Game mechanics evolve over time. This is the way.When kits change, the in-game kit description is updated accordingly. When a game mechanic changes, we get a dev post and/or update release notes. A few examples:* bonus turn order and speed* when advantage gets consumed* Protection up and max health (not actually a change, just an explanation)* deathmark/marked/taunt prioritization equalized.You may or may not remember these or you may or may not have been playing when they happened. Currently, if you want to know how game mechanic X works or how X interacts with Y, what options do you have?* you can ask the community (someone might know or you might get bad info)* you can ask ea help (someone might know or you might get bad info or no response at all)* you can ask in a dev QA (you’ll get solid info if your question gets answered)* you can scour dev posts and update notes (you may or may not find a relevant post, and it may or may not be the most recent update to the mechanic)* you can search 3rd party resources (there are some great ones out there but you may or may not find ones giving up-to-date info)Should there be an official game mechanic guide that explains stuff like how buffs/debuffs work, what order leadership ability/individual uniques take affect, bonus turn order, order that dmg/buff/debuff apply (not always spelled out in kits), etc regardless of whether 3rd party resources exist that cover some/all of these specific examples?Also feel free to shoutout other mechanics that you remember changing!

Awhile ago I was trying to find out what exactly deathmark was and the only explanation for it I found was in the rancor raid description page. Under the description for Gamorean guard it says what the mechanics are for deathmark. Would anyone think to look there? Probably not, but who knows. The other mechanic that is hard to understand is target lock. It’s used both in fleet and character battles and they just give some vague description for it. Turns out it’s different things that happen buffs etc. I agree totally that a comprehensive list of each mechanic,buff,debuff etc should be made available.

It is odd that there is no place where all abilities/game Mechanix are defined.What is a bonus turn. What is defense penetration. What is courage. What is fear. What is max health. What is stacking health. How do damage over time and detonators work. Even finding out how damage is calculated in the game takes some serious detective work. I think they keep information obscure on purpose because that gives them more flexibility with balance, plus things change over time. +40%/+40 defense in 2016 effected a character different than +40%/+40 defense does in 2020.

I’m aware of that one. Was just about to post about it myself.There are several ways in-game to find descriptions of buffs/debuffs (easiest is probably in battle by tapping the buff/debuff icons over a unit, which beats trying to remember that Sabine was the first toon with armor shred or that deathmark was introduced in the rancor raid) but that’s not always the same as their mechanics. The in-battle description sometimes fall short of being meaningful description (looking at you target lock but kit description for various characters do cover that). This is a pretty good resource for buff/debuff mechanics by the way:https://gaming-fans.com/star-wars-goh/swgoh-resources/buffs-debuffs-list/#google_vignetteBut it, for example, doesn’t touch on the recent changes to advantage.This was a great post the devs did a while back on protection up and max health. It would be great to have a single definitive source covering more topics like this. https://forums.galaxy-of-heroes.starwars.ea.com/discussion/202854/protection-up-explanationAnd if you want to know something more obscure like whether Darth malak under Darth Nihilus lead gets a double boost to max health from losing protection, where do you look for that? Common sense dictates no assuming the affects occur sequentially but how can you know for sure other than painstakingly attempting to calculate dmg taken before Malak first bonus turn is taken?

"MetaThumper;c-2159472" wrote:Here you go OP.https://gaming-fans.com/star-wars-goh/As I alluded to in my original post, there are a lot of great resources out there. Discord is great, swgoh.gg is great, gaming-fans is great, youtubers are great. Finding resources really isn’t the point of the post. The reality is you need to rely on 3rd party resources and there is no single definitive source for game mechanics. If CG doesn’t want to provide that information themselves, they could always partner with one of these other groups as they’ve done with swgoh.gg for other kinds of game information like GAC history.

"Calo_Nord;c-2159487" wrote:"MetaThumper;c-2159472" wrote:Here you go OP.https://gaming-fans.com/star-wars-goh/As I alluded to in my original post, there are a lot of great resources out there. Discord is great, swgoh.gg is great, gaming-fans is great, youtubers are great. Finding resources really isn’t the point of the post. The reality is you need to rely on 3rd party resources and there is no single definitive source for game mechanics. If CG doesn’t want to provide that information themselves, they could always partner with one of these other groups as they’ve done with swgoh.gg for other kinds of game information like GAC history.Oh you won't get any argument from me regarding this info being readily available somewhere in game. +1

Official guide for game mechanics?

666johnnyreb666
5 years ago
Awhile ago I was trying to find out what exactly deathmark was and the only explanation for it I found was in the rancor raid description page. Under the description for Gamorean guard it says what the mechanics are for deathmark. Would anyone think to look there? Probably not, but who knows. The other mechanic that is hard to understand is target lock. It’s used both in fleet and character battles and they just give some vague description for it. Turns out it’s different things that happen buffs etc. I agree totally that a comprehensive list of each mechanic,buff,debuff etc should be made available.
BobcatSkywalker
5 years ago
It is odd that there is no place where all abilities/game Mechanix are defined.

What is a bonus turn. What is defense penetration. What is courage. What is fear. What is max health. What is stacking health. How do damage over time and detonators work.

Even finding out how damage is calculated in the game takes some serious detective work. I think they keep information obscure on purpose because that gives them more flexibility with balance, plus things change over time. +40%/+40 defense in 2016 effected a character different than +40%/+40 defense does in 2020.
PawG144
5 years ago
I’m aware of that one. Was just about to post about it myself.

There are several ways in-game to find descriptions of buffs/debuffs (easiest is probably in battle by tapping the buff/debuff icons over a unit, which beats trying to remember that Sabine was the first toon with armor shred or that deathmark was introduced in the rancor raid) but that’s not always the same as their mechanics. The in-battle description sometimes fall short of being meaningful description (looking at you target lock but kit description for various characters do cover that).

This is a pretty good resource for buff/debuff mechanics by the way:
https://gaming-fans.com/star-wars-goh/swgoh-resources/buffs-debuffs-list/#google_vignette

But it, for example, doesn’t touch on the recent changes to advantage.

This was a great post the devs did a while back on protection up and max health. It would be great to have a single definitive source covering more topics like this.

https://forums.galaxy-of-heroes.starwars.ea.com/discussion/202854/protection-up-explanation

And if you want to know something more obscure like whether Darth malak under Darth Nihilus lead gets a double boost to max health from losing protection, where do you look for that? Common sense dictates no assuming the affects occur sequentially but how can you know for sure other than painstakingly attempting to calculate dmg taken before Malak first bonus turn is taken?
PawG144
5 years ago
"MetaThumper;c-2159472" wrote:
Here you go OP.

https://gaming-fans.com/star-wars-goh/

As I alluded to in my original post, there are a lot of great resources out there. Discord is great, swgoh.gg is great, gaming-fans is great, youtubers are great. Finding resources really isn’t the point of the post. The reality is you need to rely on 3rd party resources and there is no single definitive source for game mechanics. If CG doesn’t want to provide that information themselves, they could always partner with one of these other groups as they’ve done with swgoh.gg for other kinds of game information like GAC history.
BountyKillerCa
5 years ago
"Calo_Nord;c-2159487" wrote:
"MetaThumper;c-2159472" wrote:
Here you go OP.

https://gaming-fans.com/star-wars-goh/

As I alluded to in my original post, there are a lot of great resources out there. Discord is great, swgoh.gg is great, gaming-fans is great, youtubers are great. Finding resources really isn’t the point of the post. The reality is you need to rely on 3rd party resources and there is no single definitive source for game mechanics. If CG doesn’t want to provide that information themselves, they could always partner with one of these other groups as they’ve done with swgoh.gg for other kinds of game information like GAC history.

Oh you won't get any argument from me regarding this info being readily available somewhere in game. +1
TheJEFFtm
5 years ago
This is definitely a QOL improvement that should be added to the Journey Guide - probably even easier if it just links directly to website (maybe even a post on these forums?!?) where they could more readily keep a living document, rather than having to push modifications with an update!
MasterSeedy
New Ace
5 years ago
Yep. Civilization has the Civilopedia. There's no reason SWGOH (and literally every game) shouldn't have the equivalent.
NyKynoe
5 years ago
"MasterSeedy;c-2159583" wrote:
Yep. Civilization has the Civilopedia. There's no reason SWGOH (and literally every game) shouldn't have the equivalent.

very true, but as games move towards the more social side of things, its also good for the community building to have this type of 3rd party "reliance" built in. but it would be a really nice QoL update. along with an NPC page to view abilities and stuff when a particular event isn't active. (and give them a few spins)
PawG144
5 years ago
"Kyno;c-2159621" wrote:
"MasterSeedy;c-2159583" wrote:
Yep. Civilization has the Civilopedia. There's no reason SWGOH (and literally every game) shouldn't have the equivalent.

very true, but as games move towards the more social side of things, its also good for the community building to have this type of 3rd party "reliance" built in. but it would be a really nice QoL update. along with an NPC page to view abilities and stuff when a particular event isn't active. (and give them a few spins)

The community building aspect is an excellent point although I don’t think it goes away if this QoL existed. For example, a general principle that every player should be aware of is that squad order matters for stuff like aoe dmg and mass assists but that doesn’t mean every player is going to sit down by themselves and think about the optimal order for Geos or NS or figure out the 5s sacrifice thing. A potential starting point would be an officially curated document that began with some rules of thumb but possibly expanded over time to delve into aspects with greater detail. iirc there was a dev QA that addressed the Geos ordering thing and suggested the community was on the right track but there was more to it.

Might even enhance community engagement if it helps expose players (new and old) to mechanics they haven’t ever thought about before.
NyKynoe
5 years ago
"Calo_Nord;c-2159659" wrote:
"Kyno;c-2159621" wrote:
"MasterSeedy;c-2159583" wrote:
Yep. Civilization has the Civilopedia. There's no reason SWGOH (and literally every game) shouldn't have the equivalent.

very true, but as games move towards the more social side of things, its also good for the community building to have this type of 3rd party "reliance" built in. but it would be a really nice QoL update. along with an NPC page to view abilities and stuff when a particular event isn't active. (and give them a few spins)

The community building aspect is an excellent point although I don’t think it goes away if this QoL existed. For example, a general principle that every player should be aware of is that squad order matters for stuff like aoe dmg and mass assists but that doesn’t mean every player is going to sit down by themselves and think about the optimal order for Geos or NS or figure out the 5s sacrifice thing. A potential starting point would be an officially curated document that began with some rules of thumb but possibly expanded over time to delve into aspects with greater detail. iirc there was a dev QA that addressed the Geos ordering thing and suggested the community was on the right track but there was more to it.

Might even enhance community engagement if it helps expose players (new and old) to mechanics they haven’t ever thought about before.

absolutely, but (and this is pure speculation) them not doing it could also be 100% intentional, because those things that player do figure out at some level are the "trade secrets" that make a great player, or get passed on as the tribal knowledge of a guild. Other players can be stumped on things like this, or even not care or think they just can't get a counter to work..... I know this is not ideal for those players, but this is an "unspoken" advantage to the players who are deeply invested in the game.

I am not arguing for this to not be a thing, just making conversation.