on finite, unlimited resources + ranged is untactical
Posted: Monday, 16th May 2016, 06:40
Apparently, pure ranged is not meant to be a viable playstyle. Fulfilling certain player expectations of Hunter archetypes is not priority. Now, that sounds okay all by itself - it's a perfectly viable design decision. But look at the implementation. The idea works great with artificers. But with hunters, at least archers, it is easy to avoid running out of ammo even without ammo gifts, as long as you just melee popcorn. It does not add tactics or depths or anything like that. What it does do is refuse you the option to annihilate river rats with your longbow. It slows the game down when you're facing harmless monsters. So it doesn't curb power. Then it must be because we prefer the flavor and fun of conserving a resource (frankly this merits a defense but I haven't found one), since you can just use your primary ranged option on anything threatening, and this gamefeel we choose to meld specifically to ranged combat (melee weapons could have durability points but we haven't gone down that route).
Heroism/Vitalization/DivineShield can likewise be spammed, and thus could easily become passive buffs (coupled with a nerf to piety gain), but at least they do nothing against some threats, and dig into your Finesse/Angel piggy-bank, so there's some game to recognizing when the buff is relevant. But if your most damaging weapon is ranged, there is never any question as to whether it's going to do anything. More damage is always better.
Monsters have a threat level that must pass a certain threshold for you to choose to use a finite resource. The threshold for turning on Heroism is low enough that worshippers of Okawaru can have it on frequently, but the good flavor and interface make it palatable. The threshold for switching to your superior ranged weapon is even lower, much lower, and the interface+flavor screw is enough to turn off many people from playing ranged characters.
This idea can be expanded to other things like food. Resources that are finite but not meaningfully limited do not serve a purpose beyond fluff, but it is usually negative (annoying) fluff.
Oh and here's a bow+xbow proposal (which is trivial to implement):
Heroism/Vitalization/DivineShield can likewise be spammed, and thus could easily become passive buffs (coupled with a nerf to piety gain), but at least they do nothing against some threats, and dig into your Finesse/Angel piggy-bank, so there's some game to recognizing when the buff is relevant. But if your most damaging weapon is ranged, there is never any question as to whether it's going to do anything. More damage is always better.
Monsters have a threat level that must pass a certain threshold for you to choose to use a finite resource. The threshold for turning on Heroism is low enough that worshippers of Okawaru can have it on frequently, but the good flavor and interface make it palatable. The threshold for switching to your superior ranged weapon is even lower, much lower, and the interface+flavor screw is enough to turn off many people from playing ranged characters.
This idea can be expanded to other things like food. Resources that are finite but not meaningfully limited do not serve a purpose beyond fluff, but it is usually negative (annoying) fluff.
Oh and here's a bow+xbow proposal (which is trivial to implement):
Spoiler: show