Cat Suit * safe fall: fall from any height, no damage * soft step: movement makes no noise * claws: buffed knife attack or double-strike knife attack * improved vision: toggle night vision (can run with it active, can shoot with it active) * improved jump * improved speed
So we get all those things, SMGs, Scout-rifles, Sniper Rifles, AP-mines, Hacking Tools, Recon tool. And our only letdown in comparison to the other classes, is that we have 10% less hp? Hardly sounds balanced.
Most this will probably come as implants: everyone will have them, probably no more than 1 at time. Two versions are going to be implemented: 1) For NC and TR: For Vanu:
Balance it by having to clean yourself with your tongue after each respawn, and loudly cough up hairballs right before you're about to make the mother of all sneaky kills.
the same way they balanced catwoman despite having Halle Berry star in it ...terrible character development, it's SOE's strongest attack
Balancing is the easy part. (at least for me) The harder part is figuring what what combination of mechanics and theme are most compelling for the target players. I'll cover balance now. First you try to figure out "what" and "who" the item is intended for. You want to make the item good enough to be appealing for the target group, but not so good that people are using it frequently outside the target group/role or all the time (unless it's being used all the time for moderate power level general utility). This suit is intended for CQC. It's effects are derived from both a Cat theme and CQC mechanic focus. Then you want to tune the suit overall power level by tweaking the quality level of each feature (height or damage scaling safe fall works from, scaling or duration windows of soft step, damage/speed/range of claw attack, distance or duration of vision, etc.) until you get to a level you want. These can also work in terms of populating tiers of power levels along Cert progression. Also, you can cut out features to reduce power level or to reduce suits appeal outside of target group's target use. When considering a Sniper, which of these effects would sell the suit to them? Improved Speed would be very good, with Improved Jump being also appealing, and Safe Fall being third in its appeal. In contrast, Soft Step, Claws, and Infantry Night Vision (due to it's very limited range) would all be sub par. The easiest thing to do in order to make sure Infiltrator is not always wearing it for Sniping, is to cut the Improved Speed and Improved Jump. That leaves us with: * safe fall: fall from any height, no damage * soft step: movement makes no noise * claws: buffed knife attack or double-strike knife attack * improved vision: toggle night vision (can run with it active, can shoot with it active) Now we tweak the power level of each so that is (1) an appealing choice but not the only choice, and (2) nothing in it is especially OP (as in makes other classes cry out against it). You start with settings you think work, then you implement it and get feedback on it. Allow players to choose it on a test server/test group, then change the number of features and quality of each feature until the right groups are choosing it in the desired frequency. The settings I would start testing with are: * safe fall: fall from any height. Damage taken scales with each Cert level, no damage when fully Certed (if that's too good, then scale it so max level takes 50% damage and/or that there is a max height of ~100m) * soft step: noise radius decreases with each cert, crouching movement makes no sound when fully Certed * claws: Range and Damage of "knife" attack increases at each Cert level, fully Certed level has +50% range of knife and +50% damage of knife. Also has a Claw graphic instead of a Knife. Perhaps add longer delay between reuse than knife has. * improved vision: toggle on/off night vision, range extends with each Cert level. Max Certed range is equal to Infantry Night Vision scope Still too good after testing? Reduce the quality of features or cut more features. The biggest problem I see with this suit is that it doesn't fit the "one ability" theme of current suit slots. That is a more radical approach. Effectively introducing a Suit variant for the class. But it is also doable if that is what players prefer. (though again, it is more radical for suit slots than is consistent with that slot) #1: you can balance just about any ability or bundle of abilities by tweaking their quality levels. The Cat Suit is supposed to be a fun toy that fits and enhances the enjoyment of playing a role within the class, not a new OP suit to break the game. By taking this suit, you forgo Nanoweave or whatever other suit you are currently taking, and it should be a choice that players make relative to their situation and their playstyle. #2: I know you are a big advocate that Infiltrator is borderline OP, but most of us disagree with you. I think Infiltrator is neat and I enjoy playing it. I think it has many unique and potentially breakable features. But I think the class (in its current state) is ill suited to the current gameplay (XP Reward, Major Strategic Objectives, Team Play, etc.): I think the bugs, quality level of the features, and way the overall game is set-up right now leave it weak in terms of that gameplay. Also, I think current design has Power Creep creating many conflicts for the class. (Nanoweave vs. OHK, Scout Radar vs. Sneak, Scout Radar vs. Recon Dart, etc.)
