So
Path of Exile is one of the few games I've played where your build in
regards to your defense is just as important, if not MORE important,
then your actual offense. While the game isn't perfect, I think it
has a really good set of core principles.
To
summarize, this game has 3 basic stats which kind of guide all the
characters- Strength, Dexterity, and Intelligence. All the character
classes are either “pure stat” in one of the stats or are “mixed
stats” and have two. So for example, there is the pure Strength
Marauder, who is a generic big honorable warrior dude, and there is
the Strength/Intelligence Templar, who is a strong priestly crusader
who can also do magic stuff. Every class actually has the access to
the same abilities (skill gems, which are socketed into equipment),
the difference between classes is there starting location on the
skill tree, some base stats, and their ascendancy class (subclass).
The exception is the Scion who is all three stats at once and starts
at the center of the passive tree and only has one ascendancy class,
but it can kind of steal abilities from all the other classes.
Now if you're seeing a pattern here it very firmly falls into the sort of Fighter, Rogue, Mage sort of thing that I am fond of. I like it in video games but also in tabletop games too. But each one has a different method of avoiding damage that fits with the theme of each stat- these are the Defenses.
Strength
is Armour- which reduces damage taken.
Dexterity
is Evasion- which makes it harder for enemies to hit. Also reduces
chance of taking critical strikes.
Intelligence
is Energy Shield- a second life bar over the first which recharges
quickly outside of combat, but cannot be restored with potions.
As
you can see, this triangle system is really interesting and sets up a
lot of nice ideas, and even different gameplay elements for each
character. Armour reducing damage from Armor is totally fine, very
basic- they just run up next to enemies and attack them up close.
Since they can 'tank' the most hits it fits the character, but the
problem here is they may lack depth. One way to solve this is because
they ARE taking more damage more often even if it is highly reduced,
having rapid use block or damage absorption abilities and make them
rely on healing a bunch is a good way to pull this off. To be fair, these are actually things the Path of Exile developers are doing in recent years to make the game more deep, and I appreciate it and think it's good, though there is still a noticeable bit of carelessness that creeps into your play as a melee character. I'm fairly certain that the reason Cyclone is such a popular skill to build around league after league is because it just lets you turn your brain off- and trust me, I love Cyclone, but I don't really think that's the kind of play experience you want when you're playing an ARPG.
Evasive
characters don't get hit often, but when they do it can be pretty
dangerous- though it does reduce the chance of getting crit (enemies
need to roll to hit you twice to confirm a crit I think). However,
this means that all the damage you're taking is just a dice roll,
there's little game play difference, which is the core of the issue
here. I should also mention that some games, like the other PoE (Pillars of Eternity) has 'glancing blows' which I think is another good way to make Evasion more effective. Stagger the kinds of hits/damage/crits into different categories- like miss, glance, hit, crit, etc. and evasion gives you a better or worse chance to evade these.
Finally,
Energy Shield fits perfectly for a Mage type character- staying far
away from enemies and spamming spells. They need to run away to
recharge their energy, and energy shield also absorbs damage from
elemental attacks that the other defense types; they only block
physical damage/attacks.
Now
while D&D uses Armor as Damage Avoidance in that system, we
already kind of have this kind of set up in a lot of D&D/OSR/DIY
games already. Fighters have the best armor so (even without Damge
Reduction armor) they take the least damage from direct combat hits.
Rogues on the other hand aren't as good as combat but tend to have
the best saves and have stealth, which means they avoid those types
of dangers more often, and Magic-Users have spells that buff and
protect themselves and others, which could be thought up as a type of
defense that the others don't have. For example, using a wind spell
to clear away toxic gas or turning undead to avoid level drain are
defenses the other characters don't have access to at all.
Suggestions for Evasion in Video
Games
This
is a video game idea from someone who doesn't make video games, but
I've thought about it a lot. Basically, my biggest complaint for how
the above system works is too much randomness, especially for Evasive
characters. Personally I'm a big fan of randomness, but it doesn't
feel as good to build out an evasive character, especially that there
are other ancillary systems like Dodge (which has nothing to do with
evasion whatsoever) and Block (which is good, but anyone can do it
and isn't really tied to anything in particular.) It also grants
little defense from spells, though it may grant more defense against
elemental damage since armor just absorbs physical, I think, so
avoiding an elemental attack is a slight edge in defense here.
So
here's my suggestion- Evasive characters are meant to be fast on
their feet, right? Well PoE already kind of does this with most of
the Dex characters having nodes or skills that are all about moving
quickly already. So you're kind of expected to dodge more as an
evasive character. This works, but it has nothing to do with the
actual Evasion defense or how much evasion you build! So the idea is
to combine the mechanics a bit; physically change the area of effect
or damage radius of enemy attacks in the game. Now I know that may
sound crazy, but consider that in most ARPGs or games with movement
and combat; enemies have certain telegraphs or big damage circles
that appear that you have to move out of. Stacking high levels of
Evasion on your character could have the extra effect of literally
shrinking these circles. It would be a client side sort of thing- you
see a smaller circle then another character would against the same
boss. This is already in the game to an extent, as maps or zones can
be modified to have greater enemy Area of Effect, so it's not some
pre-programmed value for every attack.
The
biggest problem I see with this is two fold. The first is what
happens in multiplayer. This is the beauty of a client-based online
game like this with different screens; every player sees exactly what
their character would, so enemy AoE are smaller for an evasive fast
Ranger, because she knows how to skirt the edges of an enemy's blow
to best avoid getting hurt, where as the notably more clumsy Witch
could not. However, you might see another player in your game session
walking into enemy Area of Effect circles and not taking damage when
they explode- causing you to think the game is glitched or they are
hacking! I have a solution for this; make it so if a player on your
screen is in an AoE you can see, but is too small for them on their
screen, little 'action lines' appear around their character model as
they walk. Then, when the boss smashes down and they are in the AoE
for an ally, but not for themselves, they won't take the damage- and
you can play an extra client-side only animation of them rapidly
dodging away, or like a cool flashy afterimage glow effect that makes
it appear as though they just dodged the attack in the nick of time.
I think this solution would be extremely cool in any ARPG, not just
Path of Exile, as evasive characters would have different playstyles
to everyone else- based more on dodging and weaving through enemies.
The
second is cheesy shit, like switching to evasive gear right before or
during an enemy's wind up animation, to help make it easier to avoid.
I don't have a good solution for this- instead maybe the evasion
mechanic doesn't actually shrink the circles, but just makes them do
less damage farther away from the center. This makes evasion more
important, though it doesn't directly solve the above issue. Still, I
think this idea is unique and has merit, and is a unique kind of
mechanic that only works and is uniquely suited to the video game
genre as a whole.
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