One of the early ideas I had for the new ability changing natives, was the concept of abandoning hero skills completely in RPG maps.
I often found that RPG maps would end up being focused on 1 or 2 skills, with the rest of the kit being all but ignored, as the most favorable option was always prioritized. This also made it hard to make an entire meaningful skillset, as players would often just focus everything into 1 central spell.
In addition, it was a consistent and almost impossible challenge to balance skill points against hero stats and items.
In the past, I'd try to add stat based trigger effects to a few spells to align overall power more with the stats gained through gear and levels, but with the new natives, it's now easier than ever to go all the way and abandon the concept of skill levels completely.
The premise is simple. The hero spells are shifted into normal spells, which are available at level 1, or added on levelup. An added bonus, is that this frees up an icon slot in the standard unit UI for a 7th skill button.
The skills scale entirely on stats, meaning that leveling up a caster unit, will empower the skills as the hero gains more intelligence, for example. This makes it much easier for skills to scale consistently with attack based damage sources, and makes it relatively easy to balance different heroes kits.
Mana costs are increased on levelups, or alternatively, the mana system is reworked entirely around a fixed level, with intelligence offering a different bonus than the mana/regen bonus it usually does, for a 100% consistent experience with mana throughout the map.
My early playtests of this concept were extremely fun. I was able to use entire spell-kits rather than just focusing on the burstiest spell, items felt meaningful on the caster hero, utility spells weren't an afterthought, and I found myself having a remarkably better time overall. I didn't miss the skill points at all.
What are your thoughts on this concept? Is it worth considering to you? Do you see any obstacles to overcome, and if so, do you see a way to overcome them?
I'm interested in hearing your thoughts, as well as possible ways in which you may have already implemented a similar concept.
I often found that RPG maps would end up being focused on 1 or 2 skills, with the rest of the kit being all but ignored, as the most favorable option was always prioritized. This also made it hard to make an entire meaningful skillset, as players would often just focus everything into 1 central spell.
In addition, it was a consistent and almost impossible challenge to balance skill points against hero stats and items.
In the past, I'd try to add stat based trigger effects to a few spells to align overall power more with the stats gained through gear and levels, but with the new natives, it's now easier than ever to go all the way and abandon the concept of skill levels completely.
The premise is simple. The hero spells are shifted into normal spells, which are available at level 1, or added on levelup. An added bonus, is that this frees up an icon slot in the standard unit UI for a 7th skill button.
The skills scale entirely on stats, meaning that leveling up a caster unit, will empower the skills as the hero gains more intelligence, for example. This makes it much easier for skills to scale consistently with attack based damage sources, and makes it relatively easy to balance different heroes kits.
Mana costs are increased on levelups, or alternatively, the mana system is reworked entirely around a fixed level, with intelligence offering a different bonus than the mana/regen bonus it usually does, for a 100% consistent experience with mana throughout the map.
My early playtests of this concept were extremely fun. I was able to use entire spell-kits rather than just focusing on the burstiest spell, items felt meaningful on the caster hero, utility spells weren't an afterthought, and I found myself having a remarkably better time overall. I didn't miss the skill points at all.
What are your thoughts on this concept? Is it worth considering to you? Do you see any obstacles to overcome, and if so, do you see a way to overcome them?
I'm interested in hearing your thoughts, as well as possible ways in which you may have already implemented a similar concept.