Re: levelup idea
Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2013 9:41 am
Weapon skills felt more like a perk than actual skills. Since you can only use one weapon at a time, there's not a lot of benefit to spending points into multiple weapon trees, especially if you're part of a group. In principle you gain flexibility by being able to use different categories of weapons, but this is a pretty small benefit unless the weapon types are drastically different and you can't resolve it by replacing party members. The opportunity cost of learning a new weapon type tends to be too high (though this can be moderated with diminishing returns).
What might be better for the weapon skills category is more general skills that apply to whatever weapon, e.g. Accuracy, Armor Penetration, Burst Fire, Damage. Some skills are more likely to be useful for a certain category of weapons, but with variations within each weapon category the value of the skills become a lot less of a no-brainer (rapid fire sniper rifle), especially if there are diminishing returns.
The tree idea is interesting - it makes me think of how Heroes of Might and Magic did their skills (three options per level up) though it wasn't really exclusive so much as deciding the order you got stuff. Exclusive choices are a very cool idea (fundamentally games are about making decisions) but I'd imagine it'd be difficult to make the choices really interesting. One way to do that neatly is if each level had a theme, so you were choosing from an alternative way to do the same thing, instead of overspecializing (sort of like modern WoW talent trees). So on one level you might choose between Heavy Armor proficiency, an active Dodge skill, or a passive evasion bonus (self-defense grouping); another level maybe you pick between a new Aim attack that makes the target easier to hit, a psionic power that reduces target's evasion, or an active ability that provides the party an accuracy bonus (party accuracy grouping). Another level might have you choose a second weapon proficiency (beyond the one you have already; conveniently there are 4 groups)
Secondary skills also seem to suffer from the problem of specialization; why would you not specialize in just one secondary skill? And if there's no reason, why is it a skill system at all instead of just being a perk/trait?
What might be better for the weapon skills category is more general skills that apply to whatever weapon, e.g. Accuracy, Armor Penetration, Burst Fire, Damage. Some skills are more likely to be useful for a certain category of weapons, but with variations within each weapon category the value of the skills become a lot less of a no-brainer (rapid fire sniper rifle), especially if there are diminishing returns.
The tree idea is interesting - it makes me think of how Heroes of Might and Magic did their skills (three options per level up) though it wasn't really exclusive so much as deciding the order you got stuff. Exclusive choices are a very cool idea (fundamentally games are about making decisions) but I'd imagine it'd be difficult to make the choices really interesting. One way to do that neatly is if each level had a theme, so you were choosing from an alternative way to do the same thing, instead of overspecializing (sort of like modern WoW talent trees). So on one level you might choose between Heavy Armor proficiency, an active Dodge skill, or a passive evasion bonus (self-defense grouping); another level maybe you pick between a new Aim attack that makes the target easier to hit, a psionic power that reduces target's evasion, or an active ability that provides the party an accuracy bonus (party accuracy grouping). Another level might have you choose a second weapon proficiency (beyond the one you have already; conveniently there are 4 groups)
Secondary skills also seem to suffer from the problem of specialization; why would you not specialize in just one secondary skill? And if there's no reason, why is it a skill system at all instead of just being a perk/trait?