i'm thinking long term specialization can still be achieved, without a spiral of infinite stats.
at the core, IMO you can create very nice choices through:
- the sort of Weapon that is the slowest at Killing Enemies, would be the more generic and easy to use ones. inversely, the most unique and specialized ones would be the most effective at the same tasks.
- this can be achieved without causing power fluctuations.
- so Generico Supreme Assault Rifle that you pull the trigger and never let go, as simple as 'i click on dudes and magic bullets come out', is Ray Trace, deals okay Damage per Shot, fires at a steady Rate of Fire, has a moderate Magazine Size, has a moderate Reload Time, Et Cetera. quite literally the most generic Weapon you could imagine.
- this Weapon is stupidly easy to use, literally point and click - and therefore, it is less effective than most everything else.
- every Weapon Archetype has Weapons like this. so easy to use you can barely imagine something so generic.
- on the flip side now, we have the most specialized Weapons. these aren't Ray Trace, may have diminishing Projectile Velocity to deal with, anything you can imagine. the more of these sorts of traits a Weapon has, and therefore the... 'less easy' it is to use, the better it performs.
- so say, a generic Sniper Rifle that is basically a long Range DMR, vs a Projectile based, diminishing Velocity, higher Zoom Heavy DMR, which requires Charging before firing.
this Weapon is therefore much more effective at being a Sniper Rifle. but it's certainly much more complex to use.
- with most any thing in between. offering Weapons in every Archetype that range from ease of application to complex power.
this results in encouraging the Player to get more comfortable with different Weapons, and when they feel ready, choosing to opt towards the more complex Weapons.
since the purposed intention is to be Skill Based, this does that very well. and still has a feeling of Vertical Progression, while it being hard to say whether it does or does not in actuality.
rather than inflating numbers to use as crutches to rely on broken up by spikes of the game fighting back against the extra legs of the chair that continue to appear, you're rewarding the Player for becoming more accustomed and comfortable with the game.
in some ways it
is Vertical Progression, technically. but it's a very different style, and it's probably the closest fit for a game with the intention of this as could possibly exist.
(and mayhaps even going into the deep end and having these traits being things one can choose, and more traits that make a Weapon more Complex to use, makes the Weapon more effective in the process - or visa versa. this is a completely different story though, and despite how quintuplet thumbs up i am towards auto balancing systems of this sort, is an entirely different discussion and a very time consuming route to aim for due to the volume of spiderwebbing numbers.)
