Author Topic: Masteries system, ship balance, improve the game...  (Read 28060 times)

Offline mixzone

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Masteries system, ship balance, improve the game...
« on: May 19, 2015, 10:25:27 am »
Make the mastery system like in league of legends, global agenda and many other games. You can change masteries before game or smth. For example dmg masteries for gunner, driving masteries for pilot, repair for engineer. There is level up system in the game, but we get nothing for leveling up. With mastery system you can get like 2 points per lvl, cap at 16 points for example at level 8.

Some ships in the game totally useless like Galleon or Squid, Galleon can be easily kited from back. Squid has no HP and bad gun location. Make ships more classified, like add abilities for every ship, as example for Galeon +25% dmg reduction for 5 seconds, for Squid +25% movements speed for 5 seconds etc.

I dont say about ranked elo system, clans and anything other, but it will be awesome to have.
Make the game more interest, allow the players more customize options for their playstyle.

I found t his game very awesome and intrest for myself, my friend like it too. But realease date was in October of 2012, player base really low. We check the game last week it was like 300 players in game, now we have 2.2k after steam sale, that is awesome. I know the chance you add this features is really low, but i hope you can imrove the game somehow. The great example is Robocraft, i was playing since early alpha, there was like 300 players or less, but now they have stable 10k+.

Improve the game by little things add more content like maps ships, balance the game, then more people buy game, then more money, then bigger development team, then improve of engine and anything. Its just my thoughts.

I only ask for one- improve the game, it is really awesome, i love it so much. Playing it only 3 days. Im so sorry for my bad english, hope developers wont ignore us, we all want improvements!

Offline ShadedExalt

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Re: Masteries system, ship balance, improve the game...
« Reply #1 on: May 19, 2015, 10:40:34 am »
I hate to break it to you, friend, but GoIO isn't a MOBA; It's... Well, noone knows what it is but it isn't a MOBA.  Ship abilities are actually like Stamina in a way, and the Devs have specifically stated that classes WILL NOT have passive abilities.  It's just not going to be a thing.

Those said, welcome to the community!

Offline mixzone

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Re: Masteries system, ship balance, improve the game...
« Reply #2 on: May 19, 2015, 10:42:07 am »
Global agenda not MOBA too, do you think only moba can have masteries? WoW has masteries too as i know

Offline ShadedExalt

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Re: Masteries system, ship balance, improve the game...
« Reply #3 on: May 19, 2015, 10:48:36 am »
More than just masteries.

Passives, active abilities... No.

Ships are ships.

Galleon and Squid are both hard to use, yes, but both VERY rewarding.  A Squid can lock down a target with clever positioning and the right weapons, and Galleon's broadsides are something you should avoid if you want to live.

Offline mixzone

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Re: Masteries system, ship balance, improve the game...
« Reply #4 on: May 19, 2015, 11:03:47 am »
Squid not that fast, how it should be. And as i said with Galeon speed its not hard to stay at his back and shut him down.

Offline Carn

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Re: Masteries system, ship balance, improve the game...
« Reply #5 on: May 19, 2015, 11:12:05 am »
Sorry dude, but you must not have flown against pilots who know how to use them. I have, and believe me, they are a massive pain in the right hands. Galleons are hard for noob pilots because they have trouble figuring out how to get the guns in arc. And squids, I've beaten plenty of players flying my squid. They are not easy, but very rewarding.

Offline Arturo Sanchez

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Re: Masteries system, ship balance, improve the game...
« Reply #6 on: May 19, 2015, 11:15:57 am »
Sorry dude, but you must not have flown against pilots who know how to use them. I have, and believe me, they are a massive pain in the right hands. Galleons are hard for noob pilots because they have trouble figuring out how to get the guns in arc. And squids, I've beaten plenty of players flying my squid. They are not easy, but very rewarding.

hence they AREN'T and SHOULDN'T be available to novices.

Offline Carn

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Re: Masteries system, ship balance, improve the game...
« Reply #7 on: May 19, 2015, 11:28:35 am »
Lets not get into a debate on this here. With GOIO, you get everything from the start. The only thing separating noobs and vets, is skill and experience. You don't have to unlock anything, ships, ammo, or tools. I'd prefer that it stays that way.

Offline SapphireSage

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Re: Masteries system, ship balance, improve the game...
« Reply #8 on: May 19, 2015, 12:24:13 pm »
Although it might seem like you're not really progressing at all due to the lack of a talent tree or some similar type thing. In reality, the improvements in the game comes from player skill and experience rather then the level in the game. I personally prefer this system as this means a novice is technically on equal terms with a higher level player, and the only real difference between the two is expected performance on a ship. Currently, I am able to command anybody on my ship or give other people advice so that they may perform on par with someone of more experience. It might also be said that since skills are based on performance that a few things come from this such as a more experienced gunner inherently causing more damage since more of their shots are able to hit their mark or hitting key components at the right time, and how a more alert engineer can keep a ship better afloat by being able to predict what they need to do based on the battle.

It also seems that there are some people that think very highly of themselves and prefer to only hang out with other people that are also high level and refuse to play with newer players. If there were a system in place where people could receive passive bonuses on level up then this would only encourage them to continue "newb bashing" as now the higher level players not only have greater experience with the game, but also mechanically better abilities as well.

The final point I have is that because the game is so player skill focused it kinda relates itself to having a special type of mastery focused on the players themselves. In this small community its not very uncommon for people to gain a reputation for what they're good at. For example, I know from prior experience fighting against Sparklerfish that if the enemy ship is in a clutch situation with mine launchers, then I can expect those mines to hit reliably and cause damage if I don't find a way to disable that. Or how Gilder and Fynx specialize in ships that favor maneuverability while people like Crafeksterty and Dementio (Daniel) are Wizards with the Fancy firepower focused ships. Even engineers can be better in certain roles than others, for instance Allison or Bones are much more focused on repairs and better at keeping components maintained while someone like myself or Frogger, from my experience, would focus more on firepower making it more difficult to pin the engis on repair rather than fighting back.

In short, A lack of a passive talent tree allows people relatively new to the game to play on an equal level as someone more experienced. When combined with a player focused skill system it allows the players to develop their own sort of masteries in parts of the game without having it stated that its due to bonus percentages rather than their personal skill.

Offline Carn

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Re: Masteries system, ship balance, improve the game...
« Reply #9 on: May 19, 2015, 12:34:57 pm »
I completely with SapphireSage, player skill above unlocking buffs. There's enough pub-stomps as it is. What I like about this game community is that most vets, are willing to teach noobs, so long as they listen. SapphireSage showed me some stuff for instance, he's quite good at helping new players.

Offline nanoduckling

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Re: Masteries system, ship balance, improve the game...
« Reply #10 on: May 19, 2015, 12:36:28 pm »
A big pillar of the GoI philosophy is that there is no difference between a vet and a novice except experience. Some things are blocked off in novice games to provide a gentle introduction, but you can turn that off any time you like and you have all the resources open to you. I very much do not want to be given advantages over novices, they have a hard enough time as it is. If you are looking for a similar sort of reward system watch the kinds of opposition you are playing and how regularly you beat them. You will find that the average quality of the enemy you can beat goes up as you get better. If there were some reflection of this in game (badges or something for say being in the top X percentile by MMR or something) I wouldn't object if folks think this is a good idea, but I have no interest in it.

As for the galleon and the squid, the galleon might be a little under powered right now, although I'm not sure about that. This is hard to determine because the galleon is a very crew and ally dependent ship. A bad engi or a bad gunner who don't understand an effective procedure for a galleon will render the ship useless. As a result I typically only bring it when I have a reliable crew, making my perception very biased. On the other hand I think the squid might be a little over powered. I certainly wouldn't describe either as totally useless. It is incredibly difficult to say what ships are over or under powered in this game because how effective a ship is depends a great deal on how it is used and recent patches have caused everyone to radically rethink how they are using ships. One thing that hasn't changed is you will see many experienced captains bringing squids and doing a great deal of damage because squids are very effective carry ships (ships you can bring when your ally is ineffective and still win with).

If you are flying a squid and concerned about the lack of armour then you are using it wrong. Be patient, wait for good chances to ambush, hit your enemies on their blind side. Or make them chase you and leave openings for you ally to attack. You shouldn't be getting shot enough to worry about hull breaks because the enemies guns shouldn't have arc on you, at least not for long. Easier said than done, but that hardly makes the ship 'useless'. If you want to see how a squid can be used feel free to find me in game, I'm no squid genius but I can walk you through the basics.

If you really think a galleon is totally useless (as opposed to merely a bit under powered or difficult to use) then it is likely you are using it wrong as well, or you are bringing it when your ally is a bit derpy. You correctly point out that galleons have big blind spots, your ally (typically a fish or a squid) can and should cover those and your enemy has very limited tactical options because they are forced to engage you from those blind spots. This is because the fastest way to die in GoI is to wander into the broadside of an effectively crewed galleon. They can be especially effective on CP maps because you know exactly where the enemy will be and where they will come from (although on crazy king you must have moonshine and good engineers and know when to move between points or you will be a liability).

A standard approach with a galleon goes as follows. Left side double hwacha with gatling. Right side hwacha carronade. Ally is a hwachafish. Rear flare for spotting, mine launcher if you have the engineer for it, or harpoon if you know how to reverse loch harpoon moonshine ram (no really, it's a thing). Enemy approaches you from the rear or front and low (you start at the height ceiling as hwachas have poor upward arcs) and the hwachafish disables the enemy engines while you bring left side guns to bear. If their ally is poorly positioned or just derpy then you focus fire and kill, otherwise the hwachafish engages their ally while you direct your broadside on the freshly disabled ship. Rear hwacha reserves shot for kill, front hwacha fires if the enemy repairs turning engines or guns which have arc. Gunner uses stamina to reload while gatling strips, the second you get a break both hwachas fire. With that enemy dead you focus fire on their ally. Even if their ally gets guns on you you can afford to keep shooting for a bit because you are tanky as all heck.

Judging the utility of ships and weapons is hard, even for folks who have a very good understanding of the game because the meta shifts even in the absence of patches or changes as folks work out new tactics and approaches which counter the dominant builds (although what the heck that those at the moment I couldn't tell you, kill squids and hwachafish maybe?). There are a few things we can safely say have very limited utility (like the harpoon or minotaur), and very experienced players will tell you similar things about what ships are effective and ineffective, but definitively saying any one weapon or ship is too powerful or too weak is asking for someone to develop a ship which hard counters it or rules the sky with it.

I've no objections to the idea of ship abilities, although they would take a long time to balance. A bit more ship specialization might be interesting. I'm with you in calling for more content, specifically I would like to see more maps, but I'm aware that the resources Muse would direct towards that kind of content are currently directed towards co-op mode so they may be some time coming. Perhaps using GoI as a testbed for some of the new map content going into co-op is a possibility?

Offline HamsterIV

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Re: Masteries system, ship balance, improve the game...
« Reply #11 on: May 19, 2015, 02:51:31 pm »
Masteries and Level bonuses are Skinner Box techniques designed to keep people logged into a game even after they the initial fun has worn off. I would like to think Muse wants us to keep playing because we are having fun, and not because we have been programmed to keep pulling a lever with the promise of new content that has been blocked off from us.

If you really must see progression in your game in order to get a sense of fulfillment, look to the friends list. Every time a good player adds you to their friends list you are gaining something far more powerful than +25% damage reduction. You are getting a ticket to board those ludicrously overpower high level ships you see stomping lobbies. Getting game invites and recognition when I enter a lobby are far more rewarding than some stat bonus the devs hand out to anyone who has sunk over 400 hours into the game.

Offline Byron Cavendish

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Re: Masteries system, ship balance, improve the game...
« Reply #12 on: May 19, 2015, 03:23:00 pm »
If you don't think Galleons are good come fly with me for a bit, I'll teach you for a bit, likewise for the squid hunt down gilder. All the ships are reasonably balanced, even the spire sees competitive play once in awhile. You're new, so I'd recommend learning all the ships and builds.

Offline Crafeksterty

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Re: Masteries system, ship balance, improve the game...
« Reply #13 on: May 19, 2015, 06:35:04 pm »
You need to play the game more and explore more variations.

Galleon or squid are not useless, theres dozens of pilots (Or more specifically gunners) that make the galleon work to be incredibly difficult to approach and fight.
While pilots of the squid, can do anything they want. From killing, to disabling to unusual ramming.

Offline Arturo Sanchez

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Re: Masteries system, ship balance, improve the game...
« Reply #14 on: May 19, 2015, 06:48:17 pm »
case in point.

gun of icarus is a skill based game.

like fighting games and classic arena shooters (quake, unreal tournament) and rts.



If your skill cap is low, then you arent meant to be in this kind of game. Why I say this? Because tis game doesnt have a very high skill ceiling. Learn a few ammos, ships and tools and think of some strats?


I've come from much more hardcore gaming communities. Like in any fighting game, where you must memorise the full library of command lists of every goddamn character (cant fight what you dont know-dont expect to win), then pick a character to master/main and then branch out to refine everything as you go.

Thats years/sleepless months of work if you're even half way intelligent and reach an modecum of competence.


This game can be mastered in a week.