... "themed" nor "limited".
Granted, you could argue that having anything close to "elemental" adding damage to Vengeance for instance is "themed".
But it's surely not "limited".
I just don't plain buy into the "invest into 2, 3 or 4 other skills and boost your skill's main effect". That kind of "synergy" is dumb.
The game is hard enough to balance, so making each skill having 40, 60, 80 or even 100 effective skill levels doesn't seem like that good an idea to me.
Or then forget about promoting "diversity".
Define a few well thought out "viable" builds for each class, and have the few skills making up that build mutually reinforce one another.
That way, each char gradually gains in offensive power as he progresses along the game.
That's clearly not the case.
So when I say "themed" and "limited", I mean that each skill shouldn't benefit from more than one other skill, and that the benefits should be in keeping with the original's skill theme.
For instance, defensive auras are supposed to be defensive, so any synergy with combat skills or offensive auras should be defensive.
Requiring players to spend more than 20 points in any skill to get the full main effect of that skill is wrong imo.
Smite's main effect is knockback and stun: incapacitating a foe.
If you want damage to boot, you can invest in Holy Shield: that's a good synergy.
Fist of Heaven's is about Lightning Damage.
If you want powerful Holy Bolts shooting from it, you can invest in Holy Bolt. Another good synergy.
The barb's "Stun" skill is about stunning an opponent.
Warcry now increases the stun length. Bad synergy. It's affecting the main effect. And frankly if a barb wants to stun foes, he's going to choose either warcry or stun, but he won't use both.
Masteries increase AR and Damage. Good synergy: damaging an opponent is the skill's secondary effect.
Bash now increases Stun's damage: bad synergy. 1- There's already one skill doing that, so the synergy isn't "limited" in scope. 2- Bash and Stun don't combine well. Once you've stunned an opponent, the last thing you want is send him away from you. He's helpless before you, time to wack him into pieces.
I think you'r getting the picture. :)
IMO, synergies should only apply to a skill's secondary effects so that no one should have to invest more than 20 points to get the full benefit from the skill's main effect.
They also should be "themed" so that if you decide to take advantage of them, the sole benefit of your secondary skills won't be just to boost your main skill. Holy Shield is a nice defensive skill for a Smiter. But what good is Blessed Aim for a hammerdin ??
And last, they should be limited in scope so that no one should have to max a zillion skills to get the most out of their main skill.
Granted, you could argue that having anything close to "elemental" adding damage to Vengeance for instance is "themed".
But it's surely not "limited".
I just don't plain buy into the "invest into 2, 3 or 4 other skills and boost your skill's main effect". That kind of "synergy" is dumb.
The game is hard enough to balance, so making each skill having 40, 60, 80 or even 100 effective skill levels doesn't seem like that good an idea to me.
Or then forget about promoting "diversity".
Define a few well thought out "viable" builds for each class, and have the few skills making up that build mutually reinforce one another.
That way, each char gradually gains in offensive power as he progresses along the game.
That's clearly not the case.
So when I say "themed" and "limited", I mean that each skill shouldn't benefit from more than one other skill, and that the benefits should be in keeping with the original's skill theme.
For instance, defensive auras are supposed to be defensive, so any synergy with combat skills or offensive auras should be defensive.
Requiring players to spend more than 20 points in any skill to get the full main effect of that skill is wrong imo.
Smite's main effect is knockback and stun: incapacitating a foe.
If you want damage to boot, you can invest in Holy Shield: that's a good synergy.
Fist of Heaven's is about Lightning Damage.
If you want powerful Holy Bolts shooting from it, you can invest in Holy Bolt. Another good synergy.
The barb's "Stun" skill is about stunning an opponent.
Warcry now increases the stun length. Bad synergy. It's affecting the main effect. And frankly if a barb wants to stun foes, he's going to choose either warcry or stun, but he won't use both.
Masteries increase AR and Damage. Good synergy: damaging an opponent is the skill's secondary effect.
Bash now increases Stun's damage: bad synergy. 1- There's already one skill doing that, so the synergy isn't "limited" in scope. 2- Bash and Stun don't combine well. Once you've stunned an opponent, the last thing you want is send him away from you. He's helpless before you, time to wack him into pieces.
I think you'r getting the picture. :)
IMO, synergies should only apply to a skill's secondary effects so that no one should have to invest more than 20 points to get the full benefit from the skill's main effect.
They also should be "themed" so that if you decide to take advantage of them, the sole benefit of your secondary skills won't be just to boost your main skill. Holy Shield is a nice defensive skill for a Smiter. But what good is Blessed Aim for a hammerdin ??
And last, they should be limited in scope so that no one should have to max a zillion skills to get the most out of their main skill.