Demigod Diversity Brainstorming

from Stardock Forums

Okay, I am sure this has been brought up before, and somewhat thoroughly trounced, but I think that it's more important for longevity than some people seem to think it is.

Basically, while there are "many" ways to play the current Demigods, the selection is woefully small.

As an example, a Rook player who focuses on Towers of Light, and on his own add-on defenses will seem more similar to another Rook player who has focused on his Hammer Slam, than they would if they were both built from different chassis.  And oddly, as the game progresses, the similarity between the 2 Rooks only grows, since at some point before level 25 they will start spending points on the same skills, while the 2 seperate Demigods would of course be completely different.

I am not suggesting that the current ability sets be broken up and attributed to other Demigods, that is just silly, and is a lot of work for the amount of return.

What I -am- suggesting, is that I will be sad if we finish up Beta without at least a clear promise that #1 priority is adding more Demigods to the game.

So, I thought that this could be a fun thread for discussing potential new Demigods, and the flavor and role that they would be best suited for, in order to provide inspiration to the Devs, so that they can see how exciting it would be to implement even more choices, and how many options there are available to them, once the game itself works great, and there is nothing to do but add content (of course Maps are important to our diet as well!).

Also, I cannot find this in the FAQ, but the game will have more flavor if the Demigods are segregated between Good/Evil.  Of course to implement this now would not only leave the teams horridly imbalanced (only one side gets tank, sniper, mage, or melee artist), but Demigod selection would seem even more sparse than it does with 8 choices.

My first contribution - And I'll take an easy one.  It's hard to imagine a game like this, without a proper rogue-like character.  Someone who can stealth around and do dirty backstabby things.  I know Erebus can become invisible, but he's a General, right?  Just silly.  I'm picturing a very fragile Demigod, who can fly.  This would be a Good Demigod, and I'm seeing a Fae creature of some sort.  They are not as brutally physically powerful as you mostly imagine a Rogue to be, they are more your Spec Ops character, with skills that do such things as increase the rate of Flag Capture, perhaps a DoT with a debuff, and perhaps a spell that dissolves a single Minion from Stealth, as well as personal Haste spell - their point is not to do an enormous backstab to destroy a low HP char, but rather to see someone in trouble and jump on them, blades flying in a frenzy of Evil slaying.

Obviously, with the skillsets that Demigod is using, less playable characters are needed to give a wide variety, than is the case in similar games (or "maps", shush about DOTA already).  Each side having 8 unique Demigods would go a long way to providing long-term variety and enjoyment of the game - I have a hard time imagining anyone denying that assertion - it's just a matter of what kind of priority it is, and it's up to the beta players and fans to raise the priority in the eyes of the almighty.  ;)

 

demigod
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Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top

Or we could add more complex skill trees so that you can allocate 25 points along a few trees or amongst all of them thinly and actually spend all 25 points.

Reply #2 from Demigod Forums Top

The level cap is 20 and alot of the chars have 33+ skills to choose from so picking 20/33 skills leads to many possible combinatins.  The diversity is alot more than people think since not only do you have to choose which skills you will not spec into but the order in which you pick your skills.  2 people that pick the exact same build could do it in a different order.

I would love to see more demigods in the future but the current selection is pretty divese even if you play the same demigod over and over.  There are also alot of items that add certain abilities/skills to a given player like a stealth item or aoe damage items. Over the past few betas the skill selection has gone up quite a bit so the choices you made to specialize in certain skills is way more apparent than from the 1st beta.

This game sets its self apart in the different modes of play like Conquest, Dominate, Slaughter, & Fortress.  Each mode has the same core rules with a twist which I find to add lots of replability to the game.

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Reply #3 from Demigod Forums Top

The level cap of only 20 now has really helped diversity. And that with the fact of items etc. can help things get a bit diverse. But I will also be dissapointed if there is no further efforts to "diversify" (if thats a real word) the other Demigods. This can include things such as more skills/more skill trees or the changing of some of the skills itself (I like how Regulus's angelic fury changed. Also, some maps that arnt as "linear" as Catarct would be interesting.

Reply #4 from Demigod Forums Top

What we really need is equality among skills.  I need a reason to NOT pick hammerslam + rook-roll.  Of course, this will come with balance testing (hopefully).

Reply #5 from Demigod Forums Top

Quoting Insanetitan, reply 4
What we really need is equality among skills.  I need a reason to NOT pick hammerslam + rook-roll.  Of course, this will come with balance testing (hopefully).
End of Insanetitan's quote

You hit the nail on the head.  As long as every skill is a viable choice in combinations then the diversity is there.  So someone who want to play Rook as a demigod hunter can pick the hammer+rook roll vs somone who wants play base defense going towers + whatever else.  You should never have to feel like you need to always pick the same skills because they are the only good ones, that will kill diversity.

Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top

Well more skills for each Demigod won't fully address the problem.  Really it's just the lazy way to add more content without worrying about graphics/animations.  Sort of like how none of your purchased items have any visual indicators on your character.  :P

Part of my problem with the "just add more skills" theory, is that it doesn't allow for a clear split between the Good and the Evil.  If there is only one character ever capable of truly playing the "Tank" role (Rook), and both sides have to take him if they want a "Tank" on their team, but then other people pick him for other potential playstyles.....  Wow will it get boring seeing the same handful of Demigods every single time - with no visual differences other than a small change in highlight color.  Granted, you will be filled with wonder for about 2 minutes, about how THAT particular Rook is going to build himself, but once he's a few levels in, you'll probably have a good idea where he's trying to take his build.

I think that it's a mistake to consolidate too many roles into too few Demigods, especially without meaningful ways to change the visual representations of our characters.

What I see right now.....  DG has the potential to be an excellent game, and in most aspects is already visually gorgeous (seems even though people play content, they buy graphics) - but we're reaching the point in the design process where if the concepts of diversity and differentiation are not addressed, then we're probably going to wait a LONG time.  So the question is - can you play Demigod for a year before getting any new characters to choose from?  Will the MP community be robust enough on initial release, to have the momentum to stay healthy until more Demigods do arrive?  Will people resist very strongly a transition from a paradigm where "all Demigods are essentially Neutral, and can go either way", to a paradigm where they have been split along Ethical lines?  Or will we ever get new Demigods at all, if we don't let our friends who are making this lovely game know, just how important that will likely be to the long-term success of Demigod?

Then again, if no one else thinks it's important, that's fine.  It would not be the first time that I saw something important that no one else wanted to see - nor the first time I just imagined the problem altogether.  :D

Insanetitan - That's part of my point, though an abstraction thereof.  The more skills that are placed on a particular chassis though, the more complicated balance becomes.  Take for example my suggestion of a skill that speeds up flag capture.  This skill (and most others) will have an entirely different gameplay mechanic on a speedy/stealthy character, than it would say on a lumbering giant like The Rook.  It would not only be used differently, but would have different desirability on each chassis based on the potential synergies and strategies that are opened up by the skill.

 

Reply #7 from Demigod Forums Top

I don't mean to insult DOta but if u take a look at a heroe from Dota most people usually get the same skills everytime with few exceptions. Usually they get the level 6 or 10 skill forgot which and up that all the way. Than they up 2 others. I have seen after multiple games in Dota people get same freekin skills and in Demigod they dodn't. They are hoping for 2 more demigods on release and plan to make more for patches. atleast I'm pretty sure. In mid game because thing arn't going well I have totally changed my strat so no you will never really find out how your opponet is gonna play.

i agree with insane. well said.