4 years ago

Remove XP from bots -> to fix Portal

Edit: I now realize my suggestion was foolish. I forgot people use bots to create Co-Op experiences like those in Insurgency: Sandstorm. Having played a lot of co-op in Insurgency, I agree that it is damn fun with a group of friends, and it should not hinder your progression. I agree with messages below that DICE should just get their head out their a** and remove XP caps from Portal and allow unlocks without taking anything away from players.

Original message:

So one of the foolish things in this game is the addition of bots. They may work in fun joking-around-servers in Portal, but that's about it. They've allowed people to create insane farming servers which we've all heard about. And because of those, for some reason DICE has seen fit to put all sorts of limitations on Portal. For many of us, Portal would be the only reason of buying the game - if it didn't have all those restrictions.

I suggest removing gaining XP and unlocking stuff from killing bots, completely. This would allow the XP-limit from Portal servers to be removed and the kills in Portal servers to count towards unlocks. Both of these things would finally encourage people and communities to put up Portal servers and play the game.

I haven't bought the game (and I won't in its current state), but I played it plenty during the free weekend. During that weekend, there were about two or three normal (=non-farming) servers which had either regular rules or Hardcore-rules - and all of those were up for only a fraction of the weekend.

So not only was there only a small portion of the day I was able to play how I liked (Hardcore and/or normal with adjustments, like certain specialist bans) - after the rounds I noticed that all my kills in Portal didn't count and there was a cap on XP.

Why would any community put any effort into setting up a Portal server, if the game completely discourages you from playing on your own server by limiting XP and not granting unlocks? Even if that server was a regular server with no bots.

~~Remove gaining XP from killing bots (Portal and other modes) and then~~ remove all the limits affecting Portal. Maybe there's a chance to salvage Portal and the game.

discussion

12 Replies

SilverJackal96
4 years ago
No this isn't it.
Honestly I don't get the Stigma about bots.
Some people can't play pvp as well, or just don't want to sweat or play super seriously. Or heck even want to play HC, but cant from that.
and bots is the least they could do to make up for the removal of campaign.
This game is already dying, and bots have even been seen in AOW multiplayer from the player base leaving to other games.
No exp from bots would be darn near the final nail in the coffin for some people.
People won't sit and wait around for servers to fill if you don't get Xp from bots will you wait.
They need to just swallow their pride, and restore XP back to portal regardless.
That was literally what they promised. People will always find a way to exploit the system.
ShevermiN
4 years ago
You can farm bots for points in the official AOW servers so I can't see why it was such an issue in portal. Anyway our portal servers had no bots so can't see why our clan has been punished.
I had over 100 players in my friends list come back to BF2042, over 50 have left never to come back because DICE pulled the rank up from portal servers. If they had left the points alone for servers that didn't run bots we would have at least 3 severs a night running full every night, one 128p, one 48p rush and one custom 32p TDM or Gunmaster.
After what happened in Hardline to not see this coming in portal is beyond belief, I mean really how removed from reality are the dev's.
I've posted many times over the years that custom servers with a simple handicap system based around the custom settings is the way to go, how can that be so hard to figure out.
As it stands now I have no desire to play BF2042 and neither do many of my friends....... we have just stopped gaming actually.... good work DICE people that don't game don't spend money on games.. great business model that.
phoremat
4 years ago
@IAF_Nobanaa No...because that's not what they sold us on
DominickB3
Seasoned Ace
4 years ago
@IAF_Nobanaa This is the opposite of what most of us have been asking for. We want progression enabled fully again no matter the game mode. Limit xp based on the health and difficulty modifiers to the bots, but with the caps in portal they also limited progression in solo / coop and it has killed that mode for a lot of us. There's really no reason for any kind of restrictions anymore. The game is basically dead, why not just enable everything fully and let people play how they want.
Kean_1111
4 years ago
@IAF_Nobanaa
There is nothing foolish in regard to the addition of bots in Portal. If you don't like them, don't use them. Simple as that.
There are those of us who would rather play with and/or against bots than real players. Those of us that want co-op experiences or to fill teams when we play against friends (invite-only sessions). I have zero interest in AOW and HZ in BF2042. The only reason my friends and I bought this game was specifically for Portal to play our own co-op, hardcore scenarios.
EA / DICE marketed progression as something that applied to all modes. They said they would have safeguards in place upon release to mitigate farming but obviously that simply wasn't true. ....then they brought back XP but placed caps that limit the amount players could accumulate each minute. Why can't they simply do the same for the rest of progression like Mastery? It would be better than nothing (like it is now).
Kean_1111
4 years ago
@SilverJackal96 wrote:
No this isn't it.
Honestly I don't get the Stigma about bots.
Some people can't play pvp as well, or just don't want to sweat or play super seriously. Or heck even want to play HC, but cant from that.
and bots is the least they could do to make up for the removal of campaign.
This game is already dying, and bots have even been seen in AOW multiplayer from the player base leaving to other games.
No exp from bots would be darn near the final nail in the coffin for some people.
People won't sit and wait around for servers to fill if you don't get Xp from bots will you wait.
They need to just swallow their pride, and restore XP back to portal regardless.
That was literally what they promised. People will always find a way to exploit the system.
Yeah, I don't get the issue either. Many of us play games with campaigns that are against AI. ....what's the difference in a scenario like Portal for those (like my friends and I) who just want to co-op with buddies? ....or play PvP with just friends and add bots to fill slots on either team?
We simply don't like playing most PvP games with strangers. It has nothing to do with "gittin' gud" and everything to do with being fed up dealing with all the negatives associated with dealing with randoms. ......exploits, cheating, annoying behavior, lack of teamwork, etc. We are all older and just tired of dealing with most others to be honest.
Having said that, there are exceptions. Hell Let Loose is a good example as teamwork and communication is an absolute necessity if you want to have any fun with it. The whole "lone wolf" approach simply does not work and it really incentivizes players / teams to cooperate.
GarfieldTehKat
4 years ago
@IAF_Nobanaa No, no, no, no, and a bunch more no
IAF_Nobanaa
4 years ago
@SilverJackal96 wrote:
No this isn't it.
Honestly I don't get the Stigma about bots.
Some people can't play pvp as well, or just don't want to sweat or play super seriously. Or heck even want to play HC, but cant from that.
and bots is the least they could do to make up for the removal of campaign.
This game is already dying, and bots have even been seen in AOW multiplayer from the player base leaving to other games.
No exp from bots would be darn near the final nail in the coffin for some people.
People won't sit and wait around for servers to fill if you don't get Xp from bots will you wait.
They need to just swallow their pride, and restore XP back to portal regardless.
That was literally what they promised. People will always find a way to exploit the system.
@Kean_1111 @DominickB3 @ShevermiN
Yes, I see that now. I completely forgot that people use Portal to create co-op experiences like those in Insurgency Sandstorm. If someone took bot XP away from Insurgency, it would suck for me and I now understand some people play Portal with the same mindset as I play Insurgency.
I agree DICE should just restore full XP gain and kill unlocks to Portal. It's the only way to get a proper server selection and player base for Portal.
I edited my original message to reflect this.
SilverJackal96
4 years ago
@IAF_Nobanaa Yeah really. Imagine if you only got exp from playing PVP modes only. Like Push or Ambush. In sandstorm.
It would be terrible.
But I'm glad you saw the other side. Unlike some people. But For real I hope they'll change it back.
UP_Hawxxeye
Legend
4 years ago
Why should we be bargaining about something that we were promised?
It is EA/DICE that altered the deal