test content
Logo
What is the Arc Client?
Install Arc
Disabling Travel Powers: Why is this a thing?
guyhumual
Posts: 2,412 Arc User
So I can live with knocks, holds, pulls that inexplicably don't give knock resistance, I can live with just about all the bull the game throws at us to disrupt our enjoyment, but disabling travel powers? Why is this a thing?
Now I can accept that on certain special alerts disabling travel powers is part of the design, and it makes sense from a story perspective for a few: Being in cyber space, in an another dimension, I can accept my travel powers don't work here, but not in alerts like the fight with Warlord. There's no in game reason that makes this acceptable.
So why do I bring this up? Well this new event has mobs that can really dick you over, they're meant for larger groups so I don't mind having to suffer if I want to solo these fights, however one of their jerk moves is to disable our travel powers. If a villain has the ability to disable travel powers why not give them the ability to unequip passives, disable forms, disable energy builders? There's no reason some horror can disable one powers but not another. If you can stop me from swinging on a vine why shouldn't you be able to stop me from concentrating in a fight? There's no logical in game reason for this, there's no out of game justification, and it's pointless inconvenience made solely to annoy players. If you want to simulate hobbling players, like you're hit so hard you can't travel, then you need to make a new effect for that. Give it a time down or something. Don't just disable the travel power. There's no reason this should be a thing in a super hero game.
Now I can accept that on certain special alerts disabling travel powers is part of the design, and it makes sense from a story perspective for a few: Being in cyber space, in an another dimension, I can accept my travel powers don't work here, but not in alerts like the fight with Warlord. There's no in game reason that makes this acceptable.
So why do I bring this up? Well this new event has mobs that can really dick you over, they're meant for larger groups so I don't mind having to suffer if I want to solo these fights, however one of their jerk moves is to disable our travel powers. If a villain has the ability to disable travel powers why not give them the ability to unequip passives, disable forms, disable energy builders? There's no reason some horror can disable one powers but not another. If you can stop me from swinging on a vine why shouldn't you be able to stop me from concentrating in a fight? There's no logical in game reason for this, there's no out of game justification, and it's pointless inconvenience made solely to annoy players. If you want to simulate hobbling players, like you're hit so hard you can't travel, then you need to make a new effect for that. Give it a time down or something. Don't just disable the travel power. There's no reason this should be a thing in a super hero game.
0
Comments
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
My characters
__________________________________________________________________
Alts:
Lord Sans (Full Healer FF)/Axel Leonard (Crowd Controller/Off-Tank)
- - - - - -
Feel free to visit my websites!^^:
DeviantART|FurAffinity|
Twitter
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
My characters
Well, you're still outnumbered a dozen to one I guess... never mind.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
My characters
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
My characters
My super cool CC build and how to use it.
Disabling a character's passive largely suffers from the same problem - the end result is that you either output lower numbers, or enemies output larger numbers on you. It doesn't really make you do anything different and could be accomplished in other ways much more simply - for example if you wanted tanks to have to hold block due to taking large amounts of damage suddenly, you can just make them actually take large amounts of damage suddenly.
Turning off travel powers on the other hand forces you to deal with area denial effects that would otherwise be trivialized by travel powers, meaning it forces the player to behave differently rather than just altering the numbers that the player is outputting or receiving. Temporary TP removal also gives the player something new to pay attention to and excel at - players who notice when their powers come back, turn them on, and then utilize them in the window they have, can potentially see performance gains that slower, less attentive players will not. Turning off forms or passives temporarily would not have this effect.
My super cool CC build and how to use it.
all on the ground. they have other hazards.
Hipan- same thing- the circles are on the ground, dragon spit targets are on the ground. They wouldn't be a problem if people could fly.
in hero games terms
Power drain- Movement -20"(or a number) , aoe, megascale 1'= 1km, affects all movements except base walk
or
something like that
Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
Hi-Pan has the excuse of being an extradimensional realm.
Then there's Lemuria.... some of the enemies there use a bugged knock that turns off TP.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
My characters
I very much feel the same way with this. Suddenly losing my TP isn't the death sentence that knock-spam is.
Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
This may be something most people here disagree with, but I actually think travel powers should be disabled for most queued content above the grab/smash/burst level. Mechanics involving things like damage zones on the ground or moving to a certain location within a short period of time aren't really something the devs can meaningfully explore as long as people can just hover or zip around as they please.
I'm perfectly fine with things that disable my travel powers because I can still use my other abilities to (hopefully) stay alive. It's when I'm constantly getting knocked around or stunned that I draw the line. Mashing F to break out of otherwise massively long stuns or not being able to do anything while my character flies back then struggles to get up are two of the worst mechanics I've ever seen in a game.
Gravitar, especially the version of her in Teleios Ascendant, actually *requires* use of travel powers to play the battle well.
I'd like to see more of this.
I am reminded of a game design piece I read for D&D (by Monte Cook, I believe). Basically, it said that instead of disabling more and more abilities/spells/items/etc of high level characters, devise mechanics that require characters to use those powers in creative ways.
For instance, imaging a mission where there a great distance to travel in a short time, and only things like R3 flight, R2 acrobatics, or R1 superspeed will do. Imagine it!
Whoever you are, be that person one hundred percent. Don't compromise on your identity.
Why give us the option to spend points on travel powers if you're just going to remove them?
Would be great to have more of that introduced into pve.
PARSER USAGE GUIDE: click here for an easy how-to ٩(๑･ิᴗ･ิ)۶٩(･ิᴗ･ิ๑)۶
Spectre beats Eido in an SG run: VIDEO HERE
If a movement specific mechanic is to be introduced that requires actual speed, then all those travel powers that are lacking in speed would need to be reviewed and rebalanced first. And flight can never be considered as not all travel powers are or will be flight capable.
Travel suppression has been used in recent fights as it prevents players from avoiding the intended mechanics. Area denial mechanics for example only function if players can't fly above them. Creating visual pillars to catch flyers isn't practical and would be resource intensive.
PARSER USAGE GUIDE: click here for an easy how-to ٩(๑･ิᴗ･ิ)۶٩(･ิᴗ･ิ๑)۶
Spectre beats Eido in an SG run: VIDEO HERE
No, they'd be useful for traveling from place to place. Though personally, I do disagree with the idea of disabling TPs for all queued content. Many have advantages purposely with combat in mind. Now THOSE points would be worthless if we instituted that.
I honestly don't see much TP canceling by NPCs outside of dev-intended scenarios (Warlord, Hi-Pan's special alert, Cybermind, issue 2 of Aftershock). The Nightmare Horror event was a huge blip on the radar.
You are right that Knocks build knock resistance, and then you're immune. but if you are getting chain-knocked and pounded on while that's happening, squishy DPS guys can be dead before immune.
Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
Well there's also Lemuria, Transformation priests and Bloodfin cancel travel powers, but I'm sure there's more.
Also, knock spam destroys archetypes, but if you're a gold you should have active defenses, this is what they should be used for. If you're fighting a hoard of knock spaming horrors, you should be activating your active defense before engaging.
Epic Stronghold
Block timing explained
Being able to simply fly over anything you fight and be untouched by the melee foes below is totally unbalanced. Sure, the side getting the shaft may not actually be "players" or "human", but NPCs are People Too!
Bot Lives Matter.
__________________________________________________
Most often Slice N Dice@zap-the-eradicator in-game.
Epic Stronghold
Block timing explained
and adding on to that, turn every travel power that disallows use of other powers into one that does...seriously, i can fling out all manner of toxic powers and summon all kinds of creatures as a swarm of locusts, but i can't use ANY ice powers as a giant snowball?
how the **** does that make any sense?
Whoever you are, be that person one hundred percent. Don't compromise on your identity.
-Sterga
Really what Gravitar does well is being a fight that is about movement. However, it would actually do that better if travel powers were turned off, so that everyone was moving at the same speed, and hence facing the same challenges ( obviously with sphere sizes scaled to account for movement speed ) As is, it is actually a perfect example of what Kaizerin is talking about regarding the difficulties of designing content that both has movement-based challenges, and allows players to use their travel powers: the challenge of the fight increases or decreases dramatically depending on which travel power you're using, to the degree that those with one travel power get an experience that qualifies as trivialized, while a player with certain other travel powers is just going to have to accept the fact that no matter how fast their reflexes are they're going to be eating some deaths.
The one thing that Gravitar definitely does well is to give validity to the utility of powers that allow you to move while using them, and being efficient in making all threats be able to effect any player regardless of airborne status by having them be target on players rather than on locations ( pbaoe ones being the exception, but for a valid reason ). Being an encounter that is well-balanced for all travel powers - not so much.
My super cool CC build and how to use it.
That would mean a party composed entirely of toons with the same travel powers might be boned . . . just like a group of samey DPS toons gets boned in TA. That would encourage and reward some diversity.
Whoever you are, be that person one hundred percent. Don't compromise on your identity.