MP5 Denial issue
Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 8:31 pm
Let me start off by saying that I'm not being critical of the progress of Denial troubleshooting in any way, I know the issue is already being worked on (thanks Wail). I'd just like to voice my opinion on the issue of changing the behavior of Denial for Adrenaline Masters.
As we know, the balance between classes is a delicate one, and the whole point of classes is that they each have mutually exclusive benefits. While the Adren Master currently gets an extra MP5 (usually) after death, I don't believe it's an unfair advantage over the Weapon Masters' Denial. When a WM dies, they keep the weapon they were holding, and also receive another copy of that weapon from Loaded Weapons (and often an extra MP5 for the heck of it) plus the rest of their set of Loaded Weapons. So if you've got a Vorpal Shock for example, and want a Null or Knockback or whatever to go with it, you can fight with your Vorp 'till you get killed, and you'll spawn with your Vorp plus another magic Shock (possibly the one you're looking for, possibly something else) that you can use or roll with a picked up artifact. When in as an Adren Master, I'd love to be able to get a copy of an Energy Link, and end up with the possibility of getting a Null Link if I die... but it doesn't work that way for that class. I doubt either of these behaviors were planned, but each gives a different set of possibilities for each class. I don't see one as being 'right' and one 'wrong'.
As an Adren, if you want to fight a map primarily with the MP5, you're going to want a Null for killin', or maybe an Energy for globin', and hopefully a Vamp for stayin' alive. A Weapon Master just needs either the Null or the Energy... they've got built-in Vampirism available. Getting your desired combination of MP5s is FAR from a given, even if you were try and die on purpose to get more MP5s. They combine together easily, etc... not to mention that it should become obvious rather quickly that this is not a winning strategy. Either you go out and die early and spend the rest of the wave not getting points (for however many waves it takes to get what you want), or you'll go out late and not get killed before the wave ends, starting the next wave with no health... or you'll accidentally kill yourself and lose it all anyway. Not exactly a sure-fire glitch by any stretch.
I have to quote a Cheap-ism, "Change the Players, not the game." Let's correct or boot people who abuse the system. There's always a glitch, there will be a certain percentage who fixate on exploiting it, and I believe the damage done by the very few who do this is far eclipsed by reality of not only changing the balance of classes but also the likely introduction of new "unintended features". The first incarnation of the Denial patch currently being tested will decide for you which of your MP5s you want to keep, discards the rest, then either gives you that MP5 or a different one altogether. You don't even have to die, just ghost and you'll lose any MP5s you've picked up. I fully understand that this is the first version of the patch and that the DW team are capable of addressing these and other issues that may come up, I only bring it up to illustrate the point. But I think it's development time that could be best spent on things like Healing Blast and crazy fish eye monsters and stuff.
On top of all this is my belief that the more different kinds of weapons the better. There are enough people that for one reason ore another only strive for their one infinite weapon (the most boring of the magic modifiers) that we don't need to take away yet another avenue of option and variety.
Just my $.02... the servers kick ass and thanks so much for them!
As we know, the balance between classes is a delicate one, and the whole point of classes is that they each have mutually exclusive benefits. While the Adren Master currently gets an extra MP5 (usually) after death, I don't believe it's an unfair advantage over the Weapon Masters' Denial. When a WM dies, they keep the weapon they were holding, and also receive another copy of that weapon from Loaded Weapons (and often an extra MP5 for the heck of it) plus the rest of their set of Loaded Weapons. So if you've got a Vorpal Shock for example, and want a Null or Knockback or whatever to go with it, you can fight with your Vorp 'till you get killed, and you'll spawn with your Vorp plus another magic Shock (possibly the one you're looking for, possibly something else) that you can use or roll with a picked up artifact. When in as an Adren Master, I'd love to be able to get a copy of an Energy Link, and end up with the possibility of getting a Null Link if I die... but it doesn't work that way for that class. I doubt either of these behaviors were planned, but each gives a different set of possibilities for each class. I don't see one as being 'right' and one 'wrong'.
As an Adren, if you want to fight a map primarily with the MP5, you're going to want a Null for killin', or maybe an Energy for globin', and hopefully a Vamp for stayin' alive. A Weapon Master just needs either the Null or the Energy... they've got built-in Vampirism available. Getting your desired combination of MP5s is FAR from a given, even if you were try and die on purpose to get more MP5s. They combine together easily, etc... not to mention that it should become obvious rather quickly that this is not a winning strategy. Either you go out and die early and spend the rest of the wave not getting points (for however many waves it takes to get what you want), or you'll go out late and not get killed before the wave ends, starting the next wave with no health... or you'll accidentally kill yourself and lose it all anyway. Not exactly a sure-fire glitch by any stretch.
I have to quote a Cheap-ism, "Change the Players, not the game." Let's correct or boot people who abuse the system. There's always a glitch, there will be a certain percentage who fixate on exploiting it, and I believe the damage done by the very few who do this is far eclipsed by reality of not only changing the balance of classes but also the likely introduction of new "unintended features". The first incarnation of the Denial patch currently being tested will decide for you which of your MP5s you want to keep, discards the rest, then either gives you that MP5 or a different one altogether. You don't even have to die, just ghost and you'll lose any MP5s you've picked up. I fully understand that this is the first version of the patch and that the DW team are capable of addressing these and other issues that may come up, I only bring it up to illustrate the point. But I think it's development time that could be best spent on things like Healing Blast and crazy fish eye monsters and stuff.
On top of all this is my belief that the more different kinds of weapons the better. There are enough people that for one reason ore another only strive for their one infinite weapon (the most boring of the magic modifiers) that we don't need to take away yet another avenue of option and variety.
Just my $.02... the servers kick ass and thanks so much for them!