Signature Skills

Edit: Here is the whole complex idea summed up now, after discussion in the thread. Please read!

SIGNATURE SKILLS

First off, the Signature Skill is no Signature move from NBA Street, nor is it a skill that is available for free, random skill building. It is a way of showing off individuality in PvP and because of certain controls with not be overpowered and will not unbalance the game.
I feel that having 'signature skills' in Guild Wars would add feeling of uniqueness to your character and simply create a better way to make yourself stand out along with appearance, armour, weapons etc.

Now, the option to make a 'Signature Skill' is presented to you once you have completed your ascension. To make a Signature Skill you need 2 skill points, and you can only create/delete one at a time. The Signature Skill Window is like the Skill selection window on PvP.

The Signature Skill is available for PVE ONLY. This means that you cannot use a signature skill in any PvP area.

Whatever Signature Skill you make, it does not have an attribute and therefore cannot be increased in power.

Whatever Signature Skill you make, the recharge time is always 60 seconds. This will help other people to recognise your Signature skill when you do it, and also it simply means you can't spamspamspam it.

The Signature Skill you create will appear on your skill bar, and if it is non-elite/elite the same rules apply as if if were a normal skill.

The symbol is light brown background with a polished gold S on it and a pretty pattern around , this is the same for any signature skill.

Naming - character number limit, you can call it whatever you like as long as it includes at least one word from your name.

The Signature Skill is greyed out when you are anywhere in party of less than two (i.e. one). This prevents farming with it even though there is the 60 sec recharge.

The Mechanism itself.

When you go onto the Signature Skill selection screen, first you simply have the option to create/delete signature skill, and you can only have one at a time. Now, you select to create signature skill with the cost of 2 skill points.

You go onto the type selection screen. Here, you choose what type the skill is (spell, hex, enchantment, stance etc.). The type you select obviously determines what effects will be available in the next bit-

You have selected the type. Now you can choose to either make it non-elite or elite. If it is elite the limits will be slightly wider. In this example, you choose non-elite.

Now a list of effects for the particular type has appeared. It is a large and wide-ranging list. Now, you want to select the effects. So, say it is a spell and you simply select the effect 'heal target ally for x points'. Now, to start with, for this particular example, as you have not selected the number for this healing, the energy cost is 5, the minimum.
So now, you select the number for this healing. You can go higher and higher, but the higher you go the energy cost increases. When you decrease it, the energy cost decreases. Also, very slowly, the casting time increases.

This is the idea of the creation engine's limit.

The other cost you can choose instead of energy is obviously when you are a warrior, adrenaline. If you want, you can decrease the cost slightly by adding a health sacrifice, exhaustion or a resulting condition.

Anyway, you are still on this skill and you have selected 'heal target ally for 61 points', costing 5 energy. Now, you return to the effects list and decide to choose another effect. For example, you choose the 'condition' - 'for each hex on target ally', then 'heal target ally for x points. You choose 60. Now this was enough to increase the energy cost to 10, but it has also done another thing. Now, when you increase the numbers in either of the effects you chose, the energy cost and casting time go up more quickly.
The more and mroe effects you choose, the more the cost goes up and the more it is limited.
To prevent people from choosing 20 effects with number 1 in each, there is an overall limit of 5 effects.

Now, you have selected these two things and the energy cost is 10. You have created the skill, with all its details, and perhaps now you can also choose from a few visual effects.

There you go, that's the idea for the Signature Skill summed up by me as well and truly as I possibly can. Now, comment, people of the Sanitarium!

Original post of thread:I know this sounds a bit crazy, but, look at kilroy stonekin! he gets a signature move, why can't we!

It would be possible to create a signature skill creation engine, in which the player would be able to choose from a range of options to customize a unique skill to themself.

In this engine for the various options there would be limits as to how far certain things can go, and perhaps a limit of 2 things that the skill does in one.

With limits this would mean that one could not create a hugely powerful skill.

It would also mean that characters would have something to feel good about themselves, something unique. What dya think?

yeah but you couldn't counter the skills and it would give too much power to the person that knows more about skills....

hmmm. Yes, perhaps ur right. Maybe this would give some ppl too much power in pvp.

However, in future chapters, it could mean your chance to show off your individuality in PvE (signature skills would not be available in pvp).

And as we already have enough skills to have to cope with choosing (sigh), they could be on top of your 8-skill-set. I think though that the engine for creating the signature moves would have to have limits so that the skill could not be used as a super-combo with already existing in skills and wreck skills balances entirely. It would have to be a skill that is unique in that its is your own skill but also that it cannot be combined with other skills to give a lot of power.

This would also help towards the issue that some ppl know more about skills than others, because that wouldn't change anything as the skill can't be combined with anything.

Also as they would be for use only in PvE then everyone, whether knowledgable/unknowledgeable about skills, would have something to be proud of, because I think much of guildwars, especially pvp, is very uniformal and there really isn't much unique about your character except your facial features and perhaps the skills you have chosen.

I agree that, taking this engine into pvp would probably mean quite a bit of exploit and also some issues of unbalancing.

Well, you might be able to put in some balancing mechanisms in such a skill - like adding more effects reduces the duration and increases the cost, adding more damage increases the cost and the casting time - things like that.

On top of that, have everything add to the recharge time and draw from a point system so you can't keep adding things to it. It's doable for PvE-only, but it'll be tough to balance it well.

Problem is, unless it's reviewed by devs, it would probably end up like Morrowind, where all the handmade combos either suck or are overpowered. And if they did, they'd have to hire some new people just to deal with the hundreds of "omg personal skill" that'd be sent in every day...

Ahh I'm glad someone else shares my enthusiasm for skill creation. The only thing I can see being a problem is that people could make several low damage spam spells with degen mods (like burning) and cause alot of trouble. What they should do is have skill templates that you can mod. 1 skill per character can be created. All of them have a 60 second recharge time so that way they can't be spammed or used constantly. Energy costs and cast times are based on the skill type and can be increased or lowered useing a point system. By having the templates it keeps the skills from getting too out of hand and creates a basic form to the skills

I'm not sure why this thread died...it's a good idea and needs to be looked into more.

Hmm yes sry I kinda forgot about it and I thought it was just another of my crazy ideas. I think I might make a new thread with a bit more development.

meh just edit your first post. I do like the idea. although i would add the templates to prevent the skills from becoming too overpowered

my move would be the "Big Money, Big Money, No Whammies" it would kill wammos in 1 hit

I like this idea, it would add a lot of much needed variety and diversifacation to the game.
And so what if people who know about skills are advantaged in pvP, isnt that the case already?

It is, to an extent. But at least currently anet can make changes to the current skills to make them more balanced. with the signature skills anet would have no real control over them. by nerfing one skill they'd end up nerfing all skills because of the change and that could have some drastic effects on other peoples skills that were fine the way they were but the change may have removed some of their effects or caused problems with the functionality of the abilities.

Well, you've got 70+ skills to choose from for each class. That alone already gives you many rooms for creativity.

Creating your own skill(s) will cause too many game balance issues and Guild Wars is all about balancing and pvp.

I love this idea. It could work flawlessly if the skill effect creation process it one indentical to MOO2 (Master of Orion 2). The system that game uses is this: I skill that causes bleeding, looks like its impossible to add bleeding on top of that. Player made skills should probably be elite.

There should be a skill that stops rangers from using 3 interrupt skills in a row and them always interrupting. That is so annoying. All they do is use the same 3 again and again and you cant do ANYTHING

-----EDIT------

oops, didn't mention the topic

That's what my skill would be, the ranger interrupts would be reversed...or something

This could be a good idea for the end of Chapter Two, like how you can get FoW armor to show off.

This would be interesting, especially if Signet of Capture could be used in PVP and capture other people's skill.

Also, this created skill couldnt be used in conjunction with a common Elite. It'd be the same rule as not having two elites.

now that's what I call replies

Ok.

Signature skills only for PvE - really just a way of showing off individuality than anything else. Because of the controls of the creation mechanism, no skills can be extremely powerful. Even if some are more powerful than others, what does it matter? It's PvE.

Recharge for any signature skills=60 seconds. This means: no spamming. Maybe it would also mean that people notice your Signature Skill more because you don't do it so often.

The signature skill is: not a signet, spell, enchantment, hex, preparation, stance or anything else. It is not on your 8-set skill bar. As default on your interface, it would be a picture to the left of your skill bar and health and energy bars. It would have some kind of coloured shine around it. The skill does not require any energy cost or cost of any kind. It is merely a skill and you can use it freely every 60 seconds. In PvP you will not be able to use the Signature Skill - it will be coloured grey.

The Signature Skill does not have an attribute and cannot be increased in power.

The option to create a Signature Skill will be offered to you after Ascension.

The Mechanism

Maximum number of effects for the skill is three. The more effects you choose, the weaker each one is.

Firstly, there will be a list of possible effects.
For example:

Condition (any of them)
Energy degeneration
Energy regeneration
Health degeneration
Heath regeneration
Damage
Interruption
Health steal
Energy steal
Amour boost
Max health boost
Armour boost to allies
Max health boost to allies
Armour loss
Max health loss
Healing
Energy gain
Damage over time
Heath steal over time
Energy steal over time
Energy loss over time
Area of Effect
Effect of attacks
Weapon damage increase
Ward
Boost for pet
Skill failure
Knockdown
Spinning attack

I'll stop there, but I'm sure there are many more. Any effect you choose has controls to ensure that it cannot be too powerful, and the more effects you choose the less effective each will be.

Maybe you could also choose various visual effects for the skill.

The Signature Skill really would just be a way of showing off in PvE.

If anything can be added/changed to this idea, or even removed, say

I agree with you to a point Symeon. The skill should have a catagory. Without a catagory type it can't be countered or effected by any other skill which causes further imbalance in skills. It should take the place of a skill on your bar. You can choose to make an elite signature skill or make a normal signature skill. The same rules for elites apply. I agree about the PvP granted it would be nice for PvP players to be able to create their own signature skill to go into PvP with but for those PvP players you may relate to this more, would you prefer to keep the skill sets in PvP standard? or have some guru who knows how to make really cheap skill come in and thrash you every time with his signature skill? I'm all about the balance of PvE and PvP but in all reality a PvP signature skill could cause major problems in the arena where as in PvE it's less likely to have an impact due to the long recharge times and the vast numbers found in PvE. Symeon you bring up a good point about having it be a no attribute skill. This way it's set at a given power and cannot be increased. Having a maximum number of effects may not be wise but you can customize it by adding effects, adding durations, adding area of effect and so on using a point system (each type of effect costs a given ammount depending on it's impact to the game) and adding more to that cost for a duration and AoE all effects have their limits depending on the skill type. And each skill type has it's limits on the effects it can have. This is why i suggested the template idea for the skills. This gives A.net some semblance of control as to what the players can make for their signature skills.

k, I'm gonna edit that last post of mine, make a few changes.

In the wrong hands this is very damaging. i would hate to be facing an energy drain mesmer in pvp that also had the ability to knock down my monk. talk about broken, not only do you have the energy drain, but now even more interrupts, and knocking me down so that i cant run/block/heal through the warrior pounding my ass or teh ranger making me look like swiss cheese

Hmmm
Yes I agree then that it should have a category, but...
It's a signature skill, only for PvE, recharge 60 secs...
I mean...a mesmer monster or ranger monster interrupts your skill...
Ur gonna be a bit peed off
Surely it should be unaffectable by others but still have a category as a skill?

Yeah, this would actually be good. I mean, in PvP most people have too set a build to be able to fit a Signature Skill in as well, but when you're PvEing, say in FoW or doing a later mission, you don't have to have this 'set' build and therefore you would be able to make room for a Signature Skill. Elite Signature Skills could be slightly more powerful, and have more options?

Yes, I really agree that Signature Skills would not be wise in PvP
PvE only

Ok, so with this system instead of a max amount of effects...I like it.
But do ya agree the skill shouldn't have any cost to cast? (energy, health sacrifice, resulting condition, exhaustion, etc.) I mean I just said it shouldn't but now it is on the skill bar maybe it should have some kind of cost? Not sure cos when you add the effects how would it decide what the cost would be.

Miss Yichi we already mentioned it's PvE only
That's your nightmares gone

umm ok then EVERYONE and their brother would bring their PVE toon into PVP. still have same problem because all PVE chars have access to arenas/gvg/tombs. If you restrict that, then ANet would have to rething the game design since PVE and PVP are intertwined.

Well Yichi it could just be possible to implement a system where any character in any PvP place cannot have access to Signature SKills

I/We meant by saying PvE only not PvE 'characters' only but PvE 'gameplay' only, as in only available for playing against AI, not available for playing against humans.

While that idea looks good on paper and yes i could come up with a few good signature skilsl id like to have, its simply not beneficial to make it a PVE only skill to be used against only the AI. in other words you could still use it in tombs because the enemy ghostly is AI and so are the undead. so an AOE spell would affect everyone in the area, not just the AI, and if a team gets a hench from a player drop or something, same sceneario

Stop bein' picky
I didn't think of ghosts in tombs

But what I'm saying is only is PvE areas!
Not in PvP areas.

And yes it can effect allied AI with AoE effect, in PvE areas.
Nowhere else.

sorry, not trying to do nothing but be the devils advocate. i will admit that this in theory sounds good, but you have to look at it from both sides. currently there is options similar to this as far as bringing pvp things (items, armors and such) into the pve side, but any pve chars have access to the whole game, thats how it was designed, including pvp. how much time/effort/money/bandwidth would need to be used for the game to recognize an AI in pve areas and not another character. Essentially they do the same thing, with the same skills, and the same weapons, etc... only difference comes on the players end of things by telling it what to do, not the game recognizing that youre a human character playing a script.

Ok to fix this whole PvP/ PvE issue. In all arena areas signature skills are disabled making it so that no one can enter a PvP arena with a signature skill

how about there just not be any signature skills and the balancing, and entering arena with them, and unfairness is back to normal

OR we can continue to work on it. This is an idea meant to be built upon not to be shot down by the few people who dont agree. Thats what these forums are for, ideas to share with peers to build on them and get input on how to make them better. So please if you're not going to add anything to the conversation don't post there are plenty of other places you can go for that.

Signature skills would be awesome, plain and simple. Hell, give me the option to edit skill names right now, and I can make any old skill I'm lugging around a unique. Like a warriors "Watch Yourself" I could make it yell "The Strut of Doom!" and start dancing for damage.

While the above, is, yes, sarcasm, I still really love the idea of signature skills, it would make each character unique.. Definitely earns a /signed. I like how Symeon put it on the first page with underlining. I liked everything about how he posted what to do. It rocks.

And to the "Unbalance" issue, One skill, recharge time 60 seconds, ain't going to unbalance the game.


/Signed!

--The Shim.

Hey guys, I thought I'd just dig up this old thread of mine with this post:

Simply for a lively discussion, can you guys post some ideas for realistic signature skills for yourselves that are not silly! They could be something like a shout for your name that does something, a special spell, attack or stance. Just make em realistic - no 'Slap Face' or 'Noob Smash'.

Here's mine:

Symeon's Call
Energy cost 5
Recharge: 60 secs (all signature skills must be 60 sec recharge remember)
Shout. For 10 seconds, all nearby allies attack for +5 damage which is holy damage, and gain 1 energy whenever they attack.

Valistar's Nimble Hands
Energy Cost: 10
Cast time: -
Recharge Time: 60 Seconds
Type: Elite Stance
For 20 seconds all trap skills you use set 50% faster and recharge 25% faster.

Or

Valistar's Determination
Cost: 15
Cast Time: -
Recharge: 60 Seconds
Type: Stance
For 10 seconds you are no longer easily inturrupted while using trap skills.

I like those ones keep em coming

Let's say you have to call the skill '<your name/first word of name>'s <whatever>' or '<whatever> of <you name/first name>.

Nah let people name them as they please some may like silly names while others want something that makes them known throughout PvE.

On a side note something I was thinking about is the skill icon for the signature skills. since it's kinda hard to come up with custom icons for the skills my suggestion is they do like what they did with monster skills. One all encompassing icon that represents all the signature skills, Elite signature skills would have a gold frame like the standard elites

I love this! /signed

Though not practical, this skill would be so much fun:
LEEEEEROY JENKINS!
Shout. All allied warriors rush forwards and aggro huge mobs. If they say anything like: "Why didn't you heal me stupid monk?" within the next minute, they cannot be ressurected or use map travel for 10 minutes. This time must be spent reflecting on the following statement: "It is not fun for the rest of my party if I rush ahead and aggro everything, ruining the game"

Eldarin's Blessing
Energy Cost: 10
Cast time: 2
Recharge Time: 60 Seconds
Type: Elite Group Buff
For 20 seconds all allies gain health regeneration of (1-5) and energy regeneration of (1-3).

-- If this is unlinked to any stat, then

For 20 seconds all allies gain health regeneration of +3 and energy regeneration of +1.