Watch Dogs Online Mode Suggestions

First off, let me say Watch Dogs is an amazing game, it has so many beautiful little touches and so much varied content that it's nearly impossible to get bored (the Digital Trips in particular could almost be separate games in their own right. That being said, there are a couple of issues within the online multiplayer where I think the game could be improved and would make it a lot better balanced and more fun. for both the hacker and the target players.

Multiplayer Matchmaking:
1. This one is pretty simple, don't match players with a target who is being chased by the cops. The target is going to be rushing around the map, not stopping for anything and a trailer/hacker player has little or no chance of keeping up (plus the cops will just as soon run you over as they will the guy they're chasing) making it near impossible to actually succeed.

2. Give players the option to shut off/block invasions, it gets very frustrating when you want to do a campaign mission, find you have an invader, chasing him halfway round chicago and then when you're finally rid of them, another one appears as you're making you way back to the campaign marker. It could be a one-time use, crafted hack or even just an option within the matchmaking screen.

3. As well as giving players an opt-out of invasions, give players a reason to allow them. Something along the lines of a small passive increase of +1 notoriety every 5? minutes the player spends in game (with invasions allowed) when they're not currently under attack/being invaded. Basically it rewards players for allowing invasions but equally allows players who just want to play the story to do so without being pestered.

Multiplayer Missions General:
1. Even up the playing fields, right now the 1v1 multiplayer modes are massively skewed in favour of the "victim" who is allowed to use lethal force whilst the hacker isn't. To the point that getting profiled means instant death/failure since if the guy is close enough to profile you, he's close enough to shoot. To fix that, make both players use non-lethal force, sure that makes it a hell of a lot harder for the victim to actually stop a hacker, but thats where point #2 comes in.

2. You already have retaliation missions in, which is great, but because lethal force is allowed, it's very rare people actually get the chance to retaliate since they killed the guy. Making it non-lethal would mean that the victim has to "find and catch" the hacker rather than "find and kill" but equally the hacker then has to escape/evade the target if profiled. Basically making it non-lethal only would make it much more strategic and cat and mouse like. Plus you can explain it away as, you need to capture the hacker to find out why he was targeting you, and he's no good to you dead. I'd even go as far as making killing the other player a total failure, even worse than letting them escape you (and then retaliating)

3. Allow the one-time use CtOs scan to detect/show human players/enemies as a ping on the minimap, i.e their last known position when the scan is used. Since the missions are non-lethal, it's no longer an issue that the player can be discovered using a scan, it simply makes it easier for the target/victim player to pinpoint the hacker and move into the chase/evade stage.

4. Get rid of the "You're being invaded" notification, you can tell easily enough when the person starts to hack you, or you find you can't join a matchmaking mode or a campaign mission, and since the defending player doesn't lose any notoriety from a "failed" trailing mission, they don't need to be informed that someone is invading, they should have to figure it out themselves using clues. The "You're being hacked" notification from 1v1 hacking missions should of course stay, once the hack has begun. Basically it gives the hacker player more of a chance to sneak in.

Trailing Missions:
1. Along with getting rid of the "You're being invaded" notification, get rid of the "Find [players name]" notification part of the tailing missions unless the player is actually detected, make it possible for a player to invade, trail and escape without a player ever being notified. This has numerous benefits, first off it rewards players who frequently profile NPCs and use the camera networks (profiling a player like this would immediately "unmask" them and move into the chase/evade stage".

2. As mentioned before, change it to non-lethal force when chasing and make it a failure for defending player if the hacker escapes. Currently the hacker fails the mission is the target decides to flee rather than actually look for the player since they can't observe anymore, which is hardly keeping in the spirit of trailing missions is it? Basically, once the hacker is detected/profiled, the hacker partially wins (or atleast doesn't lose/fail) by escaping, the defender wins by stopping them using non-lethal force. If the hacker escapes then the defender gets a chance to retaliate as long as they profiled the hacker.

3. Hacker detection should be left up to the defending player to spot clues such as someone else messing with the CtOS infrastructure or cars behaving strangely, a player who believes he is been trailed could then either use cameras, profiling or a one-time scan to detect the invader and immediately force a chase/evasion. Obviously the inability to start a mission or join matchmaking would stay the same and attempting to do these things would notify the player they have an invader with a "You have an invader, find the fixer" notification.

Hacking Missions:
1. These are instantly a lot better balanced by being non-lethal, the hacker actually stands a chance of escaping even if profiled now. Whereas currently, getting profiled basically means you're about to get shot and fail.

2. Increase the search area radius for the final 25% of the backdoor install, it's currently so small that in certain circumstances it can basically be an area of open ground with nowhere to hide.

3. Once discovered, a hacking player has to flee, whilst a defending player simply has to stop them using non-lethal force (once again using the reasoning that you can't interrogate the fixer and see why he was chasing you if he's dead)

4. The defending player should have the ability/option to hack IEDs placed by the hacker to detonate/destroy them, a hacker can currently use them to hole themselves up somewhere and stop a defender from being able to reach them, this once again doesn't really keep in the spirit of the hide and seek/cat and mouse, non-lethal style the hacker is supposed to be using.

Retaliation Missions:
1. These should offer bigger stakes for the retaliating player than the normal missions in order to make them more attractive after a hacker has escaped you, a kind of double or nothing type deal.

2. Retaliation missions should be accessible regardless of the result of the mission that caused them as long as the hacker was profiled, so if the hacker was profiled but escaped, the defender can retaliate, if the hacker was successful (i.e by installing a backdoor in a hacking mission) then the defender can still retaliate by "tracking the source of the installed backdoor". The only kind of mission that doesn't result in a retaliation mission being available is a trailing mission where the invader got in and out without ever being detected as the defending player had/has no way of knowing he was ever trailed.

3. A retaliation mission that happens as a result of a failed/evaded hacking mission should always be a trailing mission, allowing the retaliating player a chance to get revenge completely undetected (due to the lack of notifications when they first invade) and it fits in well with the idea of trailing the fixer who invaded to find out why he was targeting you in the first place. A failed/evaded trailing mission where the defender managed to profile the invader should result in the retaliation mission always being a hacking mission as the defending player has to discover what the escaped invader managed to observe about them and then wipe the data from their phone.

4. As hackers are more likely to escape now during the normal missions (due to the lack of lethal force) and retaliation missions being more likely to happen, a good player should be expecting a retaliation after a failed mission and will therefore be "on their guard", the fact that failing a specific type of missions results in a specific type of retaliation allows a hacker who failed to prepare/plan for the retaliation attack and therefore "recover" from the loss.

Decryption Missions:
1. This is basically organised chaos right now, especially in 3 player FFA missions where the maps are too large for players to seek each other out effectively (especially when you can respawn at the other side of the map).

2. Increase the Wireless file stealing range but make it take slightly longer, making it easier for a player to tail an opponent and steal the file without losing their progress just because their vehicle isn't as far.

3. When respawning a player who has died, if they're at the other side of the map from the file, make sure there is a vehicle nearby.

4. Massively increase the bonus for staying with your team, this could be a increase to the decryption speed, or simply a reduction in the opposing teams ability to wirelessly steal the file when the team holding the file stay together (multiple players on a team within close promixity would "jam" the wireless stealing, this promotes and rewards teamwork as opposed to one guy grabbing the file and then rushing around the map whilst his team mates try to keep up.