gorboth wrote:[C]hanging the way stats play into combat would be one of the most significant things we could do to actually change the way the game plays. Therefore, it should be done with extreme caution, strong rationale, and not simply to "do something" to try to fix a perceived imbalance between racial options.
Exactly! Especially with our limited active coding resources, I am unable to wrap my head around the unifying principle of the "less discussion; more action!" faction in our community.
On the other hand, there are some serious overall game play, system level-issues on which we need to feel high-level buy-in and progress towards resolution. However, I would think that calling this a tier three issue in your top ten model, while encouraging further discussion should cover that need for the time being.
gorboth wrote:[T]he main gripe is basically this: To compete for size and power in Genesis, the differences between the races is so profound that there are extreme winners and extreme losers.
This is why this is so much more than a racial modification issue.
One strand of this issue is the reality and the possibly warped perception of the reality, that the six stats are of unequal utility and can (or should) not be of equal use in general, and that the various different stat valuations in specific character builds invalidates the concept of balance.
Another strand of the issue is how favorable an environment Genesis is for min/maxing, with basically no mechanics that are interested in stat proportionality. There is basically no dynamic tension for character design between focus and generalization on both the individual and team levels.
Yet another strand of this issue is the amount of time and energy players have put into the game and the extreme size and exaggeration of differences that has allowed.
Further, all of this colored by the energy of a player community that has developed a package of predictable and not always productive ways of thinking about and discussing the game.
gorboth wrote:Now, stepping back again and looking at this in the big picture, where does this stack for me in our list of things "to do" to really get the game in good shape?
I've often considered introducing building and ranking such a list as a topic of discussion, although my strong belief that such a thread would become an unmitigated shit-fest has stopped me short every time.
gorboth wrote:As I've stated, I also consider it perilous if we were to rush to take steps that alter core gameplay. [...] But what would be more fun and interesting (and better design?) would be to have many different types of things worth achieving, and have each race better than the others at one or two of them.
I've been thinking that one of the ways to start getting at this would be a forward-looking and perhaps somewhat abstract discussion around magic and it's application and utility in Genesis.
- Given my arguments for changing to a pro-risk growth system, I'm interested in changing the current model that favors exchanging tedium (herbing and passive mana-regeneration periods) for power in the magic system.
- I wonder what would be acceptable levels of "burst", in terms of maximum-burn effect-per-second, moderate effect-per-second and the reasonable resulting recovery rates and power curves.
- I think the impact of being able to cause effects outside of standard combat (prior to and lingering) does not receive enough consideration in our discussions of balance.
- I am intrigued in the contention that mental stats are not even useful for magic, and what would be a acceptable gap between the reasonable stat allocations for primary magic-users, magic capable characters and primarily mundane builds.
