I am a beginner in the Game Dev business, however I plan to build a futuristic MMO with some interesting mechanics.

However, I have some doubts about shooting mechanics that I chose for this game and would like to know your opinion on this. The mechanic goes as follows:

- Each gun would have it's damage-per-shot value
- Each gun would have it's shots-per-second value
- Each gun would have it's accuracy rating

Now the question is: how to calculate the output damage? I have three available options:

1) Calculate the chance of each shot hitting the target (per-shot accuracy)

2) Multiply the damage output of a weapon by it's accuracy rating (weapon with 50% accuracy deals 50% of it's base damage)

3) Don't use accuracy at all and just adjust the weapon damage output

Which of these three mechanics would you like to see in a game? Mind, this will be an MMO game, so it will have lock-on targets, AoE effects and all that jazz.

I like the sounds of #1.  May require more computing but it would make for a varied scenarios especially if the health of enemies and other players is low.  #2 sounds a lot like the kind of math you'd see in old browser games, but I'm not familiar with how other games go about calculating accuracy.  

#2 and #3 are effectively the same, differing only in what numbers are shown to the player -- unless you're also implementing some way to dynamically change a weapon's accuracy.

So yeah, I'd agree that #1 is more interesting.

2 hours ago, shelvick said:

#2 and #3 are effectively the same, differing only in what numbers are shown to the player -- unless you're also implementing some way to dynamically change a weapon's accuracy.

So yeah, I'd agree that #1 is more interesting.

Well, I plan for characters to have proficiencies, so the accuracy would change, as well as some buffs/nerfs that change the accuracy of the character.

But still, my first option is #1, however I'm just worried that it might be disliked by players.

Who is your audience? If you're targeting the more hardcore FPS players, then yeah, you'll likely hear a lot of complaints about "luck". If you're aiming for a somewhat different audience that isn't as concerned about the gunplay aspect, then I think they'll be more likely to appreciate it. Single data point: From a player's perspective, I, personally, would still go with #1.

I'm trying to make a MMO RPG game, so that's a completely different crowd. A SWTOR/WoW/GW type MMO at that. So that's why I want to implement accuracy ratings, so that your loadout actually makes a difference.

4) Make accuracy a critical hit chance for +100% damage, it makes more sense to the player,

it also prevents freak randomness where the player misses eight times in a row and dies to enemy fire.

7 hours ago, MeeMaster said:

But still, my first option is #1, however I'm just worried that it might be disliked by players.

You might not find this idea helpful, but I remember when I designed a couple counter strike maps back in the day I literally dissected the elements of what made a good counter-strike map, my conclusion was collision points where the two teams meet if running full tilt.  If that area of the map is conducive to good gun play then you've got a winner.  So I just focused on those two or three areas and slowly expanded out from there incorporating them all into one map.  The map was tons of fun to play.  If I was in your shoes what I would do is to take a similar strategy, rather than pick one option on arbitrary assumptions about what people may or may not like I would design gun play scenarios with your game and have players test out the various code and see which they like.  You might find that the answer to a good experience for the players is a modified version of #1 using hit boxes or something.