I still stand my ground on having Friendly Fire as ive never been much of a hater to it, but with this approach it might be worth to atleast consider this as an alternative.
So Instead of Taking Damage by your mates attacking you they instead should take the Damage for attacking you.
Reverse Friendly Fire Damage to the attacker for attacking his teammate?
This will atleast keep trolls like me in check ![]()
It should be a consequence for the attacker not the attacked.
If its like this i believe mages/spellcasters and archers/rangers will atleast consider changing their positions if they are the ones who take their own Damage to the knee?
Also Consider checking out @Konradās Refined Idea!
Konrad:
This is an interesting idea mechanically!
Iāll try to argue against it, not because I think itās a bad idea, but because I want to refine it. (And because I both consider current magic boring and have that one friend who doesnāt contribute outside of indiscriminate backline spell-spam.)
Friendly fire serves a few purposes:
FF helps verisimilitude. Reverse FF is less internally consistent: Enemies damage themselves and one another, which I love exploiting. Why are we Cerim different? How does hitting my friend hurt (or stagger) me? Are Cerim so mystical as to be forced into mutual non-violence by the Sayer?
FF balances against spammy attacks overwhelming enemies, which ranged attackers can still do. āReverseā FF fulfills this function too. Both encourage all-ranged parties.
FF generates friction (or chaos/humour, depending on the tone and the ease of reviving; cf. Magicka and Helldivers), which generates opportunities for interaction with friends. Wicked does not have randoms, so I consider this friction a plus, as with loot distribution. Reverse FF still does so, but in a more limited capacity: āYou ran into my spell to kill me!ā
FF forces ranged supporters to play more deliberately. Reverse FF only shifts consequences from friends to oneself. Does it make sense if I suggest that reverse FF would, therefore, reduce social interaction? Friction is good.
Reverse FF works better with self-only telegraphing at range. If allies can see predicted arrow trajectories or ground indicators for spell placement, there is more visual clutter. If one limits this visibility to the caster/archer, one might also limit responsibility. On the flip side, no telegraphing with regular FF necessitates communication (a plus in my book).
Reverse FF takes some of the ātankingā onus from melees and puts it on ranged. This is good, but I feel that enemies with more ranged options or stronger rushdown patterns are a better solution. I want the Risen to geek the mage first.
Iād rather lean into the FF, reduce the mitigation, and design ācoordination puzzlesā in order to increase communication and interaction points. Consider:
a ādiveā move so I can dodge horizontal swings (or cones of cold) in a knockdown state; or more limitedly, the same attacks failing to connect with knocked-down melee players
abilities that key off friendly hits; a plague sorcerer poisoning me if Iām a plaguebearer so I can inflict my AoEs, for example, or a fire sorcerer thawing me, or a plate guy acting as a lightning rod
more deliberate combos beyond the elemental status interactions, especially for melees; like a shield-bearer or greatsword fighter providing a ramp for a plunging attack (Dragonās Dogma), or firing arrows through a fire wall
physics interactions like flinging a friend out of an AoE with a whirl of the Glorious Paddle, projectile redirection with a shield into a blocking enemyās back, or launch-based āmovement techsā for attacks that scale with speed or distance moved
This could work since Wicked aims for precision over spam (or should), and because initial suffering can be learned and exploited later.
I considered some other ideas:
A shared ādiscipline meterā to debuff the entire party if enough FF is dealt all around. Not sure what I think yet, feels like the disadvantages of both and not as immediate.
FF should also cancel current combos under the upcoming ācalloutā system.
Since FF seems to especially hurt melees, maybe a system where multiple backline spellcasters have to avoid ācrossing the streamsā, or risk having unstable magic blow up in their faces.