A way to balance subclassing
The upcoming Class Mastery passives are a perfect first step to balance subclassing.
I'd like to suggest a second step: a simple Class passive rework. Do a full pass on all Class skill lines and tweak them following a pattern where each Class skill line has:
That approach would make the fourth passive significantly stronger for Pure Classes, and offer a simple universal control hook for devs to tune the gap. It also means that devs could shift back to the far superior design philosophy of "one-main-role per class skill line" seen in DLC classes.
They could also make things that enhance "Class Skills" (such as the Class Embodiment bonus in IA or the unique 5% Solar Barrage buff) only apply to the base class (wherever that's not already the case).
I'd like to suggest a second step: a simple Class passive rework. Do a full pass on all Class skill lines and tweak them following a pattern where each Class skill line has:
- 2 unconditional passives
- 1 passive that requires slotting a skill from that line on the current bar
- 1 passive that stacks based on the number of skills slotted on both bars from the base class of the skill line
That approach would make the fourth passive significantly stronger for Pure Classes, and offer a simple universal control hook for devs to tune the gap. It also means that devs could shift back to the far superior design philosophy of "one-main-role per class skill line" seen in DLC classes.
They could also make things that enhance "Class Skills" (such as the Class Embodiment bonus in IA or the unique 5% Solar Barrage buff) only apply to the base class (wherever that's not already the case).
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Unified_Gaming✭✭✭✭Having considered this a lot for PvP and also PvE, I think the idea is great overall! That said, I am worried they may sway it too much the other way and make subclassing not viable vs pure class.
At present if you subclass you often use 1 skill line. Sometimes 2 for META or specialised builds. Assuming we use 1 subclass only you now add new issues.
The new skill line must be:
> As strong skill wise / passive wise as original skill line
> Provide as much additional power/benefit as the class mastery passives you lose for subclassing
> Provide the skill types/effects you need/are lacking
If this is not the case then you end up being at a power imbalance vs a pure class. This then makes it harder to balance PvP or PvE as you need to assume people have a minimum power balance level. The work of subclassing could in turn be lost/gone if not considered well.
Solution:
Make each class mastery passive have a rank system:
Rank I = base class. Always on but at say 20% of the full passive power.
Rank II = Have 2 base class skill lines. Makes passives 50% of base power
Rank III = Pure class. Makes passive 100% of base power.
Thoughts welcome.
Thanks,
DanUnified Gaming - creating a shared and Unified Gaming community.
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