Some months ago, I got a bit of traction with some feedback on scoring in OPR, and there were changes implemented that greatly improved the player experience. I am hopeful to do that again.
The issue, in a nutshell, is that there shouldn’t be any difference between “statpadding” and “winning” in OPR. Over the last months, the meta has shifted around quite a number of times. At one point there was nothing but a sea of gravwells. Later on, I recall taking Ice Shower out of my build because even I- as an ice mage- couldn’t stand to look at it anymore. Now it’s like OPR has become more like Call of Duty with all the projectiles flying around.
Let’s leave the topics of weapon nerfs or buffs aside, and just look at the scoring system as one way to help balance this out.
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Deaths are too punishing. OPR is a team event, and therefore sometimes you just need to take one for the team and bust up a musket squad deep in the backline. While there should of course be some kind of penalty for player death, players should not feel so averse to dying that they refuse to actually rush an outpost It is, after all, Outpost Rush.
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Kills are too rewarding. The objectives of OPR are to take control of the points, and to kill enemy players. Currently, some players would prefer to focus on killing enemy players. That’s, of course, their choice, however the scoring system should reflect more clearly that taking points in the main objective, and killing players is secondary to that.
Which leads me to:
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Standing on point is not rewarding enough. Let’s be honest, none of us really want to dodge around the circle aimlessly or teabag the empty air, but we are here to rush, not stand. The rewards need to go way up in order to incentivize us to be standing in the middle of an outpost, rather than the top of a rock halfway across the map. I think we could really get creative with this one- maybe have some kind of team buff that charges up relative to how many players are actually inside the outposts. Maybe give us a puzzle to work on while we wait to earn a special potion. Or- who knows- the sky is the limit!
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Dealing damage shouldn’t earn points. We already get points for kills and for assists. So the only thing that getting more points for damage is doing is incentivizing players to apply damage that doesn’t actually help their team win. People regularly score 9-10K with 0 kills and 10-12 assists. Doesn’t make sense.
Thanks for listening. 