Game Design Gambits don't encourage build diversity

Here's the problem with the Gambit system.

You are heavily punished for not taking every Gambit you can get, since their buffs to end rewards get much stronger the more Gambits you have. But it is too much work to change your build around every time you're raiding to fit the Gambits. Therefore, Gambits don't achieve their goal of making people change builds; instead, they're just random restrictions which can be very annoying.

They can also end up self-contradictory. An example from the Discord is Bleeding Warrior's/Leaden Fighter's/Farsighted/Myopic. Bleeding Warrior gives you -1% damage for every -1% health you have, meaning that as your health becomes low you rapidly lose damage. Leaden Fighter gives you +2% spell cost for every +1% health you have, meaning that as your health becomes high your spells become prohibitively expensive. Farsighted makes you unable to hit enemies near you, and Myopic makes you unable to hit enemies far away from you. All taken together, if you want to maximise your rewards (you will lose half of your bonus aspects and pulls from Gambits if you skip one), you will be caught in a catch-22; you can't escape it.

This is in Feedback and not GenSuggestions because I don't have a suggestion on how to fix this. I ignore Gambits, always take all three, and then numbskull my way through the entire raid with a sustain build.

 

My favorites are the ones where it's like "well, I guess my party members will just have to carry me if this doesn't work out" like "dying reduces your damage" or something.

 

Ultimately Gambits work out to "this is really annoying", "I'll do worse but I won't notice it", and "this is literally a non-issue". Playing sustain Lightbender means the gambits for dying, or not using consumables, don't matter. I don't die, and I don't need potions to stay alive. But also if I take Myopic* I lose half of the no damage I do.

*I don't have access to the fourth slot, because, for some bewildering reason, there's a level system for raids and it takes ages to get anywhere. If Farsighted is present, I am forced to take it.

 

i don't understand the problem, you're saying that gambits don't encourage build diversity, but describe how certain gambits make specific playstyles not work. playstyles are tied to builds, no?? so if you're having an issue of any degree with a specific gambit, you might be inclined to swap to a different build to overcome said gambit's difficulty?

you're basically saying that you build benefits from certain gambits and is hindered by other gambits. so whats the problem?

 

The system obviously looks like it should make you play different builds, but in practice it's expensive to get a new one and tedious to switch, so it's easier to just tolerate annoyance. This was the point I made at the start of the post.

 

ok i know "skill issue" meme, but i think its actually a matter of managing your expectations.

one that performs equally as good as/around the same level as/better than what you're accustomed to.

agree on the part of ability tree, but as far as gear/skillpoint distribution, it is an option to quick swap via island build stands.

thats the point, no? if it disabled your playstyle entirely, that would force the build switch, but since that would be entirely egregious in the other direction, it is safer to have it annoy the player.

i know that you said

but my counterpoint to your opening statement is that it's not a problem with the system, its the way you're expecting it to work.

 

Counter-counterpoint, why should Gambits be annoying in the first place?

In their current state, all they do is force you to choose between getting less rewards, and having more fun, or getting more rewards, and having, depending on the gambit selection, far less fun. My brother does a lot more Raiding than I do, and he dreads Raiding sometimes, because the Gambits are just, so, ANNOYING.
If Gambits were, instead, more fleshed out challenges that significantly altered the Raid experience, forcing the player to approach it completely differently, then, depending on how they're designed, they could be more fun than normal Raids. It wouldn't just be "making it easier for people to get more rewards" either, because they would still be challenges, possibly harder ones than the current Gambits.
Something like this could allow worse players to still get good rewards, especially since Gambit-less Raiding would probably be faster, and allow better players the option to add risk in return for a bigger payout, if they play well enough.