Spiral Knights - Lockdown Balancing Attempts

Lockdown Balancing Attempts

12 replies [Last post]

Mon, 11/26/2012 - 17:23

Severage

I've seen and discussed a bunch of balancing with Lockdown...figured I might as well attempt to make my own thread about it and see what happens.

I'm going to attempt to address the "Overpowered" gear in Lockdown and hopefully balance them out with relatively simple suggestions.

Toothpicks - This sword is purely piercing. The 1st attack in the combo however, doesn't look like it would pierce anything. The 1st attack is also the most powerful and versatile of all the combo. Therefore, if the 1st attack were split Normal/Pierce (Or even the 1st attack made pure Normal), it would likely not be so overkill.

Rocket Hammers - Similarly to the FF, this weapon is mostly so potent due to its pure Elemental damage. The only 'elemental' aspect about smacking someone with a flaming hammer, is the flame at the end. At best, it should be split Elemental/Normal. It would still trump a Divine Avenger, especially when used with AA, but wouldn't be a one-hit wonder weapon on anyone not using Elemental Defense gear.

Heart Trinkets - If True Love Lockets were the only way to get pentas, I wouldn't have a problem with them. They're just out of reach of any F2P player who doesn't want to waste a boatload of CE on, and more than in reach for any P2P player who could care less about 1600 CE.

Point is, these are unfairly powerful, and trump any other trinket in terms of usefulness. Heart Trinkets should be excluded from LD. Other trinkets, ASI, Damage, etc., would still be fair play.

Polaris - As everyone knows, Polaris is unchallenged as the swordie sidearm for LD. They're the ultimate cluster[bucket] weapon. An easy solution is to make the gun a two-shot clip. This would both encourage ASI and prevent a Polaris from completely blocking a hallway permanently.

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Class Changes - There was a really good thread about this not long ago. If anyone could bring that up I'll reference it. Anyway...

Overall:

Better Scaling - HP needs to scale better through the Tiers. You live for a while in T1, but (without heart trinkets) you die very quickly in T3. Either damage on weapons needs to be reduced for the higher Tier(s), or overall health needs to be increased.

Guardian:

Guardian Shield HP Scale - This should go without saying. The Guardian Shield is tough in T1 and breaks in a toothpick slash in T3. If it is supposed to be scaled, it's scaled poorly.

Striker:

Striker Boost Change - The boost on a Striker works a bit differently than any other equipment. Can you think of what that is? Let me help you, it happens when you get hit. Or in Striker's case, it doesn't.

That's right, your equipment is based on entirely your own doing. No matter what, you're guaranteed X amount of boost even if you're getting hit the whole time you're boosting. This needs to be changed to match the other equipment. Have Striker's boost go down or break upon getting hit, like every other class.

Recon:

Remove Footprints - Should be self-explanatory.

Prevent Lock-On - There was a spot of debate whether Auto-Aim locked on to cloaked Recons or not. Only OOO knows, so, if it does, it shouldn't.

More will be added as feedback comes in and I think of other things. Time to go now. Ciao.

~Sev

Sun, 12/02/2012 - 02:12

Xenonguard

Instead of saying that heart trinkets aren't allowed, how about only the first trinket slot is usable in Lockdown. 5 extra hearts wouldn't make as much as 10. LD Equipment should definitely be scaled by tier. I'm not sure what you mean by footprints (for Recon). Could you clarify it?

Sun, 12/02/2012 - 05:48

Little-Juances

Try the game on high settings for better results. You'll see a dust trail.

Sun, 12/02/2012 - 05:53

Psychodestroyer

"At best, it should be split Elemental/Normal."

...Wouldn't that make it pretty much a re-worked Brandish?

+1 overall

Sun, 12/02/2012 - 06:31

Msaad

+100000

Sun, 12/02/2012 - 06:53

Zeddy

The thing about split normal/special is that pure special is an advantage for swords in Lockdown while it's a disadvantage in the clockworks. Your nerfs would be buffs in the main game.

Sun, 12/02/2012 - 12:35

Severage

@Psycho:

Aren't brandishes a reworked Divine Avenger?

@Zeddy: Not a very major buff in the CW. It's only a buff if you're attacking enemies whom you are weak against.

@Neonguard:

I would think that'd be harder to code. Making 1 trinket only available is not my intention - in fact, I encourage the use of other trinkets in LD other than Hearts. If you could have a "Unique-Equipped" function likeinWoW then that might work, but people would just use Pentas and Tetras together.

See Juances' post for the "footprints".

~Sev

Sun, 12/02/2012 - 13:20

Psychodestroyer

"Aren't brandishes a reworked Divine Avenger?"

/Facesmacks Damn, I totally forgot the DA was split too. Thought it was pure.

But the DA and the WRH are in the same weapon category, their attack mechanics are almost the same, minus the dash-attack.

I'm still not so sure...

Sun, 12/02/2012 - 13:29

Severage

@Psycho:

The WRH is closer to a Troika-line than a Divine Avenger. A lot closer. To my knowledge, there isn't an Elemental Troika. I think they're all normal with statuses.

If you mean they're heavy weapons, then I suppose you could say DA and WRH are similar. But WRH is better for multiple reasons - one of which is that it's a purely P2P weapon. Case and point, the reason it seems out of place and putting it in any category could unbalance the amount of weapons in said category, is because it was a P2P-exclusive weapon released in an Expansion.

WRH really is in its own category, it's a unique weapon for all intents and purposes. Its closest relative would be an Elemental Troika as I said, which would fit in just fine. Anyway, it doesn't need to be pure Elemental to be unique. Even if it were a reworked Divine Avenger, it'd be better than a Divine Avenger.

~Sev

Sun, 12/02/2012 - 13:40

Autofire

DON'T CHANGE THE WEAPONS

Changing the classes will fix it, at least by 75%. Can't the classes be fixed first and then the gear, if it's still broken?

Otherwise, this sounds a lot like my idea from a long time ago. Thanks you, I don't have to necro it! +1

Sun, 12/02/2012 - 15:02

#10

Severage

@Autofire:

It doesn't matter if you're a Recon, Guardian, or Striker. Everyone uses the exact same weapons because a specific set of weapons are simply the best ones for PvP.

Fixing both is my goal here.

~Sev

Sun, 12/02/2012 - 19:34

#11

Autofire

Hmmm

Ok, I see your point. :P

Though I would rather see what happens with the classes changed and work from there. Maybe some other equips would suddenly become 20 times better then before, in a way we don't expect.

Sun, 12/02/2012 - 22:28

#12

Severage

@Autofire:

If there were more variables I'd agree with you, but there aren't really very many.

Sure, with the classes fixed and HP balanced the OP weapons would seem like they don't kill so immediately - but they'd still be the best weapons. I don't foresee any currently unused weapons in LD (Many of which are extremely slow or Normal Type) becoming more or less effective.

There would have to be a different kind of change for that to occur.

Also...if anyone has any ideas for armor sets...I'm all ears. I've thought of no way to make Wolver Clone sets less dominating. I'd assume the only way to make Specialized Sets not the only viable sets would be to buff non-specialized sets. Unfortunately, doing so blindly could easily unbalance something.

~Sev

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Lockdown Balancing Attempts