Passives aren't a priority. They can come in beta, but having the option at some point to use might be nice
Likes:
Pandagnome and Aphaz
Personally I think most abilities that don't outright launch an attack against a target or are turret/drone based should have 3 modes:
Initiated - One use per cooldown, the cooldown is the amount of time the power core requires to recharge the ability. This is the most powerful version of an ability.
Very basic example: Power Boost, provides 10% bonus damage for 15 seconds, costs 300 power to recharge
Togglable - Players can activate or deactivate the ability at will, but while active there will always be a constant power drain.
Very basic exmple: Power Boost, provides 7% bonus damage @25 power per second while active.
Note by design that togglables will slow down Initiated cool downs.
Passive - The ability is always on and doesn't require any extra power beyond minimum requirements, but provides the smallest boost.
Very basic example: Power Boost, provides a constant 4% bonus damage.
(obviously you can only have one version of an ability, IE you can't install all 3 versions of an ability on your frame.)
In terms of design and fine tuning, we need to strike a balance between how unique we can make our omni-frames (which is important) and preventing any one player from "being able to do everything". Passives are important because it allows a frame to be diverse, without being overpowered and also keeps the actual ability buttons to a minimum. Obviously the number of slots is going to come down to game design and power balancing, I suspect that anything from 2 full/2 passive to 3full/3passive is going to be good, less than that restricts customization too much, more than that could give a player too much individual power. I suspect that if abilities are too watered down to justify more slots than that, the abilities themselves won't be very interesting to use outside of flavor. But again this is all opinion, I am not a game developer.
Initiated - One use per cooldown, the cooldown is the amount of time the power core requires to recharge the ability. This is the most powerful version of an ability.
Very basic example: Power Boost, provides 10% bonus damage for 15 seconds, costs 300 power to recharge
Togglable - Players can activate or deactivate the ability at will, but while active there will always be a constant power drain.
Very basic exmple: Power Boost, provides 7% bonus damage @25 power per second while active.
Note by design that togglables will slow down Initiated cool downs.
Passive - The ability is always on and doesn't require any extra power beyond minimum requirements, but provides the smallest boost.
Very basic example: Power Boost, provides a constant 4% bonus damage.
(obviously you can only have one version of an ability, IE you can't install all 3 versions of an ability on your frame.)
In terms of design and fine tuning, we need to strike a balance between how unique we can make our omni-frames (which is important) and preventing any one player from "being able to do everything". Passives are important because it allows a frame to be diverse, without being overpowered and also keeps the actual ability buttons to a minimum. Obviously the number of slots is going to come down to game design and power balancing, I suspect that anything from 2 full/2 passive to 3full/3passive is going to be good, less than that restricts customization too much, more than that could give a player too much individual power. I suspect that if abilities are too watered down to justify more slots than that, the abilities themselves won't be very interesting to use outside of flavor. But again this is all opinion, I am not a game developer.
i was thinking maybe instead of having two weapon slots in the main and off hand, two abilities and a shoulder mounted weapon that we had two shoulder slots that could either hold a shoulder weapon or an ability.
That way we could have the option of up to four different weapons but only 2 abilities or we could go for 4 abilities and only 2 weapons max and any combination inbetween.
That way we could have the option of up to four different weapons but only 2 abilities or we could go for 4 abilities and only 2 weapons max and any combination inbetween.
Likes:
Mahdi, Aphaz and Pandagnome
Just to point out, no frame gets 2 main weapons, Every frame will have 1 main weapon slot, 1 alternate weapon slot, 1 melee weapon slot, 1 shoulder weapon slot (assumed) and an unknown number of slots for abilities. Only one frame has the option to dual wield their secondary weapon. (or possibly they get 2 secondary weapon slots, it has not been stated how this will work)
OK just to clarify what i ment in my post.
Every frame having a primary , a secondary and a melee weapon with light frames being able to duel wield melee, medium frames being able to duel wield ranged and heavy having the option to equip a shield sounds like a perfect plan.
But the part where we only get two ability slots and one shoulder mounted weapon sounds a bit limiting.
So instead of having two ability slots and one shoulder slot, we get 4 ability slots but two of those slots can equip either an ability or a shoulder mounted weapon.
So if for example you wanted to build a quick and agile assassin frame that used duel melee, you wouldn't need a shoulder mounted weapon but could use some extra abilities to boost your mobility or damage;
Or maybe you wanted to build a spray and pray kind of frame so you'd go medium frame with dual ranged and two additional shoulder weapons.
Every frame having a primary , a secondary and a melee weapon with light frames being able to duel wield melee, medium frames being able to duel wield ranged and heavy having the option to equip a shield sounds like a perfect plan.
But the part where we only get two ability slots and one shoulder mounted weapon sounds a bit limiting.
So instead of having two ability slots and one shoulder slot, we get 4 ability slots but two of those slots can equip either an ability or a shoulder mounted weapon.
So if for example you wanted to build a quick and agile assassin frame that used duel melee, you wouldn't need a shoulder mounted weapon but could use some extra abilities to boost your mobility or damage;
Or maybe you wanted to build a spray and pray kind of frame so you'd go medium frame with dual ranged and two additional shoulder weapons.
Ok thanks for the clarification, your first sentence threw me off. "two weapon slots in the main and off hand " sounded like you thought we were going to have 2 main and 2 secondary weapons. followed by a comment about choosing between weapons and abilities. I should point out that it's highly likely that the shoulder mounted weapon may or may not be classified as an ability itself and can come in a wide variety of special flavors as opposed to simply being a stronger rarely used gun.
The thing I loved about beta Firefall (I can't remember which patch it was) was that you could actually decide what and in what quantity you wanted on your rig. I used to take on THE BANE (or try and take him on) in a Raptor with Purple charge rifle and Purple armour but not much else (maybe a white ability or something like that) as I had used up all my suit's power and weight allowance. Rocking with empty ability slots was kool as I had one beastly gun that caused uber damage and armour that could take the hits. Other jobs required full loadouts, some balanced some heavier on certain aspects.
But we could do stuff like this, which was awesome! Go heavy in one area by sacrificing something else. It was so brilliant that we could do things like that.
I would really, REALLY love to see that sort of thing making a reappearance in Ember. Whack on 3/4 powerful abilities if that is your style but you may not have much power left for energy weapons or armour/shield repair systems. Or roll with 1 or 2 and have plenty in reserve to pimp that ride.
This type of game can easily appeal to both ability guys and gun guys, it has that ability. Why not also appeal to the min-max boys as well? Will end up eliminating all the incessant gear chasing and grinding involved, that is the bane of all MMOs.
To get back to the question, up to 4 ability slots would be fine
But we could do stuff like this, which was awesome! Go heavy in one area by sacrificing something else. It was so brilliant that we could do things like that.
I would really, REALLY love to see that sort of thing making a reappearance in Ember. Whack on 3/4 powerful abilities if that is your style but you may not have much power left for energy weapons or armour/shield repair systems. Or roll with 1 or 2 and have plenty in reserve to pimp that ride.
This type of game can easily appeal to both ability guys and gun guys, it has that ability. Why not also appeal to the min-max boys as well? Will end up eliminating all the incessant gear chasing and grinding involved, that is the bane of all MMOs.
To get back to the question, up to 4 ability slots would be fine
Likes:
EvilKitten, Mahdi and Aphaz