Oh yeah I'm all up for targeting oneself with skills. Technically, if someone's put a point into a support skill then that skill would provide an extra "theoretical damage%" buff due to that spent point. It's just the case of does that extra % be large and you don't debuff yourself when you cast, or does it be small and you do debuff yourself?
The only reason I can think of why a large % extra buff
and a self-debuff wouldn't work is because that extra % becomes very significant for someone who's already got a significant buff (even with the fact that an extra 5% on top of 130% is actually only a 3.85% increase from the original percentage, because I'd assume we'd use percentage points not actual percentages. Exponentials get out of hand very quickly).
A correction
I'm gonna correct myself a bit here. I have previously said that we should encourage support players to take part in active offence, rather than force them. However, some of the examples I've given can technically be either depending on the point of view. This is because the two things really lie on a scale, and the "encourage" example is simply less forceful than the "force" example.
Another correction
The other thing is a WIS stat. I realised in the shower yesterday why percentages aren't a great way of doing things. Say we have a level 20 support player and a level 10 mage. A percentage buff of the mage's MATK is going to be a lot less significant because that mage is only level 10. This means that, for all the extra skill points the level 20 support player has in support stats, they'll only end up buffing them self because they then receive their skill points' worth of buffing.
This is a very extreme example sure, but it's something that's bound to happen at some point. Now, I guess I'll expand on how it could be implemented in the current system, and if it's worth adding new items just to buff WIS. Finally I'll add some extra comments on if a complete gear system rework might be able to incorporate this WIS, as well as provide better gear variation for the current game, support skills or no.
Adding WIS to the current system?
First off, why WIS? Google defines wise as "having or showing experience, knowledge, and good judgement." which is exactly what an
experienced support player does, but just because someone is wise doesn't mean they help others with their wisdom. Maybe ALT for altruism ("disinterested and selfless concern for the well-being of others.") or COM for compassion ("sympathetic pity and concern for the sufferings or misfortunes of others.") might be a better description. Who knows
Anyway, onto gear. Firstly, is it worth adding new items to buff WIS?
Maybe? There's definitely a lot of gear around already, and it might not be worth adding even more stuff, especially if we want to fit all different combos of builds (DEF + WIS, ATK + WIS, MATK + WIS, HP + WIS, etc.). For each new stat we add, the combinations of builds rises exponentially
Secondly, is it a good idea to add +WIS to current items?
I wouldn't say so. It's the simplest solution, sure, but it's perhaps a bit too simple. If we don't change the gears' current stats to compensate for the extra WIS, a support won't even be underpowered by nature, because of all the extra stats they'll get. If those stats do get knocked, support will become necessary to be played, due to the extra +WIS you've got. I'd say we leave this solution out, unless anyone can improve. Finally...
Complete gear system rework?
Gotta love them controversial reworks, yo! Basically, what I'd propose is that, instead of having most items being tailored to +ATK builds, +MATK builds or +WIS builds, they all provide varying amounts of each. So for any new item that makes you stronger, it should have +ATK, +MATK
and +WIS. However, it should be small in a couple of them and good in one, or equally good at all three. That way, hybrid builds are encouraged (and helped towards begin more viable, seen as they aren't particularly atm) but people can still specialize if they want.
Further examples would be anything that makes you faster should have +CSPD, +ASPD and perhaps +move speed while casting/shielding. Anything that makes you more durable should have +Max HP, +DEF and perhaps even +shield HP. Anything that makes you stronger could also increase +Crit chance and +Crit DMG. Finally, anything that give you more EP flexibility should have +EP regen and +Max EP... or maybe those could be incorporated into the things that make you faster.
Items then go up in "tiers" of power. EG, the sandals (tier 1) in the Pillar Mountains cave give you a bit more DEF than Max HP, but the Slime Ring (tier 2, could be renamed to "Durable Ring") ups both of those a bit, and the Red Necklace (or "Sturdy Necklace", also tier 2) adds more Max HP than DEF. So for each new tier you go up, the player's overall "percentage durability" increases, but the proportions of each stat can vary between items.
Well you said reworks are controversial
One could argue that the current system already does this in a way. Each individual item tends to buff primarily ATK and melee, MATK and ranged, or something like DEF and HP. The odd thing has buffs for both ATK and MATK. However, builds instead use the combinations of different bits of gear in the 8 slots available to make a hybrid build.
Yes, this is very true. However, again, I'll bring up that the "unrestricted skill tree" is one of the game's selling points. Currently, most of the gear is categorized in the categories mentioned above, so you have "ATK specialist" gear or "MATK specialist" gear. Reworking the system as described categorizes the gear such that, on the outside, it looks like you're getting gear that favours a particular playstyle rather than a particular set of stats (ignoring the fact that MATK is primarily ranged and ATK is primarily melee), while also incorporating this WIS stat.
It can also provide a nice summary for people. Each piece of gear is labelled with it's tier and a summary of it's stat proportions and the category of buffs it gives:
- Sandals - Tier 1, Durable (DEF)
- Slime Ring - Tier 2, Durable (DEF)
- Red Necklace - Tier 2, Durable (HP).
- Red Ring + Purple Ring = Fierce Ring (which also buffs WIS) - Tier 2, Strong (General)
And this is what will encourage hybrid builds more. Another thing is we can then compare different buff categories in the same tier. Players know that if something has a certain tier, it will provide just as much buff as any other piece of gear as that tier. Again, we'd use that "theoretical damage%" (that I've talked a lot about already) to compare things.
Yet more words
I really think this could work. In fact I've kinda hyped myself up now, which is a shame. It feels like it'd be something that's gonna have to sit in the Dev's ideas bank and ferment while the rest of the story is finished, yet I really, really want it now. It just feels like this rework would be too good.
Someone please crush my dreams. Kana. Own. Ardeof. Anyone. Tell me why this would be terrible so I can stop feeling hyped and enjoy the game as it is >.<
~G <3
P.S. If you despise the emojis at the end of each heading, please say so, because I feel they make the sections below them look more appealing to read, and therefore am going to do that for every one of my longer posts