Turkey Shoot

[Saiyajinzoningen]

So im new To Psionic melee and i was not around when it 1st dropped. But i am starting to feel the psi resistance the mobs late in the game seem to have more of. So quick question that may (or may not) have been answered long long ago in the early days when psionic melee was 1st released.

 

Why doesn't it do Energy damage?

 

 

[ZemX]

Maybe the two biggest mistakes the original Live devs made in the design of this game were not balancing the game around (1) animation times and (2) damage types.

 

Animation times were literally decided by how long the artists' animations for each attack happened to take and this had a direct effect on performance.   Similarly, damage types and damage resistance were determined by aesthetics, not with any concern for game balance.  There was no plan to ensure each damage type was evenly balanced against enemy resistances.  Stuff that was flammable just got no fire resistance.  Things without blood got high lethal resistance.  Etc.  

 

I don't know who decided late game enemies should be more "strong willed" or whatever the reason is for their higher psi resist, but I assume it was something like that.  It wasn't any conscious attempt to ensure that the damage type was being fairly treated.  Nobody got that consideration.

[Techwright]

4 hours ago, ZemX said:

Animation times were literally decided by how long the artists' animations for each attack happened to take and this had a direct effect on performance.

Not being a game designer, I've often wondered why long-animation powers didn't have a boost to damage and accuracy as compensation.  Maybe not a supreme damage, but more like, if a short-animation power at light damage could strike twice in the same time as the long-animation power set to light damage, why not set the long one to moderate damage?

[ZemX]

4 hours ago, Techwright said:

Not being a game designer, I've often wondered why long-animation powers didn't have a boost to damage and accuracy as compensation.  Maybe not a supreme damage, but more like, if a short-animation power at light damage could strike twice in the same time as the long-animation power set to light damage, why not set the long one to moderate damage?

 

Powers were balanced on recharge time so the fast refreshing ones did indeed do less damage than the long ones, but that's it.  Devs didn't understand the impact of animation times until players showed it to them by analyzing attack chains.  Hence you had slow animating sets putting out less damage than fast animating ones once players put together complete attack chains.

 

Fixing it after that would have been a big pass over all attacks in the game to factor in animation time.  Could have been done.  Never was.

 

Same sort of thing could have been done with highly resisted sets like lethal.  Just give em an x% boost to compensate for it being the most resisted damage in the game. 

[Uun]

FWIW, the Cyclops and Minotaurs in Cimerora are weak to psi.

[Saiyajinzoningen]

I just find it difficult to believe that nobody at some point said "hey maybe this energy blade and energy fist should also do energy damage?" during the design/testing/rollout phase.

[lemming]

14 minutes ago, Saiyajinzoningen said:

I just find it difficult to believe that nobody at some point said "hey maybe this energy blade and energy fist should also do energy damage?" during the design/testing/rollout phase.

You mean the Psi Blade and Fist?

[Mjolnerd]

10 minutes ago, Saiyajinzoningen said:

I just find it difficult to believe that nobody at some point said "hey maybe this energy blade and energy fist should also do energy damage?" during the design/testing/rollout phase.

They're not an energy blade and energy fist, though. They're a telepathic blade and a psychic fist.

 

Psionic Melee -- the clue is in the name.

 

[biostem]

17 minutes ago, Saiyajinzoningen said:

I just find it difficult to believe that nobody at some point said "hey maybe this energy blade and energy fist should also do energy damage?" during the design/testing/rollout phase.

"Energy" is a very generic term.  CoH treats it separately from psychic energy, dark/negative energy, and so on.  Heck, fire is basically energy, as is blunt force, (I differentiate it from lethal damage, as that is more about cleaving/separating something's intact form).  Even cold damage could be construed as forcibly removing energy from a target, thereby causing damage.

[Saiyajinzoningen]

4 minutes ago, biostem said:

"Energy" is a very generic term.  CoH treats it separately from psychic energy, dark/negative energy, and so on.  Heck, fire is basically energy, as is blunt force, (I differentiate it from lethal damage, as that is more about cleaving/separating something's intact form).  Even cold damage could be construed as forcibly removing energy from a target, thereby causing damage.

 

how dare you bring physics into this! i'm telling mom lol

[Judasace]

12 hours ago, biostem said:

"Energy" is a very generic term.  CoH treats it separately from psychic energy, dark/negative energy, and so on.  Heck, fire is basically energy, as is blunt force, (I differentiate it from lethal damage, as that is more about cleaving/separating something's intact form).  Even cold damage could be construed as forcibly removing energy from a target, thereby causing damage.

 

Free Snotman!

 

(If you get that, you get special gold star on your Superhero Fan card.)

[srmalloy]

51 minutes ago, Judasace said:

Free Snotman!

...with proof of purchase.

[ZemX]

On 5/6/2023 at 5:39 PM, Mjolnerd said:

 

 

Cast time includes internal monologue?  That will get you every time!