Alice, the white magic enchantress

[narcissyphus]

Anti-occultist support with a focus on healing, utility and CC.

Weapon: Alice launches a slow-firing guided orb projectile.

1 - Passive: : Allies within 5m of Alice can open the shop and request an item from her robot courier who will travel to the shop & bring the item to them.
Active: Alice's next basic attack is an aoe, knocks back and slows.
At T3 this orb remains on the ground, slowing enemies in an aoe.

2 - Places a popping bubble around an ally or herself that knocks enemies away
At T3 it cleanses the target and gives movement speed.

3 - Channel a beam of white magic that heals allies and cleaves to damage enemies.
At T3 it will root enemies if they are hit for at least 50% of the duration.

4 - Alice throws her bot to an area where it will vacuum up all projectiles [including her orbs] and souls in a large AOE. Any orbs sucked up will damage enemies on the way to the vacuum.
* Her courier must be nearby to use this. Otherwise, it's a resource with a 1 second cooldown between uses.
At T3 enemies are slowly pulled towards the center.

Alternate design:

 

[arcsymus]

Attack is rather unconventional. I can sort of imagine it, though, as a salvo of missiles? Due to how integral the core mechanics of Deadlock are to the game, I tend to want to see a gun here. I think it's fine to stray, though. For a character like this, I would try to imagine a weapon that is typically seen as a medical device that can be transformed into a gun with some creative thinking. Or, just have her bot be more a part of her kit, and have her bullets fire from her bot. You can do more with a concept like that, which I think would be really interesting. For example, your bot would hover over your shoulder, and you could fire as per a conventional 3rd person shooter, but you could have abilities that send your bot somewhere else, and then the bot would have to target whatever came across your hitscan. Alternatively, you could have an ability that puts a tracker on a target, but I like the idea of having a drone/bot that you target in a more 2nd person sense with a hitscan mechanic.

The first ability is interesting, although I doubt the efficacy of it. Can this bot be overloaded with orders? How long will it take to get back to someone? I would prefer to see that she can create a shop temporarily. Especially if this is needed for the ultimate, I think it's unfeasible as is.

Popping bubble is a good, simple concept. Knockback is a good effect. I tend to want to see a shield here.

Channel healing beam is good. I wonder what cleave means, though? Does it bounce from ally to enemy? That works as a concept.

The ult is really interesting. Obviously it would be interesting if the bot then spit out all of the projectiles it hoovered up, but I don't think that's necessary to make this a working concept, and as a support character it may not necessarily fit.

I like the second art piece, although I think most players would consider it obnoxious. I like the idea of a doll come to life, which I think fits with Deadlock's theme/lore. I would personally lean into that idea with a character like this, and try to make them creepy, and maybe give them a possession-based ability.

 

[narcissyphus]

Attack is rather unconventional. I can sort of imagine it, though, as a salvo of missiles? Due to how integral the core mechanics of Deadlock are to the game, I tend to want to see a gun here. I think it's fine to stray, though. For a character like this, I would try to imagine a weapon that is typically seen as a medical device that can be transformed into a gun with some creative thinking. Or, just have her bot be more a part of her kit, and have her bullets fire from her bot. You can do more with a concept like that, which I think would be really interesting. For example, your bot would hover over your shoulder, and you could fire as per a conventional 3rd person shooter, but you could have abilities that send your bot somewhere else, and then the bot would have to target whatever came across your hitscan. Alternatively, you could have an ability that puts a tracker on a target, but I like the idea of having a drone/bot that you target in a more 2nd person sense with a hitscan mechanic.

The first ability is interesting, although I doubt the efficacy of it. Can this bot be overloaded with orders? How long will it take to get back to someone? I would prefer to see that she can create a shop temporarily. Especially if this is needed for the ultimate, I think it's unfeasible as is.

Popping bubble is a good, simple concept. Knockback is a good effect. I tend to want to see a shield here.

Channel healing beam is good. I wonder what cleave means, though? Does it bounce from ally to enemy? That works as a concept.

The ult is really interesting. Obviously it would be interesting if the bot then spit out all of the projectiles it hoovered up, but I don't think that's necessary to make this a working concept, and as a support character it may not necessarily fit.

I like the second art piece, although I think most players would consider it obnoxious. I like the idea of a doll come to life, which I think fits with Deadlock's theme/lore. I would personally lean into that idea with a character like this, and try to make them creepy, and maybe give them a possession-based ability.

I was thinking the projectiles of her primary weapon would work similarly to Wraith's cards, but with better steering.

Totally respect your opinion about traditional guns, but personally i'd really like to see them move away from conventional guns towards things that rely more on the occult and fantastical themes. I love it when games like this invent completely new weapons that don't exist, for example Moira's 'weapon' in Overwatch.

The bot would move much faster than a person walking and would go to the nearest shop so it shouldn't take more than a few seconds to retrieve items..I know it may seem underwhelming, but keep in mind that this is just a passive, and Alice and use it as well; it actually gives your lane a decent advantage farming since you never have to double back to a shop. Time is money, or souls in this case.

'Cleave' means the beam ability pierces.

I like the living doll concept, and that was originally the design space i was considering, but this concept isn't that. I have a separate marionette concept.

 

[xymo]

Does she really have to be all pink? I'd love Deadlock to keep its current palette. There's a risk of making it like Overwatch with these additions

 

[narcissyphus]

Does she really have to be all pink? I'd love Deadlock to keep its current palette. There's a risk of making it like Overwatch with these additions

She absolutely needs to be pink. Although it could be less saturated and bright to fit the aesthetic, which I don't see why that wouldn't work. If Viscous can be bright green, babydoll pink can totally work in Deadlock.

 

[xymo]

Viscous is green because he's goo. Alice is pink because she's ... ? A girl? That's not how character design works, buddy.

Look at Wraith. Elegant dark mafia-like dress, yet all of her abilities have this vibrant purple color. When you see that color in game, you can associate with Wraith, making her unique in the overall color scheme of the game.

I'll take a wild guess and say that Alice's abilities are also all going to be pink. Just for the sake of being pink?

 

[narcissyphus]

Viscous is green because he's goo. Alice is pink because she's ... ? A girl? That's not how character design works, buddy.

Look at Wraith. Elegant dark mafia-like dress, yet all of her abilities have this vibrant purple color. When you see that color in game, you can associate with Wraith, making her unique in the overall color scheme of the game.

I'll take a wild guess and say that Alice's abilities are also all going to be pink. Just for the sake of being pink?

What does purple have to do with being a mafia boss? How is that not purple for the sake of purple? Does every character in this game need to be be Mafia themed and wear dark clothes?

Regardless, I don't see what's wrong with pink for the sake of pink... She's supposed to represent soft nurturing child-like energy, and yes, have a design that appeals to a certain demographic.

If you don't like pink, that's fine, but Girls did wear pink frilly dresses in the early 1900s, because they liked it. They would have walked these streets.

There many interested in Deadlock who don't find most of the hero designs appealing, and want something more cutesy and bright like enchanters in other games, I'm trying to come up with ways to bring that into Deadlock.

My point with Viscous was that clearly this game doesn't take itself that seriously...

 

[Sarus]

the color scheme doesn't really matter as much as the design itself. valve could throw in a 1920's flapper girl in pink to fit the theme easily, a young enchantress/psychic girl is definitely a classic trope. generic anime girl tho, no thanks.

 

[Aimee]

I like the concept, but it needs a lot of balancing to not be completely broken. Also the design should be more in line with the game, but lets not focus on that.

Weapon: Alice launches a slow-firing guided orb projectile.

1 - Passive: : Allies within 5m of Alice can open the shop and request an item from her robot courier who will travel to the shop & bring the item to them.
Active: Alice's next basic attack is an aoe, knocks back and slows.
At T3 this orb remains on the ground, slowing enemies in an aoe.

2 - Places a popping bubble around an ally or herself that knocks enemies away
At T3 it cleanses the target and gives movement speed.

3 - Channel a beam of white magic that heals allies and cleaves to damage enemies.
At T3 it will root enemies if they are hit for at least 50% of the duration.

4 - Alice throws her bot to an area where it will vacuum up all projectiles [including her orbs] and souls in a large AOE. Any orbs sucked up will damage enemies on the way to the vacuum.
* Her courier must be nearby to use this. Otherwise, it's a resource with a 1 second cooldown between uses.
At T3 enemies are slowly pulled towards the center.

A slow fire weapon that has guided projectiles can quickly become too strong with items that increase shot damage, like Mystic shot, and headshot damage boosters. So far weapons that are not normal shot projectiles have not been introduced in the game yet, so it might not be fitting if the goal is mainly hitscan weapons.
Ways to balance this would be the projectile speed and how much it can curve, but i think making it balanced would also mean not making it fun for the player using it. And making it fly fast enough where you can consistently hit, makes it way too strong and the strongest peek and shoot weapon.

Abilities;
1 - Having a shop that folows you around is extremely powerful, since you will never have to leave your lane. This breaks the current gameplay loop to some degree but could potentialy be better balanced if you place the shop down and enemies can destroy it with gunfire and abilities.

2 - I love this ability, its a nice balance between defensive and buff.

3 - A persistent beam that has AoE Cleave, And AoE heal for allies is way too strong. Add an even stronger root ability to that where enemies cant dodge it, and you have the most overpowerd thing in the game. Even if the dps and heal is 10hp/sec this would quickly become crazy in the right (or wrong) builds and with teamplay.

4 - A throwable AoE soul secure as well as soul deny ability sound very strong, so its radius, duration and cooldown need to be limited to be balanced. Add damage to that, and even a pull on enemies nearby, turns this into an overtuned version of Dynamo ultimate.
Im not a fan of the ultimate ability, as there is no strategic play to it. It just works always.


Conclusion; With some work on the character visual design, and taking the good parts out of this. I think there is some potential for a support character that plays different from what we currently have in the game.

 

[gorilla]

Regarding the "courier" that follows her, seems like good opportunity for a vector targeted ability. Not sure what the dev's plans are regarding them, but there's potential there.

 

[narcissyphus]

A slow fire weapon that has guided projectiles can quickly become too strong with items

Yeah, that's why I left specific damage stats out, but I think it's totally balancable. You also have to factor in that it means she'll have a much harder time securing souls herself, which is what inspired the other abilities that seem broken on paper. She'd be very vulnerable up close.

it might not be fitting if the goal is mainly hitscan weapons.

Aren't all the weapons projectiles with different velocities?...

Having a shop that folows you around is extremely powerful

True, but she's also bad at farming, and whenever she uses her courier, she can't use her ult. What if it had a cooldown or had the same walking speed as her? I was heavily inspired by Chang'e from Smite who has this passive but only for herself, Ornn in League also has it for himself, except he instantly gets the items after doing a little animation.

And AoE heal for allies is way too strong

That depends on how big the AOE / range of the ability is, and how strong the heal is, no? I was inspired by Phase from the Paragon games who has this ability, including the root when maxed out. I feel like a short-range beam is dodgable, no?

A throwable AoE soul secure as well as soul deny ability sound very strong, so its radius, duration and cooldown need to be limited to be balanced. Add damage to that, and even a pull on enemies nearby

Pulling enemies might be too strong even maxxed out, although I only intended it to be soft CC, so you can dodge or even walk out of it with some difficulty. And FYI, the ult by itself doesn't do damage , only if it pulls in orbs.

It's funny that you think the abilities are overpowered, the first commenter thought they were underwhelming.

 

[Aimee]

Yeah, that's why I left specific damage stats out, but I think it's totally balancable. You also have to factor in that it means she'll have a much harder time securing souls herself, which is what inspired the other abilities that seem broken on paper. She'd be very vulnerable up close.

Not having a secure soul option is completely negated by having teammates though, and support almost always get laned with another character. And if they dont players will switch in any serious game. Since souls get shared among players that are nearby.

That depends on how big the AOE / range of the ability is, and how strong the heal is, no? I was inspired by Phase from the Paragon games who has this ability, including the root when maxed out. I feel like a short-range beam is dodgable, no?

If the beam is too weak players wont like it, if its too strong players abuse it. Since it has so many elements that are abusable. Stun locking enemies into the beam and also healing can quickly get out of hand. Also no a short range beam is the literal opposite of dodgable, you cant dodge a beam when it hits you the moment the animation starts. And you suggested yourself that it roots enemies in place, so point blank would be the most overpowered place to use it as. Since point blank is also the place where you would use activatable items on targets, and teammates would use stuns.

Pulling enemies might be too strong even maxxed out, although I only intended it to be soft CC, so you can dodge or even walk out of it with some difficulty. And FYI, the ult by itself doesn't do damage , only if it pulls in orbs.

It's funny that you think the abilities are overpowered, the first commenter thought they were underwhelming.

You mentioned in your opening post that when it pulls in orbs it damages nearby enemies, so you can just shoot it after activating.

4 - Alice throws her bot to an area where it will vacuum up all projectiles [including her orbs] and souls in a large AOE. Any orbs sucked up will damage enemies on the way to the vacuum.

Also i dont think the abilities are overpowered, thats a balance thing the developers can work around. I mentioned its overtuned, there are too many elements to the abilities that need to be balanced. To the point where its a ''everything in one'' ability for 2 off the things you suggested. Its a ''this and this and this'' kind of situation.
I think its better and more fun to have it be one or two things that realy make the abilities stand out rather than all abilites other characters have, but condensed in one ... since that is not much fun imho.

 

[Aimee]

Suggestion for the beam;
Its a beam that follows a straight line, it heals allies hit by it and damages enemies hit by it, it passes through units and players.
Making it ideal for supporting teammates in a push or when falling back. The beam has long range, but its stoped by terrain.

AoE upgrades make the beam wider, making it easier to hit targets, while Spirit increases the damage and heal.

 

[narcissyphus]

Not having a secure soul option is completely negated by having teammates though, and support almost always get laned with another character. And if they dont players will switch in any serious game. Since souls get shared among players that are nearby.

But you realize that after 10 minutes, souls aren't split 50/50 with whoever is in your lane? Given that she only has 1 damage ability and a slow firing weapon, she'd be really bad at farming, and she needs something to help her if she falls far behind, which will be very easy since she doesn't have a high kill potential either.
Anyways, I didn't imagine the ult would automatically pop all souls, but rather suck them up, so there could be a window for counterplay... or you could just melee last hit...

If the beam is too weak players wont like it, if its too strong players abuse it. Since it has so many elements that are abusable.

I'm fine with scrapping the root. I like your beam suggestion.

i dont think the abilities are overpowered, thats a balance thing the developers can work around. I mentioned its overtuned

Not to be pedantic, but I've never heard anyone use the word 'overtuned' that way, even googling it, people use it to allude to stats being tuned too high.

But I see your point about the abilities doing multiple things, I just really like complex, unconventional, brainy kits, And I noticed that there's a precedent in Deadlock for complex abilities that do different things once fully levelled.

For example, Warden's Alchemical Flask slows, damages, + Reduces Weapon Damage and stamina of enemies hit all at level one, and when fully maxed it also reduces enemy fire rate -- that's damage + 4 different debuffs, lol.

Or McGinnis' wall stunning enemies, or Lash's flog dealing a fire rate slow, or Kelvin's grenade healing allies at level 2 (in addition to slowing and damaging enemies)...

Idk if you've read through all of the ability upgrades, but there are numerous examples like this.

 

[yebanana]

I love the idea of a bright pink character; however, I agree that the design is rather out of sync with the rest of the cast. I would, though, love to see somebody's take on a pink cartoon noir mage.

I also share the sentiment that the character's shooting mechanic is too unconventional. While the game could certainly evolve a lot as it develops, to me, this game is a MOBA before it's a hero/team shooter. Laning and farming is very sacred to that tenet, so keeping guns functionally similar between heroes ensures last hitting/denying is easy to balance. I think the abilities could all be tweaked only slightly to accommodate pink orbs that travel in a straight line.

 

[narcissyphus]

I love the idea of a bright pink character; however, I agree that the design is rather out of sync with the rest of the cast. I would, though, love to see somebody's take on a pink cartoon noir mage.

I also share the sentiment that the character's shooting mechanic is too unconventional. While the game could certainly evolve a lot as it develops, to me, this game is a MOBA before it's a hero/team shooter. Laning and farming is very sacred to that tenet, so keeping guns functionally similar between heroes ensures last hitting/denying is easy to balance. I think the abilities could all be tweaked only slightly to accommodate pink orbs that travel in a straight line.

I'm not even trying to go for a bright pink theme, so much as something broadly pink, cute & girly.

Hard to pull off in this game but I really want it. Maybe something like this...