Problematic Game Mechanics: Solutions

While I know there are a whole host of things in the game that could stand tweaks/updates/changes, there are three specific game mechanics as a whole that (in my opinion) could really use a looking at. They are Phases, Sleeps and Snipes. Here are my current ideas to improve these underwhelming game mechanics, though I'd love to hear other ideas.

Sleeps
The Problem: Most sleeps in typical, team-based gameplay provide little to no control, as teammates/AoEs typically wake NPCs instantly.

Potential Solutions:

1. Add an initial, unenhanceable hold component to sleeps, providing a very small window of FULL control, followed by the typical soft control of the sleep. The hold would be the same mag as the sleep and would only apply if the sleep itself hit.
2. Add a chance to reapply the sleep every few seconds or so, for a limited number of iterations. This would somewhat negate the instant cancellation of the control. Functionally very similar to the way fear currently works
3. Add a short-duration -range effect to all NPCs slept. This would allow some level of safety when combined with AoE immobs (perhaps).

1. Add a -resistance effect to the target, allowing for easier defeat from follow-up attacks
2. Add a chance for an AoE Fear based on the target, should the target not be defeated. Functionally similar to the Stalker AS effect. The Fear would not aggro.
3. Add a brief buff to the player, increasing their ranged defense and movement/recharge speed. Conceptually an adrenaline boost for the sniper to reposition for the next shot.

1. Cause all phases to become low-magnitude holds when used against foes that have been immobilized by the player.
2. Make phased NPCs untargetable. Make every NPC caged/shifted a "beacon" of +recovery while phased.
3. Make phased NPCs untargetable. Cause all NPCs effected to be stunned after the phase wears off (unenhanceable).

Oh! I love these kind of discussions!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Genesis Man Sleeps The Problem: Most sleeps in typical, team-based gameplay provide little to no control, as teammates/AoEs typically wake NPCs instantly. Potential Solutions: Add an initial, unenhanceable hold component to sleeps, providing a very small window of FULL control, followed by the typical soft control of the sleep. The hold would be the same mag as the sleep and would only apply if the sleep itself hit. Add a chance to reapply the sleep every few seconds or so, for a limited number of iterations. This would somewhat negate the instant cancellation of the control. Functionally very similar to the way fear currently works Add a short-duration -range effect to all NPCs slept. This would allow some level of safety when combined with AoE immobs (perhaps).

I actually kind of agree with Umbral (who? that jerk!?).

Sleeps can be powerful if used right. Would I be up for a rebalancing of how sleeps function? I suppose...that's what discussions are for I guess.

1. That doesn't sound like a bad idea, really. But depending on the duration of the hold effect would probably determine a rebalancing of the power's up-time. Longer duration = shorter overall sleep duration and probably longer recharge considering AoE sleeps recharge much faster than AoE holds.
2. I actually really like this but it's rather powerful if simply added. Fear is a soft control so its reapplying 'immobilize/non-act' effect is justified. If sleep could have a chance to reapply itself, then I'd propose sleep then not drop/suppress toggles...but honestly, that doesn't make sense.
3. Don't like it. Not thematic at all and its use can be too powerful.

Quote:

Snipes

Quote:

The Problem: Snipes in general provide very little in team-based gameplay, as most targets are usually defeated by other players by the time the snipe animates and hits. Potential Solutions: Add a -resistance effect to the target, allowing for easier defeat from follow-up attacks Add a chance for an AoE Fear based on the target, should the target not be defeated. Functionally similar to the Stalker AS effect. The Fear would not aggro. Add a brief buff to the player, increasing their ranged defense and movement/recharge speed. Conceptually an adrenaline boost for the sniper to reposition for the next shot.

I don't believe Snipes' problem is that it's not useful in team-play. Overall, snipes just have little utility outside of general combat and limited use in combat.

1. Not needed, IMO.
2. Not bad. But, again, it would probably be too powerful. The limiting factor on demoralize is that you must be hidden for it to factor in. Just being able to fire off a snipe as often as possible might result in a larger effect than you're initially thinking.
3. Don't like the concept and overall, not needed.

Quote:

Phases/Cages

Quote:

The Problem: Very few players understand the concept of phases. Even those that do often find phases to be a hindrance to gameplay, rather than a benefit. Potential Solutions: Cause all phases to become low-magnitude holds when used against foes that have been immobilized by the player. Make phased NPCs untargetable. Make every NPC caged/shifted a "beacon" of +recovery while phased. Make phased NPCs untargetable. Cause all NPCs effected to be stunned after the phase wears off (unenhanceable). So... anyway, those are my ideas/thoughts at the moment. Any feedback, or ideas of your own?

1. No. Don't like it. Kind of flies in the face of the cottage rule too.
2. Recovery? Why?
3. Not bad. I could see this as possible but really, a mez followed by a mez sounds unfair.

Sleeps could use revisiting, but I don't like the proposed solution. One reason is that adding a short duration hold would allow hold stacking that really doesn't make sense.

Here's an alternative idea. Change the sleep mechanic so that when sleep is broken it inflicts an equal magnitude disorient for 1.0 ~ 1.5 seconds. In effect, moving the hard control from the beginning of the sleep to the end. It even makes logical sense - wouldn't you be disoriented if you were woken up out of sleep by an attack?

In order to compensate, reduce all sleep durations by 20 ~ 25%

Follow up suggestions:

Sleeps- I think the main issue with Sleeps isn't that they don't provide control. It's that, the control it does provide doesn't synergize with the team but rather works against the team in a way. The team's goal is to hit everything until the enemy is done but Sleeps basically tell you 'not' to do that.

Solution: New effect, Prone (the enemy ends up laying down on the ground until the effect wears off). When a target is put to sleep and a Knockback power is used on them, there is a chance to knock the enemy prone which basically leaves them unable to use their powers (same effect as a hold) and floors defense.

The chance to knock a slept foe prone increases with the mag of KB (so powers like Earthquake or Ice Slick have a small chance for this (maybe 10%) while something like Force Bolt or Power Push have a higher chance (like 35-50%)).

I'd even change enemy AI so rather than letting a player sleep soundly until they wake, but will switch to use a KB power instead. It may not be a guaranteed effect but you can at least try to synergize tactics for an effect greater than the effects alone.

Snipes- all in all, I don't think there's anything wrong with snipes. They are what they are. I may not take them on many characters (only did on my Archery Blaster and Defender) but it's not because I don't like then but I just don't think it fights a lot of my character's concepts (another fact: I don't have any Assault Rifle characters). That players expect something more out of this power is beyond me.

Possible changes?: -Well, they could give it the AS treatment and make it so missing with a snipe draws no aggro. Maybe even give it a chance to draw no aggro when it connects too (like a 25% chance the enemy isn't notified).
-Add a utility to it. Starting the Snipe animation could give you the Power Analyzer effect in that, you can now see the stats of the target. Make it so you don't have to actually finish the attack, you can just start it, interrupt it and then look up their data.

Cage Powers- There is absolutely nothing wrong with them. Now that we can customize colors, it's very easy to tell what is and isn't caged. Making a caged foe untargetable is fine too.

Idea: IO sets for Cage powers.
Power Siphoning Prison (lvl 10-50); Acc, Acc/Rech, Acc/Endredux/Rech, Rech/Rng, Acc/Rech/Endredux/Rng, Proc self +8% resist for 1min(100% chance, unique)
Bonus=
2. +2.5% Max HP
3. 3.75% Recovery
4. +3.13% res vs psi
5. +7.5 rech bonus
6. +3.5% def vs range

Ziggurat Warden (lvl 10-50); Acc, Acc/Rech, Acc/Endredux/Rech, Rech/Rng, Acc/Rech/Endredux/Rng, Proc self +2 points mez protection for 1min (100% chance, unique)
Bonus=
2. 1.88% energy/neg def
3. +res vs immobilize
4. +5% Recovery
5. +res vs fear
6. 2.5% res vs smash/lethal/fire/cold

Infernal's Demon Binding (lvl 50 purple set); Acc, Rech, Acc/Endredux, Rech/Endredux, Acc/Endredux/Rng, Proc self Build up (+60% dmg, 5% ToHit) for 30sec (100% chance, unique)
Bonus=
2. 2.5% res vs fire/cold
3. +10% Acc
4. +10% rech
5. +4% recovery
6. 2.5% res vs neg energy

The uniques would be exclusive to eachother so you'd only ever get to slot 1 on a power (and 1 on a build since it's impossible to get 2 cage powers, AFAIK).

Phase Powers- I've always been under the opinion that phases are underused as a mechanic. We should spread these out more among the enemies and give them more a use as a tactic.

Solution:- Carry over the Phase-attacks-phase mechanic from PvP to PvE.
-Differentiate the 'Phased' status and the 'Intangible' status. Phase should be self induced while Intangible should be foe induced. Intangibility should give the victim a 'Temporal Disruption' passive temp power that stays suppressed unless you're Intangible and the power should debuff you in some way (like Max HP, regen and ToHit or something...). Using a phase or intangible power will overwrite the previous effect. So casting an intangible on a phased foe (if you're in the position to properly target them) will overwrite the 'Phased' status as 'Intangible' and vise versa.

Basically, you can Phase the enemy then phase yourself which will result in fighting a weakened foe. If a foe does the same, then you're weakened. The way to escape this is a phase power (either from the pool or the temp power). If phasing was more widespread through the enemies, this would make the Phase Shift power more viable as a power choice and possibly synergize with other player's power choices if they choose an enemy phase power too.

Stealth- This is another mechanic that I feel is very underused in PvE and of limited effect when it is used, mainly because once you attack, the only thing you're getting is a bit of defense.

Solution: I think adding a 'chance of placate' upon being attacked would be interesting form of defense without actually granting +def/res/etc. Basically, if a foe swings or shoots at you, they have a chance of 'losing you'. The chance could be dependent on the power granting the stealth and the AT that uses it.
-Stealth = 15% chance of placate for Stalker/Blaster/Defender/Corruptor; 10% chance of placate for Scrapper/Brute/MM/Dom/Controler; 1% chance for Tanker
-Hide/Cloaking Device = 15% chance of placate
-Stealth Buffs like Steamy Mist or Grant Invisibility could be a 5% chance for everyone but Tankers
-Stealth IO = flat 5% chance of placate for everyone

You'd basically end up with Blasters and Stalkers with the higher chance of simply losing the enemy's attention (Stalkers obviously even better at this because they can stack stealth) and, gives a possible reason to take these stealth powers and stack them in PvE. It possibly balances the survivability differences between the melee ATs and Stalkers who could build to shed aggro like water off a duck's back...Could be an interesting build direction.

Other mechanics that could use some possible discussion: Damage over Time, Meleeing with flight, umm, I'll think of something else later >_>

i think snipes are fine in current game because they are excellent pulling tools, and that is what a snipe is meant for, long range single target/small group pulling

sleeps-i just plain dont like them as they are currently, so any change would be welcome

phase powers-single target cage powers just need to make the enemy untargetable, other than that they are fine--for the AoE phases, they just need to be changed, they are of extremely situational in terms of actual good uses and when used are usually used badly, so i would favor a change to AoE phases

The only thing I would change about sleep is I would make it cause the target to fall over (rag doll style) and when awoken have to stand back up (a knock down effect that lasts till awoken).