Hi all,

I'm currently designing the combat system for an ARPG in the vein of Diablo, but not medieval. At this moment, I'm thinking which weapon/weapon types to include. Briefly, I'm thinking about the different roles/builds players might want to make and which weapon types would go with such builds. Ideally, the weapons should allow for plenty of play style variability, without being overly complex (and consequently useless). 

In terms of weapons and roles, what would you say to the list below? [NB: scaling would work more or less like in Souls series]

Pistols (All-arounder) --> I suppose if there are pistols, then I also must let players dual-wield them, but not sure how to handle this yet
Damage: Low to Average
Scaling: Average to High
Speed: Fast
Range: Average
Crit %: Average
Crit Dmg: Average to High

Shotguns (Area)
Damage: Low (per pellet, total Average to High)
Scaling: Low to Average
Speed: Slow to Average
Range: Short
Crit %: Low
Crit Dmg: Average

Rifle (Crit/High Damage)
Damage: High to Very High
Scaling: Average
Speed: Slow
Range: Long
Crit %: High
Crit Dmg: Very High

Automatic Rifle (Crit Proc)
Damage: Average
Scaling: Average 
Speed: Fast to Very Fast
Crit %: High to Very High
Crit Dmg: Low to Average

Two-Handed Weapon (Stagger, makes foes few moments inactive)
Damage: High to Very High
Scaling: Average to High
Speed: Slow to Average
Crit %: Low
Crit Dmg: High

Bladed Weapons (1H, Bleed)
Damage: Low + Low to Average DoT
Scaling: Average to High
Speed: Fast 
Crit %: Average to High
Crit Dmg: Low

Dual-Wield (Defensive, Increase Defense and add Riposte Effect)
Damage: Low to Average
Scaling: Average to High
Speed: Average
Crit %: Low to Average
Crit Dmg: High

Why do you need duel wield for pistol? It's not something used in the real world. I guess it depends on what feel you want the game to have. It's like shooting several arrows from a bow at the same time; if that would work people would do it. They don't. Many games that add dual-wielding pistols are balanced so that just using "one pistol" is very weak compared to other weapon choices, which means that is not an option.

How are rifles and assault rifles different? Rate of fire, crit and damage all forms DPS which is normally all that matters in an ARPG. Range or different armour penetration might make a more important differance. Or maybe they use different ammo (if you use ammo).

Try to avoid adding "everything" to the game, if many things are the same mechanics-wise anyway.

17 minutes ago, suliman said:

Why do you need duel wield for pistol? It's not something used in the real world. I guess it depends on what feel you want the game to have. It's like shooting several arrows from a bow at the same time; if that would work people would do it. They don't. Many games that add dual-wielding pistols are balanced so that just using "one pistol" is very weak compared to other weapon choices, which means that is not an option

Well, I don't have, at the moment, much consideration for too much realism (in terms of real world use) and dual-wielding seems to be a very typical way to go in ARPG. The idea of having it in place of single pistol is quite good, though, and simplifies things a bit.

20 minutes ago, suliman said:

How are rifles and assault rifles different? Rate of fire, crit and damage all forms DPS which is normally all that matters in an ARPG. Range or different armour penetration might make a more important differance. Or maybe they use different ammo (if you use ammo).

Yes, DPS-wise things are very similar, although play style might be different (high damage/low speed and the other way around, in this case). I had not considered armor penetration, though, which is also a nice idea.

21 minutes ago, suliman said:

Try to avoid adding "everything" to the game, if many things are the same mechanics-wise anyway.

That's the idea  I'm trying to come up with the minimal set of equipment that would still give plenty of options on how to create builds. Skill-wise, I will likely group those weapons where possible. 

Thanks for the answer, it did give some nice ideas on how to trim down things a bit

So weapons have both a unique chance to crit but also unique crit damage modifier? Is this easy to communicate to the player and/or really needed? And what is the logic behind this?

Is crit a specific thing (like headshot) or simply that the weapon just deals more damage with some shots? Borderlands had a nice idea here where crits would only be awarded when hitting exposed/vulnerable parts of the enemy. Problably hard to do in an ARPG though.

Personally i feel crits doesnt really add much in hectic games as it just affects the dps over time. And if you separate crit chance and crit modifier (and weapons already have different damage per shot) you risk making it even more just muddled for the player to figure out the dps (which is what it only comes down to anyway).

In a tactical game with few, important hits crits do makes sense since that can change the outcome, but in a diablo-esque game with a stream of hits (sometimes several per second) i dont see the point to be honest