Former Diablo three designer factors out flaws in Anthem’s loot and reward techniques, and the way they are often improved

It’s no secret at this level that Anthem’s loot game, very similar to the remainder of the package deal, is severely missing.

If you ignore the fanfare-less approach Anthem rewards loot, the precise loot itself is uninspired, and lacks the range different loot shooters have.

Stepping away from the tip product for a second, there’s an fascinating design dialog available about BioWare’s choices with reference to itemisation, frequency of rewards, and the way loot is finally doled out.

In a prolonged put up on Anthem’s subreddit, Travis Day, former Diablo three techniques designer who at present works on Dauntless at Phoenix Labs, explored the game’s many missteps in relation to the loot game.

Day began off by speaking about what they known as “dead inscriptions”, that are affixes that don’t have an effect on the merchandise they rolled on, regardless of the outline implying in any other case. This causes participant confusion, and additional complicates issues.

As to how loot itself is acquired – largely Strongholds, Day lamented the dearth of clear issue tiers. Fighting the ultimate bosses of all three Strongholds, Day realised the Tyrant Mine was the best. Because Anthem doesn’t assign clear issue tiers to every of the three Strongholds, gamers will observe the trail of least resistance, which on this case is the Tyrant Mine.

If BioWare meant for every Stronghold to have a set issue, the loot rewarded ought to replicate that. If they’re all imagined to be roughly the identical issue, then Day suggests differentiating the loot and bonuses with a view to make working all three extra fascinating than sticking to probably the most environment friendly route of simply doing Tyrant.

Day additionally touched on the dearth of granularity in issue. For instance, after gearing up to some extent the place Grandmaster 1 is trivial, Grandmaster 2 represents a disproportionately larger problem. You can go from feeling comfy in GM1, to getting one-shot in GM2.

This discourages gamers from pushing to larger difficulties, the place they need to really feel challenged and never overwhelmed.

The put up is extremely informative, and ought to be learn in its entirety. If you’re trying to hear extra about Travis Day’s expertise engaged on Diablo three and loads of different Blizzard games, he has a GDC talk that’s additionally price your time.


 
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