Is there much skill variety?
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I haven't even known about this game long, but it got my attention at first sight. The more I look into it, the more it looks like each class only really has one skill they use (The same was true with Diablo 2), but it doesn't look fun (unlike Diablo 2).
Am I just terribly wrong? (By it doesn't look fun I mean using your one skill. It doesn't look like it would give me satisfaction) | |
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Currently, it is somewhat of a spamfest. There are only a handful of skills right now, so there isn't much room for variety.
One of the plans is to implement ways to encourage the use of multiple skills, along with having around 100 skills when the game is released. Closed Beta/Alpha Tester back after a 10-year hiatus.
Kiwi pets and Spark spam FTW. | |
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I'm not in the beta myself, but I'll try and answer this.
The reason people just spam 1 skill is that they have multiple stones of the same skill so they can stack more and more support stones onto that one main skill. Whether that tactic will remain useful or if it's removed is unknown to me. As far as the number of skills, there seems to be an average amount, but it should be way easier to add more in future updates. Since skills are just an item and not tied to any one class, there's no major class overhauls involved. In fact, the last update added 2 new skills I believe. I agree with you on skill repetition, that needs to be addressed in some manner. Maybe a cap on the number of supports on 1 skill or a small cooldown on each skill to encourage switching. | |
"The fix for this that's mentioned in the Beta Manifesto is drastically increasing the mana cost added by each support gem. As it is now, each support adds a small amount to the cost, but not enough to keep people from spamming. I know; my Shock Nova has 8 different supports, and I can still spam it 5 times between mana flasks. Closed Beta/Alpha Tester back after a 10-year hiatus.
Kiwi pets and Spark spam FTW. | |
" Brilliantly simple. I love it. | |
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Its hard to say right now how common it will be to use a small or large selection of skills, but I think with the recent patch adding lots of buffs and debuffs they will expand skill selections hopefully (that's assuming the buff or debuff is better than another enhancement gem or two).
As mentioned they are addressing the heavy use of enhancement gems by making them cost more, so it should be a choice of if you want a spammable skill and more variety or a single monstrous skill that does lots of damage. One thing which is certain is that the skills themselves are more interesting than many, say Diablo 2 for example, skills were. For instance lightning nova increases in damage as the ring expands, doing the most damage at the maximum range. One thing I think could be a nice bonus for the game would be a version of Diablo 2's synergy system, so that building a themed character is rewarding (e.g. ice spell specialist) this also helps address the stacking of single spells and enhancement gems by making it more viable to branch out into new spells. Last edited by Drunkspleen on Sep 15, 2011, 2:59:14 AM
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"This is kind-of there in the passive tree. If you're using an Ice spell predominantly, you probably want the cold-damage passives. Which in turn means you character can get more from other cold spells, making them more attractive to branch into. There's going to be a LOT of skills, and lots of support gems for them as well - and you'll actually have to choose which supports to use rather than just throwing them all on, as they'll provide big effects, but significant increases to mana cost. The passive tree allows people to specialise in lots o different ways, the open class system encourages trying out new builds and allows different classes to use different supports more effectively with the same active skills. We take fun very seriously here, and we're putting as much of it as possible into the game. | |
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Ah that's a very good point Mark, I hadn't really considered the impact the passive skills would have in terms of "specializing" with skills, but now that you mention it it seems obvious.
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" Wow, why aren't all game developers this cool? :] | |
" They've forgotten how to have fun from too much corporate nonsense :P. These guys are probably ranked in the top 3 (company wise) of game devs I've experienced. With the indie scene starting to boom, and indie devs getting easier funding from the extremely popular indie market, it's showing off a lot of the cooler devs that we normally don't get to see... and I'm loving it. El Psy Congroo.
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