Cjon
04-16-2012, 01:08 AM
Since release (a whole, not even a week ago), my opinions on this game have fluctuated quite a bit. Now, I finally feel like my opinions are no longer going to change. This is a list of my opinions on the most important (in my opinion) aspects of the game, and what should be changed.
Energy: I do not have a problem with the amount of energy we get. The point of the game is not to non-stop grind your way to the top. The game forces you to slow down, but even then, the game still won't take all that long to go through.
The only problem I have is with the energy cost of non-combat missions. Every time you unlock a new section, you have to spend over half your energy on non-combat missions, leaving you with too little to occupy you for the next two hours.
My Suggestion: Lower the cost and rewards of non-combat missions by half. This way players don't have to give up one of their precious, full allotments of energy, on something they don't even get to interact with. This wouldn't change the pace of the game, but instead would give the players more opportunity to play the game (this is a game right?).
PVP: There are two obvious problems with PVP at the moment. Everybody knows them, and everybody feels the same way. The first being the lack of level brackets. At this point (lvl 18) I kill most enemies before they have a chance to react. 80% of the damage I take, is from using my abilities. This is not the way is should be. I know the problem right now is that level brackets would result in longer wait times, but in a few weeks, there should be no problem with splitting players into at least two different level brackets.
The other problem is there is no forced balance. Teams lose players, and new players end up joining the team with more players to give themselves a better (almost guaranteed) chance of winning.
My Suggestion: Implement level brackets (Thank you STS for adding this so quickly!!!). Even two brackets of 3-10 and 11-21 would make a big difference. In addition, force players to join the team with less players.
Club Sanctuary: I don't have much to say on this, but a periodically spawning world boss would be cool.
Weapons: Right now we have one type of weapon. Dual wielded (Somethings). This is a problem. The vanity aspect of the game is pretty good, yet we don't really get many options for our weapons (none regarding how many we get). In addition to the increased amount of customization options, it could also be used to add more depth in combat.
My Suggestion: Add at least two more types of weapons to the game. Each type will have different characteristics for attacking, and a unique charged attack.
Dual Wield: Highest damage out of all the weapon types.
Two-Handed Weapon: Slower attack, more damage per attack. Charged attack an AOE knockdown.
Ranged: Low Damage to compensate for the ability to attack from a distance. Charged attack "goes through" targets. Meaning that the projectile will not stop at the first target, but will instead continue its trajectory, damaging any enemy it passes through, up to its maximum ranged; while also doing increased damage.
These new options would add a lot more options for the player (that the skill tree is currently lacking).
Powers: So far, the skill tree seems a bit.... unorganized. The branches themselves lack a sense of unity, but to "branch out" you're going to have to waste limited skill points on prerequisites that won't fit on your action bar. With the addition of passives, I feel like the intended idea was to only go down one branch, and use the passives to "customize" yourself. This would be fine, if the branches were better designed.
Top Branch: You could Shadow Dance to get into range for Fire Aura, but you have no way of preventing enemies of moving out of it. Also, Unholy Blessing would be much better with Fatal Burst (for obvious reasons).
Middle Branch: Two ranged abilities, and one that requires you to be near your opponent. I personally believe that Leap would fit better in the top branch with Shadow Dance.
Bottom Branch: The only one that seems to have some sort of unity. All four abilities are ranged. Only thing was the already mentioned lack of Unholy Blessing for Fatal Burst.
Possible Changes to Add Unity:
1) Unholy Blessing Replace Curse.
2) Curse Replace Leap.
3) Leap Replace Unholy Blessing.
I feel changes like this would allow the branches to make more.. sense. The one problem is that if they make too much sense, then there won't be much variation. Now, I feel like this wouldn't be a problem for a few reasons.
1) If new weapon types were added, it would add variation.
2) Now that you don't have to waste your points on prerequisites, you can use the passives to add variation.
3) Two of the branches have an two options for their final tier, another method of variation. The only problem with this though is that Middle Branch really needs an alternative final tier ability. Its not fair :c
Organized Play: One problem with the depth of character customization (or lack thereof) on a gameplay perspective, is that currently, there's no need for variation. Things like defined roles are only used to their full potential in organized games. You could make your character into a designated flag carrier, but you might end up in games where nobody on your team defends, forcing you to take up that role. In an organized setting, variation will not only be more diverse, but also more necessary. In a PVP team, you might want a flag carrier with maximum survivability. You might also want a "Hunter", with high burst damage to quickly take down enemy flag carries, and enemies by themselves. Then after those two, you might have three multipurpose characters, but even then you'd still have options. You could go heavy on CC to disrupt enemy forces while your flag carrier gets away, or to hold enemy flag carriers in play while reinforcements arrive.
My Suggestion: 5v5 Guild/Team PVP. Possibly with a ranking system, or just leaderboard pages (nothing better than bragging rights). In addition to this, PVE content that requires a tank (sorry support players, trying to work with whats available), and coordination, so that way not just any Edward or Bella can just solo their way to the 1337est gear. Not only would this add depth to the game, but it would also promote social gaming.
A lack of friendship...: Currently it quite difficult to play with friends. You need to make sure that you both have the same amount of energy, at the same time, if you want to play together. What should be offered as an option is to give players the chance to "tagalong". With this, players receive no exp, and no item drops, but don't have to pay energy. This would allow players to help each other out, and it would also promote social gaming.
More or less, this is my complete, collected thoughts on Dark Legends. This game has much potential, and could be made much better with just small changes (the friend thing). Now these suggestions are simply that. I believe that the concepts for these suggestions are good, but my particular specifics aren't completely necessary, just as long as the concept is at least considered.
I don't think STS will take these ideas, and put them in game, nor do they have to. They are simply a fan's mix of opinion and logic, trying to make a game he enjoys even better.
EDIT: Thought of something recently that I believe deserves discussion.
I personally believe that charging up abilities is a flawed concept. Some abilities aren't worth charging, and some can get you free kills if you are able to pull them off (Vermin Swarm+). Not only that, but very rarely will you ever use a charged ability mid combat, since its too long of a process to justify its use (unless that ability is Vermin Swarm. The more VS+ the better).
My suggestions is to implement a rage meter. Which, if you're unfamiliar with rage meters, they're like the Feed meter, but you use it for your abilities. Usually you would use rage as the cost of an ability, but in this case it would be used to activate charged abilities.
This would solve both problems. Now you won't be able to start a fight with an OP VS+, and you'll actually use your charged abilities mid combat. Also, due to the relative simplicity of DLs combat, more depth would not be a bad thing.
Energy: I do not have a problem with the amount of energy we get. The point of the game is not to non-stop grind your way to the top. The game forces you to slow down, but even then, the game still won't take all that long to go through.
The only problem I have is with the energy cost of non-combat missions. Every time you unlock a new section, you have to spend over half your energy on non-combat missions, leaving you with too little to occupy you for the next two hours.
My Suggestion: Lower the cost and rewards of non-combat missions by half. This way players don't have to give up one of their precious, full allotments of energy, on something they don't even get to interact with. This wouldn't change the pace of the game, but instead would give the players more opportunity to play the game (this is a game right?).
PVP: There are two obvious problems with PVP at the moment. Everybody knows them, and everybody feels the same way. The first being the lack of level brackets. At this point (lvl 18) I kill most enemies before they have a chance to react. 80% of the damage I take, is from using my abilities. This is not the way is should be. I know the problem right now is that level brackets would result in longer wait times, but in a few weeks, there should be no problem with splitting players into at least two different level brackets.
The other problem is there is no forced balance. Teams lose players, and new players end up joining the team with more players to give themselves a better (almost guaranteed) chance of winning.
My Suggestion: Implement level brackets (Thank you STS for adding this so quickly!!!). Even two brackets of 3-10 and 11-21 would make a big difference. In addition, force players to join the team with less players.
Club Sanctuary: I don't have much to say on this, but a periodically spawning world boss would be cool.
Weapons: Right now we have one type of weapon. Dual wielded (Somethings). This is a problem. The vanity aspect of the game is pretty good, yet we don't really get many options for our weapons (none regarding how many we get). In addition to the increased amount of customization options, it could also be used to add more depth in combat.
My Suggestion: Add at least two more types of weapons to the game. Each type will have different characteristics for attacking, and a unique charged attack.
Dual Wield: Highest damage out of all the weapon types.
Two-Handed Weapon: Slower attack, more damage per attack. Charged attack an AOE knockdown.
Ranged: Low Damage to compensate for the ability to attack from a distance. Charged attack "goes through" targets. Meaning that the projectile will not stop at the first target, but will instead continue its trajectory, damaging any enemy it passes through, up to its maximum ranged; while also doing increased damage.
These new options would add a lot more options for the player (that the skill tree is currently lacking).
Powers: So far, the skill tree seems a bit.... unorganized. The branches themselves lack a sense of unity, but to "branch out" you're going to have to waste limited skill points on prerequisites that won't fit on your action bar. With the addition of passives, I feel like the intended idea was to only go down one branch, and use the passives to "customize" yourself. This would be fine, if the branches were better designed.
Top Branch: You could Shadow Dance to get into range for Fire Aura, but you have no way of preventing enemies of moving out of it. Also, Unholy Blessing would be much better with Fatal Burst (for obvious reasons).
Middle Branch: Two ranged abilities, and one that requires you to be near your opponent. I personally believe that Leap would fit better in the top branch with Shadow Dance.
Bottom Branch: The only one that seems to have some sort of unity. All four abilities are ranged. Only thing was the already mentioned lack of Unholy Blessing for Fatal Burst.
Possible Changes to Add Unity:
1) Unholy Blessing Replace Curse.
2) Curse Replace Leap.
3) Leap Replace Unholy Blessing.
I feel changes like this would allow the branches to make more.. sense. The one problem is that if they make too much sense, then there won't be much variation. Now, I feel like this wouldn't be a problem for a few reasons.
1) If new weapon types were added, it would add variation.
2) Now that you don't have to waste your points on prerequisites, you can use the passives to add variation.
3) Two of the branches have an two options for their final tier, another method of variation. The only problem with this though is that Middle Branch really needs an alternative final tier ability. Its not fair :c
Organized Play: One problem with the depth of character customization (or lack thereof) on a gameplay perspective, is that currently, there's no need for variation. Things like defined roles are only used to their full potential in organized games. You could make your character into a designated flag carrier, but you might end up in games where nobody on your team defends, forcing you to take up that role. In an organized setting, variation will not only be more diverse, but also more necessary. In a PVP team, you might want a flag carrier with maximum survivability. You might also want a "Hunter", with high burst damage to quickly take down enemy flag carries, and enemies by themselves. Then after those two, you might have three multipurpose characters, but even then you'd still have options. You could go heavy on CC to disrupt enemy forces while your flag carrier gets away, or to hold enemy flag carriers in play while reinforcements arrive.
My Suggestion: 5v5 Guild/Team PVP. Possibly with a ranking system, or just leaderboard pages (nothing better than bragging rights). In addition to this, PVE content that requires a tank (sorry support players, trying to work with whats available), and coordination, so that way not just any Edward or Bella can just solo their way to the 1337est gear. Not only would this add depth to the game, but it would also promote social gaming.
A lack of friendship...: Currently it quite difficult to play with friends. You need to make sure that you both have the same amount of energy, at the same time, if you want to play together. What should be offered as an option is to give players the chance to "tagalong". With this, players receive no exp, and no item drops, but don't have to pay energy. This would allow players to help each other out, and it would also promote social gaming.
More or less, this is my complete, collected thoughts on Dark Legends. This game has much potential, and could be made much better with just small changes (the friend thing). Now these suggestions are simply that. I believe that the concepts for these suggestions are good, but my particular specifics aren't completely necessary, just as long as the concept is at least considered.
I don't think STS will take these ideas, and put them in game, nor do they have to. They are simply a fan's mix of opinion and logic, trying to make a game he enjoys even better.
EDIT: Thought of something recently that I believe deserves discussion.
I personally believe that charging up abilities is a flawed concept. Some abilities aren't worth charging, and some can get you free kills if you are able to pull them off (Vermin Swarm+). Not only that, but very rarely will you ever use a charged ability mid combat, since its too long of a process to justify its use (unless that ability is Vermin Swarm. The more VS+ the better).
My suggestions is to implement a rage meter. Which, if you're unfamiliar with rage meters, they're like the Feed meter, but you use it for your abilities. Usually you would use rage as the cost of an ability, but in this case it would be used to activate charged abilities.
This would solve both problems. Now you won't be able to start a fight with an OP VS+, and you'll actually use your charged abilities mid combat. Also, due to the relative simplicity of DLs combat, more depth would not be a bad thing.