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Now, onward to my thoughts (for whatever they are worth)...
1. Make our current skills their own tree.
I think there should be a tree with our current basic and elite skills. You can style it where you have to work your way thru basics to get to elite skills. These nodes would cost 1 skill point and cost the same amount of XP that they currently do now. You can even remove "Pinpoint" and fill it in with something else (I would suggest the +1 module slot at the 4000 XP cost of Pinpoint). This shouldn't be a gateway into the other trees - if players don't want start here or finish it, they don't have to. Skills involving arms could be side-by-side with torso nodes so you don't have to unlock arms for mechs without elbows (I'm looking at you Blackjacks and Jagers).
This would clean up some of the other trees - hell, it eliminates the mobility "fillers" the current system has. You could even include the "X2" multiplier for the basic skills in the other trees OR at the end of the elite skills. For example - the "Cool Run" skill would give you the base 7.5% dissipation increase, you could have 3 more nodes (at 1000XP) that add an additional 2.5% near the bottom, so unlocking all the Cool Run nodes (by unlocking all the basic and elite nodes, then the extras) would net you the 15% you get for currently eliting your mech. Do this with the other basic skills. You could have a total of 36 nodes in this tree (12 basic, 24 extra addon for the basic nodes).
This would appease veteran players who are used to these skills and be an easier starting place for new players. Also, these nodes should have no CBill cost - they don't now, and I believe they shouldn't going forward.
The cost to "basic" and "elite" a mech would be the same as we have now. To do the full X2, it would cost an additional 24,000 XP, slightly more than Mastery if the player elects to do so.
2. Build the trees based on modules, not just toss the modules into the existing trees.
Keep the 2 groups you have now - Targeting and Sensors. Target Decay, 360 Retention and Radar Derp on one side; Seismic, Info Gathering and Sensor Range on the other. They can be 5 nodes each. Unlock the tree with "Speed Retention or "Hill Climb." Each node should cost 2000XP (making 10,000 XP for each "module") and 200,000 Cbills (1,000,000 for each "module" total). That's 31 nodes in the Target and Sensor tree.
3. I like the consumables tree, but it could be better...
Again, work around the modules you have in place. Unlock it with a node that adds a second slot for 4000 XP (reduce consumable slots on all mechs to 1). Coolshot, Improved UAV, Airstrike and Artillery again could be 3 nodes each:
- UAVs get range and duration (6 nodes total)
- Coolshot starts at 6 and ends at 9 (3 nodes)
- Airstrike gets Time-to-target decrease, accuracy (6 nodes)
- Arty gets Accuracy and spread (6 nodes)
4. The Weapon tree is a MESS.
I don't even know HOW to fix this one. I think the top of the tree should be a set of skills that compliment ALL weapon types, then branches out into specific weapon types. Start with basic range, cool down and heat options (global "all weapons generate -1% heat/+1% range/+1% cooldown") for a max at 3% each. Then branch off to lasers, projectile (PPC and ballistics), and missile, adding more heat/cool down/range options. Lasers and Pulse Lasers should be counted the same. Include velocity options for ballistics and PPCs, clustering options for LBXs, and jam options for UACs as their own branches. It's still going to be a HUGE tree, and you will have to spend some points to get the the weapons you want, but they aren't crap skills at the top.
This tree would have the most nodes - 9 up top (you have to get thru 3-5 to get to the bottom) and 60 at the bottom. You wouldn't be able to get to them all, but you can work your way down to your build, or just unlock the top 9 to get some global skills for all loadouts, then figure out where to go once you've tried a few builds.
These nodes would stay the current 800XP and 60,000 CBills to unlock.
5. Survival tree - I actually like this tree. I don't have anything here.
Edited by Agent1190, 02 March 2017 - 07:37 PM.
