Another Update

Hey guys!

So I plan on releasing an update with Elimination Mode, passing, bug fixes, and some balance changes within the next few days depending on how much time I get to myself tomorrow. The only tough thing though is I haven't downloaded the latest patch and in order to publish changes globally, I'll need to download it for each client (which will take a very long time).

For my next update I want to vastly increase the number of perks available in the form of death effects and combat perks. My goal is to have a competitive perk unlocked for each rank. I wrote up a list and I want to get your guys' feedback and suggestions before I start working on them. Here is the rough, rough draft:

Rank Effect
0. +2 Minerals (Default)
1. Free Unit Switching Between Rounds
2. 50% Chance for missed dodgeballs to disappear
3. Respawn Shield Applies at the Beginning of the Round
4. % Chance to "Critical Hit" and Deal 2x Damage
5. % Chance a Dodgeball Will Be Upgraded When Picked Up
6. Increased Lob Projectile Speed
7. + Life After Each Kill
8. +1 Speed When At Max Health
9. % Chance to Drain a Mineral from a Killed Unit
10. +1 Power Upgrade
11. +2 Speed When At 1 Health
12. Stationary Cloaking
13. % Chance to Survive a Masterball with 1 Health
14. Held Dodgeball Does Not Appear
15. +1 Speed
16. +2 Starting Dodgeball
17. Increased Stun Duration
18. Increased Damage from Abilities
19. +1 Health Upgrade
20. +1 Extra Life

Again, this is a rough draft--no doubt some are OP compared to others, but I'd love to hear what you guys think! Again, any suggestions are always welcome.

rut

rut wrote:Hey guys!
2. 50% Chance for missed dodgeballs to disappear
9. % Chance to Drain a Mineral from a Killed Unit
13. % Chance to Survive a Masterball with 1 Health
14. Held Dodgeball Does Not Appear
16. +2 Starting Dodgeball
17. Increased Stun Duration
18. Increased Damage from Abilities

Again, this is a rough draft--no doubt some are OP compared to others, but I'd love to hear what you guys think! Again, any suggestions are always welcome.

rut

I really like most of them and would like to talk about what i like but first I have to go through the ones that might have issues.

2. I think that one could be 100% chance. It is a team game so one person's dodgeball disappearing wont matter too much. Plus it might be too much guess work if it its 50%
9. I don't really like this one, can't give a good reason though lol.
13. Again I don't really like the huge uncertainty factor. I think it would be fine if it was 100% unless you were on 1 hp already.
14. Really frustrating from the opponents perspective. Takes away some of the skill of being aware of your surroundings.
16. Not sure how I feel about this one. I feel like we need more things to upgrade. There should never be a situation where you are maxed everything and have nothing else to buy imo. But if we had more things to upgrade it would be fine.
17. Really specific to certain units but I guess it could work.
18. Same as 17


Overall really exciting ideas just expressing potential issues.

Thanks for the feedback, Pierce!

One of the reasons I posted these ideas before working on them is because I want to make sure that these perks would add to the fun of the game rather than subtract it. For that reason, I'm thinking numbers 9 and 14 are probably bad ideas. Stealing a person's minerals is not fun for that person, and I can see it being frustrating to be killed just because you didn't know the enemy was holding a dodgeball at all.

The increased stun and damage ones aren't extraordinarily inspired, I agree, so let's come up with some better ones!

Also, you bring up a good point about running out of things to upgrade. Though it's only happened to me a couple of times, I agree it'd be cool to have something you could keep upgrading near infinitely to use up spare minerals. Now I've been thinking of combining the Starting Dodgeball and Respawn Dodgeball upgrades into one upgrade, which would allow a new upgrade entirely. If you can think of a cool idea for it, please let me know!

rut

I don't know your opinion on this but I always thought there should be a damage upgrade:

Damage- Increases damage of dodgeballs.

Damage is a really nice mechanic to play around with.

Now in order for this to work I think Elimination mode should be the default mode. On top of that health stats of each character should be buffed. The lowest health unit should should die in 2 shots or so from unupgraded damage.
I read somewhere that you wanted there to be an element of luck with the damage which I think was a great idea when there are respawns. But in elimination mode it makes more sense to be able to tank an exact number of hits.


Lets say the base damage is 1

If a unit has 2 health it dies in 2 hits. The upgrades would increase that by 1 each time. I think every unit should start with 1 damage as well.

I think free unit switching between rounds would be great for everyone for a few reasons.
-This would be good because it would make teams more strategic by choosing players that counter other players.
-Newer players could be shown and told by the more experienced players on who counters who without having to pay that pricey 3 mineral fee.

The 50% chance for missed balls to disappear would be bad, because I've played several games where there just weren't enough balls. Maybe if this were tuned down to maybe 20% it would be fine.

I love the idea for critical hits and for increasing lob shots. In elimination games I don't think this would be a problem as long as you can see the number lives you have.

Draining minerals from other players wouldn't be fun for them. Instead just make it a % chance to gain extra minerals, not drain them please!

By combining the starting dodge ball and spawning dodge ball upgrades, maybe the extra upgrade could be used to increase the % chance for critical hits. Or maybe you could split the attack upgrades into damage and speed upgrades that cost cheaper. (2 minerals each) Another idea for this upgrade could be to enhance the ability for passing balls to teammates.

I don't understand what you mean by:
-Held dodge ball does not appear.
-Stationary cloaking.

Zergling