Currently making some perk changes I've been making as of late. What do you think of them?
My general idea is to make each combat perk a bit more like a combat style or requiring skill to obtain certain affects. All the buffs and effects only apply to respective weapon types. Gun Kata wont work with an automatic pistol, shotgun wont work with a pistol shotgun (mod or otherwise).
Pistol Certifcation, now Gun Kata, has more to do with getting up close and personal and utilizing either combat slide or weapon bashing to take out a target. Hitting the legs is a way you can get up close to someone due to the debuffs they give.
Sniper certification is the one i didnt really change, but added on to. It's meant more for utility in regards to debuffing enemies depending on the body part hit. I do want to make it so getting a headshot emits a fear aoe thing so as to make enemies run out of cover or sometsomething. The hardest part about this is considering how to balance it since basically every weapon can have scopes.
Shotgun Certification, now Shotgunner's Momentum, was the first perk I actually started to mess with. Thus it is the most... basic and has little change. I wouldn't consider this done as it really isn't where i want it to be. That is, i want it to be a sort of Hunter-Prey deal and build up, well, Momentum as you kill more targets. I just cant get it to work currently.
Rifle Certification, now Bullet Storm, I actually took some inspiration from Heavy from TF2. Especially the last perk rank. This one is probably the most straight forward.
Marksmanship is the second perk I altered, but had a more accurate idea of what i wanted to change. Instead if just getting flat crit chance, you have to work for it, and that work would be rewarded. The last rank Im not too sure about. The idea was that I wanted the freeze to make it easier to line up another headshot, but it doesnt really fit thematically - it fits mechanically, tho.
Weight Lifting i made changes based on the fact that it is WAY to strong for a reduced carry weight playthrough. This probably wont be relevant on characters without that setting. The last rank I tried to make it so that if you had a heavy weapon, and wanted some extra weight, you could dynamically "increase" your carry capacity by restricting yourself to that heavy weapon. Nothing to deep, but I thought it might be a neat little quirk, I guess.
Geology is just expand on to make the Cutter experience a little better. I originally wanted to increase the mag size as the perk ranks went up, but I couldnt get that to work. At least with just perk stuff. Same thing for increasing the range. Also, the last rank kind of nullfies the use of the Cutter at all since the double drop chance applies to Elemental Pull. This is intended, but... like I said it nullfies the use of the cutter other than having it equipped lol
Each of these perks also have their challenges changed to make it seem like youre "training" yourself for the next rank or make use of the effects you just got rather than just killing things or whatever. Ex: Bullet storm rank 1 has you shoot people 5 times in a row 15 times to unlock rank 2; GunKata rank 2 has you weapon bash people to unlock rank 3; Sniper Certification has you apply the debuffs you just got access to.
A lot of the aforementioned challenges are still a wip since they arent really consistent with each other. In that, they have you either use the stuff you got, or "practice" for stuff in the next rank. I kind of like both methods, but i think that might just cause frustration and annoyance for people.
I have more perk changes i want to do eventually. Particularly to ones i find that are too simple or just "number go up". I also still have to balance some of the ones i have right now (Gun Kata's combat slide doesnt take any oxygen afaik and being able to constantly knock people down at rank 1 is incredibly broken).
This is the first time I've actually tried making mods for a game, so any good feedback, or knowledge, is appreciated.