In prepping for V-set 14, we tried to be very intentional about what SAs, FPs and CEs we were going to use. We had lots of ideas, and many ended up on the cutting room floor. Others came about later out of necessity.

We did however have some specific goals. Not only for our set, but to add abilities that future designers could use.

One umbrella concept that was a big part of the set was the idea of "damage capping"

I feel like what has been missing from our game for quite some time is the feeling of gameplay like it was early on. The feeling of having a big bad dude be able to wade into the fight and last a few rounds. And I'm not talking about doing it through means of a ton of saves. As fun as flipping a pack of quarters is, it's much more fun to have a game where aggressive action will result in actual damage, yet where the defender can take a bunch of hits and live to be able to do something back. The issue is that we've been trying to solve the problem of skyrocketing damage through defensive abilities that avoid or prevent damage. This only encourages the cycle to continue. Abilities like evade, LS defense, damage reduction, etc are all fine, but they are not a complete solution. These abilities ultimately encourage increasing damage, and hiding more often.

What we need are abilities to cap damage.

We included a couple of SAs and FPs spread throughout the set (hopefully to get the ball rolling for other designers to expand upon as well.)

Advanced Diffusion Armor, Diffusion Armor, LS Protection 1 and 2

Note that the SAs are weaker than the FPs. FPs should be stronger, because they cost to use. The SAs shut off when the enemy is adjacent, thus encouraging close engagement.

The idea is the end result that there would be more legitimate fights in the game. Not due to a bunch of save rolls (or a lot of misses), but due to the fact that small ammounts of damage were slowly accumulating. No more hiding a beafy figure out of fear that being exposed for a single phase would mean their death. There would be more action, and less frustration about positive aggressive action ammounting to nothing because of a bunch of saves. Go out and fight, do some damage, take some back, give back some more!

This concept is one way of going outside the box we seem to be stuck in of more saves. Walk your big bad jedi out there with LS Protection into the fight, he'll slowly take damage, but won't die in a phase, and also won't live forever based on great saves. What opponent squads would stuggle with it? Outactivate and smash, cannon squads, squads with only a few hitters. This is a good thing IMO. People will have to spend less on tech on more on offense. People will have to bring their commanders out from hiding to take shots as well. Bring their whole squad into the fight. All of the above will benefit the game imo. To boil it all down: Roll the dice more for attacks, less for saves.

In the line of less saves, we intentionally created very few new abilities with a save. Saves have their place, but it has run rampant. We were vigilant to include less new save based abilities than virtually any other set.



Outside of the Damage Capping concept, we also tried to make several SAs, FPs and CEs to combat common NPEs. Some of those are:

Banish, Defense Beacon, Exterminate, Faith in the Force, Fortified (and Phalanx Formation), Interference, Interdict, Junk Boss, Pin Down, Scramble Signal, Stalwart, Stifling Attack, Wager, Force Awareness, Force Curse, Force Premonition, Booster Terrik's CE, EV-9D9's CE, Venku Skirata's CE, Darth Baras' CE, etc.

Now it should go without saying that one person's NPE is not another person's. That said, each of the abilites above responds in some way to an NPE, even sometimes multiple ones, that we heard complaints over and over about. Very few of them are "hard counters". Most just soften the NPE.

Additionally, we wanted to create "lighter" versions of existing (often overpowered) abilities. This gives designers future options to NOT use the overpowered ability, even though the theme seems to fit. They can use a more appropriately powered ability in the same vein. Stifiling Attack, Retaliatory Attack, Valiant Reprisal, Local Reserves 12, Interference, Scramble Signal, Vu'traat Reinforcements 20, and Unit Bodyguard

Other times they are simply a variation on an existing ability such as Heavy Blaster 30.

As stated in the other thread, a couple abilities had to be made to prevent abuse; Singular Focus, Solitary Attack, Warden. Exterminate is an ability that served 2 functions. Obviously - hurting the major NPE of Avoid Defeat was part of it. The other very important part is nerfing it for their own team, not just enemies. The reason for this is that the pieces it is on (and the charcters they boost) are easily recipients of Avoid Defeat. Grapple Droids boost Bodyguard Droids, which with their officer ALL get avoid defeat. The 8th cortex shaper and Malik Carr make dangerous sqauads, and Avoid Defeat is easily added in the Vong (due to the Yun Ne'shell Priest). The priest also gives +4 to saves, so a super boosted (from the 8th Cortex shaper) big bad unique could survive ridiculously long. Malik could become a nearly eternal bodyguard. Or worse yet - you could combine the two! Many designers of other sets implored us to make sure eternal bodyguards couldn't happen. Not gonna happen on our watch!

We also of course wanted abilities to be flavorful specific to the piece. Obviously old abilities provided most of that, as well as many from the list above. Some were super thematic, and we felt just had to be made for their corrosponding pieces such as; Holocron, Sacrifical Cover Fire, Sith Lore, Light Inspiration, Dark Allure, Thermal Detinator/Imploder, Us-hrok, Tulok Hord's Holocron, etc

Finally, we added a few that are straightforward and we felt should have been made long ago, such as; Banish, Flank, Force-Attuned, Rally, Infantry Turret, Thug, Force Curse, etc.


So all in all, we tried to cover as many angles as possible.



To reiterate from the first thread -

In the coming days I will make more threads detailing our process. I recognize that it probably opens us up to criticism of how we failed in certain aspects, but let's try to keep that to a minimum. We already have multi-page threads on very specific things some people don't like. The reason for this post (and others to follow) are simply to share our process.

Note - this post is obviously directly from me (TimmerB123), and though I tried to make it general, ideas from other designers on V-set 14 may differ on some aspects. I welcome them to post their thoughts as well.

I am of course happy to answer any questions to the best of my abilities as well.

I Bolded all the abilities I liked that didn't make the cut list! Nice looking ones.

There is one ability... I bolded, underlined, and Italicized it for you. Mace Windu has been nerfed enough I think, no need to continue to come out with abilities to make him more and more.... Obsolete.

Interesting insights.