Feedback:User/ClavisRa/Energy Reserve: Easy*No Potions*Long term

Energy Reserve

A reserve is an idea everyone is familiar with, like keeping extra cash on hand for when emergencies arise, or you go over budget. Using this concept, I am proposing a system that eliminates potions, is simple and intuitive for casual players, is strategic for serious players, keeps players active and effective at all times, makes energy a long-term resource, and does not require active player management. First, I will give a short description of a reserve energy system, then review the goals ANet members have laid out for the GW2 energy system, then review the reserve energy system in detail and demonstrate that it meets every goal.

Energy Reserve

The Energy Reserve system is a player has two pools of energy, Energy, and Energy Reserve; whenever a player draws their Energy down to zero, the excess demand, exactly, is taken from the Energy Reserve. The Energy has a modest capacity, recharges rapidly during battle, and refills completely after battle. The Energy Reserve has a larger capacity, recharges slowly at all times, and does not refill after battle.

ANet Design Goals

The following goals for the Guild Wars 2 energy system and game play have been expressed by ANet members in interviews recently:

1. No potions potions are a clumsy mechanic, and we want to get rid of them 2. Energy is a long term resource players choose how to consume energy over the course of several battles 3. No energy management Players should not actively manage their energy by using skills, potions, or any choice besides how to spend it 4. Simple and intuitive for casual players With just a glance at the interface and a few minutes of game play, anyone can understand the energy system completely. 5. No waiting to have fun A player should not be on the sidelines because they are waiting for energy to regenerate.

How It works

There are two equally essential parts to the energy reserve system. First, the Energy pool alone supports active gameplay at all times, and second, the Energy Reserve gives the player the flexibility to "power boost", up their level of activity, as needed.

Even if you completely empty your Energy Reserve and your Energy, the natural regeneration of your Energy will support being an active, effective player. What you lose is the flexibility and power of being able to chain together multiple actions rapidly. Instead, you are forced to play at a more measured pace. But even in this worst case scenario, you will be an active, effective participant in combat.

For normal circumstances, the capacity of your Energy, and its rapid recharge rate will support a player in active, appropriately challenging combat while hardly dipping into the Energy Reserve. And a player can always count on having that starting allowance of a full Energy pool before each engagement. You never have to wait around to have fun!

Thus, the Energy Reserve becomes a way for a player to deal with unexpected challenges, mistakes, unusually tough battles, or just the desire to be an explosive force on the battlefield for a while; so, the Energy Reserve is a long term resource, consumed over course of several battles, not at all in some, maybe greatly in others, but at the player's need and discretion, a strategic resource.

Visually it's as simple as displaying two energy containers. Anyone could tell at a glance how much energy they have, regular and reserve. Perhaps use two flasks, light blue for Energy, and dark blue for Energy Reserve. Energy could bubble up like a lively spring, and Energy Reserve could gently ripple as it slowly fills.

Conclusion

The Energy Reserve system accomplishes all of ANet's design goals. There are no potions. The Energy Reserve is a long term resource. Players do not have to use skills, or consumables to actively manage their energy. Any player can understand how much energy they have and use at a glance. And you never have to wait to be active and have fun.

You start each battle with the energy resources to be effective and active, and beyond that have the reserves available to "turbo boost", be more heroic, at any time. With a properly balanced energy reserve system, players will feel like powerful heroes roaming the world, but the good players will be wise to measure that power carefully, or find their backs against the wall. The energy system is simple to understand, but challenging to master.

Further Thoughts

The presence of an energy reserve gives the developers the opportunity to make some very demanding content that is expected to push players' energy resources to the limit, and then reward that player by restoring part or all of their reserve energy when they reach a certain achievement. This could be especially useful in the design of some high level dungeon content, or even very intense dynamic events.

While the energy reserve system conceptually solves all the design goals, there are many details to balance. How big should the Energy Pool be? How many times bigger should the Energy Reserve be, three times, four, more? Should the Energy Reserve refill every 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 60 minutes? Should the energy reserve refill when a player enters a city like Divinity's Reach, or first enters a dungeon? Or could zoning to a city to refill your reserve be too easily abused with the travel system, such that maybe being in a city has no effect on your reserve at all beyond normal recharge, or has a modest effect, like doubles the rate of recharge?

Also, does the exorbitant cost of elite skills make it difficult to balance the capacities of energy pools? Would it be better to reduce the cost of elites since their long recharge is already such a limiting factor (or even remove their energy cost entirely!) so you don't have to account for such a large chunck of energy usage at once being in balance with using the rest of your skill bar?

Clearly, as with any system, there are balancing issues and details to resolve, but the framework of an Energy Reserve system provides for that solution with a simple, satisfying design that does not distract from the more active elements of game play.

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