Recently, Star Vault released a balancing patch related to pets, and for the first time in the history of Mortal Online 2, it can be said that the gameplay has become extremely attractive, given that combat has now become more active and is subject to the use of active skills, in which the pet user must dedicate a little more time to using it.
However, not everything is wonderful... As I mentioned in one of my posts, one of the game's biggest design problems is the lack of incentive for dedicated builds and how certain anomalies, known as hybrids, are capable of being so effective in the same playstyle with low investment... In this case, having a higher final effectiveness since they encompass several features in one single build.
https://mortalonline2.com/forums/threads/changes-that-must-be-made-considering-long-term-development-of-mo2-part-4-5-–-skill-investment.12612/
Currently any build can incorporate the use of pets at the cost of a maximum of 3 primary skills (Creature Control, Advanced Creature Control and Beast Matery). Since some creatures do not require the use of so many control points, some builds can play with just 2 primaries. The scenario is even worse when considering the presence of trinkets in the game…
In this context, it is extremely frustrating to go through situations where either a mage or a fighter can command a creature on another player using a series of powerful abilities in sequence while they maintain almost all their capabilities as non-pet users, i.e., performing joint attacks practically as strong as a non-pet user would be capable of. It is unacceptable that in a universe where there are 7 primaries (Animal Care, Beast Mastery, Creature Control, Advanced Creature Control, Herding, Taming and Domination) strictly related to pet use, someone with an investment of less than 3 has the same performance in pet combat as someone who invested in all of them.
I can understand that some will claim that most of these skills are not related to combat, but still, pets shouldn't be something that everyone can use with low investment, there should be a proportional return on investment, in which builds dedicated to pets exist as their own universe and are superior in their own playstyle than hybrid builds
Currently, there are no reasons not to use a pet in any build. If nothing is done, eventually Star Vault will nerf pets to a point where no build wants to use it anymore, thus mainly affecting dedicated pet users.
I believe that there is an intelligent way to solve this situation, creating a scenario where builds entirely dedicated to the use of pets have a performance equivalent to their investment, as well as limiting the effectiveness of builds with low investment.
The solution will encompass the following aspects:
However, not everything is wonderful... As I mentioned in one of my posts, one of the game's biggest design problems is the lack of incentive for dedicated builds and how certain anomalies, known as hybrids, are capable of being so effective in the same playstyle with low investment... In this case, having a higher final effectiveness since they encompass several features in one single build.
https://mortalonline2.com/forums/threads/changes-that-must-be-made-considering-long-term-development-of-mo2-part-4-5-–-skill-investment.12612/
Currently any build can incorporate the use of pets at the cost of a maximum of 3 primary skills (Creature Control, Advanced Creature Control and Beast Matery). Since some creatures do not require the use of so many control points, some builds can play with just 2 primaries. The scenario is even worse when considering the presence of trinkets in the game…
In this context, it is extremely frustrating to go through situations where either a mage or a fighter can command a creature on another player using a series of powerful abilities in sequence while they maintain almost all their capabilities as non-pet users, i.e., performing joint attacks practically as strong as a non-pet user would be capable of. It is unacceptable that in a universe where there are 7 primaries (Animal Care, Beast Mastery, Creature Control, Advanced Creature Control, Herding, Taming and Domination) strictly related to pet use, someone with an investment of less than 3 has the same performance in pet combat as someone who invested in all of them.
I can understand that some will claim that most of these skills are not related to combat, but still, pets shouldn't be something that everyone can use with low investment, there should be a proportional return on investment, in which builds dedicated to pets exist as their own universe and are superior in their own playstyle than hybrid builds
Currently, there are no reasons not to use a pet in any build. If nothing is done, eventually Star Vault will nerf pets to a point where no build wants to use it anymore, thus mainly affecting dedicated pet users.
I believe that there is an intelligent way to solve this situation, creating a scenario where builds entirely dedicated to the use of pets have a performance equivalent to their investment, as well as limiting the effectiveness of builds with low investment.
The solution will encompass the following aspects:
- Return proportional to the amount of points invested in all primaries related to pets:
- Final Damage (PVE and PVP);
- Final Defense (PVE);
- Number of skills used in sequence:
- Overheat System:
- Base Focus Consumption:
- Increased in β% by consecutive uses in an α time period;
Regarding the Overheat System, it basically consists of a mechanic in which after using a pet skill, during a period α (e.g. 5 seconds) if any other skill is used, a penalty of β will be applied to the focus consumption (e.g. increase by 50%). Such penalty will be cumulative and can only be reset after the end of the period.
Taking these ideas into consideration, it would be necessary to implement a non-linear formula, possibly an exponential model like weak spot scaling in the game, or perhaps a more conditional formula similar to movement speed scaling. The universe in this formula on the X-axis ranges from 0 - 700 (Yes, some people use Taming and Domination in the same build), which represents the amount of points invested in skills strictly related to the use of pets. Such an axis will be common for all returns (Y-axis): Final Damage, Final Defense, Base Focus Consumption, Overheat penalty (α and β parameters).
For the solution to work, consequently, all current values would need to be reviewed, especially those referring to the base focus consumption, which must be drastically increased.
In this context we would have a game in which only builds entirely dedicated to pets would be able to make the best use of it, as they would be the only ones capable of using skills in sequence even under the effect of overheating. Some anomalies will still be able to incorporate pets into their builds, but these will be limited to performance, either due to final damage, or the absence of skill combos.
It is worth remembering that the proposed design also considers the PVE capabilities of the beast master archetype, which nowadays is non-existent... It is an extremely frustrating experience to carry out some PVE activities with a pet, such as killing Risars, Commanders or some creatures from the genre within dungeons... Pets are very susceptible to PVE damage and cause little damage to these creatures... Therefore, it is interesting to add bonuses totally inclined towards PVE, with exceptions of course for extremely powerful creatures (Bosses).
Furthermore, it is interesting to note that the proposed system is only limited to living pets. When it comes to undead pets (Altough the overheat idea can be applied when we get "undead skills"), I believe that balancing should be related to the user's attributes. For more details, check the Ritualism section:
mortalonline2.com
OBS: The damage has now been done, but honestly, I always found it unnecessary to implement all those sub skills within beast mastery... All of this could be used in conjunction with zoology
Taking these ideas into consideration, it would be necessary to implement a non-linear formula, possibly an exponential model like weak spot scaling in the game, or perhaps a more conditional formula similar to movement speed scaling. The universe in this formula on the X-axis ranges from 0 - 700 (Yes, some people use Taming and Domination in the same build), which represents the amount of points invested in skills strictly related to the use of pets. Such an axis will be common for all returns (Y-axis): Final Damage, Final Defense, Base Focus Consumption, Overheat penalty (α and β parameters).
For the solution to work, consequently, all current values would need to be reviewed, especially those referring to the base focus consumption, which must be drastically increased.
In this context we would have a game in which only builds entirely dedicated to pets would be able to make the best use of it, as they would be the only ones capable of using skills in sequence even under the effect of overheating. Some anomalies will still be able to incorporate pets into their builds, but these will be limited to performance, either due to final damage, or the absence of skill combos.
It is worth remembering that the proposed design also considers the PVE capabilities of the beast master archetype, which nowadays is non-existent... It is an extremely frustrating experience to carry out some PVE activities with a pet, such as killing Risars, Commanders or some creatures from the genre within dungeons... Pets are very susceptible to PVE damage and cause little damage to these creatures... Therefore, it is interesting to add bonuses totally inclined towards PVE, with exceptions of course for extremely powerful creatures (Bosses).
Furthermore, it is interesting to note that the proposed system is only limited to living pets. When it comes to undead pets (Altough the overheat idea can be applied when we get "undead skills"), I believe that balancing should be related to the user's attributes. For more details, check the Ritualism section:
Rework of Old Magic Schools (Part 3/5) – Necromancy
Although I have proposed a series of changes in a compilation of posts named “Changes that MUST be made considering long-term development of MO2”, as I am not sure what Star Vault's next steps will be, all proposals in this new compilation will ignore the previous ones. However, for those who...
mortalonline2.com
OBS: The damage has now been done, but honestly, I always found it unnecessary to implement all those sub skills within beast mastery... All of this could be used in conjunction with zoology
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