User talk:Gearlock
From LSWiki
Revision as of 18:09, 9 December 2008
Requesting Player Input...
I am very interested to know about a few things from a player's point of view and would like this to be an open discussion. Let me start things off by saying that different developers have different opinions on how a game should work. The one thing that remains a constant is that whatever gets coded should adhere to strong best practices from a code standpoint, and that it should have thematic relevance within our world. One of the views on which I have found I differ from some of our other developers however is the subject of guild balance. Now this is really an umbrella topic, the tip of the iceberg, but a decent place to start. Under this umbrella falls a lot of other things that I feel make for a good discussion.
Personally, I really enjoy when a game has a good balance between its guilds/classes. Now I'm not saying that all guilds should be good at everything by any means. However, I often find it frustrating when I am playing and struggling to do a lot of things in one guild, when other guilds seem to have an easy time with everything. Disclaimer: All of this is simply opinion, and from my eyes as a player. This is not meant to be taken as ripping on other guilds, other playstyles, and is not necessarily even 100% correct. I am far from the LS Expert.
An example I could think of for this is a fairly popular guild, and understandably so. Ringwielders seem to have a rune for everything. Hell, that sentence has become a mantra for them, and that's ok. They are not without weakness by any means. However, when I play my aisenshi for example, and stand there fighting a group, burning endurance, taking damage, throwing out kamikazes as often as I can I cannot help but wonder why I go through it. It would be much easier to create a Ringwielder, train up one of the power trees to get an area attack, which can be done fairly quickly if you specializing for it, and walk around area attacking towns, because opponents cannot dodge area attacks.
So we've established 1 scenario where they can excel. Well what about when you don't want to fight a group, but a single very tough opponent. Well, aside from the fact that area attacks can allow you to kill things that you might not normally be able to hit, they have a whole slew of targeted power attacks as well. In fact they are typically the first rune you get along each power tree, so they are not terribly difficult to get, and between the 3-4 different attack elements, you can generally find an attack that your opponent won't be very resistant to.
I have not even mentioned all the stat boosting runes, the unlocked specialty access through runes, the resistance buffs, or utility runes. You put all those things together and you have 1 incredibly versatile killing machine, that even has abilities that can make life more convenient. As stated previously they are not without weakness. They are heavily spirit intensive, susceptible to Turn Undead, weak to photonic damage, and there is mild limit to how many runes you can have.
I have absolutely no problem with Ringwielder players. They are a highly interactive guild, there is an incentive to put in work to unlock runes, they are fun to play, and can be quite powerful. However, when I play my aisenshi I admit that I have a sort of jealousy towards them. I'm not particularly fond of their theme personally, and that is why I do not play them, but I can't help but be both frustrated and awed at my total lack of ability to keep up with them in combat. And at least for right now, lets be honest with each other, combat is the key to Lost Souls.
Now of course I have only listed a single comparison here, and I'm sure most of you guys can completely pick my opinion apart, but for a change in pace, how about you don't. Because I don't actually care so much about what you think of my opinion. What I do care about however, is your opinion on guild balance. The only purpose I want to serve by giving you one of my opinions, is to give you an example of what I want to know about. Sure in the right hands, with the right amount of research, and the right gear, and proper alignment of the planets, etc, etc, ad nauseum, all guilds can be viable and effective. What I'm talking about is natural versatility. I don't wanna know if a cleric happens to be a big-gulp sized slurpie combo of whoop-ass and rape when you get these 4 artifacts and buff yourself in your microcosm after drinking potions of heroism, invigoration, and perception. What do you guys strive for in your characters? Why is <insert guild name here> your favourite guild? Why do you focus on leveling or farming loot or whatever it is that keeps you going? What do you wish you we saw more of?
