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If I were to make a MOBA ... | Stats.

JackYAqua·7/14/2014, 6:54:16 PM·3 votes·1,343 views

As a disclaimer: I know it can be annoying for Rioters to go into the forums, because every second person thinks he knows better, and flames, and insists that Riot is doing everything wrong, etc. etc...
This isn't supposed to come across like that.
I'm simply stating my thoughts and preferences as a player, and I hope to learn from feedback and alternative POVs to improve my designing abilities.
I know it is too late for Riot to change major aspects of the game like stats and I don't want them to, either. I just thought maybe -as they have the experience- they could lecture me/us.
So...

##If I were to make a MOBA, I would approach stats in a different way.

League has Attack Damage, Ability Power, Attack Speed, Critical Strike Chance, Armor, Magic Resistance, Health, Health Regen, Mana, Mana Regen, Energy, (Energy Regen), Movement Speed, Armor and Magic Penetration, Tenacity, Life Steal, Spellvamp and Cooldown Reduction as its main stats.

I would have Attack Damage, Ability Power, Attack Speed, Armor, Magic Resistance, Health, Health Regen, Mana, Mana Regen, Stamina, Regeneration, Movement Speed, Armor and Magic Penetration, Willpower, Cooldown Reduction and Wisdom.

The differences being :

  • I wouldn't have Critical Strike Chance. I don't like the RNG. Instead there would be special effects to simulate the result.

  • I wouldn't have Life Steal and Spellvamp. I don't like the generalization of damage they are based on, and also not the thematic. Why would attacking someone with a bow heal you? And why does using a spell differ from attacking with my bow?
    Instead, like with Crit, there would be special effects to simulate the result.

  • I would have Wisdom as a stat with which utility scales.

  • I would have Stamina, which is just another word for League's Energy, and I would make it much more common. Why do some champions use mana even though it doesn't make sense? -> Darius (for example).

  • Regeneration = Energy Regen

  • Willpower would be a special stat for Bruisers, mainly. It would be a stat with which literally anything can scale. But alone it equals Tenacity in a similar, but weaker fashion to how League calculates damage reduction in armor and magic resistance.

  • Most Mages wouldn't scale with Ability Power, but rather with Mana spent (spells would cost %current mana), like in fantasy novels. The strong mage has a long build-up time for a powerful spell and the more energy(mana) he puts into it the stronger the spell is.

  • Mana would be much more similar to League's energy. High Regeneration rates with high costs.

  • Mana Regen would be adjusted accordingly.

  • Ability Power would be rarer and be named something like 'Magical Affinity', since some magical damage sources don't rely on mana (Like Sunfire, or Riven's runes).

  • Attack Damage -> Strength.

  • For example Kata would have Stamina. Killing an enemy refills her Stamina and resets her cooldowns. Her Death Lotus could be on for as long as she has Stamina to spend (costs Stamina/second and Regeneration is disabled).

  • And most ADC's would have stamina as well, but it would only be important for them while kiting. If stamina runes low (say 5% of max) attack speed and movement speed buffing effects are partially lost, maybe even damage... (I'd have to look deeper into that).

  • For Bruisers there would be a series of Willpower scaling items that have a passive like "Grants X armor penetration% depending on your Willpower" or "Reduces Stamina costs by X% depending on your Willpower". This would make Bruisers unique. (Remember : Willpower = Tenacity)

  • And instead of Spellvamp and Lifesteal there would be a lot of unique passives for every thinkable situation. I had like two branches: Dynamo and Malice. Dynamo would be based on activity and movement and amount of targets hit (perfect for say, Caitlyn), while Malice would depend on damage dealt and weak enemies.

  • I would mix things like Attack Damage and Armor, or Attack Damage and Attack Speed more often. HOWEVER : The less pure an item is in its stats, the less gold efficient it is and the weaker the stats become. For example : 45 Armor on one item and 45 Str on another, or 20 Armor 20 Str on one item.

  • Str = AD

Hmmm
I think that's all. I usually edit my threads a lot afterwards, so some things might change.
Please tell me what you think/ how you would design stats.
And Thanks For Reading!

(Sorry for the bad formatting)

10 Comments

Mr Kryp7/14/2014, 6:59:33 PM1 votes

The whole stats thing is similar to DOTA 2's stats concept. Instead of building AD(Which you still can do in DOTA) you can also build stats. And depending on what type of champion or hero you are, that's what your auto's scale with. Also their stats help scale with AP, Health, Dodge Chance, and Move Speed I believe.

Quantum Weeb7/16/2014, 1:48:02 AM1 votes

Crit does not use a RNG, it uses a PRNG. What this essentially means is that if you have a crit chance and your last attack did not crit, your next attack will be more likely to crit. This continues up until you actually crit, at which point it resets. The opposite is also true, you won't crit 3 times in a row with just 20% crit chance.

This has an in-game use. If you have 40% crit chance and you don't crit twice in a row while harassing minions, now would be a good time to trade.

This is also why dodge was removed when crit wasn't. Dodge used an RNG, while crit uses a PRNG.