Archmage Callinon wrote:
Thayos wrote:
What about the ability to "merit" your weapon skills for additional bonuses?
Each weaponskill could branch to either give a bonus to survivability, support or DPS. Hardcore raiders would likely go the DPS route to assist with beating the hardest content before it's nerfed, while survive/support abilities might be more desirable for casual/midcore players who tend to challenge content after iLevels have gone up or echo has been added.
Has the same trap that skill trees have. There will always be a "right" way to spec and if you aren't doing that you're wrong. Essentially inviting people to spec into being less effective.
I'm getting so tired of seeing this canned response to any innovative ( not even innovative, just...things other games do just fine) gameplay ideas. First, its not even necessarily true, if choices are balanced enough. There are proven ways to provide meaningful options for customization without destroying the almighty barance-u. Simplest way is provide different upgrades for different playstyles. You can never truly balance things perfectly, but that isn't really a bad thing because:
There's nothing inherently wrong with having a 'best' way to spec, and here is why: People who number crunch or follow the number crunchers will always pick the best option for their situation. Many, many people enjoy this. They get to feel smart because they know that their choice is 0.01% more dps than what the filthy casuals chose ( i know, i know, that is not what min maxing is about).
The people who just pick whatever they want also get to feel good. They might not care about min maxing, they might want to pick something for its solo utility or its aesthetic. Regardless, they get to make a choice. And so what if some random yells at them in a pug for picking the 'wrong thing'. Chances are that guy would find something to complain about regardless. I mean, this **** already happens now, so whats the difference?
My point is that there's a way to implement features like this in a way that results in (almost)everyone winning.
Archmage Callinon wrote:
Quote:
Maybe... it doesn't tend to work out that way in practice. In order for there to be real choice all the options have to be VERY close to each other in terms of performance gain, then and only then can you make a playstyle choice and have it be a real choice and not just wrong.
it totally works out that way when its done with care. At the worst what happens is you get a few different builds that are all about equally balanced and then you can choose from them and tweak the core builds to your playstyle. Its not rocket science either. It works just fine in many games.
The XIV team just doesn't have the resources/time to do it well imo, or else they wouldn't have stuck with a system so basic for all this time. Its purely for efficient/fast workflow from what i can tell. Its part of how they pump out (despite what people say to the contrary) quite a bit of content on the reg.
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Edited, May 3rd 2016 7:38pm by Llester Edited, May 3rd 2016 7:39pm by Llester