7 replies to this topic

[Nik Van Rhijn]

After reading some other threads, AtD 48 and many previous discussions, I thought I'd see what people thought.
If enough people like it maybe make it a suggestion to the Dev's.
The skill tree we have now was originally intended as a placeholder until it could be developed further. I (and others) have suggested that there are alternatives which could benefit the game.
The idea is that when mastering a mech you cannot choose all of the skills, but only a subset, aimed at allowing the chosen mech to be aimed at a particular role.
This would lend itself to adding more specific "quirks" that could be tailored for specific roles.
[At present I mainly pilot an HBK 4SP with 4 different roles. One setup is Long Range Support, 1 Close Range Support, 1 Light Hunter and 1 Fast Flanker. At the moment I can do it all with one mech and the mechlab.
If you have a more varied but limited skill tree for each mech then it would add in both a C-bill sink (which means they could upgrade game payoff) and a source of MC (mech bays).
It could mean that you don't have to buy 3 variants and nake it easier to include new mechs without many variants
This could also allow variation in Clan mechs.

What do you think, I know its a low priority for the devs at the moment but it would fit in with UI2.

Edited by Nik Van Rhijn, 06 October 2013 - 01:06 PM.

[Pritypete]

Seems like a good idea but alot of work. I feel the variation is actually in the mechs themselves. Adding limited skill sets is just another layer of complexity that if they got wrong would erk a lot of people, its easier to just blanket everyone with the same thing. Plus from a money stand point, maybe the best flanker would be a different mech then what you would like for close support. so now to unlock all the perks for that new mech you would have to get at least 2 more variants. Obviously this would be for people who comb the forum and find the absolute best mechs/builds for certain roles. Which would support my theory that they want the variation in the Mechs instead of the skill trees. There is enough flexibility that if you wanted to kit out a mech for any role for the most part your able to do so, even if its not the absolute best at it.

Edited by Pritypete, 06 October 2013 - 01:33 PM.

[Lostdragon]

I think if done right a system where you have more skills than you could buy would be very interesting. This could further define and specialize a mech beyond what loadouts and hardpoints can do for variants.

I think the trick is to try to avoid having cookie cutter builds that are automatically the best choice for a mech. For example, maybe in Jenner F Tier 1 of a new talent system you have five options but only get to pick three. If those options were things like 5% laser range boost, 5% better heat dissipation, 10% increased max heat, decreased seismic signature, and 10% tighter turning radius I think pilots would have a lot of flexibility with them. Those are all good options and picking three would lead to interesting decisions. You can have subsequent tiers require options in a previous tier, so maybe in Tier 2 there is a 5% recycle time boost on lasers but you have to take the range boost in the previous tier to get it.

As long as you have a variety of skills at each tier that are roughly equal in power and usefulness then you will see a wide array of skill builds.

Edited by Lostdragon, 07 October 2013 - 09:26 AM.

[Mantiis]

Lost: I like it. Similar to Borderlands in a way, you go one direction with your tree and dont get the other stuff.

How about a crazy tree like Path of Exile? tied in both to your progression in the community warfare as well as unlocked via cbill. (No MC)

[Lostdragon]

Mantiis, on 07 October 2013 - 10:36 AM, said:

Lost: I like it. Similar to Borderlands in a way, you go one direction with your tree and dont get the other stuff.

How about a crazy tree like Path of Exile? tied in both to your progression in the community warfare as well as unlocked via cbill. (No MC)

Yeah, I'm thinking more standard RPG/MMORPG than the crazy Path of Exile version. I'd really like to see them do a tree for either every chassis or every variant. Doing one for every variant would be a lot of work, but on chassis that have variants with very different hard point configurations (ie some variants have missiles, some don't, some have all energy, etc.) I think it makes sense to have a per variant tree. The good thing about that is a lot of the skills could be re-used from variant to variant or even mech to mech. I would imagine a lot of the skills for Jenners, for example, would be the same, but since the F has no missile hard points it would not need missile related skills were the D and K would benefit from those. Since the SDR-5D is an all energy hardpoint light like the Jenner F they could have similar skill trees.

I'm interested to see how the leveling system will work. It could easily be tied into skill trees, maybe you have to be level 10 to progress past Tier 1 and level 60 to get to Tier 6.

[Mawai]

It is a good idea. This idea and many similar variations have been expressed to the developers since closed beta in June and July of 2012. The XP system as it stands now is boring, unimaginative, has no elements that could be used to make each mech more unique ... basically, the XP system should provide additional reasons to want to play the game ... but in this it fails ... it is just another grind while it really should be an important metagame element.

However, in the past 18 months it has been considered too low a priority to address and the impression is that this will continue ... unfortunately, since a good XP system could really enhance player retention and thus encourage MC expenditures given how challenging the cbill grind has become.

[Hellcat420]

no thanks.

[Nik Van Rhijn]

Hellcat420, on 07 October 2013 - 03:46 PM, said:

no thanks.

Any particular reason, or just anti everything?