How to save Eliminator

[Anthrax_Cat2628]

I realize there are a lot of Eliminator topics, but most of them are just people telling how much they dislike the mode.

The focus of this topic is just to list possible improvements, discuss some ideas and tell me how terribly wrong my suggestions are.

So, imagine you’re the developer and you need engagement numbers for one of the game modes. You have two options how to keep constant high player numbers:
a) put it in the festival playlist, sometimes multiple times
b) improve it so more people will actually want to play it

If you chose a), you chose wrong.

Because then the mode is full of people who don’t want to play it. You can see people avoiding H2H’s, just because they’re waiting for the player count to drop under 30. Which kind of defeats the whole purpose of the mode, doesn’t it?

So, possible improvements. First of all, car drops. Now I know that some people are writing guides on how to win the Eliminator, but to put it short: If you get a level 7 (or more) car in the very beginning, you’re probably going to win. No strategy is going to help you if you’re just starting the game and someone challenges you with a Ferrari.

Some options on how to remedy this situation with car drops:

• limit cars in car drops to certain levels relative to the stage of the game (cars in drops are levels 2 - 3 in the beginning, 4 – 6 in the mid-game, 7+ in the final rounds)
• car drops just give a +1 level to your car (like winning a H2H)
• just get rid of them

Rebalance cars. Some examples: level 6 buggies are slower than level 3 cars, level 4 Mini and level 5 Bronco are one of the slowest cars in the mode.

PandemicBow2072 from this forum had a great idea to give us an option of roads only version of Eliminator. In it’s current state it’s mostly just ‘beeline towards the finish line’ where you hope that a tree won’t spawn directly in front of you due to the draw distance issue. Or that you won’t glitch through the road. The roads only version would add some skill to it. Just get rid of the off-road cars in that mode and that’s it!

Now I know that some of you are thinking, why would some people play it if they don’t want to? They can skip it if they don’t like it, since it isn’t worth that much points anyway, right? Well, it’s not that simple. Festival playlist is already full of modes people don’t like to play. Like the playground games and the trial. In the end, they have to pick something if they want enough points to unlock the exclusive cars.

So, give your suggestions!
The better the suggestions are, bigger the chance PGG ignore them.

[FullNietzsche]

You can see people avoiding H2H’s, just because they’re waiting for the player count to drop under 30

Not necessarily. People avoid H2Hs in FH4 a lot as well, it can be hard work getting someone to race you, as they run away endlessly. Some people will have in mind that they are only looking for a car drop and otherwise avoid all contact.

[Bigpak35]

@FullNietzsche

You can see people avoiding H2H’s, just because they’re waiting for the player count to drop under 30

Not necessarily. People avoid H2Hs in FH4 a lot as well, it can be hard work getting someone to race you, as they run away endlessly. Some people will have in mind that they are only looking for a car drop and otherwise avoid all contact.

that’s me but not because i want to be top 30 or anything i just messing around with them. especially this week playlist with beat 5 player in eliminator. when someone with higher LV than me started chasing me i will keep running away from them i drive out of the circle even, and if they caught to me and about to challenge me i will quit match before they are able to. so all the time they spent chasing me was for nothing lol.

[Ripperoo_UK]

@FullNietzsche

People avoid H2Hs in FH4 a lot as well, it can be hard work getting someone to race you, as they run away endlessly.

If I ever saw another player in a Mini in FH4, I’d definitely run away as I did not want to take part in a race to win a level 2 car.

When I was unfortunate enough to get challenged by another player in a Mini when I, myself was in a Mini, I’d just quit and start a new game.

My preferred approach was to try and find at least a level 5 before the first arena shrink or quit and start again as I used to hate driving round for ages and seein green car drops!

I actually play thre FH5 a little differently though and will challenge other players when in the VW. If challenged by a player in a higher level car and I’m facing the wrong way, I just quit as it save both my opponent and myself a lot of otherwise wasted time.

That’s just me though!

[VanquishedAgain]

@Anthrax_Cat2628

I realize there are a lot of Eliminator topics, but most of them are just people telling how much they dislike the mode.

The focus of this topic is just to list possible improvements, discuss some ideas and tell me how terribly wrong my suggestions are.

So, imagine you’re the developer and you need engagement numbers for one of the game modes. You have two options how to keep constant high player numbers:
a) put it in the festival playlist, sometimes multiple times
b) improve it so more people will actually want to play it

If you chose a), you chose wrong.

Because then the mode is full of people who don’t want to play it. You can see people avoiding H2H’s, just because they’re waiting for the player count to drop under 30. Which kind of defeats the whole purpose of the mode, doesn’t it?

So, possible improvements. First of all, car drops. Now I know that some people are writing guides on how to win the Eliminator, but to put it short: If you get a level 7 (or more) car in the very beginning, you’re probably going to win. No strategy is going to help you if you’re just starting the game and someone challenges you with a Ferrari.

Some options on how to remedy this situation with car drops:

• limit cars in car drops to certain levels relative to the stage of the game (cars in drops are levels 2 - 3 in the beginning, 4 – 6 in the mid-game, 7+ in the final rounds)
• car drops just give a +1 level to your car (like winning a H2H)
• just get rid of them

Rebalance cars. Some examples: level 6 buggies are slower than level 3 cars, level 4 Mini and level 5 Bronco are one of the slowest cars in the mode.

PandemicBow2072 from this forum had a great idea to give us an option of roads only version of Eliminator. In it’s current state it’s mostly just ‘beeline towards the finish line’ where you hope that a tree won’t spawn directly in front of you due to the draw distance issue. Or that you won’t glitch through the road. The roads only version would add some skill to it. Just get rid of the off-road cars in that mode and that’s it!

Now I know that some of you are thinking, why would some people play it if they don’t want to? They can skip it if they don’t like it, since it isn’t worth that much points anyway, right? Well, it’s not that simple. Festival playlist is already full of modes people don’t like to play. Like the playground games and the trial. In the end, they have to pick something if they want enough points to unlock the exclusive cars.

So, give your suggestions!
The better the suggestions are, bigger the chance PGG ignore them.

Allow me to play it with friends. I want to play the eliminator but I rarely play anything without friends. Not going to play eliminator by myself. That is all they need to do to fix it.

Running away has nothing to do with the weekly challenge btw. Whenever I play it I run away as much as possible trying to get to the final circle. It’s statistically my best chance at winning. Because H2Hs are unpredictable, hit a tree and you’re toast. Same goes for most battle Royales. The way to win is to stay out of the fight as long as possible, even if you have a 5 to 1 KD ratio that means you lost because you had that 1 death. Same goes for eliminator, even if you win 5 head to heads, you lose once and you’re done.

[anonyyymous]

They can and should rebalance cars in Eliminator. However this won’t fix it. The problem with eliminator is the map. Eliminator was great in fh4 because of the map. Eliminator is not great in fh5 because of the map.

Long story short is you can’t fix it. The foundation is wrong. So what should they do? Imo leave it as is and let the few enjoy it. Focus energy on creating something entirely new which is fun and suits the map. This is what people should be discussing and sharing ideas on.

[anonyyymous]

@anonyyymous

They can and should rebalance cars in Eliminator. However this won’t fix it. The problem with eliminator is the map. Eliminator was great in fh4 because of the map. Eliminator is not great in fh5 because of the map.

Long story short is you can’t fix it. The foundation is wrong. So what should they do? Imo leave it as is and let the few enjoy it. Focus energy on creating something entirely new which is fun and suits the map. This is what people should be discussing and sharing ideas on.

I’m going to contradict myself and propose an idea. Change eliminator so that when you get eliminated you don’t lose. Instead you become infected. When you’re infected you have 3 minutes to infect a non infected player. Fail to do so and you lose. Suceed and you’re back in the game. If you’re infected twice then you lose. Infected players would be visible on minimap in a different color to non infected. Infected players car doesn’t change when infected.

This change would be fairly simple to implement as it levearges existing in game mechanics. It would be fun as it essentially merges 2 game modes into one.

[PandemicBow2072]

Some good suggestions. Yeah when I get the Cholla I’ve often downgraded it as it’s too hard to handle and prone to rolling.

Not sure I agree with limiting car levels to various stages of the game. Probably the only way I’ve got a chance of winning is to fluke it and get a level 9 car at the start and then hide out until the final showown. Something I did a day or two ago and came in second (my life story with Eliminator).

What irks me is the lag (I’m on a PC) after challenging or being challenged by another player. I’m sure it was much better in Horizon 4.

Update: Holy cow!! Just won my first game of Eliminator. Boy my heart was racing especially after I crashed into a tree. Phew!! This now takes a lot of pressure of me. I can now play it without the pressure which might actually make me better.

[Jezza14]

Add a ranking system. Immediately adds longevity to the game mode. As it is, there’s no real incentive to play it.

[anonyyymous]

@Jezza14

Add a ranking system. Immediately adds longevity to the game mode. As it is, there’s no real incentive to play it.

Ranked may add longevity which answers the OPs thread but it doesn’t make the mode any better which is the real issue.

[BIGSHOTROBx]

@Jezza14

Add a ranking system. Immediately adds longevity to the game mode. As it is, there’s no real incentive to play it.

This guy gets it. While it’s not the be-all-end-all obviously, this is the ABSOLUTE first thing they need to do in FH5 in general IMHO.

[NightDriver7800]

If they’re confident Eliminator is a success, then… make a Forza Horizon Lite with only Eliminator!

[anonyyymous]

@NightDriver7800

If they’re confident Eliminator is a success, then… make a Forza Horizon Lite with only Eliminator!

That actually would be a great way to market the game if this mode was free. Too bad it’s not great in fh5. Better marketing the fh4 version of Eliminator.

[anonyyymous]

No one likes my idea? I thought it was quite clever

[BugattiBreno]

@anonyyymous

No one likes my idea? I thought it was quite clever

So basically the gulag? I like the idea but have it between two eliminated players and the winner gets to drop back into the game instead of interrupting somebody else’s game.

[anonyyymous]

@BugattiBreno

@anonyyymous

No one likes my idea? I thought it was quite clever

So basically the gulag? I like the idea but have it between two eliminated players and the winner gets to drop back into the game instead of interrupting somebody else’s game.

Ahah yep. Didn’t think anyone put 2 and 2 together. I also like your suggestion. My spin however was to also add an additional factor for other drivers. So instead of them racing in a straight line, they now need to be aware of infected players. It’s a clever way of added new obstacles without adding any new elements to the map.

[Rayne_SE]

I don’t think the Eliminator can be saved - at least for me.
While I like the map visually and some tracks on it, it just doesn’t fit the Eliminator.
Horizon 4 Eliminator required map knowledge. Knowing when to use roads, avoiding dense forests, unpassable mountains, the quarry, the big lake. There was some amount of tactics involved equaling out possible car disadvantages.
Here, it’s mostly press RT, take the direct path and the better car wins. It’s boring.
And there is no option to change this because the map is the map.

[anonyyymous]

@Rayne_SE

I don’t think the Eliminator can be saved - at least for me.
While I like the map visually and some tracks on it, it just doesn’t fit the Eliminator.
Horizon 4 Eliminator required map knowledge. Knowing when to use roads, avoiding dense forests, unpassable mountains, the quarry, the big lake. There was some amount of tactics involved equaling out possible car disadvantages.
Here, it’s mostly press RT, take the direct path and the better car wins. It’s boring.
And there is no option to change this because the map is the map.

Exactly

[FlyingKulau]

@Rayne_SE

I don’t think the Eliminator can be saved - at least for me.
While I like the map visually and some tracks on it, it just doesn’t fit the Eliminator.
Horizon 4 Eliminator required map knowledge. Knowing when to use roads, avoiding dense forests, unpassable mountains, the quarry, the big lake. There was some amount of tactics involved equaling out possible car disadvantages.
Here, it’s mostly press RT, take the direct path and the better car wins. It’s boring.
And there is no option to change this because the map is the map.

Some destinations and seasons require knowledge of the map. End point on the mountain - going direct won’t work (especially in lower level cars). The rivers deep - there are spots where you have to drive use a bridge. There are places where it is better to go around hills rather than over them. Granted knowledge of the map isn’t as crucial as it was in FH4 but it’s not just point and go.

[Johnmcl7]

@Rayne_SE

I don’t think the Eliminator can be saved - at least for me.
While I like the map visually and some tracks on it, it just doesn’t fit the Eliminator.
Horizon 4 Eliminator required map knowledge. Knowing when to use roads, avoiding dense forests, unpassable mountains, the quarry, the big lake. There was some amount of tactics involved equaling out possible car disadvantages.
Here, it’s mostly press RT, take the direct path and the better car wins. It’s boring.
And there is no option to change this because the map is the map.

I think this is the main problem with the game mode and what’s particularly strange is that the developer claim this time the Eliminator is much better because the map was designed for it whereas for FH4 it was added later. Which doesn’t make sense when the FH5 map is clearly ill suited to Eliminator, there are some areas of the map that you need to be careful around but for the most part it’s so wide, open and flat it just comes down to raw power so most of the head to heads are won by the more powerful vehicle. With FH4 I found getting a good route was crucial and I managed to beat much higher tier cars quite often because they chose a bad route and got stuck. I was doing the final race in FH5 tonight and the destination was around the south of the map and it really reminded me of FH4, trying to get a fast route using the road as much as possible but cutting through forest quickly with the associated risks and really highlighted what most FH5 Eliminator races are missing.