Hello, and welcome to another one of my essays. If you're going to read it, please read it in its entirety.


My Beliefs About What Perks Should Be

Perks are a major part of Call of Duty, but they should not be overly constrictive. I generally think that perks should give you broad, sweeping benefits such as reload speed, movement speed and ammo count. Extremely narrow perks (Scout, Tactical Mask) are not as useful. They, especially Scout, are pigeon holed into a certain strategy, and that's just not fun. It'd be far more enjoyable if all perks benefited you at all times, no matter what your weapons or setup.


My Beliefs About What Perk Tiers Should Be

I think perk tiers should have their members have a similar effect. Black Ops has done well with this, having Tier 1 as "Style Defining" perks, Tier 2 as "Weapon Perks" and Tier 3 as "Body Perks". Keeping this idea is pretty good, as it makes a lot of sense and usually provides pretty fair synergy.


Taboos

No perks that screw with effective levels of health or damage (Juggernaut, Stopping Power, Second Chance/Last Stand, Danger Close, Flak Jacket). Did I just categorize every broken perk ever in one sweep? Yes. Yes I did.





Tier 1
Character Defining perks that passively change how your character works, without the player having to do an action to see the benefit.

Ghost
You do not show up on spy plane scans.
Pro - You gain invisibility to helicopters for 10 seconds after you spawn and after the helicopter's arrival.

Marathon
Your base move speed is increased by 7%
Pro - Unlimited Sprint

Hardline
Killstreaks require 1 fewer kill to earn
Pro - You can cycle through available killstreaks and can view your current killstreak

Recon
Your Spy planes, Counter Spy Planes and Blackbirds last 15% longer
Pro - Enemies you damage appear on the radar for 2 seconds

Scavenger
You can refill ammo and grenades from dead bodies
Pro - You spawn with an extra tactical and lethal grenade




Tier 2
Weapon altering perks.

Warlord
You can have 2 compatible attachments on your primary weapon
Pro – You spawn with an extra magazine in all weapons (except for land-to-land launchers)

Sleight of Hand
You reload and switch weapons faster
Pro – Faster ADS (except sniper rifles)

Hardened
Extra bullet penetration
Pro – Extra damage to non-human objects (killstreaks, barrels, etc)

Steady Aim
Tighter hip spread
Pro – Less muzzle sway on taking damage

Marksman
Faster centre speed after you stop firing.
Pro – Less scope sway, higher zoom level ADS




Tier 3
Supplementary perks that offer a small but noticeable benefit.

Ninja
Silent footsteps
Pro – Enemy footsteps are louder

Hacker
Equipment glows red, even through cover.
Pro – You can hack equipment and care packages

Tactical Mask
Tactical grenades have a lesser effect on you
Pro – Enemies hit by your tactical grenades have their direction indicated to you

Fleet of Foot
You climb obstacles faster and can aim faster after sprinting
Pro – You don’t take fall damage

Demo Man
Explosives near you have delayed detonation
Pro – Picked up grenades have their timer reset, frag grenades cannot explode in your hand (timer stops at 2 seconds)


Please offer your opinions on both my perk positioning and the newer perks that I have suggested. Please refrain from raging at anything without saying anything constructive. I will frown and cry.

This is a great thread. The perks you have chosen are great, None seem OP.
Demo man sounds great.

Great great thread

I really like Recon, I wish it were real!

Nice ideas, I'd use Recon a lot I bet. Demo Man sounds pretty handy as a substitute for flak jacket too (at least until the launchers come into play... or cooked nades)

And just a little heads-up, 15% extra move speed is a lot more than it sounds like!

Indefinatrix wrote:

I thought that's how much Lightweight gave you?

*checks*

Looks like it's 7%... Better go change that.

It was something like 10% or something in the beginning of MW2, and appearently it both allowed people to make certain jumps and it was just in general faster than they thought as far as I know.

I personally don't mind SP and Jugs as perks... but they would have to either "cost" 2 perk slots or something or have a tier of their own, they're too dominant in any other tier.

Or like the MGO skill system. Some skills costs more than others on level 3. "Assault Rifle 3" takes 3 slots, while "Monomania 3" takes 1 slot if that makes sense?

But we definitely don't need the perk system to get even more variables and potential pitfalls

Excellent ideas my friend!

There is one thing I would have to disagree with you on and it seems to be a touchy subject for some. I believe second chance should make a return. LOL jk

I believe Stopping Power should make a return. You can either agree or disagree with me, but in my opinion the Ghost perk, while dominating its perk tier, is a game changing perk. A single perk that not only benefits the user, but when its affect can actually change the dynamic of the game it NEEDS a competent rivaling perk that people would actually have to sacrifice, such as Stopping Power.

I'm sure I speak for a lot of people out there when I say Black Ops is probably the slowest-paced COD to date. Now don't get me wrong, we can probably point the finger at a bunch of suspects for the cause of this, but I honestly believe the Ghost perk has a lot to do with it.

The trick to balancing perks isn't to add another imbalanced perk to even it out. It's to balance it properly.

Now by reducing its Pro ability to 10 seconds of safety, I believe it relegates Ghost to an anti-air support class. You can't just use it and run around doing your normal thing because after 10 seconds you will die.

Stopping power was a subtly back-breaking feature of MW2. It should stay out. Additionally, I would argue that the lack of stopping power is what makes Black Ops slower, not Ghost.

The fact that you can no longer reliably kill in 2 or 3 bullets and that fact that you can actually run away from a fight under the right circumstances makes the game less of a "he who shoots first wins" scenario, which I believe is a good thing. The pace of MW2 was idiotic and did not reward intelligent play. This is reflected in the KD spans of the two games. In MW2, the vast majority of people had a KD between 0.8 and 1.2, whereas in Black Ops you see far more 0.4 and 3.0 KDs. This is because, in MW2, bad players could do well because many engagements relied very little on skill. If you shot, you won. This is not true in Black Ops and, I believe, that is a good thing.

i would change ghost ot make it so that you dont get a ghille suit with it, that would make it easy to spot a bush wookie...

Ok the nit pickyness in my is just swelling up so sorry. First off its Mw3. Not black ops 2. (Ghost=Cold Blooded Hacker=Sitrep Hardened could be an the FMJ attachment again which could be useful if they move noob tubes up on the attachment list and Warlord=Bling) What makes you think they will make snipers useless like BO? IW is probably going to do snipers without even attempting to make them boring. lots of people like to snipe in IW games for some reason. Why piss them off? (BTW throw in another bolt action or 2. Not a huge fan but 1 bolt per game is weird for snipers) What makes you think their going to change cold blooded? Something that wasn't a problem in Mw2 which most people blame because of the lack of stopping power. What makes you think they wont bring that back? Now they could take out stopping power but their not replacing it with a sniper perk that makes the sniping tolerable. I liked marathon better when it was infinite in the first place. Steady aim pro was an effective marksman in Mw2 as well. No dude Mw3 should be just like Mw2 with some improvements and some innovations. I'm not saying nothing should come from black ops but it should be an improved Mw2.

Tier One

- Scavenger
Enemies drop ammunition bags. [PRO] Extra starting ammunition and grenades
- Sleight of Hand
Faster reload. [PRO] Aim down sight faster
- Bling
Have two attachments on primary weapon. [PRO] Three attachments on primary weapon and two on the secondary weapon
- One Man Army
Swap to a different class. (Cannot be paired with Grenade Launchers) [PRO] Swap classes faster

Tier Two

- Stopping Power
Multiplies damage by 40%. [PRO] Deeper impact through cover
- Juggernaut
Multiplies health by 40%. [PRO] Resist explosive damage by 35%
- Cold-blooded
Stay hidden from enemy spy planes. [PRO] No crosshair or redname when targeted.
- Lightweight
Multiplies speed by 35% [PRO] No falling damage
- Hardline
Killstreaks require one less kill. [PRO] Killstreaks require two less kills

Tier Three

- Ninja
Move silently. [PRO] Amplifies enemy footsteps
- Sitrep
Detect enemy equipment and grenades. [PRO] Ability to see Ninja PRO users every 25 seconds.
- Last Stand
Pull out your pistol 3 seconds after being downed. [PRO] Instantly pull out your pistol
- Marathon
Unlimited sprint. [PRO] Climb obstacles faster

Xist__ wrote:

I thoroughly disagree. MW2 was a vastly flawed game and one of the most annoying aspects was the huge number of irritating snipers. While I'm aware that they probably won't nerf snipers, I'm really hoping they do because 360 grizz-kids are annoying as hell.

As for perk names? Who cares? You know what I mean, what does it matter?

I like the game without Stopping Power, it makes it require more skill. If this means that Ghost/Cold Blooded needs to be brought down a notch then so be it. My alteration forces it into a mostly anti-air role with a bit of utility. That's good.


As for RoyalMuffo, I hope you never design a game. That was the worst suggested perk list I've ever seen.

RoyalMuffo wrote:

so for hardline pro here i need 1 kill to get a UAV ....

also by see ninja pro users what u mean? u can hear for those 25 secs

WaterCountry wrote:

Can we not discuss the stupid guy's ramblings?

Ninja pro users will have a red glow (like when you see equipment) to them ONLY visible to players using Sitrep pro.

Perks:

Omg perks, oh wow. So perks are the foundation for modern CoD, they’re awesome and fun and cool combinations can be found and they add a depth to the game that you can’t find in another shooter. There are three tiers of perk, as usual in my MW3. Let’s begin, shall we?

Blue Perks:

Survivor:
Start with extra ammunition.
Survivor Pro:
+ Resupply from dead foes.

Warlord:
Two attachments on primary weapon.
Warlord Pro:
+ Two attachments on secondary weapon and one extra lethal grenade.

Fleet:
8% Movement increase.
Fleet Pro:
+ Faster fire time after sprinting and faster climbing.

Sitrep:
See enemy equipment through walls.
Sitrep Pro:
+ See the paths and destinations of enemy killstreak rewards (See where the airstrikes coming, see where the mortars are placed etc) and silenced enemy weapons appear on your radar.

Sleight Of Hand:
Faster Reload.
Sleight of Hand Pro:
+ Faster weapon switching, melee and equipment use.


Red Perks:

Stopping Power:
Increased Bullet Damage.
Stopping Power Pro:
+ Increased Air Support Damage

Juggernaught:
Increased bullet resistance.
Juggernaught Pro:
+ Increased explosive resistance.

Steady Aim:
Tighter hipfire crosshairs.
Steady Aim Pro:
+ Faster ADS (Including Snipers because you give up stopping power) and decreased idol sway and longer hold breath.

Hardline:
Killstreaks require one less kill and cycle through attained killstreaks.
Hardline Pro:
+ Killstreak kills count towards your killstreak.

Cold-Blooded:
Don’t show up on UAV.
Cold-Blooded Pro:
Invisible to enemy air support, removed crosshair and red name and removed aim assist (on console).

Green Perks:

Marathon:
Unlimited Sprint
Marathon Pro:
+ No Falling Damage

Ninja:
Quiet Footsteps.
Ninja Pro:
Silent footsteps and increased enemy footsteps (enemy ninjas sound like normal footsteps, enemy ninja pro sounds like normal ninja) and your character doesn’t say anything when he throws a grenade or plants equipment or reloads.

Tactical Mask:
Increased resistance to stun and flash grenades.
Tactical Mask Pro:
+ Flashed and stunned enemies appear as red dots on radar. One extra Tactical Grenade.

Hacker:
Invisible to enemy motion sensors.
Hacker Pro:
+ Hack enemy supply crates, sentry guns, equipment and your sights and equipment work in the radius of EMP emitter and EMP Grenade.

Hardened:
Hit direction indicators are clearer and no red screen when on low health.
Hardened Pro:
+ Decreased View Kick when shot. Increased Bullet penetration.

That’s it for perks, I think the blue perks balance each other out because they kind of set you up for your play style; they kind of augment your setup. The Red perks are the ones that are most helpful, bullet damage, stackable killstreaks, and more health, invisible on radar, better hipfire and ADS. The Green is just the support perks, things to add to your setup to support your play style.

Can people please stop posting full perk lists? If you want to suggest a Hierarchy then make a thread, don't Hijack mine.

maybe..

Free-Kill wrote:

Sorry but I disagree here. Removing stopping power only made the game that much more connection dependent. I can play any other CoD and do much better because I don't have to worry as much about my bullets getting "lost" while I'm shooting someone in the back so unless they give us dedicated servers, they need something to help those of us who can't get great internet still be able to play the game.

But back to the main topic, I think your perk ideas are really good. However, I do somewhat disagree with Flak Jacket being OP.

SMW3883 wrote:

Flak Jacket isn't OP, but the game would still work fine without it.

And your argument makes no sense. If the game requires 3 bullets to kill, and 1 goes "missing", as you say, then you lose 33% of your damage.

If it requires 4 bullets to kill and 1 goes "missing, you only lose 25% damage. Stopping power makes the game MORE connection dependant because he who shoots first wins, and that's usually the guy with the connection advantage.

In MW2 I can shoot someone even on my shitty connection and kill them. In BO if I shoot someone in the back 5+ times I still get turned on. Maybe that has nothing to do with stopping power, and if so I retract my argument, but to me it makes sense that having SP makes the game less connection dependent because SP makes up for a little bit of my shitty connection.

SMW3883 wrote:

It has nothing to do with Stopping Power whatsoever.

You can't say "it makes up for my shitty connection" when they benefit from it more than you do. It makes no sense.

The fact is that if you can land three shots reliably in MW2 and none of 5 in Black Ops, you're just bad at Black Ops.

The problem isn't that I'm bad at black ops or that I can't aim. Its that when I shoot someone on my screen they can turn around and kill me instantly because my connection is so bad. And I said I would retract my argument about SP so I am, but theres no need to get pissy with me bro.

SMW3883 wrote:

I'm not being pissy. I'm saying what I think.