I make these suggestions given the feeling of progressing further up. Some perks feel out of place, others feel like they should be baselined and open up room for actual perks.
Firstly, redesign the elixir bonus effects or limit it to 1 elixir only and don’t let them stack. Currently its too much of a battle of consumables and its not healthy gameplay for pve or pvp. This would not pertain to unique food benefits such as rhino head soup as they are much shorter in duration already.
Secondly, armor stats should be a choice depending on two factors. 1 it must be epic quality and 2 it must be in the same type of armor (light, med, heavy) that has a set with the stats already. For example, if I craft a set of Aquillion epic armor which gives agility currently, I should be able to craft the same armor with +grit instead which the reptilian set currently provides. If this was limited to only epic armors and the tier, there would be more options for players to choose a look and the bonus vs being limited by bonus and appearance. I say limit it to type of armor so players don’t choose light armor with potential heavy armor bonuses unless it already exists. I haven’t tested every single armor type out there yet, so if they already share such bonuses then limit this to only epic quality armor.
With a small few mechanic changes to the current combat, mobility and leveling;
-Sliding down a surface while falling drains stamina significantly at higher altitudes, at ~16 meters the stamina cost is at -25% per half second while sliding, at 25 meters or more you will immediately lost all stamina. Meaning if you drop at any distance 16-24 meters at maximum stamina you will only slow down your falling speed for 2 seconds before being drained of stamina which may not be enough to slow you down from dying, while anything at 25 or more meters will basically be ineffective without proper climbing equipment. Use this technique wisely. Meant to handle unrealistic mountain dropping and escapes.
-Climbing now uses 20% more stamina. Climbing gear continues to assist with this as well as agility perk 2.
-Added Grapple Hook for safe descents from high altitude, regardless of height you can use a grapple hook while falling down a high altitude to drop your falling speed rapidly. Depending on decent speed, the hook receives damage with high falls causing significant durability loss and possibly breaking. Starting a grapple from the top of a ledge and descending causes very low durability loss.
-Stamina is now consumed with blocking, depending on type of weapon.
-Archery heavy shot now has two stages. First “attack” draws back, second heavy “attack” fires the arrow on command. If you do not use the 2nd “attack” it will stop the shot after 3 seconds. This keeps the combo for quick shots intact and should be easier to implement than ability to fire on queue which should drastically help with skilled shots.
-Arrows now naturally ricochet.
-All damage for arrows have been moved into the bow and the accuracy attribute while all penetration has been moved to accuracy and arrows only with some arrows providing a unique effect.
-Naturally gain 4 health every level capping at 436 max health at level 60 naturally.
-Nauturally gain encumberance at 1.5 per level capping at 158.5 at level 60 naturally.
Arrows==================(all damage moved into bows and all penetration moved to arrows, arrows now determine your impact only)
Bone/T1- 5% penetration
Iron/Fire- 10% penetration, fire will ignite tar and gas clouds
Razor- 15% penetration, cause creatures to bleed leaving a small trail to follow (for hunting)
Hardened steel- 20% penetration
Star Metal- 25% penetration, bleed
Snake- 5% penetration + poison
Abyssal- 15% penetration + 3 stacks of corruption
Obsidean- 25% penetration + knockdown on leg shots
Orbs===============================
Tar- Can now leave a persisting effect of tar on enemies (and allies) which can be ignited by fire arrows or orbs.
Fire- Can ignite tar effected enemies currently affected by “sludge”, provides extreme warmth.
Gaseous- Same
Haunting- Crafted using high tier demon blood, causes corruption in a cloud, similar to gaseous.
Purifying- Crafted using holy water with a water orb, overwrites and slowly cures corruption effects. This orb will directly counter haunting orbs if used, but remember to keep them on hand.
Sheathes===============================(can have only 1 on your toolbar at any given time, acting like a bow, you place a corresponding weapon into its slow which will behave similar to how arrows are slotted into bows)
Basic Sheath (1h, 2h weapons)- Holds a weapon, provides a 33% speed bonus to drawing this weapon out.
Tar Sheath (1h, 2h Weapons)- Holds a weapon, the next time this weapon is drawn it will be ignited causing slight durability loss over the duration (1% every 3 seconds for 1 minute). 5 minute cooldown. Attacks will ignite flammable effects when struck (tar, dead trees, etc)
Quick Release (1h weapons only)- Holds a 1 handed weapon, when you draw out a 1h weapon immediately gain 25 stamina, ICD 10 seconds.
Initiating Sheath (2h Weapons only)- Holds a 2 handed weapon, when you draw a weapon from this sheath immediately follow up with a heavy attack which consumes no stamina. ICD 10 seconds.
Stealth================================(only relates to PVE and primarily for hunting but can be expanded on as AI become smarter and more advanced )
-Each enemy has different ranges in which they taunt and attack, some skip the taunt and go in for the kill, this is already given to us in game.
-Introduce actual sight to enemies, where they must see you to attack. The exception being if you are sprinting the enemy should sense you and turn in your direction quickly to detect you.
-Crouch will lessen your noise produced as will the type of armor you wear. Light armor being the most quiet of the armors and heavy being the loudest.
-Agility perk allows you to move very quickly while crouched with a final perk to grant you bonus damage if you strike an enemy that has not detected you, and survival perk helps you stay hidden easier.
-Bushes and water help conceal yourself however they will not allow you to escape or hide if spotted entering them.
-running through brush slows your movement speed down, crouch having less of an effect when passing. -Movement in brush and water produces noise, try to use tall grass and rocks for cover or avoid movement while in brush if trying to stay hidden.
Hunting==============(relates to harvesting meat from prey and creatures alike)
-Lower harvested meat amount from all creatures across all gathering tools.
-Have a majority of passive creatures run from players at first sight.
-introduce animal traps of various tiers, requires bait to be crafted at a campfire, bonfire, or stove to lure various types of animals into the trap. Requires several seconds to place trap to avoid use during combat.
Now onto stats. These are only suggestions to open more build options without adding more levels/stats and without mostly forcing players into certain traitlines.
Strength========================(direct effect on melee damage at 1 per level)
1- light attacks deal 20% more damage to targets affected by a condition (bleed, cripple, etc)
2- interupting an enemy attack returns stamina (15, no ICD?). Double effect for stunning effects (launch, knockdown, etc)
3-Gain increased movement speed towards low health targets (<25%). 25% movement speed.
4- Heavy swings deal 25% more damage
5- Gain 3% increased attack speed for every 1% of health you are missing below 35%.
Goal: make all melee based combat benefit from the traitline and help those in melee range to have the best offence they can have. The 5th bonus starts off small but ramps up and proc’s earlier for a more practical benefit.
Agility=============================(direct effect on armor at 2 per point)
- Falling damage is halved.
- Stamina is consumed less by movement actions by 35% (jumping, climbing, swimming and sprinting)
- You can sprint while crouched(slightly slower than standing and sprinting. Related to “stealth” mechanic, see above)
- Jump while in mid-air to perform another jump.
- dodge as if one weight class lower, dodging costs 20% less stamina.
Goal: An entire line dedicated to mobility and nimbleness. This would be mostly to assist light and medium armor builds or give heavy builds a different form of defense to work with other than vitality.
Vitality================================(Direct effect on vitality at 5 per level, max at lvl 60 686)
- Temperature effects are diminished
- Negative status effects have reduced durations on you by 20%
- Passively regenerate health. 1 every 2 seconds in combat, 3 every 2 seconds out of combat.
- Consumable effects last 50% longer. (elixirs no longer stack, only 1 at a time)
- Gain 15% damage reduction (ranged and melee only).
Goal: Make vitality about being tough and not about being a constant regen fountain. Reducing the 4th perk value but giving it to consumables given the suggestion of limiting them to only 1 type at a time. Heavy resistance to status effects means you will be a tank but not so much a healer anymore. In other words being hit will be forgiving but not as easy to ignore anymore. Even still vitality will make you one tough rock to push.
Accuracy=========================(Each point adds 1 ranged damage and reduces the cone radius of aim while moving by 1.75% capping at 87.5% by level 60)
1- Your attack speed of the 1st and 2nd shot combo is increased by 33%
2- Increase projectile damage by 15%. Double effect against creatures. (affects sorcery, future use)
3- Increase your ability to lock on with ranged WEAPONS by 5 yards.
4- Increased the armor penetration of all ranged attacks by 50% (affects sorcery, future use)
5- Headshots and attacking without being detected deal 50% more bonus damage
Goal: Improve the overall archery and ranged use so archers have some capability to operate at a distance or up close without extreme pressure. Natural ricochet only makes sense given it only works when you “miss” so it serves no purpose as a perk. The exclusive ranged only benefits makes this trait line ideal for ranged builds but not to put a melee build over the top with 50% penetration. The 87.5% aiming bonus while moving would make a level 50 accuracy build near perfect for master archery combat and the 2 step heavy shot should help a lot with aiming against mobile targets. And the naturally high damage on ranged thrown weapons makes the % bonuses very strong for them. A few bonuses to future sorcery use, although we still know very little about what it will be like so hard to dive in.
Grit=============================(Gain stamina at 3 per point)
1- Gain an additional 10% stamina per tick
2- Gain a natural resistance to damage, crippling effects on you are less severe
3- Increase your weight limit by 20%
4- Gain 40 stamina when you swap to a different weapon in combat. This trigger can pull you out of exhaustion but has an ICD of 20 seconds.
5- You can move at full speed while over encumbered.
Goal: Merge grit with encumbrance combined with providing natural encumbrance as you level makes this a great option to go over the top and boost your number of choices in combat and gathering without being almost-mandatory. Still the current set up for attribute points allowed would prevent this trait from being easily paired with vitality and an offensive trait line. This trait line would be ideal for supply and gathering builds given the infinite weight limit. There isn’t a whole reason to make a trait line for encumbrance with a 5th trait like this already in game.
Survival==================(Improve the rate at which you metabolize food and handle harsh conditions)
1- Increase your weight limit by 15%, reduces your visibility from enemy creatures by 20% (not humanoids, relates to stealth mechanic, see above)
2- Exhaustion is 50% shorter and you double your breath timer. (exhaustion when you spend all your stamina)
3- You harvest materials more efficiently (50% bonus to speed and amount gathered)
4- Immunity to poison and diseases. Includes food poisoning.
5- Using a healing consumable removes a detrimental status effect. Corruption no longer reduces stamina.
Goal: to make the this trait line less out of place and give quality of life perks to any build. If someone wants to make the little tasks and items replaceable this trait line would fill that niche very well. No longer needing to carry any special healing items as they work on all foods and the natural poison immunity means DoTs are a thing of the past.
Final predicted result================
I think the idea of build diversity would be much more visible as far as attributes go in addition to letting people pick their appearance while staying within the respective weight classes for bonuses. There would likely need to be a small decrease in trait points max to balance the removal of a trait line but the idea would be investing into a trait line for its 5th bonus to maximize your build’s strength. I would say at most 2 trait lines can be maxed with 1 additional trait line at 1 with gear and attribute points together end-game. Currently with end-game gear and war paint you can do this but many desired traits are too much of an investment compared to the rest of the trait line to get there. I think this shifting around and add-ons would bring builds of all kinds.
However, its another problem to fix the armor and weapon values/attacks or I can see the potential for some new meta builds rather quickly.