Exploding Penguin
Moderator
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This is mainly an idea to rework classes entirely so you actually feel like changing classes gives you a fresh, new experience rather than an almost identical one to whatever previous class you were. This will also incorporate some ideas that impact balance concerning the base stats themselves.
The first thing that should be done is all classes should gain a relatively equal amount of skills which scale with the base stats. This doesn't have to be an exact number but we don't want a class like TLM where dex builds are practically non-viable because stun grenade is the only skill which scales with dex and stun grenade itself is not that great. It's fine to have skills which scale with nothing (or level) but there should relatively be 2-3 skills that scale for each base stat. Nothing more, nothing less. What this does is it guarantees all classes have a larger variety of builds which can be used so it enriches the experience the player gets from switching classes. After switching classes a large selection of different possible build types can be created if there's more of a balance between stat-scaling skills. As stated before a lot of classes suffer from just not being able to use certain builds, which limits build variety and makes switching classes less appealing.
The next thing that should be done is to make all classes gain certain very visible advantages that other classes lack. For example, after the strength TLM nerf right at the beginning of delta, the class was hailed as one of the tankiest classes in the game, taking advantage of mineral armor covering for defense since technology scaled resistance faster than dex did defense back then, naturally making the class tankier than CH or merc. It also had an energy drain which was extremely efficient since it had a 2-turn cooldown and cost 6 (which would be 60 now) energy, along with surgical strike and reroute. Now, most classes (thanks to passive removal) feel really similar. There isn't as much incentive to switch classes. The only case in which this is still apparent is really CH, because of the overwhelming force the class gets from a single skill: EMP grenade. However, this is a single skill, not synergy between multiple different skills like the previous ridiculous block chance synergy it once had with shadow arts and plasma armor to promote more investment into dexterity. If all classes gain something they are very strong at individually that other classes don't have, it may cause a slight disruption in overall balance but the contribution of fun factor it makes into the game is far more invaluable. It lets people discover specific classes that they like because of that class-specific playstyle. Furthermore, it is really interesting to see people run off-meta builds such as focus BM when strength BM was pretty much the only BM build played.
The final thing is to allow less archetyped options for skills. Dex/tech scaling skills are practically never buffs aside from technician, and support skills are really never offensive aside from artillery strike (and malfunction but the scaling is almost negligible). They shouldn't just make like a plasma bolt which scales with support or strength or something, as we can all see how that turned out before fireball got nerfed 2 times and became useless, but they should still allow more offensive options. These offensive options would simply be a lot more unique. For example, fire scythe would scale with support and use a percentage of auxiliary damage. The %-defense ignore would scale with how much support you have but the investment of skill points would increase the percentage of your aux damage that the skill does. What this does is effectively make glass cannon support builds a lot more viable. It gives glass cannon support builds more reliable options by allowing them to penetrate through tanks that would otherwise most likely deflect their super heavy-hitting auxiliary attacks. This would mean practically reworking at least half the skills of every skill tree. Or, do what was promised since the beginning of Omega, and fix overlapping skills as well.
As a conclusive side note, diminishing returns have their ups and downs. But right now it empowers focus builds WAY too much. This isn't really on the topic of changing classes that much but robot damage should individually scale with technology the same way guns scale with dex, and focus should just not affect robot damage at all anymore. The benefits you get from having a build with minimized diminishing returns really doesn't need an extra bonus which empowers it and makes it viable no matter what actually happens to the current meta. There has never been a point in time where focus builds have been weak since their release in Gamma, and this is because the bonus they get in their bot damage makes them statistically outclass every other build. They already get maximized benefits from minimizing diminishing returns so why are they getting even more extra benefits in an extra 200+ robot damage? It limits the usage of specific robots to only be viable on focus builds and is also contributing to the lack of build variety.
< Message edited by Exploding Penguin -- 6/23/2015 13:45:28 >
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