Currently the Predator is rewarded for being slow and taking their time. Predator players cannot capitalize on this because Fireteam players are rewarded for wiping out the Predator as fast as possible. I believe that the following things are issues that need to be addressed:
- The Predator is not significantly lethal.
- The Predator is still limited in its ability to move stealthily or quietly.
- The Fireteam is encouraged and rewarded for harming, killing, or interacting with the Predator.
- The Fireteam has leftover time after objective completion to hunt the Predator.
The first point is addressed with changes to the function of the Plasma Caster primarily. What feels in my head as though it would be fun is as follows:
- Charged Plasma Caster shots 1-shot down Assault, Scout, and Recon. That is to say, 150 damage on direct hits.
- Dithered Lens as default laser visibility, with Dithered Lens itself being a further reduction of lens visibility and having a cost increase.
- Greater overall energy cost.
This weapon should serve as the primary tool of the Predator for harassment and long ranged plays. It is default kit for a reason, in that it is reliable and a key tool as seen in the films. The way the game is currently being played by most people it must become the, “Meta,” weapon to use. People rarely play for the fun of everyone involved. They play to win. Make the fun, movie-based gameplay the way that winning is achieved. This is further encouraged with:
- A reduction to the movement abilities of the fireteam. Reduced sprint speed and stamina.
- Increased tree density & leap stamina increase. Decrease the overall leap distance.
- Greatly increase how easily the Predator is killed, while greatly reducing the attenuation for the Predator’s movement. The fireteam should have to be highly attentive to locate the Predator.
- In line with the previous point, reduce the shimmer. The Predator should warp what is directly behind it, no shimmer to match different environmental pieces behind it.
Mudding Up needs an improvement, as well. As it stands the game is not reflective of the film in a way that cripples fireteam stealth options. That would be the vision of the Predator. Thermal Vision needs to be the default vision type for the Predator, with no access to the Human visibility spectrum. Instead a lesser thermal with no sound queues and less visibility overall. As seen in the film.
Each player type should be hiding from each other, in an attempt to get a drop on each other. The Fireteam, however, has a challenge in that it most also complete its objective while hiding from the Predator.
To encourage Predators to play for the optimal fun of the Fireteam, each Fireteam member needs to have a flat Veritanium value granted to the Predator when claimed. For discussion’s sake we’ll say 50. If I claim all four members once within the first 5 minutes of the game, I will walk away with a falt 200 Veritanium reward. A time-based multiplier would be implemented, to vastly increase the reward granted to the Predator player if certain time thresholds have been crossed. Example:
- With 10 minutes remaining, Claim value is doubled.
- With 5 minutes remaining, Claim value is trippled.
- With 1 minute remaining, Claim value is quadrupled.
Such that the Predator is encouraged to take its time and not rush for kills in fear of being killed themselves.
Further, the Fireteam experience needs to be changed greatly after the death of the Predator. The device should be disarmable, but that should end the match. OWLF swoops in and takes the corpse and the match is over. The Fireteam receives a bonus equal to the veritanium reward for the claims of the Predator. Of course the difficulty of the disarm needs to spike greatly again to account for this. It should be almost impossible for most players to disarm the device.
The WIN condition needs to be clearly stated in a way that punishes aggressive Predators and Fireteams, and begins to reward careful Predators and Fireteams. A Predator LOSES if the fireteam dies within the first five minutes. The Fireteam loses if the Predator claims them all. Not kills them all. Claims them all. This means that, among other things, everyone can lose.
Changes To Claims To Make Things More Interesting & Tense
The Fireteam needs to be put into a position to deny claims. Put the role of deceased players into that of the support services. Allow them to spot while viewing their allies in the 3rd person. Provide Fireteam players that die and remain in the match a flat bonus of a significant value, but do not penalize them for leaving once deceased. No more fireteam reinforcements.
To increase the number of tools that the Fireteam has against the Predator, allow friendly corpses to be picked up like an objective piece. Returning friendly corpses to the evac point should reward veritanium to both the corpse and the team.
Basically, reward players for taking their time. Extend match length. Make stealth an option. Please. Slow the game down so that it’s tactical for everyone and not just a Predator Gets Hunted simulator.
Edit: Additional notes…
- Fireteam needs to not be able to parry. Most melee needs to be a pretty much confirmed kill. It should be highly risky for a Predator to enter melee range ALWAYS.
- Stealth kills need to be enabled from the start and the button press for them needs to be the same as the claim button press.
- Stealth kill cone of effectiveness needs to increase.
- More animations for claims and kills.
- Further note, increase how strict the timeline is on the Fireteam. Objectives should be timed, and once the Chopper is ready they should be forced to move quickly to it to even hope to get on.
- Remove Chopper indicator from Predator.