Bnet Suggestion - Customizable Army

[don]

Okay, I got this idea as I am currently re-playing Need for Speed Underground 2.

What if we could customize each unit in SC2 ladder like the cars in that racing game? Not really over the top customizations, but 1 visual add-on to each unit and say about 2 possible for each building?

Lets say we can add a flag with a custom emblem on a command center or extra thrusters/wings during lift-off. Or, Stock Nexus dont have those corner crystals and you have to get them. Or marines/ghosts have stock rifles and custom rifle models. Or Zeglings can have different shaped blades on their blade thingies? Nothing big, just subtle things that can make units unique.

As we play B-NET, we get ranking points right? What if we could use those points to 'buy' unit customization addons?

And say for a bigger cost, we can buy model overhauls, like those dark templar models.. what if one of those models are disabled in ladder play and can only be accessed is you have enough ranking points?

Of course it would only be visual add-ons.. And each add-on is still designed by the game modelers so the general look of the game is not compromised. And, it should be purely be buy-able from ranking points (not real money) so it translates that the more tricked out your army is, the better player you are.

To give an idea of the scale of when you can get them, the add-ons would be fairly hard to get.. say you get to buy the cheapest add-on during your 100th ladder game if your win-loss rate is above 60% (you get to choose what color your SCV welding effect is, from stock white spaks to amber sparks). B-NET would already have an achievement system, why not make achievements visible via your army?

Outside of ladder play, we would have full access to those customizations in the map editor for custom maps.

What do you guys think?

[LXM]

Funny idea, but not worth the time nor effort; it would just mean more time added to the beta and release ^_^

[Triceron]

While the idea of customization is nice, the system is bunk.

You're giving non-ladder rewards to Ladder players. This is a lose-lose scenario for Ladder players who don't play anything but, as well as non-ladder players who want the customization but can't justifying it by playing competitively.

This is like handing out PVE gear through PVP in WoW. It benefits neither the PVEer nor the PVPer. If you want to play SC with a bunch of customization, then play a mod that can do it. Money-maps were played like this and were popular, perhaps Customization maps could be just as popular.

[don]

The above screen is what we got currently.. There is already that Avatar/Decals thing. There are already achievements. And that number in the upper right, it seems to look like it is tied to how much you have already put into the game.

You already unlock Avatars/Decals, why not add more to what you can unlock? The way I see this, those things you unlock on the bottom right will be visible to other players but not during a game... i'm just suggesting why not instead or together with those icons, you can have something that other players get to see while playing with you.

Funny idea, but not worth the time nor effort; it would just mean more time added to the beta and release ^_^

Then one of the 2 expansions then.

While the idea of customization is nice, the system is bunk.

You're giving non-ladder rewards to Ladder players. This is a lose-lose scenario for Ladder players who don't play anything but, as well as non-ladder players who want the customization but can't justifying it by playing competitively.

This is like handing out PVE gear through PVP in WoW. It benefits neither the PVEer nor the PVPer. If you want to play SC with a bunch of customization, then play a mod that can do it. Money-maps were played like this and were popular, perhaps Customization maps could be just as popular.

But it will be a ladder reward as it would change how your ladder army looked.

As I see it PVE = SC2 Single Player, PVP = SC2 Multiplayer Ladder, and your army is your avatar.

[SaharaDrac]

Decals are customizable well...decals you can put on your units in game. They will be unlocked through achievements. They will be visible to other players in game on Bnet. You've made a thread to share your "idea" which has been confirmed for over a year.

[don]

Decals are customizable well...decals you can put on your units in game. They will be unlocked through achievements. They will be visible to other players in game on Bnet. You've made a thread to share your "idea" which has been confirmed for over a year.

Well, I hope we soon confirm that they have expanded from decals to unit attachments/alternate models by beta

[KillaKhan]

I'm hoping that they put in customizable decals to put on your troops.
Just nothing bad like: nazi signs or anything.

[Gifted]

While you may feel that small changes like this won't do much, for the high level of competition that the game could theoretically have, there is a level of subconscious identification that the eye has to do. Any changes to the "MODEL" itself can compromise that. I'll admit that personally, I'm slightly against the dual DT model in one way, but for it in another.

An example:

Zerglings have theoretically 4 prongs on it, with the way they blurr, it's hard right now to identify 10-12 for our untrained eyes. (Just like it was difficult when you started playing SC1) Over time, our eyes would adjust and you'd be able to see "7 zerglings" at a glance and mentally react by judging your army against theirs, should you attack or run, should you hold and wait, etc.

Now, just adding a single odd prong to the forehead changes the ability for the eye to compensate. Suddenly "landmarks" are changed and therefore your eye could be confused. More importantly, landmarks would not be consistent from game to game. While it may be trivial in some person's eye... think about how many pro games you watched where half a second decided the win or loss of a conflict on the map. It happens more often than you'd expect.

In terms of "realism/fun" it would be an increase/pro. In terms of competitive unit identification, it would be a "con". In other words, I think it'd be a great thing for singleplayer (which it already is, I shall cite the bunker with rockets on it as an example) but for competitive SC2, the value of the provided con would outweigh the pros for me over the long term.

EDIT: Additional point, people who are new to the game would also have an added level of confusion. In the singleplayer, "additions" are "improvements". If in multiplayer, a viking with 4 boosters vs 6 boosters could be identified at first as a "different unit" mentally.

That's my thoughts on the matter.

[Triceron]

So this idea IS for ladder play?

Then it's out of the question.

Avatars and Titles are bragging rights. Decals are minor additions that work like team color identification. New models would affect gameplay, making them difficult to quickly identify. This is ESPECIALLY the case if you're adding them as exclusive content.

[Genopath]

The big difference between N4S and SC2 here is that in N4S most of time you were seeing your customized car. In SC2, you look at lots of different units from different players which might have different decals and, under your idea, different unit models.

I like decals because they don't require the need to make new units, just a slight modification to the model. Under your idea one would have to add more unit models which translates into bigger loading times, possibly more computer lag by someone and could probably make units harder to distinguish to other players.

I would go for game play over realism any day, sir. Also as someone else adequately put, it will just delay the actual release and beta for something that might not make much difference and in some circumstances will be counterproductive in terms of gameplay.