Goony
Constructive!
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In my opinion balance has reached a point of no return. It's been like that since Omega and perhaps for some of Gamma. The core issue relates to Boss/PvE battles. When legendary bosses need to have 20k HP and 18k EP just to make them a challenge then there is a lot wrong with balance and the core skills that some classes now have has led to this situation. I'll be upfront here and state that my preferred class is Mercenary, always has been and always will be. Mercenaries do ok at PvP, but they are simply unable to heal loop enough to be able to beat the bosses now. Structurally the mercenary class skills lean towards strength and support. All classes start with pretty much the same stat point distribution and have 1 common skill. Let's just evaluate that skill for now and look at what the impact of having the same skill across all 6 classes has. Field Medic: Skill Details Improves With: Skill Level Level 1: 265 Health Points Level 2: 290 Health Points Level 3: 315 Health Points Level 4: 340 Health Points Level 5: 365 Health Points Level 6: 390 Health Points Level 7: 415 Health Points Level 8: 440 Health Points Level 9: 465 Health Points Level 10: 490 Health Points Level Changes: Improves by 1 Health Point every 0.15 levels above 20. Weakens by 1 Health Point every 0.15 levels below 20. Cool Down: 4 Turns Energy: 150 Energy (+20 per skill level increase) Level 1: 150 Energy Level 2: 170 Energy Level 3: 190 Energy Level 4: 210 Energy Level 5: 230 Energy Level 6: 250 Energy Level 7: 270 Energy Level 8: 290 Energy Level 9: 310 Energy Level 10: 330 Energy Stat Required: 16 Technology (+3 per skill level increase) Level 1: 16 Technology Level 2: 19 Technology Level 3: 22 Technology Level 4: 25 Technology Level 5: 28 Technology Level 6: 31 Technology Level 7: 34 Technology Level 8: 37 Technology Level 9: 40 Technology Level 10: 43 Technology *These are ED wiki stats, I think the health/energy stats are correct, but the others are wrong. Also can't find any info on core stat point increases per level for health and energy. Mercenary Base Stats > Level 40 stats Health: 550 > 750 so increases 5 points per level Energy: 540 > 600 so increases 1.5 points per level Strength: 23 > 18 Dexterity: 19 > 22 Technology: 18 > 19 Support: 20 > 21 So looking at Field medic in isolation the Wiki states that: Level Changes: Improves by 1 Health Point every 0.15 levels above 20. Weakens by 1 Health Point every 0.15 levels below 20. At character level 40/field medic level 1 the heal is 265+(20*0.15)=268 That's obviously incorrect data because at level 40 the heal is 398, so 398-265 = 133/20 =6.68 per level... It's going to be hard work to discuss balance when the community doesn't have the time or desire to update the base stats function of the classes. I'll just use what is there is on the wiki or on my level 40 character for the sake of trying to explain some of the flaws in balance. Level 20 (wiki stats) 265/150=1.77 health per energy point at level 1 Field Medic At level 40 398/150= 2.65 health per energy point at level 1 Field Medic At level 40 423/170= 2.48 health per energy point at level 2 Field Medic At level 40 448/190= 2.38 health per energy point at level 3 Field Medic up to At level 40 623/330= 1.89 health per energy point at level 10 Field Medic Like most skills there is a diminishing return for the invested skill points. The rationale, I believe, is to negate skill stacking. And I get to this point and remember why it is so hard to discuss balance. Sorry if the stats or calculations I have used are wrong! Now every class has the same health gains from field medic, but not every class has the same ability to regenerate energy... Lemme think, there must be a reason why some classes need to be able to regen energy more that others... It's the reason why Rabblefroth introduced energy regen to Mercs... There must be a reason??? It's because the stats improve damage output more for melee, guns, auxes and bots across the different classes... Nope, that's wrong... All stat points increase each class the same! Maybe it's because they need to use their core skills more because they have weaker skills... Hmmm, wrong again... In fact some classes that can regen more energy have the best damage output per energy point. It could be that the energy regen was made higher for some classes because some other classes can remove or steal more energy than others... Wait, I think I'm onto something here... Why can some classes gain rage from stealing/regen... Oh yeah rage... totally broken, that's another topic altogether... move on.... Some classes need an unblockable energy regen option because it's hard for those classes to invest in dexterity... That That's something to think about, but why do we need to have so many variations of energy regeneration and/or stealing. Oh yeah... Boss fights, we need players to either grind or buy varium so that they are obliged to class change in order to defeat bosses now. Hmm, why don't bosses steal energy... Nah, joking that would break the game. Wait the game is already broken, players voted with their feet and left the game in high numbers. Maybe that's why the current mods/testers just troll people ingame when they enquire about balance. If you want to fix balance, start with the basic skill trees and make them unique per class. Then reduce this reliance on heal looping to beat bosses. TBH the best thing would be a static energy pool for each class that improved on a per stat point invested basis for each individual class. Get rid of energy regen/stealing skills and maybe have some form of effective skill that like field medic that is the same for each class to regain energy. Remember skill point investment is important in this conversation as the distribution is what creates diversity. Where did I put that too hard basket again? That's ok thou, because a lot of players will return or start playing since there are new weapons and achivements :/
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