This is something I wish was more often implemented in multiplayer games. I deal a crap ton of damage to a guy, someone else happens to deal the last hit and he gets full credit whereas I get rather meager “Pity points” as I call them. “Oh you dealt 90% of the damage to that guy! Oh but you didn’t get that last hit in which finished him, have some chump change” is what these kinds of systems basically tell me.
I adore games that reward based on contribution to a kill instead of just who was the luckiest or hung back waiting for everyone else to get worn down before taking the kill themselves. I don’t see why it shouldn’t be this way, by all means reward people who got a kill appropriately but when the guy who did a ton of damage only gets a fraction of what the dude who happened to deal the final blow then I have to ask why exactlythis is the case.
So, let’s say you get 1 credit for each point of shielding and hull taken down.
You deal 199 damage to an enemy, taking him down to 1 point left in his hull.
Someone else flies in and deals that last bit of damage. You get 199 credits for dealing that much damage to the enemy, he gets 1 credit plus 50 bonus for dealing the death blow. But overall, it’s the amount of damage dealt rather than the final blow that’s rewarded the most.
Well I can’t say I agree since currently the Assist rewards already are very high reducing the need for a way to better reward highly contributing players. I mean every player no matter the damage he did contributed in a way, be it a buff, a debuff, forcing the enemy in a general direction, countering his shield regeneration speed even tho the damage output itself is laughable, adding the psychological effect of seeing one more of those target lock thingies, assisting allies by letting them know they aren’t alone making them calmer and aim more carefully and much much more. There are all things that even the guy using the worst type of weapon with no aim whatsoever can contribute and he should be rewarded for it or he might not care to do it again. I mean if we have a damage based assist system, who’d want to be the frigate built on resistance stacks and high support rather then the fighter showing off missiles and big guns?
Yes, it is annoying when someone comes in to steal your kill but if he hadn’t come maybe the kill wouldn’t have been possible? Or maybe you would have uneededly lost health to a suicide maneuver on the enemies part? Or spent 5-7 valuable seconds hunting him down? And a 20 (40,70,120 for normal, beacon, bomb, captain respectively) difference isn’t all that much and can be easily made up for.
Where I do think assist system is lacking is in beacon capture tho. Being disabled even for 1 second and leaving the beacons influence zone due to inertia or having to shortly distance yourself from it to get a better shot at the guy flying like a crazed chicken around it, practically rewards you with 0 points whereas everyone who hugs the beacon and stays immobile get’s a whoppin 300. So yeah a beacon assist is needed.