Back to Basics: Class Resource Systems

[Bloodcount]

click

pretty cool animations xD

 

[Jedimindtrixxx]

i swear the diablo site hates me. i checked it at about 10pm today and there was ntohing, and now i go to that link and it says it was put up at 6...

anyway i would have rather them stick with just calling it all mana for classic reasons (except DH i guess). i really like the way they look though. they are all animated and stuff. Fury and Arcane look the coolest though.

different note: what was with all those pics ive seen before with the fury being like 3 small orbs in the big orb or something???

 

[Dan]

Different resources are important imo. It further enhances the way each class is played.

Barbarians use a reverse regenerative resource that decays when out of combat and not fighting. When in combat, taking hits and dealing hits as well as using abilities will generate their resource. Over time, their resource will decay and leave them with less potential for devastation. What this means is that they have a ramp up time and must start out slower and try to stay fighting longer in order to reach their potential. They can have larger hp pools to accommodate this style of play and must try to keep momentum of combat on their mind.

Demon Hunters use dual regenerative resources that is about juggling defense with offense. This essentially lets the DH focus mostly on offensive abilities but limits the frequency that they can use defensive or movement oriented abilities. In this way, a DH must be aware of their positioning and be careful not to let melee close in on them too often. This makes sense because of their ranged nature.

Monks use a combo-promoting, inverse relational resource that does not generate or decay on it's own. Like a barbarian, they must fight in order to generate their resource. Unlike a barbarian; however, they do not gain resources by taking hits or using attacks-- but instead only generate their resource by using specific abilities. In this way they are constantly using different sets of abilities to give and take from their resource. This fighting style will promote the use of specific combos while dropping the specific need of momentum like the barbarian requires in order to escape resource decay.

Witch Doctors use a slowly regenerating (and classic) resource. They will be using a version that requires regenerative abilities; however, and it will not regenerate quickly on its own. This play style makes the witch doctor start with a very powerful arsenal of attacks and the ability to summon many minions before a fight begins, but punishes them for failure during a fight that taps resources too quickly. A WD will likely need to take a few moments to steal or regenerate mana while their minions keep their opponents busy during a fight. Without staying ahead in combat, a WD could become overwhelmed and fall. Keeping ahead will be necessary as a WD.

Wizards use a hyper regenerative amplified version of the most classic incarnation of mana. It is a generating resource that doesn't require the use of abilities to upkeep. It will generate rather quickly but will also be burned rather quickly with the use of many abilities. Timing will be the only issue with playing a Wizard. Burning your resource too fast will require you to step back for a few moments and burning it too slowly will likely keep you up to your neck in enemies. A good Wizard will keep their usage at levels that are appropriate for the situation. In this way, a Wizard will actually play similar to that of a DH, but without the need to distinguish between defensive and offensive attacks. A Wizard could opt out of defense in many situations and burn their resource for offensive damage, where a DH could not.

I hope this clarifies. The ENTIRE way you play each class is dictated by the way their resource works. If all of them were based on mana as has been the case in the past, the limiting factors become cooldowns and the flavor becomes the way the abilities feel but deep down they will play too similarly.

 

[Jedimindtrixxx]

^ Thats actually a very good summary for those who arnt bother to read the long page. There is also a summary on diablofans but dan put it in better words so i wont even link it.

i really like the way fury is going to work. by keeping it classic i meant just calling it mana and keeping it blue, not changing its effects to the classic mana. i like it this way way more. barbarian here i come!

force video on this:

[youtube]_SkYuLq0xaE[/youtube]

 

[Dan]

I am unimpressed by the force video that reads the descriptions on the official D3 site and gives very little explanation. I hope my explanation serves as an alternate source of information.

different note: what was with all those pics ive seen before with the fury being like 3 small orbs in the big orb or something???

They were trying several different things to get fury to feel right. As a reverse regenerative resource (or time decaying or degenerative--whatever you would like to call it) it is counter intuitive to how most resource systems work and is very difficult to get to feel right. Starting out with no resource for every fight makes for very tedious game play in many circumstances, and requires a way to start generating and establishing your resource structure, hence there is a ramp up time involved. It is by far the hardest type of resource to balance out as well and there are some major pitfalls in the way a system like that works.

PROBLEM 1 is that you start with zero resources to use abilities. You must then create special abilities that are for starting fights or just have the character require normal attacks and damage taking to begin each fight.

PROBLEM 2 is that you need to balance out the delay that feels right for decay to set in. It could be at all times, start a second after combat ends or stop 20 seconds after an enemy is hit. This balance is crucial to the feel of the class.

PROBLEM 3 is that incoming damage is required as a source of generating this resource. This can be counter intuitive in that you don't want to take damage from enemies in the best case scenario. In some situations, you will be getting hit by one big guy, and in others you will be getting hit a lot of times by a lot of small enemies. Keeping this resource from coming in too fast in some cases and too slow in others is a HUGE struggle to making the resource feel right, and has been the bane of balancing the warrior class in World of Warcraft for some time now.

PROBLEM 4 is that this resource tends to be exponential instead of linear. As you start obtaining more fury, your will be able to use harder hitting abilities, which in turn generate more fury than the cheaper abilities. When you max out a resource like fury, you tend to be using abilities that generate a ton of fury, and so you end up spamming your most aggressive attacks without much consequence as long as there is something to hit. The only issue is getting past the ramp up time. After that, you can go all out for as long as necessary if the balance is not set very specifically and measures are made to keep the resource a limiting factor.

 

[Dan]

I was watching a 2010 gamescon interview with Jay Wilson, and he brought up the resource for the Wizard as originally being called "instability".

Apparently it had something to do with taking damage and decreasing output of damage. Thought it was interesting because I never knew about that resource in developement.

source