[crossfire] Priority feature list

[Juha Jäykkä]

>   I agree that in principle, most of the classes and races should be
> about equal in power/balance.  A certain race/class shouldn't always be
> the best to play. And in broad terms, fighters and spell casters should
> be about equal.

Agreed and an Nth level fighter should be better in melee than an Nth
sorcerer - if we keep the class distinctions. If not, Nth level member of
warrior's guild should be better in melee than Nth level member of
wizards' guild.

One question, though: do we need the overall level at all? We could bind
HP, dragon abilities etc to the relevant skill level or, in case of
dragon abilities and such that are not related to any skill, to the
highest skill level. (If highest skill level is pyromancy when dragon
eats the ancient elemental residue, we track pyro as long as it is
highest. If clawing exceeds it, we switch to trackin clawing, but do NOT
forget how many levels the dragon had already gained in pyro.) I
especially like the idea that the accuracy of melee and missile weapons
would increase with the relevant skill. Perhaps AC could also increase
(and really, we should change this to "higher better"; the lower better
system is a D&D relic), when "evading attacks" skill improves?

>   However, I don't think all races/classes have to be equal.  I know in
> the past, certain races were made available, but made available as
> 'challenge' classes, for lack of better term  For those players who
> have played a lot, you can now play this other race for a different
> experience, as well as something a bit more challenging.

Agreed here as well. The "balance" I was referring to, is just that there
should be some point in playing all races/classes. If it's harder in the
beginning, it should be more rewarding in the end. For example, fireborns
are immune to fire, very magical, but fear cold and are physically weak -
this is about what the game tells in character selection phase. I think
this should mean that fireborns make better spell casters than any race
which is not "very magical", but on the other hand they should never be
able to carry as much loot as a troll. If, furthermore, we want to keep
some races more challenging, like fireborns really are, that's ok, as
long as there is some in-game reward for it as well (like dragon
immunities or fireborns being the best spellcasters possible). Hard to
play means you must be more careful, think more beforehand and so on, but
I do not think just thinking and being careful are goals for our players,
the in-game rewards are.

-Juha

-- 
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		| Juha Jäykkä, juolja at utu.fi			|
		| home: http://www.utu.fi/~juolja/		|
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