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[Vincent Quatermain]

Although I generally approve of the skill tree revisions so far, there are a few changes PGI might consider in order to reduce Forum Butthurt:

1) Re-applying a previously purchased Node should cost c-bills, not XP. Why? C-bills are faster to grind than XP at these prices, and grind sucks.

2) Give every account one full set (currently 91) of Free Nodes. Free Nodes would be special skill nodes that can be placed and removed at no cost whatsoever. No one would ever be able to purchase additional Free Nodes with any currency. This would give everyone the means to experiment with builds before "locking it in" and paying the c-bill and XP costs.*

3) Diminishing returns -- the lower level bonuses would be larger than the higher level ones. This will reduce the number of pointy builds.**

4) Reduce the number of nodes. Make it so that any particular bonus type has three tiers, tops. Scale down the maximum nodes per mech accordingly.***

5) You might already be thinking of this, but . . . reintroduce quirks by giving each variant a set of automatically unlocked skill nodes. The amount can very per mech, and these auto-unlocks should ignore pre-reqs. Basically, make the non-meta mechs more meta by giving them additional skill nodes relative to other mechs. These automatic nodes would not count toward the node limit.


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* Seriously, 80% of the complaints would be eliminated by this alone. It's also better for newer players.

** This is basic utility optimization, diminishing returns means that the marginal gain from adding levels is falling. If the marginal return is constant, than when comparing bonus X to bonus Y the only relevant consideration is whether X is better than Y on a point-for-point basis. If so, spend all your points on X. Linear bonus increases encourage "corner solutions" -- i.e. putting all your points into one bonus.

*** And FFS, make it a number divisible by 10. What is this 91 nodes BS?

[Admiral-Dan]

Vincent Quatermain, on 07 March 2017 - 05:06 PM, said:

1) Re-applying a previously purchased Node should cost c-bills, not XP. Why? C-bills are faster to grind than XP at these prices, and grind sucks.

Re-applying a previously purchased Node should be free. Why? Because if it costs something you have to grind for each mech you own after each balance patch. That quickly sums up to a big grind after each balance patch.