Racial Abilities

...Okay, I went through and over-analyzed a few of the races to prove my previous point >_>

(My previous point being that all of the races are physically about the same by design, while still being different in other ways besides physical capability.)

Without wings there's no reason they would have any flight capability. That's a major part of their characterization as a race. Also, I should point out that even earth has flightless birds.

Given their purpose, it should come as no surprise that they would experience hunger. Not because a robot can't do better, but because they're designed to live and die like a biological organism would.

And yes, food is probably their only energy source. Given that the same applies to humans, it seems pretty believable to me

This one's a bit tricky, since one might think that reverting to a more 'primitive' form might mean they're more physically capable (since apes didn't have intelligence to rely on), but that's the wrong way to look at it. Even if they have that form, that doesn't mean they use it properly. You'll notice they behave like humans do for the most part. Actually they're even more 'passive' and formal, pretty much the opposite of what they'd need.

In fact, they're lucky they can function at all with that body. A bit more and they'd be walking on their hands or something. Genetic experimentation is dangerous stuff, you know what I mean?

Now this one's actually a tough sell. Mostly because the way they do things in general seems to be indicative of very exceptional physical ability.

Now, just to be clear, sunlight doesn't make a plant stronger or anything like that. Well, not any more than me eating a bunch of candy would anyway. Some fantasy/scifi authors have gone that route, but it is by no means an imperative.

The main point here, though, is their tribal nature. You might be thinking "a bunch of savages with spears can hold their own against the other races with their lightsabers(TBA I'm sure) and plasma rifles? They must have a really good throwing arm." Let's not forget, though, that it takes a great deal of intelligence to reverse engineer a spaceship, much less to kill the inhabitants. What they lack in apparent technological advancement they make up for in cunning and resourcefulness, not brute strength.

The point being, they're actually just as smart as the other races, just deceptively so due to their culture. They choose to live the way they do, it's not because they don't know any better.

Setting aside balance reasons, lore-wise I feel that adding "racial abilities" would be counterproductive at this point. The way I see it, these races were essentially designed around not having such things, aside from the differing technology.

Meh, it's been done before.

 

@Skarn As I says, everything can be explained by lore. But still can be done some racial traits. And exist racial traits, bonded to equipment and technology. The only point is then all races can get later.

Because this I make another suggestion, allowing the racial traits bonded to race and still be possible to all races get it after. But no one makes any comment about my suggestion...

 

I see nothing wrong with slight racial traits that do not unbalance pvp but add fun to the different races, then again for all I know the races have unique tech that acts as that, other then armor.

 

This is exactly the opposite of what the devs said they wanted.

 

What is exactly opposed? The initial tread or my suggestion? Why?

 

I can't really think of any good ideas on that front. All of the suggestions I've seen are either really arbitrary and pointless (like bonus damage or armor) or they wouldn't be transferable. Unless there's a tech that lets you grow wings or gills (or leaves), that is.

Has anyone seen the racial abilities in action? The only one I've seen is the Avian one, and it works through the back slot, probably not needing the actual armor at all. If this holds true for the other races, then the "armor" itself becomes a stylistic choice if you have access to the other races'.

 

I hear the cry for balance but I have to admit, I don't understand why you would want a completely balanced game.

Every multiplayer title I've played that involved racials is (of course) not completely fair, but was completely fun. That fun factor is not destroyed, or even damaged in my opinion, just because it was not perfectly balanced. Life is not fair, life is not a giant pool of the same fish. It's full of sharks, crabs, whales, octopi, and so on. You as a human being see the world as unfair and full of uniqueness.

Let me make an example: A human chases a hylotl (Fish dude). He had injured the hylotl and wished to kill it. This hylotl stood no chance fighting the human with his wounds, so he simply ran and makes his way to a lake. The aquatic man jumps in and swims deep into the waters, since he is a fish like race he can breath under the water (maybe even swim faster). The human jumps in after him, but did not have equipment to dive very deep without needing air. Thus the man gives up the chase and the hylotl survives thanks to his racial. (sorry if I have the aquatic race's name wrong..)

To me that's amazing! Sure it's "not perfectly balanced". But I have to ask, why care?! That man (player) -could- of had the proper gear to be able to give further chase, but maybe he never found the time, or left those things at the base. But the hylotl did not have to have those things! And in my opinion, breathing under water without equipment shouldn't hurt PvP much, unless your chasing them down, of course.

How awesome would that hylotl player feel?! While the human remains impressed, but enjoys his -own- racial more.

Obviously, the trick is making racials that make you love the race, but not be OP in other areas. Just throwing the racials out of the window is never the way to go, which Chucklefish have NOT done, thankfully.

All that being said, I am happy with the races diversity in early tech and gear, and so on. That's enough for me. But I would love it more to have born racials that other characters cannot attain.

 

I believes the devs reasoning behind this choice is that they don't want the player to be limited on what they can do based on their race. In the end every race is equal because of the armor because anyone can get it.(later in game)