My suggestions for the healing/revive system
Posted: 2007-07-01 01:40
The field dressings should take longer to use. Compared to how long it takes a professional medic to heal you in the game it is cheesy how you can just throw yourself on the ground, quickly spam out three dressings and almost instantaneously heal yourself and recover full health.
Field dressings need to be like ammo bags in that you have to stand over them for a moment to work. They also need to be like grenades in that there is a delay between throwing one down after another.
I even question whether field dressings should heal you at all or simply stop the bleeding - and only limit or have a chance to stop the bleeding if you are badly wounded. Currently, if there is ammo supply you do not even need the medic - just keep spamming dressings. That is just wrong.
I also want changes to the defibrillators. They should not restore enough health that the revived can instantly pop up and start fighting. Currently, you can actually sprint up to a medic, throw yourself on the ground and revive him and if he is fast on the keyboard he can instantly start shooting, giving the medic cover. This simply does not belong in a realism mod. Fighting with maximum efficiency is the last thing that person would be able to do. Therefore, the debrillators should only restore a person to critical health where vision is blurred and movement is slow. Yes, I fully realize just how much harder rescuing downed teammates would be - and that is how I want it. Reviving teammates should require you to if not downright kill enemies first before attempting rescue then at least have somebody providing covering fire for you - just like you would in real life before to attempting to run into the line of fire to pull back teammates to safety. As such, I belive this suggestion would greatly improve realism.
All in all, these suggestions would push gameplay in a direction I think is what the developers are aiming for:
-It would be extremely unforgiving for Rambo players rushing forward blindly while rewarding players that approach with caution. No longer would Rambo be able to belly-flop on the ground and restore health and stop bleeding in a matter of seconds
-It would greatly improve the importance of medics, a class that while no doubt powerful is still weaker than it should be with field dressings being so powerful
-It would vastly increase the need for teamwork, differentiate the classes and make players role-play their class more. Players would be encouraged to always stay near and protect the new much more important medics, and medics would likewise be encouraged to avoid fighting.
-The reviving aspect of gameplay - a virtual metaphor for pulling a wounded soldier to safety - would be greatly expanded upon and be much more realistic and intense. It would be a mini-game in its own right: Since racing to the fallen and reviving then both racing back to cover would no longer be effective, you would be fighting against the clock to defeat enemies before revive would no longer be possible or, alternatively, require teammates to cooperate and provide covering fire. I do not think I need to go on about just how sheer awesome this gameplay would be
All in all, I think these minor changes would elevate the gameplay involving the medic to whole new levels.
Field dressings need to be like ammo bags in that you have to stand over them for a moment to work. They also need to be like grenades in that there is a delay between throwing one down after another.
I even question whether field dressings should heal you at all or simply stop the bleeding - and only limit or have a chance to stop the bleeding if you are badly wounded. Currently, if there is ammo supply you do not even need the medic - just keep spamming dressings. That is just wrong.
I also want changes to the defibrillators. They should not restore enough health that the revived can instantly pop up and start fighting. Currently, you can actually sprint up to a medic, throw yourself on the ground and revive him and if he is fast on the keyboard he can instantly start shooting, giving the medic cover. This simply does not belong in a realism mod. Fighting with maximum efficiency is the last thing that person would be able to do. Therefore, the debrillators should only restore a person to critical health where vision is blurred and movement is slow. Yes, I fully realize just how much harder rescuing downed teammates would be - and that is how I want it. Reviving teammates should require you to if not downright kill enemies first before attempting rescue then at least have somebody providing covering fire for you - just like you would in real life before to attempting to run into the line of fire to pull back teammates to safety. As such, I belive this suggestion would greatly improve realism.
All in all, these suggestions would push gameplay in a direction I think is what the developers are aiming for:
-It would be extremely unforgiving for Rambo players rushing forward blindly while rewarding players that approach with caution. No longer would Rambo be able to belly-flop on the ground and restore health and stop bleeding in a matter of seconds
-It would greatly improve the importance of medics, a class that while no doubt powerful is still weaker than it should be with field dressings being so powerful
-It would vastly increase the need for teamwork, differentiate the classes and make players role-play their class more. Players would be encouraged to always stay near and protect the new much more important medics, and medics would likewise be encouraged to avoid fighting.
-The reviving aspect of gameplay - a virtual metaphor for pulling a wounded soldier to safety - would be greatly expanded upon and be much more realistic and intense. It would be a mini-game in its own right: Since racing to the fallen and reviving then both racing back to cover would no longer be effective, you would be fighting against the clock to defeat enemies before revive would no longer be possible or, alternatively, require teammates to cooperate and provide covering fire. I do not think I need to go on about just how sheer awesome this gameplay would be
All in all, I think these minor changes would elevate the gameplay involving the medic to whole new levels.