I must admit, I am personally pretty excited for the potential of UbiSoft's upcoming Ghost Recon Breakpoint. I was late in discovering their previously released Ghost Recon Wildlands and would have completely missed it was it not for the recommendation of a good friend (he said something about "tactical strategy in a sandbox"... sold!). While playing Wildlands in the campaign, I heard about this new Ghost Mode -- an unforgiving setting that punishes you for each bullet you drop in a mag, reduces the load-outs you can carry, and with much more packed up into in a permanent-death scenario (yup, all the way back to Yuri and Polito... again).
What I enjoy most about Ghost Mode is the 4 player PVE where we are challenged to be tactical and recon missions while carefully timing shots and watching your comrades back (because each player's life has a whole lot of hours behind it). The shift towards realism adds a level of difficulty that for me has been sorely missed.
With all that said, there are a few takeaways that I have from Wildlands, and I put together a list of items I hope are things we Ghost Mode'rs (lovers of pain) could possibly look forward to. I think they would contribute to the challenge and depth of what I look for in this mode.
Make Loadouts Matter
Mobility/Handling effects of each gun could be amplified
Light Machine Guns getting in and out of vehicles and moving about in buildings should have tactical disadvantages to Submachine Guns. The current balances feel minimal at best. I want a reason to carry an SMG rather than "Ooh, this one is fun."
Weapon Attachments could carry a weight (literally or figuratively).
This would make for a good balancer of load-outs and some sick builds. Example: How much does each grenade weigh? The attachment? That could be a significant factor in the mobility of the weapon and the player. Sure carry all the gear you want, I hope you enjoy moving like a tank!
Reduce HUD
Balance the marker that gives exact location
Being able to spot a guy once, not even consider him for the next 30 minutes as I spot the rest of the base, and then know his exact location in a building feels pretty hacky. It would be nice if the type of marker changes over time (You could remove the exact position concept entirely IMO).
Ex:
Status
Duration
Exact Position with marker
60 seconds
Enemy Cloud / General Area
180 seconds
Position Unknown
-
Enemy NPCs
Increase volume of enemy NPCs as players increase
I played a large majority of the game with one other player and the challenge was real. You could not drop all of the guys with a single sync shot. I now run with a full team, and it feels like the difficulty has suffered for it.
More randomized placements around the base
Pretty self-explanatory, but missions quickly become predictable when replayed -- a reality in multiplayer -- and even the first time through.
It is hard to try and list the various bugs encountered, and that is probably one of the biggest challenges of this mode. I really hope that they can tighten up a lot of these because the last thing I want is to somehow survive and build up a character that I am somewhat proud of just to crash and burn.
Community
I tried to restrict these changes to be what I hope is minimal and viable so that they can actually be considered by Ubisoft. I would love to hear your input as well! If you have any ideas or thoughts, please comment on Reddit and Twitter.
