'Skill Sets'

Vyynn · 2012-06-14, 12:25 PM

Has there been any discussion of multiple characters VS. one character that can do it all? I know that a big issue in PS1 was people eventually getting too many certs.

I don't know how the current one works, but I'm hoping that there is some sort of 'cert cap', where you can only have a certain amount of certifications at once. Obviously to try and get people to specialize.

But my thought is: what if you could do something like WoW did with dual speccing? Call it 'Skill Sets': maybe for a price, you can set up multiple certification paths on a single character. Like, I can have my Pilot/Engineer set, then my Assault/Infil set. They will level up separately, and essentially be different characters, but the screen name and visual style remains.

Would this be a useful feature? I can just totally see people wanting to sink a lot of time into one character in order to build a comprehensive campaign record. This system would hopefully centralize characters on a single faction.

What are ya'lls thoughts? Am I operating on any false info/assumptions?

Saifoda · 2012-06-14, 12:38 PM

Yeah this pretty much would be a huge back track from the way the game has been developed so far. Just a friendly suggestion: Do some research on these topics before making assumptions and suggestions. Not trying to be a dick, just trying to help you answer your own questions.

As it stands so far, there is no cert cap limit and there is also only one character per account. The idea behind the certs in this game is the whole "sidegrade" thing, with a ~15-20% boost in overall power, so you're not just going around like a level 80 nerdcromancer with huge buffs and pwning everything in your way. This way the game is not limited to players having to "class" themselves -- they can do everything, it'll just take some time. And at the same time, the veterans and hardcore players of the game will not be ridiculously overpowering to the casual players; this is what I call the "5-year/5-minute" doctrine which higby explains in a lot of his interviews.

Hope that helps.

EDIT: The main problem that really killed PS1, in many people's opinions (including mine), was not that there were too many certs, but that certain things you could cert into were too powerful, namely the BFR and later on the mosquito (also the flail was pretty unpopular). It became a balancing nightmare, and the game really didn't survive. I wouldn't say that those things really KILLED the game, per se, but definitely a case of "straw that broke the camels back," so to speak.

Ratstomper · 2012-06-14, 05:25 PM

This will also be mitigated by the class system. Since each class can only do so many things, if you have all the certs in the game, you will still only have access to whatever certs apply to your current class.

Unless I've entirely misunderstood the cert/class system...

EDIT: For instance, you won't have a Rexo who can hop behind a tree and totally replace his health and armor. Heavy infantry in PS2 don't have these abilities, even if they have medic/engy certs.

Saifoda · 2012-06-14, 05:52 PM

Originally Posted by Ratstomper

This will also be mitigated by the class system. Since each class can only do so many things, if you have all the certs in the game, you will still only have access to whatever certs apply to your current class.

Unless I've entirely misunderstood the cert/class system...

EDIT: For instance, you won't have a Rexo who can hop behind a tree and totally replace his health and armor. Heavy infantry in PS2 don't have these abilities, even if they have medic/engy certs.

No I think you pretty much got it; and that is a good way to make sure it's balanced (along with the "sidegrade" setup).

Vyynn · 2012-06-15, 05:16 PM

Yeah, I've done a bit of research, but I probably just missed some stuff.

Thanks for explaining it, that makes a lot of sense.

Saifoda · 2012-06-16, 02:25 AM

Originally Posted by Vyynn

Yeah, I've done a bit of research, but I probably just missed some stuff.

Thanks for explaining it, that makes a lot of sense.

No problem; it's one of those things where when you don't put two and two together with it, it's difficult to find four

. Not to be insulting, just saying that when you miss the connection between two concepts that are otherwise not connected the whole thing can seem like it needs improving when it really doesn't.