I pretty much feel the opposite. In FOC, it feels like you are competing with your own team to get as many kills as you can before you run out of waves. It's okay when there are two guys but throw four in the mix and I find myself wanting the other d00ds to die. Which is the exact opposite of how I played WFC.

....and I still have no idea as to how FOC has it geared towards promoting a teamwork atmosphere. It just feels shallow and limited in every way.

 

Like I had said before, the ability or role that each character is given is what promotes the teamwork. It's up to the player to use them like they were intended.
So you have a guy with a heal ray and you would hope that player would think "hey what should I do with this? Maybe keep my teammates alive?"

How about the ammo guy "Hey maybe I can help my team refill their ammo so they don't have to spend points on it"

"Maybe this flak shield can help me draw the enemies' fire while my teammates make it to safety or revive that downed guy"

"Hey look the additional firepower provided by this turret can help cover my team from enemies approaching from this direction while we cover the other side"

I think it was a good effort at making it a more of a team game compared to WFC.

 

Exactly!

What's the point of having this "Kickass" team if it's over before it even starts???

It's way too easy, Wave 15 of FOC it the equivalent of Wave 8 WFC.

 

Is there a formal method of doing this?

What is there e-mail address.

 

[email protected]

I sent them an e-mail earlier asking if they could include the option to increase the number of waves (among other things)

 

Every negative you guys are hitting on in FoC escalation is square on the mark.

I'm come to the conclusion that FoC escalation is designed for casual players. Not that there's anything wrong with that, just that the type of people who play these modes ad infitium are *not* going to be playing this mode months down the line without a significant revamp of the system.

 

Those are good points but FOC hasn't actually done anything that couldn't have been done using WFCs blueprint. Ammo beacons, turrets, shields and heal grenades or the energon gun were always available should the team decide that that was to be their strategy. That's what bothers me the most about the change up. WFC offered such a wide variety of gameplay and strategy while FOC basically makes the game predictable and quite bland.

I'm not arguing er nothing. I just think they took the fun out of the game by forcing everyone to play a certain way.

 

Wow, that sucks. More proof that HMS has done a poor job explaining Escalation. Rarely do I ream gaming manuals, as I can usually figure things out, but I had to look through the manual to figure out what the flak shield could do--sadly, it doesn't say 

Last night, I was lucky enough to join a group of folks who were willing to work as a unit. We went from escalation map to escalation map one after another completing waves 1 through 15 without restarting a single level! And we did all of this with only one mic! Once I explained what ammo beckon did to the guy who had it, he always activated it when we all formed up. Our healer, wasn't trying to get the most kills. He fought with his back to the wall behind us, healing us as necessary. The guy with C.L.U.T.C.H. used it when large groups appeared and quickly dispatched it when the groups were no longer a threat to speed up its recovery time. And the guy with the flak shield would draw fire from time to time, particularly when the huge titan came on to the scene to help give us a second chance.

After pointing out where the room to leveling up our weapons were, we all put our money into opening those doors and into teletraan, quickly leveling up our guns to level 3. Every time! No one needed to be reminded of anything. We were totally gelling!

Those playing escalation for points, probably aren't playing it right. I'm sure there are those that can do their designed task and get kills too, but a lot of folks still don't know what it is they're supposed to do.

This is why I think escalation should be story based. If Optimus, Megatron or whoever the group leader is issued out commands or if characters told you what they need (more regularly) or how to help out a teammate, we wouldn't have the issues we face in this mode.

When folks work together, doing their jobs RIGHT, escalation is a lot of fun and very doable 

 

.....but, not all of us want to play in that same manner every time which is exactly what FOC forces. I sometimes like to play solo and stomp the crap out of the enemy for 20+ waves using a cloaking based character. It's not that they haven't explained it, it's just not what many of us want out of the game mode.

I don't see how there's a right or wrong way to play Escalation. Being that you earn points with kills, I would assume we are doing just that, playing for kills/points. Besides, playing for points means you need to defeat higher waves of enemies, and to do that, you need to keep your team alive, therefore, teamwork was a must. Hence why I believe WFC did it so much better.

FOCs Escalation can be beaten without teamwork. It's just too short and without challenge on top of the lack of diversity. I mean really, my 8 year old has completed the new Escalation maps.

 

If you don't want to play as a team, you shouldn't be playing escalation, but competitive multiplayer play:/

 

I think you missed the part where I said playing as a team gets you to higher levels. I wouldn't have pulled off Wave 52 in Broken Hope without a team.

 

I didn't mean you per se, but those that don't want to. I was just pointing out that even HMS says that that mode is a team-based mode. I don't think the pulled it off well, but it is what it is.

 

I feel similar, except I have a very strong urge to help teammates. I'm slightly opposite, specifically, in that the only time I was reluctant to help teammates was when I was with one friend. Although it may just be because I'm super competitive, I kept checking the stats to see if I had more kills than him yet.  

 

Good point there too!

 

All it needs are more maps. I'm really bummed we're not getting a new level for the Dinobots in the next DLC. It would make so much sense to have the four of them in a hive-based level.

On a side note, I think it'd be neat if you could pick multiple characters. you would still have the four classes, and you would be limited to the same size body, but you could be Vortex instead of Starscream, etc. Adds a little variety. All the same, it is nice as it stands - you instantly know who your medic/ammo-guy is.

My friends and I have all the achievements in Escalation and while that isn't the only reason to play, you combine that with only 4 maps (each with preset, non-customizable characters) and we've had our fill for a while until they add something new.

 

Thanks.

I'm e-mailing them a similar request right now. I recommend that the rest of you do this as well. It doesn't have to be an essay. Just a few lines explaining how you feel about them downsizing the Escalation mode.

 

Exactly!

You'd think an idea like this would be priority.

I'll be sure to put this recommendation in my e-mail to them.

 

You can hold LB and have an option appear where A, B, X or Y makes a message appear on screen that reads like "AverageJoe: I need ammo".

I had to leave my game and get a headset just to tell a fool that his/her character could heal. I'm indifferent about the assigned role mostly because medics have to heal now because more times than not I felt obliged to buy the repair ray when I didn't want it.

There isn't a challenge in FOC. Why did I playe Wave 15 and have 5 soldiers and 3 Shotgunners or something stupid like that? Wave 15 Should be 5 Titans and 20 Shotgunners. I agree with whoeveer said that they couldn't get to Wave 52 without a team. Rather than forcing teamwork HMS should have realsied that the higher people got the more they worked together (unless some of the players weren't being co-operative.

I miss having to fight for survival - seeing how far I could go. 15 waves just pass buy so quickly and the worst part is I have so much credits in excess by the end.

 

LOL

I was thinking this the other day when I completed 15 waves on a solo run with Starscream. I was just 10,000 points shy of Tier 4!!!!! Gonna try again tonight on Hard mode and see if I can earn more money but the Sharpshooters are too good -- may not pull it off.