84 replies to this topic

[Cion]

Hello fellow mechwarriors!

Whether IS of Clan, we all can probably agree that the skill tree is a disgrace...

sooo seeing this from Russ

How would you redo the skill tree?

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My idea would be to keep the 3 tier of skill unlocks, but borrowing from Kanajashi's video idea, swtich so that to unlock Elites you just need 3 basic'd mechs (independent of chassis), and to unlock Master to have 3 elites of the same chassis.

I would make the skills Options between 3 playstyles - Brawler, Support, Recon/Sniper. That way each choice would be a decision of playstyle, rather than generic bonuses.

I would make decisions non-permanent, so you can experiment different roles with your mech

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what would you guys have for skill trees?

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Edit: ideas for skills

Brawler: buffs to torso twist speeds, a 2 second period for no damage for overheating, srm or short range weapon reloads, extra coolshot

Support: Faster detailed paperdoll, faster medium range weapon reloads (or less heat), maybe faster weapon trajectory speeds (lrms, ppcs, etc), extra UAV

Recon/Sniper: Minimize your signature (passive radar or something), No Guass charge (or reduce time), lower ERPPC heat, more accurate artillery strikes, longer radar range

Edited by Cion, 11 December 2015 - 10:52 AM.

[cSand]

I like the elite/master switch up. Makes more sense honestly.

[Mechteric]

I'd rather have a non-linear skill tree. That way you have to choose which path you want rather than just being required to always take the same skills for every mech.

[GRiPSViGiL]

This is amazing news for me.....one of my biggest gripes. However, here we have PGI needing to essentially redo something they had no foresight as to why this needed to be done properly the first time. Anyways....

I want to be able to choose my quirks that require mech XP, CB, or Both (possibly GXP) to respec when I want to change it. I want weapon, structural, movement, range of motion and even modules to quirk or buff. Obviously the percentages would have to be based on the tier of the mech. They could even balance in negative quirks for some things to get buffs for OP weapons and such.

Making XP, GXP and CB needed for the skill tree will give it more value.

The skill tree could also be a place to help role warfare in terms of builds like Cion says.

Hate to say this but it is a step in the right direction even though so long over due.

Edited by GRiPSViGiL, 11 December 2015 - 10:55 AM.

[cSand]

GRiPSViGiL, on 11 December 2015 - 10:50 AM, said:

This is amazing news for me.....one of my biggest gripes. However, here we have PGI needing to essentially redo something they had no foresight as to why this needed to be done properly the first time. Anyways....

Remember though this skill tree is a holdover from the very first closed beta MWO when we had 8 mechs. In fact it's probably the only thing that hasn't been touched since then (except with the recent nerfs).

I'd say, give people options for each slot, so it can be fully custom for each chassis, but make the choices permanent. If you want a reroll your tree, you gotta re-buy the chassis. Seems fair enough

Edited by cSand, 11 December 2015 - 10:53 AM.

[Novakaine]

Please make it robust and interesting.
Want to be a hotshot pilot?
A crack shot gunner?
A hardcore sniper?
Give us some career paths to follow.
Make it exciting PGI.

[sycocys]

Am I the only person a little worried about "consider anything"?

[cSand]

sycocys, on 11 December 2015 - 11:03 AM, said:

Am I the only person a little worried about "consider anything"?

lol

mastery module: + 3 cockpit items

[Kraftwerkedup]

Like this. But for mechs.

Or League of Legends or whatever. 3 Categories, attack, defense, support. (brawler, sniper, support, whatever) with more options than youll get "skill points" so that you have to make meaningful choices.

[Cementi]

I personally would break it up into 4 sections.

Piloting (ie movement speed, turning, braking, jump jets, torso twist)
Gunnery (ie cooldown, heat reduction, range increases, beam duration)
Sensors (ie sensor range, target info gathering speed, lock on, basicly tie into info warefare when they put it in)
Mechanics (ie extra armor, extra structure, like the boars head reduction to component criticals)

Both Gunnery and Mechanics would be very specific. Ie Gunnery you would choose large pulse beam duration. Mechanics you would choose extra armor on the right arm. Stuff like that.

Like modules level 1 would give a very small bonus. Then have them scale up to 5 or even 10 times.

Now to balance things make it a true tree where your choices matter. You will not be able to max everything but have to pick and choose. You want extra armor on every component. Sure go ahead but you wont have much xp left over for heat generation reduction for your medium pulse lasers.

Mechs that have high numbers of hard points will have a higher cost put on the gunnery section items. Harder for energy and missle boats to abuse it that way.

Oh and get rid of the three variant rule. Forcing people to play mechs that are not fun is just not cool and really is only a die hard thing. Give us an achievement or something for doing it on one chassis. Another for doing 5 chassis so on and so forth kind of like the various assist ones or component destruction ones. Tie some real rewards to it, Cbills or something so those who had to do it before do not complain too much that they had to do it and now no one does.

[Kraftwerkedup]

Id have "basic" give you 4 skill points or whatever you want to call them.

Elite gives 4 more.

Master 4 more.

You should have about 30 choices, and only be able to pick about half of them.

Ideally some mechs, ontop of quirks, should come with some skills already chosen (like 3 of them, to get 15 total skill selections of the 30 possible)

For Cbills you could "reset" it at any time and choose a different 15 or whatever skills.

[Big Tin Man]

I'm all for (somewhat) linear skill trees with specific branches and multiple paths to make each mech a bit different when you run out of skill points. Think diablo 2.

As for resetting them, I really don't like a instant skill reset (a la Borderlands) which just turns the skill tree into moving different modules around. I also don't like needing to buy a new identical mech (or just wiping everything clean) and grinding out all of the XP all over again. What about a 50% loss in skill tree points if you choose to reset? It's enough to keep it fresh, but not too harsh.

edit: I'd want to keep it away from cbills, because some vets have more cbills than the Steiner family.

Edited by Big Tin Man, 11 December 2015 - 11:10 AM.

[Cementi]

If I knew it would get read and seriously considered I would put up the whole tree but the basic outline there should be enough.

[Clownwarlord]

A skill tree map as well as a small skill tree for every mech. So the skill tree for the mechs can stay the same as they are. When it comes to the skill tree map you are placed in the center and you will have rings around you. The first layer of rings would be mech classes and skills that relate to them specifically (light, medium, heavy, assault). Once you are through those you get to the rings of weapons and other special abilities (this layer of rings can just grow and grow to help continue the player base to max out their skills).

Each ring is loaded with skills every skill is connected to other skills. So you first unlock one skill away from you by spending GXP, this opens up other skills in the skill map that you can purchase with GXP. You move through the rings and levels of rings at your choices. So this will give the player base a more diverse players based on the skills they choose. The depth of it also can and will just grow based on the number of skills added to the rings and rings added to form another level.

I use an example of the Final Fantasy X skill map.

Spoiler

Edited by clownwarlord, 11 December 2015 - 11:15 AM.

[Khobai]

Id like to see a piloting skill tree with at least three skill trees with two branches per skill tree (total of 6 branches). Players would only get enough skill points to max out one branch and most of another branch. So no one person could do everything, which promotes role warfare. Youd be able to freely reallocate your points whenever you wanted in between matches.

command/support
strike/assault
recon/pursuit

those roles are right out of core battletech...


mechs themselves should not have skill trees at all but rather a revamped module system that lets you slot skill modules that boost certain characteristics like acceleration, top speed, etc.... something similar to what warframe has. So speed tweak would be a module that goes in a skill module slot instead of being unlocked as an elite skill.

mechs could have like 1-2 weapon module slots, 1-2 mech module slots, 3-4 skill module slots, and then the 1 universal slot from mastery. so each mech would have ~8 module slots give or take. basic, elite, mastery would no longer give you skills automatically, they would just increase the number of skill module slots available on the mech, and then you would choose to slot whatever skills you want (your pilot skill tree choice would determine what skills are available for your mech).

medium mechs could also get an additional universal slot to represent their being the most versatile weight class

Edited by Khobai, 11 December 2015 - 11:22 AM.

[Cementi]

Path of Exiles skill forest could be interesting......though it is involved to say the least. Here is a picture of it.

https://mikesgamingd...-skill-tree.jpg

[Flutterguy]

Big Tin Man, on 11 December 2015 - 11:06 AM, said:

I'm all for (somewhat) linear skill trees with specific branches and multiple paths to make each mech a bit different when you run out of skill points. Think diablo 2.

As for resetting them, I really don't like a instant skill reset (a la Borderlands) which just turns the skill tree into moving different modules around. I also don't like needing to buy a new identical mech (or just wiping everything clean) and grinding out all of the XP all over again. What about a 50% loss in skill tree points if you choose to reset? It's enough to keep it fresh, but not too harsh.

An appropriate GXP cost to reset skills I think would be fine.

[Big Tin Man]

sycocys, on 11 December 2015 - 11:03 AM, said:

Am I the only person a little worried about "consider anything"?

Skill tree has been on the docket for revamping for at least 18 months, but they have been frying bigger fish.

[Cion]

these are all amazing ideas. I would be happy with basically any of these over what we have. I'd dare say most would agree.

I summary, there's almost no way PGI can mess this up........................ hopefully, it is PGI...sigh.

[627]

I want choices - you can't unlock everything.

And I want sidegrades; move faster but be hotter or more range but less cooldown or whatever.