Do all skills have to be time-based rather than mana-based? I'm really unhappy If so. I don't like the idea of hitting all abilities, waiting for the timer's end then hitting all the skills in the exact sequence over and over again.
Playing D2R again has made me appreciate the ability to mana steal, or mana following kill in order to keep my skills in play.
I'm having a bad time with games and I'm not sure what game to do I'm just thinking it out loud. Sorry if this has been discussed previously on this forum.
Personally, I believe having cooldowns in certain games could lead to improvements in gameplay, but in Diablo cooldowns can easily becoming problematic. The most significant potential bad game design flaws are: 1)) CDR, or cooldown reduction in increments in percentage or probability to hit, and 2)) extremely long cooldowns which , at least for me cooldowns lasting more than 15 seconds are extremely lengthy and, finally three) an amalgamation of both affects the player's sense of timing and rhythm.
The issue is that, due to this, players can't easily memorize or sense the moment a skill is at its peak which means they have look towards the side or screen to determine when the skill is available again.
What's acceptable is the fixed CDR with what's known as the "one-time" format of seconds. If there's something like 6% CDR the equipment, what happens is that you continually alter your cdr, for instance your 8 second skill is always slighty changing depending on your character, so it's sometimes 7.1 seconds, and other times it's 6.8 seconds, and then it's back in 7.2 seconds. What can you do to get used to this? It could cause users to be unable to choose whether to hit the button too soon or even too late.
The second issue can be described as "CDR + chance of hitting." So, if every hit decreased CDR to a single second or in terms of 100% chance of hitting any type of CDR that is, hopefully, entire seconds, it may be a good idea even though your speed of attack could be not exactly in the perfect time however, at least you'll be able to visualize your character hitting the monsters. However, if there's just 50 percent chance of hitting dropping your CD by one second, you won't be able to calculate your CD properly. If, for instance, you watch yourself hitting a huge 10 times. But what do you "feel" in the event that your CD is reduced by five seconds? At a 50% probability, it could be anywhere between 3 and 7 minutes of CD. If you don't have consistent play, you're required to look at the corners of the screen to see an indicator, which can cause an unbalanced rhythm in smooth gameplay.
Also you must spend time clicking too early or too late, as well as "mislooking" to the corners on the display. I imagine taking a look at the corners of the screen as a real-life additional APM. If we consider APM we typically imagine how quickly people can control their devices. However, moving eye movements are also an aspect of APM. If you were forced to look at the bottom of your screen, with just an opportunity of discovering whether your CD is in the process of being ready, it will affect your enjoyment and rhythm. I would prefer a the minimal eye APM that is that is based on random luck because it makes me look and not being able to tell if RNG CDR is happening.
Finally, extremely long cooldowns are a common problem for me also, due to the fact that it's difficult to track, especially ones that last more than an hour. I'm thinking that in D3 they created only long CDs, only to end with having to cut them down to make it easier for people to take them in.
It was discovered that users began to only use the builds that reduced the CDs significantly. To get to the lowest CD they had to accumulate increasing amounts of CDR until they could build sufficient quick. This is for me a an unsettling rhythm and it appears that, from a design perspective, it's creating a fake problem and creating an artificial solution to increase diversity.
The best option is to keep the longest-lasting skills for 1 minute. Most abilities should be fifteen seconds or less. Additionally, CDR is best used sparingly and to buy d2r ladder items from p2pah shop, if it is added it should be in terms of minutes. If something is lower than the skill by one minute I'd prefer "Skill X no longer has an effective cooldown, or has one second cooldown, however it the skill now uses A instead of A instead of." This allows you to reduce the amount of CD and add variety without disrupting the rhythm. You can eventually get used to the speed of your character's skill for a smooth and enjoyable game play.
