DeletedUser32733
As I understand the purpose of character classes and their bonuses in fort fights, it is to endow a very specific role upon each class. Soldiers are meant to tank and tank only. Duelers - damage and snipe. Advents - tank and ghost.
This is done is through the bonuses that each class gets. Hence, these bonuses, in a way are also like a direction sign board to the players. Of course, one can ignore the direction that the sign board tells them to go in. But they miss out on the potential to excel.
Somehow, workers do not conform to this restriction and can excel both as tanks or as pure leadership damagers since they can dodge and aim well. I am not saying this is a bad thing. It is a bad thing because it is limited to workers. Why not fix this? And while fixing it, go the extra mile and add some new dimensions to classes and FFing? Gear up for quite a long read.
The existing system also makes battles predictable in a way. It makes rounds predictable. For example, is there a soldier will around 20k HP? Everyone in the opposite team knows he is a tank, probably prem and his shots wont do much damage. Maybe 300-400.
A dueler with 1500HP? It is obvious that he is pure leadership or lead, aim, etc trying to snipe and crit.
A high HP advent is a tank, trying to ghost.
A high HP worker is a tank hoping to dodge. A low HP worker is a damager. Probably pure leadership.
This gives FFs a pattern which leaders follow. Except for the main strategy plan that the alliance decides beforehand (like start east and move south, offs can set on gate/flag etc), there is not a lot more to do, other than making sure there is HP available in the right places at the right times to take point, hold sectors/towers, block or swap and that the rest have good LOS and are shooting where they should be shooting. This is plenty but this is like a fixed protocol.
My suggestion is this. Why not diversify what classes can do largely within the confines of their roles? It will not only make each class more diverse, it will add a new dynamic to Fort fights that can make things a lot more interesting and allow players to experiment with builds more. Break them free of the tight restrictions of classes.
I will only showcase this for fort fighting obviously. This can be extrapolated to dueling, jobs, etc if necessary.
Where I don't provide exact percentages and numbers, I leave it to the experts and developers to determine.
Proposal
For instance, soldiers have the option to choose among the combinations of any 4 following fort battle bonuses:
Combination A: HP, Leadership, Resistance - Tank that can absorb hits
Combination B: HP, Lead, Dodge - Tank that can dance like hell
Combination C: HP, Damage, Leadership - Cant quite take point but can handle moderately dangerous areas and hit hard.
Combination D: HP, Damage, Resistance - Tanks that hit back hard (useful in the end during flag rush)
There can be more to it. Fort instance, the HP bonus can be highest in case of combination A. Dodge highest in B. Resistance highest in D. Lead highest in C.
Extrapolating the same to other classes:
Advents have 1. Ghosting 2. HP 3. Damage 4. Resistance 5. Dodge
They can choose from:
Combination A: Ghosting, HP
Combination B: Damage, Ghosting
Combination C: Ghosting, Resistance
Combination D: Ghosting, Dodge
Duelers have 1. Damage 2. Aim 3. HP 4. Snipe 5. Resistance
Combination A: Damage, Snipe - lower distance penalty damagers
Combination B: Damage, Aim - traditional damagers, more accuracy
Combination C: HP, Damage - the degree of lower damage due to high HP is lowered
Combination D: Damage, Resistance - slightly protected damagers
Workers have 1. All tower bonuses 2. HP 3. Aiming 4. Dodge 5. Resistance
Combination A: HP, Aim
Combination B: HP, Dodge
Combination C: Aim, Dodge
Combination D: Dodge, Resistance
The choice of class will be permanent as usual but the choice of combination can be changed with something like a potion of forgetfulness but only after a time frame like 3 months.
Some might argue this is a complicated mess and the game should be simple. But its not this exact model that I propose but rather the idea of diversity which can be scaled up or down and tweaked suitably.
This system makes FFing more individualistic. There can be more strategising before battle. It wont be like people just show up, follow orders, go. There can be a more active involvement of players and their abilities in the planning process. Making for more creative and innovative battles. Or it can also be simple with a basic outline of a strategy that consists only of "HP" and "Low HP Damagers". But then, these two sets will have diversity within them making room for more people from multiple classes to enjoy and play creatively at their individual levels.
This will enable us to see use of sets more creatively and creative builds also.
I see so many people in saloon chat, alliance chats, alliance and town forums, external forums complain about the existing imbalance in the system. People have either left the game for this reason and people who are still here mostly arent happy. I see many proposed solutions to these complaints. Like nerfing classes, changing formulae, sets to balance, etc.
But i think they are all solutions to the problem and nothing more. They aim to prevent the system from getting/staying worse but they don't make anything better. They hope to restore the system to something like the one before which had balance, etc. According to me, what I have proposed is more than a solution. It is a tool when provided will shift responsibility from inno to us to keep things balanced ourselves no matter the sets/ changes. Tanks that complain about 4k crits can themselves do something about it using what they have at hand.
It will also add more to what FF involves. It will give us all something to think about/ enjoy as well. It is late here right now and I thought of something suddenly and just built on the idea as i typed. Share your thoughts, criticisms, opinions or anything. The West is a beautiful world with unlimited potential and possibilities. Like all else, I want it to head in a positive direction that fulfills this potential.
This is done is through the bonuses that each class gets. Hence, these bonuses, in a way are also like a direction sign board to the players. Of course, one can ignore the direction that the sign board tells them to go in. But they miss out on the potential to excel.
Somehow, workers do not conform to this restriction and can excel both as tanks or as pure leadership damagers since they can dodge and aim well. I am not saying this is a bad thing. It is a bad thing because it is limited to workers. Why not fix this? And while fixing it, go the extra mile and add some new dimensions to classes and FFing? Gear up for quite a long read.
The existing system also makes battles predictable in a way. It makes rounds predictable. For example, is there a soldier will around 20k HP? Everyone in the opposite team knows he is a tank, probably prem and his shots wont do much damage. Maybe 300-400.
A dueler with 1500HP? It is obvious that he is pure leadership or lead, aim, etc trying to snipe and crit.
A high HP advent is a tank, trying to ghost.
A high HP worker is a tank hoping to dodge. A low HP worker is a damager. Probably pure leadership.
This gives FFs a pattern which leaders follow. Except for the main strategy plan that the alliance decides beforehand (like start east and move south, offs can set on gate/flag etc), there is not a lot more to do, other than making sure there is HP available in the right places at the right times to take point, hold sectors/towers, block or swap and that the rest have good LOS and are shooting where they should be shooting. This is plenty but this is like a fixed protocol.
My suggestion is this. Why not diversify what classes can do largely within the confines of their roles? It will not only make each class more diverse, it will add a new dynamic to Fort fights that can make things a lot more interesting and allow players to experiment with builds more. Break them free of the tight restrictions of classes.
I will only showcase this for fort fighting obviously. This can be extrapolated to dueling, jobs, etc if necessary.
Where I don't provide exact percentages and numbers, I leave it to the experts and developers to determine.
Proposal
For instance, soldiers have the option to choose among the combinations of any 4 following fort battle bonuses:
- HP Bonus - For each SP given to the skill health points you receive an additional 'n' health points for your character.
- Leadership Bonus - Increase the leadership skill for you and your neighbors by 'n'% of your leadership skill.
- Damage Bonus - The chance of 10% to score a critical hits that deducts an additional 5% from the maximum HP.
- Dodge Bonus - Ability to dodge shots better. Basically a higher distance penalty.
- Resistance Bonus - Ability to resist shots better with increasing distance. Make this resistance considerably strong.
Combination A: HP, Leadership, Resistance - Tank that can absorb hits
Combination B: HP, Lead, Dodge - Tank that can dance like hell
Combination C: HP, Damage, Leadership - Cant quite take point but can handle moderately dangerous areas and hit hard.
Combination D: HP, Damage, Resistance - Tanks that hit back hard (useful in the end during flag rush)
There can be more to it. Fort instance, the HP bonus can be highest in case of combination A. Dodge highest in B. Resistance highest in D. Lead highest in C.
Extrapolating the same to other classes:
Advents have 1. Ghosting 2. HP 3. Damage 4. Resistance 5. Dodge
They can choose from:
Combination A: Ghosting, HP
Combination B: Damage, Ghosting
Combination C: Ghosting, Resistance
Combination D: Ghosting, Dodge
Duelers have 1. Damage 2. Aim 3. HP 4. Snipe 5. Resistance
Combination A: Damage, Snipe - lower distance penalty damagers
Combination B: Damage, Aim - traditional damagers, more accuracy
Combination C: HP, Damage - the degree of lower damage due to high HP is lowered
Combination D: Damage, Resistance - slightly protected damagers
Workers have 1. All tower bonuses 2. HP 3. Aiming 4. Dodge 5. Resistance
Combination A: HP, Aim
Combination B: HP, Dodge
Combination C: Aim, Dodge
Combination D: Dodge, Resistance
The choice of class will be permanent as usual but the choice of combination can be changed with something like a potion of forgetfulness but only after a time frame like 3 months.
Some might argue this is a complicated mess and the game should be simple. But its not this exact model that I propose but rather the idea of diversity which can be scaled up or down and tweaked suitably.
This system makes FFing more individualistic. There can be more strategising before battle. It wont be like people just show up, follow orders, go. There can be a more active involvement of players and their abilities in the planning process. Making for more creative and innovative battles. Or it can also be simple with a basic outline of a strategy that consists only of "HP" and "Low HP Damagers". But then, these two sets will have diversity within them making room for more people from multiple classes to enjoy and play creatively at their individual levels.
This will enable us to see use of sets more creatively and creative builds also.
I see so many people in saloon chat, alliance chats, alliance and town forums, external forums complain about the existing imbalance in the system. People have either left the game for this reason and people who are still here mostly arent happy. I see many proposed solutions to these complaints. Like nerfing classes, changing formulae, sets to balance, etc.
But i think they are all solutions to the problem and nothing more. They aim to prevent the system from getting/staying worse but they don't make anything better. They hope to restore the system to something like the one before which had balance, etc. According to me, what I have proposed is more than a solution. It is a tool when provided will shift responsibility from inno to us to keep things balanced ourselves no matter the sets/ changes. Tanks that complain about 4k crits can themselves do something about it using what they have at hand.
It will also add more to what FF involves. It will give us all something to think about/ enjoy as well. It is late here right now and I thought of something suddenly and just built on the idea as i typed. Share your thoughts, criticisms, opinions or anything. The West is a beautiful world with unlimited potential and possibilities. Like all else, I want it to head in a positive direction that fulfills this potential.
