Properly assessing the importance of oskills

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CMBurns
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Hello!

I've worked in the gaming industry for the last 9 years. Most of that time was spent working as a producer or Product Manager on various games such as Marvel: Contest of Champions, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Trials Fusion, Metro Last Light and many many more...

Over the years there are some important lessons I've learned about how to maximize player retention for a game while managing costs and development time.


One thing that struck me, as MXL has evolved since I started playing at the very beginning, is how many oskills there are that bring absolutely zero value to the game.

I've had situations at work where third party contractors had done partial work on assets or code and those were left in the dust as the regular production kept on going. Staffing changed, priorities were put on new and shiny things and people eventually forgot those things had even been made. When I took over the projects (that were dying at the time), dusting off those assets laid the groundwork for a revitalization of users. It brought old users back and allowed us to quickly push out features, content, etc which improved revenues, retention, allowed for a better marketing funding. This meant more new users, more organic traffic, etc.

Now if we think of oskills as essentially unfinished assets (because they do need some work that isn't necessarily numerical changes for some), you guys are sitting on a freakin' gold mine.

Let's take one oskill that we know is loved by many; Rising Dawn. It has decent damage, has its drawbacks, positioning is important, etc. But more importantly it's something new to discover for newer players, something fresh to try out for veterans and it has a DIRECT impact on the economy. It gives value to a low +skill vizjerei, a no +skill ancient repo or rare rings and amulets.

oskills are far more than just "something different to play". Each skill has the potential to have an impact on the economy. The more available skills, the more likely it is for someone to want to try them out once they're done learning the classes. The more options there might be to deal with the challenges of the end game.

A healthier, longer lasting economy would also help with the 2-4+ week retention.

Changing oskills isn't like making entirely new skills. You have the VFX, the SFX and the basics of the code for the skills to work. The effort vs reward here is remarkably high. It permeates through so many other elements of the game.


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Now let's get into some specifics:

Cataclysm:
- Has a paladin helm dedicated to it AND a paladin oskill set.
- Somehow someone made the decision that superbeast would no longer give fire spell damage further makes cata unusable.
- the damage is laughably low (around 6 to 7k)
- Has a very large min-max damage spread which makes min damage hits just horrendous.
- Can barely clear P1 fauz. CANNOT clear scosglen.
- Requires you to be in melee range to make use of overlapping explosions which is incredibly dangerous as a caster.

Suggestions:
- Add another line to the buff you get from casting Cataclysm with the set that gives fire spell damage equivalent to what you would have gotten with Superbeast. Maybe base it on your Superbeast level so it's thematic/relevant.
- Reduce the min-max damage spread.
- Increase the overall damage. If I'm extremely heavily invested in any skill I choose, I should be able to comfortably clear scosglen even with a few players in the game.
- Maybe consider something to do with the skill level? There are so many sources of skill level for cataclysm that you can end up with level 150+. Levels currently barely add any damage.

Avalanche:
- Low damage
- Incredibly tedious to aim.

Suggestions:
- Buff damage
- Add a middle projectile?

Arcane Swarm
- Low-ish weapon damage
- doesn't have much spread

Suggestions:
- Buff weapon damage %
- Increase spread to make it fun to play.

Cone of Cold
- Not sure if bugged? Damage seems very inconsistent. Sometimes does barely anything, sometimes does more.
- Cone is incredibly small despite using relics.
- Damage is rather low

Suggestions:
- Buff damage
- Increase the cone size significantly

Pentagram
- Has items dedicated to it.
- Is a risky playstyle as a close range caster.
- Damage is actually not bad.
- Unfortunately has a cooldown which makes it difficult to justify as a main skill.

Suggestions:
- Remove the cooldown.
- MAYBE adjust damage down a bit to make up for the no cooldown. Please don't go crazy.

Deathstrike
- Has a delay
- Small area
- Low damage

Suggestions:
- This is the kind of skill that would complement bow builds as a nice substitute for single target.
- Buff the damage! Make it a solid single target skill.

Frostfire Wave
- Throws out 1 wave at a time.
- Low damage
- Travels slowly

Suggestions:
- Add additional waves per X level
- Increase damage
- Increase travel speed

Frozen Orb
- Good damage
- Nostalgic
- Travels too slow given the pace of MXL and how fast monsters tend to move.

Suggestions:
- Increase the travel speed of the orb and bolts.
- Slightly increase the travel range of the orb.

Hail of Stones
- Seems mechanically functional
- Has terrible damage

Suggestions
- Given the medium range and medium spread, this could use a significant damage buff.

Powder Keg
- Would be fucking awesome to play
- Has items dedicated to it
- Has low damage
- Has a travel delay (forces you to throw barrels at your feet to play efficiently)
- Has a fuse delay. Two separate delays is really no bueno for enjoying a skill.

Suggestions
- Massively improve the travel speed of barrels
- Remove the fuse delay entirely
- Increase the damage

Virulence
- Can spawn on crafts
- Does ok-ish damage
- Has a delay when first beginning to cast (this seems applicable to all your channeling skills such as Hurricane which feels awful to play with an initial cast delay)

Suggestions
- Remove initial cast delay for this (AND FOR HURRICANE PLEASE)
- Slight buff to damage given the precarious situation you are put in when using this skill
- Make a fire version so we get something different to play?

Fire cannonade
- Awesome

Suggestion
- Make it a relic














These are just small examples of what could be done. There are far too many skills to list them all, but MANY would warrant doing a pass over so we can freshen up the metas, boost the economy and the replay value.

Please consider this. It cannot be overstated how much of a gold mine this is.
Edited by CMBurns 2 years.
Lasersdufutur
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Very good post.
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usling
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I agree... very good post (:
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Taem
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Well thought out. I would like to hear your opinion on other relics as well.
noibo
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Yes!!!!!!
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Primarch
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The people demand more viable Oskills!
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Wotan
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Some of the skills you are describing were good/great/viable at some point in their life, and then "balance" struck aka making them utter garbage and forgetting about it.
I personally prefer better balanced builds, than oskills. O-skills are fun as wacky end-game main skill and/or as a buff enhancing your characters build.
Builds and dungeons are not fun when you have to rely on a specific oskill to make them work.
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acekard
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oskill patch when :think: :think: :think:
CMBurns
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Wotan wrote:Some of the skills you are describing were good/great/viable at some point in their life, and then "balance" struck aka making them utter garbage and forgetting about it.
I personally prefer better balanced builds, than oskills. O-skills are fun as wacky end-game main skill and/or as a buff enhancing your characters build.
Builds and dungeons are not fun when you have to rely on a specific oskill to make them work.



oskills should just be part of the game as viable options. I agree they shouldn't necessarily be mandatory for end game. But that's on the classes themselves to be viable.

There are already a few relics that compliment many builds; stances, buffs, etc. I would just like to be able to have goals each season to make a fresh build using a relic skill or oskill.

Taem wrote:Well thought out. I would like to hear your opinion on other relics as well.


I could maybe do another pass for other skills if people are interested.
Nohisu
Skeleton
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As a new player, oskills are both the best and the worst part of the game. Having items granting you specific skills and trying to play around those is super flavorful and exciting. On the other hand, everything about how these skills work is so obscure. Some oskills are great at skill lvl 30, others are terrible at skill lvl 100. You can't find any info about the skill data anywhere, so you're always left guessing if an item with a cool-sounding oskill is good or completely garbage.

I'm sure it doesn't feel as bad for the players who have been playing for years and who know most of these skills, and maybe it's by design that players shouldn't be able to figure out skill power level too easily. But it really kills my motivation at trying fun builds, not having any idea how a late game skill will perform, given how hard the endgame content is. Throwing Power Keg on a Barb sounds awesome for instance, but there's also a decent chance it's an old oskill that haven't been relevant for 5 years, I have no idea and no way to know until I actually try it.