Some games are very good about allowing you to choose multiple classes and to select from multiple skill trees - at least, on paper they are good about that. But then the Devs evaluate the choices you make and swing the nerf bat repeatedly to ensure your choices aren't "too" good. I HATE that. If I make thoughtful choices I want to reap the rewards of doing so, and if I make less optimal or even silly choices I accept the consequences.
Let me give you an example from my closet of mmo pain. I beta tested SWG and played it at launch. When the game went live I chose two professions. At the time neither were considered very good classes. However, I had a plan. I had studied their skills, abilities, etc. and could see that at master levels, each class perfectly compensated for the other's weakness. Plus they had stacking abilities. Plus those abilities offset the other's vulnerabilities/limitations. The down side was that prior to master level they were pretty gimp. :blink: Nevertheless, I went that route.
Leveling was slooooow with that combo. I watched as player after player with more standard choices blew past me in levels, and beat me like a tied down circus monkey in PvP. But I had a plan and I stuck to it, suffering through all of that. At long last I became a double master (triple actually though one was a lower tier profession) and whoah nelly, was I right. My guy was wicked lethal at range, wicked lethal up close, and was hard as hell to kill. I started to excel in PvP (Master Bounty hunters were no problem and even some Jedi), and rarely died in PvE. Life was good. My long wait had been rewarded and my careful plan was paying dividends.
Do I even have to say what $OE did next? Yet. They nerfed total hell out of that combination. Fortunately my character never felt the bite of that nerf because I quit the game as soon as I learned of their intentions. But from friends I heard how drastic it was afterwards.
So on to my question. HJ promotes choice making and offers a huge number of choices. Will fear of there being a Flavor of the Month Build lead them to punish players who make good choices, as so many other games have done? Or will you allow each combinations/build to reap its maximum benefit, even if that isn't the same for each? If I put a lot of thought into my selections, can I benefit from that or will the great equalizer nerf bat give me the beat down?
Let me give you an example from my closet of mmo pain. I beta tested SWG and played it at launch. When the game went live I chose two professions. At the time neither were considered very good classes. However, I had a plan. I had studied their skills, abilities, etc. and could see that at master levels, each class perfectly compensated for the other's weakness. Plus they had stacking abilities. Plus those abilities offset the other's vulnerabilities/limitations. The down side was that prior to master level they were pretty gimp. :blink: Nevertheless, I went that route.
Leveling was slooooow with that combo. I watched as player after player with more standard choices blew past me in levels, and beat me like a tied down circus monkey in PvP. But I had a plan and I stuck to it, suffering through all of that. At long last I became a double master (triple actually though one was a lower tier profession) and whoah nelly, was I right. My guy was wicked lethal at range, wicked lethal up close, and was hard as hell to kill. I started to excel in PvP (Master Bounty hunters were no problem and even some Jedi), and rarely died in PvE. Life was good. My long wait had been rewarded and my careful plan was paying dividends.
Do I even have to say what $OE did next? Yet. They nerfed total hell out of that combination. Fortunately my character never felt the bite of that nerf because I quit the game as soon as I learned of their intentions. But from friends I heard how drastic it was afterwards.
So on to my question. HJ promotes choice making and offers a huge number of choices. Will fear of there being a Flavor of the Month Build lead them to punish players who make good choices, as so many other games have done? Or will you allow each combinations/build to reap its maximum benefit, even if that isn't the same for each? If I put a lot of thought into my selections, can I benefit from that or will the great equalizer nerf bat give me the beat down?