View Issue Details
| ID | Project | Category | Date Submitted | Last Update | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0010465 | Valley 2 | Suggestion - Balancing Issues | Jan 25, 2013 10:50 am | Feb 13, 2013 11:44 am | |
| Reporter | Pepisolo | Assigned To | tigersfan | ||
| Status | resolved | Resolution | fixed | ||
| Product Version | 0.719 | ||||
| Summary | 0010465: Tier 1 Spell Balance Report part 2 | ||||
| Description | A little trickier this report as things are more well balanced generally and a class like Illuminologist might be a little subjective due to its more tactical attacks. For ease of reference part 1 is here (although a bit outdated now): http://www.arcengames.com/mantisbt/view.php?id=10445 Primaries (Stone)binder is a pretty typical straight shot with low power. Does have the largest range of any primary tested so far, though, which does give it a defensive boost. (Techno)zoologist is virtually identical to the Stonebinder primary. Stonebinder seems marginally better due to a faster projectile speed. (Sleet)lock is another one of those bendy attacks. Slightly more DPS than the similar Draftlock one so this is slightly better. (Illum)inologist is a straight AOE shot. Very low DPS against single targets, but tactically should prove useful against clusters of enemies. (Lumber)mancer is another one very similar to the Stone/Techno skills, however the power is significantly better. Easily the best of the three primaries of this type. Usability Scores: Stone : C (close to a B due to the large range) Techno: C (Pretty much identical to the Stone primary) Sleet : B (Just scrapes a B due to an increase in power on the similar draftlock one) Illum : B (Very tactical this one, might need more testing, but you can see the possibilities of the AOE) Lumber: B (The combination of power and range makes this one of the better primaries) These seem reasonably well balanced really. Maybe there's not enough differentiation between the Stone and Techno variants, though. Secondaries Stone secondary is a charge shot. Seems useful, although I haven't used these type of spells to any great extent. Techno secondary is very similar to the stone secondary. Slightly better due to increase in power for non fully charged shots. Fully charged it does the same damage for some reason. Sleet secondary is a whip-like close range attack. Reasonably useful. Especially good for taking down enemies like the Aurock Warrior. Surprisingly poor at countering enemy projectiles, though, I find. Illum secondary is a typical snaking shot. Always pretty useful these. Quite low DPS, but seems fine. Lumber secondary is very similar to the sleet secondary. Slightly worse due to a lower power and rate of fire. Usability Scores: Stone : C Techno: C (if the fully charged shot gave more power than stone, might make a B) Sleet : C (might make B if it were more useful for countering projectiles) Illum : B (gets a B because of the tactical advantages it allows) Lumber: C Seems strange that despite Techno being more powerful than Stone, the fully charged shot does the same damage. Partially charged the power scales correctly, so might be a bug. Maybe differentiate the Lumber and Sleet whip attacks a little, give one more caliber for defensive situations and the other less caliber but more power offensively. If not then maybe just a small caliber boost for both to make them that little bit more useful defensively. Specials Stone special is one of those less accurate flurry attacks. Don't quite see the point of this attack at the moment. The primary does nearly as much DPS, has more range, is more accurate and is the same caliber. If the caliber of this were higher I could see using it as an anti-projectile flurry, which would be nice. Also, not sure if this is a bug or intended, but the flurry effect is not present on diagonal shots -- just shoots straight. Techno special is basically a weak AOE attack. It does have a pretty big AOE, though, so can see its uses. Not auto-fire, though. Sleet special identical to the Stone special. Primary is more powerful for this class, although the range is the same. Don't see much of a use for it. Illum special has good single shot power, but low DPS. The light effect is pretty useful in dark areas. Lumber special is identical to the Draftlock homing shot. Usability Scores: Stone : D (as a technique on its own it's worth a c, but since the primary just does everything better I'm downgrading it as it doesn't seem useful) Techno: C (if this auto-fired might make a B) Sleet : D Illum : B (powerful shot and light effect makes this pretty cool) Lumber: B Ammo attacks Stone ammo attack is similar to the Apoth one. A little less powerful, though. Can still deal a fair amount of concentrated damage, though. Techno ammo attack is similar to the Entropy one. Marginally less power, though. Sleet ammo attack is a strange one. Not sure exactly how to use this one yet. Seems best for situations where you need to run for it in a gung-ho manner. Doesn't seem very effective against bosses. Illum ammo attack is a powerful AOE attack. A little like the Forg special although more costly in ammo. Looks pretty, too. Lumber ammo attack is a monstrously powerful projectile attack that leeches your own health as well as using a small amount of ammo. You can line up as many enemies as you want with this and obliterate them with one well placed shot. Since a lot of enemies give you health and ammo once you kill them you can pretty much use this for the majority of a level. Great for cheesing bosses. Seems overpowered. Usability Scores: Stone : B Techno: C Sleet : C Illum : B Lumber: A Overall Scores Stone 12: C Techno 12: C sleet 12: C Illum 16: B Lumber 16: B A little bit more of a boring report this one, as this particular set of spells seems more balanced than the last set. One major thing that stands out is that the Lumber ammo attack seems too powerful for the associated cost. You can for large stretches use it as your main attack due to the low health and ammo cost which you recoup easily while killing monsters. Either the life cost or ammo cost or both need to be increased I think. One other thing is that I don't like those inaccurate flurry attacks at the moment. They just seem slightly worse than the primaries with minimal tactical advantages. I think these should either be made slightly more powerful or be made to have a slightly higher caliber or a very small increase to both. At the moment I only really use these attacks for the novelty factor. Illum has a surprisingly high score, not really for the power, but for its versatility and tactical usefulness. I think that's about it. If I've underestimated/overestimated certain spells, please let me know. | ||||
| Tags | No tags attached. | ||||
| Internal Weight | New | ||||
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If I were to recommend something for whip attacks it would be to expand on their piercing through shield effect to let them hit most enemies while they are damage immune (like snails for instance). This might be overpowered I couldn't say for sure but it would be an interesting direction for them. I've found drone attacks to be a little... Weird. I'm not really sure I like them. If possible it would be cool if attacks tracked your movement keys input rather than your characters actual movement. That may or may not improve them though, as it is I find them mostly cumbersome to use. Being able to arc shoots up/down without having to jump up/down yourself -might- help that. |
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Also the fusillade spells are rather weak at the moment. It would be cool if successive hits made them build up damage or something. But they could use some help. The damage resistance that comes from successive hits really kills them except against annoying low health enemies like bats. |
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Thanks. I'm still working through the first one, but this is good stuff. |
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I'm thinking that a good feasible change to the secondary straight shot spells is to make them slow moving, long cooldown, and high caliber. I'm thinking like the clinging spells, except with the homing replaced with blocking high caliber. This will differentiate them and give more classes the ability to block, albeit at longer intervals. |
| Date Modified | Username | Field | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 25, 2013 10:50 am | Pepisolo | New Issue | |
| Jan 25, 2013 10:53 am | Pepisolo | Description Updated | |
| Jan 25, 2013 11:07 am | Pepisolo | Description Updated | |
| Jan 25, 2013 11:08 am | madcow | Note Added: 0030181 | |
| Jan 25, 2013 11:13 am | madcow | Note Added: 0030182 | |
| Jan 25, 2013 1:11 pm | tigersfan | Internal Weight | => New |
| Jan 25, 2013 1:11 pm | tigersfan | Note Added: 0030202 | |
| Jan 25, 2013 1:11 pm | tigersfan | Assigned To | => tigersfan |
| Jan 25, 2013 1:11 pm | tigersfan | Status | new => considering |
| Feb 11, 2013 4:58 am | Jerebaldo1 | Note Added: 0030669 | |
| Feb 13, 2013 11:44 am | tigersfan | Status | considering => resolved |
| Feb 13, 2013 11:44 am | tigersfan | Resolution | open => fixed |
