Before reading
Please take note that these suggestions are general, and they are not aimed at directly at specific features of FG that need to be 'fixed.' My suggestions about specific content is my opinion and subject to change by the discussions of the thread
The blue color is my opinion of GunZ and how it should have been/should be today, not considering private servers.
The orange is how content of the specific server, in this thread FG, could add to the original to improve.
So I've been thinking recently about why I like GunZ, (specifically 'GunZ 1.0' aka GunZ: The Duel [any server really]) compared to why I like Freestyle Gunz and FreestylersWorld, and the two are separate. I have liked GunZ for the past few years for the competitive aspect of the game, as in the TDM/Clanwar + Clan function in gunz. Recently the competitive aspect in the game has also become personal ranking (k/d, exp, achievements or etc..) and also a possible ladder match system option to further advance personal/team skill merit.
The reason I like freestyle gunz and FreestylersWorld is because it's kind of a 'for fun' community anyway, most people aren't even that serious about/don't have time to be serious about gunz and don't mind to see the game warp in the 'wrong direction' or like the new game (aka FG v7) and are just there to have fun with the game.
I could go on about this second part of gunz and its possibilities (as in terms of Freestyle Gunz) but it's kind of a dead point because GunZ 2 is coming out anyway, if anyone hasn't noticed. Maybe I'll talk about it some other time, but to further discuss this 'competitive' side to GunZ.
Suggestions to improve Competitive Aspects
Basically self-explanatory. I'm really speaking in terms of the meta GunZ vs. FG V7, or in other words, the metagame of the server.
First off, I truly believe there is a balance issue with the weapon damage/general power to health ratio in the current version of FG that needs to be considered. It has been brought up before, in terms of shotguns at least. Basically, looking at it at in terms of technical, meta game versus realistic weapon damage, gunz has never been realistic. It has always been about map/speed control and out-aiming your opponent, while also staying alive for as long as possible. So the fairer the weapons, and also the closer to the meta gameplay, the better.
-I realize this would mean a huge balance of basically all the weapons in FG, or at least taking all the weapons into consideration.
-I really think the damages of weapons gets in the way of competitive gaming
-I think most of the guns in FG, especially shotguns need a bit of nerf to account for anti-lead aim change (slow the game back down, closer to meta)
-I think delay of shotguns needs to be seriously considered, as well as the delay of any other weapon, or any other imbalance issue at all, really.
Second, I think there should be more effort to increase personal and team merit in general, since win-lose features seems to get in the way of having fun on the competitive side of gunz, specifically FGunz in this instance.
1.I think there could be more clanwar options, that almost act like room modifiers. The biggest one would be anti-lead and lead.
*I'm not implying these would all get used a lot if implemented today, I'm saying as if we had a big community, so there was a lot of competition to play the game in general.
Things like:
-k-style/animation cancel disabled(meta game) matches
-FPS(non-kstyle) and fun weapons enabled (unbalanced, 'for fun' matches, could include balanced version of snipes and other 'nonmeta' weapons)
-I don't have a lot of ideas for this, but as for now less variety is better I suppose. This list could easily be added to though.
My third idea, which is probably the most bizarre but best in my opinion, is make the game generally less pay-to-play and more 'for fun/self-sustainable'.
How, you ask?
-If you made the weapon system more balanced, you could lessen the number of items in the shop(in-game) and make the items in the online item shop more affordable and encourage customization/cool weapons and style in GunZ.
-The reason this is my favorite idea because it would increase customization and user input/personality in GunZ.
-You could hold events every once in a while for the community to produce their own [item/set of choice.]
-There could be large credits toward the item shop rewarded for these events.
-Gives people a reason to stick around/give back to the server.
-Anyway, it's just an idea.
So yeah, I've just been considering why I like games so much(specifically GunZ), and why I like Freestyle so much. and this is what it came down to.
-For the record, yes I play gunz too much, no, I'm not that great. get over it, I like the game!
-This thread isn't to argue about skill or get toxic/fight, please keep it on topic.
-Serious suggestions here people, mind the thread title and don't give me that tl;dr shit.
This is a discussion, so I'll probably update/change this post if people are seriously willing to discuss this and I have the will to update it
Cont.
Sorry if it seems like I'm skipping out on you DDaggerDD, I don't mean to. I agree, that is what I mean, attract devoted players through applying more of the 'meta content', which would of course mean keeping all the new features balanced, which is how the original game was meant to be, and of course every good and populated game has balanced features. This way gunz could invite new players to try content based on a change in the meta and also a competitive meta challenge to attract players who have played the game before, or are interested in trying the meta content that has always kept the game competitive.
-By the way, you're totally right, this whole thread is basically just a big speculation. I'm just wondering.
I guess it's a weird discussion to suggest, but I guess it's really one of The Future of GunZ, not including GunZ 2. Is it still worth adding to as an online game?
-In my opinion, the best way to make gunz less time consuming (People play a few matches a day, and then get off, rather than long periods of play time) but just as fun is to cut back on the "Playstyle/win/lose" while making it just as 'competitive' and also more sustainable over time, which would mean making the game pay-to-play in a way that doesn't profit the player/gamer too much but also doesn't do much for the 'Server' but add sustainability.
-This would also include some way of -adding user submitted content- such as maps/items/weapons/clothing
-get the content through holding forum events, or having a section of the forum that is dedicated to 'user submitted content', maybe create some sort of player test server so that the 'user submitted content' could be looked at, tested, and judged by the FG community itself. This would probably only be for maps and other real 'meta changing' content updates.
Quote Originally Posted by SheS3xyGirl
"Maybe we fail to "fix" something due to trying to fix the wrong thing.
Instead of paying attention to the weapons, take another approach; the biggest problem that these powerful weapons have is that they kill you very quickly. A LOT quicker than they should.
What if we changed the dynamic of how HP/AP works? Maybe AP/HP changes with levels? Some sort of build in HP/AP growth. And yes, I understand the point of "Then lvl 99 will have the most HP and crazy weapons". Well, this is true. But that's the point of the balance. Make it so it takes more levels per HP/AP increase, this way the longest gap between 60-99 will not be more than 12-20HP and AP difference. This would compensate for weapon strength while giving a higher level still a purpose in the gun and health advantage."
-I agree with you too, on that entire post. That's one aspect of the meta that doesn't need to change, the level system and how it is balanced in terms of damage-to-health ratio.
Sorry if this thread is a bit messy, it's real late and I'm gonna go to bed now. I've just been trying to make a point.
thanks for the relevant input, everyone who's participating.
By the way, if anyone cares enough, I might start a poll on the original post to vote for the 'most important' suggestions. I just want to know that others see my point and would agree.
If nobody cares, well I guess I'll take my 'argument' elsewhere in the gunz community. I like this game, I think it's worth improving on.