CAELAN Andoril
Tronhadar Free Guard
Minmatar Republic
82
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Posted - 2014.01.28 04:11:00 -
[1] - Quote
To get straight to the point: balance is still a major issue in the game. Every other post is about whatever is ailing the game this week/month/patch/release, whether it's Assault suits, Logi suits, tanks, jeeps, HMG's, Shotguns, RE's, whatever. In the end, however, there is a core issue that is the cause of all these problems: equipment tiers. Of course things are imbalanced, as there are definitively superior versions of every weapon available, so long as you play the game long enough and have just a little bit more ISK. In order to get the game even close to some form of balance, one would have to get rid of equipment tiers and outright superior versions of weapons/suits/vehicles/anything.
But to just outright gut this out of the game would make it far less of an RPG, and much more shallow. So here's a few things I thought of that might help in that issue:
1. Skills - In my opinion, skills that add passive bonuses to health, resistances, and damage output are ridiculous. It just reinforces the cycle of older players, whether better players or not, killing newer players faster. Instead, I think skills should focus on equip costs, more of a focus on reducing CPU/PG cost than outright performance, allowing players to equip more to their suits.
2. Fitting - With what I've been thinking of, there would need to be a third equipment restriction beyond just CPU/PG: weight. We can kind of already see weight restrictions in-game, in the form of being able to equip lower-weight weapons to higher-weight slots [AR's to HW slots, SMG's to LW slots]. With what I've been thinking, assign each suit a general weight limit based on frame size [Small frame gets least weight, Heavy gets most] and fill a certain amount of it based on the base stats of the suit: CPU, PG, Shields and Armour. Then with the unassigned weight, players could equip whatever they want until they reach their encumbrance, but at an obvious cost. The more equipment a player has, and the heavier their suit weighs, the slower they move. So a Small suit fitted with nothing but a SMG and some knives will run faster than the wind, but a Heavy fully loaded out will crawl at a snail's pace.
3. Crafting - I think adding some sort of crafting system could be exactly what DUST needs in order to allow both tiericide and diversity of equipment. The requirement for crafting would be in a single skill, with what you can craft unlocked through advancement in it. First you can customise weapons, then equipment, then suits, then vehicle turrets, and finally vehicles themselves. For those not willing to invest in the skill, the player market and NPC market could provide pre-packaged suits and fittings instead. Completely change the current slot system and instead modify weapons, suits and equipment directly. Customise a weapon so that it does higher damage, but it also comes with the cost of being less accurate or fires slower. Weapons could fit attachments, but each attachment increases the CPU/PG cost.
Customisable suits would only come in three varieties: the basic frames. From there, players can customise their suits as much as they want until they find the right suit for them. Improve the wiring for a higher CPU/PG cost so they can equip extremely formidable weaponry, or sacrifice it for improved shields and armour so you're harder to kill. Or focus on increasing the weight capacity, allowing a Medium frame suit to sacrifice everything just to equip an HMG. Or focus on making your suit the stealthiest piece of gear on the field. Or just find the middle ground between all them so you're just well-rounded.
In terms of customising raw performance, weapons should be forced to balance between three things: RoF, Damage, and Accuracy. At most, you can max out one of a weapons' stats, have a second stat moderate, and leave the third at it's worst possible. Or, ideally, find the balance between the three that suits you best. Suits should be customised similarly, but divided into two categories: first, players should choose between CPU, Shields, or Profile, so that a suit with as much CPU and/or shields as possible will appear on everyone's radar from a large distance, or a suit so focused on stealth that you can't detect them unless they are in your direct line of sight. Then players should choose between PG, Armour, or weight. And with this crafting system, cosmetic customisation becomes even more possible, and CCP could even charge AUR for a few select skins/colour options. Vehicle customisation would work similarly, just on a larger scale. Adding weight behaviours to vehicles would also be interesting for gameplay, I think.
Any thoughts?
In and out of hiatus frequently.
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