Tier Mode and Hardcore Immersion Mode - Both force a certain play style | Forums

[Virtual-Chris]

I played Tier Mode extensively in Wildlands, and grew to hate it. The insane lethality forced strategies and tactics that ensured you were never in the line of fire. You had to engage from long distances, use the explosive drone, mortars, sync shots, and anything else you could draw on that meant you were never exposed to enemy fire. Because, if you got shot, you were dead, especially at higher tiers. Of course the other reason I hated it was the insane grind, but that's not relevant to this discussion.

People use to brag like playing Tier Mode was super difficult. It was actually stupidly easy to just play Tier Mode through the drone.

I've read some posts here and on Reddit by folks that love the injury system. I also like it, but in order to have decent enemy response time, I feel I need to play with enemy difficulty set too "Advanced" which makes them fairly lethal.

Now if you're truly hard core, you will play immersion mode without regeneration and syringes. Let's face it, both of these are equivalent... one is automatic, the other requires a button press... but both artificially increase your health.

And if you're really hard core, you won't use enemy HUD tags. So you don't know where everyone is all the time.

The problem is, at least based on my experience, if you play this way... Advanced/Extreme, injuries often, and no regeneration or syringes, without HUD... you die very quickly. It's incredibly lethal. Once you're injured it's typically just a precursor to death. And if you're not injured, your health is getting reduced to the point where you're soon a one-shot kill. Add Wolves into the mix, who have increased accuracy and damage, or Murmurs which are impossible to take cover from and hit, and it gets to be extremely lethal. So what do you do? You start to use tactics that minimize your exposure to enemy fire.

So while Tier Mode and hardcore Immersion Mode may be realistic and require a lot more care, is it taking the fun out of the game? What's the point of playing a shooter, if you have to snipe enemies from 300+m or use stealth to the extent that all you ever do is shoot someone in the back of the head with a handgun?

Ultimately, I want to get in firefights and have a chance of surviving. I don't think Hardcore Immersion Mode supports this. You need someway to stay in the fight, which is either syringes or regen. Otherwise, you're just starting over and over again... or playing from a distance,

Thoughts?

[lesh-1]

Tier one mode is just great! This is the best that video games for four players can offer. If you disable HUD, it's generally just brilliant. I wish I had four friends who would like to play in this mode with the interface disabled. But I have to admit that after about level 23, the enemies begin to cheat, and react quickly to your appearance. But it's still cool! I really like when the enemies are very complex, and kill you with a few hits. In the Wildlands, the main problem of open shootout in this mode is the small possibilities of animation of your character. They are not convenient for such a duel where you are killed with a single hit. WELL, about the meaning of playing a shooter, do not forget that this is a tactical shooter and the main interest is reduced to tactics and not the speed of targeting. They could solve the problems of quick death in open combat by simply allowing the armor that we put on the character to work but they decided not to. Excuse my English

[Stomp0nMybaIls]

I'd say the one difference between immersion mode and tier 1 mode(besides immersion mode not being trash), is that it doesn't have the grindwall that tier mode had, since tier mode essentially forced you into a cycle of just completing 10 missions over and over again ad nauseam, while you had the frustrating duel Uzi snipers who could rock you from 300 meters away. Breakpoint's AI seems more fair to me in that regard, since the only really high damaging unit being the shot gunner has to be point blank before he fires.

[Icetyger4]

I see what you're getting at Chris. But isn't that the point of playing on such extreme settings? Shouldn't using the hardest settings, no HUD, etc, be an approximation of real life?

In real life, you wouldn't have a show it all HUD, health regeneration, or magic syringes, so you would have to employ tactics that would ensure your safety. Every time you approach an area, you would repeat the same tactics that keep you safe. I doubt real life special forces just make things up as they go, or try to change the way they do things just to make it more interesting. I believe they would stick to whatever tactics keeps them safe.

When it comes to Breakpoint, you have a whole host of options to tailor the game experience to your liking. After some experimentation, everyone can find the balance between realism and fun that they enjoy.

[Virtual-Chris]

I'd say the one difference between immersion mode and tier 1 mode(besides immersion mode not being trash), is that it doesn't have the grindwall that tier mode had, since tier mode essentially forced you into a cycle of just completing 10 missions over and over again ad nauseam, while you had the frustrating duel Uzi snipers who could rock you from 300 meters away. Breakpoint's AI seems more fair to me in that regard, since the only really high damaging unit being the shot gunner has to be point blank before he fires.

Yeah, I'm not saying Immersion Mode is a grind-fest like Tier Mode... what I'm postulating is that they both end up encouraging or forcing a play style which is to avoid fire fights. Fire fights become deadly in either situation which is realistic, but is it fun?

Fortunately, the settings allow you to find the right balance. I would just suggest that anyone who really enjoys thee hardest immersion mode settings, is probably not really having much fun. At least I can't enjoy it that way.

I'm wondering what other think.

I see what you're getting at Chris. But isn't that the point of playing on such extreme settings? Shouldn't using the hardest settings, no HUD, etc, be an approximation of real life?

In real life, you wouldn't have a show it all HUD, health regeneration, or magic syringes, so you would have to employ tactics that would ensure your safety. Every time you approach an area, you would repeat the same tactics that keep you safe. I doubt real life special forces just make things up as they go, or try to change the way they do things just to make it more interesting. I believe they would stick to whatever tactics keeps them safe.

When it comes to Breakpoint, you have a whole host of options to tailor the game experience to your liking. After some experimentation, everyone can find the balance between realism and fun that they enjoy.

Yeah, I agree, Immersion Mode, and Tier Mode are probably more realistic, but this is a game... not real life. It should be fun.

I like realism as much as anyone, but realism to the extent that an airsrike is the preferred tactic nearly every time is not going to make a fun game.

Thankfully we can all find our own balance as you say, but I'm curious to hear from folks that play in Immersion Mode on the hardest settings... do they actually find that fun?

[Virtual-Chris]

Tier one mode is just great! This is the best that video games for four players can offer. If you disable HUD, it's generally just brilliant. I wish I had four friends who would like to play in this mode with the interface disabled. But I have to admit that after about level 23, the enemies begin to cheat, and react quickly to your appearance. But it's still cool! I really like when the enemies are very complex, and kill you with a few hits. In the Wildlands, the main problem of open shootout in this mode is the small possibilities of animation of your character. They are not convenient for such a duel where you are killed with a single hit. WELL, about the meaning of playing a shooter, do not forget that this is a tactical shooter and the main interest is reduced to tactics and not the speed of targeting. They could solve the problems of quick death in open combat by simply allowing the armor that we put on the character to work but they decided not to. Excuse my English

The problem with TIer Mode is that enemies become so fast, so accurate, and so deadly, that engagement within a 100m is sure death. This may be realistic, but it's not fun. It means you have to snipe from a distance, use the drone, use sync shot, and basically stay out of harms way. Again... realistic. But fun? I had to finish the last few tiers in a Cobra helicopter to save my sanity. It was not fun.

Immersion mode, on the hardest settings is also realistic, but it's not fun. Especially playing Ubisoft story missions with their horrible checkpoints. It is the definition of insanity unless you like doing the same thing over and over and over again.

[Archimedian]

I went such a completely different way with this. I tweaked all my settings manually. I actually like immersive for only one reason, no auto loot pickup to clog up inventory.

My settings which I find enjoyable:

1. GS off
2. Difficulty enemies - extreme
3. Tactical - Custom (Bandages - few, Risk of Injury - none, Stamina Consumption - none, Health regen maximized, Ammo loss- no)
4. Cross Hairs - on
5. Hit Marker off
6. Mini map - The only one I really care about is Detection Clouds off.

It's a video game, I think of the minimap as my personal GPS. I play normally with no bandages, health heal stuff. It just annoys me.

Fun part of this set up? You can knee slide from the top of Mt. Hodgson for about 1.7KM (personal best, I can probably go further just need to plan my route better).

To me, immersion has never been about game play dynamics, sure it's nice to be able to tweak them but the immersion comes from the world they built (or should have), the AI (or lack there of) and the story line.

You're playing an elite tactical forces operative, not some gimp that's hobbling around when a pebble ricochets, that to me is the opposite of immersion.

[lesh-1]

The problem with TIer Mode is that enemies become so fast, so accurate, and so deadly, that engagement within a 100m is sure death. This may be realistic, but it's not fun. It means you have to snipe from a distance, use the drone, use sync shot, and basically stay out of harms way. Again... realistic. But fun? I had to finish the last few tiers in a Cobra helicopter to save my sanity. It was not fun.

Immersion mode, on the hardest settings is also realistic, but it's not fun. Especially playing Ubisoft story missions with their horrible checkpoints. It is the definition of insanity unless you like doing the same thing over and over and over again.

I think we have different ideas about fun in the game Ghost Recon. That's why it's become so simple, with stupid and blind enemies, because most people just don't have fun! But what do players like me, who want to have difficulty in a game for four people! For example, I do not have fun when someone shoots from a helicopter, because they can not kill enemies with a rifle. I don't have any fun running around with a shotgun and shooting off bots in batches. I like to lie in the grass and be afraid of the enemy, and not just run and laugh into the microphone because we were shot down by a rocket while we were flying in a helicopter, it's not fun for me. There are already a lot of such games, but there are almost no complex cooperative games. But I am for people to always have a choice. For example, I want a complex, realistic game, I choose this mode, and I play it, but without people who just want to have fun. And the same for others. This is what I was counting on when I saw the ad for the new part of the game. That the developers will take into account the experience of the last series and change the rules, but instead you see for yourself what happened. **** on a shovel. Excuse my English

[Steven527]

I actually like the hardcore level of immersion. I went back to BP a couple nights ago in the Edgehod north bunker complex. No wolves, no drones, lots of bad guys in a complex environment. Long range sniping is a possibility, but there is plenty of potential for a solid gunfight and cover to use. Yep I died quite a bit. I also had moments where I had a minor injury hobbling around doing my best to survive and it was a blast. Before I decided to take a break I was frequently picking fights in some of the Liberty housing units going loud. Only problem there is the game really limits the amount of enemy to face. You are lucky if you have 5 guys to draw in and then hopefully a random vehicle patrol. I once caught a supply convoy and some random patrols and had a fight with close on 2 dozen enemy in a 4 story apt building. Eventually though I just kind of ran out of interesting fights to pick. And of course I have no team to back me up.

[MikeWeeks]

It's fun depending on how you as an individual (or in co-op) go about playing the game given how it was coded. The game was created around co-op, but "allowed" for solo play.

It's the decisions made by Ubisoft which for me, and I'm sure a good number of folks, determine how much "fun" there is at certain points in game play - especially when it comes to the design of missions. Plus the additional factor of the bugs/glitches which impacts the forementioned.