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Class features with drawbacks
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<blockquote data-quote="HJFudge" data-source="post: 7989414" data-attributes="member: 6997593"><p>Putting aside any specifics and speaking purely conceptually, I think Drawbacks are a good thing for a game. They open up design space in a lot of ways and make both design of a character (or a deck or a build or a whatever) more interesting and decisions during play more meaningful.</p><p></p><p>That said, theres this school of thought that I have seen from people that any drawback, any failing, any sort of penalty that is meaningful in anyway is to be avoided at all costs. So from a 'sell more stuff' perspective, it makes sense NOT to have Drawbacks. Since this school of thought in my entirely anecdotal experience seems far larger than the 'hard choices are interesting!' school.</p><p></p><p>There's also the additional fact that Drawbacks can be implemented well or implemented very very poorly. A poorly implemented drawback overshadows the benefits provided. OR is so meaningless that it isn't an actual drawback. In both cases, it becomes a False Choice. There is no situation where you have to sit and think 'Do I want to use this ability even with the drawback?'. In the first instance, the answer is almost always No (so why even have the ability?) but the answer to the second is equally almost always Yes (so, again, why have the drawback at all?)</p><p></p><p>Blah blah blah yack yack yack...</p><p></p><p>In short: Drawbacks make for, in my opinion, a more interesting and enjoyable game. However, most others I meet tend to not enjoy meaningful/interesting drawbacks so perhaps from a business perspective should be avoided.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="HJFudge, post: 7989414, member: 6997593"] Putting aside any specifics and speaking purely conceptually, I think Drawbacks are a good thing for a game. They open up design space in a lot of ways and make both design of a character (or a deck or a build or a whatever) more interesting and decisions during play more meaningful. That said, theres this school of thought that I have seen from people that any drawback, any failing, any sort of penalty that is meaningful in anyway is to be avoided at all costs. So from a 'sell more stuff' perspective, it makes sense NOT to have Drawbacks. Since this school of thought in my entirely anecdotal experience seems far larger than the 'hard choices are interesting!' school. There's also the additional fact that Drawbacks can be implemented well or implemented very very poorly. A poorly implemented drawback overshadows the benefits provided. OR is so meaningless that it isn't an actual drawback. In both cases, it becomes a False Choice. There is no situation where you have to sit and think 'Do I want to use this ability even with the drawback?'. In the first instance, the answer is almost always No (so why even have the ability?) but the answer to the second is equally almost always Yes (so, again, why have the drawback at all?) Blah blah blah yack yack yack... In short: Drawbacks make for, in my opinion, a more interesting and enjoyable game. However, most others I meet tend to not enjoy meaningful/interesting drawbacks so perhaps from a business perspective should be avoided. [/QUOTE]
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