Commander / Leader Skills Coming?

[Padishah 99]

So awesome updates,especially the physics. Clearly there is going to be a need for an in-game method for the battle commanders / leaders to draw and communicate tactics on a shared map of some type. Hope that would not a universal ability, but limited to leaders, scouts, etc, something you have to train up or buy with a rune slot. Kinda like the old intent behind the Commander Rune in SB.

 

Also, one of the neat things about running a group in SB was the formation sets, they could have been very useful in some cases, like the old jitter the group and insta-stack trick. I hope the battle commander has a way to preselect some formations that are "loaded" into the groups kit bag. Calling an audible over vent is pretty neat, but there should be a way for casual gamers to be almost as good as the pro guilds at running a formation.

 

Finally, another thing about battle command and shared maps. In SB, some of the banes required us to screenshot the playing field and then post the battle plan on the guild forums. There should be a way for the combat leaders to push a shared map internally to the guild prior to main events. You could make this a key trait of scouts, i.e the ability to actually share tactical Intel in the game, vice screenshots and hand drawings shared in guild forums. You could even make these maps lootable, to either gain valuable Intel or to sow disinformation.

 

In any case, the promises made about the game play as individuals and small teams sounds extremely promising. I just hope that the advances are similarly exponential for the leaders, as great leaders are a huge draw for regular players.

Edited February 20, 2015 by padishah guardian

[satyros 76]

Agree..
The UI and tools to do all the tactical planning should be implemented. 
If they have to be earned, its all that better in my book.

[xaine 308]

Really like this idea actually.

 

Having a leadership class would be very cool.

[Padishah 99]

Have not really read into the classes, so I am not sure if class or rune, or guild rank, etc.

[riphotsuma 5]

In my mind, having a UI and tools beyond your basic strategical planning (like real war table discussions) is nothing more than a handicap that aids itself to those unskilled in the ability to communicate in war and the zergs. War is supposed to be chaos, not the ease of being handed to you on a platter.

 

At least in this game the more sandbox features might actually add to the strategical development that the typical MMO cookie cutter is not bound to. I guess the best example I can think of off the top of my head is in Kingdom of Heaven when Legolas has his guys setting stones at certain distances and painting them white.

[sheen 877]

In my mind, having a UI and tools beyond your basic strategical planning (like real war table discussions) is nothing more than a handicap that aids itself to those unskilled in the ability to communicate in war and the zergs. War is supposed to be chaos, not the ease of being handed to you on a platter.

 

At least in this game the more sandbox features might actually add to the strategical development that the typical MMO cookie cutter is not bound to. I guess the best example I can think of off the top of my head is in Kingdom of Heaven when Legolas has his guys setting stones at certain distances and painting them white.

People want things easy and they may not even realize that. 

[seventhbeacon 4,041]

I would love to see leadership/ruler skills that help enhance the whole, some really dynamic choices there.  Not unlike how the Mayor tree worked for player cities in SWG or group buffs, commands, etc, like targeting AoE that gives some small bonus to damage against a specific group, etc.

[jokeassjason 65]

I could see command or leadership(whatever you want to call it) as a promotion class or discipline that you could skill into

[tierless 831]

SWG style combat leader, I dig it.

[Padishah 99]

People want things easy and they may not even realize that. 

 

Not sure what I am describing is easy at all. Battle command SB / DF style is the hardest mental task I have ever done, and one probably the most rewarding aspect of any game I have played (in 20+ years of gaming). The Commander skills would simple add an aspect to the game that takes that small niche experience to a higher level. But I do appreciate your sentiment with respect to the easy button some players want. I get the feeling this game will be truly hard. 

[sigitang 10]

For this kind of thing i think planetside 2 is a good exemple.

 

I'm speaking about abilities to create respawns/bonus in a squad/global orders and signals.

[freeze 3,759]

I don't quite understand where the "easy mode" comments are coming from tbh..

 

it's like saying "lololol you scrubs used the waypoint function in Darkfall"

 

 

 

sigitang gave a nice example with Planetside 2.

leadership certs let you use stuff like different colored smoke to mark certain locations on the battlefield.

I can't see how this would hurt anything, or how it would be "easy mode".

 

All it does is add convenience which should ultimately lead to better organized battles. Surely a bad thing, eh Sheen?

[pang 4,174]

Yeah giving players tools to better organize is never a bad thing. Nothing easy or lazy about it.

[bahamutkaiser 2,378]

NO! Let chaos reign! Mua ha ha ha ha, Mua ha ha ha... ha :-/

 

Unfortunately third party chat will be a reality. I think local "radar" style detection might be good to simulate only specific Archetypes ability to detect others near or behind them, but a actual map overlay should be an actual map that you have to stop, look at, study, and prepare.

 

Information denial is a big part of immersion, focusing on what's on screen and not what some wildly artificial real time map tracking you allies is displaying.

 

Making units dress in tabards or form up with banners so you can spot and coordinate with allies in a siege, or having the flexibility of having treacherous FF without some artificial system still showing them as allies, all of this makes a battlefield a battlefield.

 

It's a strategy, real time, but it's not one of those isometric army control games. Players can distinguish their practice and coordination if artificial tools don't steal the difficulty away.

[sigitang 10]

The most important thing for me will be the "visibility" of enemies (and allies) since it's not pure RvR you have to deal with a lot of parameters to know if this guy will discuss or just throw a fire ball at you....

 

The worst would be the classic red names... I'm again speaking about fps (i have a long experience with PS2), because it's the only massiv strategic battles i've been to, but something like "i see an enemy --> i use a class spell--> me and my guild/commando see it for 30secs" would be the best.

It's not realy useful to speak about commander skills if we don't know how will be presented the enemies in the GvG game Crowfall wants to be. Let's talk about alignment and alliances, it would be more productive i think at this state of the game ^^

[Padishah 99]

 Let's talk about alignment and alliances, it would be more productive i think at this state of the game ^^

 

I'm really sorry, I didn't know what would be a more productive discussion at the point I wrote the original thread    

[potatomcwhiskey 1,122]

They did mention the game will be part strategy game, if they made that claim and added no way to reasonably command or issue some kind of battleplan I would call them out as being disingenuous.

[doc gonzo 3,087]

OP has some good ideas in it...i also cannot wait to see what the CF version of "Commander rune" will be

 

soOOOoOOOooooo many Questions....soOOOOoOOOOooo little solid Info....

 

is it tuesday yet?

[chancellor 1,805]

They did mention the game will be part strategy game, if they made that claim and added no way to reasonably command or issue some kind of battleplan I would call them out as being disingenuous.

Please don't confuse strategy and tactics.

Strategy can win or lose the battle before it starts.

Tactics win or lose battles that were close to a draw strategically.

[bahamutkaiser 2,378]

They did mention the game will be part strategy game, if they made that claim and added no way to reasonably command or issue some kind of battleplan I would call them out as being disingenuous.

 

There are always ways, question is whether they need to be easy or whether they make a great deal of room for players to execute great efficiency and coordination.