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[Damaein]

Only read this if you care about this topic. It will be somewhat lengthy, and will include examples concepts. etc

So this feature, mechanic, or whatever it is seem to be having problems all over the place. PGI seems to be at odds with balance and fluidity. Problems like these seem to plague many game development shops. I would argue unnecessarily. All we really have to do is look to games that are already successful and use their design philosophies. What I want to do in this thread is make a case for a Skill Tree System that is simple, meaningful, and balanced.

We need to reduce the number of decisions the player has to make. I would suggest a much smaller pool of spendable points. This would imply a much smaller skill tree. If we then create actual true levels tied to chassis, we can create all sorts of meaningful incentives while still holding the spirit of the Chastery (mastery of the chassis).” I can elaborate more on this, but it won’t be included in this OP.

My recommendation would be a LEVEL CAP of 30 in each chassis. In the conceptual aspect, this gives a very approachable challenge to the player while also simplifying the skill tree system and allowing for many Chassis to be mastered. I would recommend a skill tree system similar to that of MOBAs or MMORPGs (Most commonly a three tree system that would have meaningful choices between offense, defense, and support).

Included below is an example of such a tree and how the mechanics of the tree work. Firepower is standalone, but my concept for the survival, mobility, operations, and infotech trees were combined into two trees. Link in case image doesn't show: http://imgur.com/a/PdUX2

What this does is give you a very clear idea of how to progress you mech. You always have meaningful choices. You don’t get into the weeds of every single stat. This would allow you to allocate those stats more heavily into the chassis themselves thus giving them more personality.

I like the idea of having positive but opposing stats on the stat dump lines. CDR increases DPS but also heat per second. While Heat Dissapation decreases the heat which can be a DPS increase or even allow you to hit some “# of shots to overheat breakpoint”.

It also allows you heavily invest if you want to go for a stat multiple times. But since it is inherently a choice you get balance back by denying those other stats. In the example, I also included a unique stat in every line so that stacking stats is an even harder choice.

In the Veteran skill line, I included two skills that should be fairly easy for a boater to decide but can still affect multiple types/sizes of weapons. GAMECHANGERs should ALMOST be build enablers. These things should massively increase your effectiveness in combat given the correct loadout. This adds a ton of meaning to your skill tree decisions so that it’s not just a bunch of 1.5% increases. If you want a GAMECHANGER you basically have to give up any other GAMECHANGER.

Each tree at max uses 18 points. This breaks down to 6 points per “skill.” The leftover skill points in a tree would be 12. This should mean that whatever configuration you go for, it will be clean and that every point all the way up to your last will be relevant.

Balance is a whole other issue. However, if you have a clean and concise tree that doesn’t have “dead zones” or wasted points, it should be much easier to balance. And making sure that a bunch of the stats are only effected by skills or are only on the tree once ensures that the chassis themselves can be quirked to really flesh out their personality without having to sacrifice for the tree.

In closing, I realize that the percentages may be a little high or low but it should be reasonably close to get the point across.