I think the quirk system was a step in the right direction. The only thing that I do not agree with at this time was giving specific weapon system quirks out. ie... AC 20 Speed, MPL Rang so forth and so on,....
While not being able to change it now, how about just generalizing the quirks to the mechs... ie...Laser rang increase, missile cool down increase so forth and so on, then using the pilot skill tree to specialize for that mech into specific weapon's for that mech and chassis only, ie MPL range increase, cool down so forth and so on,.
This will give a reason to change the pilot skill, as well as not make every variant of the mech almost identical, its up to the individual pilot to customize his mech. Any good pilot and his mechanic team can do this to mechs I suppose.
Just a different angle to further diversify the playing field.
Thoughts?
Edit:::
And if you want to change it, well you will have to re-earn the Mech XP to re do the quirks for that mech, no freebies.
Edited by Darian DelFord, 05 November 2014 - 08:33 PM.
I think that the current system with mastered mechs being better in every way also hurts the new player experience, and makes it extremely hard to judge the value of a new mech. Some builds are terrible until you have double efficiencies, and then suddenly become good, but you have to slog through dozens of matches to find out.
It also helps build your attachment to the mech. If you had to pick one of: +8 side torso armor, +8 leg armor or +8 CT armor, when you're 20 matches in and you've discovered you really love the XL build, or maybe you find people always go for your legs, it's a choice that's based on your experiences, rather than a mindless grind.
It's a personal experience, and makes your mech unique to you.
Cool run OR Heat Containment.
Archor Turn OR Speed Tweak
Fast Fire OR (projectile speed buff)
I would actually be pretty happy with a massive change to the Skill tree system. As it is, it's pretty bland and linear. It could be a really good way to make people feel like their mechs are more personal.
Mind you, we have some custom "quirks" in the form of modules. I just think that there's Potential in unlocking a choice of quirks (Preferably with some flipside negative: AP rounds, but less ammo per ton, Faster Velocity missiles, but a longer loading time... Something you make you have to do a cost/benefit.)
I envisioned the Pilot tree to be the "Meat and Potatoes" of specialization within each mech variant. Call it a leveling system, or specializations or whatever. However through your combat and subsequent xp gain be able to specialize that mech to your taste.
What to have a Jenner M Laser Boat, with Range, Cooldown and whatnot, you have to specialize that in order to get it at the cost of whatever.
I just see the pilot tree being the best way (for the moment) to specialize and individualize your mechs.
And if you want to change your specialziation or whatnot, reset it to 0 for a cost, and then have to re-earn whatever new specialties that you want through grinding and or stored XP you already have on that mech.
Yes, I think something along these lines would be a great way to revitalize the Pilot Skill Trees. This way you can taylor each mech to your own play style.
Thanks for your thoughts I can't comment much at this point beyond saying yes the Skills tree needs a lot more depth and content. I don't have an ETA at this point.
Russ Bullock, on 06 November 2014 - 10:30 AM, said:
Thanks for your thoughts I can't comment much at this point beyond saying yes the Skills tree needs a lot more depth and content. I don't have an ETA at this point.
Darian DelFord, on 05 November 2014 - 08:32 PM, said:
I think the quirk system was a step in the right direction. The only thing that I do not agree with at this time was giving specific weapon system quirks out. ie... AC 20 Speed, MPL Rang so forth and so on,....
While not being able to change it now, how about just generalizing the quirks to the mechs... ie...Laser rang increase, missile cool down increase so forth and so on, then using the pilot skill tree to specialize for that mech into specific weapon's for that mech and chassis only, ie MPL range increase, cool down so forth and so on,.
This will give a reason to change the pilot skill, as well as not make every variant of the mech almost identical, its up to the individual pilot to customize his mech. Any good pilot and his mechanic team can do this to mechs I suppose.
Just a different angle to further diversify the playing field.
Thoughts?
Edit:::
And if you want to change it, well you will have to re-earn the Mech XP to re do the quirks for that mech, no freebies.
I disagree. One, that's what the existing module system is for.
Two, if you make all quirks general, you're just going to see more the same loadouts on multiple chassis. Which is what was so boring before.
I'd rather see the same build on EVERY Shadowhawk 2H every time than see the SAME BUILD on EVERY 55 tonner.
Edited by Ghost Badger, 06 November 2014 - 12:22 PM.
Darian DelFord, on 05 November 2014 - 08:32 PM, said:
Spoiler
I think the quirk system was a step in the right direction. The only thing that I do not agree with at this time was giving specific weapon system quirks out. ie... AC 20 Speed, MPL Rang so forth and so on,....
While not being able to change it now, how about just generalizing the quirks to the mechs... ie...Laser rang increase, missile cool down increase so forth and so on, then using the pilot skill tree to specialize for that mech into specific weapon's for that mech and chassis only, ie MPL range increase, cool down so forth and so on,.
This will give a reason to change the pilot skill, as well as not make every variant of the mech almost identical, its up to the individual pilot to customize his mech. Any good pilot and his mechanic team can do this to mechs I suppose.
Just a different angle to further diversify the playing field.
Thoughts?
Edit:::
And if you want to change it, well you will have to re-earn the Mech XP to re do the quirks for that mech, no freebies.
I agree that having weapon specific quirks for mechs is not the right answer. Not only does it encourage one build over another e.g. the LCT ERLgLas... I do not run my LCTs as sniper builds... but it actively promotes certain builds which will eventually take over the poulations just like the pop-tart mechs did. I would like to see general weapon group buffs e.g. the HBKs are known as ballistic mechs and the "swaybacks" were much more rare on the battlefield. The JM6s were renowned for their anti-air capability so I would assume they would get ballistic buffs. The STK had a battle computer in it that helped manage heat, sounds like a good buff to me. CPLTs are LRM support mechs, RoF or lock on time buffs for all missiles sounds good.
As far as pilot skills go I think that the tree is a bit broken... how do we still have convergence skills... arm movement skills for mechs with no arm movement? A more pilot centric tree would be great, many F2P games allow character slots, create the equivalent of pilot character slots that act as module groups:
Pilot A: Light Mech Specialist - light mech armor buff +5 all - light mech movement agility +5% (accel, decel, turn, arm movement) SRM Specialist - SRM RoF +5% - SRM Grouping +5% Sensor Specialist - Sensor range +5% - Info Gathering +5% Hunter - +5% Critical Chance
And so on... We would assign a pilot to a mech and each pilot could have an XP pool where some selections are mutially exclusive until a certain point. So from the two pilots we have two very different roles but each can be put in different mechs. Pilot A could pilot a COM, a RVN or even an Uller; Pilot B would be good in a VTR, HGN, or a Mad Cat S.
This could create pilots that are masters of their machines e.g. a medium pilot specializing in ballistics (AC/20) and lasers (Medium) in a hunter role piloting an HBK... but put that pilot in a CPLT and... well at least he isn't dispossessed...
Limit each pilot to:
One weight class
Two weapon groups - Prerequisite for specific weapons
Two specific weapons - In weapon groups
Equipment or general (consumables)
Role
Pilots could be timed so if the pilot is "killed" you would have to wait to assign them to another mech, this could be like 15 minutes or one round. You could swap the pilot out of a mech and use the mech again during this cooldown time. Premium time would reduce this cooldown time and ast as another purchasing point.
Just my ideas...
Edit: Clarification
Edited by Danghen Woolf, 06 November 2014 - 01:12 PM.
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