8. Experience (XP) system

OVERVIEW

Player performance in matches directly contributes to account progression and player levelling-up. The XP system should reward individual actions a player takes during a match, which can be recorded and scored in comparison to other players. It should also reward all aspects of play, unlike the traditional KDR, which is entirely focused on rewarding combat skills.

XP can be acquired through combat, game mode (objectives) and support roles – each of which should be balanced in terms of gain, across the board, to reward players who contribute to matches in ways other than combat.

GOALS

• To reward players for their good play during matches.

• To provide players with a long-term progression path, to keep them engaged.

• To give player a tangible outcome to their earnings during a match.

• To reward players for their role played in a match, regardless of Warrior picked.

USER STORIES

• As a player, I want to feel rewarded for my efforts during a match.

• As a player, I want some progression to keep me engaged, and give me a long-term goal to aim for.

• As a player, I would like to see that my actions have a tangible outcome and reward.

• As a support player, I want to be rewarded for my role as much as a combat-focused.

• As an objective player, I want to be rewarded for my role as much as a combat-focused.

EXPERIENCE SYSTEM

XP earned in matches is used for scoring the match and for progressing the player’s account. The intention Experience (XP) is to encourage and awarded players for:

1. Completing positive actions

2. Actively participating in the game

3. Performing exceptional or unconventional actions

XP awards follow these rules:

• In some cases, the XP contribution the player earned is awarded at the point the event is completed e.g. share of XP for damage is awarded when the enemy is killed etc

• In some cases, the XP contribution is awarded per tick e.g. share of XP is given per 1% of the EV escort that is completed

• XP messages are written to the HUD in the format “[Label] +[xp value]XP” e.g. “Kill +50XP”

• XP comes in four categories for use when breaking down XP on the scoreboard or awarding MVP statuses at the end of a match.

EXECUTION MODE

Execution will need some special treatment when it comes to XP awards due to the nature of the game mode, primarily to account for it being round-based with no-respawns. The goal of this is to give us methods to encourage and reward positive and exciting play, while increasing the XP/Min rate of playing Execution mode so it's like other game modes.

COMBAT XP

The key method for tracking combat XP is for when an enemy player gets killed or finished. Damage dealt is tracked from the moment of the first hit to death. To prevent players from exploiting healing mechanics to gain massive XP, the amount of XP split between the players should be capped to the health of the victim.

Some examples:

• A player of 100hp can only provide 100xp on death to the relevant players

• If that player is healed during this time and receives a total of 150 damage, the 100xp is split between the attackers based on the relative percentage of damage dealt

• If a player is ever healed back to full health the damage tracking resets entirely and damage dealt before the healing is ignored entirely KILL XP Labelled as "KILL +[x]XP", where [x] is the overall damage done by the player dealing the killing blow.

• If the killing blow is a headshot, this should be labelled as a "HEADSHOT KILL +[x]XP"

• If this is a kill that also instagibs (i.e. sniper rifle headshot or high damage explosive kill) the attacker will also receive an additional "FINISH +[x]XP"

ASSIST XP

Labelled as "ASSIST +[x]XP", where [x] is the overall damage done by the player, and another player has landed the killing blow.

FINISH XP

Labelled as "FINISH +[x]XP", where [x] is the overall damage done (divided by 2) by the player dealing the finishing blow. Overkill, where damage dealt in the killing blow is carried over to incap health, should also count as Finish XP when the victim is finished by the same killer.

FINISH ASSIST XP

Labelled as "FINISH ASSIST +[x]XP", where [x] is the overall damage done (divided by 2) by the player, and another player has landed the finishing blow. Overkill, where damage dealt in the killing blow is carried over to incap health, should also count as Finish Assist XP when the victim is finished by someone else.

LONG DEFENSE BONUS

The long defence bonus is an XP award for the defending team if they prevent the attackers interacting with the primary objective for 60 seconds. It is awarded in these circumstances:

• If the attackers have not repaired a destroyed RADIATORS at all in the last minute

• If the attackers have not entered the capture area in the last minute

• If the attackers have not placed a C4 charge in the last minute

• If the attackers have not picked up the documents/carriable objective in the last minute

This bonus is only awarded for primary objectives, not secondaries.