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9/7/2015 1:54:59 AM
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What are your thoughts on power creep? Curious to know your idea to avoid it...
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  • Found it. Here you go, bud. [quote]Power Creep has never been a problem. From a developer point of view, its a matter that people simply put way too much time focusing on instead of taking stock of all the other factors. Yes, with new content and as time goes on, new and more powerful enemies will begin to appear. This is common in any game designed with attributes/stats. Now, there are two ways to handle continued progression for the players who will obviously be needing to grow in strength to face these increasing odds. 1) [b]Content Driven vs. Loot Driven Game Design.[/b] Power Creep is easily taken care of on its own when you have a model which is geared towards being content driven. Meaning that there is next to no grinding in the game and the player is consistently being exposed to new things. (Story, Characters, Challenges/Enemies, Puzzles, Items, etc.) A prime example of this would be The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt in which you are just being showered left and right with content. It is EXTENSIVE in the game, with non-stop voice acting, a HUGE world which actually rewards and encourages you to explore every nook and cranny and plenty of quests/story to keep you engaged. You care less about trading up old gear for new because of everything else that there is for you to do in the game. You might think it crazy, but in reality a game such as Diablo III: Reaper of Souls as another example, is actually considered a Content Driven game. Simply put, its classified as a Dungeon Crawler which is a niche all its own, but as the player is going through the game they are CONSTANTLY being exposed to new things. Dungeons are randomized in layout and they are relentlessly being showered by newer more powerful weapons and armor and provided great customization options. This is called [b]"RNG Done Right."[/b] Destiny is an example of a "Loot Driven" game design because it significantly lacks content. After about 10-20 hours, a new player is likely to have completed the bulk of what is available to do before entering the "Endgame" portion. Now, in terms of PvP? This has never really been a problem. Multiplayer is the same for any other game, just need to keep adding new maps with new game modes. But as we saw from TitanFall? PvP ONLY does not a game make. This is where PvE comes into play. HOWEVER! The PvE content is horribly lackluster. PvE in Destiny is centered around the hunt for new and powerful weapons and armor. You will grind and repeat activities and missions that you have already beaten countless times in order JUST to get said items. In other words, the value of Destiny's time investment is directly related and attached to the weapons and armor being acquired. Proof of your hard work and hours spent. As a developer? YOU CANNOT DISRESPECT THE TIME INVESTMENT OF PLAYERS. Not everyone who plays your game will be willing to accept that and you WILL end up losing customers as a result of such decision. Its not good, which can clearly be seen by how so many have reacted to the matter thus far. 2) The second option of how to deal with Power Creep is for the game itself to EVOLVE. How does one evolve a Loot Driven Game Design? BY ADDING MORE OF EVERYTHING. Weapons, Armor, Enemies, Challenges, Elements, etc. EVERYTHING. You provide new challenges that reward the player which allows them to continue upgrading their older weapons and armor. (Like with the Etheric Light from the Prison of Elders) In doing so, you also introduce NEW weapons that compliment what players already have available to them. Example, we currently only have one Arc Damage Hand Cannon (Fatebringer) and one Void Damage Hand Cannon (Word of Crota) presently available in the game. We still don't have a SOLAR Damage Hand Cannon, however. Another example of how to evolve Destiny would be to add an entirely new element to the game. From a traditional comparison? Void = Arcane Arc = Electric/Lightning Solar = Fire There are a slew of other elements that are just ripe for the picking. And with them we have the potential for brand new enemies with whole new defenses and ways of fighting. Then we have the weapons themselves. Instead of making 10 new versions of the Fatebringer, why not just KEEP the Fatebringer and instead introduce an entirely new type of weapon? They're already doing this now for TTK by adding SWORDS to the game as actual player weapons. And with new weapon types comes NEW PERKS that no one has ever seen before. Brand new perks that cater to the new weaponry being added allowing for a greater depth of customization for players. Its not that the old weapons are "too powerful" for the new content. The PROBLEM stems from a lack of innovation and new ideas. Not including the perks? You can ONLY make just so many different variations of an Arc Damage Hand Cannon before it begins to get repetitive and at which point, you're just recycling the same thing over and over again with an increase to damage. Personally? They kinda shot themselves in the foot with Reforge because they are basically saying "here guys, you just keep re-rolling until you get the perks you like best for these weapons." That takes ALL the pressure off of the developer to create new and unique weapons and it also limits greatly their potential pool for new ideas if they give up control over a weapon's elemental attributes and listed perks. Destiny needs to grow and expand. Not insist upon itself like it has been.[/quote]

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  • [quote]. Example, we currently only have one Arc Damage Hand Cannon (Fatebringer) and one Void Damage Hand Cannon (Word of Crota) presently available in the game. We still don't have a SOLAR Damage Hand Cannon, however. [/quote] 6 dreg pride II and whatever the ToO hand cannon is have a chance of dropping as a solar burn weapon.

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  • That's something else too. Instead of putting out weapons that give a "random chance" of various perks or elements, they should stop being lazy with their gun design and actually develop weapons with specific, locked perks and elements/attributes. Its like some people thought Reforge was some great thing, but in reality it really takes away a LOT of the creative design potential for new weapons since at that point? All the designers can really do is tweak the individual stats and weapon appearances. Not to mention I'm sure it was also a gimmick to try and pad out playtime even more. Keeping playing the same activities over and over again in hopes of getting the perfect roll. There are likely people who did that too, only to realize Year 1 was an ultimate waste of their time and effort.

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  • Isn't power creep already happening in the game? Atheon? Crota? And when TTK comes out they are only going to get worse. They have no plans for these raids. If you left the legendary weapons alone couldn't they just make the older raids have a higher difficulty to counter this power creep? Instead of nerfing all of the weapons we love or killing them off can't they just buff the other weapons to the level of these so called OP weapons? Then they are all at a similar level but you kept the guns people love the same and gave them more options at the same time?

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  • Edited by Sideswipe: 9/7/2015 5:41:02 AM
    [quote]Isn't power creep already happening in the game? Atheon? Crota? And when TTK comes out they are only going to get worse. They have no plans for these raids. If you left the legendary weapons alone couldn't they just make the older raids have a higher difficulty to counter this power creep?[/quote] This is normal game progression. [quote]Instead of nerfing all of the weapons we love or killing them off can't they just buff the other weapons to the level of these so called OP weapons? Then they are all at a similar level but you kept the guns people love the same and gave them more options at the same time?[/quote] This is power creep, in a basic form. Doing it once will not affect gameplay [i]too[/i] much. Do it with new iteration of weaponary or expansion and you have a problem with natural weapon progression outpacing enemy progression.

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  • What enemy progression? Makes no sense. Guess I'm not as smart as you buddy. So leaving weapons behind solves this power creep. Please explain to me your definition of power creep.

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  • The best example I can create for is when u have an OP weapon, the only way to entice you to grind for it in a loot based game such as Destiny or WoW, is to make a more OP weapon. Or how about this : Thorn and TLW are highly valued in Crucible for their fast TTK. If they were ascended in The Taken King, the only weapon that would entice you to trade in those guns would be one with an even faster TTK, far outpacing other weapons. And with the next iteration you need to create another weapon with an even faster TTK than before. An extreme example: Think of natural progression as a steady and gradual increase and power creep would be an exponential increase.

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  • But that's what I'm saying. A way to counter that would be to raise the damage take for guardians in the crucible or raise the TTK of other weapons to the level of thorn and TLW. Don't raise it over them just at par so they won't be OP weapons anymore, right?

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  • Others have asked me the same thing as well. I'll try to track down what I said to them about it.

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