Disclaimer: just copy-pasting it here in case I need to show someone my thoughts. And I have something to add because I found out about Star Conflict. Discuss at will or pay no attention. There is no poll now because fOrUm ImPrOvEmEnT
Foreword: we all know that Gaijin/Targem won’t improve the game that way because it’s not a cashgrab-like change. But a man can dream, can’t he? This is not a suggestion, this is a discussion!
Warning: wall of text. Read at your own risk! Tl;dr at the bottom of the text wall.
It is not a secret that a game named Hard Track Apocalypse (or Ex Machina for some) was developed by Targem. For some of you who might not know about HTA I’ll explain the gist of it: vehicular combat game where you drive big tracks and shoot enemies. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? So what is the main difference betweer HTA and XO? Aside from the obvious facts about graphics, game mechanics, multiplayer part, and PvP stuff, there is one thing HTA has and XO does not.
A big map. Divided by regions where players can transit between them via loading screen. Sounds not really exciting on its own and I agree on that. But what if Crossout had the same map? Imagine that: a huge map with lots of sectors for ~30 players per server maximum. Instead of… not amusing, to say the least, Awakening we could have a real exciting mode.
What do I have in mind by “brand new Adventure”? Let me share some of my thoughts:
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A big map. Obvious. Sectors are the raid ones, but fully open and stuffed with bots, places, PvP zones, sub-instance locations like underground bunkers/forgotten, dilapidated factories/Ravager nests/et cetera (maps include the Awakening as a first one, to teach the newbies and stuff). There should be some new maps, of course, but that could be achieved through huge money supply from hooked up players.
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Interesting missions. Instead of that disgrace in Awakening we could have something real, with REAL REWARDS, such as unique paints, stickers, movement parts, cabins, and weapons. And resources as well. What are the missions? Everything, from regular courier delivery to huge raids and leviathan fight. And main story. Big main story. Huge one. I mean it. And daily quests, weekly quests, random events, little faction side quests, player-based quests, grinding-earning-building quests. Everything to make players to become whales and sink not only money but also their time into the game. Everything to hook them and make them want more.
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Real factions. And I mean real ones, not cardboard figures and bots. “Lookie here, is that a 18000 PS 5-Porcupine spaced armor hoverbarge I see? LET’S ATTACK IT WITH OUR LUNATIC CARS WHICH WILL EXPLODE FROM A SINGLE BARREL! VALHALLAAAAAAA!” Okay, maybe some rogue Lunatics and random bandits can attack everyone on sight, but not the big league guys. Some regions could have hideouts, citadels, holds, ramparts in which Engineers, Lunatics, Steppen Wolves can reside (Nomads could have a big traveling city which moves from place to place regularly). Their caravans, guards and some other possible vehicles won’t attack you on sight.
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Adjusted to the paragraph 3, sensible and understandable crafting. Of everything. You wanna do craft? You visit the faction and craft the stuff you want. You wanna get some rare stuff? You go and fight for it. Or find and loot some secret stashes. Or attack a caravan. Or fight in a PvP battle. Or join the raid. The possibilties are limitless. Craft parts with sensible amount of materials, without having tons of previous items to craft. But you could also upgrade a blue rarity item to purple rarity, and purple rarity to yellow rarity. You’ll lose the previous items, but the action will require less resources. The choice is yours.
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So what about having a safe place to hide, to repair stuff and store it? Simple! As a newbies, players will get a mandaroty quest to get one regular garage hideout. You’ll get the same garage, but with less space and no stuff to destroy… atleast until you earn it. What if you lose in battle? Repair stations, NPC-controlled. Each repair — N scrap metal or x copper or any number of anything, even in-game gold. Even if you are broke, you’ll have to wait a minute or two. But that’s not everything. Remember about factions’ cities? They’ll have the garages of their own! Simply drive in, press the button and your vehicle is stored. Now you can: visit the shop, visit the workshop, visit the market, visit the in-game store, visit the city itself (pretty much just a few pictures) and have yourself some quests and game lore, visit the possible amusement such as in-city arena, join the faction raid, join the PvP… and some more stuff.
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Let’s get back to bots. What about them? Town bots are guards, obviously. You think you can cause racket and make fun of Steppen Wolves? Get ready to be obliterated with shots of 10 Tsunami/Typhoon-armed guards and 10 Mandrake turrets. And you’ll be punished with a restriction to not visit this town. 30 minutes for the first time, an hour for the second time and so on. Eventually you could end up with negative number of this faction’s reputation. Yes, there will be the reputation system, in the next paragraph. On the maps you can encounter many different bots. Simple NPC travelers, bandits of any sort, groups of bandits, faction caravans, Ravagers, and other players. You can group up with other players or challenge them on duel. Remember, though, that every action will have consequences. Bandits will remember your car and try to ambush you next time, Ravagers will try to rip something off your car permanently and so on.
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New faction things. Parts, weapons, they are all good. But what about going through tedious PvP and raids to achieve levels? Sounds boring not only to me, but to everyone else. Charts are on my side, we all know that. I think the best decision will be the complete removal of faction “experience”. Instead, each faction will have “reputation” which can increase or decrease, depending on your overall actions, completion of certain quests and so on. You have, for example, zero reputation? You are the newbie. You’re welcome as long as you don’t cause trouble. Let’s say you’ve completed a simple quest and got yourself 10 reputation. You get the access to the next quest, a piece of lore and maybe the market (you can’t get everything on your first visit, duh). If you have 250 reputation, you’ll get access to faction raids and some serious quests. If you’ll grind up to 500 reputation, the faction will give you a permanent discount on crafting. And so on. Over the maps there will be some faction outposts, firebases, hideouts and whatnot. Eventually you can get an access to them, with the positive reputation, as well as to their garages, unique abilities and missions, which will be rewarded with some unique stuff of their own.
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Changed timegates. You wanna build something from different factions? Not a problem. Just visit their stations/cities/holds and pay the resources you grinded. Where is the timegate?.. On your deaths and vile actions. If you die, you’ll have to wait a few seconds to respawn near the repair station where you cannot be attacked or blocked by other players. If you kill someone just because you wanted to (not a special PvP occasion), you’ll be punished by some specific action, such as teleporting to your garage and restriction to go out for a minute or so (I’m not thinking it through, because there could be a lot of punishments for bad behavior).
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You’re here for PvP and overall human connection via clans? Buckle up, because missions aren’t going anywhere! Either from your own garage or any city you can enter the missions as they are now, to get yourself some resources. Keep in mind that quests, raids, and other activity will yield more resources, experience and items. PvP is for showing off, for flexing and dominating the enemy. Not for getting a reward, though there will be some rewards, as well as in Clan Wars. Clans aren’t going anywhere either. Join the Clan to complete some new Clan-only missions, earn bigger numbers of resources together (or simply in group with random players, as long as you all get along and fight together) and get yourself a Clan-specific hideout. The Clan leader decides the place and decorates it. Also each and every member can earn resources for the Clan and make your hideout even cooler with turrets and stuff!
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Speaking of, what new places will you have on the maps? Everything. Destroyed city? Easy access to vast sewers in which you can have the secluded section and make your cars as rusty and stinky as you want (pains and stickers, yep). Forlorn military bunker near the road? Get yourself some materials and change it to your home! You can even find yourself some good ex-military co-driver to help you with handling of your cannons. Caves withing virgin forests, sunburned plateaus in desolate wastes, huge laboratories among acid lakes, you-name-it.
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Special events? The game’ll have plenty of that. On the maps you’ll meet any wacky thing imaginable, such as destroyed military convoy (you can even scrap something valuable of it, if you’re lucky), a random traveler fighting couple of bandits, a faction caravan which will agree to trade with you, a dilapidated roadhouse in which you find some resources, and even an UFO! That last one won’t do you good so you better hit the floor away from it. Oh and there will be Ravens, Founders, Syndicate, everything in due time, each year (just like in normal games) and in their places, be that a forgotten power plant, a huge industrial complex or a Japanese-style city. I’m not forgetting New Year’s track guarding, Easter egg hunt, Rocket League and the rest of them. Every event in their own place, you only have to drive there and earn yourself some rewards.
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When I try to comprehend everything I wrote here, I have only one question left. “How can the devs monetize it to please their Gaijin masters?” With more sale items in the in-game store! Aside their terrible packs there could be:
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Packs of movement packs. Wanna get yourself 4 Racing wheels? 5$. Wanna get yourself 4 Hardened Tracks? 10$. Wanna get yourself full car with 8 wheels? 20$ with free sticker!
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Packs of weapons. 8$ for, let’s say, 3 Emilies. 14$ for 2 Impulses. 25$ for Kaiju. Not enough to be the whale, but enough to keep the steady supply of transactions right into the Targem’s pocket.
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Packs of armor. Who wouldn’t wanted to get yourself a literal leviathan brick full of container walls? Pay up something like 15$ and have 6 (in addition to 4 you’ll get from Scavengers for quests and reputation). Wanna get a rare sale-only bumper? Pony up the 20$ so everyone can see you’re not afraid to support the good game!
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Regular packs. With different items on sale devs won’t have to keep the prices as high as they are now. Which means more possibilities for even broke kids to purchase them. More bucks for same pixels over and over again? Better the chance that the player will purchase additional pack of 3 Spectres for 9$!
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Garage stuff, decorations, cosmetic items, resources… honestly, the list can go a long way. The possibilities are limitless, as long as the game offers the pleasure instead of tedious and semi-mandatory actions.
- What else can I add? More different resources, more different parts of each type, less limits on building a car, safe no-attack zones, even-expanding maps and quests. Different games have it. Different games also have success. GTA V brought more than $2.000.000.000 to Rockstar. F76 continue to expand its content despite all the hate. I’m sure if Gaijin have Star Conflict, they can also handle the economic side of more complex version of Crossout. But will they? I doubt that. Anyhow, IMO, that would be the greatest way this game could ever evolve.
- And there is a game named Star Conflict developed by… Targem. It literally has that huge map where players can do most of the stuff I described above. So it’s not a utopia I want, but rather real thing XO’s developers are capable to make.
Tl;dr: imagine how cool it would be to have a huge map divided by sectors with lots of stuff, big faction towns, tons of quests, big pile of new items and resources, completely new crafting system, load of new bots, fully customizable garages within different regions, ways to just ride along and stuff. Imagine crucial and essential for enjoyment stuff from GTA V, The Crew, F76 and some other games implemented in XO. Would that be good for the game?
