the materials to build them is a waste of time that could be better spent engaging in actual PvP.
As a solo player, I can destroy a full health gate in <20 seconds. I don’t think there is a good solution for this, because increasing their HP just means reducing the opportunity for clutch back caps.
My opinion is that they probably shouldn’t exist at all. Summons already fulfill the role of point defense.
- Summons
Brutes
- Brutes should not be able to body block players from entering points. My suggestion would be to make gates significantly wider to accommodate their thiccness.
- Brute CC is extremely obnoxious and overpowering to play against. Being chain CC’d by AI while playing PvP is not fun. I would suggest re-evaluating their toolkit to fulfill an AoE damage role instead of just chain CC’ing players into oblivion with their pull/knockdown.
Minor Summons
- Minor summons such as wraiths/bears should be able to enter control points and actively defend, instead of being a minor pushover obstacle outside.
- Minor summon HP should be doubled at minimum to make them more of a threat to even a large (10+) group of players that they can’t simply immediately rush down and move on.
- Contesting
If a player is actively contesting a point, I believe it should cease contributing score to the enemy team until it is no longer being contested.
This may have the undesirable effect of making matches too long, but that can be rectified by adjusting the score cap or by other means.
I also understand that the current heavy armor/life staff sustain meta would make this change EXTREMELY toxic, but I am talking about this under the assumption that issues like infinite sustain paladins will be fixed eventually.
Unique Rewards
All of the rewards from Outpost Rush barring a few sets of really bad gear, and legendary weapons with a mixture of good and bad perks, are not unique to Outpost Rush.
I would really love to see, as with all forms of PvP, more titles/cosmetics/PvP-specific character power to incentivize participation.
Azoth and coin is cool and all, but it’s not unique and interesting.
My suggestion would be that Outpost Rush rewards a unique currency, and you can then spend that currency on a variety of cool things for your character, as mentioned above.
Player Pool Should Include Entire Regions
This kind of speaks for itself. Assuming that ping is the only limitation, I think it is in the best interest of the playerbase to have the largest pool of players possible to queue for matches.
In the long term, I believe it is necessary and desirable to include entire regions (US East, etc.) in the Outpost Rush player pool to ensure low queue times.
The other benefit here is to prevent matches from feeling too samey.
Cross-Server Meeting Hub
This is probably a controversial point, but assuming that we eventually get a queue that encompasses more servers/world sets or even entire regions, I think it would be great if we could have a meetup spot to form cross-server groups to queue with.
FFXIV has, in my opinion, shown that there is merit to allowing servers to exist more fluidly and be less self-contained. It ensures a healthier playerbase size long-term. There are some sacrifices to be made in terms of a “cozy” self-contained server, but keeping queue times low and player social interaction high is a priority.
Queue From Anywhere
I believe that we should be able to queue for Outpost Rush from anywhere in the world, instead of only through a faction NPC. Outpost Rush by its nature isn't really a factional activity anyway, and I think it would help prevent people from feeling "bound" to a town while queueing for consecutive matches.
I would love to be able to harvest to level tradeskills, and even engage in open world PvP in between matches, but instead we have to be within a short distance of a faction NPC at all times.