Doctor Archive
Thread: Relationship Buffs/Armor source of the problem
I agree that the the buff/armor relationship is a synergy, and that we're seeing some consequences of that. Armor encumbrance is trivial if you're sporting enhance-D buffs. It means that the tradeoff that is supposed to happen in combat when you wear armor is not happening.
My guild armorsmith prepared composite armor suits for the PA's assault on the Corvette, and because we've go ta master doctor who routinely buffs us 2200 points on all six stats, he ignored encumbrance issues when crafting the armor. Likewise, our master smuggler went for effectiveness slices when he took his turn at the armor. If you're fully buffed, encumbrance is simply not an issue.
This has created some serious anomalies, one of which is to make CMs seem to be far more powerful than any other damage dealing profession, when the thing is that CMs are powerful because they can get past the armor, which other proffs have problems doing. The Geo stun weapons likewise are seen as very powerful because they get past composite in a way that other attacks cannot.
Aggressive wrote:
Why not simply have the encumberance work as a percentage of the HAM, instead of a fixed number? That way, buffed players would still feel the effects of the armor. The buff would still end up being beneficial, however, because the stat (minus the encumberance percentage) would probably still be higher than the unbuffed HAM of the player.
Even as a percentage, the discrepancies in terms of raw numbers would still be there, UNLESS you also turn the special HAM costs into a percentage. Rumor has it that the devs realize that specials spamming is one of the imbalance issues and that this aspect of combat may be dealt with.
What the encumbrance is supposed to do is make you give up offensive potential for a defensive benefit. This is not happening under the current system. Even after you adjust the encumbrance cost, you're left with a lot more HAM to play with in terms of spamming specials.
Furthermore, the other problem, that of attacks that composite is vulnerable to appearing to be overpowering will remain with us. There will still be whines of 'nerf' from those who want this to be a MMFPS, not a MMORPG, and can't stand the fact that a "carebear" is pwning their min/max butts.
SioBabble wrote:
Aggressive wrote:
Why not simply have the encumberance work as a percentage of the HAM, instead of a fixed number? That way, buffed players would still feel the effects of the armor. The buff would still end up being beneficial, however, because the stat (minus the encumberance percentage) would probably still be higher than the unbuffed HAM of the player.
Even as a percentage, the discrepancies in terms of raw numbers would still be there, UNLESS you also turn the special HAM costs into a percentage. Rumor has it that the devs realize that specials spamming is one of the imbalance issues and that this aspect of combat may be dealt with.
What the encumbrance is supposed to do is make you give up offensive potential for a defensive benefit. This is not happening under the current system. Even after you adjust the encumbrance cost, you're left with a lot more HAM to play with in terms of spamming specials.
Furthermore, the other problem, that of attacks that composite is vulnerable to appearing to be overpowering will remain with us. There will still be whines of 'nerf' from those who want this to be a MMFPS, not a MMORPG, and can't stand the fact that a "carebear" is pwning their min/max butts.
There does have to be a benefit to buffs though. If you made special moves costa percentage, then buffs become pointless. The problem right now is that your pools regen most of the time before you get hit again. Also, because of the strength and quickness buffs, the cost of special moves is negligible.
If the encumberance took a percentage off of your secondaries, buffs would still help, but they wouldn't be uber. Your pools wouldn't regen as fast and your specials would cost more (i.e. you might actually take damage). Right now, I rarely even have to use a stimpack.
I'm ok with them reducing the power of buffs somewhat, but you can not make a special move take a percentage of your pools.
Aggressive wrote:
Why not simply have the encumberance work as a percentage of the HAM, instead of a fixed number? That way, buffed players would still feel the effects of the armor. The buff would still end up being beneficial, however, because the stat (minus the encumberance percentage) would probably still be higher than the unbuffed HAM of the player.
I think this is the best answer. A secondary buff would then benefit the unarmored the most, but it would still benefit the heavily armored. The heavily armored would not be able to spam specials though.
An interesting consequence of this would be that the lighter armor types would become useful again in many situations for those that wanted to retain maximum offense (aka spamming) while adding a bit of defense. The "tanks" would wear the stun composite, but give up a lot of offense.
Happymob wrote:
I think this is the best answer. A secondary buff would then benefit the unarmored the most, but it would still benefit the heavily armored. The heavily armored would not be able to spam specials though.
An interesting consequence of this would be that the lighter armor types would become useful again in many situations for those that wanted to retain maximum offense (aka spamming) while adding a bit of defense. The "tanks" would wear the stun composite, but give up a lot of offense.
Ahh, finnaly someone is seeing the light. I really hope that the developers look at this as a very useful way to address the combat re-balance.
This idea would work with so many interactions to make them work better together. Everything from buffs to armor to special attacks, to armor types, to different combat types etc. This idea really hits the mark in so many ways. It even helps balance the melee fighters vs the ranged fighters in how much armor they want to wear vs how much offensive power they want.