[Concept] Loadout Cards - Generation III


(KeMoN) #1

Hello everyone,

I tried to broaden my modding Field-of-View a bit, as it is mostly limited to mapping and textures right now.
In my experience the loadout system is what most players complain about, so I tried to think of a possible alternative way. In my eyes it turned out quite well and I haven’t found something like this when I googled, so here it goes.

Loadout Cards - Generation III
Shape your favourite cards as you proceed through the game.

[HR][/HR]
[HR][/HR]

Primary concerns with current system
• Incredibly hard to get desired cards
• Skins fixed to individual cards
• Sacrifices to RNG gods are mandatory


Concept: Replace „Crafting“ with „Leveling“

• You can level-up cards by actively playing them. Having them in your squad doesn‘t count. (!= merc missions)
• Level-up duration increases exponantially from one level to the other.
Leveling-up after Bronze should be slooooow! Keep it rare.
• Gold cards can be leveld up to Cobalt, only through actively playing Ranked. Keep it rare!
Skins can be changed to any unlocked (also special) skins of the same merc.
Skins are patterns, not colours. Fully coloured skins (e.g. Gold Crown on Bronze) will be adapted (e.g. fully coloured Bronze).
Skins are merc-specific and limited to only Generation III cards. (Gen I and II remain exclusive)
• Future special event skins need to be unlocked/purchased for each merc individually.
• Augments are categorized into 3 mutually exclusive tiers. (To avoid Rhino with Nitros and Ice Cold)
Crafting Kits can be purchased to change Augments. ([X] Crafting Kits to change tier 1, [Y] for tier 2,…)
Weapon Kits can be purchased to change Weapons. ([X] Weapon Kits to change primary, [Y] for secondary,…)
Kits can be purchased with Fragments, but should be hella expensive (so you can still recycle unwanted cards).
Kits can not unlock Augment tiers, only change previously unlocked.
• Case drops, Case purchases and Loadout card purchases are still a thing.

Level Progress:

Default: remains unchanged, progress is set to 0 when leveled-up.
Lead: Unlock „Dirt“ skin for this merc and choose one Augment (tier 1).
Iron: Unlock „Galvanized“ skin for this merc and choose one Augment (tier 2).
Bronze: Unlock „Woodland“ skin for this merc and choose one Augment (tier 3).
Silver: Unlock either „Urban“ or „Carbon“ skin for this merc and change Melee weapon.
Gold: Unlock either „Crown“, „Swiss“ or „Bamboo“ skin for this merc and change secondary weapon.
Cobalt: Unlock either „Shard“ or „Fragment“ skin for this merc, change one Augment and change primary Weapon.

All information regarding Augments, Skins, etc is coming from The DB Genome Project, so thank you Djiesse.


Improved Merc Deck by adding Merc Skin slot
Cut the Crap with the Loot Boxes
(wolfETplayer) #2

Great concept! Current loadout system is terrible.
Damn, Brink was a disaster, but at least there was a decent loadout/customization system.


(Wolf_Darkrose) #3

ya that looks nice. right now i this SD is way busy with getting the forum/servers and what not all setup on here. also the 90s had those weird like shiny versions of cards. Maybe add those in some how? would be for event cards and maybe mods and forum staff. lots of things to reward not just the players in game but the people on here and mods.


(Runeforce) #4

I would like to add the following perspective to this discussion. It is in line with your suggestions, but I feel you left the largest problem largely unspoken (although solved,) so please indulge me.

Decouple all skins entirely from loadouts and and also the current skins from its implementation in the monetization system i.e fundamentally change the system. Then monetize the game by making a constant stream of unique new skins for individual mercs, avilable for cash or a high time investment, with no rng involved.

I mean, how crazy is it to suggest that money for the game should be earned by making and selling cosmetic content directly to the players, instead of having a few souls constantly pulling the slot machine?


(KeMoN) #5

Separating the skins from individual loadout cards is exactly what I had in mind. However the standard skins would still be attached to the level of the card (Bronze, Silver, etc.)
When you level your card up, you can choose which skin of the unlocked loadout level you want directly and don’t get one assigned through rng. Once you have chosen that skin, it gets unlocked for all cards of that merc. Unlocking Cobalt Fragment means you can use that skin on Iron loadouts of that merc. However the colour overlay will be adapted to the level of the loadout. A cobalt Fragment would then not be blue, but brownish Iron colour.
Special event skins can be purchased per merc, but once they have been purchased you can use them on all cards of that merc. Special event skins will naturally not be adapted to match the colour of your loadout level.

Besides changing skins, in the concept above you can also change augments and weapons, either by leveling that card up or by purchasing Weapon / Crafting Kits. To keep the possibility of recycling unused/unwanted cards to keep the inventory clean, you can also purchase kits with Fragments.

Benefit for players:
Besides having the 9 preset cards, you can now shape your individual card.
There is a real possibility to bring your favourite Silver card to Cobalt level without sacrificing everything to the rng gods.
You can give your favourite cards any skin you like, that you have unlocked for that merc. Special event skins or standard level skins.

I don’t know if I wrote that properly, but there will still be 9 standard cards that you get through cases and the shop. You can level up any card you like, so if you get a nice Silver card through a case, you can continue leveling and modifying that one.


(Laventale.-) #6

It would be cool for people that spent real money into the game to get those shiny cards and loadouts, I think it would encourage people to ACTUALLY spend money into the game, and it would make happy the people that already invested money onto it.


(Runeforce) #7

So you define happiness as taking enjoyment from observing your peers being dragged through the same sadistic bull**** you were?


(Laventale.-) #8

Excuse me? I just said that people that paid real money would enjoy having different loadouts from FTP people, one example of this would be the Alienware or Humble Bundle loadouts.


(Dysfnal) #9

If people played ranked I’d be all for this, but I’d spend more time waiting for games than playing and I don’t enjoy that


(DrDacreamer) #10

I feel like everyone should be able to work towards their own loadouts, they can get higher tiered skins with time…reading some of the comments, it sounds like this idea would orce people to pay for augments…which is not a good idea. DB is great cause its pay to progress, and even that progression is not going to give any large advantage either. Speacial edition cards should really be the only cards you will have a hard time getting without money. Want to be sure anything like can achieved by players who do not want to spend money :stroggbanana:

Since we talking about big changes. I would like to mention the idea of attachments. I would like a sight on the Grandeur (specifically), the iron sights now are terrible. I see no issue in weapon customization as long as either something like a grip has a debuff (slower deploy speed?) in addition to improved recoil. That is how things worked waaay back in BRINK. This would definitely add an interesting new layer to DB and would allow you to make your weapon pretty epic looking. I can envision an epic 3D weapon workshop too.

BRINK’s customization was amazing. The attachments were all well balanced and you could customize your gun in hundreds of ways to make it tailor to your playstyle.
Examples: Buffs and debuffs will vary by weapons
Extended magazine … increased ammo but reduces reload
Smooth bolt … increased bolt rifle operation, but increases scope sway with each successive shot until the user stops firing for a moment
Serrated blade … 5% bleed damage over time to targets based on initial strike’s damage, heals cancel bleed and slows user by 1.0 %
red dot sights all provide easier ADS, but have penalties depending on the weapon type