Loadout Change

[karamazovapy]

Okay...so...

If you start a game of CTF, HTF, RET, SOC, or ZC, you begin with the "default" loadout.

Entering a loadout zone will always instantly change your loadout.

In CTF, HTF, RET, SOC, or ZC, you will always respawn with the last loadout you updated from the loadout zone, after the game begins.

Loadouts input are retained as queued after death until a loadout zone is eventually entered, a different loadout is input, or a game of RAB, NEX, BM begins.

In games of RAB, NEX, BM, you will always spawn with the most recently entered loadout, including the first time you spawn, and regardless of whether the loadout was equipped in the previous game.

It is irrelevant whether the RAB, NEX, BM matches are Free-For-All or Team games.

On any map that does not have any loadout zones, regardless of gametype, players will respawn with the most recently input loadout.

If a CTF, HTF, RET, SOC, or ZC map is designed so that loadout zones are inaccessible, it is impossible to change loadouts.

...

Is it just me, or is this a ridiculously convoluted system? By contrast, here are the old rules:

Players always begin a game with the default loadout.

Entering a loadout zone will always instantly change your loadout.

In any level with loadout zones, players respawn with the default loadout until a loadout zone is entered.

In any level without loadout zones, players respawn with the most recently selected loadout.

[watusimoto]

Yes, Mr. _k... I have been waiting for you... <drums fingers menacingly on table>


Those rules are convoluted the way you explained them. I would explain as such:

At the beginning of the game, you start with the default loadout. You can change that loadout by entering a new one using the loadout menu. Your loadout will be actualized when you enter a loadout zone. If the level has no loadout zone, it will be actualized when you next die and respawn. When you die, you respawn with the same loadout you had when you died (except as noted above). These rules apply to all game types.

It may be that these rules are not quite implemented correctly, in which case that would constitute a probable bug.

This is a change from the previous rules, and, in the spirit of experimentation, they were implemented after a frustrating conversation trying to explain the current system with it's various permutations. The previous system did make sense to experienced players who were steeped in it, but were confusing to those who weren't. The change was also an attempt to make non-standard loadout combinations more appealing, and thus more used.

[karamazovapy]

I'll reserve judgment until the bugs are fixed, but my expectations are low.

Key differences with what you described and what is currently the case are in red:

At the beginning of the game, you start with the default loadout, unless you are playing a Nexus, Rabbit, or Bitmatch level, in which case you will spawn with the last loadout entered. You can change that loadout by entering a new one using the loadout menu. Your loadout will be actualized when you enter a loadout zone. If the level has no loadout zone or is a Nexus, Rabbit, or Bitmatch level, [your loadout choice] will be actualized when you next die and respawn. When you die, you respawn with the same loadout you had when you died (except as noted above) or when playing Nexus, Rabbit, or Bitmatch levels.

I'm willing to accept that the original FFA gametypes were coded slightly differently and the changes didn't apply quite the same way as intended. To be fair though, any conversation that made the old four basic rules confusing was probably due as much to the explanation as there being different rules for levels with and without loadout zones. That problem still exists with the new system.

[sam686]

The only change from version 014 to version 015 is to re-spawn with the old loadout. Rabbit, Nexus, and level maps without loadout zone, will always spawn with most recently entered loadout, as it did on version 014.

In games of RAB, NEX, BM, you will always spawn with the most recently entered loadout, including the first time you spawn, and regardless of whether the loadout was equipped in the previous game.

Always spawn with most recently entered loadout does not apply to bitmatch having loadout zone. Should something be changed for next version?

[karamazovapy]

Honestly, I think you should always spawn with the default loadout unless there are no loadout zones. If the intention is to get people to try different things, you're making people more vulnerable to spawn camping if they can't spawn with shields up. Short of letting people spawn with the default, things should at least be consistent between all gametypes.

The only change from version 014 to version 015 is to re-spawn with the old loadout.

Actually, a pretty big difference is that the most recently selected loadout also carries over between games, so that if you ended the previous match recharging your base with repair and armor, you start the following NEX, RAB, or BM game with repair and armor.

[sam686]

If the intention is to get people to try different things, you're making people more vulnerable to spawn camping if they can't spawn with shields up.

As long as level maps have lots of spawn points spread out, I think is not much of a problem. Want 2 second spawn shield?

Actually, a pretty big difference is that the most recently selected loadout also carries over between games, so that if you ended the previous match recharging your base with repair and armor, you start the following NEX, RAB, or BM game with repair and armor.

This happens on both version 014 and 015. Which version does loadout carry over not happen?

[karamazovapy]

Which version does loadout carry over not happen?

013 - you're right, the problem is just more obvious now that Armor exists.

The biggest issue right now (ignoring my general dislike of the system) is that behavior isn't consistent across gametypes.

[watusimoto]

Regardless of exactly what that behavior is, I think we all agree behavior should be consistent across game types.

The single-player game types have always been different than team game types, since the zap days.

[karamazovapy]

The single-player game types have always been different than team game types, since the zap days.

I thought the behavior was pretty similar for all gametypes in 013. I could be wrong.

[karamazovapy]

I just wanted to share that I still hate the current spawn-with-last-checked-in-loadout setting with a passion. It makes me want to light my hair on fire while chewing broken glass and tinfoil trailmix.

[Skybax]

I love that setting! It makes me only have to use the loadouts once!

[karamazovapy]

It's making me avoid using alternate loadouts so I don't get caught at a disadvantage when I respawn. Some loadouts are good for a specific purpose, but aren't helpful if you respawn and need to defend immediately.

[ZoombeR]

I just wanted to share that I still hate the current spawn-with-last-checked-in-loadout setting with a passion. It makes me want to light my hair on fire while chewing broken glass and tinfoil trailmix.

didn't you have loadout problems on monday?

[karamazovapy]

Loadouts have been normalized in 016.