What do all these issues have in common? :
-Heavy Armor is too strong
-Speed is too strong
-Mounted archery is too strong
-Thursars are too strong
-Archery is too weak
The list goes on... So what is the the true issue that underlies all of these problems?
COMBAT HEALING
More specifically, combat healing that is low investment. Minimal skill requirements, and cheap cost.
What does that mean exactly? It means restoring your HP during combat, or briefly after leaving it (which usually means they'll be returning right after, aka hit and run). That is what i believe is the main issue with your game at the moment, and it ties to basically all of the main problems the game has.
I believe this game has the wrong design philosophy when it comes to healing.
See... Instead of the damage dealt sticking until someone well and truly leaves combat for a few minutes, they feel regenerating health in combat is a good design.
This decision has massive repercussion across all branches of the game.
It is why speed feels too strong, because someone can move out of combat briefly, heal up, then come back. Taking endless turns until they finally win the exchange. Mounted archer often plays like this for example. A mounted archer is only considered a threat because their ability to self heal is taken as a given.
It is why people in heavy armor are essentially immortal against some builds, like archer for example.. Why? Because if you can't put out enough damage they can restore their health fully. A rock or a tree? Anything they can just stand behind. They're back to full. There are some instances, in the best armor, they can literally just stand still and heal over it. No threat at all.
Heaven forbid they're in heavy armor AND mobile AND can self heal; you're really in trouble then. Which is probably why people utter "speed is king"..
No.
Speed is not king at all. Speed with combat healing is king. It is the recipe for endless turn taking until you finally get lucky and beat the opponent.
Speed, defensively, should be looked at as the ability to leave combat or evade combat. Without healing, that is all it really is.
Someone runs away? Fine.. The fight is over, and they're gone. They're wounded, so they won't come back.. Right? That is what would happen in real world physics.. That is what would feel fair. They are injured, and must go away and recover.
But in MO2? They simply wrap a cloth around their arm and come back on full health; or they drink a potion. This turns speed into something else entirely. Now their health bar is not what we visibly see, but can be any number of times greater than that, based on their resources.
So what is the solution?
If someone has put the majority of their skill points into being able to heal themselves and others consistently, mid combat, then fine, that makes sense. That is how combat healing SHOULD be.
So to start, i would have a combat timer, like a criminal timer, that locks out all but a few very specific heals. Those heals from those dedicated healers, as i mentioned above, or abilities (that have been rebalanced to the new model). This timer will be similar in length to the crim timer, but i'm open to adjustments for better balancing.
Second, potions AND bandages? No. You don't need two. You should scrap one of them.
If you keep bandages, make it so bandages are just a faster form of out of combat healing.
Potions? Again, there needs to be a significant cost if you're going to be combat healing. They should have a MASSIVE cooldown, and should take a moderate skill point investment; how much they heal could be adjusted also.
Third, magic heals can't be so easy for everyone to get and use. As i said above, only allow those who make a massive investment in skill points have access to these heals.
Resting should be immune to the anti-heal timer.
So in summary : Once the combat timer is active, only highly dedicated healers should be capable of healing during that timer OR simply resting. That means sitting stationary on the ground. Scrap either potions or bandages. Bandages should simply speed this sitting heal time up. Potions? if they work in combat, need a huge downside. Either be it in cost or skill investment. They CERTAINLY need a huge cooldown.
Honestly, you could scrap both potions and bandages and the game would be better for it.
People will complain about not being able to PVE as fast, but so what? It is better than having broken stalemate forever heal PVP.
The game needs a radical overhaul in the way heals work, i can't overstate this enough. Do not approach healing with a soft touch. It needs a heavy hand.
-Heavy Armor is too strong
-Speed is too strong
-Mounted archery is too strong
-Thursars are too strong
-Archery is too weak
The list goes on... So what is the the true issue that underlies all of these problems?
COMBAT HEALING
More specifically, combat healing that is low investment. Minimal skill requirements, and cheap cost.
What does that mean exactly? It means restoring your HP during combat, or briefly after leaving it (which usually means they'll be returning right after, aka hit and run). That is what i believe is the main issue with your game at the moment, and it ties to basically all of the main problems the game has.
I believe this game has the wrong design philosophy when it comes to healing.
See... Instead of the damage dealt sticking until someone well and truly leaves combat for a few minutes, they feel regenerating health in combat is a good design.
This decision has massive repercussion across all branches of the game.
It is why speed feels too strong, because someone can move out of combat briefly, heal up, then come back. Taking endless turns until they finally win the exchange. Mounted archer often plays like this for example. A mounted archer is only considered a threat because their ability to self heal is taken as a given.
It is why people in heavy armor are essentially immortal against some builds, like archer for example.. Why? Because if you can't put out enough damage they can restore their health fully. A rock or a tree? Anything they can just stand behind. They're back to full. There are some instances, in the best armor, they can literally just stand still and heal over it. No threat at all.
Heaven forbid they're in heavy armor AND mobile AND can self heal; you're really in trouble then. Which is probably why people utter "speed is king"..
No.
Speed is not king at all. Speed with combat healing is king. It is the recipe for endless turn taking until you finally get lucky and beat the opponent.
Speed, defensively, should be looked at as the ability to leave combat or evade combat. Without healing, that is all it really is.
Someone runs away? Fine.. The fight is over, and they're gone. They're wounded, so they won't come back.. Right? That is what would happen in real world physics.. That is what would feel fair. They are injured, and must go away and recover.
But in MO2? They simply wrap a cloth around their arm and come back on full health; or they drink a potion. This turns speed into something else entirely. Now their health bar is not what we visibly see, but can be any number of times greater than that, based on their resources.
So what is the solution?
If someone has put the majority of their skill points into being able to heal themselves and others consistently, mid combat, then fine, that makes sense. That is how combat healing SHOULD be.
So to start, i would have a combat timer, like a criminal timer, that locks out all but a few very specific heals. Those heals from those dedicated healers, as i mentioned above, or abilities (that have been rebalanced to the new model). This timer will be similar in length to the crim timer, but i'm open to adjustments for better balancing.
Second, potions AND bandages? No. You don't need two. You should scrap one of them.
If you keep bandages, make it so bandages are just a faster form of out of combat healing.
Potions? Again, there needs to be a significant cost if you're going to be combat healing. They should have a MASSIVE cooldown, and should take a moderate skill point investment; how much they heal could be adjusted also.
Third, magic heals can't be so easy for everyone to get and use. As i said above, only allow those who make a massive investment in skill points have access to these heals.
Resting should be immune to the anti-heal timer.
So in summary : Once the combat timer is active, only highly dedicated healers should be capable of healing during that timer OR simply resting. That means sitting stationary on the ground. Scrap either potions or bandages. Bandages should simply speed this sitting heal time up. Potions? if they work in combat, need a huge downside. Either be it in cost or skill investment. They CERTAINLY need a huge cooldown.
Honestly, you could scrap both potions and bandages and the game would be better for it.
People will complain about not being able to PVE as fast, but so what? It is better than having broken stalemate forever heal PVP.
The game needs a radical overhaul in the way heals work, i can't overstate this enough. Do not approach healing with a soft touch. It needs a heavy hand.
