Feedback:User/Ilr/Replace Potions
Replace Potions | |
|---|---|
| User | Ilr |
| Categories | Mechanics Items |
Before I go into the how's and why's, here's the short answer of what to replace potions with:
Energy Regain /w JITTERING as the "downside"[edit]
Introduction:
Now here's the paradox with Consumables and most energy mechanics in general:
They're meant to act as a w:Governor_(device) but most of the time the players who Farm everything, can just bypass the downside through builds or raw skill. --So the limitations the whole system's meant to provide are pretty much only felt by the more casual players. ...infact most game mechanics are like this in some way, the more you tighten down on them, the more disproportionately it's felt by the average player. Same thing goes for all the energy regain in Gw1... You can try to attach some kind of DPS penalty to it or some kind of survival penalty but either way that's just reinventing the wheel in a way that Health-Sacrifice already had covered. ...likewise any kind of DPS penalty also gets circumvented by abusing Degen hexes & Conditions as has been one of the chief metas for Shadow Form farmers.
So what is needed instead is something that is proportionately felt more by skilled players or farmers operating on Rote-memory. To do this you add a bit of randomness to their Controls interface: ...This is where Jittering comes in.
IMPORTANT NOTE for clarification:
The UPSIDE of this mechanic --> the Energy regaining Mechanic... is like a toggled Stance with several "pips" of energy regain.
The DOWNSIDE of this mechanic --> is a gradually increasing impediment to the targeting & critting system (if you're not a close follower of the game & don't know how Crits function in GW2, plz go read about them). This Downside is very versatile however & could be used for other Debuffs too such as replacing Blindness, Exhaustion, or Drunkeness too.
What is Jittering?[edit]
...the classic definition is the occurrence in an FPS where your screen bounces around erratically. But since this isn't an FPS, we'll want to aim for a new definition; one closer to the downside of Drunkeness, which can't just be bypassed by turning post processing off or by not-having compatible video drivers. **-And for anyone who still doesn't get it: A Downside is an automatic debuff that balances out an overly-positive character Buff -- in Layman's terms, it's a "Tradeoff".
- 0> When Jittering kicks in, the following happens:
- 1> The player's mouse appears to act normally and smoothly with only slight changes in sensitivity, however....
- 2> Whatever they click on in the game world (client-side) is sent through a second Function
- 3> This function goes server-side and a Traceline from their point of origin out to their target...
- 4> ...is then randomized based on how long they've been in Jittering mode.
- 5> Therefore they may try to target one Entity, but end up targeting whatever's standing next to it instead.
- 6> If there's no entities under the Server-side Traceline, they won't target anything and will need to try targeting again.
- 7> If they are shooting at the ground to anticipate movement, the traceline will also be off-target.
- 8> If they are using a spell or projectile that Auto-Tracks, it should have an increasing chance to "Jam" (longer
). - 9> If they're melee'ing, they should become "easily distracted", causing them to miss normally-guaranteed Criticals
- 10> If the melee skill is a touch skill or non-critting skill, it could simply be treated like the Auto-tracking skills in #8.
--additional considerations:[edit]
- "Target_Next" / "Target_Previous" type Client actions would need to result in null targets to uphold these rules when in Jitter mode.
- Even the player's Rolling direction could be randomized up to 45 degrees in either direction to amplify this mode.
- Attacks from Bosses should have an increasing chance to make the player lose their current Target selection.
- Extremely large hit-boxes such as a Boss' should be handled differently by making the Traceline randomization exponentially greater for every successive time the player lands an attack on that boss.
Entering Jitter/Drunk/Exhausted/Endorphin Mode:[edit]
- 1> To avoid the stigmata of potions entirely, it should be a Toggle in place of where the potion is.
- 2> To avoid premature use by newbies who don't fully understand it, it should require a buildup through a specific action.
- 3> That action should be Damage avoidance and dodging. Not just rolling, but any side-stepping or jumping out of harm's way.
- 4> Needless to say, Current Energy should at least be below 50% full capacity before it even triggers.
- 5> As players level up, the "barrier for entry" into this mode could be lowered significantly.
Exiting this Mode[edit]
The player should have their weapons sheathed for roughly the same amount of time they spent in Jitter mode. If they aren't automatically put into Out-of-Combat mode a short period of time after they're no longer attacking or being attacked, then the Coders should strongly consider making that a feature as well just for the sake of Quality-of-Life issues. This ultimately should result in a type of downside that affects "Precision" players more and doesn't feel like the harsh Downtimes or immobilization often associated with "Resting" skills, Exhaustion, or Consumption penalties; and instead acts as a more realistic and gradual "Hurdle" for pushing it too hard.
