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IDProjectCategoryLast Update
0006076Valley 1Suggestion - Balancing IssuesMar 28, 2012 12:33 pm
ReporterBluddy Assigned ToChris_McElligottPark  
Status resolvedResolutionfixed 
Product Version0.579 
Summary0006076: Should health globes disappear?
DescriptionHealth globes from enemies are great: even Diablo 3's adopted them over health potions! Anyway, I find myself being fully healed a lot, and I think it's going to be very hard to balance that unless unused health globes disappear after a while. The job of the health globes is to give you an immediate reward for fighting enemies that you can't collect like potions -- not to serve as pockets of health that hang about forever in certain areas. A minute would probably enough -- perhaps even 2 just in case.

This presents some difficulty given the chunk-y nature of the game. Going back to a chunk should check the last time you were there, and if some health globes expired, it should remove them.
TagsNo tags attached.
Internal WeightFeature Suggestion

Relationships

related to 0006124 resolvedChris_McElligottPark Health orb revision - Health orb function problems - Health orb exploit on Battlefields - and performance related too 

Activities

Chris_McElligottPark

Feb 22, 2012 8:24 pm

administrator   ~0019627

Rapid aging to expire stuff like that isn't any problem for the game -- the enemy respawns and all sorts of things already use that. In terms of the health orb expiration, I've not really seen it as an issue because you rarely have an incentive to go back to somewhere to get them in times of real danger: during most missions they wouldn't help, and if you leave during a boss fight then the boss just goes back to full health, anyway.

I'm not necessarily opposed to this idea, and I've toyed with it myself, but I'm not yet sure it's actually warranted.

Bluddy

Feb 22, 2012 8:53 pm

reporter   ~0019631

I've found that this is relevant in the following situations:

a. When I'm in a big cave, there'll be health orbs waiting for me in different regions I've killed enemies at.
b. When I'm in a series of caves, going back to a junction cave will often heal me back close to 100% of my health.
c. Exploring a building, the same thing happens when going back to junction points.
d. The most common experience is when I leave a building/exit a cave and immediate get healed by the health orbs on the surface.
e. Teleporting works with areas you've previously visited, and there are likely to be health orbs floating there too.

So yes, it probably doesn't impact missions so much, but is a factor in the rest of the game. Also, it creates an incentive not to teleport, but rather to go back to previous caves/rooms and find the health orbs you left there. Not sure if that's such a bad thing -- it's just a side effect.

Chris_McElligottPark

Feb 22, 2012 8:58 pm

administrator   ~0019632

Yeah, that matches my experience as well. I'm just less sure if that is a problem or not. Missions are meant to be concerted challenges, sure -- and bosses. But for a ground level area, do we want to force them to grind more monsters for health if they already killed the monsters earlier?

The answer is probably "yes," I guess. And all other games seem to do this. I'm just not usually wanting to do something "because all other games do it," without understanding the underlying principle. Not that that was your reason for doing it, don't get me wrong. An underlying principle in either direction here is simply elusive to me on this particular one.

Might be good to link in a forum thread to this, and see what the forumites think.

zebramatt

Feb 23, 2012 4:17 am

reporter   ~0019642

The Metroidvania model (taken from the better designed games in the genre) is: backtracking is part of the fun - to see how you can differently explore previous areas with your new powers - but wouldn't be as interesting if the enemies didn't respawn; after certain (indeterminate to the player) gates, areas will even acquire harder enemies than they previously contained, to further add to the challenge; if health drops didn't expire, this effect would counteract that challenge; and by having to kill the enemies in order to replenish your health you often have reason to take up the challenge (although of course once your own skill as a player reaches a certain point, you can hop over enemies and keep your full health).

Within that system, the health drop expiry makes all kinds of sense. But there's also a great deal different from Valley therein, so I'm not sure the same case exists here.

martyn_van_buren

Feb 23, 2012 5:12 am

reporter   ~0019644

Yeah, I think the current system is fine. Grinding monsters for health drops is non-fun, and if you're willing to backtrack a little for a cache of old health drops you can probably get to a warp stone and go visit a settlement.

It does look a little glitchy to see them just hovering there in midair indefinitely, tho; I might suggest their fading to a darker and less outstanding green when they aren't heading for you so they appear obviously inactive.

Armanant

Feb 23, 2012 7:31 am

reporter   ~0019650

It'd be irritating to have them disappear. currently if you took a bunch of damage from a miniboss in a cave you just backtrack a little and get healed to full before resuming. If the health drops disappear, There'll be a lot more situations where you're forced to teleport just to heal 20 points of hp before the next boss. It also punishes you for killing monsters if you're already full health, as you're effectively destroying future health potions..

tigersfan

Feb 23, 2012 8:54 am

reporter   ~0019656

What difficulty are you playing on Bluddy? Perhaps if you made the game harder, you'd need to use more of them as you were playing.

eRe4s3r

Feb 24, 2012 3:14 am

reporter   ~0019724

I am just saying that i would be against them disappearing if the (by myself) newly opened suggestion where they stop moving towards the player was considered. Because they do add tactical depth. The thing is, you do never need to backtrack, on battlefields you can herd the orbs like cattle ;)

Chris_McElligottPark

Mar 28, 2012 12:33 pm

administrator   ~0021480

Fixed a while back.

Issue History

Date Modified Username Field Change
Feb 22, 2012 8:21 pm Bluddy New Issue
Feb 22, 2012 8:24 pm Chris_McElligottPark Note Added: 0019627
Feb 22, 2012 8:53 pm Bluddy Note Added: 0019631
Feb 22, 2012 8:58 pm Chris_McElligottPark Note Added: 0019632
Feb 23, 2012 4:17 am zebramatt Note Added: 0019642
Feb 23, 2012 5:12 am martyn_van_buren Note Added: 0019644
Feb 23, 2012 7:31 am Armanant Note Added: 0019650
Feb 23, 2012 8:54 am tigersfan Internal Weight => Feature Suggestion
Feb 23, 2012 8:54 am tigersfan Note Added: 0019656
Feb 23, 2012 8:54 am tigersfan Status new => considering
Feb 24, 2012 1:10 am eRe4s3r Relationship added related to 0006124
Feb 24, 2012 3:14 am eRe4s3r Note Added: 0019724
Mar 28, 2012 12:33 pm Chris_McElligottPark Note Added: 0021480
Mar 28, 2012 12:33 pm Chris_McElligottPark Status considering => resolved
Mar 28, 2012 12:33 pm Chris_McElligottPark Resolution open => fixed
Mar 28, 2012 12:33 pm Chris_McElligottPark Assigned To => Chris_McElligottPark