Doctor Archive
Thread: Redesigning Buffs
- There's no incentive to use lesser buffs
- There's no penalty to using better buffs
- Experimenting in one line gets you both power and duration
- Buffs effectively remove the need for a doctor in a group
- People waiting in line is not fun
With those challenges, here are the stats that I see as important to a redesigned buff. Each of these should be a seperate experiment line:
Duration - how long
Power - how much
Charges - how many
Med Rating - who can use?
Battle Fatigue - penalty
Wounds - penalty
The first move is to seperate both power and duration. You can have one or the other, but not both. Even if this was the only thing changed about buffs, it would make a world of difference. Mathematically, power and duration should be inversely proportional. Increasing one decreases the other.
The next is to create a niche for each buff.
Buff-A - the initial buff. Very few mind wounds or battle fatigue even at max strength. Made with any material. One shot buffs all physical stats. Very quick to administer.
Buff-B - the best grouping buff. Short duration, strong buff. Very little battle fatigue and few wounds. One shot for red stats and one shot for green stats. Moderate to administer.
Buff-C - the best solo buff. Causes some mind wounds and much battle fatigue. One shot for physical red stats and one shot for green stats. Moderate to administer.
Buff-D - the "best" buff. Causes significant mind wounds and significant battle fatigue. One shot for each physical stat. Slow to administer.
This system encourages the following:
- Groups have a reason to include doctors. The buffs with the lowest side-affects are also the ones with shorter durations.
- Lower level buffs are quicker to administer, which means a much shorter wait.
- Players get to choose risk/reward to using each buff.
- Masters players encountering high-end content will want the most harmful buffs because the risk/payoff is worth the penalties.
- The "best buffs" will be avoided as causing too many problems. They won't be as good for grinding missions.
- Players get a choice between power (higher payout) and duration (fewer visits $$$ to the doctor).
- Entertainers get more visits.
Way to difficult for the devs though. Easier just to nerf the crap out of them. That's where my bet is.
But good ideas none the less.
thats the truth
captenjonny wrote:
Good Ideas? Yes.
Way to difficult for the devs though. Easier just to nerf the crap out of them. That's where my bet is.
But good ideas none the less.
VemaGara wrote:
- Buffs effectively remove the need for a doctor in a group
Buff-D - the "best" buff. Causes significant mind wounds and significant battle fatigue. One shot for each physical stat. Slow to administer.
This system encourages the following:
- Groups have a reason to include doctors. The buffs with the lowest side-affects are also the ones with shorter durations.
- Lower level buffs are quicker to administer, which means a much shorter wait.
- Masters players encountering high-end content will want the most harmful buffs because the risk/payoff is worth the penalties.
- The "best buffs" will be avoided as causing too many problems. They won't be as good for grinding missions.
- Players get a choice between power (higher payout) and duration (fewer visits $$$ to the doctor).
Let me play Devil's advocate for a second.
[devils_advocate]
What I have quoted is very silly. I also find the bold section VERY silly. The first bolded problem is that you don't pvp much do you? Doc's are REQUIRED! For pvp, if you don't have a doc in the group you might aswell be done. Jedi use 500 Force to all heal someone and that doesn't even elimnate fire! No one, I mean NO ONE would want lower level buffs. Reason being get buffed beside a cantina? Mind wounds and BF done in what 1 minute at most(depending on how much you want to inflict)? This would do nothing to the game essentially.
[/devils_advocate]
In a summary Doc's are in pvp groups as it is neccessary (I would know). I don't see how these penalties will do anything towards hardcore people. Thats my opinion on this matter. Flame me if you want but I've participated in PvP that contains 2 full groups(40 people).
Note: I do like how you to the initiate, and I mean every word typed out of sheer respect for youand from the point of view I believe a Dev would have.
- incentive for lesser buffs: Longer duration
Exaero wrote:
VemaGara wrote:
- Buffs effectively remove the need for a doctor in a group
Buff-D - the "best" buff. Causes significant mind wounds and significant battle fatigue. One shot for each physical stat. Slow to administer.
This system encourages the following:
- Groups have a reason to include doctors. The buffs with the lowest side-affects are also the ones with shorter durations.
- Lower level buffs are quicker to administer, which means a much shorter wait.
- Masters players encountering high-end content will want the most harmful buffs because the risk/payoff is worth the penalties.
- The "best buffs" will be avoided as causing too many problems. They won't be as good for grinding missions.
- Players get a choice between power (higher payout) and duration (fewer visits $$$ to the doctor).Let me play Devil's advocate for a second.
[devils_advocate]
What I have quoted is very silly. I also find the bold section VERY silly. The first bolded problem is that you don't pvp much do you? Doc's are REQUIRED! For pvp, if you don't have a doc in the group you might aswell be done. Jedi use 500 Force to all heal someone and that doesn't even elimnate fire! No one, I mean NO ONE would want lower level buffs. Reason being get buffed beside a cantina? Mind wounds and BF done in what 1 minute at most(depending on how much you want to inflict)? This would do nothing to the game essentially.
[/devils_advocate]
In a summary Doc's are in pvp groups as it is neccessary (I would know). I don't see how these penalties will do anything towards hardcore people. Thats my opinion on this matter. Flame me if you want but I've participated in PvP that contains 2 full groups(40 people).
Note: I do like how you to the initiate, and I mean every word typed out of sheer respect for youand from the point of view I believe a Dev would have.
Thanks for the complement.
You are correct. I did not think about PvP. I just don't KNOW. But as everyone has had a tough time balancing for PvP, it's no surprise that I missed on those counts, too.
Here are the main problems that I hear about PvP (past and present):
- Unbuffed PvPers die too fast.
- You need buffs to compete.
- Duals take forever.
I have no idea how to address those. Where's the middle? This takes us to meds. This takes us to armor. This takes us to the way weapons and specials are used. Ouch! No wonder this rebalanced turned into a full revamp.
- How do you design a good PvP buff that doesn't imbalance PvE or PvP?
- How do you design a buff that leads players to use it for PvP over PvE?
- How do you design a buff that leads players to use it for PvE but not PvP?
- How do you design a buff that the players view as useful and worth their time?
Thanks for the good criticism.