Does Not Obey the Laws of Physics

So, since I was sick (again) recently, I watched a lot of Heart of Elynthi campaign (*shillWatchItHereshill*) and it got me thinking about how a lot of RPG (tabletop or computer/console) tend to focus on the character growth part of the game. Which, don't get me wrong, is great and all — and I understand that a core game loop in RPGs is gain XP → learn new skills → cakewalk previous difficulty → repeat — but a part of me can't help but really enjoy the idea of maxing out character levels after a certain amount of time and just having all the tools available to take on the challenges that the world will throw at you.

It's a bit like how in Guild Wars (not the second one, the OG Guild Wars) your character leaves the "starter island" aka tutorial at level 20 with all of the class' core abilities and with a full skill kit. Of course, you can vary that a lot and tweak it as you progress through the rest of the story, but the growth is far slower and more incremental than the initial loop of practically exponential power growth. It feels like there's basically 10% tutorial and 90% endgame. Of course, there were also plenty of frustrating bits to the game and I do think there are parts that were tuned in such a way that was needlessly challenging, but the overall ratio of "tutorial" vs "end-game" I think satisfies a part of me that really liked playing around with all the levers to figure out how I liked to approach problem solving.

(To be sure, I am still annoyed with Guild Wars over all for having poor class balance, it really shouldn't be the case that certain classes have a severe case of the feels-bad-man. And seeing how little respect GW2 treated the original GW lore and plot points and story, and the fact that the writers in GW2 all seem to be stuck in their own little modules without paying attention to the bigger picture, plus their horrible character writing puts me off of the game. But at its core, I think Guild Wars' original design concept of having most of the game be end-game is actually kind of refreshing and I wish more games took the time to really polish that concept.)

Here's the thing: while most players might argue the "end-game" starts when you've acquired everything there is to acquire and all that's left is super hard challenging bosses and no more room for improvement for your characters, I don't really see it that way. In my conceptualization of end-game, it starts when there are no more stat bonuses to gain. You can't hit harder, defend better, etc. anymore and what improvement is left is fiddling around to look for better and better optimization and synergy with the pieces you've got. And challenges in the game play come no longer from being able to survive, but rather from figuring out the puzzle of the boss, try to understand what you're supposed to do, which skill you need to use, or what plot point to push forward in order to resolve the conflict. The point of end-game is that it doesn't get harder anymore, it simply challenges you differently.

Of course, this design concept is a bit harder for video games due to its vastly larger decision matrix and limited programming power. However, in a tabletop game, where a huge part of the enjoyment is from socialization and exploration and the DM can spin a new location out of nothing by using theater of the mind stuff, this idea of reaching "max level" (by which I mean getting most of the class mechanics early in the campaign, so this applies to level-less systems, too) has a lot of room to explore. Especially since in tabletop gaming, most players are actually very familiar with their class mechanics and would probably enjoy carrying their character through many different worlds that share the same lore. Being able to travel to a new place to find new items that synergize well with the character's build (which is easier to do with a human DM who knows which mechanical holes exist in your character's repertoire and thus can throw an item that can do the cool thing you want to do when you get to a new town) can be really fun. Having the core style of your character's combat remain the same while at the same time being able to augment it for each new challenge can keep the game fresh while not having to abandon the character just to try something new.

In short, I think what I'm saying is that focusing on tweaking optimization as character progression can be really fun, but rarely do I see games design for that and the only instance I can think of didn't really do the design concept justice.

OK, so I pondered on my previous post a bit more and here are some detailed changes that I think would make the Mechanist feel less like a horrible pet and more like a GUNDAM FIGHTER rarrrr!

Change Mech to be pilotable

As previously discussed, one of the easiest ways is to morph the Mechanist into a Jade Mech (narrative: Mechanist now pilots the Mech). Toolbelt skills are still accessible while piloting mech, but regular utility (6-10) are no longer accessible.

F5 - Summon Mech - Drops Mech at Mechanist location and deals 1s stun around the Mechanist, 180 radius.
F5 - Board - Mechanist rides the Mech and changes weapon skills to Mech attack skills. If Mech is out of boarding range (120), summons Mech to Mechanist location then board. Disable access to utilities (signet passives still apply). 10s cooldown.
F5 - Eject - Mechanist ejects out of the Mech and regains equipped weapon skills and utility skills. Mech now auto attacks until it deactivates or reboarded (with F5). 10s cooldown.

When the Mech deactivates (looses all HP), it goes away and Summon Mech (F5) goes on a 50s cooldown to dissuade from loosing the Mech.

Mech should have a default of 75k HP or 50k HP with 2000 toughness. Mech is immune to all conditions except burning. However it receives a 1s daze when its breakbar depletes. Breakbar resets when the Mechanist boards or ejects (F5).

Mech Skills

To make piloting the Mech more viable consider these changes:

1. Auto attack - Adopts Mech auto attack. Activation reduced to 1/4s.

2. Mech attack #2 - Adopts current F1 skill, drop damage by 20% (80% of current damage), reduce recharge by 50% (i.e. Rolling Smash 10s, Explosive Knuckles 7s, Spark Revolver 10s)

3. Mech attack #3 - Adopts current F2 skill, reduce recharge by 20% (i.e. Discharge Array 24s, Crisis Zone 24s, Core Reactor Shot 20s).

4. Mech attack #4 - Adopts current F3 skill, reduce recharge by 50% (i.e. Jade Mortar 10s, Barrier Burst 15s, Sky Circus 15s).

5. Mech attack #5 - Crash Down (current F4), leap to target enemy (1200 distance), damage enemies (same damage as current F4) in a 900 radius and deals 1s stun. 30s recharge.

Mace Skills

I honestly like the idea of a Mace Mechanist, but the Mace skills need to have some synergy with the Mech when not piloting it. Here are my proposed changes:

1. Mace #1 - Reduce activation to 1/4s on first two strikes, 1/2s on third strike. Each strike now also heals Mech by 5% of its Max HP. (15% for one cycle.) Also have each strike apply 2 stacks of confusion.

2. Mace #2 - Reduce activation to 1/4s, change confusion application to Daze (1s). Keep everything else.

3. Mace #3 - Reduce cooldown to 10s. If Mech is active, replace with Rocket Punch (with current 5s cooldown).

Dodging when piloting Mech

Mech will roll up into a ball on dodge to avoid damage, like a snail or clam shutting into its shell. Will be cute. Also easy to animate.

Mechanist Traitline

The traitline needs to have more synergy with core Engi utilities, too. Here are my proposed changes.

• Minor Proficiency - Mace Proficiency - You can wield mace mainhand. Tool Kit auto-attack now heals Mech by 5% Max HP for each strike.

• Minor Adept - Mechanical Genius - Gain access to Signets. F5 now replaced by Summon Mech skill. Mech adds 50% of your stats to its base stats.

• Major Adept

  • Mech Arms: Single-Edge Cutters - In addition to current effects, add additional bleed per hit by Mech.

  • Mech Arms: High-Impact Drivers - Change might application to 5s of Might per hit by Mech.

  • Mech Arms: Jade Cannons - Change default attack range to 1200 and apply 5s Vulnerability per attack. Mech attacks now pierce (up to 3 targets).

• Minor Master - Mech Fighter - Change toughness and vitality gain to 1000 flat. Boost base HP to 50k. Experimental Turrets will now affect Mech and cause it to pulse Aegis (3s) every 10s.

• Major Master

  • Mech Frame: Conductive Alloys - Instead of inheriting stats, increase condi duration by 20%. Stacks additively with other condi traits in core Engi builds. (E.g. Firearms: Chemical Rounds + Conductive Alloys = +53% condition duration on pistol poison.)

  • Mech Frame: Channeling Conduits - Instead of inheriting stats, increase boon duration by 25% and stacks 1 extra stack of stackable buffs. (E.g. Firearms: Sanguine Array + Channeling Conduit = 2 Might for 5s instead of 1 Might for 4s on bleed application; Explosives: Short Fuse + Channeling Conduit = 5s Fury instead of 4s when using explosives.)

  • Mech Frame: Variable Mass Distributor - Instead of inheriting stats, boost Precision and Ferocity by 20% (to Mechanist and Mech). Give 1s Distortion on crits (to Mechanist when not piloting Mech, to Mech when piloting Mech). When piloted, Mech hover-flies out of battle, movement speed increase 50%. Mounts are disabled while piloting Mech out of battle.

• Minor Grandmaster - Exigency Protocols - Auto-eject pilot when struck at half HP. Mech gains immunity for 5s. Mechanist's next mace or Tool Kit strike heals Mech for 10% Max HP.

• Major Grandmaster

  • Mech Core: Jade Dynamo - Instead of chance of explosions, all Mech attacks cause secondary explosive damage and triggers Explosions traits.

  • Mech Core: Barrier Engine - Add 1s of Aegis along with Barrier boon. Gains boon duration bonus from Mech Frame: Channeling Conduits.

  • Mech Core: J-Drive - Change skill to: when Mechanist ejects, Mech will now become airborne and only susceptible to ranged attacks. Airborne Mech will bombard area within 600 radius with scattering of grenades (activation 1s), triggering Explosives and Grenadier traits.

Signets

Oh man, every signet now needs a toolbelt skill. Let's goooooo.

Healing

Rectifier Signet - Fine as is.
Air Filtration - Toolbelt now purges 2 condis and gives protection to self and allies (600 radius). Compounds with Inventions: Anticorrosion Plating (purge 3rd condi when applying protection). 15s recharge, instant activation.

Utility

Barrier Signet - Passive: Instead of reducing condition damage, change it to purge 1 condi every 5s. Active is fine.
Raise Barrier - Drop projectile reflection dome around self (or Mech when piloting mech) that lasts 5 seconds. Apply protection to self for 10s when dome dissipates. Removes 1 condition upon protection application with Inventions: Anticorrosion Plating trait. Recharge 15s, instant activation.

Force Signet - Passive: In addition to power, add Might (5s) every 5s. (In other words, pulse 1 stack might.) Active is fine.
Repel Field - Launch foes within 120 radius of the Mechanist. Recharge 20s, instant activation.

Shift Signet - Fine as is.
Beam Me Up, Scotty - User shadowsteps to target location (1200 range). Enemies within 120 radius of location are blinded for 5s. (Max 10 enemies.) Stacks with condition duration traits. 30s recharge, instant activation.

Superconducting Signet - Fine as is.
Short-Circuit - Create a field of fire (900 radius) that pulses 3 stacks of burn (5s) and 600 damage every second for 10 seconds. 30s recharge, instant activation.

Elite

Overclock Signet - Passive: Reduce all equipped skills' (includes Toolbelt and Kit skills) recharge by 20%. Stacks with other skill recharge reduction traits. Active: Change signet recharge based on Mech availability. If Mech is deployed at activation, recharge 25s. If Mech is unavailable, recharge 90s.
No toolbelt skill, because F5 is used for summoning/boarding Mech.

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OK, that's a lot of thought about a game I'm not playing. Back to a game where I'm not so frustrated with the developers.

Thanks for making me aware of MountGate, tanithryudo. Now I'm commenting instead of writing NaNo like I ought to be. >:(

First, I'm more or less caught up on what Anet did, what the responses are, and I'm going to say all of this just convinces me to stop playing. Like. Stop. Period. I've had it. I was already not happy about the decisions that Anet made regarding mounts (giving them faster than swiftness speed), so that is it. I am done. After complaining and complaining for over 5 years about GW2, I am finished with this franchise.

Second, to all those who say give them time to learn from their mistakes, the truth of the matter is very clear: Anet doesn't think it's a mistake. Sorry, but they don't. I'll get to the why later, but I'm going to address the gamer side of things, this relentless giving a pass for anti-consumer practices. For those who say, "Let's hope they don't do it again." I say to you, look at the progression of the micro-transaction. Not only has the gem store gotten more and more expensive skins, but they've gotten more and more RNG with each pass. First, it was the BL chests RNG items, but those were trade-able. Then it's the BLC locked glider skins which can't be sold. Now, it's straight up selling RNG. It's not going to get better, it's only going to get worse. Then there are those who say, "Vote with your wallet." To you, I point out that in a micro-transaction sales model, 80% to 95% of the income comes from 5% of the player base. So even if you manage to get a 90% majority of players to band together, you will make less than 1% impact on their revenue.

Therefore, the only real impact that can make Anet feel the consequence of their mistake is to simply quit. As long as you're on that game, you are giving the whales someone to show off to, and as long as whales have someone to show off to, they will buy from the gem store, no matter how ludicrous. You want your voice to be heard? Ironically, the only way is to walk away and take as many people with you as you can. Quitting the game is voting with the only wallet that still holds any sway.

Third, Anet's response only solidifies my belief that they don't think they made a mistake. Here's why:
( Anet's apology )
Now, I want you to focus on this bit: "Individual sale is a mechanic that works with a few, flashy skins. Using a grab bag mechanic gives us leeway to create skins to suit a wide range of player tastes while offering a lower price per skin."

Let me break that down in real speak:

"Dedicating resources into making a single item that sells well to the majority of the playerbase is costly. Taking into account the huge variety of taste amongst literally millions of players, it is unlikely that we can monetize any single item toward even upwards of 50% of the player base. Therefore, to justify the cost and make a profit, we must place the price point of the item at the unreasonable 2000 gems as seen in something like the legendary-esque Jackal skin.

"However, if we use an RNG mechanic, all assets in the selection pool can be monetized by using it as a motivation for the player base to play the RNG. If the player received an item they were not hoping for, the slightly improved odds will further motivate the players to spend again. Thus, a player who would have spent only 400 gems once for the item they want can be monetized twice under the RNG model, inducing them to spend 800 gems, or, in the case of whales, repeated ad nauseum until they receive the desired item. Our statistical analysis places the necessary starting pool for highest monetizing percentage, assuming a linear decay for repeated gambling, at somewhere around 1/30, therefore we released 30 skins.

"While we will lose a 400 gem sale here or there from the more discerning players, our research has demonstrated that more than 80% of players are at least willing to risk the RNG once for a chance at something they want. After they have made the first purchase, over half of those players will, statistically, re-purchase in the hopes of getting what they want. Our economic model demonstrates that there is a definitive revenue increase due to these behaviors and that is why we decided to release the mount skins as RNG instead of direct purchases."

And that is why I refuse to play this game. I will not keep confirming your statistical model. I will not contribute anymore to your predatory behavior. I can only hope that sooner or later, the rest of your consumer base realize they've been played, but, statistically, that chance is pretty low. So, I can only take satisfaction in not supporting your BS anymore.

So I was reading up a little on recent Path of Fire expansion release and finally caught up with the new Revenant legend. I mean, I already have zero interest in the new legend, because I'm not giving up my shield on rev (for RP reasons), but I figured I should know what I'm missing out on.

Kalla Scorchrazor? Who the fuck is Kalla?

I mean, I know this point has been belabored to death on the forums already, but why pick such a little known character? Why? It's not like we don't already have a prominent bow wielding female character already, Eir Stegalkin. Remember her? The one you writers fridged for the sake of advancing a male character's story?

Just... I'm all for more female characters, really, especially when you think about how the Rev's base legends are all male, it makes sense to pick some more female legends and I'm glad they're doing it, but it feels so tacked on and thoughtless. No one likes a thoughtless "quota" of female characters. Just...ugh.

Another reason to dislike GW2's direction. Unfortunately, the rest of the gamers seems to be lapping this shit up.

Okay, so after the last bitchery about class difficulty and ranking, I decided to do a little more actual breakdown of the class difficulty (in my experience, of course), taking into consideration things like excelling vs. competence, and general nuance as it were. Since I've played all the classes through to 80, unlocked all the specialization, and even went so far as to go all the way until the story end of HoT with 3 classes, one of which I deleted to make room for new characters, I say I have a good understanding of the classes in terms of general PvE. Now, sure, there's fractals/raids whatever, but that's the small percentage and I'm breaking it down more for the general populous here.

( This gets long, so let's get typin'. )

And that is...longer than I wanted to go on. I'm gonna leave the elite specializations for a later analysis. @_@