Camera lock on close medics

(Erkin31) #1

When people are wounded at ground, they are too many to respawn while I will revive them.

I think that the major problem is they doesn’t see me. Like in ET and ETQW, the camera should automatically lock on the medics when you are “dead”.

(Protekt1) #2

I think locking the camera would just be annoying. If people are too dumb or too lazy to use it to look at their surroundings, then they shouldn’t get a revive.

(Erkin31) #3

This was not annoying in ET/ETW.
But what is very annoying for me is when I try to revive someone for nothing.

(Destroy666) #4

In what way? Never got annoyed by this in ET either. But if there are players that don’t like it, of course this could be an opt-out option in settings.

(Protekt1) #5

Maybe because you never had the free camera option. Losing control over where you can look would just be worse though. Taking control away from the player is a bad move, especially when you’re dead and waiting for respawn or revive.

#6

I can see both sides of the argument. The feature was certainly useful in ET as far as I remember. Perhaps it could lock you to a medic by default and you can click to free the camera and look around.

(Matuka) #7

If the concept of locking a camera onto a medic to ensure the player that a medic is near by and that he is en route, than that would take away the ability to look around the area and to make callouts to your team. If I am correct with my first statement than rather locking the camera onto a medic, an indicator could be used to inform the player of the nearby whereabouts of a local medic, perhaps some sort of arrow that appears on the HUD. To me this seems to be a better solution to this issue as it doesn’t over-complicate it with options. I believe BRINK used to have a system like this where on the HUD it would inform the player that a medic was en route, one of the very few things that BRINK got right.

(DarkangelUK) #8

Didn’t Brink also have a ‘closest medic’ display on the HUD and it said how far away they were in meters so you could tell if one was getting closer? I didn’t mind the camera lock on as the medic was within seeing distance but moving the mouse would break away and go into freelook.

(Protekt1) #9

Locking the camera wouldn’t even work well since nader needs surrounding awareness to use martyrdom, phoenix needs to look around for self revive, and when I am downed I am usually on the look out for opponent positioning in case I am revived. I think it is barely good for new players, worthless for experienced players, and dreadful overall. I hate when games take away camera control personally.

(Amerika) #10

I’m confused by this. You can look on your HUD and see through walls for teammates that are medics. Why do you need the camera to lock on to a medic? I want to be able to look around and see what my team/the other team is doing as it’s the only way for me to be useful while I’m down.

(Bloodbite) #11

I am of the opinion that locking the camera is a bad idea. It encourages bad, lazy habits. I’ve martyr’ed by accident (and reflex) letting a medic run into a suicide revive for nothing two or three times. Entirely my fault, and something I need to improve on or suffer the consequences of being a LOSER in the long run.

Right now we see the medic cross icon when looking around, and I think that is almost as good as it needs to be. Though the mentionings of what was in Brink… I vaguely recollect that that was indeed a brilliantly well thought out and implemented system in Brink. Wasn’t there a way to quick voice command the nearest medic with an alert and location indicator on their screen that you were keen for a revive? This I would definitely endorse.

But screen locking, even as a toggle choice from the options menu, or by keystroke… a little bit of a training wheels feature to me. If you want to play properly you have to move, push, and stay constantly aware of the ebb and flow of action. And you should be punished for growing up amongst AAA rail shooters masquerading as “games” :stuck_out_tongue:

(BioSnark) #12

It worked in SD’s previous games. Nobody called it training wheels, then. Dirty Bomb is significantly easier than ET:QW.

(jazevec) #13

Medic direction indicator similar to damage indicator would be nice.

(Bloodbite) #14

“Easier” is the defining point here.

And it was a different generation of gamers too. I think ETQW in particular got away with a lot of things like that because the majority of players were dedicated to playing properly (it was an overwhelmingly complex class system for anyone jumping in for the first time… all those turrets and things). DB, being open to so many new folk with a very casual, and perhaps even primitive attitude towards the base tactics required in this game, need a few punishment incentives in the face of failure to learn/adapt.

Plus, how would that impact the kill ghosting mechanic? Being forcibly removed from your analysis of how someone took you out will get annoying to some people… It’s irked me a couple of times being revived too soon while I’ve been briefly focused on trying to understand how “that” death was possible; Legitimate? Aimbot? Lucky? Did I run into that like a fool?

Would that turn the ghosting a novelty feature? I would hate to see that happen because it is a much more tactically-intelligent and efficient approach to the killcam replay concept.

With the current state of play, both good and bad matches, I remain unconvinced thus far that an actual camera lock would amount to anything more than an enabling mechanic for lazy habits.

(Protekt1) #15

“It worked in others games”

And?

This is not X game. This is SPARTA…erm, DIRTY BOMB!

(BioSnark) #16

It worked in SD’s other games and I don’t understand why the working formula would change.

In any case, I think Splash Damage needs to go through their previous titles and see what notifications in the main screen, audio, and minimap were working. Yeah, that includes Brink with the medic call button when down or only specific classes hearing relevant requests. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten useful information from Dirty Bomb’s minimap while, as a medic, this was invaluable in ETQW.

(Szakalot) #17

[QUOTE=BioSnark;531492]It worked in SD’s other games and I don’t understand why the working formula would change.

In any case, I think Splash Damage needs to go through their previous titles and see what notifications in the main screen, audio, and minimap were working. Yeah, that includes Brink with the medic call button when down or only specific classes hearing relevant requests. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten useful information from Dirty Bomb’s minimap while, as a medic, this was invaluable in ETQW.[/QUOTE]

ETQW had huge maps with complicated battlefields and a raging 12v12 war; I don’t think DB needs nearly as much HUD support. DB is also A LOT faster (actually, QW’s indoor fights weren’t that much slower, but the poor accuracy & little random hit registration didnt emphasize tracking aim the way DB or W:ET do). There are very few moments of ‘now ill be advancing for 20sec to a different position’, other than running from spawn at the enemy.

(Protekt1) #18

[QUOTE=BioSnark;531492]It worked in SD’s other games and I don’t understand why the working formula would change.

In any case, I think Splash Damage needs to go through their previous titles and see what notifications in the main screen, audio, and minimap were working. Yeah, that includes Brink with the medic call button when down or only specific classes hearing relevant requests. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten useful information from Dirty Bomb’s minimap while, as a medic, this was invaluable in ETQW.[/QUOTE]

People already pointed out:

  1. unlocked camera is better for experienced players since they have more situational awareness
  2. necessary for skills like martyrdom
  3. phoenix benefits from looking around to see when it is safe to use self-revive

Please read the thread before claiming you don’t understand as if there is no reason. They clearly made a very intentional decision to make it this way rather than lock on the closest medic. They can improve this downed state, but not by locking the camera but by having a distance meter.

What is a bad reason to do something?

Because they did it this way before.

(BioSnark) #19

current system does not function well

Wow, I disagree with a number of your recollections. However, that’s beside the point. I don’t think the minimap currently accomplishes anything in Dirty Bomb that justifies the space it takes. ETQW minimap showed that there were dead people behind you, above you or in the next room. It showed where people called for medics. It was was great. In Dirty Bomb, if you die behind a medic, it’s basically a waste of time waiting for them to turn. Vsay calling for medic doesn’t accomplish anything in my experience. When I play medic, which I rarely do not just because idiots but due to stupid reversed item binds, people also don’t wait for me to revive.

If downed players had a call medic key, with accompanying UI prompt, that also locked onto the nearest medic and pinged the medic’s minimap, that’d be great. Directional and distance indicators have been mentioned and they also work. If it also made the player’s silhouette flash for medics, that’d be even better. Icons on main screen are undesirable for various reasons.

That’d would also make people happy with their free look. I don’t think ghost silhouette mechanic accomplishes much because it is not reliable but it’d also still be there.

I don’t think these information relays are lacking because of some sort of intended clean UI. That wouldn’t fit with the existing UI. I think these helper elements are missing because the systems are not done. Consequently, medics don’t work well in many public games and I try to avoid such games when possible. I think you’ve pointed out some systems that were not being successfully communicated to players in another thread. I am also worried that medics are being balanced around how badly people use them (both medics and downed players) in public servers because the interface isn’t doing all it needs to, yet.

(jazevec) #20

You’re conveniently forgetting ET:QW tried pretty hard to be accessible. The whole obnoxious automatic mission system, that ended up grouping you in a fireteam with people who didn’t care about you. It’s complex from today’s perspective, but it wasn’t meant to be complex.