Profile: MyGoodFellow
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• • Skills and Abilities

  • Hello again!

    Some thoughts on the non combat or secondary combat skills:

    The ability to combine spells into one effect, could be a skill of sorts, the better it is, the more you can do something like:

    1. Fireball @ mob

    2. Ground explosion

    1 + 2 : explosion upon impact that does AoE damage, and throws nearby mobs and people away from the explosion origin.

    Or something more melee Oriented:

    1: Poison throwing dagger on the fly

    2: Throw at target

    Could be combined into throwing poisoned daggers.

     

    And something Non combat related:

    Setting up flares in an area to light it up. (or torches, if magnesium flare isnt a possibility)

    Purpose being to make it harder for stealthed people to sneak into an area. They would have to put out the Torches via some other way.

    A counter to that could be a magical spell to cause it to rain, to put them all out, or cast a water ball at a torch, extinguishing it.

    If someone wanted to do so, they could use a secondary combat ability to change the ball of water into Ice, in mid flight. Making it into a dangerous missile!

    Dont know if this something that fits, but what if Trap making, for the purpose of catching game animals, for food, or materials,?

    And of course, Crafting skills, running the gamut, from tree chopping, down to timber staining, and refining and reforming. Ship beams and masts?

     

  • Posted: 10/05/08 1:32 PM
    Citadel of Sorcery
• • Possible class options

  • Summary at bottom, if this is too much to read :) (Meandering thoughts, within!)

    The text tag is a good idea, but I think some players may have trouble describing their role within a group, at least at first. Perhaps a text-based hybrid solution, like a drop-down menu of selections, based off their skill choices, as a suggestion tag?

    In addition to that, the selected tag could also be displayed in a LFG window. I know that the selections of skills are large, and the possible 'names' of a role within a group would be even larger. Therefore, what if this "Tag" were something the player base could come up with? Sort of a pool of names, a person could pick from, that describe that set of choices, that approximate the player's own, by at least 50% matches.

    To avoid spam choices, perhaps a voting system could be passively implemented? Say a player talks with their group, they come up with a name for their role, the player would edit their choice into the list and the rest of the (full) group would have to pick it and vote yes. After that it would appear in the public group listing, temporarily, for an hour, say.

    This would be available to the public in general, and would garner a certain number of votes by how many people pick yes. If it passes a certain percentage, say 70% of the population in the area online at that time? Then it would be put into the public pool of role-names for that configuration of skills, with a +/- margin. so if someone else wants to pick that role-name, they dont have to be an exact match.

    Players who dont vote count as an automatic no, of course. The drop-down menu of choices would be available only when someone wanted to classify themself. Otherwise it would be out of the way, and not intruding on anyone's attention.

    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                                                                     Style choices:

    Player skill is important when determining a person's role within the group. Broader choices dictate, by necessity, that a player is more flexible in a role, and can easily perform several functions within the group. And Following out of that, you have player style, which is how the player is comfortable playing.

    Perhaps to make a group's finding of another member, an option would be to have a player listed by their style. This could be a beneficial thing, because a group made entirely of laid-back people would have a fun time, hopefully without the odd friction element, of heads butting. Alternatively, a group of serious minded people, who enjoy challenging themselves, wouldnt be stuck with the 'casual' element that fustrates them?

    But that is a shallow level of style, a most basic gameplay choice. Perhaps we were thinking more along the lines of 'Ok, this guy likes to flip around alot and hit things with ninja-like accuracy, etc". How would one say, this particular style is? Above and beyond just the casual or serious nature of their play? That could be put under a general style of "Aggressive" for example. Or someone else, who likes watching their group for AI aggro and intercepting incoming attackers, might be considered "Defensive" style.

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------

    So, to sum up things: a text tag is a good idea, to have a player self-label. One may not even need to go through the trouble of voting for 'role-name' tags to supplement that. Style would likely be the most important, overarching, concept to watch for in a group's lineup. Whether, it would be Defensive, Aggressive, Healing, Damage, or Control, etc. Lastly, a person can be a combination of a style, an Aggressive Healer, or Defensive Control.

     

  • Posted: 9/04/08 9:21 PM
    Citadel of Sorcery
• • a slightly different story

  • Grim and Radiant qualities? Sounds like fun!

     All this talk about Balance being integral to the mechanics of the game reminds me of something I was wishing I could see in an MMO:

    A kind of magic system where when you draw upon one quality, an opposing force can arise in response to your use (or overuse) of a certain type of energy. It could manifest in the form of demons from a plane that is entirely made up of that spectrum of power (Shadow, life, even light).

    In effect, something that the player needs to fight back against, in order to maintain the use of the power or spell they are casting or (de)buffing with. It would be proportional to the power of the effect.

    If their maximum strength exceeds the spell's power by a fair margin they can sustain it almost indefinitely, providing concentration isn't broken.

    And the more a player draws on that power, the stronger they need to fight back against the balance. This in effect creates a different kind of balance, the one where a player's own skill, their own fortitude determines the length, breadth, and damage (or healing) of a certain spell effect.

    And when they've had enough, they let go of the use of the power they were drawing on, which in turn would release the strain on them, and the two forces they were trying to balance within themselves, now move off outside them, and cancel out.

    [Edit: Further thoughts: As an alternative to a player having to directly fight the forces of balance, to create an effect, the act of drawing a certain kind of power into the world might draw demons into the world.

    This would create a sort of conflict as the demons (or angels) have to be fought and banished back to the plane of the power that was used.

    It can be a supplement to it, or a blending of both, for example, a player can choose to establish a (strenuous) equilibrium within themselves, as they cast a spell, or they can choose to not balance it, at that time.

    The second option would cause an unbalancing elsewhere in the world, perhaps something manifesting within it that causes a destructive effect to something.

    Although there could be a sub-effect to the unbalancing: the demons manifest in close proximity to the caster, attacking anything of the opposing element, and forcing either the player to have to fight them, or the group, or even anyone in the vicinity. Refusal to fight back may embolden and strengthen the unbalance, possibly causing an infestation, that more players will eventually have to fight off.

    This also could have an effect, that the element opposite to the invading presence would gradually become weaker.

    *end ramble*]

  • Posted: 8/29/08 3:36 PM
    Citadel of Sorcery
• • Possible class options

  • I'm thinking a refinement on the color idea could be: instead of a pie chart, when you turn on LFM or LFG, portray a halo around others' heads who are LFM or LFG, in the same kind of style as the pie chart.

    This would reduce UI clutter, and let you know not only who is LF(something), but if you want to have their skill set in your group. Theroetically this shouldnt affect performance while adventuring or questing during the action, as it would be off.

    I dont know what the magic system in CoS is, but i know that being able to magically see seems to be a common idea in fantasy. This could be explained as the ability to sense another's intent and power, under certain conditions.

    On further thinking: having a halo is likely used as a smoke effect, which can take alot of processing power, if there are alot of halos on the screen. Perhaps a "pie" over their heads?

    A Hybrid of the two, maybe? Maybe it could be a UI effect that can be turned on and off, without having to go into the LFG menu to check the players?

  • Posted: 8/29/08 3:15 PM
    Citadel of Sorcery
• • Possible class options

  • *Transforms out of Lurker mode*

    Hello, I was reading this and was thinking of a couple ideas that might work, for quick, and easy group "assessment" interface or indicator.

    This is what I was thinking, instead of representing it numerically, it could be shown as a pie chart, with colors representing League affiliations. The player could view it in several different ways, for example, the chart breaks further down, into ranged, magic, utility, holding durability (tank), etc.

    The pie's colors could be 'brighter' based on additional Echelons, or training. The concept I have in mind is like a color palette, providing smooth, gradual transitions between color, instead of a simple 5-color chart that is sharply divided. This would allow for a more subtle know-at-a-glance idea of what their skill breakdown is.

     

    And the second idea would be for a player to have a group interface they can toy with well before they start inviting people.

    What it would do is this:

    1. player sets the kind of abilities they are looking for, in their group breakdown. Maybe it fits their style, or mostly fits their style, etc.

    1a. Player can set up to 8 slots' worth, so they know the position they want for each slot in the group, what it can do, etc.

    2. After they set their preferences, they can turn on this matchmaking interface. What it will do is give a % match for what they are looking for, in whatever slot they set it to be.

    2a. The slots can be labelled, for quick reference later, lest one forgets what they want in that slot.

     

    Example: They want someone that is 80% Hero, 15% Magic, and 5% Shadow. Someone comes along who has trained somewhat differently, but is a very desirable match, at say around 75% of what they are looking for. They know at a glance if they will fit in to the group they have in mind. And they know the slot they will fit, at a glance.

    So they can say to themselves: "ok, slot 6, that is my DPS slot."

  • Posted: 8/29/08 2:22 AM
    Citadel of Sorcery