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In answering to your call for criticism and constructive thoughts on the Skill Tree Public Test of February 8, 2017, here are my thoughts for your consideration. Thank you.
- = Critical concern.
++ = Amendment suggestion.
+ = Critical appreciation.
***** Visual Layout:
-Mouse wheel scrolling requirement is excessive/differs from other UI scheme.
++Amend by making use of scroll box theme of the rest of the UI.
-Skill tree boxes "vanish" into the background at that "invisible line" above them.
++Amend with "Tab" system that integrates the top title area of trees into each tab.
-Text in Node Hex's is varied in size, often smaller than the text on the left section tabs of the screen, some times smaller than the text in the "Current Mech Enhancements" box.
++Use standard sized text in each node hex.
++Making use of the "dead space" inside/outside each node hex.
++Move the nodes closer together.
++Change the shape of the nodes to Hex’s shaped like those of Fallout 1&2 (pictured below) which fits more text and uses less vertical space; these Hex shapes are wider than they are tall and more Hex’s can be fit in a vertical space in a visually satisfying way.
-Specification of my current mechs in the new patch will take literal hours of my time.
++Not sure; perhaps I'll just have to live with that, regrettably.
+The ability to click multiple nodes quickly before clicking accept.
+The readout on the right clearly shows what I'm getting and how much it costs.
++(add this to the "Loadout" area as well; a box at the bottom that tells you what you've changed and the associated costs. That would be awesome!)
***** Skill Point Tree Spec Costs in-game:
+This Skill-Tree rebuild was intended to remove modules. That is understood/appreciated/effective.
Skills are supposed to reflect experience, training, ability of the pilot with the mech by knowing "secrets" of how a mech runs, and how one takes advantage of that in operation/optimization.
-C-bills to spec a mech-tree fully is 9,100,000.
-Only 16 of all light/medium mech variants cost more to buy than to spec fully.
-Most light/medium mechs cost less than half the cost to spec their tree fully.
++Do not require C-Bills for all node upgrade types.
(Weapons cost money to refit, suggesting a pilot has insight on how to refit due to in-field experience.)
++For weapons systems nodes a C-bill cost is reasonable but 100,000 per node is prohibitive when changing between weapon types.
-C-bills to re-fund a 91 point mech-tree is 2,275,000.
-C-bills to re-spec after re-fund is 9,100,000.
-Thus the C-bills to re-fund & re-spec is: 11,375,000.
-These costs are prohibitive to new players testing builds or veteran players who wish to re-spec for competition.
I am personally not a fan of C-Bill costs for any nodes at all; this prevents my re-spec and testing by way of cost, rather than skill/experience.
***** Skill Point Totals:
+Being able to spec into exactly what weapons I want is very valuable.
-Spec Point totals currently favor the single-weapon focus builds invariably over diverse weapon builds.
-Spec Point totals currently disfavor the diversity of loadouts which use multiple Hard-Point types.
++Bonus SP per weapon Hard Point could be granted based on the number of Hard Point Types on a mech.
++Examples:
++ A Mech with only Ballistic Hard Point types gets 2 bonus SP per Hard Point for Ballistic Trees only.
++ A Mech with 2 Ballistic, 2 Energy, 2 Missile, would get 4 bonus Purple, 4 bonus Yellow, 4 bonus Green.
++ These bonus points can only be spent in these weapon category types, and are in addition to a base of 84.
++ This would allow for a player to focus weapon groups with more diversity with out being forced to "meta" or run a "boat" mech.
***** Skill Tree Unlock Structure:
+Being able to skip nodes I'm not interested in is great.
-Not being able to bypass nodes that don't affect game-play makes little sense; why have "skill" in something a mech does not have?
-Examples: Torso Yaw, Arm Speed, Hill Climb; many mechs don't have Yaw, Arm Speed need, or have jump jets, not to mention some pilots don't ever climb hills.
++Put these types of nodes on the periphery; they can still be accessed, but they are very niche and not for every mech or pilot.
++Have separate start node branches at the top, one on the left for Arm Speed/Yaw (with pitch/angle on the left side), one on the right for Torso Speed/Yaw (with pitch on the left between Arm/Torso paths).
++Give logical structure pathways to the nodes.
-Torso Speed should not be buried behind other skills; it's invaluable to players at all skill levels.
New players should have access to Torso Speed first so they can practice torso twisting for sooner proficiency, rather than the current discouragement.
++Make Torso Speed the primary unlock in the Mobility category, and have it branch down the middle with a clear path that can always be followed.
++Put two other main paths of Kinetic Burst, Hard Break down the sides of speed tweak with Turn Rate interspersed between them; not all mechs/pilots need turn rate perks, but some will want them ASAP.
***** Skill Tree Buff fo UAC Jam Chance:
-Math and Testing shows:
- C-UAC cool down Tree allows the C-UAC to lower it's Jam chance to 14.45%.
- UAC/5 cool down Tree allows the IS-UAC/5 to lower it's cool down to 12.75.
- C-UAC weigh substantially less than IS-UAC and takes less slots, giving the C-UAC more hard point occupation than IS-UAC.
- C-UAC cool down puts the C-UAC into the area that overpowers any other mech in a head-to-head fight that it was debuffed from to bring balance back to the game.
- When running a KDK-3 with 2 C-UAC 10 and 2 C-UAC 5, I shot continuously until overheating 5 times, resulting in this many jams per shutdown: 1, 1, 4, 1, 2. This is far less than 14.45% of the time.
++Rebalance the UAC cool down tree to less than 10%. I suggest 7.5%, at 1.5% Jam Chance reduction per node. This would make the jam chance 15.725%, after tree mods.
The current Test system will most likely lead back toward builds that focus on single weapon types, excessive bonuses to C-UAC jam prevention, make skill-up of a mech cost prohibitive to new players or test builds, makes the skill tree of less/little initial value to new players, and C-Bill costs for nodes being an additional new-player grind.
Edited by Breadmachine, 08 February 2017 - 11:27 PM.
