Pts Skill Tree Feedback
#61
Posted 09 February 2017 - 12:47 PM
i feel mechs with sub par hard points suffer more from this system .
i also feel that the Ballistics should be one group or TWO instead of broken into standard AC UAC and LBX , we have ERs and standards together , some of these skills could be looped into one bracket skill types with cool down and spread , treated like AMS and ECM is handled in those areas of the tree .
that way you can condense the trees a little more , want ACs you can have common shared quirks and then some special branches off of the basic quirks .
i also feel the overall cbill and exp costs could be tweaked i feel there a tad high
my biggest issue is that it makes the play style less flexible in say groups , right now i can in a pinch drop or raise tonnage and just move modules and get good performance out of a mech
with this system you will be at disadvantage in a mech not spec for that module effect cuz you might be low on cbills dont have the XP on it or just purchased the mech ETC .
when i buy a new mech i just swap say a radar derp mod and a primary weapon mod while i level that mech , with this system its going to make that a painful experience , which will change the new mech experience a tad .
overall its a improvement in some areas but a step backward in others if that makes sense
#62
Posted 09 February 2017 - 12:50 PM
COOL RUN, KINETIC BURST, TWIST AMOUNT, TWIST SPEED, HEAT CONTAINMENT, HARD BRAKE, ARM REFLEX, ANCHOR TURN.
QUICK IGNITION, FAST FIRE, SPEED TWEAK, PINPOINT (which is a blank placeholder for whatever reason - not necessary imo)
i am talking about BASIC AND ELITE SKILLS like in the current state.
I dont even care about that extra module slot. 91 nodes is simply insufficient to just unlock em.
I tried reconstructing the current skilling with the new "tree" and i can only unlock the necessary skills by having unlocking key nodes that i wont need for the mechs. it is kinda wasted nodes blocking the chocke points just like too scared mechs in F7 on new therra therma.
So i have an extra 12 wasted here for:
360 target retention
target decay
target info gathering
sensor range
AND 5 wasted for:
speed retention
hill climb
and ive never unlocked em in prior mechs before. exception is sensore range for scouting mechs.
91 node limit wont cut it if 17 are wasted in the process.
furthermore to add:
ive added some lbx and medlaser nodes to it as well. and i am at a total of 93 nodes with the wasted ones. sums up to 93 nodes - 139.500 xp and 9.3 mil. cbills. for one chassis. without the blanks it would only require 76 nodes and i would be able to quirk up some more weapons to the max.
so far my experience in the skills lab.
EDIT-
cost wise 9 mills for so many modules is amazing if we ignore the fact that we wont be able to swap important modules like radar depr. or seismic sensor and a couple more.
LBX: COOLDOWN, velocity, spread. --------------------- 3
LASER: duration, RANGE, heat gen ---------------------- 3
hill climb------------------------------------------------------ 6
speed retention------------------------------------------------ 6
improved gyros----------------------------------------------- 2
target info gathering------------------------------------------ 4
sensor range--------------------------------------------------- 2
target retention------------------------------------------------ 6
seismic sensor------------------------------------------------- 6
radar deprivation---------------------------------------------- 6
TOTAL================================== 44
otherwise that would cost a lot in CURRENT modules: 44 mil. !!!! and i wouldnt be able to fit all into one mech either.
EDIT 2-
after having slept over this Ill have to add that the 136k+ xp is a huge amount to grind these mechs. 56k is nothing compared to that and is still a lot of work. seems a little too much.
the node system might have to be altered to a linear system.in order to get some modules at all like radar deprivation. i have to waste 4 nodes on one side and 5 more on the other side to get to any percentage of radar depr.. for a 100% effect i have to waste 11 skill points. 11.
11 SP equals 24k xp that would fully basic my mech (14250 xp) and even get spead tweak on it (8500 xp).
im not buying it that the grind is staying the same. its not. not without a linear skill tree at least.
SUMMARY:
important nodes need to be accessible right off the bat. 91 without the unecessary placeholders could work but with them. no can do.
e.g. radar deprivation, seismic sensor, and most importantly the basic and elite skills as mentioned above.
130k+ xp is too much xp for any kind of mech. 9 mil. cbills seems to be good enough but i still deem it not affordable.
EDIT 3-
that critting, holy crap. is it a bug or something? the instant armor is removed weapons get immediatley critted from any sort of weapon. renders mechs useless.
seeing some quirkless mechs get quirks such as an ebj and a kdk-3 will start making them quite harder to kill as they are already. this new quirk system definitely starts to favor clan mechs. no IS counterpart can compete with that. what leads to another factor adding up to the equasion => insta-death-xl engine. cheetah may lose it but will be able to walk it off somehow but my beloved firestarter. not so much. what many mechs that needed quirks to keep up with the clans have base quirks which do not assisst em good enough.
I took out my IVFOUR - my baby - and two matches later it couldnt hold up a fight against any mech. the tankiest and quirkiest quickdraw that couldnt. take not that the defensive nodes and operating nodes were fully equipped and only lbx and medlaser quirks were being used as well.
this mech is able to tank black knights and awesomes and will lose to every single mech now. now=in the pts.
Edited by Daemon04, 10 February 2017 - 07:43 AM.
#63
Posted 09 February 2017 - 12:58 PM
- I like the increased TTK to everything.
- In general, clan mechs should have reduced skill points compared to Innersphere. A Night Gyr doesnt need 91sp as badly as the Cataphract.
- Things are getting pricey, double the academy completion bonus to 10m and the cadet bonus to 50m cbills with an extra 20k gxp to help new players pay for the first few mechs. A fully skilled mech is basically a lvl91 mech compared to a new lvl 0 mech. If a player has a nice starter set of mechs they will play longer.
- Add an free mechbay welfare achievement for fully skilling a mech to encourage newbies to look for a new mech to play.
#64
Posted 09 February 2017 - 01:09 PM
unwary, on 09 February 2017 - 12:58 PM, said:
- I like the increased TTK to everything.
- In general, clan mechs should have reduced skill points compared to Innersphere. A Night Gyr doesnt need 91sp as badly as the Cataphract.
- Things are getting pricey, double the academy completion bonus to 10m and the cadet bonus to 50m cbills with an extra 20k gxp to help new players pay for the first few mechs. A fully skilled mech is basically a lvl91 mech compared to a new lvl 0 mech. If a player has a nice starter set of mechs they will play longer.
- Add an free mechbay welfare achievement for fully skilling a mech to encourage newbies to look for a new mech to play.
Do you realize that Clan gets smaller bonuses from some of the nodes with "same name"?
#65
Posted 09 February 2017 - 01:09 PM
sitting target, on 09 February 2017 - 10:35 AM, said:
#66
Posted 09 February 2017 - 01:18 PM
There are over 300 skills available. You're allowed to have 91 of them. Sure, 195 are weapon skills and you'll never want all of them on a given chassis, and 15 are jump skills which don't apply to many mechs, But that leaves 100+ other skills.
I don't see the reasoning behind picking and choosing which weapon buffs you want to add to a given chassis. So what if I put autocannon AND lbx skills on a mech? I'm not using them both at the same time, it's serving only as a barrier to customization at that point, while sucking down extra skill points out of my 91 point limit.
And forget a mech with a varied ranged response. I currently field a Marauder 3R with 2 AC/5, 2 PPC, and 2 SPL, and I put PPC weapon modules on it along with seismic and radar dep. To reproduce this in the new system, since seismic and radar dep are at the ends of a long chain of other things, will take 142 skill points. While this also gets me things like sensor range that I don't really need, it represents a considerable NERF to my current capabilities.
I would honestly recommend one of the following:
EITHER - lift the cap on skill points you can spend, so someone could grind out every skill on a given mech
OR - Keep the system as is but lift the cap and simply increase the price of each skill after the 90th
OR - make weapon skills cost no points in order to encourage multiple weapon types
OR - reduce the total number of skills
#67
Posted 09 February 2017 - 01:21 PM
10) What is the purpose of additional yaw on the UrbanMech? Yes, three of the yaw's are end-chains, but both of the others are useful crossover points
11) It isn't clear if the ammunition increase is total or per-ton
12) I've got a couple billion GXP and can't spend it on mastering a Spirit Bear
#68
Posted 09 February 2017 - 01:35 PM
1) Its too pricy. Before you say "oh but modules were SO much more pricey" I say to you...not everyone uses them, and a lot switches them around between the mechs they have (and since I have 217 of them I DONT want to sell you can see how this is way too pricy). So stop using that old one sided excuse because how is new players suppose to get a good Noded mech when it costs more to spec then to buy an actual Medium mech!
2) Punishes the diverse builds. You have to split nodes between two sets of weapons. Makes boats more powerful. Here is a solution: https://mwomercs.com...14#entry5606914
3) Some nodes need to be fixed:
-Upper Torso: move torso twist to the top, pros dont need it, but the new players do. The pros are quick on the fly where the new ones are trying to learn and that speed will help them a little bit more. Pros are not cribbed by this, new ones are.
-Arm and Hill climb nodes: There are mechs with NO weapons in the arms and others with hard locked in Jump Jets. Why are you forcing mechs to use things they cannot use? Instead put them to the side. Only use nodes that ALL mechs can use down the required "branches" to advance the tree.
#69
Posted 09 February 2017 - 02:29 PM
So that's my first point of feedback: this is insane - I know that's harsh, but I feel like I really need a big hammer here: I'm the first to roll my eyes when people make dramatic pronouncements, but I can see myself gradually disconnnecting from the game, as the massive costs to adopt new 'mechs and test adjusted builds make playing more and more of a treadmill. Heck, just trying to afford the now-massive c-bill cost of kitting out a single drop deck - much less our favorite quickplay 'mechs - may well break some players.
My second point is that the structure of the skill tree is frustrating, and disincentivizes what little variety in builds you have at the meta level. Speed Tweak, Heat Containment, and Cool Run are in one tree, while Radar Deprivation is scattered around with useful and semi-useful skills in another tree. From the Autocannon tree, as a converse example, we get 5% cooldown, 10% range, and 20% velocity. The value of these skills are not equal. Since the weapon skills are modest in most of their effects, and alternative trees are so useful, it's easy to see how players could decide to ignore alternative weapon systems and just go with one weapon class - particularly when unquirked weapons of that class are already strong in meta.
Third, and similarly, the skill tree requires me to grab a bunch of drek I don't need in order to get useful unlocks. making me choose between Fall Damage and AMS Overload (I may not even have AMS!) or forcing me to take 40% fall damage reduction in order to get all the durability quirks. This feels clunky and restrictive: instead of simply evaluating something like cooldown reduction against cooling efficiency, I've got to factor in how many useless skill unlocks I can save by not buying any given useful thing.
On reflection, that's going to make this system hell on new players. They don't know that falling damage isn't worth much on the battlefield, because they're inexperienced. So they'll be more willing to waste points on something that doesn't do them much good instead of focusing on the things that matter - after all, only an experienced smelter knows how best to separate the gold from the dross. Coupled with the massive costs of buying the skills in the first place, new players will find the skill system very restrictive when trying to get into the game - I talk to newbies all the time who spend all their starting cash and find themselves with multiple nonviable Battlemechs. Predicting that this will increase the difficulty of the new player experience exponentially may well be too weak a criticism.
Now, I do like things about the skill system: You have to pick and choose what you want to specialize for; it's not just a leveling process any longer. Things like the increased ammo capacity are interesting, and I'm very much in favor of the way you kept the baseline quirks in balancing 'mechs (instead of giving out radically different bonus numbers.) The skill tree has potential, but it's far too clunky and feels like it's punishing you for wanting to have nice things.
My advice would be this:
- Telescope the skill tree down to a more manageable level. Don't make me spend 20 hours (I wish I was joking) breaking in a new 'mech's skill tree. Give bigger bonuses, but put them into fewer skill points and unlocks.
- For the love of Kerensky, don't make people take stuff they don't want! My Ebon Jaguar has no use whatsoever for either falling damage reduction or AMS overload. Don't make me pick them; it's ok if some of the skills are less-used.
- Remove the must-have and specialized skills (like heat management speed tweak, or target retention) for various builds from the tree itself, and allow players to choose one of those unlocks at a certain point along the skill path - e.g. you pick one of the big skills every 15-20 levels, or gain Speed Tweak levels as you spend points in other areas. This makes players think about what they're trying to do with their builds, and makes it more obvious which skills are important and which are simply optional.
- Consider reorganizing the tree into role-focused categories: scouting would have sensor range and stealth; fire support would have weapon cooldown and range; skirmishing would have agility and mobility; close combat might have durability and heat reduction. Allow people to choose freely from these categories in order to decide what they want to do and how to do it.
- As a purely aesthetic change, I'd recommend ditching the clunky "drag-with-a-mouse and refer to the sidebar" interface and replace it with a polyhedron icon representing how much you've invested into each of the skill categories (one on each side) - like the current "stat diamond" in the mouse-over popup in 'mech selection. There would be a corresponding icon on each border that players would click to expand and retract each category, and of course we could still zoom in and out with the mouse wheel.
#70
Posted 09 February 2017 - 06:37 PM
Every skill that improves torso/arm/leg movement needs to go and be linked to engines,
because you either loose out on more useful skills or have a mech with sluggish controls.
This is not really freedom of choice, but rather a step back from what we have right now.
The structure/armor skills are pretty much mandatory which defeats the purpose of them being an option.
I think the skill tree should only have passive skills like the sensor and auxiliary ones.
Remove all the obvious choices and give us more utility options.
Stuff like improved heat vision (like the one from the beta).
You could also revert the target icons to the old triangles and make the weight class ones a skill.
#71
Posted 09 February 2017 - 10:54 PM
#72
Posted 10 February 2017 - 01:02 AM
my vote is my vote and my experience so far on the PTS
For Q1, voted option 2 as skill trees should be a more down approach not all over the place e.g If I want torso quirks I shouldn't need to go into arm quirks to do so and vice versa (especially true when I only have torso weapons) make these quirks just distinct paths down instead of spread between both paths. There are other paths that face same problem.
For Q2, voted option 3 as there is quite a price sink for new players who don't understand what is optimal and then need to re-sink time for both builds reconfiguration and skill. the last system was flawed with the 3 mecs at least by the first one I knew roughly how the mec would handle and I could just resell the 2 mecs I didn't play netting me back c-bills. MWO is hard for most new players in the first place. The skill tree system should however be easier to explain then the last and at least be included into the academy.
For Q3, voted option 2, as min/max is going to always occur, the module system, the quirk system, this system are always going to end up with constant balancing issue due to META as that is what online gaming is about. my only solution who cares its meta get over it, as other than PGI almost doing weekly/fortnightly patches META will always feel that its been around for some time (remembering that dam LRM meta THE HORRORS of the SKY, hunchies everywhere)
#73
Posted 10 February 2017 - 01:32 AM
Quote
It makes the meta and the game worse
ROFL Making the meta worse improves the health of the game and otherwise - improving the meta makes the game worse.
#74
Posted 10 February 2017 - 03:02 AM
Amary, on 10 February 2017 - 01:02 AM, said:
my vote is my vote and my experience so far on the PTS
For Q2, voted option 3 as there is quite a price sink for new players who don't understand what is optimal and then need to re-sink time for both builds reconfiguration and skill. the last system was flawed with the 3 mecs at least by the first one I knew roughly how the mec would handle and I could just resell the 2 mecs I didn't play netting me back c-bills. MWO is hard for most new players in the first place. The skill tree system should however be easier to explain then the last and at least be included into the academy.
Do you really think that New system is worse for new players?
Old system:
Get 1st mech, have no basic skills. Spend 16 games to get those Basic Efficiencies. No money to buy 2nd mech, so another 36 games on those Basic Efficiencies.
Buy 2nd mech and have no basic skills again. Spend 16 games to get those Basic Efficiencies. (no experimentation with weapon this time, but you started with no money) so 44 additional games on basic Efficiencies.
Buy 3rd mech and have no basic skills again. Spend 16 games to get those Basic Efficiencies.
- - - -
Go to 1st mech and use XP from 36 excessive games for Elite Efficiencies.
Go to 2nd mech and use XP from 44 excessive games for Elite Efficiencies.
Go to 3rd mech where you just got Basic and grind 26 games for Elite.
- - - -
Go to 2nd mech where you have largest excess of XP and play 7 games to mastery (Module slot)
= = = =
Summary:
48 games in between no basics and full Basic Efficiencies
96 games on Just Basic Efficiencies
26 Games in between Basic and Elite Efficiencies
7 Games to move from Elite to Full Mastery
= = = =
I do not want to be pushy, but old system placed new players at bottom of power curve for most of their leveling.
And I did not even got to point that This is best case scenario where new player buys just mechs and ignores modules. Because buying modules for 14 million would easily prolong this Basic mastery suffering by another 100 games.
Now player plays 40 games which will grant him 23SP and that's enough to significantly boost survivability and gain few "Modules".
In other words ability to pick important stuff 1st drastically increases initial boost to the mech and new player.
Before, new player spent 80% of his 1st mech plays as super weak. Now, he spends only 20% of his 1st mech plays as super weak.
Hell, putting last 12 points in trees is quite hard choice as I had to think which node does not suck that badly. In the end I picked 10 JumpJets nodes (Which are really weak). That demonstrate that more nodes you spend, lesser impact they deliver as you already picked all those most important things.
= = = =
From all perspectives this system is better to new players.
Even the funny question like: "Which of those modules I have to unlock to to boost Clan ER Large Laser range?" Because looking for right thing to unlock in old system is just meh. Now it's just intuitive.
Edited by Fox2232, 10 February 2017 - 03:04 AM.
#75
Posted 10 February 2017 - 03:39 AM
Fox2232, on 09 February 2017 - 01:09 PM, said:
That's the wrong approach.
Rinkata Kimiku, on 10 February 2017 - 01:32 AM, said:
Hm... I always thought a healthier (more diverse) meta = healthier game.
#76
Posted 10 February 2017 - 03:55 AM
Good:
- I can get radar derp or other essential stuff maybe quicker bc not limited to slow pilot xp gain
- decisions will matter now, previously was just matter of what to get first
- you can experiment different mechs better instead of filling your bays with 3 variants of same chassis
- new system seems to punish experimentation
- in old system you buy a module and can then experiment with it and swap it to ANY mech you have to see how it works, now you have to pay the price for every mech and then more every time you respec in/out of it
- seems encourage boating, can get all/most the other good stuff if only using same weapon --> no meaningful choices AND costly to swap out of boating mode
- CBills will still be huge problem for anyone coming to this game, perhaps even more so at start.
I remember not having spend ANYTHING on modules and having huge CBill-problems, to the point I hesitated to buy some MPLs for testing because they were just too expensive.. and now new players in same position have to spend CBills for spending XP too?
Proposed solutions (to choose from, NOT suggesting to use all of these):
- make skill respecs less costly or maybe give free full respec per mech for each patch / after x-weeks?
- or maybe allow paying for respecks with XP (play a lot -> tree filled -> now I can use extra useless XP for experimental respecs?)
- Remove amount of skillpoints so even boaters must choose and make more broad weapon categories for example Lasers/ACs/Missiles --> could swap ML to MPL or LL, AC2 to AC20, SRMs for LRMs and so on without respecs --> respeccing less needed and more easy to come out of a single-weapon boating build. Not sure about Gauss/PPCs, but maybe if they have their own groups it can be considered a kind of nerf to them, or throw them into lasers/ACs.
- Frontload weapon trees a bit so boaters get diminishing returns but can still spend it all there if they want
- Maybe also frontload other trees (defence etc) a bit so newbies have better chance vs fully skilled people (?)
- Maybe make shorter path to very-useful nodes like Radar derp etc and split effect into 3-4 nodes (each node granting partial effect), so you don't have to take so much "useless" unrelated stuff and it's easier to decide if 4 nodes just to achieve X is really needed (?)
Game is currently very restricting in CBills for new players. That would need fixing too but it is a separate issue and not solely related to pilot skill changes. Therefore solving that issue with pilot skill change alone would be hard and/or difficult.
#77
Posted 10 February 2017 - 04:59 AM
We could combine the old basic and elite trees with a simplified version of the new tree, and change it to where you only need to master two chassis in a weight class before getting the ability to only need to basic any new chassis in that weight class.
#78
Posted 10 February 2017 - 06:53 AM
- It still rewards boating - like the old system (maybe worse)
- A lot of interesting nodes are hidden behind useless skills (fall damage, I am looking at you)
- It will discourage diverse skill builds. Everybody will use basically the same skills (most nodes of survival, Infotech and lower body mobility). The only difference will be the weapons skills (based on the weapon you are boarding).
- It discourages having multiple variants of the same chassis. There is no reason for not picking up the best variant ("meta variant").
- CBills costs are too high. Yeah, I am a cheapskate, I only bought a couple of modules and now I will pay for it (literally). I will run out of CBills way before I can get two CW drop deck mastered.
- Related to the issue above. After mastering out a mech, you will not have money for another mech. Not sure what PGI thought about that one. This means people will stick to their mechs longer, grinding more but still buying less mech bays and MC.
- Also, this system really discourages changing your build. (CBill respec cost).
- And if you have the same mech multiple times (like two MX-90) - have "fun" grinding for the second one. Only the first one gets XP back. Or you have to split the HXP to use for both mechs and need more grinding for each.
The new UI is overly complicated with too many information, too many currencies involved (XP, GXP, CBills, MCs), and too many clicks need to do something.
And converting the historical XP is a nightmare. You have to enter the HXP you want to convert? Really? And the number changes when you start typing? Good luck remembering the 4 - 5 digits long HXP amount.
And if you do not see on what node you used GXP and on what other mech XP. If you want to buy multiple nodes, you have to be very careful to select the correct type. Basically, you have to reset everything if you used too many XP or GXP. You do not see where you made the mistake.
And it takes too long to allocate the skills per mech.
Please PGI, do not push this out in February. If you really have to, please consider following changes to make it less painful:
- Get rid of HXP, convert all spent and unspent mech XP to GXP. You can remove the HXP conversion UI completely as it not needed anymore. Furthermore that allows people to master their favorite variant right away
- Give people back their CBills when reverting nodes. MC or CBills for reverting might stay if you really think is it needed. But I personally would get rid of it - make reverting nodes free.
- Lower the XP and CBill requirements to unlock nodes - reduce the grinding. It will not help you with sales of mech bays.
Edited by FlynnTheAvatar, 10 February 2017 - 06:54 AM.
#80
Posted 10 February 2017 - 07:08 AM
I see few problems with current tree in general:
1. Limited number of points will push players to use optimized meta builds, which uses 1-2 weapon types, as you will have not enough points to sustain more fun configurations with 3-4 weapon types.
2. Pay respec - as for me I prefer to change mech's configuration frequently, I can pla the whole evening on one mech, but with different loadouts in every game. And as we will need to pay for respec, I will not be able to play in such style anymore.
And beside that even if you have only 10 mechs it would take ages to unlock skill tree fot all of them. So I suggest to make ONE tree for all mechs with no limit in points, and it's okay if it will take more time to open it, than it tooks for independent mech now.
Edited by Eversor Assassin, 10 February 2017 - 07:16 AM.
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