Okay. dont bite my head off for this one, this is purely me starting a discussion to get some brain exercise and see what people think, there might be something oort can use, but on the scale i am about to talk about it would be overkill.
Ps: this thread is long, you have been warned.
so lets get started.
Unlockable skilltrees/classes/specialization is a system that some games uses, you need to progress in 1 skill to unlock another one, this can be done in several ways and i will try to mention a few.
Skyforge:
a really interesting MMORPG that is going to come out. they plan to launch with 15 classes, but you have to pick 1 out of 3 to start with, the game allows you to level up each class individually but you can switch between them whenever you want.
Skyforge have a system that interests me quite a bit, it is called the acension atlas and it is stupidly huge. here you see ââMain atlasââ in a sense,
you start here with picking a class, each bubble has a set of bubbles within it
the big bubble in the middle is the class (that is where the insane part comes in, but back to that later) you notice that there are bubbles around it, those are passive stat upgrades that increases your overall power level, they have different colors because they uses different crystals to unlock. quests drop specific crystal types and they are split up. these wheels are connected as you can see, so if you start with paladin class you will start in the paladin class circle. from there you can put points into the stat upgrade circles and make a trail unto other classes that are locked, when you get into the middle of the locked class you unlock it and can now start using/leveling that class from the ground. this takes days to unlock. the further out / more advanced classes takes weeks to unlock.
know you say ââ this is not a huge skill tree at all,ââ well. let me show you this picture.
this is how big the classes are inside, so you also have a ton of progression there which makes the skill trees huge.
sorry, slightly off topic. point in this being that you pick 1 of 3 starter classes and then with much work can both level that up while getting points to unlock more classes.
Final fantasy 14:
please do not take everything at face value, i might not have every fact correct but here is how i understand it.
every character starts by picking a class
the classes would be split up in disiples of war (physical) and diciples of magic (magical) the other 2 are harvesters and crafters.
the classes are the basic playstyles that can do many things and are extremely good for leveling, now the thing that final fantasy also did is introduce jobs, Jobs are specific roles that requires a specific class high level, a secondary class that is level 15 and then a tertiary class that is whatever level + a special job stone that you get from completing a certain class quest. The job has all of the abilities and traits from the primary class, and the cross class abilities from secondary and tertiary classes, the job would also have the level from the primary class, so if you have a job and the primary of that class is level 35, then the job will be level 35 too when you switch to it.
lets take an example , my favorite class in any game : Monk
the monks primary class is the Pugilist which determines the level of the monk when equipped
Its secondary class which needs to be level 15. is the lancer
and the tertiary class is the marauder
so you get the choice of classes but when you level up your main class and a secondary class you unlock a specific job that can be used.
Specialization:
this is just one in general. most people know wow by now and how that worked, every class could pick 3 skill trees which would change some of their abilities and heavily affect how they play before they made it completely noob friendly ofc,
The thing that could be done in game instead would be for the ability to have base skills that we know that when you reach a specific profiency you would unlock a new skill line and fighting style based on it that would greatly chance how you play (this one is going to be too much works for the devs i imagine)
but an example would be that i picked fist weapons as my main weapon of choice,
i have been fighting long with it and is now profiency 300. i get a notification that i have unlocked 2 new skill trees.
Martial arts:
and Brawler:
I have now unlocked the 2 specialized skill trees which i can start leveling in, Martial arts offers me faster attacks, dodging, more cc abilities such as stun kicks. and brawler offers me stronger attacks, more defense, and a non graceful fighting style that is not about avoiding to get hit, but about hitting harder than the enemy.
i do now have the choice, i can keep leveling up fist fighting which is a general mix of both, or i can start to level up martial arts which focuses on the faster attacks and more cc but sacrifices dmg, or brawler with increased damage and defense but sacrifices the some of the speed and abilities to dodge that you had before.
same thing with the other fighting styles like demonic magic:
when i hit skill 300 demonic magic i unlock
Demon summoning:
and Demon Soul:
Demon summoning would allow me to make pets that would tank and damage the enemy, they would pull some aggro while i can kill things with my spells, while on the other hand Demon soul allows me to transform myself into a demon with increased damage and some more abilities but on the other hand make me unable to throw ranged spells.
âŚDamn, that was a long thread. but i hope you survived, so my question is just. do you think that every skilltree should be available for leveling from the starting point or would it be better to limit it a bit so its easier to get into the game but still offer alot of variety in lategame?
if you think its okay to hold back which system is then the best?
