Why was building nerfed so hard?
Just nerf the magnets and mortar pits. One of each per FOB. Easy. You don't need to do anything more.
The building and logistics aspect of this game is such a unique thing, something you don't really get in such an accessible format anywhere else. It's one of the best aspects of Wardogs, where some of the most fun is to be had, and where there's probably the highest level of player expression. Literally every match you have something different to attack or defend.
I've played 125+ hours, plus around 6 hours in the beta. Total level 121. I've played all classes more or less equally. My highest are Recon 28, Medic 25 and Support 25, with the rest somewhere between 10 and 20. So no, I wasn't just some FOBlet spending the entire game building.
FOBs affect so many aspects of the game. It's incredibly fun to raid different bases, big, small, medium, hidden away in the middle of nowhere, whatever. Attacking them, figuring out their layouts and finding their weak spots. And it's just as fun to plan, build and defend your own bases. Trying different locations, coming up with different layouts, deciding where to put chokepoints, how to protect certain areas...
Now we have items that have skyrocketed in price, and the X change makes everything so fucking tedious. Who thought that was a good idea? Sometimes, even if you're the only one with a working brain trying to get a CIWS built, you can't even finish the damn thing because of mortars, helis or just random people shooting at it, constantly bringing the completion percentage back down.
And that's another thing. It's so much fun to have a semi-decent base that you've built yourself and then actually try to defend it, paying attention to its weak spots, figuring out what works and what doesn't, adapting as the battle goes on.
If I want large-scale battles on a big map, there are 309239 games for that. If I want to run around chasing a fucking circle with a gun in my hand, there are plenty of games for that too. But the FOB gameplay and all the dynamics that come from it? You get that in very, very few games.
These changes are just going to result in fewer FOBs around the map, or maybe just one big FOB, where you basically need esports levels of coordination for it not to become a shit experience. Everyone has a different idea of how a base should be built, where things should go, what needs defending, etc. And when everyone is forced to build in the same place, that's going to be a mess.
We're going to lose so much of the variation and uniqueness that comes from having different players building different bases in different ways.
And there's another big issue with having fewer FOBs. At the start of the game, the first guy who gets his hands on a FOB and places it inside the CZ basically gets to decide where everyone is going to build. And 80% of the time it'll be in some shit location, or the exact same spot as every other match, because people will rush to get that square on the map. Then all the builders and logistics drivers will naturally gravitate towards that FOB, bringing pallets and building there.
So instead of having multiple bases, different approaches, different defensive positions and different things to attack, we'll end up concentrating everything in the same few places over and over again.
Building and logistics are not some side activity that needs to be kept under control. They're a huge part of what makes Wardogs different from other games. Why are we making one of its most unique and enjoyable features less fun?
Instead of just nerfing building because you don't want people sitting far away from the battle, enclosed inside some Bremmer wall sarcophagus, why not try to better integrate FOB gameplay with the people chasing the hotzone?
Why not give FOBs more things that actually help the guys fighting on the frontline? Ammo vendors, armor repair stations, grenade dispensers, whatever. Things that would make soldiers actively want to visit and use FOBs, and actually appreciate having a well-built base nearby.
Make FOBs something that benefits everyone, not just the people building them. Give the guys chasing the HZ a reason to see FOBs as a useful part of the battle, instead of just some random place where a bunch of people are sitting behind walls, supposedly not playing the game.
Instead of making building less fun to force people into the hotzone, why not make FOBs more useful so the hotzone players actually want to interact with them?
