Fencer Archive

I am at a loss for where to put this, I am sure many will say in the SWG Discussion, but I fear for it's immediate burial there, or Squad Leader, as you will read in a bit makes sense. Since I am a Fencer and it concerns melee in general, I decided to post it here:

I was wondering if any other melee members feel the radar is somewhat unbalancing PvP for us. Don't get me wrong, it is a wonderful tool in both PvE and PvP. Really though... we all have personal radars? No chance of sneak attacks on that Rifleman lying prone. Yes I know tactics are needed for a melee guy to last in PvP (LOS is great), but between kiting and marksman seeing us well in advance of our coming up to them all the while knowing that we are somehow the enemy, we have a slim chance in real PvP.

I did think of a possible fix for this problem(at least the problem I see). I was thinking that maybe the Radar could be removed from the hands of every player. Even the overhead map could have the mobs and players taken off of them (after all, it is a map). Then we can put the "Radar" in the hands of the Squad Leader as an ability, thus making him even more useful in PvP situations and tactical control. This way melee guys, like you and I, can try to perform sneak attacks in hopes that the SL of the other guy won't notice us until it is too late to inform his sniper. We can perform flank maneuvers and provide an overall tactical enhancement of the game.

These are obviously just my thoughts on the subject. I would love to hear any input you guys may have on this subject. Please feel free to repost this to another thread if that will help and you guys agree with me.

Thanks for your patience.

how about leaving the radar and NPCs and creatures and team/faction mates on it but removing the opposing faction?

plaind simple

I can think of two possible remedies for this that could be taken individually or in combination.

1. Reduce the arc of a personal radar to some kind of forward arc. Not less than 90 degrees, and not more than 270 degrees. Perhaps you begin with the basic 90 degree version, and could get better ones later on through purchase from an Artisan or quest. It wouldn't be hard to implement. Let the "real" radar screen and mechanics function just like it does now, but place a circular "shadow" over the radar, except for the missing pie-slice that represents your field of view. That way getting a "better" radar just means the graphic for this "shadow" changes, but not the fuindamental mechanics. Easier for the dves to implement that way. (Which means higher chance of it being incorporated.)

2. Let Artisans make radar jammers, or personal cloaking devices. A cloaking device could alos come in flavors. The weakest just makes you not show up as red when you are TEF (you show as some other color... blue?), and the strongest makes you not show up at all. A radar jammer would make any radar in it's range (range improves with skill of crafter? 32, 64, 128?) fill withstatic and not be readable. Of course, both of these devices shouldhave charges, and only last for a reasonable time.

Personally, I think these changes would add some interesting spice to PvP, and add more"seek"to the "seek and destroy."

when i first read this, a type of stealth ability came to mind. i think it would be fair for people to have an ability (that might even have HAM cost) that would allow the person to not appear on the radar until they walk too close and in the line of sight of the other characters. sounds like a good idea.

Alas, we are stuck with the radar system the way it is.

I complained about this very problem months ago - on several boards.

Apparently, it's too easy to introduce spyware, allowing people to see members of opposing factions - so the solution was to have everyone aware of everyone at all times.

It's too bad that things have to go to this length to prevent cheaters....

Seena

Raphayl's idea's are the only ones thatseem feasible.. but removing all enemies faction members is going too far I think... the proposed change would be something small to allow us melee classes to sneak as we should so we can get close to our targets... I think the arc idea is best.

Most sensible idea evar!!: Let creatures, npc's,neutrals and fellow faction members remain the same.(Except for pets. Can't have your pet visible on radar when you're not, it would ruin the whole plan). However overt enemy faction members only show up asred dotsif they spend a few seconds in the 90 degree forward arc of their enemy.

Otherwise, I go with the cloaking. Firing blasters disables the delicate electrical fielddistorting thescanner, butmelee weapons have no effect upon it (except perhaps lightsabers *grin*).

Raphayl... if you could respond to these two ideas please?

Alot of great suggestions, and I am glad to see I am not the only one who would like a change.

Thanks for all the good info, perhaps Raph can post his idea to the devs or the Corespondant's Corespondant.

I think most people are in favour of changing the radar, but as has been pointed out above it is open to abuse.

If the information is sent to the client then it can be hacked, so covering up the graphic would be open to exploitation. A good example of how this goes wrong would be the Odins eye & DAoC. As a shadowblade stealthed up no-one should be able to see me or know where I was, but thanks to Odins eye people could see exactly what was going on.

The trouble is you cant keep everything server side, since the client needs to know you are there to draw you (If said target panned the camera around for instance).

It is a real shame, and I am not entirly without hope that something may be implemented further down the line, but it is another thing the exploiters ruin