Lokheit
Noob
With the game release around the corner there is a topic that everyone is overlooking and with every new build I see, the problem is still there.
As you know there are 4 base stats that can be improved by gear (this discussion is not focused on gear don't worry) but the thing is, each character has different initial stats in every build that I've seen so far. Why is this a problem?
- One of the stats modifies damage done, another modifies damage received. If these 2 stats aren't universal without gear, then making accurate combo lists with damage numbers is impossible. You can always test against a character with 1000 defense, but the numbers will change against every opponent.
- Many players are still referencing to combo damage as % when this is no longer true. For example Poison Ivy has 1250 health and Swamp Thing 1050, so 50 damage isn't the same % of health for each one (and that's without considering that with different defensive values the same combo won't deal the same damage against each one).
- Increased base offensive stats are "detrimental for balance" and "faked". What I mean with this is, the damage that your character does depends on its offensive stats AND each move individual base damage, so you can have a character with a gazillion extra points on one of the offensive stats but then his move's damage nerfed into the ground and his overal damage will be equal to characters with lower offensive stats, while Defense and Health are always a positive. This also means that characters with lower offensive values will benefit from offensive gear a lot more than those with higher vanilla offensive values.
- This is more a knock against how the stats work in general but I wanted to get it out too: Defensive stats work together (reducing incoming damage makes every extra health point more valuable) while offensive stats are split (you have to increase normal attack damage and ability damage separately). This make stats investments, be it from extra vanilla stats or from gear, much more valuable when spent on defensive stats as they're better optimized. Not to mention that better players should invest on defensive values as increasing the match duration reduces the effect of luck which a worse opponent is relying on.
So basically I'm asking for all characters to have equal vanilla stat lines on release for the sake of both game balance and the community being able to properly test characters and their combos. I know games like Street Fighter have characters with different amounts of health but we have 4 stats here which can be a chaotic mess.
The gear system can be good to keep players attached (the OCD in me won't rest until I complete the collection for my favorite characters) but as I explained there are flaws to how those stats work that shouldn't be spilled over the vanilla functionality of each character for the sake of a better and more balanced experience.
As you know there are 4 base stats that can be improved by gear (this discussion is not focused on gear don't worry) but the thing is, each character has different initial stats in every build that I've seen so far. Why is this a problem?
- One of the stats modifies damage done, another modifies damage received. If these 2 stats aren't universal without gear, then making accurate combo lists with damage numbers is impossible. You can always test against a character with 1000 defense, but the numbers will change against every opponent.
- Many players are still referencing to combo damage as % when this is no longer true. For example Poison Ivy has 1250 health and Swamp Thing 1050, so 50 damage isn't the same % of health for each one (and that's without considering that with different defensive values the same combo won't deal the same damage against each one).
- Increased base offensive stats are "detrimental for balance" and "faked". What I mean with this is, the damage that your character does depends on its offensive stats AND each move individual base damage, so you can have a character with a gazillion extra points on one of the offensive stats but then his move's damage nerfed into the ground and his overal damage will be equal to characters with lower offensive stats, while Defense and Health are always a positive. This also means that characters with lower offensive values will benefit from offensive gear a lot more than those with higher vanilla offensive values.
- This is more a knock against how the stats work in general but I wanted to get it out too: Defensive stats work together (reducing incoming damage makes every extra health point more valuable) while offensive stats are split (you have to increase normal attack damage and ability damage separately). This make stats investments, be it from extra vanilla stats or from gear, much more valuable when spent on defensive stats as they're better optimized. Not to mention that better players should invest on defensive values as increasing the match duration reduces the effect of luck which a worse opponent is relying on.
So basically I'm asking for all characters to have equal vanilla stat lines on release for the sake of both game balance and the community being able to properly test characters and their combos. I know games like Street Fighter have characters with different amounts of health but we have 4 stats here which can be a chaotic mess.
The gear system can be good to keep players attached (the OCD in me won't rest until I complete the collection for my favorite characters) but as I explained there are flaws to how those stats work that shouldn't be spilled over the vanilla functionality of each character for the sake of a better and more balanced experience.