Armorsmith Archive
Thread: Night-Hawks Solution to armor problems
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sofshogun
Mon Dec 06, 2004 3:58 pm
#1
I posted this first on the shadowfire boards as thats where i play =P but i figured id have the armorsmiths of the world look it over
OK here it is , Ive been thinking about armor in this game for a long time, and currently it is pretty dang whack, wearing a full suit ,makes very little sense and the impact armor has on the game doesn't feel quite like armor to me. this is not a flame SOE thread to tell em how much they suck, but simply an observation about the problems with armor and a solution that popped into my head one day! this thread is meant to be nothing but CONSTRUCTIVE!
what armor should do
#1 wearing armor makes youharder. to hit (deflects blows) - not represented well
#2wearing armor absorbs damage. ( partial blows, not full penetration) - represented well, but unbalanced
#3 Armor is freaking heavy. (wearing all that junk impedes your movement, you can run.. but give up ballet OK) - represented well, but unbalanced
some of the biggest problems with armor are as follows:
-armor is not all that customizable(coloring is so-so, different armors just aren't viable, composite is the best COOKIE CUTTER TOONS) lots of clothing that you probably should be able to wear over or under armor , you cannot (this is minor but takes away from the game flavor).
-Wearing a full suit is almost pointless unless your doing it for looks ( it creates armor holes, some of the armor never ends up preventing damage anyways, it takes up precious slots for BE clothing,and it just eats up encumbrance you could use to heal faster)
-Encumbrance is to high and too low at the same time, for those that buff all day long the encumbrance is like a joke, for those that don't they cant really wear armor in an effective fashion. because it almost harms more than it helps.
-Resists are just to dang high (i don't think a Nerf is in order, but perhaps a balance) i mean armor is cool and all but on what world can a rancor lay its teeth into you and only cause 13 points of damage? now dodging the blow thats one thing .. but when it lands it should = ouch!
What could be done about the problems with armor i don't have a solution to everything as i don't have that much free time
but here is what i came up with to solve the biggest and baddest of these problems
Armor should still be worn in 9 pieces, however the damage the armor prevents should not be connected with the area it covers, and the resistances on each piece of armor should stack with each otherthis simplifies things greatly and allows for a simple balance of armor.
The % of damage reduction on armor should be drastically reduced to between 1-10% per piece of armor
armor should be given defense mods IE ranged defense and melee defense in small quantities
depending on the piece and type of armor your wearing it would have rangedor melee def, or Damage reduction, or a combination.
also depending on the type of armor would be the % of the Damage reductionas well as the type/types of Damage reduction
to prevent people from taking advantage of high level armor at low levels, armor certifications may be in order( this could alleviate some of the ham issues as well) there would be 4 types of armor Not rated, Light Medium, and Heavy (not related to the AP system) Not rated requires no certification, the rest as follows:Light armor certification, medium armor certification, heavy armor certificationtheses certifications could be placed all over the combat trees in different places reflection how Dependant certainProfessions are upon armor, and of course Armor smith should be certified in all of them(if you can make it you can dang well use it i hope)
play testing would quickly reveal how well this works
example of a suit of bone armor
i have not listed encumbrancesas that is a problem more with the HAM system i think, and i didn't mess with the AP system as i think that it works well on its own
Helm
Effectiveness
3% energy
2% kinetic
2% acid
Chest
Effectiveness
4% energy
3% kinetic
3% acid
Bicep 1
Ranged defense +1
Bicep 2
Ranged defense +1
bracer 1
Melee Defense +1
bracer 2
Melee Defense +1
Gloves
Melee Defense +1
Boots
Ranged defense +1
Pants
Effectiveness
3% energy
2% kinetic
2% acid
and in total you get
10% energy
7% Kinetic
7% Acid
+3 ranged defense
+3 melee defense
now a suit of composite
Helm
Effectiveness
10% energy
10% kinetic
10% acid
10% heat
10% cold
10% blast
Special protection
14% electric
Ranged defense +1
Melee Defense +1
Chest
Effectiveness
10% energy
10% kinetic
10% acid
10% heat
10% cold
10% blast
Special protection
14% electric
Ranged defense +1
Melee Defense +1
Bicep 1
Ranged defense +2
Melee Defense +2
Bicep 2
Ranged defense +2
Melee Defense +2
bracer 1
Ranged defense +2
Melee Defense +2
bracer 2
Ranged defense +2
Melee Defense +2
Gloves
Effectiveness
10% energy
10% kinetic
10% acid
10% heat
10% cold
10% blast
Special protection
14% electric
Melee Defense +2
Boots
Effectiveness
10% energy
10% kinetic
10% acid
10% heat
10% cold
10% blast
Special protection
14% electric
Ranged defense +1
Melee Defense +1
Pants
Effectiveness
10% energy
10% kinetic
10% acid
10% heat
10% cold
10% blast
Special protection
14% electric
Ranged defense +1
Melee Defense +1
For a total of
Effectiveness
50% energy
50% kinetic
50% acid
50% heat
50% cold
50% blast
Special protection
70% electric
Ranged defense + 13
Melee Defense + 13
i believe with this system it would make armor more functional, and a lot more fun, and more balanced as you can see you could easily mix and match armor of different types without ruining the whole suits effectiveness letting the players look be more customizable, and though its simple at the moment play testing would reveal what stats should be exactly, the highest resist per piece of armor, how many pieces of each suit should have resists, which stats should be special protection how much melee and ranged defense, appropriate encumbrance, how layers should workto include the mixing and matching of resists to strengthen weaknesses in armor at the cost of another stat,what the relative % cap should be for any given resist on any given armor, and how all this interacts with slicing.
This system is also easy to implement to the other types of armor making armor effectiveness range more appropriately across the board.
though you will notice even with a perfect sliced suit you cant go over 70% to any of the stats, i felt these numbers would reflect a more balanced armor with the current system, in PVP and PVE
please don't flame but feel free to let me know what you think, i will probably also post this in the armor smith forums as well
Message Edited by sofshogun on 12-06-2004 02:59 PM
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