Suggestion: Racial Passives AND/OR General Character Passives

[Jellysauce]

Disclaimer: I do not know everything Klei has posted that "will definitely be added" in the future, so if this is already stated as "in the works" then my apologies.

After having commited MUCH more time to the game and having become more familiar with it, I feel like this game would benefit greatly from adding passives (or rather, a passive one can chose from a small list) to the very start of the game. When the character is created, one of, let's say... three passive abilties should be "slottable" into a space that allows hunters to give them a slightly more varied choice of playstyles. I'm extremely bad at math and therefore have no idea about how much of a nightmare passive abilities would be to balace, so I could understand them needing to be very thoroughly thought out before even being considered.

General passives could include things everyone could use; dodge, speed, weapon damage, more forgiving recovery, very minor healing when meating certain criteria, etc.

Racial passives could include things that one might imagine that particular species to have some slight edges in over others, or perhaps adds more "flavor" to them. Like general passives, there is a list of abilties to choose from, and they can be "exchanged" or slotted in and out pre-quest, much like armor and weapons.

Depending on the work involved and game balacing, everyone getting one general AND one racial at the start of the game would be what I'd want most. This could allow new players to have more control over how they decided to tackle content right out of the gate (especially if their first time playing is with friends and not solo). This can also allow more veteran players more customizeability to spice up their old hunter's playstyle. An ogre with very minor hitstun bonus (racial) and slightly more speed (general) would be encouraged to play somewhat differently than a mammal with slightly more crit chance (racial) and slightly better dodge (general). The general idea is that these abilties play into the all-important "playstyle choice" a player will naturally evolve over time as they continue to play.

Much like heartstones, players' options for racial and/or general passives will increase as they rank-up in content, allowing more synergies with their armor and weapon choices, their heartstone passives, and the builds they (attempt) to create in the field. These abilties are NOT meant to be over-powered or replace in-field perks; they are meant to play into the advantages a player may have for their playstyle, and add more customization, synergy and player agency to power progression.

TL:DR

• Start the game off choosing 1 passive perk (2 if the idea of racial/general is an acceptable thing)
• Passives are minor, balanced, and meant to allow players a slightly different experience based on their choices, and more player agency
• The idea of the passives is to increase synergy and improve on the power fantasy
• Perks "upgrade" over time, allowing more powers to choose from in any given slot, much like heartstone passives
• Perks are swappable and not fixed, and can be adjusted any time before a mission (in the same way armor and weapons can be swapped)
• More flavor, more choice! More customization is always better, imho.