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Nexus... -> RE: =ED= Balance Discussion X (8/7/2012 3:36:37)
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I have seen a lot of "new class" suggestions recently, which is fine, but also upsets me. One of the reasons why balance is in shambles are the newer of the 6 classes, along with various other changes that have been made over the last couple of years, such as agility. While more classes are nice and allow for new builds, they don't address the heart of the problem, which is the ability to customize a skill tree in the way you like, and in doing so open up many valid build options. This is why when we see an "OP Class" that needs nerfing, our immediate reaction is to address that class by the build that makes it OP. Strength Blood Mage for example, or Support Mercenary to name another. New classes will not solve the balance issues we already have, because they provide no more variety then the rest of the classes, and increase the chances of their niche being exploited.
Today I thought I would address one of the many balance changes we could make, that would allow for a multitude of valid builds, and a variety of ways and approaches to counter builds that currently favor their user. This change would effect all 6 of the existing skill trees, condensing them into 3, while adding a couple skills to fill in the gaps where needed.
I have done a preliminary mock up of what the Mage Skill Tree would look like with this new "combined" version, to give you a slight idea of what this would look like. There are some larger changes, and some more subtle ones as well, and I will do my best to address all of these in the section below.
Overall Changes:
The first major change is that we will return to our 3 original classes. As you can see in the picture above, all of the skills from both the existing Tech Mage and Blood Mage classes have been merged into one tree. The other 2 classes (Mercenaries and Hunters) will similarly be altered, with skills from both their basic and evolved class, and new skills to fill in unexplored areas. As you can see, a class like Mage has most of its skills concentrated into burst damage (physical and energy attacks), with a strong support supplementation. Hunters on the other hand, will now be a tactical oriented class, having concentrated amounts of skills that can enhance their potential damage and defense, and passives which can compliment a variety of builds. Finally Mercenaries will remain very defense oriented, with a wide selection of passives to choose from and a supplementing damage output.
From the preliminary skill tree, you can see that I have added two new skills on the "Physical" third of the tree in tierd 2. Both of these will act virtually the same as their energy counterparts, but will have different requirements, will increase with different stats, and will obviously provide physical damage instead of energy.
Passives will be limited to one primary passive, and one secondary passive. Hunters, for example, will have to choose between Bloodlust and Plasma armor, and then can also pick up Shadow Arts as a supplement if they so desire. However, it should be noted that at no one time may they have points in both Plasma Armor and Bloodlust. Mage is similar, with a selection of either Bloodlust or Reroute, and Deadly Aim as a supplementing passive. Mercenaries on the other hand, may choose between Reroute, Mineral Armor, or Hybrid Armor and supplement with Adrenaline. All 3 of the classes will have other changes to their skill tress, similar to the addition of a Physical Multi and stun on mage, but I haven't yet considered what they should be.
Ultimates will also see a change. There are not 2 instances of Supercharge as the above picture would imply, but instead a new physical ultimate to accompany the two new physical skills on Mage. The Energy side of the Hunter tree would receive a similar change, gaining an energy specific ultimate, while Mercenary would also get a second option for their ultimate.
Stuns, Multi's and Ultimates will also be regulated in a different manner. No one player will be able to use 2 of each, and will have to choose between having a physical stun, or an energy stun (this applies to having a physical multi or and energy multi, and a physical ultimate and an energy ultimate). However, while tiers 2 and 4 will be regulated in this manner, tiers 1 and 3 will remain accessible as long as all other requirements are met.
To recap:
-Merged skill trees
-1 Main passive, 1 Secondary Passive
-New Skills to fill in the gaps
-A second ultimate option for all 3 class ultimates
-Only 1 Stun, 1 Multi, and 1 Ultimate will be allowed per build.
Food for thought:
-Consider lowering MAX skill level to 7 No longer needed, keep it at 10
-At level 1 you gain Field Medic and as well as a tier 1 skill of your choice
-5 skill points must be deposited in tier 2 in order to gain access to tier 3 *Note tiers include all 3 skill trees
-3 skill points must be deposited in tier 3 to gain access to tier 4
-Level requirements remain the same for all skills
-For every 5 points in each skill category you gain +1 to Defense (Phys), +1 Resistance (Resistance), or +1 Support (Mage) depending on what catagory you deposit your 5 points in (*Note these 3 stats vary depending on your class)
-Possible locking of certain skills which can be purchased using either Credits OR Varium (remember, your getting extra skills in the first place)
-If each skill category contains 10+ points, all negative effects of agility (-1,-2 etc.) are negated - (rewards balanced builds without being destructive towards the builds themselves)
What does this do?
Allows for a multitude of new builds that will expand variety, and provide valid options to counter builds that are currently "overpowered." Also expands on the versatility of each class, allowing for class specific roles as the developers release new game modes. For example, Mages would have access to many valid support/defense skill oriented builds (support gains a new definition), or they could decide to tech to a more offensive energy based build. The skill combinations are almost limitless and builds would see many more subdivisions that would reduce the probability of certain skill combinations being overpowering an entire class.
Thanks for reading, I hope you like my idea. Feel free to leave any feedback you deem relevant.
Prophet
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