The russian youtube channel C-c-combo Breaker! has just released a video about their recent visit to the id offices which gives us a first look at the Duel mode of Quake Champions.
The breakdown on how Duel works:
A match (map) is split up into best of three rounds.
At the start of the match each player picks three different champions (you can not pick the same champion 3 times but both players can pick the same 3).
A round lasts until one player has lost all three of his champion picks or until the timelimit runs out in which case the person with more champions left wins the round. If both players have the same amount of champions left the game goes into Sudden Death Overtime.
After you die you can freely pick from your remaining two or one champions and respawn into the ongoing game.
After a round ends (one player has lost all three champions) the map / pickups get reset.
The winner is the player to first win 2 rounds.
Apparently C-c-combo Breaker! also got to see other unannounced Champions but are not allowed to share them with us until E3. So we can all look forward to new Champions being made public at the Bethesda E3 show. C-c-combo Breaker! also got to test a second game mode though they did not mention what it is called nor do they show it in the video.
A full duel match between SyncError and ZeRo4 can be seen in the video starting at around 6m20s.
Chances are high that if you have not bought the game you will first need to unlock 2 extra champions to be able to play Duel. Which sounds good because it prevents new players from playing a mode they have no business playing until they understand the game anyway.
Did they say, that they're allowed to share this early? Seems weird to "reveal" this in a russian video... Seems like they're fucking id by cashing in on the reveal.
I think it sounds interesting but I've never cared much about duel. I wonder how long an average match will be, you could always change the number of heroes per round I guess.
One problem I see is that there's only one champion with crouch slide and one with aircontrol so far. People who are good at those types of movement will have to switch movement type three times during a match. People who prefer QL-movement can play three champions with that type of movement.
A round lasts until one guy has 3 frags (killed all champions of the other guy), there are no resets inbetween, the reset happens once the round is over.
A map lasts until one guy has won 2 rounds.
wow, how incredibly boring. 5 mins to get a few frags followed by idle time, repeat. then consider the lack of depth (compared to classic duel or even ca) and it looks like you got a blunder. oh boy...
Don't get all the crying over this. The general concept sounds very interesting. That it needs testing and could potentially be nerved in terms of time limit or frags required per champion to win a round is another story but these are just variables to change.
I think the initial spawns topic is going to be highly interesting considering how many issues have been with that in QL. Generally, anything about the core mechanics will just matter more if rounds are decided by three frags - respawns too, especially if the chance to use certain champions/abilities is directly linked to that. I don't think they will stick to three frags long term though - wouldn't be surprised to see that pushed to 3-5 frags per champion to balance out things like spawns just a little and to enable some sort of game flow.
Regarding maps, I think traditional maps will work, most of them at least. Thought it depends on how many of those cooldown items you throw into them. Ideally, it should be timeable when your opponent can use his ability again. Maybe it should even be public info for both players on the hud.
I can defenitely imagine some maps favoring certain champions over others. I imagine ranger's orb would be less useful on Aerowalk than on Bloodrun for instance just because of the way areas are connected in those maps. Also obviously you could feature ramp jumps and other movement abilities like wall jumps.
This does seem like it would make for short frag lacking duels. One way to help it imo would be to have the hero switch set so that it can only happen after death AFTER a set time period ie. 3:20.
Interesting idea... can see how they would have landed on it. Need to make duel more spectator friendly and welcoming for norms. Though there will have to be a "time limit" mode or a "3 lives per champion" mode or I don't see this lasting long at all.
I think this duel mode could work out pretty good IF this is just for public servers. According to the full video posted on ESR sync even won a game against Zero4. This is something that would never happen in classic Quake duel. But in order to have a big playerbase, which is the key factor to have a successful e-sport title imo, it is important to somehow guarantee casual players an average winning rate of around 50%. What I´ve seen in the two duel videos seems to work into that direction.
Ofcourse this needs to be backed up by a competetive duel mode.
C-c-combo Breaker!
One problem I see is that there's only one champion with crouch slide and one with aircontrol so far. People who are good at those types of movement will have to switch movement type three times during a match. People who prefer QL-movement can play three champions with that type of movement.
A round lasts until one guy has 3 frags (killed all champions of the other guy), there are no resets inbetween, the reset happens once the round is over.
A map lasts until one guy has won 2 rounds.
(c) anon
Regarding maps, I think traditional maps will work, most of them at least. Thought it depends on how many of those cooldown items you throw into them. Ideally, it should be timeable when your opponent can use his ability again. Maybe it should even be public info for both players on the hud.
I can defenitely imagine some maps favoring certain champions over others. I imagine ranger's orb would be less useful on Aerowalk than on Bloodrun for instance just because of the way areas are connected in those maps. Also obviously you could feature ramp jumps and other movement abilities like wall jumps.
round one! fight!!
iDiots..
IM GONNA BE WORLD CHAMP
Best regards, Makie
Ofcourse this needs to be backed up by a competetive duel mode.