So I've been thinking for a while now. A lot of the game modes just aren't all that fun. Battle is probably the best mode in the game imo, and I think most of you agree. Deathmatch is OK, but its not the main staple of the game. Siege is also a great idea but I don't like the way its implemented yet. So these are my suggestions on changing the game modes to be more fun. Feel free to offer your own suggestions and ideas.
Battle
Keep as it is. Time limit needs to be extended for matches with more people.
Deathmatch
Keep as it is
Team Deathmatch
I detest this mode. Its just poorly designed.
Problems: this mode is too chaotic. People spawn right next to eachother, and this results in them comming from all sides. There is very little order, so it just turns into a big brawl. The main problem is the spawn system.
My suggestions: merge some ideas from conquest mode and TDM together to create a new TDM mode. That is, add spawn points which you can select to spawn at. Maybe make some spawns capturable. Alternatively, the spawn logic could be improved so that you always spawn near friendlies but not directly in the fray.Spawn time should be increased to around 10 seconds to make people value their lives a little more and not just run madly into the fray. This, I think, will help promote more organization, and together with the spawn points or improved spawn logic, make it a little more organized.
Conquest
This mode has good potential, but right now its poorly designed. And nobody plays it. That is the worst part. Some elements of conquest should be merged with TDM.
My suggestions: edit the conquest mode to make it more like the conquest on the Battlefield/front series. That is, add spawn points which you can select to spawn at. Starting spawns should be uncapturable for most maps, like they are now in other modes. Each spawn point would have a flag like they have now. Make 1 or 2 starting spawns for each team and 1-3 spawns in the middle of the map which you would then fight over. But the flags don't need to randomly be in the middle of fields; they should be at strategic areas. Controlling a forward flag would let you spawn there and thus give you an advantage.
Spawn time should be increased to around 10-15 seconds to make people value their lives a little more and not just run madly into the fray. This, I think, will help promote more organization.
The score system should work on a ticket method. You have something like 100-200 tickets (adjustable by the server admin, preferably), which are the number of spawns that you team has. Everytime you die and respawn you loose 1 ticket. Also, if you control the majority of flags on a map (ex: if each team has 1 starting flag and there is 1 in the middle, controlling the middle gives you 2, which is the majority), the enemy tickets decrease slowly. Sort of "bleeding" them, which makes controlling forward spawns important. Basically, if you have played the Battlefield games, I am suggesting a similar mode for M&B.
Add a new mode:
King of the Hill
I think a lot of people would like this
My suggestions: Have two uncapturable starting spawns, and 1 flag which you fight over in the middle. Once again, the flag should be in a place that makes sense, not some random field (Ideally, maps should be made that are focused on this mode, although village would be a good candidate as well). Both teams would fight over controlling the flag/middle spawn in a "king of the hill" type game. Spawn time should be put at 5 or 6 seconds, which is slightly more than it is now. After one team captures the flag, their faction's count-down would begin (maybe around 3-5 minutes). If they loose the flag, it stops and the other faction's count-down would begin. Whichever side's timer goes to 0 wins. Team Fortress 2 has a mode similar to this which is very fun. A big bridge in the middle of a map or a hillfort would make great king of the hill locations. The current Ruined Fort map is the best suited for this, although I don't especially like the map itself. But its the same idea.
Capture the flag
I am unsure about this mode, since its fairly decent as it is, but I still think it can be improved.
My suggestions: Put the flags in strategic places, like in ruins, on rooftops, or surrounded by some rudimentary fortifications. The point is that cavalry shouldn't be able to sneak in and nab a flag very easily without fighting. Also I think that forward capturable-spawns (like I suggested for TDM) would work well in this mode. It would allow infantry to spawn closer to the action and get to the flags faster. But there should only be 1 or 2 on the map to keep the focus on capturing the flag, not securing a spawnpoint. Also, spawn time should be increased a little.
Here are my suggestions for the flag placement on existing maps, with pictures
On Ruined Fort:
Village:
Field by the River:
Add a new mode:
Tactical Battle / Total War / whatever you want to call it
This is really nothing more than a battle server properly configured. The idea is to have human players commanding bot armies against one another.
My suggestions: Time limit: around 10-15 minutes.
Max players: about 10 humans and 100 bots. With 5 players per side, each person gets to command 10 bots if the bot count is set to 50 per side. This is a good amount, although slightly more or less doesn't hurt.
Default gold: 5,000-10,000, so that the human players can get good equipment (for reference, a Rhodok and Nord infantryman or cavalry maxes out a little under 8,000 and a Swadian cavalry maxes out at a little over 12,000)
Class/weapon restrictions: Human players should not be able to use an archer/crossbow class or use a lance on horseback. Doing so makes them into bot-killing machines and ruins the point of the mode. The player's role is to command and assist his troops,not to get into the thick of the fray all the time.
Bot balance: right now, Swadian cavalry is really strong. Its extremely difficult to beat them. The Nords are quite tough, but their cavalry can't throw spears, which I assume will be fixed. But honestly, I would rather see their cavalry removed and have their archers and footmen have more diverse loadouts. The Khergit horsearchers are also bugged, but their lancers are extremely good. I haven't tried Khergit vs Swadian cavalry yet, so I'm not sure which is stronger. But either one can easily mow down almost anything if your whole team spams cavalry. Vaegir cavalry is very weak because they ride saddle horses and get killed by infantry easily. Plus, Swadian cavalry decimates them. I don't really know why. The Rhodoks are fairly balanced, although their lack of cavalry is somewhat strange. I don't really know the direction the devs want to go with this faction, since they have decent cavalry in multiplayer. But back on topic, their xbowmen are fine, but Rhodok sergeants don't use their spears. And their hammers are very overpowered. You can spam Rhodok hammer men and destroy almost anything because their overhead swing block crushes.
I have several ideas about improving siege, but I will defer them 'till later, since I am not sure on concrete changes that would improve the game.
Battle
Keep as it is. Time limit needs to be extended for matches with more people.
Deathmatch
Keep as it is
Team Deathmatch
I detest this mode. Its just poorly designed.
Problems: this mode is too chaotic. People spawn right next to eachother, and this results in them comming from all sides. There is very little order, so it just turns into a big brawl. The main problem is the spawn system.
My suggestions: merge some ideas from conquest mode and TDM together to create a new TDM mode. That is, add spawn points which you can select to spawn at. Maybe make some spawns capturable. Alternatively, the spawn logic could be improved so that you always spawn near friendlies but not directly in the fray.Spawn time should be increased to around 10 seconds to make people value their lives a little more and not just run madly into the fray. This, I think, will help promote more organization, and together with the spawn points or improved spawn logic, make it a little more organized.
Conquest
This mode has good potential, but right now its poorly designed. And nobody plays it. That is the worst part. Some elements of conquest should be merged with TDM.
My suggestions: edit the conquest mode to make it more like the conquest on the Battlefield/front series. That is, add spawn points which you can select to spawn at. Starting spawns should be uncapturable for most maps, like they are now in other modes. Each spawn point would have a flag like they have now. Make 1 or 2 starting spawns for each team and 1-3 spawns in the middle of the map which you would then fight over. But the flags don't need to randomly be in the middle of fields; they should be at strategic areas. Controlling a forward flag would let you spawn there and thus give you an advantage.
Spawn time should be increased to around 10-15 seconds to make people value their lives a little more and not just run madly into the fray. This, I think, will help promote more organization.
The score system should work on a ticket method. You have something like 100-200 tickets (adjustable by the server admin, preferably), which are the number of spawns that you team has. Everytime you die and respawn you loose 1 ticket. Also, if you control the majority of flags on a map (ex: if each team has 1 starting flag and there is 1 in the middle, controlling the middle gives you 2, which is the majority), the enemy tickets decrease slowly. Sort of "bleeding" them, which makes controlling forward spawns important. Basically, if you have played the Battlefield games, I am suggesting a similar mode for M&B.
Add a new mode:
King of the Hill
I think a lot of people would like this
My suggestions: Have two uncapturable starting spawns, and 1 flag which you fight over in the middle. Once again, the flag should be in a place that makes sense, not some random field (Ideally, maps should be made that are focused on this mode, although village would be a good candidate as well). Both teams would fight over controlling the flag/middle spawn in a "king of the hill" type game. Spawn time should be put at 5 or 6 seconds, which is slightly more than it is now. After one team captures the flag, their faction's count-down would begin (maybe around 3-5 minutes). If they loose the flag, it stops and the other faction's count-down would begin. Whichever side's timer goes to 0 wins. Team Fortress 2 has a mode similar to this which is very fun. A big bridge in the middle of a map or a hillfort would make great king of the hill locations. The current Ruined Fort map is the best suited for this, although I don't especially like the map itself. But its the same idea.
Capture the flag
I am unsure about this mode, since its fairly decent as it is, but I still think it can be improved.
My suggestions: Put the flags in strategic places, like in ruins, on rooftops, or surrounded by some rudimentary fortifications. The point is that cavalry shouldn't be able to sneak in and nab a flag very easily without fighting. Also I think that forward capturable-spawns (like I suggested for TDM) would work well in this mode. It would allow infantry to spawn closer to the action and get to the flags faster. But there should only be 1 or 2 on the map to keep the focus on capturing the flag, not securing a spawnpoint. Also, spawn time should be increased a little.
Here are my suggestions for the flag placement on existing maps, with pictures
On Ruined Fort:
Village:
Field by the River:
Add a new mode:
Tactical Battle / Total War / whatever you want to call it
This is really nothing more than a battle server properly configured. The idea is to have human players commanding bot armies against one another.
My suggestions: Time limit: around 10-15 minutes.
Max players: about 10 humans and 100 bots. With 5 players per side, each person gets to command 10 bots if the bot count is set to 50 per side. This is a good amount, although slightly more or less doesn't hurt.
Default gold: 5,000-10,000, so that the human players can get good equipment (for reference, a Rhodok and Nord infantryman or cavalry maxes out a little under 8,000 and a Swadian cavalry maxes out at a little over 12,000)
Class/weapon restrictions: Human players should not be able to use an archer/crossbow class or use a lance on horseback. Doing so makes them into bot-killing machines and ruins the point of the mode. The player's role is to command and assist his troops,not to get into the thick of the fray all the time.
Bot balance: right now, Swadian cavalry is really strong. Its extremely difficult to beat them. The Nords are quite tough, but their cavalry can't throw spears, which I assume will be fixed. But honestly, I would rather see their cavalry removed and have their archers and footmen have more diverse loadouts. The Khergit horsearchers are also bugged, but their lancers are extremely good. I haven't tried Khergit vs Swadian cavalry yet, so I'm not sure which is stronger. But either one can easily mow down almost anything if your whole team spams cavalry. Vaegir cavalry is very weak because they ride saddle horses and get killed by infantry easily. Plus, Swadian cavalry decimates them. I don't really know why. The Rhodoks are fairly balanced, although their lack of cavalry is somewhat strange. I don't really know the direction the devs want to go with this faction, since they have decent cavalry in multiplayer. But back on topic, their xbowmen are fine, but Rhodok sergeants don't use their spears. And their hammers are very overpowered. You can spam Rhodok hammer men and destroy almost anything because their overhead swing block crushes.
I have several ideas about improving siege, but I will defer them 'till later, since I am not sure on concrete changes that would improve the game.
You spawn at the spawn point closest to your team; unless it's a random map in which case you can spawn on top of people quite literally, but their spawn points are borked.
