A few days ago after a Discord chat, I put up a poll in general asking people how they generally switched weapons as a noob. The overwhelming majority said they used the weapon scroll wheel. The purpose of that poll was to highlight what I felt like as a noob was one of the biggest struggles I had with UT, to be honest its probably one of the reasons I gravitated more towards instagib. The fact is that changing weapons with scroll wheel is just horrible and slow. Its hard to get the right weapon, you are always going past it and having to come back to it. You spend way too much time trying to get the right weapon for the right situation that by the time you get it, you are basically dead. Sure even as a noob I knew I could use weapon number binds and that I could even manually set them, however as a noob who trying to focus more on the game, understanding it, moving around the map quickly, understanding the ranges and damages of the weapons, adding the weapon binds seemed like adding 10 more pieces to the puzzle that the scroll wheel solved with 1. I didnt think it would make that big a difference.
So in order to help new players enjoy the game better and be more effective of a player day 1, we need to come up with a better way to teach/show them the importance of switching weapons effectively and always having the right weapon out for the right situation. My idea is a little more complicated than auto weapon switch on pickup, but I think could be very useful. This feature of course could be turned on and off anytime and the feature would be limited to starting ranks. The intent is for the game to auto switch/suggest weapons based on the situation the player is in/distance to enemy on screen. Weapons would be grouped for close, medium and long range. When a player sees an enemy on screen, one of 3 colored circles would appear around them. For example lets use Green for close, Orange for Medium and Red for Long. Depending on the weapon a player currently as equipped and how close the players crosshairs are to one of these circles the game will suggest a better weapon that can be quickly selected using the "Best Weapon Key Bind". So for example if I have the sniper out, I come around a corner and an enemy shows up with an red circle, I have a rocket launcher available and after having that player on screen for a short time say .5 - 1 seconds, the game will flash a message saying something like "Press E to Equip Rocket Launcher" while changing the diameter of the circle in a sorta flashing attempt to draw attention to the weapon switch target. Press E and the weapon switches.
I think this would be incredible helpful to new players and be a big help to get them over one of the biggest hurdles of the game. Especially for players new to AFPS, coming from games like CSGO and COD where weapon switching isnt as important and you can realistically deal with any situation with the weapon you are currently holding. I understand that this would obviously offer a big advantage to new users in their ability to spot targets with the glowing, flashing ring around them, which is why it would be limited to low/green ranks only. Once you reach brown, the feature is disabled and you must learn to use the key binds properly. But at least by then, they will see how important the right weapon for the right situation is as well as being properly shown when and where to use the weapons.
So in order to help new players enjoy the game better and be more effective of a player day 1, we need to come up with a better way to teach/show them the importance of switching weapons effectively and always having the right weapon out for the right situation. My idea is a little more complicated than auto weapon switch on pickup, but I think could be very useful. This feature of course could be turned on and off anytime and the feature would be limited to starting ranks. The intent is for the game to auto switch/suggest weapons based on the situation the player is in/distance to enemy on screen. Weapons would be grouped for close, medium and long range. When a player sees an enemy on screen, one of 3 colored circles would appear around them. For example lets use Green for close, Orange for Medium and Red for Long. Depending on the weapon a player currently as equipped and how close the players crosshairs are to one of these circles the game will suggest a better weapon that can be quickly selected using the "Best Weapon Key Bind". So for example if I have the sniper out, I come around a corner and an enemy shows up with an red circle, I have a rocket launcher available and after having that player on screen for a short time say .5 - 1 seconds, the game will flash a message saying something like "Press E to Equip Rocket Launcher" while changing the diameter of the circle in a sorta flashing attempt to draw attention to the weapon switch target. Press E and the weapon switches.
I think this would be incredible helpful to new players and be a big help to get them over one of the biggest hurdles of the game. Especially for players new to AFPS, coming from games like CSGO and COD where weapon switching isnt as important and you can realistically deal with any situation with the weapon you are currently holding. I understand that this would obviously offer a big advantage to new users in their ability to spot targets with the glowing, flashing ring around them, which is why it would be limited to low/green ranks only. Once you reach brown, the feature is disabled and you must learn to use the key binds properly. But at least by then, they will see how important the right weapon for the right situation is as well as being properly shown when and where to use the weapons.
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