Focus Effect Slots 1-2?
MarineAnimal
Join Date: 2004-05-14 Member: 28676Members
Join Date: 2004-05-14 Member: 28676Members
Does anyone else think it could be good to have focus effect both hive 1 weapons?
I don't think this would hurt balance (I'm thinking about classic). It could be less effective than slot 1.
Skulk: Parasite does more damage, but remember it's slower.
Gorge: Heals more with each spray.
Lerk: Spores do slightly more damage.
Fade: Maybe blink could be slightly faster, or use less energy.
Onos: Devour gives more health/energy (I don't even know what it does now)
This could give sensory more use at hive 1.
Pros/Cons?
I don't think this would hurt balance (I'm thinking about classic). It could be less effective than slot 1.
Skulk: Parasite does more damage, but remember it's slower.
Gorge: Heals more with each spray.
Lerk: Spores do slightly more damage.
Fade: Maybe blink could be slightly faster, or use less energy.
Onos: Devour gives more health/energy (I don't even know what it does now)
This could give sensory more use at hive 1.
Pros/Cons?
Comments
Well, about 15% ... but you miss the crucial thing: the energy cost doesn't increase for a focused attack. Thus, a gorge with focused healspray wouldn't need adrenaline to keep up an infinite healing shower.
Besides Im sure this was heavily debated during 3.0 playtesting, i cant imagine their decision changing.
This problem was componded by the fact that, at the time, as you leveled up, your HP increased, no matter what creature you were. Man, skulk, gorge, lerk, fade, onos, all recieved a fixed health increase per level. And a xenofocus detonation could take out a large group of marines at once with ease... each time it worked might mean an additional level. Which meant that eventually, it was nearly impossible to kill a xenofocusing skulk before he exploded on you.
I was in the camp who argued that the solution should be that health upgrades at level up should be removed, and that focus would increase the time it takes to detonate, just like it increases the delay between attacks with other weapons. There were also suggestions that I supported which would have had focus have a variable cook-time depending on current health.
It was other people who suggested that focus not apply to xenocide at all, and to make things clean, just don't apply focus to anything but slot 1. This idea was implemented, and, true, it did remove the xenofocus problem from combat. At the time, the playtesting servers were not running normal NS at all, so we weren't able to comment how this effected standard NS. I still think that the possibility of xenofocus in standard NS would go a long way towards making three hives valuble and fearsome again, as well as improving the viability of sensory, which you'll notice has yet again fallen to the 3rd choice of aliens everywhere. DMS still reigns supreme.
You may note, also, that at this time, health on level up was not removed. Xenofocus + No Health Up was never tested. Xenofocus + No HP Up + 2Pt Focus + 2Pt Xeno was ALSO never tested, or really thought about. Think about it. Level 6 minimum xenofocus, time before explosion increased dramatically, and the skulk is very easy to kill due to having to be near the marines during charge time (given variable time-to-detonate, it's hard to say when you'll go off) and not having carapace or regen or anything since he's only level 6.
Very little debate was given as to letting focus slots two or three. Previously, focus increased the time duration of umbra (and I think spores) and stomp. Healspray was of course made to deal more damage/heal more. (By the way, healspray was switched to slot 1 for a while after the focus change was made, because people wanted healfocus. This was changed, obviously enough) Blink was never effected by focus.
Anyway, all this to say that the debate is still valid. As a constillation member, I know that the debate over making focus effect slots 2 and 3 was more or less nonexistant.
Now it would take a minium of Level 6 for a skulk to get Xenocide with Focus, more than enough time for Marines to have teched up to a point where they can effectively counter that otherwise unupgraded skulk. Increasing the Xenocharge time with Focus would be good to (say 7 seconds?)
And having Focus effect each attack would help SOOOOOO much in Classic. It would actually turn Xenocide into an effective game ender, instead of the pretty fireworks that it currently is (bring back blast damage too!)
Charge would do a lot of damage now and acid rocked would be a killer, too!
This would aliens at hive three really give the upper hand, while not unbalancing things in combat since both things need two levels now!
Bring it back pls!
p.s. Is there and way we could get a hold of some of the older betas, i think that would be really cool!
Some of the older betas you really wouldn't want to play anyway. Like the one where you can see and hear all communications by the enemy while you're dead, and someone is almost always dead, so no secrets can be kept on either side. Or the bug where you can't see what you're typing... or any text at all for that matter.
A fun beta though, was the one where in combat, if everyone on a team was dead at the same time, that team lost. That was a heck of a lot of fun, in my opinion... the tenseness when the entire team is spectating ONE GUY and all encouraging him to "Run away! Don't die! Just stay alive for FIVE MORE SECONDS!!!" and seeing that skulk run after him and the frantic firefight and then WOOSH! The whole team is back again JUST before that lone guy dies....
Awwww man, great memories.
But there were lots and lots of bugs and nasty things that you really wouldn't have liked to play with in almost all of the old betas.