Hey guys,

Here's a new in-depth dev diary by Lead Game Designer Alexandr Soloveyko talking about some of the changes coming to Abilities and AUGs in the next udpate: 

Hi Everyone,

We will continue talking about the upcoming CrimeCraft update and in this diary I’m going to tell you about some balance updates. This diary will be primary focused on abilities, and those of you who’ve played CrimeCraft for a while know that we change something with abilities in each patch. The next patch won’t be any different – we always try to improve the balance and add some cool new mechanics to the game.

So Direct Injection System (DIS) comes first. Many of you guys love it, while others think it's overpowered. Actually, we wanted to tweak it for the Gang Wars release, but we always sort all bugs and new features by their priority and we decided to deal with this change after the GangWars release. When looking at this ability carefully we found that it actually gives two great effects – it allows instant healing while also allowing the player to shoot while being healed.
We believe that either of these effects are worth one ability slot and having them in a single ability is what makes it overpowered. So we decided that a player should be able to get the functionality of current DIS but it should cost more than one ability slot.

Thus DIS will give a player the option to continue to shooting while healing, but the heal effect will be delayed by 0.8 seconds. A character won’t play the “use boost” animation when he has DIS, but the injection system requires some time to do its job and that is why the boost effect is delayed. We tested this ability and we found it useful in both PvP and PvE. Moreover, we believe that this design allows a player to use it strategically – you can use your healing boost in advance if you see an enemy and you surely know that he will start shooting in less than a second so the healing effect will be applied exactly when you need it.

Also we modified the DIS ability AUG. Now it removes the delay between the moment when you use the boost and when the boosts' effect will occur, but it also reduces the power of healing effects on your character by 25%. So players who use boosts like Bess or Raze will likely equip DIS ability AUG, but players who use medkits have to choose carefully between having smaller healing ability immediately or full healing later on.

The next really popular set are the three fire-based abilities. Here, we believe that fire is close to being balanced, however, we agree that sometimes it can be extremely nasty to deal with. So we decided to resolve it in a different way – we will provide players with a way to counter fire. We added a new bonus on jackets and pants that will slow the burn rate by up to 20% and 10% respectively so you’ll get fewer fire damage ticks during the same period of time. This was in our plans before the GangWars release as well as providing players with a way to counter shock effects. So we also added new bonuses for hats that will reduce shock duration by up to 10%. We also made the Blast Helmet ability AUG reduce shock duration by 30% for players who really hate being shocked. But we don't think the Shock Grenade is overpowered now, so we tweaked the duration of shock grenade and made the rank 3 ability effect last about 1.8 seconds.

Thinking this way we decided that we will add some more cloth bonuses to give you guys the option to choose between a wider spectra of clothing items. We added an ammo count bonus for a jacket and a run speed bonus for a pair of boots . Also we created new clothing sets for characters of different levels that will be found in the the Black Market and at the Coin Operator shop but also in loot and they can be crafted.

Now let's go back to the abilities. All you guys know that we have several really unpopular abilities that almost none of you use. We gathered server statistics, examined the numbers and selected the least popular abilities and here the conclusions we came to:

First of all, we killed the SatCom ability and those of you who have already purchased it will get their in-game cash back. However, the SatCom effect is cool and some players would still like it, so we added this effect to the Heartbeat Detector ability AUG. Next is the Camouflage Sensor Array. No, we didn’t kill it that too, SatCom is the only unlucky ability to get axed and the rest of them survived. But in addition to its current effect, we made Camouflage Sensor Array show all opponents who stay inside the sensor area on radar for you and your teammates.

We also significantly re-evaluated the Auto-Regenerative Injector ability. We always wanted players to use more diverse builds, but most builds that don’t have some Medkit or powerful Cicatrizant appeared to be quite weak due to their low regenerative capabilities. So we decided to design the Injector in a way that it will be a reasonable alternative to a Medkit. The rank 3 Injector heals 12 hp per second for 5 seconds now and is triggered at 60 hp, but the ability has a 15 second cooldown and it can’t be equipped with a Medkit. The new Injector ability AUG increases the threshold where the healing is being triggered up to 80 hp. We believe that such a design will fit well for players who like using an Anabolic + a Psychostim or an E-gene + a Bolster build.

Next we added several new ability AUGs. Turret abilities get AUGs that increases turret duration and cooldown. Corrosive Rounds gets an AUG that makes Corrosive Rounds work for 1 bullet only. It feels similar to the HVI Round ability when it’s used together with assault rifle or smg, so the AUG also adds 5 seconds for the ability cooldown. It requires some skill to be used successfully, and we want to test it more to be sure it isn’t overpowered.

Another ability that got an AUG is Desensitization. We weren’t happy about the situation that Desensitization gives a minor effect for a long term boosts like Heavy but it gives a huge advantage when used together with short-term boosts like Bess. So we reduced the rank 3 Desensitization ability bonus down to -35% of negative effects, and made the Desensitization ability AUG increase this bonus up to -60% of negative effects, but reduced all boost effects duration by 4 seconds. In this case players who use Heavy will be happy to get an additional bonus from the AUG, but players with Bess will have a choice – do they want to sacrifice the Bess duration to get higher weapon damage or not?

We also added a new AUG for Enhanced Recovery – it will add another charge for equipped boosts – we changed the effect of the DIS ability AUG so this step was logical. Next we added a Second Chance ability AUG that reduces the duration of the recovery down to 1.5 seconds. The hp recovery speed remains the same so players will choose between the faster recovery and a possibility to regenerate more hp though.

When creating new AUGs we tried to design them in the way that it will be a choice for players – do they want to use them or not? Most of AUGs described above are good examples of such an approach but we also added several new effects that are more straightforward. The new Ambush Tactics ability AUG now hides you on opponents’ radar. And talking about additional effect for Explosion Dampening Field ability AUG we are still choosing between increasing splash resistance for all players who stand inside the field by about 25% and increasing the field radius by about 15%. Increasing splash resistance would sound unnecessary but in some cases it gives a valuable protection against opponents who throw C4 at the edge of the field.

The last effect we want to talk about today is PED ability AUG and we love our new design. Now it allows you to activate your PED manually while your character is still alive. When doing so, your character will yell and play a short “activate” animation so your opponents have a chance to escape if they have really good reflexes. We found it effective when it’s used together with Second Chance, Active Camouflage System or IED Training both in PvP and PvE and we hope that you’ll like it too.

At the end of the story I want to share one screenshot with you guys to let you know that we are working on improving game visual as well. Here you can see new cool attachments icons.

This is the end of the diary and I haven’t discussed anything about balancing boosts. But it doesn’t mean that we aren’t working to improve it. Stay with us and we will tell you more details about changes and improvements we are going to add in the game.
Also keep in mind that all numbers I shared with you in this post are subject to be changed based on play tests and your feedbacks. So if you think that a 3% run speed bonus on boots is too high or too low – let us know and we take all your arguments into account.

 A few of the ideas are very interesting, but DIS without the AUG leaves bess and jelly joy at it's current state. As regenerative auto injector wouldn't work with a medkit, choosing a boost to take the spot of medkit on soldier could be difficult. The fire/shock counter set looks nice, but I don't think I'd choose it over boss set at it's current state. Is there any news on removing lag compensation or a server merge?

Some interesting stuff. Only DIS rework is disappointing. Nothing will change, we will see many clones of same build in matches: DIS-Enhanced recovery-Electric shield used together with DIS aug and stamshot medkit.

Oh and PED aug should not activate animation, but yelling "Allah Akbar". That would be very funny although slightly politically uncorrect.

Fast reply:

Stun Grenade

By giving it a duration of 1.8 seconds will literally be a revival of the OP nade... I see it spam the maps again.

Stun Grenade is SO fine as it is now (and I enjoy using it myself now without having the feeling of beeing an exploiter).

So just: dont change it at all (and dont make a stun duration modifier clothes. It is just unneccesary)

DIS

Good Idea, but unfortunatly this will change nothing at all. I stick with my only proper solution to allow DIS only to be used with Boosts that have a duration of 10 seconds or less (EDIT: and ofc not with such with a longer duration or an INSTANT EFFECT like medkits :)) 

What about Classes?

All these changes u mention are nice. But what happens to the classes now? How do the changes effect them? So for the AUG of Assassin (PSP reg is crap for him, but the stealth on radar would be just awesome).

Same question for many other classes whose ability AUGs could face a change. Maybe you could give the classes at least an option to choose between two different ability AUGs. That wont be much of a customization, but enough to solve the problem.

Fire Tick reduction vs Melee DMG mod on Class Pants

Maybe change all Melee Modifieres (except that on Shadow Spy maybe) to the new fire tick modifier. Shadow Spy is afaik the only class who really benefits at least a BIT from the melee dmg mod (it survives knife jump on lvl 50 with 5 hp...) 

More feedback will follow :) 

Last Edited on: Feb 09 2012 05:56 PM UTC (102 Days ago)

Many of these changes look like big improvements and will really change how the game is played. I look forward to the regenerative auto injector. It would be a great replacement for a medkit for some buids. The direct injection system seems like it is taking a big hit for some boost combos but not for all of them. A counter to fire damage is nice to see. I also like what you are doing to the camouflage sensor array as it did seem quite week before. Nice work on the graphics. More custom clothing would be nice to see too.

I also wonder what is going to be done about the US servers as well as the lag compensation.

Lol both my setups get a nerf! Congrats you whiny [filtered] noobs!

Curious to see how they gonna compensate the max craft gunnies, so they can acquire the new augs.

 Agreed new lag compensation has people skating all over, typically same people that never did this in the time i seen them playing. Also my GL tend to glitch out and blow myself up. Should fix what already broken before adding more parts to the machine.

Some nice changes, and same as aboves, DIS is still remain more or less the same.

Cant have a fair comment untill i can try in real scene, but i do like to comment about current TW system.

First of all, TW is just like another scattered tournament and only part of players can play it on time. For those asian like me, it is 5:00AM. I believe there is no reason for a gang to take control over land according to specific time, except technical problems. So i would like to sugguest some ways.

In order to make it more like gang war, land should be able to attack all the time. Wht the system needs is a garrison system and warning system. Every gang can have bots pool with upper limited. Bots type can be chosen ,with limit, and ready to be deployed to lands. Gang leader or predetermined members can arrange Bots anytime when necessary. Of course, you have to pay for those bots as we all pay the tax to owner.

When there are more than one gangs going to attack a land (land owner members will receive warning), they will have to first fight each other like current divisional tournament system. After that, the winning gang will have to engage garrison pve so as to break in (more time for owner to gather defensive force). Finally, after breaking in, the team can fight with land owner's members who receive the warning and join the defensive match. (may be some help from bots in the final match)

Some how the mechanism can prevent gang from taking over lands massively as there is limit in Bots pool and other gangs can atk your land while you are atking. And the determination of BM control should be the duration of controlling time instead of the number of owned land at  a speciafic time. A score board can be added to all map showing the top 3(or 5) gangs who holds the longest period.

It is only a starting idea that wants to make TW more dynamic to all players.

Quote | SilverAuroras posted on Feb 10 2012 03:29 AM UTC

And the determination of BM control should be the duration of controlling time instead of the number of owned land at  a speciafic time.

I like that idea. That way gangs can put there A-Team on that land they want to continue maintaining first and foremost. Would be great if the daily points earned for a territory increases depending on the time you maintain a territory, so maintaining a couple of territories is much more benifitial than grabbing a bunch and being unable to mainstain so many.

 When might we be expecting this update?