quarrel | how not to make a game simple

Back in 2005…

City of Heroes Developer #1: We need to figure out what classes to put in City of Villains. It launches this year.

Developer #2: How about something like an assassin? We can call it a Stalker. It’s villain-y and players are familiar with the concept from D&D and World of Warcraft.

Dev #1: Good, good. How would it work?

Dev #2: Well, we already have support for double-damage criticals in the combat engine. We could let Stalkers become invisible in a special way that guarantees their next attack crits. They can’t stay Hidden all the time, though, for balance reasons. They’d come out of Hidden if they get hurt or after they make an attack, even if it misses.

Dev #1: What about area attacks? Auto-crits against entire crowds are pretty strong.

Dev #2: Good point. New general rule: Stalker area attacks will have half the crit chance of their one-target attacks.

Dev #1: Done. But…is what we have so far unique enough to base an entire class on? We already have Controllers with an auto-crit in the right circumstances.

Dev #2: Oh! Right. Hmm. What if Stalkers had a signature Assassin’s Strike attack that took a reeeeeally long time to perform, but critted for massive damage? Not two times normal — I’m thinking ten times! And if you move at all or anything disrupts you in the middle of it, it’s ruined. That’s balance and theming.

Dev #1: Nice! Just one last tweak and we’re set. We don’t want thematic powers to be too good when used outside that theme. Better make this Strike’s normal damage really low, so it’s only useful when you’re invisible.

Dev #2: Not invisible. “Hidden”.

Dev #1: What’s the difference? Doesn’t their stealth power hide them?

Dev #2: Yes, but the mechanics are separate. “Hidden” is just a marker. It’s too computationally expensive to check everyone around the Stalker at any given moment to determine whether any of them can see him.

Dev #1: So you can still Hide against things that see through invisibility?

Dev #2: Yes.

Dev #1: And you don’t become Hidden if some other power makes you invisible?

Dev #2: Correct.

Dev #3: Shouldn’t we call it something like “Poised” or “Prepped” instead, to avoid confusion?
[Historical Note: There was no Dev #3.]

Dev #1: Fine, fine. Works for me. Ship it! Now off to the launch party at Alcatraz!
[Historical Note: The CoV launch party really was at Alcatraz.]

fast-forward…

Player: Hello, City of Villains dev team?

Dev: Hello! How are you enjoying the game?

Player: Well, see, I’m playing a Stalker, and it’s a pain in the neck using Assassin’s Strike in combat. Even if I’m not interrupted, I often get un-Hidden by splash damage and fail to crit, so my performance drops through the floor.

Dev: Well, we didn’t intend for you to use it throughout the fight. Just at the start.

Player: But I really want to use it! It’s a defining characteristic.

Dev: Okay. How about this. We’ll raise the normal damage to something significant. Of course, we’ll have to drop the bonus to compensate so your total on a crit stays the same.

Player: Cool with me. Thanks, devs!

fast-forward…

Player: Hello, City of Villains dev team?

Dev: Hello! How are you enjoying the game?

Player: I’m not.

Dev: Sorry to hear that. What seems to be the problem?

Player: Well, I play a Stalker, and when I’m on a team, no one wants to wait for me to re-Hide myself all the time. They just steamroller everything. I never get a chance to crit, so I’m not good at killing things and they don’t invite me back.

Dev: Okay. We have a plan for that. You know how you have to Hide to get crits right now? Well, we’re going to give you a 10% chance of critting even when you aren’t Hidden. Even better, we’re going to raise it by 3% for every teammate you have.

Player: Great. Thanks, devs!

Dev #2: Psst! Hey! That new 10% + 3%/teammate crit chance…that’s halved on AoE attacks, right?

Dev: Nope.

fast-forward…

Player: Hello, City of Villains dev team?

Dev: Hello! How are you enjoying the game?

Player: I’m not. I’m playing a Stalker in PvP and I never get crits against other players except when I Hide. Shouldn’t I get them at least 10% of the time?

Dev: Actually, no. We balance PvP entirely differently. See, we noticed that Controllers and Dominators don’t PvP much. They muttered something about their power sets being too focused on incapacitating opponents and not enough on, well, beating them. So what we did was take your attacks and instead of having them crit players 10% of the time no matter what, we made them 20% likely to crit players who are Asleep or Held. We call that “synergy”! Controllers and Dominators have more reason to PvP now.

Player: But what about me?

Dev: Have you tried finding some Controllers or Dominators to team with?

Player: *click*

Dev: Hello?

fast-forward…

Player: Hello, City of Villains dev team?

Dev: Hello! Your voice sounds familiar.

Player: Listen. I play Stalkers, and there’s a problem. When I’m picking targets for my opening Assassin’s Strike, I don’t want to waste all that damage on an injured or unthreatening target. It’s overkill. But I don’t want to aim for the biggest threat either, because I probably won’t do quite enough damage to defeat him and his counterattack will eat my face. Help!

Dev: I see what you mean. That’s a tough one… A-HA! Picture this: you’re a minion. A toady. You and your fellow goons are minding your own business milling around a streetcorner, when all of a sudden: WHAM! Sword through your boss’s chest. You’d be scared, right? So here’s what we’ll do: if your AS crits but doesn’t kill your target, every enemy nearby will be…we’ll call it Demoralized. They’ll briefly have lowered accuracy and some will be gripped by fear. Sound good to you?

Player: Sure thing. Thanks again!

Dev: Any time.

fast-forward…

Player: Hello, City of Villains dev team?

Dev: Hello, Stalky McStalksalot. What’s going down in villain town?

Player: I still really, really wish I could use Assassin’s Strike more in the middle of the fight. I never got over that, and your first change you made wasn’t enough.

Dev: What about the second change? The one where AS doesn’t un-Hide you if you miss? Did you forget about that one?

Player: No, but it wasn’t enough. The whole interruptibility thing is a real PITA.

Dev: You drive a hard bargain, so let me tell you what we’re going to do. We’re going to make the un-Hidden version of AS a brand new attack. You almost won’t recognize it. It won’t be a crippling pre-emptive strike. It’ll be a knockout punch at the end of a slugfest. Follow me point by point now. One: no long interruptible windup. Two: it won’t crit based on team size. Instead, making other attacks will build up your Assassin’s Focus—

Player: I don’t have an Assassin’s Focus.

Dev: You will! It will be the chance for your new un-Hidden ASes to crit. Your regular attacks will each raise it by 33% for a brief time.

Player: All my regular attacks?

Dev: Kind of. Slow ones will always raise your Focus. Fast ones usually will. Now back to the count. Three: the un-Hidden AS will only crit for double damage. Four: no Demoralization.

Player: That actually looks pretty good overall. Keep up the good work!