[General Discussion] Perks etc in FPS games - Yay or nay?

As anyone who's played an FPS in the last few years will know, the inclusion of perks and extra shit that improve your abilities and stats as you level up is pretty much a staple of the genre these days. From Rainbow Six to Space Marine, CoD to Battlefield, the more you play, the better you spray. Of the games I've played lately, Halo is the only franchise that limits these unlocks to something purely cosmetic, every other game gives you more guns and lets you use them better the more experience you earn.

So do you think this is a good thing or not?

Personally, I think it's a bit counter-intuitive to make players better, the more they play. Surely for the sake of balanced games, you should be making things easier for the new or less skilled players, not the ones who've been playing the game for several hundred hours already? This became particularly obvious when I started playing Battlefield 3 online yesterday. As a new player, I'm forced to use the basic equipment, none of the extra bits and bobs and no aids to aiming or anything whilst the people who've been playing it non-stop since it came out have all kinds of gizmos and gadgets and a lot more tactical options, on top of knowing all the maps and having had a lot of practice. Essentially I'm getting killed a lot.

I don't mind too much because I know I'll play the game a lot and level the playing field eventually but it's a little disheartening for a new player to say the least.

I suspect the reason games developers do this is two-fold. On one hand it's a marketing thing, encouraging players to buy the game as early as possible after release to avoid being left behind by the experience curve. On the other hand it's to do with the weird thing gamers seemed to have picked up whereby they play games to achieve something, rather than playing because it's fun. Reading on forums about people who've hit max level so have no reason to play anymore, or people who set up private matches to boost for achivements is something I'll never understand, I play games because I enjoy playing them.

That said, I don't think getting rid of level-up inducements is necessary, I'd just make them less gameplay effective. Halo armour for example is simply bragging rights. Rainbow 6 Vegas 2 let you unlock other guns but actually the ones you start with are more than decent and nobody wears armour online anyway. Space Marine has a great system whereby you do unlock perks and crap as you level but when someone kills you, you can choose to use their load-out when you respawn, meaning you get all their perks and equipment, stopping one load-out from dominating a match.

Anyway, do people here like the whole levelling up in FPS games thing or do you prefer a level playing field in your shootan?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by RacinReaver

The other way of doing it is a system like Firearms (old HL mod) used to have where you'd earn better weapons and perks each round, so if you joined halfway through a game you'd be at a disadvantage, but if you stuck around and did well at the start then you could really use it to your advantage.

Frontlines did this too. Everyone started the match equal (I think) then points you got you could trade for different equipment in-game. That you got way more points for capturing points than scoring kills also meant that people would actually concentrate on capturing points as it tended to be a quicker way to get the points for the completely over the top fuel bomb than trying to earn the kills. I guess it was like killstreaks in CoD but to grant permanent (For that game) perks.

There's nowhere I can't reach.