While we keep working on the usual polishing and bug fixing, the next snapshot will introduce a noticeable feature: say welcome to Prestige!
I'm opening this new thread to present this feature, discuss it with TM admins/members, and also to keep track of your specific feedback.
What it is?
Prestige is our attempt to retrieve the original balance of the game, as it was initially designed. You're gonna like it - probably.
Why?
Back in 2003, Enemy Territory was unlike many shooters as it blended some RPG leveling element with the more classic FPS experience. Everybody loves to level his character to the maximum even today.
The balance of these skill levels were designed around the Campaign mode, which consisted of 3 consecutive maps after which the earned XPs were reset. Campaign was unfortunately not adequate for public servers, which preferred the Objective and later Map Vote modes instead. As XPs ranking was a way to fiercely display the capability of players to the world - much like a (virtual) wallet with plenty of big fat bills - soon the XP save feature introduced by some mods became the de-facto standard of measuring one to another (despite being merely a measure of time played, and barely related to player skill). And players greatly enjoyed it.
However, XP save also creates some imbalance by enabling skill abilities permanently (such as adrenaline for medics, or double strike for fieldops). These were never been accounted for in the original game balance, as XPs were reset at the end of maps or campaigns. Many mods introduced features designed to counter balance the side effects of XP save, f.e. by having bloaty options to limit adrenaline or self healing. In Legacy mod, we introduced several changes over time to get rid of XP save, by displaying XPs earned on the current map only (so no more displaying of your 2 billion XPs) or by introducing a more robust system to measure and compare players' skill (Skill Rating).
Looking at TM current server settings, it is clear that work wasn't entirely done, as skill levels are still permanently enabled for players. This is the entire purpose of Prestige.
How does it work?
Surprisingly, Prestige is very much like XP save: player's XPs are saved between played maps, and earned skill levels are retained for the next match. Where's the difference then?
Prestige keeps track of maxed out skill levels, and once a player maxes out all skill levels, the system will announce the player can collect a Prestige Point (PP) at the next intermission by clicking a button. Collecting a Prestige Point is entirely voluntary, and collecting a PP resets your current skill levels. Yes, you read that correctly: this is why they are called "Prestige Points" in the first place, because only the best players collect them!
Much like the ever-increasing XPs on some other mods, PP are displayed in-game on a separate scoreboard. There is no upper limit, and can be fiercely displayed to the world! The more you have, the more you are prestigious after all. Prestige of other players can also be optionally displayed by aiming at them (like classes and ranks), and a personal progress tracker to the next Prestige Point is visible on the limbo menu. And obviously, a new "Most prestigious player" award is now to compete for!
Advantages of this system include:
rebalancing the game closer to its original balance as designed, by ensuring the average random player is always in the middle of the skill levels
a sense of constant improvement: levelling up is what made ET cool and rewarding in the first place!
a more varied play style, as players would be enticed to play all classes more often rather than sticking to their favorite class forever instead
maintaining your skills: playing with (sometimes) a slight disadvantage makes you a better player over time
a clear way to display your inherent alpha male/female superiority over your peers. Prove them they're just pussies!
We hope this feature will help retrieve the original ET experience we all strive for.
What if we don't like it?
The good news is that you don't have to like it! Simply do not collect any prestige point and keep enjoying the game as you ever did.
What if it doesn't work?
This feature is actually based on similar systems implemented in more modern games. It seems to work well, and we hope it does in ET too!
This said, we're certainly interested in your feedback, and we hope TM admins will test this feature. We plan to monitor the server to see how it goes, and we've included some data tracker (in the database) to check if players collect points or not. Depending on the feedback, we'll see how to improve the feature if needed.
What if it really doesn't work?
The Prestige feature will be enabled by default in the next snapshot, but can be disabled by admins with a single cvar. It can also be completely disabled on our side easily before compiling the binaries, and in the worst case, if it really doesn't work without a clear mean to improve it, we can always scrap it entirely.
What if it actually work?
We'd be glad to see players enjoying a closer experience to the original ET again! We might also build some new features upon this system in the far future
We're looking forward to your comments and feedback!
Notes:
Prestige can be only enabled in Objective and Map Vote mode. It doesn't make sense to use it in Campaign or StopWatch mode.
While designed to be used with all skill levels enabled, the feature still works with some specific skill level disabled
Skill levels will have to be adjusted on TM, f.e. changing the current skill_medic "0 0 0 9999" to skill_medic "20 50 90 140" or skill_medic "20 50 90 -1"
A new database version will be needed. Sorry about that! We'll send instruction for a manual upgrade if TM admins wish to keep the current SR data.
