Hello!
First, I know this suggestion is not perfect. I also know that Dev’s are working on a solution. I wanted to put this idea forward in case it might be helpful in some fashion or if the concept might be helpful as a part of the larger discussion.
There have been a few posts about skills. This post makes a few assumptions:
- There will still be a skill page you could navigate to and see an overview of all skills (like we have now) at any time
- Stats and Skills are separated.
a) Stats will grow at their own rate and be a separate system allowing you to focus your skill points on increasing your effectiveness with tools/exploration/crafting - Skill points would be simplified to a more simplified number system so it would prevent ‘remainder points’ lingering around.
a) Currently you can buy a few skills and have 1 - 5 points left over that you cannot spend on any skills. This system would require a simplified point system. An extreme of a simplified point system would be ‘1 point’ gained a level, and every skill costing 1 point.
b) The goal in creating the simplified skill point system would allow for players to spend points freely at level up, vs hoarding them to make a big purchase of a singular skill.
Now that the preamble is out of the way. On to the suggestion!
In order to simplify the skill system in a way that would be logical to new players, it is possible to attach visual queues to blocks/tools so that the user experience is more intuitive. I have seen many suggestions on this thread that are similar to:
“I wish I could do X! Geez, that would be great! -signed, new player”
The X they are asking for is a feature that is within a skill or buried in the skill system.
My suggestion is instead surfacing the skill system directly onto the player HUD and allowing the player (free from trees or build paths) to organically choose their path within the game based on their activities.
Here is a (quickly cut/pasted) example for reference of a player who leveled up:
The player has leveled up, and his tools and items have markers that he can select to increase his ability with those tools.
If he were to click on the “Hammer” it would open a shaded window over the inventory with a few logical selections written in simplified language like:
1 Skill Point - Hammer hits harder (breaks blocks faster)
1 Skill Point - Hammer is more durable (hammer lasts longer)
These types of skills would be there for the player to choose. Once the player has spent their skill points the “+” would go away and the inventory would be blank.
The player can navigate to the Skills menu at anytime and see an organized overlay of the skill they have taken and ‘remove’ some if they need (like the current system where you can purge a skill). They can also assign skill points from the Skill Menu if they want to.
The other assumption this tactic assumes is that all item recipes can be viewed within a machine from the start of the game, but not created until they are ‘unlocked’ with skill points.
This too would be put forward in a logical way.
When a player looked at their Workbench, they would see a single line grouping of ‘Gold Tools’ that looked different from the other lines. Instead of a single line for each tool, all tools (hammer,chisel,shovel,ect) that are controlled by 1 skill point are grouped into one line saying ‘use skill points to unlock’.
When a player looked at those tools when they had skill points, the “+” symbol would be present and the player could select to unlock that grouping.
If a Skill unlocked multiple options with multiple machines, it would summarize it in the tooltip and give advice as to why it would be good to buy. I.e. "Decorative blocks are useful for accessing blocks to jazz up your build. This includes: (visual list of blocks impacted by skill that you can hover over and see what they are and a picture of what they look like in game).
Also, things like Mass Crafting would have the “+” located near that grey menu option so you could grab it when you wanted.
Conclusion
I realize that this doesn’t directly address options like ‘damage resistance’ or ‘jump height’ which I think could be incorporated but would just need a slight HUD update to the inventory.
However, I think the visual nature of the process would make the system more intuitive for new players and allow for players to build in a direction based on what they are actively doing in the game!
“Hey, I have been using my slingbow to fight mobs! I gained a level and I can see that I can get better at using my slingbow! Heck yea!”
It would allow for players to organically build their characters toward the niche they want to filled based on how they were playing.
Just some food for thought! I hope it is helpful, at the very least for discussion.
Thanks!
some new most not but check around in the forums under suggestions and you’ll find a HUGE Forum list of skill based idea ranging from everything that you covered along with doing mining will increase mining running increasing stam ect