"Complex" game mechanics

[Bishop81]

Just want to say, I was a tad bit disappointed that the only thing they could think of to add "complexity" to gameplay were "timers" - i.e. "Use this buff while it's still up!!!".

FFXIV is still my main MMO - although I am starting to waver; there isn't much to do at the moment and my Carbuncle is still missing after all those levels.

I have been killing time with F2P MMOs like Trove (it's Minecraft online so I figure I would try it out) played both of its pet classes to high levels.

Dragonlyte -

Sort of a pet class.

You have a dragon whelp hovering beside you 24/7 (and takes no damage), it charges up when you attack, when it's ready (you will see it get fat and glowing with flames; which is somewhat hilarious in itself), you can use your secondary attack which commanding it to shoot a fireball (your only truly long ranged attack).

Yes, mechanically it isn't deep, but I liked the interaction.

Tomb Raiser -

It's pretty much a necromancer.

You can summon up to 6 skeletons that tank for you, each consuming one Restless Soul which you have 3 at a time and you get one every 8 secs, the HP of the skeletons slowly drops over time such that without any interaction (taking damage or healing) they die in 10 secs.

However you can heal them with your main attack, it doesn't heal much, but you can keep them alive if you channel it at them. There is also a "on CD" attack that heals those within a radius for a ton.

The cute part is, you can sacrifice them to create a big Goliath skeleton (the more active small ones you sac, the bigger and stronger the big one will be) that is much more durable and hits very hard - but it can't be healed though.

I find this interesting gameplay mechanics-wise. If you want to summon the big one, you have to keep the small ones alive. You should also know when to cut your losses - i.e. summon a less optimal big one because you know you can't keep the small ones up long enough to summon more to boost your active entourage.

Nice that they separate the 2 types of pets too

• the always by your side companion that keeps you company, helps you out and is invulnerable so you won't feel like crap when your pet dies
• the expendable minions that you send to their doom like an evil overlord

These are mechanics SE should consider (or variations of) next expansion - we all know you would have better luck getting blood from stone than getting SE to change anything mid-expansion . At least they are more interesting that, "Quick! Before the timer runs out!!!".