Developing Idea - The Master Strike

[Elfa]

Ok, I'm putting together this idea for the suggestion box but I wanted to bounce it off the player wall her and see if I can't get some feedback.

 

The idea is what I"m temporarily referring to as The Master Strike. The name is open for ideas as well, please.

 

What The Master Strike is, is a special powerup with a very small chance of happening, like 1%. Basically, while engaged in combat , your character would have a 1% chance of activating The Master Strike. When activated, your character would begin to glow with power, different for each class and then yell something as an alert marker. For the Smuggler for example, he might just yell "Wooooo, yeah!"

 

Edit*

 

(This would add no boosts, but only special visual effect.)

Edited May 27, 2014 by Elfa

[Bstr]

Sounds very familiar to the Heroic Moment, but usable in group content and random.

 

1% of attacks would be very high. Considering that most attacks happen every 1.5 seconds, you would only need to fight for 3 minutes on average to get this ability, which is the cooldown of most powerful defensive cooldowns.

[Vandicus]

I don't really like the idea.

 

That being said, power is probably a poor choice. Tanks will have 0 power on their gear. At least they'll have some main stat. Though that carries with it its own problems.

[BuriDogshin]

Well, maybe if you balance it with a random chance to, say, stumble and shoot/stab yourself in the foot ... with a full animation of course, and appropriate (but PG-13!) voice acting.

 

That would certainly make things more amusing. And it is no worse than a bad lag spike. Just funnier.

 

Perhaps features like this belong in a new Operation Mode - ReallyBadNightmare (RBNiM) Mode.

"The Nightmare Mode for the Rest of Us."

Edited May 22, 2014 by BuriDogshin

[lironBD]

it's called relic of serendipitous assault.

[Elfa]

it's called relic of serendipitous assault.

 

That thing goes off all the time, this is something different and much more rare. The relics can practically be counted on, this would be something utterly random. It's not about the buff, its about the power up in the fight. Everyone has that moment of brilliance in a fight where you exceed your own thought of abilities. This would be like that for your character.

 

So, perhaps change the buff from power to main stat and the percentage from 1% chance to .01% chance. You could also make it a random buff instead of a set one. Maybe it's power, maybe crit, alacrity, defense, HP. Maybe its really helpful, maybe it isn't. In the end, its about the excitement, not the buff,

Edited May 22, 2014 by Elfa

[Levram]

This change would go against the general trend the developers have been following of removing RNG elements from various DSP trees. The more RNG elements you have in the game, the more difficult it becomes to balance the specs against each other.

 

Conceptually, the exact element of "super-powered performance that is highly unusual" is already in the game. It's based on the crit chance on your character. The only difference is that it not the single crit that is unusual, but it's when you, luckily, manage to fill a boss fight with many, many more crits than your baseline statistics indicate you should be able to achieve (i.e. multiple super-lucky crit rolls). It is very, very unusual, but I have seen guild members and my own characters come out of boss fights with DPS numbers hundreds of points above what is typically seen. You know that a combination of good gameplay and lucky crits permitted those unusual numbers to be achieved.

 

It's the same with dummy parsing. A player parses on a 1 million HP dummy with the same rotation for six to eight hours until the perfect crit rolls line up and they set a new record.

 

From a "feel" perspective, it would seem ridiculous to me for my DPS character to come out of a nightmare Dread Fortress boss fight's burn phase where the team barely made it though, only to hit the next trash mob and have him scream "Unlimited POWER!" while one-shotting it with a 30K maul...yeah, great...I really could have used that two minutes ago when it actually mattered.

 

That's why there's the clicky Relic of Boundless Ages (i.e. Power on demand.)

Edited May 23, 2014 by Levram

[Thoronmir]

Well, maybe if you balance it with a random chance to, say, stumble and shoot/stab yourself in the foot ... with a full animation of course, and appropriate (but PG-13!) voice acting.

Okay, this conjured memories of tabletop D&D games 30 years ago in which we always seemed to have that one player who insisted on making a "natural 20" on the d20 result in some devastating attack, but always whined when the DM also added some sort of "fumble" (e.g., "You impale yourself with your Vorpal Sword, take normal damage") on a "natural 1". The memory made me wince and smile at the same time (sorry, I can't find the proper emoticon for a :wincesmile).

[Joesixxpack]

The current master strike ability is kind of like this concept already. It's nothing special, but then once a week you get the last tick in and it's friggin' impressive.

[Capt_Beers]

More RNG. Just what the game needs!

 

I've always wanted to be one shot by an Assassin coming from stealth. And with the addition of this suggestion and their main stat/power relics proc at the same time my dream can finally come true!

 

Bad idea. It's not needed and BW is, rightly, trying to remove some of the RNG elements from the game so I doubt they would do something like this. If you kept it to Ops or something I wouldn't care but overall I don't see it as being a worthwhile addition to the game.

[Infernixx]

Ok, I'm putting together this idea for the suggestion box but I wanted to bounce it off the player wall her and see if I can't get some feedback.

 

The idea is what I"m temporarily referring to as The Master Strike. The name is open for ideas as well, please.

 

What The Master Strike is, is a special powerup with a very small chance of happening, like 1%. Basically, while engaged in combat , your character would have a 1% chance of activating The Master Strike. When activated, your character would begin to glow with power, different for each class and then yell something as an alert marker. For the Smuggler for example, he might just yell "Wooooo, yeah!" For 10 seconds or so, your character would gain a buff that doubles your power stat.

 

Yes, it sounds a bit over bearing as a buff, but because it's very rare, you may only see it once in a week and you never know when. Could be in a warzone, open world, a FP, an op or even on a dummy. The point of it is to throw an element of excitement and surprise into the every day game. Imagine you're on a Sorc and suddenly in an op you began to glow and you shout "Unlimited Power!" and you double output.

 

Now, the things I want to get some ideas on are the name, length of buff and output of buff. Any ideas?

 

It sounds nice and all when you consider yourself being the recipient of that buff.

 

Now turn it around and imagine if you're facing an enemy that suddenly gets it and one-shots you just as you're getting ready to win the fight.

 

Remove it from PVP and you might be onto something, though.

[Dawginole]

OP just described Final Fantasy Limit Breaks. lol

[Elfa]

OP just described Final Fantasy Limit Breaks. lol

 

Basically. So, sure, let's limit down a bit more then. A random buff with a chance of 0.01% of occurring and it only happens in operations and flashpoints. Also, to keep it useful, it only happens in boss fights, random mobs and certainly no PVP.

[DarthSylar]

I want my character to glow red and yell "Sho'nuff!"

[Levram]

Basically. So, sure, let's limit down a bit more then. A random buff with a chance of 0.01% of occurring and it only happens in operations and flashpoints. Also, to keep it useful, it only happens in boss fights, random mobs and certainly no PVP.

 

As I mentioned in my previous post, this wouldn't be appropriate for PvE content either.

 

Firstly, they are trying to remove RNG elements from PvE advanced class abilities so that skill wins out over lucky procs when it comes to DPS.

 

Secondly, having super-powered attacks happen randomly in operation content would appear as ridiculous and be frustrating. For example, you super-mega-crit on a trash mob in a hallway rather than on a boss, or you super-mega-crit on a weak add in a boss fight rather than on the boss, or you super-mega-crit on the boss outside of a tight burn phase rather than when you actually need it during the burn phase, or finally, you super-meag-crit on the boss which pushes them into the next phase of a fight when that is exactly what you are trying not to do.

 

Careful HP percentage management on enemies is needed in all kinds of hard mode and nightmare mode operation content. Writhing Horror burn phase trigger, Operator IX core kills, Kephess pillar drops and phase pushes, The Terror From Beyond Phase 1 even tentacle kills, Titan 6 burn phase trigger, Draxus phase pushes, Hands of Brontes even kills and Brontes phase pushes, and basically the entirety of the Dread Council fight. Suddenly doubling your power output is exactly what is not needed in any of these situations. Any player who felt as though a DPS relic proc would cause a problem in these situations has the option to swap in a Boundless Ages to have that power on demand and not have it subject to RNG.

Edited May 23, 2014 by Levram

[Elfa]

As I mentioned in my previous post, this wouldn't be appropriate for PvE content either.

 

Firstly, they are trying to remove RNG elements from PvE advanced class abilities so that skill wins out over lucky procs when it comes to DPS.

 

Secondly, having super-powered attacks happen randomly in operation content would appear as ridiculous and be frustrating. For example, you super-mega-crit on a trash mob in a hallway rather than on a boss, or you super-mega-crit on a weak add in a boss fight rather than on the boss, or you super-mega-crit on the boss outside of a tight burn phase rather than when you actually need it during the burn phase, or finally, you super-meag-crit on the boss which pushes them into the next phase of a fight when that is exactly what you are trying not to do.

 

Careful HP percentage management on enemies is needed in all kinds of hard mode and nightmare mode operation content. Writhing Horror burn phase trigger, Operator IX core kills, Kephess pillar drops and phase pushes, The Terror From Beyond Phase 1 even tentacle kills, Titan 6 burn phase trigger, Draxus phase pushes, Hands of Brontes even kills and Brontes phase pushes, and basically the entirety of the Dread Council fight. Suddenly doubling your power output is exactly what is not needed in any of these situations. Any player who felt as though a DPS relic proc would cause a problem in these situations has the option to swap in a Boundless Ages to have that power on demand and not have it subject to RNG.

 

So, you're saying that the game needs to be as robotic and predictable as possible so everything can be on easy mode for you?

[Levram]

So, you're saying that the game needs to be as robotic and predictable as possible so everything can be on easy mode for you?

 

No, some unpredictability in this game, when well designed, makes fights more exciting. For example, the burn phase of Brontes in nightmare mode contains boat loads of RNG, which can be frustrating, but which can also be managed through appropriate reactions with enough practice and skill.

 

What I am against is poorly designed random elements being added to this game which provide a visual wiz-bang effect to the character you supposedly control, but which cannot be controlled in any way that would be strategically valuable.

 

And as I stated before, "they are trying to remove RNG elements from PvE advanced class abilities so that skill wins out over lucky procs when it comes to DPS." I am advocating for skill to rise above luck, not for "easy-mode." Nice straw man argument you threw in there though rather than addressing any of my actual criticisms of your idea.

Edited May 27, 2014 by Levram

[TravelersWay]

Upon further consideration:

 

[Elfa]

No, some unpredictability in this game, when well designed, makes fights more exciting. For example, the burn phase of Brontes in nightmare mode contains boat loads of RNG, which can be frustrating, but which can also be managed through appropriate reactions with enough practice and skill.

 

What I am against is poorly designed random elements being added to this game which provide a visual wiz-bang effect to the character you supposedly control, but which cannot be controlled in any way that would be strategically valuable.

 

And as I stated before, "they are trying to remove RNG elements from PvE advanced class abilities so that skill wins out over lucky procs when it comes to DPS." I am advocating for skill to rise above luck, not for "easy-mode." Nice straw man argument you threw in there though rather than addressing any of my actual criticisms of your idea.

 

Well, how about a version of this that only provides the wiz, without the bang. No buff, but the big visual effect?

[Bebus]

Well, how about a version of this that only provides the wiz, without the bang. No buff, but the big visual effect?

 

How about rather than sticking in a brand new RNG, simply add the visual effect to a mechanic already in the game? As somebody mentioned above, what you are describing is in effect, a "super" critical hit... why not just add the visual effect whenever you land a normal critical hit?

 

Your character glows for a second, shouts out something (Consular says "the force guides me", or whatever) and that's that.

 

Perhaps add a 1-2 minute internal cooldown on the effect though, since it would get pretty annoying after it happens 5 times in a row in a lucky streak. I'm sure Bioware could make it worth their while by adding extra shouts and colour flashes to the Cartel market!

[Arkerus]

Having a super move with a very, very small chance of happening is a pointless endeavor. Part of gaming is being engaged and feeling in control of yourself or your character. While some RNG is fun and adds some unpredictability to the game, having a major buff (or attack) only happen in extremely rare occurrences makes it pointless at best.

 

If it isn't part of the game in a general sense, its not worth programming as it serves no purpose for the player. (i.e. they have little control over when/how it happens)

 

Now...

 

You add something a little more static like a "limit break" or mechanic that the player can actually use and you can start to have a conversation about it.

Edited May 29, 2014 by Arkerus