oogi
New member
This is part of a series of posts and they are the result of thought exercises with some of my colleagues studying game design. Some of the results of these exercises have got us very excited. I hope they get you excited as well.
First, I’m going to argue for why Abrams not only stands to benefit from a kit change, but needs it as a matter of polish.
The design shift has given us some very focused, polished feeling, and fun heroes with strong gameplay identities. But some have been left behind, leaving us with a disconnect between newer heroes and legacy heroes who, at best: feel like they have underwhelming kits and at worst: feel like their kits are random and have nothing to do with their character.
It’s a constant elephant in the room when some heroes feel entirely overwhelming to fight or like their kits are stacked high when playing and others feel like they do one minor thing and after that, they just have a gun. It’s the most constant place that we felt a lack of polish.
We started by trying to identify the design principles behind the heroes we felt are fun and polished. In our opinion, it’s that a hero:
Applying these soft principles we've outlined to heroes which we feel are odd or awkward was a great tool for brainstorming. Here's the result...
In gameplay, Abrams is a much more selfish hero than that protector archetype. Personal lifesteal and Shoulder Charge is his entire character. That's Abrams. It feels that way to play him, it feels that way to play against him. He Shoulder Charges and then he's just a big oaf. Abrams has a very underwhelming kit.
So we have our problem laid out, we can plug in the design principles we laid out to inform our brainstorming.
...Everything's represented by Shoulder Charge again.
If Shoulder Charge is his "charges into fights" then offloading other aspects onto a different skill would help. For a noir detective protecting something, I want a "get behind me" ability, something that lets Abrams literally protect his teammates while leveraging his bulletproof constitution.
Secondly, Infernal Resilience does play into his gameplay identity, but passives make for such underwhelming kits. Our gold standard for a passive is Crackshot. With its dynamic cooldown, you're always checking it in a way that still gives you some interaction with your third ability slot, even if you don't press any button to execute it. What if we just merged it with Siphon Life? An ability with both passive and active effects. Rather than being an aura, something more interactive would be funner.
Here's the proposal:
Replace Siphon Life with our "get behind me" ability. Abrams generates a very small, let's say four-meter aura. Teammates within this space gain increased resistances. Additionally, a portion of damage taken by teammates is instead taken by Abrams.
Add an active ability to Infernal Resilience which replaces Siphon Life. Activating Infernal Resilience makes Abrams swing his arm out in a wide-arcing punch, affecting a cone in front of him in an area similar to Mina's Rake. A large portion of damage taken by enemies in this cone returns to Abrams in lifesteal, giving him a sizeable second wind. He has a small amount of lifesteal on all his attacks lingering for a short time afterward.
Infernal Resilience in this concept keeps its current passive ability. With the punch and lifesteal being an additional, active effect. That can be confusing, so just think of how active items will have passive effects as well.
Does this sound like a fun change? Would you be excited for this version of Abrams? I love the man and he makes a great face for the game. So I'd certainly love a more interactive and less underwhelming gameplay experience.
First, I’m going to argue for why Abrams not only stands to benefit from a kit change, but needs it as a matter of polish.
Getting us on the same page...
There has been a noticeable paradigm shift in the way that heroes are designed: From freeform bases with open-ended abilities to itemize a build around to heroes with specific "goals" and a kit designed to support achieving that goal.The design shift has given us some very focused, polished feeling, and fun heroes with strong gameplay identities. But some have been left behind, leaving us with a disconnect between newer heroes and legacy heroes who, at best: feel like they have underwhelming kits and at worst: feel like their kits are random and have nothing to do with their character.
It’s a constant elephant in the room when some heroes feel entirely overwhelming to fight or like their kits are stacked high when playing and others feel like they do one minor thing and after that, they just have a gun. It’s the most constant place that we felt a lack of polish.
We started by trying to identify the design principles behind the heroes we felt are fun and polished. In our opinion, it’s that a hero:
I especially see it with Mina, where her players will take on an extremely characteristic playstyle. Mina's kit influences players to take on her identity in a fashion, which I feel is the hallmark of a successful design. Similarly, I feel that it's a sign of having an unsuccessful design that players behave in a way counter to a hero's identity.
Applying these soft principles we've outlined to heroes which we feel are odd or awkward was a great tool for brainstorming. Here's the result...
On Abrams...
Abrams has a strong identity in being the guy who doesn't die. Abrams also has an identity as a good-hearted protector. This is a common theme for the detective archetype so we made sure to check that we're not just tacking archetypal behaviors onto him and it does reflect in zipline dialogue. He does a pretty good job at protecting The Tome, as well. There's also a little dichotomy in Abrams' abilities. Some of them are what Abrams brings to the table, and some are what The Tome brings. Tome abilities are even visually denoted by having VFX representing pages flying around.In gameplay, Abrams is a much more selfish hero than that protector archetype. Personal lifesteal and Shoulder Charge is his entire character. That's Abrams. It feels that way to play him, it feels that way to play against him. He Shoulder Charges and then he's just a big oaf. Abrams has a very underwhelming kit.
So we have our problem laid out, we can plug in the design principles we laid out to inform our brainstorming.
Abrams charges in, is tough enough to survive the fights he charges into, and he's stalwart in keeping his charge protected.
Abrams can charge in to fights fine. Shoulder Charge is also pretty good at peeling enemies off teammates.
...Everything's represented by Shoulder Charge again.
If Shoulder Charge is his "charges into fights" then offloading other aspects onto a different skill would help. For a noir detective protecting something, I want a "get behind me" ability, something that lets Abrams literally protect his teammates while leveraging his bulletproof constitution.
Secondly, Infernal Resilience does play into his gameplay identity, but passives make for such underwhelming kits. Our gold standard for a passive is Crackshot. With its dynamic cooldown, you're always checking it in a way that still gives you some interaction with your third ability slot, even if you don't press any button to execute it. What if we just merged it with Siphon Life? An ability with both passive and active effects. Rather than being an aura, something more interactive would be funner.
Here's the proposal:
Replace Siphon Life with our "get behind me" ability. Abrams generates a very small, let's say four-meter aura. Teammates within this space gain increased resistances. Additionally, a portion of damage taken by teammates is instead taken by Abrams.
Add an active ability to Infernal Resilience which replaces Siphon Life. Activating Infernal Resilience makes Abrams swing his arm out in a wide-arcing punch, affecting a cone in front of him in an area similar to Mina's Rake. A large portion of damage taken by enemies in this cone returns to Abrams in lifesteal, giving him a sizeable second wind. He has a small amount of lifesteal on all his attacks lingering for a short time afterward.
Infernal Resilience in this concept keeps its current passive ability. With the punch and lifesteal being an additional, active effect. That can be confusing, so just think of how active items will have passive effects as well.
Does this sound like a fun change? Would you be excited for this version of Abrams? I love the man and he makes a great face for the game. So I'd certainly love a more interactive and less underwhelming gameplay experience.
