Rock Band 4 TWEAKS and FEATURES

I originally intended this post to be more fleshed out, but now RB4 is actually confirmed, and I want to get this conversation started!

What tweaks to the gameplay would you like to see that would make it more fun or balanced?

• I think unisons should be more than just synced up energy sections. They should actually be a new type of "solo" section. Solos and unisons. I listen to a lot of bands like Dream Theater where unisons are just as important as solos, and they should be as fun in the game.
• I think solos should be worth double points, always. This will balance them with chord sections that end up being worth more points as it currently is, and it encourages players to use their Overdrive in these more "risky" sections if they think they can keep the resulting potential x16 score going (x4 combo, x2 overdrive, x2 solo)
• Just as a visual "wow," certain notes should have larger fanfare when you hit them, like the ending notes of a Big Rock Ending used to be where they really blew up. These should appear throughout songs to make really emphasized notes like pinch harmonics more exciting and visually impressive.
• Double-kick bass should be part of Pro Mode Expert, always. People who play Pro Mode on expert probably have double-kick available to them, and this solves the problem where having songs that have to say "x2 Bass Pedal" in the name is stupid.
• I feel like what's happening onstage should be stateful between camera angles. No more singer jumping into the crowd, then being on the stage when the camera angle changes. That shit is dumb.

What new or returning features would you like to see in the game?

• Bring back competitive multiplayer! Online tug-of-war!!
• Rock Band Network will be back for third-party song creation on both platforms, right?
• Allow us to assign specific instruments to band members again! Maybe checkboxes for each instrument so the game can make swaps for keys or female singers?

Have fun with the discussion, and remember that Harmonix members may or may not be Giant Bomb visitors!

I never played RB3 so I don't know if it's still an issue, but I thought it was garbage in RB when you'd have to go through 6 menus before you can start playing anything. Not only was it a big complaint for me, but all my roommates disliked it as well. When RB2 came along and was even more bogged down with menus we thought "WTF is wrong with them? How is this not fixed?"

I hope keyboard support is in the game, even if they aren't going to sell new ones. At least for the songs that already had support for it in 3.

@mosespippy: I don't remember if RB2 had this, but RB3 makes putting a setlist together super easy so that after everyone chooses their instrument and difficulty once, you play through as many songs as you can predetermine. Each person's personal options like character selection are optional and done in little personal menus that don't interrupt the main menu, either, so yeah... RB3 had some big menu improvements.

I'd like to see a dynamic difficulty mode, like Rocksmith.

I always hit a skill ceiling on rhythm games that I've never been able to break past, and having the game slowly roll out more notes as I perfect sections would be pretty cool.

I absolutely love Rock Band, but I've never been awesome at it. I can play a certain amount of songs on hard guitar, but there's always a point I can no longer have fun with the game so I always like to play on normal. Somewhere between 3 and the end of the DLC they started throwing in a couple of orange notes into the normal songs. I absolutely hated this, I'm not sure if this was trying to make it easier to transition, but it always felt like more of an irritation than anything else.

Also, none of that external site bullshit from Blitz. I assume all that fun stuff will be a part of the game this time around. One of the dumbest things in a Rock Band game. RB3 was very nearly perfect. I can't say i'll miss the keys, they were never fun.

One of my huge problems with multiplayer was that if I was on Expert and someone else was on Medium, the note highways would scroll at Medium speed. I found the notes so much easier to read at faster speed, and I couldn't adjust on the fly to lower speeds and still play well.

@hollitz: there is an option in RB3 to have independent track speeds.

I think they should tweak it in a way that they can feature it on a PC *ba'dum tsss* But seriously folks, i think they should have a second foot pedal, more for open/close high hat control but it could also double as a double bass pedal.

I don't really mind buying songs I really enjoy, but I hope there is also an all access timed pass for when I have friends over.

I actually much preferred the way RB2 was setup to that of RB3. Bring back the World Tour. Bring back the challenge system of RB2 with things like play a full album or play these tough bass songs, etc. Get rid of the extra challenges in songs which still just amount to "play good". Character creation was much better in RB2 as well. Let me pick what my musicians act like... don't just make him do the same thing as everyone else according to the song I'm playing.

I would like the return of the Band Tour stuff. RB3 is great but I hated how it wanted me to play my songs. I like the Band Tour as it forced me to play songs I wouldn't normally seek out, where 3 I just played the ones I enjoyed the most and avoided ones I didn't know and thus wasn't open to opportunities to new artists (which I would be lying if I didn't give any credit to GH and RB for opening me to the world of music outside of metal and hard rock).

I play Rock Band drums on Expert Pro, and I don't have two bass pedals. I don't see why I ought to be punished because the hardware they sold to me is lacking.

@gunstarred: I'd suggest transitioning to expert. The problem with hard is that you're listening to every note but only need to press like 85% of the notes so it fucks with your timing. It's easier when you're listening to every note and pressing every note.

Double bass pedals always comes up as a requested feature, but I'd rather have a hi-hat pedal and bass pedal for pro drums. You'd use the hi-hat pedal on virtually every song, and it'd make the drum experience a bit more realistic.

I don't miss the exclusion of the keys. I never found anyone who wanted to play them, and a lot of the songs that had keys weren't fun to play.

Already mentioned, but I will second a Rocksmith-ish dynamic difficulty mode, at least for the single player stuff. The option should still be there to do your standard easy/medium/hard/expert, but a mode that starts you easy and quickly builds up as you go through the song would be nice.

Demo mode for DLC (similar to what RBN tracks had) - just like a minute or so of the song to test would be nice.

As is, you already have to buy a cymbal pack to play Expert Pro.

So long as Kyle Gass Band's "Manchild" is in it, I'm happy.