Ashari
Inconceivable!
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This is a pretty interesting idea, but it comes down to what it would bring to the game vs. what it would take away.
Let's just assume we're going to use Omni's situation where swords will only have 1/3 of the total stats of other Primaries and retain half of their enhancement slots. Also, lets assume that swords are usable with all strike skills (ie: Malfunction, Cheap Shot, Berzerker, Double Strike) and have a 3 turn cooldown.
The Problems:
The extra stats and enhancement slots will only serve to further widen the Varium gap. Like all other equipment, Varium swords will probably have 1-2 more stats than their non-Varium counterparts. Similarly, any more enhancements slots indirectly widen the gap since Varium players are much more likely and much more able to purchase enhancements for their equipment. The high credit cost for enhancements is very restrictive, so only the most active non-Varium players would even be able to utilize the extra set of enhance slots on the sword.
Having another type of attack would make shields even weaker. As it stands now, a well equipped player can have 4 possible attacks (5 if they are using Gamma Bot). Given the popularity (and success) of 5 focus builds for all the classes, every single one of these attacks can be effective. This means at most, a Defense Matrix or Energy Shield will only be effective 2 out of 4 turns. Adding an extra type of attack, even with a cooldown, will just make all the shield spells virtually useless.
Let look at this situation:A player has Physical Primary, Energy Sword, Energy Gun, Physical Auxiliary, Gamma Bot. This means the player has 3 Physical and 3 Energy attacks. Even with a longer cooldown on Sword (say 3 turns), this rotation is still possible:
Opponent casts Defense Matrix... Energy Gun -> Energy Sword -> Gamma Bot Special (Energy) -> Energy Gun ...Defense Matrix fades By adding another type of attack, you've reduced the effectiveness of shields from 50% to 0%.
This change would only further serve to unbalance already powerful builds. What I'm talking about specifically are Strength builds and 5 Focus builds.
Strength builds would benefits from this in that they now have 3 attacks (Strike, Sidearm, and Sword) that benefits from Strength. This means that you won't be able to stop a Maul / Berzerker Mercenary by having high Dexterity (or a high Defense Matrix/Reflex Boost) anymore, because he will probably be carrying an Energy Sidearm and Energy Sword. The same is true for Strength Bounty Hunters. This build was just brought back down to a more balanced level after the Shadow Arts nerf. It's greatest weakness are tank builds that can cover their physical defenses. If the BH can carry an Energy Sword along with an Energy Sidearm then there is little that can stop their damage.
----Besides the already extreme builds, 5 focus would be the next candidate for becoming imbalanced. With everyone being able to attack with both Physical and Energy, 5 focus builds will become popular since they can cover both Defense and Resistance very well, as well as abuse all the attack types (as mentioned in the example in my previous point). What this comes down to is locking the game down (argubly even further than it is now) to 1 or 2 successful builds per class.
The Benefits:
The pro side of this feature is that it gives swords a purpose. Originally swords were the promotional items that had more stats and damage than equivalent Clubs, Wrist Blades and Staves. Now, due to stat inflation, the small stat and damage bonus swords give is outweighed by the functionality of class specific weapons that allow more skills to be used.
Some ideas to fix these problems:
- Remove enhancement slots from Swords. All these do is serve to widen the Varium gap. If swords are going to serve as a secondary weapon, they should be treated the same way as sidearms are.
- Increase Gun cooldown to 3. Set Sword Cooldown to 3. Put Gamma Bot's Attack and Special on a shared 2 turn cooldown. This will give make shields useful in combat again.
- Have sword damage increased by a stat other than strength. A third attack increased by strength would give that stat far too much power. A good idea is to have it increased by a combination of stats. 50% of it's damage should come from Strength, and the other 50% of its damage would come from Support.
The TLDR version:
Sword slot would:
Con: Make Strength Builds overpowered
Con: Force everyone else into 5 Focus builds
Con: Make Shields useless
Con: Increase the Varium gap
Pro: Give swords a purpose
This could be viable if:
Swords had no enhancement slots
Swords had a long cooldown, Gun cooldown increased, Gamma Bot cooldowns linked.
Sword damage was not increased just by strength. A combination of Str + Support should increase sword damage.
My opinion: A change to swords is needed, otherwise they will quickly be phased out of most builds (it's already happening). It just has to be handled carefully, because there is a lot of room to imbalance the game with a change like this.
< Message edited by Ashari -- 2/13/2011 19:49:40 >
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