Ivara loot "pickpocketing" mechanic rework

[(XBOX)elementXGHILLIE]

 

Quote

 

From the wiki: 

Ivara also becomes capable of pickpocketing enemies: if standing beside an enemy with Prowl active, rays of light will shine on an enemy within 2 / 2 / 3 / 4 meters for 4 / 3.5 / 3 / 2.5 seconds before releasing a random item from that enemy's drop table.

• Steal time is affected by Ability Duration.
• The steal time uses the following expression when accounting for Ability Duration:
• Modified Steal Time = Steal Time ÷ (1 + Ability Duration)
  • With a maxed  Continuity, a rank-3 Prowl will have a steal time equal to 2.5 ÷ 1.3 = 1.9231 seconds.
• Steal range is affected by Ability Range.
• The steal light must shine on the enemy for the duration of the steal time uninterrupted for the pickpocketing to succeed.
• Pickpocketing can only be done once per enemy. Only a single enemy can be pickpocketed at a time.
• Has a 100% chance to drop an item from an enemy if the Ability Strength is 100% or above; reducing the Ability Strength reduces the chance for an item to drop equal to that of the Ability Strength (40% Ability Strength has a 40% chance of dropping an item). If the attempt was unsuccessful, it will attempt to try again.

 

Tl;DR: Short range, Long duration, 1 at a time

Now with all this going into one ability, what is the reward?

Ferrite, Salvage, etc.

 

Simply put, my goal is to update this feature to make it more active, fun, and rewarding.

This will either move the feature to be her new passive, or keep it where it is on prowl with the added bonus.

 

New Passive: Pickpocketing

Bumping into enemies has a 15% chance to cause them to drop 1/3 (Health orb, energy orb, universal ammo drop).

As well as a 50% chance to drop an item from it's drop table.

If nothing drops, you can not try again on the same enemy.

1. The former scales with strength
2. Both chances are doubled while invisible
3. The former's chance is doubled again if the target is asleep.
4. The latter's chance of being rare loot is increased if the target is asleep.
   1. With all 3 conditions met: 15*2=30*2=60% chance before strength of battle support.
   2. With all 3 conditions met: 50*2=100% chance for a drop + increased chance of rare drop.

 

Prowl: New Feature

Bumping into enemies no longer disturbs them. It will not alert them to your presence and it will not awaken them.

[Pakaku]

I have never had much issue with pickpocketing health and energy orbs as it currently is… If we’re going to buff anything, I’d rather see the restriction removed on having to pickpocket one at a time

[Tiltskillet]

I'm totally up for improving/reworking Prowl's payoff, but why do you want to encourage bumping into enemies?  If it's too slow, just reduce the base duration and/or the base range, or allow multiple simultaneous pickpockets in a radius. 

Not that I think range or duration should be radically different.  The current incentive to avoid touching enemies and the Prowl dance that can sometimes ensue is something I like.  I actually wish there were more consequences. 

As an aside, I'll just mention that Prowl, overhauled or not, really should work on enemies protected by Overguard.

[(XBOX)elementXGHILLIE]

2 minutes ago, Tiltskillet said:

I'm totally up for improving/reworking Prowl's payoff, but why do you want to encourage bumping into enemies?  If it's too slow, just reduce the base duration and/or the base range, or allow multiple simultaneous pickpockets in a radius. 

Just because the speed of it. This was just an alternative. If it was only in prowl, that's probably how I would've taken the direction. But given that her passive IMO needs a change now with the new base enemy radar, this is where I took it so it would be useful when not in prowl.

Old passive gave 20m radar, now it adds 20m radar for 50m total which I think is excessive, as in you aren't gonna be in any scenarios when you will need that much.

7 minutes ago, Pakaku said:

I have never had much issue with pickpocketing health and energy orbs as it currently is… If we’re going to buff anything, I’d rather see the restriction removed on having to pickpocket one at a time

I hate preying to RNGsus especially when it comes to energy economy. This is a two birds one stone strategy.

[taiiat]

honestly, i have no issues with how Pickpocket works now.
it scales with your Ability Stats after all. you can make it quite efficient, if you account for this in your Modding.

10 minutes ago, (XBOX)elementXGHILLIE said:

But given that her passive IMO needs a change now with the new base enemy radar, this is where I took it so it would be useful when not in prowl.

i don't think it really does. the extra Radar is still a boon that is suitable for the theme. i wouldn't be against adding some small additional feature, but it's not like the Radar is suddenly not useful anymore.

[Tiltskillet]

13 minutes ago, (XBOX)elementXGHILLIE said:

 . . . now it adds 20m radar for 50m total which I think is excessive, as in you aren't gonna be in any scenarios when you will need that much.

I just looked at it, and her passive was changed to +50 at some point recently.  Tested in the Sim, and it does indeed stop working right about 80m.  That is probably excessive with Animal Instinct.  But if so it means she has the option of saving that slot for something else.

On its own I don't think her passive needs much improvement  The change I'd like isn't exciting, and not meant to be part of a larger overhaul like you're doing, but just adding loot to it could be nice. 

As far as the main topic goes, I'll just reiterate that a revision that involves bumping into enemies being beneficial to Prowl would really bother me.  Prowl (and other invisibilities) are already too forgiving of carelessness.

[Pakaku]

2 hours ago, (XBOX)elementXGHILLIE said:

I hate preying to RNGsus especially when it comes to energy economy. This is a two birds one stone strategy.

Well, it's random I suppose. But I guess I have my efficiency high enough that it lasts for long enough between the drops, and eventually I manage to top off my energy bar.