Mortars still not being reworked, why not?

[Naraga]

I'm pretty sure I already posted about this before about a year ago, and its closely related to the removal of friendly fire in the alpha (easily the worst decision made in the development track of this game which is plagued with dozens of horrible decisions).

As it stands right now (and has been for a very long time) the "officer" is by far the strongest class in the game while at the same time being the most boring to play out of all classes.

Because of the casual nature of the class (single click and win with unlimited range) combined with the devastating strength of the mortar this class is a fail proof way to get a good kill/death ratio even if you have no idea what you are doing, and for the more experienced player he is a surefire path to an insane kill count without even dying once yourself.

The playstyle is as simple and boring as it gets. Position yourself as far away from the enemy trench as possible while still having vision of the area, and then simply click on "hotspots" (i.e concentrated areas, spawn areas, bottlenecks etc) and reap in the kills. This playstyle gets even more obscene when defending, because rather than fighting in the trenches the best and most used tactic is to actually move one or even more lines of defense back behind the trench you are supposed to defend, and then simply call in mortars on cooldown at your own trench without any regard of where your allies are. I already made a thread complaining about this about a year back and argued that this was due to the removal of friendly fire, but the devs refused to acknowledge this.

If you perform these "tactics" (Something this simple hardly deserves to be called a tactic) properly, keep moving and make sure you are only visible for less than a second every time you click you can practically avoid dying the entire match long unless your team is pushed back to the last trench (depending on map).

What needs to be done to fix this though?
Of course I understand mortars need to have a devastating effect if used properly, after all thats the entire point. However I would suggest completely reworking the class to bring the skill required in line with the high reward/no risk playstyle.

Rather then "point and click" work towards introducing a physical mortar as an actual weapon useable in game, where you have to completely calculate the trajectory yourself taking into account various factors such as wind, weather etc. Also introduce a proper minimum firing range. Preferable make it in such a way that "blind firing" is nearly impossible to have success with and you need a spotter you tell you how to adjust your shots.

Of course, to avoid the "bombing my own trench 24/7 when defending" tactic friendly fire should be reintroduced. If you don't want it to extend to all firearms cause that makes the game too difficult for casuals, just keep it limited to mortars (similar to gas)

All of the above goes for artillery etc too of course. Another suggestion I would make in addition to the above is the introduction of a "second map" on every single map specially for the Officers (or preferable having mortar/artillery reworked into a new stand alone class and give Officers a better in the trench duty) that is unreachable for other classes and at a proper range from the actual map. From this 2nd map the Officers would fire their shots into the actual map making the experience complete, and needing a spotter on the actual map to tell them how to adjust their shots.

Of course I understand this can't be done right off the bat and especially the second map would require a lot of work. However I believe this is something the devs need to work towards as it would greatly increase gameplay experience for both the Officer class, and the person on the receiving end of the mortar strike knowing that his opponent actually had to put in some work to get that kill.

[[ßDF] Dahms]

During ww1 the wind or weather have no incidence for the shell after some nco are really combative i prefere rush and make a spawn in the ennemy line than rest at the back and only bombing if u use correctly the nco is not boring ;) I'm not for a physical field gun or mortar i not the nco work and for the player whose using it it's can verry boring to be at the same place at the back for use the mortar/field guns

[HarryHungwell]

While I agree that there should be friendly fire (if not complete FF or just from mortars) I pretty much disagree with everything else.

" Position yourself as far away from the enemy trench as possible while still having vision of the area, and then simply click on "hotspots" (i.e concentrated areas, spawn areas, bottlenecks etc) and reap in the kills."

Then he is hurting his team more than he is helping. I'd much rather have an NCO being close to the enemy trench and allowing us to spawn on him.

That being stated I do think that something should be done to break up the monotony of each match. Being that almost every match is nothing but Landser/Tommies spam.

[JamaicanDave]

Although I initially disapproved of no friendly fire I quickly changed my mind and found that it really benefits the gameplay. I like the idea of artillery being able to friendly fire (like gas), it would fit with the game style. The only worry is it could be deliberately used to cause grief - at least with gas you can put the mask on to prevent death.

Artillery probably does need tweeking, I've occasionally had games ruined when too many opposing players can call down atry accurately. It's no fun to spawn, get blown up, wait 20 odd seconds to respawn, rinse and repeat. BUT it still needs to be accessible to casual gamers.

[Seroquel]

The NCO is my favorite class to play. Mortars are a good way to get a good K:D ratio, but you don't even need to sit back to do that. I played on match on Argonne and I got like 50 kills as the Poiluis NCO by staying in the far left of the trench on defense and dropping my mortars on an area where the Germans would always run through, and killing the rest with my carbine.

[CrashToDesktop]

I've actually never seen anyone use the tactic as you described above, as an officer. In fact, I'm only ever seen someone go back a trench line on the Argonne map, to that little sniping point as the Sniper or Rifleman class, depending on the squad - but never the officer. Everyone now knows that you spawn on the NCO, and everyone is both smart enough and has a larger sense of honor not to do something as absurdly stupid as that.

Devs already states they they won't be implementing crewed weapons of any sort, be it a tank or a mortar or machinegun.

And I've also never seen "bombing my own trench 24/7" It's bad for the NCO's health. :P And it wastes a perfectly good mortar barrage that could otherwise have been used to actually kill guys advancing in NML or block entrance to the trench.

I do, however, want a sort of second map for the NCO in addition to the current point mechanic of laying down artillery. The NCO still has to expose himself greatly to enemy fire in order to call down artillery. In 1916 and 1917, the British developed the first "quick barrage," where a soldier could relay coordinates off of a map to an artillery battery, and they could put down fire in the area without having to call for ranging shots. The officer can pull out a map (sparsly marked, only with the friendly trench, NML, and enemy trench marked on the map), mark a location for artillery, and sit back. Obviously, it'll be less accurate than calling out a specific location for artillery (as doing that would be much more accurate), but it allows for some more flexible gameplay as the officer.

[Harlaus]

I don't believe I have ever seen anyone play NCO in the way you describe. You are assuming that the only thing players care about is their own kd ratio. NCO is actually a very fun and rewarding class to play as. Artillery is meant to be used as only support for the NCOs main combat role: leading the attack in the trench. The NCO that hangs back is hardly useful to his teammates; the NCO that moves up and acts a spawn point is incredibly useful. I would much rather play with an aggressive NCO than one who just hangs back and calls in artillery strikes. And if the NCO was on another map just calling in artillery, that would be ridiculously boring. NCO is worth far more than just his artillery strikes. He acts as a spawn point, his aura provides really great benefits to his squad... there really is no reason to just hang back as NCO and call in artillery. You can actually get more kills by moving up and its more fun that way.

[HarryHungwell]

Actually, I have seen it happen at least once and it was baffling. It was the one map that only has 1 trench per side and the Germans have that big rocky hill in the center of theirs. The NCO was just back there with binoculars calling mortars the whole time. Of course, his squad was rather useless.

[Seroquel]

Originally posted by Harry Hungwell:

Actually, I have seen it happen at least once and it was baffling. It was the one map that only has 1 trench per side and the Germans have that big rocky hill in the center of theirs. The NCO was just back there with binoculars calling mortars the whole time. Of course, his squad was rather useless.

Vosges.

[Blackore]

But the friendly fire with artillery comes with its own problems. Do you know how many times I have been kicked for teamkilling on Red Orchestra 2 while playing as "Commander" (basically the gun who calls down artillery to squad leaders' marks) after some brainless fools kept on walking to friendly artillery fire after being repeatly warned that there's artillery barrage incoming to area in question.

I personally keep calling Mortars to support my advance to enemy trenches as NCO. I prefer the "Squad can spawn on you" ability over any other ability.

[Walta Gaming]

Staying back an the trench is a great way to get your team mates to rage at you. On maps like Picardy spawning troops up front saves your team lots of time and prevents them from quitting the squad.

[Harlaus]

If you ask me, the only classes that even come close to being boring (and even these are still pretty fun) are the machine gunner and the recon observer class. MG on defense is basically just whack a mole with guns and the other one just doesn't seem that useful to me. NCO is one of the funnest classes to play as.

[Milkshake Boi]

Ah so you're the NCO who never moves up and lets his squadmates spawn as far back as possible. If the class has a boring playstyle it's because you are playing in a boring way. I have the most fun as an NCO moving into their trench and spawning in my squad so we can capture it quickly, which is the complete opposite to the human howitzer approach which you seem to have. Try using the WASD keys to actually move and not bomb from afar and you might enjoy yourself a bit more.

[The_Hoochbeave]

I've never encountered an NCO sitting on the sidelines, just calling in artillery strikes. Not sure what he's talking about. He'll obviously think its boring and stupid if that's how he thinks people actually play the class.

The spawn ability is the most important part of the NCO, which means the NCO is usually up near the enemy trench, not way off at the back of the map.

And the whole point is to keep the NCO alive, for aura/spawning. An NCO with a .500 or worse k/d ratio isn't doing their job properly.

Also WWI mortars have a range of 100-600 meters usually, if not more. There really isn't an map big enough to put a limit on the range.

And on top of all that, how many people can say they haven't been picked off many times while trying to get in a mortar strike on a specific location. Happens consistently, except maybe for that one guy Naraga is talking about that just sits off to the side somewhere.

[Englebert Humperdank]

I've had matches where I have ONLY been killed by mortars, or primarily by mortars ( and I've only played for 30-some hours).

I'm shocked that some people in this thread haven't seen/used the cheap mortar tactics described by op, because I definitely have and agree with the idea of friendly fire for mortars.

I do think that NCO is fun when you play aggressively though.

[Naraga]

Originally posted by J.E.Dickey:

I've had matches where I have ONLY been killed by mortars, or primarily by mortars ( and I've only played for 30-some hours).

I'm shocked that some people in this thread haven't seen/used the cheap mortar tactics described by op, because I definitely have and agree with the idea of friendly fire for mortars.

I do think that NCO is fun when you play aggressively though.

Yeah

These people use a weird line of argumentation. "I don't have fun doing that, so no one else does it that way".

Just because you found a way to inefficiently play Officer and find that fun, doesn't mean the way I described isn't the most efficient to play him along with the most commonly used by experienced players.

I find Aufklafer (?) especially fun to use as Dolchkampfer but I don't go around telling people that because of that no one else plays aufklafer with a rifle or that its better.

Its like saying "I don't find it fun to play with an aimbot, so aimbotting is not an issue"

In an hour or so I'll play an game as Officer using the tactic I described, ill post a screenshot of the end scoreboard.