Doctor Doack wrote:Over time I acquired a large number of minions and followers, a satanic cult so to speak, that flail at random intervals.
*flail*
The biggest problem LoL now faces is the fact I don't know where to go next. There is a multitude of balance and technical issues to be solved, none of which I can really handle myself. I have a way to streamline the Divisions a bit more, which will surely break the balance twice as much, but it's the only way to fix some problems with late-game situations.
Well, the thing about breaking things to fix things, is that if you don't do it early, it's going to be much worse to do after more things get piled on. You, and everyone who actually contributes to LoL in some way (ie pretty much everyone but me) have made a lot of progress with everything, you've got plenty of heroes who (mostly) work, and aren't too terribly imbalanced right now to the point where they can throw off our test games. You've got everything set up, layout-wise, all the triggers in place, everything basic is working as it should. You've got tons and tons of imported graphics, awesome looking units, pretty shooty things, etc. So I think that now would be a pretty good time to give it the massive poke that will break all of the balance. Because at this point, making balance modifications shouldn't be
that difficult, because all you have to do is change numbers around in your existing framework, and maybe shuffle some things around.
Most of the problems lay in the heroes, though. Not only can I not begin to trigger any of the 30-some heroes I have written out, I can't think of any additional ones. Maybe I will simply post these heroes here for others to comment and modify upon, and then submit them to Xenon and Tip for implimentation.
Actually, at this point, I think that the least of the problems are in the heroes. As I said earlier, I think you've got enough mostly-working heroes to make the game playable during experimentation. Also, I agree with what Mucky has said previously, that fixing the existing heroes, and streamlining them should be done before adding tons of new ones.
After introducing the Rust Dragon as a gimmick world encounter there was a surprisingly positive response for neutral boss-type creeps to arrange parties for the purpose of taking down and getting benifets from outside of lane battle. I introduced more boss-types all around the map, each of them with varying power and gold/experience rewards. Right now, though, I can't be assed to trigger the team rewards.
Awwww... why did I have to not be there when you played two weeks ago
I want to fight a Rust Dragon... That sounds awesome, though.
Only two large things remain in my grand scheme that need to be added. The Contribution System, which would reward hero kills with "Contribution" currency that can do things like summon extra epic units, the Avatar of Doom, temporary global buffs, so on. There is also those two control points intended for handling Epic spawns, which seems simple enough, but is just as daunting as the CP system to accomplish.
Those also sound really awesome, and it seems like they would hugely affect gameplay in a good way, particularly the epic units.
- There is not much I can do about the "If one fortress falls the game is over" syndrome. I am up to ideas. I am not having building ressurection as that will make games last far too long. I may simply buff interior defenses a bit more, so at least two lanes are required to defeat the General.
This, in my opinion, is the biggest problem balance-wise. I have a suggestion, and it may be really dumb, but I'm just going to toss it out and see what anyone thinks.
Suggestion #42a: The Doack Division
Okay, so it's not really about a Doack Division, I just made a hypothetical one to use as in example for something else.
What if there was a structure in both bases, in the center, near the thrones, from which all of the high-level spawns came from? Here's what I mean by that... currently, there are four divisions, and each one has its own little house in each lane, where every unit spawns. What if you seperated all of them, so that whatever level you have upgraded your divisions to, the lower level creeps spawn in the lane areas, but whatever the current highest level unit is spawns from the center building for all three lanes?
I really don't know the division builds, so I'll just make up my own.
Okay, so suppose you've got the Doack Division, which spawns as follows:
Level 1: 2 Warriors
Level 2: 2 Warriors, 1 Lolonel
Level 3: 3 Warriors, 2 Lolonels
Level 4: 4 Warriors, 2 Lolonels, 1 Gigapony
Level 5: 4 Warriors, 2 Lolonels, 6 Gigaponies, 9 Doackmasters
You would split up the spawns, so that the highest level units spawn in the new building in the center, while everything below spawns in the lanes as they normally would. So:
Level 1:
Center Spawn: 2 Warriors
Lane Spawn: Nothing
Level 2:
Center Spawn: 1 Lolonels
Lane Spawn: 2 Warriors
Level 3:
Center Spawn: 2 Lolonels
Lane Spawn: 3 Warriors
Level 4:
Center Spawn: 1 Gigapony
Lane Spawn: 4 Warriors, 2 Lolonels
Level 5:
Center Spawn: 9 Doackmasters
Lane Spawn: 4 Warriors, 2 Lolonels, 6 Gigaponies
That way, if you upgraded your Doack Division to Level 5, and your bottom lane gets shot, your top and middle lanes still have the full spawns, but on the bottom lane, you only have 9 Doackmasters (As well as the highest level unit from the other divisions). That way, there's at least some opposition coming from the lane, in the form of a few really fat dudes, but in my experience, really fat dudes by themselves against a full wave will just slow them down a little. But that way, if the team wanted to try and push back in that lane, they would have some meat, also, if they wanted to push in another lane, they wouldn't have to worry about their entire base getting destroyed instantly from the bottom (Also, as the added benefit of all three sharing the same building, when a gigantic creep wave started ravaging a base, three waves worth of high level units will spawn in the middle).
I was just thinking, that if this were implemented, and I was playing a game, and the enemy team pushed one lane, and destroyed the uber spawn building, then I'd be kinda unhappy. That could be incorporated as a legitimate tactic. Or you could also lessen the impact of that by moving the uber spawns back into the lanes if the center building is destroyed. That way, if one lane is pushed all the way to the middle, and the center building is destroyed, the other two lanes could still get their uber units, but the bottom lane would be empty, and the center of the base would be more vulnerable.
Alternatively, the center building could be made invulnerable until all three lanes have fallen, that way, there will always be at least something going down all of the lanes, unless all three lanes and the center building have been destroyed. If all three lanes are gone, then you're pretty much screwed, so having that center building there would just be an annoyance.
An alternative to that, the center building could be invulnerable until
two of the other lanes have been destroyed. That way, you can only push one lane and win if you're really powerful, pushing two lanes and winning would be quite possible, if you could destroy the center building (Which would probably depend on the defending players), and if you've pushed all three lanes, then you pretty much win. 8.
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D. I'm sure there are many, many things that I've completely neglected to consider in these scenarios, but I'd like to know other people's opinions on something like this, and if people think it's a bad idea, I'd like to hear some other suggestions (not trying to go all two-year old "well let's see
YOU do it!" I just really want to hear some ideas about what to do about the problem, or if it even is a problem). And by "I'd like to hear it," I mean that it may be useful to Mesk, and the others who are actually working on the map.
Also, there's something else I've thought of:
Suggestion #69b: Special Beam pew-pew lazor Cannon
Okay, so, aside from the fact that it's pretty much impossible, I'd like to bring up the fact that it's entirely possible for every single unit-spawning structure on the map to be eliminated. Currently, this isn't remotely a problem, because of the aforementioned "One lane == win" scenario. But I get the feeling, in trying to fix that, a new problem will arise, in that in some games, multiple lanes will fall on both sides. So that even if the losing side loses all three lanes, the winning side might just be hanging out not being able to kill the uber-boss. Of course, just now I remembered the epic-spawn locations, and if a team had one lane left, vs 0 lanes left, then they'd probably be able to take control of the epic spawns, although winning still might take a while, I wouldn't know until actually playing a game that would unfold in that manner.
In any case, I propose a resolution to stalemate problems that may or may not arise in the future: The Special Beam pew-pew lazor Cannon. Basically, if both sides are pretty much shot, and not much progress is being made killing the bosses, you could have the Cannon spawn in the middle. And essentially, what it would do, is zap one of the bosses from across the map. Which boss is zapped would depend on which team had control. Controlling it would require keeping at least one hero there, as in, it won't work unless one hero is standing there to operate it. So the teams could either fight each other for the Cannon, or one team might go for the Cannon, leaving their boss vulnerable for the other team to come in and shoot him.
Granted, this would just add yet another layer of gameplay, extending the map, but basically, the only reason I thought of it, was in case neither side was winning at all. Also, that way, the game would actually come down to a battle of Heroes vs. Heroes, as opposed to Heroes and a gigantic wave of dudes vs. Heroes and a really fat boss, which I think would be pretty interesting.
It's not something that would appear often, in fact, it would appear pretty much never. And if, in the end, the epic unit spawns alone would be enough to kill a boss, then this wouldn't be necessary at all. It also might be amusing if, when both bases are completely obliterated, Sir Lol and Lord Dread both charge down a random lane for a fight to the death.
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Suggestion #3000: Pines
LOLPINES