So, whether or not Conquest was supposed to be on the Siege server, I'm not sure. But, tonight on NA_2, around 10:30 pm CST we played it. I was lucky enough to be defense all 3 rounds. This is, however, my first impression playing Conquest, I'd only always just heard stories.
That being said, if it is to be considered for actually becoming a thing in cRPG, I would like to provide some good ideas for balancing it so it's fair to both sides, but first let me address my complaints and then build a foundation for them to be fixed later on in this thread.
Complaints:
1) The rounds are too long. 30 minutes for one round? :OOOO and especially having to play 3 rounds to win? If the teams go stalemate 2-2 and have to tiebreak, that means that potentially that single map was played for 2 hours and 30 minutes. <--- THAT'S INSANE! Just to win 3 rounds as defenders was 1 hour and 30 minutes.
2) Multis! If you didn't have a x3+ to start, you are going to hate grinding through each round of this.
3) Odd spawns for Offense (so I'm told) they select a spot after capturing it, but still get put at their default spawn.
4) Spawn Timers..
So, now that I've made my main complaints and again, I played as defense all 3 rounds, so I am counting on those on offense to weigh in on it..but here is what I would consider to fix the mode and make it more enjoyable, fast paced, and rewarding. I'm not sure how far these stretch the limitations of the current scripting--but it is something the devs should consider if they do not want to part ways with Conquest's idea (because I think it is very very good and fun, if done right!)
[I'm going to address each fix, in the order in which I made the complaint]
1st. To fix the duration of the rounds and not make them take so long, do the following:
Instead of starting with 30 minutes, start with 15. The Offense has 15 minutes to take one of the first objectives. If they take the objective, 5 minutes gets added to the timer. All in all, if they take 4/5 they've bumped themselves to 35 minutes total to take the final keep flag--however, if they fail to even take the first objective, defense isn't stuck waiting forever.
2nd. To fix the multi and rewards, I would do the following:
Right now as it sits, you are stuck with your multi until you win or lose the 30 minute round. This is disheartening for those with very low multis. What I propose is at the beginning of each round, start defense with a 5x, and offense with a 1x. As offense captures an objective, they gain a multi and defense loses a multi (by one point per flag), this would make coordinating and paying attention MUCH MORE crucial for everyone involved. The main problem with this though is once Offense captures the 4th/5 flag, they will have a 5x, but once they capture the final flag and end the round, they'll go back to x1...which may cause problems :/ all in all there needs to be a faster progression of multipliers.
3rd. Just fix the damn spawn locations.
4th. Spawn Timers for Defense are way too fast. Seeing as you can choose your spawn on defense, there was often many times where offense players would need to fight the same defender 2-3 times in the same life, and defeat them each time just to cap the flag. That's rough on them. It's kind of funny in a way because Siege currently has 30 second respawns, even though their timer shows like 6-8 seconds (on low population) and is horrible for low-pop siege, but in Conquest that timer is completely accurate..and way too fast.
I think Conquest can become a very enjoyable game-mode, especially if the maps are balanced properly, and the rewards are set in place so that it doesn't feel like an endless grind. The bigger the numbers the more fun it is going to be, and I very well think that with the right commitment to fixing it, and the right amount of effort, conquest could be a great game-mode for cRPG. A long anticipated, and highly sought after game mode--but as it sits right now, it's a burden on the server.
