JC Daxion, on 16 June 2017 - 12:31 PM, said:
Well any balance change could of done that. People are conflating the skill tree and balance changes far to much.
The skill tree is something you use to tweak your mech in a few directions. The problem is people think the skill tree is used to bring your mech back to what it was. It is not. So a lot of what people are getting overwhelmed with is my mech isn't the same, my mech sucks, there fore it must be the skill tree which sucks and i don't get it and don't have the time to figure it out.
People say they just wanna log in and play and not learn the skill tree. I suggest they do just that. Log in, pick a mech you never played before, Make your build and just start playing. The skill tree teaches itself. You are leveling your mech, and you add points to what you think it needs. does this mech need heat control? Does it need some weapon tweaks? Maybe it could be beefed up a bit with armor, maybe it needs to get movement or sensors. As you add the points you will see what they do and it is natural. Do this with one mech, and all you are doing is logging in and playing and you will understand the whole concept.
after that it takes all of 2 mins.
IMO the biggest issue with the skill tree is they did a ton of changes/nerfs to how mechs work AND added the skill tree system at the same time. People feel they have to learn all over again, which in someways is true. But its the reason is you need to change your thinking/playstyle on your mechs because of the balance changes, not the ST.
For me it's the heat changes that really are felt the most. You can't get the same level of heat dissipation from the ST as you could before the ST. Yeah, I know it's not supposed to be what it was in every aspect. No issues there. I understand why they did what they did, I just don't like the outcome which has caused me to play less. I wish we could choose to have the same heat management as previous at the cost of something else.
As for the part about just playing and clicking on whatever to start using the ST.... hell no. Absolutely not. I've already leveled several mechs from 0 SP up to 91 SP. It sucks. I realize it doesn't suck as bad as leveling up three different chassis, but it still sucks. There is just no way I'm going to click all over the place while dragging out the grind for the mech. I'll pick a route, see how it goes, make a few changes, but if I don't like it then I just won't play that mech.
Why should I spend time having not-fun just so I can force myself to learn a system that should be simple and easy to use but isn't?
And honestly, that's what bugs me the most. The ST
SHOULD be simple and easy to use. It should be intuitive and something I don't feel like I'm grinding through. The previous skill system only felt like a grind when I had to work through a chassis I didn't like. The new ST feels like a grind on every mech I use, to include the chassis I greatly enjoy.
But it's not fun. And even though I'm fully capable of understanding the nuances of the ST, of doing the research, of learning the best routes and how it's used, it doesn't mean I actually enjoy doing all of that stuff. They forced a crappy design on us and no amount of people saying "but it isn't that hard" changes the fact it isn't that fun to use.