Thoughts on Mutations

[strawpoll.me]

Well, I've been mulling over mutations the past few days. They're probably the backbone of the game, and -- most would argue -- well designed, implemented, and balanced relative to each other and the rest of the game.There are still imbalances in player preference and sometimes in objective value, however. So I decided to throw up a quick straw poll on Reddit on which mutations are players' favorites. I didn't post it here because I didn't think it was that significant and I know it's been done before. But! at any rate, I'll post some of my thoughts on mutations related to the results in both places. Some are widely-held opinions, some are...a bit less popular.There's a network of five mutations based directly or indirectly on item pickups that most players have concluded are, individually, quite effective: Back Muscle, Plutonium Hunger, Rabbit Paw, Rhino Skin, and Second Stomach. All five of these were in the top seven of the poll. However, I argue that -- in a vacuum -- these five are at least reasonably balanced, and their imbalance stems from how ridiculously well they complement each other.All but one of ten pairs of mutations from the Pickup Five (Back Muscle + Rhino Skin) complement each other in some way -- even Second Stomach complements Back Muscle by turning fewer ammo pickups into health pickups! All ten trios of mutations from the Pickup Five complement each other significantly. And, as anyone who has done this can attest, getting four or all five mutations from the Pickup Five gives you a strong, balanced influx of HP and ammo that can sustain you through multiple loops. And it's not difficult for the RNG to grant you Pickup Five combos -- at just Level 3, there's already a 28% chance you can have two mutations from these five, Horror and Patience aside. The odds climb from there (but I can't be arsed to calculate them ;)I don't know if the problem with the Pickup Five is that these five mutations are too powerful and should be nerfed, or that most other mutations are too weak and/or unfun and should buffed or eliminated. However, I do know that all five of these mutations wouldn't have to be nerfed because of how interconnected they are. For example, if you slightly lowered the Back Muscle ammo capacity, slightly lowered the Rabbit Paw drop rate, and lowered Rhino Skin to +3, Pluto Hunger (too fun to nerf) and Second Stomach (probably the weakest of the five for anyone other than Robot and Rebel) wouldn't need a nerf.The two other outliers in the poll are Throne Butt and Scarier Face. Throne Butt is Throne Butt; I don't think many players here take issue with it being a special mutation that the RNG blesses you with -- quite the opposite, I've seen more people arguing that the weaker TBs should be buffed, not the other way around. Scarier Face was a bit of a surprise -- is it too good? Does it have too big an effect on the Throne, or loop bosses, or enemies in general? I never thought so, but I may need a second opinion.I don't think any two mutations are closer in concept and function -- both "randomly and automatically replenish ammo as a reward for killing enemies" -- and it's apparent that Lucky Shot isn't well-liked (last in the poll) and Recycle Gland is still valued below the top-tier ammo mutations (Back Muscle and Rabbit Paw). My suggestion is to merge the two into one and make room for another mutation. However, I do recognize the logic in JW's assertion that weapon-specific mutations are important to the game, and fully defend that assertion. So, either the LS/RG hybrid or a mutation that takes its place would have to favor bullets in some way (either explicitly as with Shotgun Shoulders, or implicitly as with Boiling Veins).I don't have strong ideas for either. The best I can think of on the spot for a LS/RG hybrid that favors bullets -- and don't let the quality of this idea color your opinion that LS and RGbe merged -- is "every time you damage an enemy, there's a 1/40 chance that a mini ammo chest will drop." (This implicitly favors bullets, since there are considerably more bullets in a mini ammo chest than other ammo types. If you dual-wield bullet weapons, it's functionally close to Recycle Gland since on average you'd get a bullet back 65% of the time. For mixed weapon sets, there's still a healthy bit of randomness, but more relevant than Lucky Shot's total randomness.)The idea of a "non-mutation mutation" is intriguing, and Patience pulls it off well -- but only because Patience replaces itself as a matter of course. A non-mutation mutation that provides only a temporary benefit and doesn't replace itself simply does not work in a game that offers no measure of control over which mutations appear at any given level -- beyond picking Patience, anyway. There's no way to salvage Last Wish, since tacking a permanent benefit onto Last Wish would make it even closer to Strong Spirit in theme and mechanics. Strong Spirit probably should've been an outright replacement for Last Wish! There's still design space for the idea of an emergency ammo replenisher, but attempting to fix Last Wish isn't the way to explore that space. It needs to be axed.Apart from it being objectively bad (Eyes/Rogue with Rhino Skin and Sharp Teeth be damned! =) and universally unliked (also last in the poll), there are a few design problems with Gamma Guts. First of all, it has identity issues; it can't decide whether it's an offensive or defensive mutation -- or something in-between. If its purpose is to "damage enemies when you're damaged" -- which is usually what it ends up doing in practice -- then it's an inferior and inelegant version of Sharp Teeth. If its purpose is to "prevent cheap deaths from Rats/Dogs/Yeti/whatever dealing double contact damage" -- which is also what it ends up doing in practice -- then it shines a bright light on another problem with the game, that cheap deaths from double contact damagehappen and end a disproportionately high number of runs. Either way, Gamma Guts is too awkward a mutation to justify keeping without a significant overhaul to both itself and, probably, the entire game. Frankly, it just needs to be axed.I don't have strong thoughts on any other lower-tier mutations. Or, rather, I don't think there are major design problems with any them; if they need buffing, then they need buffing, but they have an important place in the game. I couldn't advocate removing the likes of Shotgun Shoulders, Extra Feet, Euphoria, Hammerhead, Stress, Sharp Teeth, and Eagle Eyes (all less than 20% of the votes given Back Muscle as of now).I'm sure JW has commented on how close mutations are to being feature-complete, but I haven't been able to watch most of the dev streams lately. Consolidating Recycle Gland & Lucky Shot and eliminating Last Wish and Gamma Guts -- all three of which I'll keep arguing should be done -- leaves three holes, and even with the 27+Patience current mutations I don't think there are too many. I'm sure JW has dozens of ideas he could pare down to a few great ones (if the quality of the current versions of Strong Spirit, Hammerhead, and Open Mind is any indication, he definitely does).So: how many is too many? My gut tells me 32+Patience is a solid number -- short of Crown of Destiny you'd have exactly 25% of the normal mutations when you reach Level 9, with a healthy sprinkling of inconsistency in mutation availability beyond what we have now.