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GammaX6's avatar
7 years ago

Would a Friendly Radar Be a Good Idea?

Imagine yourself holding a shield as Citron while having a Sunflower heal you during that. Inside your mind, you assume that the Sunflower would be there for you when you need her. So you activate your laser beam to start erasing enemies. You start receiving damage, and your Sunflower isn't healing you at all with no one is there to cover for you as well. You find out that nobody was behind you anymore and you just die in the process. After all, the Sunflower was on her way to heal others and she wasn't there for you only. Deep in your mind, you're probably cursing the Sunflower for not sticking around. But she was just doing her job by healing others.

There are many times when it becomes difficult to understand or predict how other players would move. And there are times when you just wonder "where are my teammates?!". Every player has their own agenda. Some want to flank, others don't care about the objective at all. And some are lost sheep who don't even need to be Goatified.

Now, let's imagine a friendly radar being there to show you where your teammates are.

But before that, let's dive into what the radar is:

  • It could be placed top left. While replacing allies HPs and info to bottom left. (This is only shown if you're playing in a party in case you were wondering.)
  • It would show you all of your allies directions on radar without map. (Or with a map, since it might be helpful to determine where your allies stand, height-wise)
  • All of your friends and party members will have their green colors displayed there. So you know where they are even if they were behind you or respawning.
  • Marked allies would also have special colors to know how to play around them. [Check the link to understand what I'm talking about]
  • Vanquished allies behind you would also appear on the radar.

How would that benefit you:

  • It would increase your awareness of the battlefield. By having a bigger picture of how others are positioning themselves, you know when to push the payload or if the flank sides are protected by allies or not. This would alleviate the amount of frustration you get while playing the game.
  • As a healer, you can see who got vanquished behind you. And that would assist you in reviving them. As a non-healer, you would be prepared to counter a possible sneaking flanker from behind, rather than be surprised and die all of sudden.
  • Play around friends and marked players without having to look backwards and make yourself vulnerable.
  • Understanding how the enemies are approaching objectives by seeing who gets vanquished and where they are.
  • It would educate new players not to go alone and stick to teammates instead.
  • The radar would be better than Chevrons only (the blue marks you see on your view) because they lack "depth". You don't know how close or far certain teammates are exactly and you have no awareness of what's behind you.

The radar would allow for more "strategic" game play. Rather than just "going in and figure it out later". It would help the team understand the importance of positioning and how to play around other players rather than pushing alone thinking that this game is all about "solo-carry". You need your teammates no matter how good you are since this is a team-based shooter. And playing certain roles cannot guarantee you winning every 1v1. Sticking to players who can counter your "nemesis" would allow you to continue playing your role rather the continuously switching just to counter that hero.

Now let's go back to first scenario I depicted but with radar in play. You're playing Citron, and you've got the Sunflower marked , you see where she is even behind you. Knowing that she is no longer behind you by looking at the radar, you decide not to use your laser beam. But instead, you follow her to cover for her trying to revive a fallen teammate. Then, you decide to use your laser beam to take down enemies knowing that the Sunflower got you covered. This way, you would understand why the Sunflower went away without having to be frustrated like the first example.

I understand that some players might be against it, but if players can communicate through voice-chat and tell that information to other players, then what difference would it make if all players had knowledge of what's around them? (such as vanquished players behind) It should make the experience closer to being equal for all sides, the ones who communicate and the ones who don't. 

Thank you for reading...

EDIT: Format

15 Replies

  • Iron_Guard8's avatar
    Iron_Guard8
    Legend
    7 years ago

    I like the idea to know where friendlies are. I have played a bit of Overwatch and Paladins and indeed having a teammate's character shout 'need healing!' gets annoying in a hurry (I play tanks and healers a lot in those 2 games). As BfN is more team focused than either GW game, having tools that make it easier to coordinate is a good thing.

  • GammaX6's avatar
    GammaX6
    7 years ago

    @Iron_Guard8 I play Paladins and Overwatch too. And I wish that friendly radar idea was there. It is too difficult playing Reinhardt (a tank hero) without knowing where the healers are behind you. You can't realistically look back since you're holding a shield using that hero. Healers are often distracted healing others, doing their job and everything you know, and I understand that very well. If Tank heroes knew the healers were being harassed at the back, they would probably pull back to cover and try to assist them instead. But many tank players would push assuming the healers would follow them which grows into a frustration and hatred toward healers. Just like @ToastedSarnie said.

    Also in Overwatch, when a Genji player (a flanker/assault hero) is at the end of the map requesting healing. As a healer you can't realistically break formation to cross the hoards of enemies and heal him. If he knew where you were on the map exactly he'd go to you instead and know he's the one who's wandering too far.

    Hence why people don't prefer playing tanks in those games. Because they rely heavily on other teammates to make great use of their kit. That applies a lot to Citron since he's holding a shield and the Zombies have too many heroes that can pass that quickly harassing him. It can be very frustrating playing that hero and I totally understand that. 

    There is another thing to add... You can't realistically expect all players to communicate with you. Especially in servers where people don't speak the same language.

    @ToastedSarnie This frustration happens in most games that have a healer class. People thinking healers are miracle workers when they have a lot on their plates. The world you see differs from theirs. What I mean is, you can see all other players' HPs from behind walls, but they can't, they don't see it. So they don't know who needs help and who doesn't.*1 You can't heal them only and leave others, I get that very well. Those abusive players probably never played a healer class for a long time to understand what's going on. Also, in Overwatch, whenever I play healer, there are those snipers/long range hero players at the back who keep spamming "I need healing", making me seem like a bad healer, when I'm in the middle healing tanks and don't have an eye at the back seeing that they're injured or not. The radar could assist you in knowing that. (for example, the arrows could turn red and if you saw that, you can turn back and heal them without having to get yelled at for not seeing them.)


    *1 This is a post I was thinking of late, I want to see all allied health statuses as an option. As a Scientist, I feel super powerful holding all that knowledge, warping to my teammates, healing/reviving them while finishing the enemies they were fighting. This way more players can get the "Saved an Ally" XP bonus.

  • Iron_Guard8's avatar
    Iron_Guard8
    Legend
    7 years ago

    Ah yeah, the joys of playing a healer and having a Flank on the other side of the map spam 'need healing!'. Sorry I'm trying to keep the front line and the other 2 players on my team alive that are actually staying in line of sight and in range so I can actually heal them! 

    (I play Ying, Seris, and Furia a lot in Paladins so this is something I'm well acquainted with.)

    Or the joy of being a front line character and moving to push the capture point and the rest of my team is nowhere to be seen. Not even when on Inara (my favorite front line in Paladins) can I handle that situation!

    More games need this kind of tool. World of Tanks has it and it's definitely handy there.

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