Well, at first I would say don’t copy it at all, but I don’t think Microsoft will pass the chance at making money off COD’s playerbase. It’s something we have to live with, the era of Halo being a 100% arena shooter has passed. But CoD has perfected their formula throughout many titles, so if you’re going to copy it, don’t half- -Yoink- it.
- Ordinance Drops ~ Care Packages
Care packages have an inherent weakness/risk (which is why not everyone uses it):
-it can be stolen,
- it has to be dropped out in the open (vulnerable) for it to drop from the sky,
-it has a delay before it finally drops,
-its drop location is shown on the minimap to enemies.
Ordinance drops are instant, can be called anywhere, and they don’t have an map/HUD indicator of where enemy ODs are dropped.
If you’re going to add ODs to the game, give them a cost/benefit risk. Make an announcement to the whole arena that an ordinance drop is coming to this location (O). Maybe even announce if it is going to be a super power weapon (ie. binary, rocket launcher, inc cannon). This will add more map movement and a struggle/defense for each team’s OD called onto the map. At least you’ll know which direction an enemy RL will be coming from.
Also, decrease the %chance of getting the best power weapons (snipers,heavies). There’s a reason why you have a 45% chance of getting only ammo crate, UAV or counterUAV in call of duty. With ordinance drops, not only can you just neglect the bad weapons because you have 2 other options to choose from, but the best power weapon %chances are all multiplied by 3.
- Tactical/Support Mod ~ Perks
I actually think the mods are well done-- apart from the whole fiasco of specializations emails and restricting European/UK/etc players from 6 specn mods. No one wants to feel disadvantaged, or that it is not a level playing field with mods unlocked for only a certain group of people.
I actually think there should be a third tier of mods-- non-gameplay mods. Fast track (Higher XP gains) should be in this category, since it only affects things outside of gameplay. Other possible mods in this category could be speeding up the requirement for certain armor, helmets, achievements etc, adding skins to hardliteshield/helmets/weapons in-game
Loadouts ~ Loadouts
This was done very well, because you can modify your classes in-game. The only issue I have is that there is a limited number of loadouts (maybe unlock 1 more loadout slot per specialization) and limited options for loadout (people rarely venture outside of DMR/boltshot, I haven’t seen carbine/stormrifle in ages).
It is not a bad thing to borrow ideas from great games (I’m not saying COD is great), developers do it all the time, but make sure you do it the right way. Constructive criticism please