Slamz Posted January 23, 2012 Posted January 23, 2012 I believe one of the problems with this game and having large PvP areas is the texture memory required to display 40 different players. You can see this problem just by loading up the Fleet zone -- so many players in so many helmets and so many chest pieces and it's all high texture stuff. It just takes too long to load everyone's textures. You obviously don't want that kind of performance problem in PvP, which is why they had to shrink the player count in Ilum. Solution: Uniforms. This can simply be a visual effect. You don't have to actually change anyone's gear. In fact, you may see your own gear the same as always but: All Powertechs look the same All Mercenaries look the same All Guardians look the same All Scoundrels look the same (etc) Each class has its own uniform and that's what you load. Rather than 82 different helmets, 87 different chest pieces, 76 different boots, etc, you only have to load 1 uniform per class. This, I think, will ease the performance requirements for large scale PvP and make it more viable all around.
Mavajo Posted January 23, 2012 Posted January 23, 2012 If this would help performance, then I strongly endorse it. I'm not exactly checking out people's gear in the middle of a fight anyway.
justahdude Posted January 23, 2012 Posted January 23, 2012 I like this idea, though i think it should be a toggle-able option. I have a relatively fast computer so i dont have much of a problem with loading times or lag for that matter. I know for some people the uniqueness of their gear is important to them, i am one of those people and i would be a little upset if i were forced to be in a uniform, or forced to see the same bland uniforms across the board.
Mavajo Posted January 23, 2012 Posted January 23, 2012 Not sure why people would be upset by uniforms. Virtually every form of competition on the planet Earth involves the participants wearing a uniform -- everything from gymnastics, to football, to figure skating, to war. They've all got uniforms on. Uniforms in PvP make good practical sense. Also, I'm assuming the OP is only talking about Warzones, Ilum, etc. I don't imagine he's looking to force uniforms on everyone, everywhere in the game. If he is, then I have the same reservations as as the guy above me, and I think it should only apply to PvP environments.
Slamz Posted January 23, 2012 Author Posted January 23, 2012 (edited) I like this idea, though i think it should be a toggle-able option. I agree with that. I'm a fan of options. But the default would be that you enter an area like Ilum and see everyone else in "uniforms". I assume this is why games like Planetside, EVE and WW2O can have such massive battles with so many players in sight of each other -- and these games were developed years ago. None of them offer highly customizable equipment. Rather than displaying 16 players in their full glory of random assorted gear, they can display 50+ players because there aren't that many textures to load. Same reason you can play Battlefield 3 on the PC and get 64 players in a match. Even the console allows for 24 players. And here we are on our high end PCs playing a state-of-the-art MMORPG and we're generally limited to about 16 people in PvP. ("Massively multiplayer" with fewer people than a standard FPS??) Too high a price to pay just to see everyone's unique clothing. Edited January 23, 2012 by Slamz
Khremlin Posted January 23, 2012 Posted January 23, 2012 A month from now everyone looks the same anyway - plus or minus the "hide head slot item". I see no reason to have to load 33 fat merc healer chests and 49 chicken hawk lightening suits when my machine could just deal with the 1 of each.
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