Rumors say, the following game mode is being tested and may be added to the game.
The goal is to make the game more friendly to newbies and give them some features they are used to find in other games, but the hope is that older players will like it too.
---=== The Hacker Mode ===---
The game plays like classic FFA.
One player is randomly selected as the 'hacker', and he will be given wallhack, humanized auto-aim, timer hack, etc which he will use at his discretion. Nobody knows who the hacker is except for the hacker himself.
The game mode has a hidden points system, which at the end of the match are revealed, converted to frags (1 point - 5 frags), and added to the score to determine the actual winner. A player has to decide how much focus to put on the traditional making frags, and how much on making points. So in a way, the classic mode is still there.
Points are made via accusation votes: at any point in time, any player can call a vote to accuse somebody to be the hacker. Unlike normal votes, these expire after 5 seconds and require a minimum of 3 participants to be valid.
- You cannot accuse yourself.
- Calling a vote costs you a 1 point, which you may get back depending on the outcome (see below).
- At any vote, if you participate and your guess is right you make 1 point, 0 otherwise.
- When you catch (i.e. call a successful vote on) the hacker, you make 2 points (+1 for call cost).
- When you are caught as the hacker, you loose 2 points.
- If you are the hacker, and manage to get someone else accused, you make 2 points (+1 for call cost).
- If a hacker manages to stay undetected for 1 minute, he gets 4 points, and a new hacker is randomly selected.
As you can see, the mode gives newbies the chance to get exposed to advanced concepts such as gathering consensus on witch hunts, successfully hiding cheats, etc. which according to data collected, is one aspect where newbies struggles most when trying Quake Live for the first time.
My hardcore Quaker soul cringes a bit seeing our game to move in these new directions, but I realize evolution is the only hope to keep our beloved game alive, and therefore I welcome this news with mild skepticism and the hope that it's for the best.