[REPOST] Sweeping Changes to FETO

[Breadophile]

Krypto, for the best stat distribution, you want it to be easy to choose the stats for the play style you want, but you also want lots of different options.

Let's take mage riders as an example. This is sort of cheating because each of the three mage rider classes promote from two other, different classes with two very different stat distributions, but they are probably the best example either way. The mage riders have a very discreet yet awesome combination of abilities: +5 hit and a mount. This allows them some more lee-way when planning units. I don't know the statistics, but Mike has said that the entire class would fall apart without the +5 hit. But we all know that with it, the entire line is awesome.

So tell me, how many different types of mage riders have you seen? There's a different, completely viable build (along with slight variants) for every skill barring wrath (and maybe nihil, but that's because nihil is lol). Even then, you can still build one for wrath, it's just not many people do it because the unit can't hit and run.

Even limiting it to just wraiths (or just missionaries), you'll still see this.

Contrast snipers, who are used almost exclusively for one thing: hit and running. They have very few variants and nearly all of them are built the same way: hit accurately and for enough damage to OHKO/ORKO. Some of them invest in speed over complete skill and luck so they aren't completely crippled defensively.

This relates more to the design of the whole game, but we want the class to be easy to use as well. Snipers are hard to use because they make the center of the h&r game. The only builds the high-level players use on the damn things are hit and run builds. It's very complex and hard to use, especially for beginners. This combined with the few builds for it make it undeniably the worst designed class in the game. This is in terms of fun, not balance.

Remember Krypto, we can't forget the objective of designing a game. I don't know if you hype on about it a lot, but I myself get stuck on the balance part way too much. I've gotten a lot better about it lately, though.

Back to snipers. Krypto, when you get a chance, play a few matches with a sniper and don't hit and run with it. At all. Tell me if it gets a little more interesting. Hell, I assume you've done this suiciding in gauntlets. Were snipers more interesting to use in that too? I bet they were.

Comparitively, since one doesn't normally hit and run with the other critmasters, they don't have this problem. It may be harder to get hits because of their favorable range being 1 instead of 2, sure, but the premise of them is simple: take a killer or S-rank and go to town. They do have fewer builds than the mage riders, but their relatively simplicity compensates for this. Besides, nothing has as many viable builds as a mage rider.

For another example, wyverns have a decent number of different builds, but are notable in that they are some of the simplest classes to use, if not they simplest (smashy smashy countery/pursuity death).

Mageriders are slightly more complex but they too are very easy to use if you've built them with a specific role in mind.

If you couldn't figure it out, using the same premise I used to say that snipers were the worst class, I would say that mage riders are the best class.