Grrl Power #181 – Power UP!
:)
I’m so tempted to leave just the smiley as the comment but, well you guys know I can get a little verbose in these. I really enjoyed designing this, and yes, I know what all of the nodes do. I have an Illustrator file with a very spoileriffic text layer. :) It turns out that Maxima was correct about Sydney leveling up – just in a more literal sense than she knew.
I’m the sort of guy that enjoys designing skilltrees recreationally. Diablo II is one of my all time favorite games. It had a pretty basic skilltree in it, until the 1.10 patch that added the skill synergies. Personally I’m ambivalent about how skills worked in Diablo III. It has its merits but being able to swap skills out whenever you want dilutes player agency IMO. Currently I’m enjoying Path of Exile quite a bit – and it has a rather unique skill system. The actual abilities are either random drops or quest rewards, which I was leery of at first, but after a few playthroughs you start stockpiling skills and can build just about anything you want. The interesting thing about PoE’s skilltree is that it’s all passive abilities – a massive, interconnected web of abilities, rather reminiscent of the Final Fantasy 10 Sphere Grid.
After playing a little Path of Exile, I almost went back and redesigned Sydney’s skilltree and made it far more complicated, but decided to leave it as is for now. It’s not like she can’t discover additional features in the future. :)
Hi there, my name’s Halo! I’m a big time Superhero and this is my first big endorsement, so listen up!
Patreon, for those of you who haven’t heard of it before, is like Kickstarter for microtransactions. Instead of funding one off projects, Patreon is for giving ongoing support to independent artists you enjoy. It creates a steady source of revenue they can come to depend on to help support their projects or even just pay their bills so they can concentrate on making more of what you love.
If everyone who read the comic pledged $1 per month (much cheaper than XBOX Live, a monthly subscription to Xmen, or A sandwich) DaveB could live in a house made entirely of caviar and ponies. If one tenth of readers pledged that much, he could still make his living off the comic and produce extra pages on a regular basis. Granted he’s doing that right now, but until the Patreon campaign hits a certain level, his saving will eventually erode to the point that he will need to find a full time job. So please consider contributing even a small amount (or a big amount, we’re not picky) to support the comic if you’ve enjoyed it so far, and DaveB will continue to endeavor to improve his art and writing and will keep entertaining for many years to come! Thanks!
SuperheroThey're super, thanks for asking!
Meatspace ComicSeriously these are awesome. Check 'em out!
Not UpdatingNo longer updating or only updates sporadically, but definitely worth reading.
SeriouslySeriously you guys. If you like Grrl Power the check these out.
"Mature"Mature subject matter and occasionally something explicit but usually safe. Can't guarantee the ads are safe though.
Dongs Ahoy!Full frontal and backal. Lots of skin, sex on some or all pages, explicit or otherwise.
Go Sydney!
Ahh, page 7 of comments, welcome. I knew you would come. Pull up a chair, and make yourself comfortable. The next arrival will be along, in due course.
is this a Skyrim reference?
also comments finally work for me and it only took reading through this twice
so many joke opportuinties…wasted
I do believe its a borderlands reference, though skyrim may have a similar joke/system, in borderlands 2 when you level up you get this big satisgying DING! on your screen letting you know you have skill points to use.
skyrim? it looks more like the ff10 orb crap than skyrim constellations….whys everything always skyrim it wasn’t even that great a game. if you didn’t play it on pc i’d say it was kinda mediocre even…it was screaming for mods which were pretty great but thats on the community not the developers.
It’s a level-up tree thing, in general. It is not specific to anything, as many games did it a HELL (the Diablo implication was accidental, but it works) of a long time before either, and it always comes complete with noises.
much earlier than that more like everquest early
Betcha that Sydney’s new skill won’t come up till she is either kidnapped by bad guys or in a near-run-over-by-tank scenario.
You referenced EGS Q&A for your little discussion things, and now I can quote EGS….but I think it’ll be even more in context here than it was there. That sounds impossible normally, but…
“What is she, a video game?”
Looking at the different point distributions of the skilltree, the two unknown power orbs both have something in common in terms of a difference from the other 5: the 5 orbs that function all have 4 or more total points, and 3 or more points in a single branch. Neither has more than 3 total or 2 to a given branch. The 2 unknowns also each have far fewer nodes than any of the other orbs except the forcefield orb, which is about comparable. Apologies if either or both of these were already pointed out in the previous 6 pages.
I’ve counted all the spots in the stat-point-grid. There are a total of 145 spots! Of these 37 are already activated, leaving108 empty spots. Minus Sydney’s current stat point in her hand, that’s 107 empty spots! Sydney has to level up 107 times to max out the grid!
It looks like there are a few places for expansion, too.
And lo, when Halo ascended, the heavens shook and the unjust trembled.
You mean, like, that the grid might grow even bigger as Sydney fills out certain strains? I thought so too, especially with the white spots. Unfortunately only DaveB can tell.
I seriously don’t get how having more options that’re more accessible weakens “player agency” …which is the capacity to exercise choice.
Admittedly the Diablo 2 trees were good for making a character a specific “thing” -a Bow Amazon, a Traps Assassin, etc, but they were also unmerciful about not having a specific build in mind, about spreading points out incorrectly, and about gear selection -good luck being a Bowazon without a good bow. I say that a Spear/Thrown Amazon fan who was informed rather late in my playthroughs that the idea of switching based on range and positioning was crap and that I should expect to be appropriately shunned.
There were also severe balance issues between builds (Trap Assassins) and the whole joke of the 1st point buying you a new trick like Dragon Tail Kick, and the next 4 buying you “+1 to Block,” so to speak.
D3 does cannibalize quite a bit of that for the purposes of making the classes more distinct, but I tend to see that as a positive. If the same +Int/Agility Dagger drops for a Shaman, a Wizard, and a Monk what part of Flurry Punching, Chain Lightning strikes and Facial Spidering should rely on the fact that it’s a dagger? It’s a Loot Game but the loot augments what the hero does, not the other way around (“my Axe is epic DPS, and I add bonus fire damage!”).
Anyway, surely a constantly contentious topic. I should stick to safer waters -like Mass Effect 3’s endings. =P
I think I hear Eduard Khil singing somewhere in the background…..
I want that frame of Sydney’s sphere grid as a poster
Seconded! Maybe not with Sydney and Achilles, or the background. Just the awesome skill tree.
Here’s to hoping she doesn’t have a level limit if she can’t respec. ^_~
Oh, if you know where to look, you can find a mind-flayer who will be willing to stick his tentacles in her ears and rearrange things in her brain.
I just have to comment on this one, especially your “more complex skill tree” comment. I see it is centered around a septagonal node of some sort, with 2 segments colored in (assuming that has something to do with the main power of the orbs). How about if all 7 of those become colored in, the skilltree goes from 2D to 3D, and it becomes possible for Sydney to “synergize” powers.
This would mean things like automatically activating her shield if she uses the PPO, so she doesn’t hurt herself, or (this would need to be unlocked first for the above) the ability to shoot through her own forcefield, which apart from her own safety would also allow her to trap big threats in her forcefield (assuming she can choose to be outside later) and shoot them.
This would allow her to safely shoot the PPO while flying, but that would (obviously) be a very high-level ability. Which is why I said after all central nodes have been colored, or maybe even after she unlocks all currently visible nodes.
It would also be good to make such things reversable, so she can experiment with combinations of powers.
Let’s assume one of the 2 unknown orb is a “healing” orb which can heal her injuries. Later skills or the “skill synergy” I suggested could be made to allow her to turn her forcefield into a healing field, where anyone inside it has any physical injuries healed.
Healing abilities would start with stuff like the ability to stop bleeding (cauterizing but without the heat), go to superficial cleaning and closing of wounds, and end with the ability to completely regenerate bodyparts or repair internal damage (stitching nerves, muscles or blood vessels back together).
all in all, I have no idea if you’ll be receiving notifcations of comments having appeared, but I just want to put this out there.
Yup, I still see ’em. I could have designed this a lot of different ways, but in the end I think I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out.
Weird seeing this ad next to the comic on one of my visits: https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Grrl-Power-181-ad.jpg
The power of targeted advertisements. Or just random luck? It gets harder to call, with the passage of time.
Just my personal predictions, but this is how I think it breaks down:
PPO:
3/5: Raw power/damage output.
The ‘wheel’ tree is various types of blasts (shapes, or perhaps energy types). In this case, we see she’s maxed out her ‘Halo-hameha’ attack with only a couple of uses, and yet there is still room to develop five other options.
Activation of central dot requirement: Defeat (not necessarily kill) X number of enemies with PPO (the tank counts as 1).
Mobility Ball (“Fly Ball”):
2/5: Flight Speed.
4/5-0/5. Reaction Speed/Superspeed. Sydney had ADHD before, but getting the orbs kicked it into overdrive. Since this is a neurological predisposition for Sydney, this is always active at half power, even when she doesn’t have the Mobility Ball in hand. Each of the dots in the first tree connects to the first orb in the next tree, meaning each provide power to it and the subsequent abilities. The next logical step from supreme hyperactivity is suddenly going speedster.
The dot between the Mobility Ball and the PPO is lit, indicating Sydney’s already claimed the free point for using the Mobility Ball and the PPO together at their current limit (as opposed to organic growth, i.e.: experience points).
Also, the Fly Ball’s central dot is lit, indicating it’s currently gaining XP more quickly than the others (due to her natural genetic tendency, Sydney never loses this benefit, unlike with the other orbs).
Shield Ball:
4/5 orbs in the main tree. This is the shield’s strength, perhaps increases its maximum diameter, and tangentially, how long she can keep it active.
Like the Fly Ball, The Shield Ball’s central dot is active, and is temporarily gaining XP more quickly.
Activation of central dot requirement: Block X amount of damage.
Heart Ball (a.k.a.: the healing ball):
This ball only has two trees, neither of which proceeds in a straight line. The zig-zag shape of each tree indicates its abilities bounce back and forth between two different abilities, each taken in a specific progression.
1/5: Recovery. Sydney can help others recover from wounds more quickly, but it’s not yet developed to the point of an instant heal (e.g.: cure light wounds). In fact, the first tier of this tree allows her to help her friends recover their energy more quickly, and ups their natural healing rate. She only benefits from this if her Regeneration tree is lower than her Recovery tree. It hasn’t been noticed because she has yet to be close enough to a wounded person with it in hand for it to be noticed. Level 2 will introduce her first healing/curative spell. The subsequent levels will alternate between improving the vigor aura and introducing more healing spells.
2/5: Regeneration. Sydney heals more quickly (not to the level we associate with superheroes like Spider-Man or Wolverine… yet…) and recovers from fatigue more readily (coincidentally exacerbating her ADHD), but not when she’s physically exerting herself (such as when she’s running laps or doing girlie pushups… sorry, spoilers). The second level makes these effects active while she’s not holding it, but only at 50%. This stacks with the ‘Always Active’ bonus, if she has it.
Activation of central dot requirement: Amount of HP recovered due to Heart Ball benefits reaches X HP. Self-healing only counts 50% toward this total. Self-inflicted injuries DO NOT count toward this total whatsoever! (Possible stamina/mana recovery requirements, also)
Power Ball:
This ball is the power source of all the others
Always active: The Power Ball is the only ball which starts with the ‘always active’ improvement filled in, which in this case is an absolute necessity for using the other balls. Otherwise, they wouldn’t even stay tethered to her when she wasn’t holding them. Most likely, this only functions at 50%
1/3: Power generation rate.
0/4: Power storage amount, a buffer when using lots of energy.
Activation of central dot requirement: Use X amount of power in Y amount of time. Most likely, X is at or near the amount the level 1 power generation rate will produce in Y time.
Illusion Ball. (“Comm Ball”)
4/5: Truesense – Power. This effect is so powerful it can penetrate and even dispel illusions normally impenetrable by most means.
1/5: Truesense – Versatility. This determines the number of senses to which the truesense ability applies.
1/2-0/4: Illusionist. Generates an illusion of Sydney, and simultaneously projects illusions of what the illusion would see and hear into her mind. The second level will improve range and make it seem tangible, while the side-track adds additional illusions and/or give her control of what the illusion looks like (can you say,’mirror image’?).
1/1: Magesight. Related to truesense, this ability allows her to perceive otherwise undetectable supernatural effects (magic, psionics, incarnum, etc.) other than illusions.
Activation of central dot requirement: See through (hear, smell, etc.) and/or dispel X number of illusory or invisibility effects. X is probably not very high in a magical world, but is ridiculously high in a low-magic environment like modern Earth.
Lighthook Ball:
3/5: Coordination. Determines the overall amount of control Sydney has for the lighthook.
1/5: Power. Determines the strength and length of the lighthook.
1/4: Shape. Currently, the overall shape of the lighthook is basically a cylinder, which can be extended, curved, and bent. Improved levels of this ability allow Sydney to pick among other shapes to manipulate, probably two options per additional level. Possibilities for the other options abound.
1/5: Multiplicity. Detemines the number of lighthooks that can be generated at any given time. Combining level 3 in this tree and level 2 in the shape tree allows two lighthooks of two different shapes. Combining level 4 in this tree and level 3 in the shape tree allows four lighthooks in two shapes, or three lighthooks, each with a different shape. A 5/4 split allows four couples, three trios, or a couple of quartets.
Artificial activation of central dot requirement: Successfully complete X number of actions with the lighthook. X increases dramatically as the overall level of the lighthook increases.
I can’t wait to see what you got right and how close you were otherwise.
(Though we already know what 1/1 does for the Illusion Ball. Spoiler Warning!)
I can’t help but notice that you’re assuming that Sydney is the one who has set most of these skill points. This seems to be incorrect. This is the first time she’s seen the skill-tree, nor has it changed the next time she sees it (barring the skill she picks showing up filled in, of course). So the skills don’t seem to change except during level-up.
Well if it really is a ‘skill tree’ then skills are associated with people, not objects. A hammer does not have carpentry skill, the carpenter does. Yet we have seen Sydney using the various tools provided by the orbs to good effect. She has demonstrated skill with them.
Now if she instantly knew how to use the orbs, when she first grasped them, we could say that the orbs are granting the skill. However we know that not to be the case.
The mystery orbs being a prime example. Both have skill points filled in. If they granted the user skill with those powers, then she would know what both orbs do. But Sydney does not.
Therefore it cannot be a skill tree, unless it is representing the skills that Sydney has demonstrated.* This would not require opening the skill tree, to do, as Sydney just needs to use a power, with skill, to be flagged as being skilled.
The ‘skill pick’ would therefore not be granting a new skill. It would be unlocking the ability to use a new power, and thereby practice and become skillful with it.
* It could of course simply have nothing to do with skills at all, but I am just looking at the skills possibilities here.
the ability to swap skills freely increases player agency.
It’s also a buff though. When players can swap skills easily, they have to be nerfed in some other way to maintain competitive balance.
No, they don’t. Everyone has equal access to skill swapping, therefore it has no net effect on balance. If only some players could swap skills, then it would be unbalanced.
Furthermore, whether something is a buff or nerf has no relevance at all to whether it affects agency, so I’m unclear why you brought up that non sequitor.
Sorry, I misapplied your comment to the context of the comic page and ignored DaveB’s comment.
Anyway, I guess I sit somewhere in the middle. It depends on what you think of as “agency”. Easy spec changes allow players to optimize as needed which can result in many players having the same build for each scenario (the optimum build). Optimized builds tend to have very few choices. If spec changes are difficult, players will each have their own opinions about what’s more important for general use, and there will be more choices.
I can see advantages and disadvantages to both sides.
Freely swappable skills advantages:
• If having difficulty, in a particular scenario, can tweak the power set to overcome the specific challenges faced there.
• If a skilled specialist is unavailable, someone else can respec to stand in for them. Allowing the game to continue.
• Unlimited variety of play styles and roles. If you get bored with being a tank, you can change to DPS. Whereas if you find you suck at that, you can check out the support role options.
Freely swappable skills disadvantages:
• This impacts heavily on both roleplaying (a niche issue) and identifying with the character (a global issue). This stems from a lack of uniqueness to individual characters. Everybody can do anything so there is nothing to set characters apart (barring those who are just starting, versus those who have access to the full set of powers).
• Novice players can find such diverse options to be daunting.
• Some players will get obsessed with constantly tweaking their skill choices, thus loosing attentiveness to the current situation and the social side of the game. This is akin to always staring at a smartphone, rather than speaking to the people you have gone out with, or having situational awareness to hazards in the area.
• Whilst spending time optimising a build can be enjoyable, if this can be done all the time, then it can become a grind swapping over one set of skills, for another. Especially if forgetting to change something. Only after tanking the end-of-raid boss finding that a vital power did not go off, because you still had that set up for your solo general purpose build.
• It is boring when every character has exactly the same capabilities as every other one.
• Decreases replay potential. If you can play as any style of character, all the time, there is little incentive to start afresh, with a new character. That one will end up just like the one you already took to maximum level.
Fixed skills advantages:
• Improves roleplaying and identifying with characters.
• Can encourage role specialisation, especially for tougher scenarios and raids. Be that tanking, dps, support or whatnot. Preventing swapping skills around keeps those specialists in their roles. Allowing them to excel in that and build up a reputation for their capability. Whilst keeping a demand for their services.
The key bit (differentiating it from fixed, where players can opt to do this voluntarily) is that players will be encouraged to seek them out, or wait for them to join. Rather than just taking the more expedient route of getting another player to swap their skills round and provide a mediocre substitute.
• Increases replay potential. If you played the whole game through as DPS, you can start again as a healer, or a tank, or in some interesting character concept, which breaks the usual moulds.
Fixed skills disadvantages:
• If you make a mistake in your build, you can nerf yourself badly. Even to the extent of discouraging people from playing.
• Player boredom, if they find the role they have chosen to be too lacking in playing variety.
• Jealousy when seeing other players with an optimised build, and not being able to keep up with them.
“The key bit (differentiating it from fixed, where players can opt to do this voluntarily) … ”
——>
“The key bit (differentiating it from swappable, where players can opt to do this voluntarily) …”
So she’s got an Elvenstar operating system with an Asherah GUI.
So, is Achilles being thoughtful in the first panel or licking marshmallow off his finger? Or could be both I guess. I haven’t read through all seven pages at this pint.
one interesting thing that I only just noticed after looking at it again, was that the skill tree have synergies between each orb… for some reason, the only that is filled is the PPO and the Flight Orb, and each have a skill that have a double connection, and the one that have it is the Atmospherics Orb.
After reading it for the 3th time, I did noticed something I passed by before… Is the nodes that are already unlocked were unlocked by the orbs previous owner?
Either that, or this is the “default starting configuration” and there’s a way to move points around (“respec”) that Sydney hasn’t figured out yet.
New to the comic and grateful that I have such a backlog to read ahead of me.
Just wanted to say how much I LOVE the idea of a superhero skill tree!
Gz Syd.
Diablo III, and Path of Exile, highlight the unique skill system in the latter game.
Get ready to dive into a world of fun, where you can take on various roles, serve virtual customers, and test your skills in a range of exciting challenges.