Im new to the forums but have been following the game, I will be getting it on the PC. I just have a few questions i couldn't find the answers to.

-What is splash damage going to be doing about the people that just play offline to grind exp on less challenging opponents. Does it take longer to get exp offline, what about easy to hard difficulty, do you gain exp at the same rate?

-I hear there are only 20 levels, do we know about how long time played it will take to get to max level? Would hate to see people max level in a week or so. Also when you reach max level, should you have all the unlocks, cloths etc, or is the level and unlocks (such as cloths) 2 different things?

-What shows on the scoreboard in game? i know there is no K/D, can you only see you and other peoples exp gained that round etc? Not to compare games, but i play TF2 a lot and i like how they do it, where you can see your own Kills and deaths as well as other stats, but these stats dont get recorded (I like the idea of only showing the exp earned on the scoreboard for others to see though)

-I know no one knows for sure, but does SD and Bethesda plan on supporting this game in the long run? Whats there track record with games like quake wars etc, the one reason why TF2 is still so popular is because they still support the game, they also allow for custom maps with the release of the SDK, I know there is still no word on the release of the SDK.

-Final question, with all the pre order packs that are out with the game (with extra items etc), if i dont pre order and get these items, is there a way I can get them from playing the game, or is there at least equivalent unlockable items that i can get with just playing the game? Would hate to be missing out on some things because I didnt pre order.

Thanks

and sorry if this was already answered, I have searched.

1- I'm unsure about
2- It will probably take a decent amount of time to reach level 20, but even if it doesn't, you have 10 characters to create!
3- As far as I know it is only exp gained
4- I think that with such an anticipated game, they should be okay with supporting it. Not 100% if they are releasing an SDK though =/
5- All the items in the pre-order bundles are exclusive. You can't get them from just playing.

- As far as I know you can grind to max offline just as easily as online... but why would you?

-Not sure about time to get to max level. On the unlock side however, you spend points into abilities, meaning you wont have every ability at level 20. Hence the 10 character slots.

- only EXP is visible, think the tf2 points but without all the details

-SD stated that they are going to support brink after release

-All pre order packs are either unique clothing or weapon skins, gameplay wise you aren't missing anything.

Actually 2 of the packs include weapons, the Psycho pack includes the Caesar Revolver and one of the others includes an automatic pistol.

Yes but it has been said in a Q&A that these weapons have the same stats as other weapons included in the game

But they ARE unique weapons

So I take it this game is more of just playing, and not unlocking which isnt necessarily a bad thing, it just seems like its the path the devs took. With online and offline exp gain being the same, lets face it, there are going to be a ton of people that start a new character, go offline, turn it on easy and grind the char to max level. i understand a game being fun is the max priority, but sometimes, some unlocks to work for is a good thing, but it does seem like everyone is going to have everything unlocked or it will be easy to unlock, and there is going to be no sense of accomplishment when unlocking something.

I just hope there are other ways that this game will give a sense of accomplishment over other players, and i understand winning games should be a sense of accomplishment as well as working together with team mates, and it will be, but sometimes, working towards somethings keeps a game from getting old, this is why the games that keep new content coming are the games that are still going strong.

Am I correct with this statement? What do you all think about this subject?

No, I don't think that there will be a ton of players going the offline route. The reason being that playing online gives the same rate of exp, and possibly more because the matches will move faster and be more intense.

Another quick question...

-How much control do server admins get? can they increase the player count of a game from the set 16 to say 24 or something?

Same XP for objectives and stuff online or off, but they've said tougher bots give more XP than easy ones, and I'd assume higher-ranked players will also give higher XP - not that XP for kills is worth a lot anyway.

Also, if you level up offline and reach 20, then go online, unless the bots really ARE as good as players (I doubt it, but they could be close), you're going to be going into the top ranks with a handicap - players will murder you and you'll WANT to start a new character to go online so you're up against other people of similar skill.

As for the last question, I don't think you will be able to INCREASE player numbers, but you can cap the player limit and alter whether bots appear, and in what numbers.

Does no one see a problem with getting the same exp offline and online? It will be pointless to unlock stuff online when you can fly through objectives offline on easy mode, and rack up exp. I read somewhere that there original idea was to give more exp online but they scraqed the idea, because they thought it would be unfair. I dont really see how it could be unfair to reward people for more challenging opponents. This takes away the sense of accomplishment when you know people are unlocking everything the easy way when you are doing it the hard way.

I know people will just say, why dont you do it the easy way? Well thats because I am not a fan of offline games, and rather not play bots? Am I over reacting or do other people feel this way?

1. Most of the unlocks are challenge-based anyway, instead of being XP based.
2. Unlockable weapons aren't going to be significantly better, and should be mostly, if not totally, balanced in comparison with the ones you start off with.
3. As I already said, players who level up offline then play online will have a handicap when playing the high-level players who didn't use the easy route.
4. Also said before, you're matched with players of equal rank, so if you level up to 20 before going online, you're going to be up against people who have been working their way up online, and they will SLAUGHTER you.

This is still assuming there's a recognisable skill gap between players and bots, which so far previews have denied. Not saying players won't be better, just that it will be close enough that it's hard to pick the differences.

How long developers support a game depends entirely on how popular the game becomes. If it bombs, then they'll only support it for as long as it takes them to get a new project started. If it's a major success and, hopefully, gets a large competitive community, then there will continually be patches making slight adjustments for balancing issues. Also, if popular, they're more likely to release add-on content.