Open Discussion | What if we got rid of skills and skillsets

How would you guys react if skillsets were completely removed in 4.x? I want legitimate answers and not memes alright?

Questions to keep in mind:

  • What will the pros and cons of this be?
  • Can we still promote teamwork and cooperation without classes and skills?
  • If your opinion differs, why do you want to keep these

vigorious typing intensifies

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Just to clarify for people: skills still exist, it’s just that skillsets wouldn’t? Or should whether or not skills exist also be something people consider when replying with how they feel about removing skillsets?

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Actually, hold on a tick.
@anon24515308
I need to edit this a little bit.
Thanks for catching that Montro

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Here we go, if we got rid of skills and skillsets.
I don’t have a stance yet, I just want to see what y’all think if this were to happen.

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I wouldn’t really care all that much if skill sets weren’t added to 4.X. It definitely wouldn’t be game breaking, but I think if they and the skill system (I’ve been assuming the skill system will in some manner be added into 4.X [Molton it’s like you knew what I was typing!]) work together well, they could help players in the early game or encourage players to fill specific roles on a server.

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I hope that if its to be added, that it can be executed in a better way in 4.x than in 3.x.
Because we all see how that went with the Spec Ops meta.
I saw differing skillsets more prominent on PvE servers.

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What happens to gameplay? Basically you will be slightly more concerned about your skill progress. Essential skills you want to save will be lost like the rest of them. Pretty much forced Civilian. It’s not really much of a big deal but can be useful to deter mindless killing in PvP. Overconfidence has always been a killer. Removing them is great if you want the game to remind you that death is punishing

Although, only reasons to keep skillsets is just for a slightly easier gameplay if death is common but that’s because 3.x has made gun acquirement pretty easy, making PvP a bloodfest. Other reason is for role-playing purposes (Trivial)


If it was kept, there could be ways to make every skillset useful and not just a select few that has specializes in the best skills.

There could be perks unique to each skillset, such as Thief being able to craft a unique makeshift lock pick

But along with perks, it adds a disadvantage such as Spec Ops having a -25% EXP earned (e.g. Long service leaves less room for more experience)

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I think this would eliminate a lot of the progression in the game, but there are alternatives. Higher tiered craftables are locked until you are have played for longer and have progressed. Without skills and skillsets, there should be another system to replace this (Like the idea of workbenches).

A huge advantage is gained from moving faster and being able to shoot more accurately. This can be done with skills and items/attachments you find in the world. We could do away with skills and only rely on attachments for better recoil. Worn clothing will have different modifiers, allowing the same benefits the skills provide (Faster running, higher jumping).

This places more emphasis on looting and hoarding stuff. Whether that’s good or bad I don’t really know. I think having multiple systems that affect a way the player can play is a good thing. In my mind skills should be kept, but have other systems which also have an effect.

I think skillsets are important because they allow a person to avoid the annoyance of losing skills that are important to them. This could be improved by allowing the player to pick the skills themselves.

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I like the idea of workbenches to sate the need for progression.
My biggest fear for skillsets and skills being carried over to 4.x is a repetition of what happened in 3.x, which was not an enjoyable experience for me personally.

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I agree with the annoyance of it. Maybe an alternative to losing all your skills upon death is to lose them gradually over time that you either aren’t playing the game or practicing that skill.

There’s a system like this in GTA V, you gain experience in driving for driving. If you’re inactive for a long time you’ll lose those skills.

Actually gaining skills by doing tasks those skills would be based on could be an alternative to just gaining XP and spending it on whatever you like.

This way dedicated players would not have to be annoying by constantly refilling their skills to the max after every death. But a system like this still has its problems.

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We can all agree on screw sharpshooter tho right?

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Maybe remove saving skills/skill cost discounts and replace them with permanent starting skill levels?

Like, Chef always has Cooking lvl 1

As for sharpshooter, I would remove it and make it a Spec Ops only perk which permanent reduces recoil by 20% (Atleast better than permanent 50% recoil reduction). As said in previous post it will have a disadvantage to compensate that. Linking to the above line, maybe Spec Ops will always have Dexterity lvl 1

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Not really sure about what I’m suggesting myself being a good idea.

But what if there were still skills, however, these skills were developed automatically as the player develops. The skills the character progresses in are by performing certain actions. For example: since this is survival, the character will be required to run around a lot at the beginning. So there could be different levels of let us say the “Cardiovascular” and “Respiratory” skills. The first couple levels of these skills would be relatively easy to achieve. However, the final bonuses of maxing this skill would be really difficult to achieve.

So in shorter terms, we gain skills dependant on the actions we do. By performing these actions more, we get better at them.

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Oooh. I feel like I have to reply in all sorts of ways now. (I like how some people are just clicking the reply button to see who else is typing at the moment.)

Should we remove skills?

To start, I don’t think the game should bend over backwards trying to remove KoS, nerf third-person, or encourage teamwork and cooperation. So, if its main intention was only to curb KoS and create alliances, it probably isn’t the most important feature ever to begin with (as people currently only use it for other things anyways).

It’s kinda like the reputation system, right? Who actually finds the reputation system useful? This is that, except it gives you a bonus that makes dying less important (in Unturned 3).

I like the idea of dying being a threat/concern, so I’d want a rework if skillsets were to stay.

Should we remove skills too?

I kinda like the idea of skills. If Unturned 3 removed skills I would die inside because the default stats for our character are so low and I feel “spoiled” in a way by improving them. Especially stamina skills.

Specifically stamina skills.

So… I think most people want skills reworked anyways, so I guess at the very least rework them? Definitely don’t keep them the same.

Skills really do help, I think. It’s kind of a forced progression system, but it helps. Ya’know, illusion of choice and all that, but either way you have to grind a few thousand experience to max out? I prefer an experience grind that requires the dedication of time over literally waiting for time to pass. Nothing should stop the flow of the game, so as long as anything that does replace it

Without skills, I think the end-game becomes too RNG and skill-based. Having skills literally lowers the skill ceiling of the game, which has the (debatable) positive of appealing to a more casual audience. It lets end-game players just literally be better than fresh spawns.

Do bad players deserve any chance at all of making it to the end-game, and should fresh spawns have any chance of killing an end-game player?

Well, Molt? Should we!?

Maybe. Maybe to both, even, but most definitely a maybe on skillsets. Personally, however, I’m always a construction worker in version 3 anyways.

What should even be a skill in version 4?

Ahhh. There’s a lot of cool concepts and stuff to consider. I need to take a break after reading some of these replies. Just so I don’t forget though:

is a genius concept proposal. Combining this with the whole “decay” and “server wipe” problem might actually do something. Maybe. Just a reminder for Molt to not forget this reply for whenever he makes future posts.

I’m seeing base decay, possibly some form of “upkeep” that’s more comparable to base maintenance (like generator refueling but more), and then skill decay. Maybe keep experience storage (like libraries) maybe not. Those kinda also nullify the death penalties.

2c7 Ahhhh!

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Put short, there are two games that I know that pull off skills/traits very well: NEO Scavenger (a recurring example due to gameplay depth), and Project Zomboid.

Neither has skillsets IIRC as they limit playstyle, but do your research on them - both have incredibly robust, diverse, and intuitive systems.

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Without skills, I think the end-game becomes too RNG and skill-based. Having skills literally lowers the skill ceiling of the game, which has the (debatable) positive of appealing to a more casual audience. It lets end-game players just literally be better than fresh spawns.

casual audience.

I’m starting to lean towards no skills at all now. I like the idea of a RNG and skill based end-game.

Lets ditch the casuals.

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I do believe this is probably the best idea for skills. Because killing zombies shouldn’t make me better at crafting. Chopping down trees shouldn’t make me better at healing.

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In my opinion, it would remove a good chunk of objectives that players have to work for. I mean sure, the 3.x skills were unbalanced (eg. Excercise), but they can be reworked and changed to better fit the realism and survival aspect of 4.x

When there are skills, and if they worked like the Skyrim skill progression mechanics, then it would reward players and help them focus on more things rather than focusing on little stamina and high tier loot as well for an example. That way, people would be focusing more on their survival and protection rather than their incapabilities. Because a person that has been playing on a server for a while (regardless of gear) should be a little bit at an advantage than a person who just joined. Again, the skills can be reworked to have a max skill of +25% stamina endurance. Not +200% sprint speed. It can be reasonable so that they won’t make newcomers at a complete disadvantage. It would be a little leg up for players that have been trying to survive for awhile. Skills should be those that help the player last longer in survival situations, not give him super speed, and 0 recoil, with less footstep noise. It has to be something reasonable to survival.

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I, for one, and I know I am in the minority, like skillsets but think they are poorly done in 3.x. I made a topic on my thoughts of how the 3.x system could be revamped for 4.x here: Character Skillsets: Something I'd like to see in 4.x

I think skillsets can add a lot of depth to the RPG aspect of the game (no I don’t mean role play servers) if done right. It is much more of an RPG feature so perhaps considering how the best action RPG games treat skills trees is a good idea. Diablo III, the F2P Steam knock-off which shall not be named (but has, imo, a better skilltree than D3…just sayin), and that’s all the RPG I play (or rather used to) :slight_smile:

For those of us who don’t know anything about RPG skill trees, imagine if each character class had a unique set of skills and special abilities to progress and unlock as their character progressed. This leads to uniquely developed inidividual characters with unique strangths and weaknesses that can be exploited or covered as part of the right team. Something like THAT would take a lot of thought and development indeed.

I GO write This in portuguese

O sistema de habilidade na 3.0 realmente se provou algo ridículo. na minha opinião apesar das tentativas de Nelson colocando mais especificações nas habilidades ficou claro que isso não ajudou muito.
Na minha opinião o sistema de habilidades deveria receber um Nerf removendo as “especializações” e também coisas como velocidade para correr, menos coice na arma etc…
Realmente acredito que as facilidades antes dadas pela árvore de skills deva ser reduzida a equipamentos que você usa e a materiais como forjas ou algo do gênero em caso de Crafting.