The AI is what lets Breakpoint down most
Breakpoint has had a lot of work done since release. I've checked up on it now and then, and given my feedback. Quite a few times it seems Ubi has listened, which is fantastic.
Right now, I think the AI is Breakpoint's weakest area. From what I can tell it hasn't changed since release. A base under fire from a sniper they can't see simply hide. Everyone hides and stays there. Nobody flanks, nobody pushes. The only time its different is if there are drones, which tend to act much more aggressively, if not very intelligently. I can't be bothered to test again if the AI still can't climb ladders.
I prattle on about it whenever asked, but in any stealth game, the real meat of it comes from how many ways the player can interact with the AI. Say what you want about Metal Gear, but Kojima understood that. There are thousands of ways to mess with soldiers using weapons, gadgets, and the environment. Even the cardboard box, in MGSV, has different posters you can slap on it to get different soldier reactions.
There are an entire three ways to interact with soldiers in Breakpoint: distract them with a diversion lure (or bullet casing, thank you SO much for adding that!), melee them, or shoot them. Granted you can grab them but the only reason to do that is to interrogate them (I'm not 100% sure if you even can grab someone that doesn't have intel), and if that affects AI shooting at you.
This wouldn't be so bad if the AI was at least clever and did something to avoid getting shot, but with any kind of long range attack it is helpless. Why don't they call in choppers to find you? If they lose those, why not call in an Azrael drone to loiter overhead to bring down the wolves on you? Why do they not escalate in any way? The smartest thing I've ever seen them do is call reinforcements which was 4 guys who, happily, were deployed to my suspected location. But once they died the base did nothing. Absolutely nothing. No demands to report back from those four guys, no other measures, no movement even. Frozen, eerie nothingness.
Wildlands had a 'wanted level' type mechanic which worked well. In my opinion sequels need to innovate. So, my suggestion would be to have an alert level per region. The more trouble you make getting spotted and raising hell, the worse and worse opposition you'll face in that region. The alert level also bleeds into neighbouring regions as well, since they would be radioed. So, in a high alert region, if you're spotted, they won't just call four guys in a jeep, they'll bring everything they can to bear on you depending on the alert level. Four guys in a jeep first, then if that doesn't work, bring in more.
Here's the cliff notes for what I suggest:
(In keeping with Breakpoint's frankly fantastic array of tweakable parameters, everything I list should be adjustable, because that's a great thing to have in any game for any player. Genuine adoration for Ubi for doing that with breakpoint, I hope it continues with all their titles)
- Improve the AI all round. Snipers should move into different covers looking for an angle. Breachers should get in your face. NOT the same bullhockey that Wildlands did at first where, upon spotting you, the AI had X-ray vision and it was impossible to hide. The AI needs to be better at finding you, at trying to find you, and at protecting itself.
- Alert levels. If you raise hell in a region, that region should be more than ready to deal with you given a little time. Heavy armour patrols on the roads, choppers/drones/Azraels constantly overhead, search parties, trackers hunting you, and of course Wolves if you misbehave enough. This alert level should spread into surrounding provinces at a reduced rate, as in 'they could be coming your way, stay alert'. That way you don't cross a magical line into safety, and it makes sense for them tactically.
- Higher alert levels warranting more and more force by the AI. More units, more firepower. ACTIVELY trying to stop the infamous Ghosts raising hell instead of hiding behind a box until a timer runs out and they go back about their business. Alert levels take a long time, maybe a full in-game day without incident, to reset to normal. Until then, soldiers will be edgy and alert, spotting you faster and raising the alarm without hesitation.
- Do away with having specific radio guys who are the only guys capable of calling for help. It makes it far too easy to neuter the already hapless AI. If any base becomes alerted they should all have ways to call it in. The only way I think to prevent reinforcements would be to cut the power to a base, but it could still be called in from vehicles. That should not be a complex AI to write, if there's no power then look for vehicles in that base, go to it and get in. Start the engine then try to call it in from the vehicle radio. This would also work since if a base goes dark, teams could be sent out in vehicles (size/number of those teams dependent on the size of the base) to investigate. And if they hear a bunch of shooting, they'd immediately radio it in from their vehicles before even getting out to help.
- Give them toys, give us ways to fight them. If the Wolves are led by a former ghost, give them pocket drones like ours. They could send them out to find us. Thermal and night vision. Thermal of course could be counter-acted by prone camo, like good ol' Arnie. regular dudes could deploy smoke, gaining cover from snipers and giving us more use for thermals. Give them gas masks they can put on, give us gas grenades/mines. Give them flamethrower dudes. Give them grenades! Smoke, gas, frag, whatever. I think the AI can use these but I hardly ever see it. Underbarrel launchers! They're funded to the gills, give them toys! Give them ninjas, I don't care at this point, just anything that makes them not another one of infinite dudes helplessly waiting to be shot in the head. They all act untrained and terrified and it's fun for about 30 seconds.
- Random teams in the world are neat, but too repetitive. Easy as pie to dispatch. A wider variety of those is needed. Message me if you need ideas and I'll keep you busy all night (I'm not flirting, promise). Also, teams like that would be expected to radio in. When they don't, because they were sync-shotted or grenaded, that could raise the alert level of the province slightly. No commander is going to just ignore a team going missing. People would be sent to the area, and upon discovering bodies, would report back. That way the player/group has to decide if that intel/bagman/vehicle is worth the heightened alert level over simply going around.
- Prowlers. idk, I'm not a military guy, but hear me out: If the alert level is medium-to-high, I'm gonna want extra guys patrolling around bases, not just inside them. Make base patrols unexpected with a priority on high ground. You might approach a base you've been to before, but because you've been causing trouble, there's now several patrols around the base looking for snipers and infiltrators. Drones of all kinds, even wolves if you annoy them enough. All groups capable of radioing back and expected to check in (as any patrol should be), giving the player reason to look elsewhere, find new approaches, or simply go with what they know and face the consequences.
I might add more to this later. I guess my biggest request would be this: Ubi, please don't make another Ghost Recon, not yet. Get this one right. Keep improving it. It's come SUCH a long way, don't make another one and have to do this all over again. If you keep working on this, you're only going to attract more players as it gets better. Breakpoint could very well be the greatest ghost recon of all time if you let it, and if you listen to your fans I promise, out of respect, we'll keep hitting up that store to support the games development.
You've done GREAT so far. You've taken an honestly repugnant and unwelcome addition to the GR franchise and turned it into something fans are enjoying. Don't stop! Make Breakpoint amazing. It has everything you need to make a stunning game. Then, when you have the formula just right, make the next one and build on it.