LordCrash, I think we are arguing on two separate wavelengths. I am not saying that the memory system isn't too rigid and that it doesn't need tweaking. I am saying that giving the player the ability to reduce the memory cost of spells to one with in a couple of levels would remove the mechanic for the most part. And the ability to balance around it. If you don't want the memory mechanic in the game that is definitely worth arguing, but if it is a good mechanic, then allowing it to be minimized so easily by the player is not good design. By only level 6 in EA I could have gotten I think 3 schools to level 3.
But that's wrong. I want memory to be in the game but for another purpose. Memory should limit the spells and skill you can use from schools you're NOT good in. In my system the memory requirements are only lowered when you progress in a special school. Skills and spells of other schools in which you don't have many points will still be efficiently limited by memory.
The purpose of the memory mechanic is to make players choose what spells they want to use in a battle, in essence what build they want to go with. It creates a good place of decision making and strategy, and also gives the game some "replayability" so to speak, because you will change how you play throughout the game by switching out spells and trying new things.
Nothing would be changed if you had a bigger arsenal at your disposal in that respect. On the opposite, you would have more flexiblity in combat. The choice would happen in actual encounters, not beforehand. I don't see the point in building up a pretty limited deck while I could do the same thing in combat. This is especially the case for a game like DOS2 where you often don't know the strenghts and weaknesses of your enemies. So what you often do right now is:
1) Building a deck.
2) Finding out the strengths and weaknesses of your enemies and dying
3) Noticing that your deck isn't perfect of that encounter
4) Reloading
5) Changing your deck
6) Fighting again
That's not per se bad, but unnecessary. If my arsenal was bigger (and balanced by both AP costs and cooldown times) I could decide right in battle which spells to use without the necessity to lose first and reload the game. Of course, failure can still happen and not every strategy is a winning one. But the memory system right now (in combination with all the other balancing elements) is just most tiresome than it had to be for the campaign.
And of course I know the roots of this issue: PvP MP. Being forced to build a pretty rigid deck makes balancing for actual PvP MP so much easier. It's how classical card games function and it's imo a good system for that purpose.
For SP (or coop MP), well, not so much imo, for the already stated reasons. AP costs and cooldown times are imo WAY better to make the campaign both more fun and more flexible, with less loading times and a more satisfying character progression. And again, on top of all that, there is still the source point restriction, even for medium-level spells. This game has so many possibilities for proper balancing, I really don't see why the memory system should dominate it all with all its unflexibility in the current state.
It is meant to be limiting, otherwise it has no purpose. That is why it needs some, I would argue, minor tweaking.
I'd still limit something, just not everything. And I really don't see how giving the player less options in combat is something that enhances fun.
I also think we are a little biased because we only saw the very early game which of course felt really tight due to so little memory at the start. In my opinion, if at end game I can use 8 to 10 different spells, some with varying memory costs, that seems fine with me.
I disagree. Especially in the end game you should be able to use a whole lot more spells and skills. Balancing should be way more heavy on AP costs and cooldowns, like suggested before. If you adjust both APs and cooldowns the game doesn't magically become much easier if you have more spells and skills to use. Just your flexibility rises and you have more way to react to your enemey, without the instant need to reload a previous game and to adjust your deck.
