Reddit Link IntroductionHello again everyone! With the beta out I realize how much I love running around with a shield. Unfortunately they aren't very intuitive and would love to see shields get some more loving since they were left out of the weapon rebalance! Here is my suggestion, with reasons and worries, about shields in all their glory. Please read it all if you can! Since adding a Resource is so darn controversial I made a section where it uses Energy instead of The new Bar First thing is first, shields go from overpowered to useless in a matter of a few levels. I personally want every weapon to have a place throughout the game. As they are right now, they "had their own armor rating, and when you blocked, it changed your armor rating to that of the shield. If you're on a level 13 planet with 13 armor, and your shield has like, 5 you're going to take more damage blocking than just taking the hit, because it's dropping your armor rating from 13 to 5" as RobbieMcSkillet from reddit states. This is confusing. I think a new resource, like health and energy should be introduced in the form of a lovely bar right next to health. Perhaps it will only be visible if you have the shield in a certain slot. I don't care which one you prefer, Check both of them out for yourself and see. Using The new ResourceI think a new resource, like health and energy should be introduced in the form of a lovely bar right next to health. Perhaps it will only be visible if you have the shield in a certain slot. "insert glass shattering noise here" "My shield has the power to change the world's colors!" An alternative to the bar beside the Health This would work too. perhaps only half the bar covered? Just a less cluttered option. Lets list the info!: New Shield Stats Absorption: A numerical value that represents how much damage can be absorbed by the shield before the player needs to put his arm down again to recover. Recover Rate: Obviously the rate at which the player recovers while the shield is down. Recovery Delay: This stat exists to prevent players from dropping the shield after every attack, cheating the system. credit xankek Armor: If willing the shield can add some base armor to the player. Legendary Resistance: Resists, perhaps 100% a damage type designated by the shield such as fire and the like. Energy Cost: If the new bar wont be used, this could be changed to Energy consumption. Better shields would consume less energy per point of damage absorbed,. The Yellow bar is only active when the player has his/her shield out and in front. Else it's grayed out/Inactive. The reason for the new bar, apposed to pulling from energy, is because Tech and guns pull from the energy pool. Using a shield right after using some tech or switching would cause the shield to operate poorly. Hence the new bar. (See above) The bar does not deplete when the shield is up, it depletes when the shield is struck. This is treated as a temporary health decided by the shields 'Absorption" stat. Should the bar get low. The shield itself will flash, much like a bow does when it can critical hit. This provides a visual que for the player without having to stare at another bar. If the bar is completely depleted it will take an extra long time to start to recover. "You could also use a mechanic where the shield bar starts empty when you equip it. I feel like that sidesteps any kind of weapon-swap shenanigans.Potentially the Bar starts empty if another weapon has been switched to" credit: orangepulp In addition to the new bar, adding in the ability to aim the shield, like the bow, would allow for more focused and directional blocking. A player with quick reflexes and precision could block attacks from varying directions including up above, which in prior instances, was impossible.credit:Jacob_Johnson Another potential addition is timed blocking. The bar will still take damage and ,if timed incorrectly, the player might instead. However if timed perfectly the attack is countered, bashing the opponent away and reflecting a percentage of the attack back on to the attacker. Even if the damage reflected is minor, like 10% It allows skilled players to counter effectively. The damage reflection would only work on melee attackers, on ranged attackers the projectile itself has a chance to be reflected off at an angle. credit: eze2kiel So when a player has their shield up, and a monster attacks, the yellow bar is the one that takes damage, not the player's health. Having the shields act like this allows them to be assigned several stats, be balanced properly, are far more informative to their use/benefits, and can be used more skillfully in combat. A players knows how much his shield arm will hold up before his arm gets wailed on too much. This encourages tactical decisions and not simply holding up your shield through the duration of a fight to simply negate damage. Using EnergyThis method would primary be the same as the other using the new resource, some stats would be reworked and it would tax an already taxed pool even more. Both methods have the same end product. How we get their is just different. Lets list the info!: New Shield Stats Energy Cost: If the new bar wont be used, this could be changed to Energy consumption. Better shields would consume less energy per point strike. (potentially removable see below) Absorption: A numerical value that represents how much damage can be absorbed by the shield per point of energy expended. Better shields could absorb more. Armor: If willing the shield can add some base armor to the player. Legendary Resistance: Resists, perhaps 100% a damage type designated by the shield such as fire and the like. The biggest differences between the energy based Section and the new bar would be how they function to achieve the goal. With the New resource, we could absorb damage at a straight tax and increase the pool with the shield istelf, not having to worry about balancing energy. This way shields have two very important stats: Energy Cost and Absorption. It works like this: Use 2 energy (Energy Cost) for every 10 Points of Damage taken (Absorption) If an enemy hits me for 200 damage it would cost me 20 energy to deflect it. OR Remove Energy cost completely and have every shield default to 1 or a number. It ALWAYS cost X energy to use a shield. For example. An enemy hits me for 200 again. My absorption is 20. 200/20 = 10. It would cost me 10 energy to defend against that attack. These aren't final numbers of course. Just estimations and speculation Adding in the ability to aim the shield, like the bow, would allow for more focused and directional blocking. A player with quick reflexes and precision could block attacks from varying directions including up above, which in prior instances, was impossible.credit:Jacob_Johnson Another potential addition is timed blocking. The bar will still be drained and ,if timed incorrectly, the player might instead. However if timed perfectly the attack is countered, bashing the opponent away and reflecting a percentage of the attack back on to the attacker. Even if the damage reflected is minor, like 10% It allows skilled players to counter effectively. The damage reflection would only work on melee attackers, on ranged attackers the projectile itself has a chance to be reflected off at an angle. credit: eze2kiel So when a player has their shield up, and a monster attacks, the absorbs the damage if the plaayer has enough energy, the players health won't take damage even it it's a high damage monster. Having the shields act like this allows them to be assigned several stats, be balanced properly, are far more informative to their use/benefits, and can be used more skillfully in combat. A players knows how much his shield arm will hold up before his arm gets wailed on too much. This encourages tactical decisions and not simply holding up your shield through the duration of a fight to simply negate damage. Talk it out and help me refine this suggestion!
Beautiful. I always use shields, and this is a great way to balance them. Here's hoping this maked it into the game.
Not quite yet! If you want to go upvote the reddit post so it get's more attention I'll post the link up top. Let me know if you have any feedback. I just want it changed. I miss my shields.
This is a well written and thought out suggestion. This is exactly how I hoped the suggestions would be formatted, and I believe it would add substance and coherence to the combat system. Beautiful.. cudos..
Another cool thing would be if shields knocked you back if you hit it with just the right part of the weapon, but also took away more absorption from the shield.
Or when you block on the moment they swing at you, you not only block the attack but you counter it with a shieldbash that sends your opponent flying !
My main concern is how much shields would outclass 2h weapons if this were to be implemented. I think it's an awesome concept and should be in the game to make combat more intuitive and deep, but two-hand weapons and possibly ranged weapons need to have some additional depth and utility to compensate imo.
I had this concern as well. I do believe that there was mentioning of some form of Stances for weapons in patch notes hopefully that means more depth for them too!... ummm in HERE.
if a shield isn't always usable, whats to stop people from switching to a two hander the second it runs out? Maybe with something like weapon damage being reduced by the % of energy you don't have. Then just have swinging weapons (especially two handers) and blocking with shields cause a large reduction in energy. From there, maybe taking from your system, blocking will add a temporary boost to your HP (maybe also modified by your remaining energy). Any damage under that number is "blocked", anything over is reduced by that number. You can refresh it by lowering your shield, but you cant spam it because you loose a chunks of energy. Doesn't really matter what you do really, just as long as you cant cheese with a shield then swap to a two hander in order to avoid the charging penalty .
I remember awhile ago the devs were planning on just having shields use energy, although this is a better solution imo.
As it is, holding a shield outward stops/prevents energy regen, and while 'absorbing' (ect) damage doesn't seem to deplete any energy, if the bar is empty (in case of gun/tech usage while shield is up), the shield automatically goes down. Also, I hope they add in more cool models, as I personally love my shield + machine pistol combo, no matter how impractical it may be.
Well. The point of using the shield is to prevent damage. A single handed weapon could be swung regardless and if the shield isn't equipped the benefit is non-existent. I think im understanding correctly. Interesting. But i really don't like pulling from the energy pool. Having the separate pool allows shields to be "random" in stats like weapons. And if it worked in the manner which i stated, having the separate pool would allow the shields to be good for themselves and not buff the energypool.
If your yellow bar is overlaying your red bar how will you see your health if you have less health then shield.
