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IDProjectCategoryDate SubmittedLast Update
0010551Valley 2Suggestion - Balancing IssuesFeb 1, 2013 11:58 amFeb 13, 2013 1:13 pm
ReporterPepisolo Assigned To 
Status resolvedResolutionfixed 
Product Version0.722 
Summary0010551: Tier 2 Spell Balance Report part 1
DescriptionAnother report (updated for 728 and two more classes). These are getting shorter (longer now I've added two more classes in) and more boring as there is more crossover from the other spells.

Classes tested: (Feath)erologist, (Stam)ininist, (Litt)orist, (Term)inist, (Ash)ist, (Luc)encer, Snow(cerer)


Primaries

Feather primary is a more powerful version of the Sleet primary. Seems solid.
Stam primary is floating arcing attack. If diagonal down is held it also allows for short range horizontal shooting. Pretty useful.
Litt primary is identical to the Stam primary apart from a slightly lower caliber.
Term primary is a more powerful version of the Aqua primary, plus a large amount of caliber. Very useful.
Ash primary is like the Illum special aside from one thing -- it doesn't actually seem to give off any light! This seems like a bug as the illumination
effect is almost non-existent compared to the Illum one.
Lucencer primary fires dual upward projectiles. The text says that you can also fire downwards while pressing down, but it actually only works while holding down diagonal. Might be a bug. Very quirky as a primary, although can output large DPS and is autofire.
Snow primary is identical to the Term primary. Equally as useful.

Usability Scores:

Feath: B (The most DPS of all the Tier 2 primaries tested raises this to a B)
Stam : B (A bit quirky but I find it useful)
Litt : B (slightly lower caliber than the Stam version doesn't stop this from getting a B)
Term : A (as Misery points out in a report, the high caliber make this pretty powerful)
Ash : C (would be a B if the illumination effect was fixed)
Luc : B (feels quirky as primary but does a lot of DPS and autofires)
Snow : A (same as Term)

Fairly nice set of spells. Term needs a small caliber nerf I think, maybe to something in the 40 - 50 region. Also the illumination effect on the Ash
primary needs to be fixed as it hardly gives any light at all.


Secondaries

Feather secondary is a dash style move that propels you horizontally. Bit of a strange one this as it is actually possible to hold this down and zoom across the overland areas; however doing so is a little risky so maybe it balances out. Pretty cool, anyway.
Stam secondary is a slow moving globe shot. Not overly powerful, however the high caliber makes this useful. Seems balanced.
Litt secondary seems like your typical charge shot. It's fine I think.
Term secondary is a very powerful split shot. a little bit too powerful I think. It deals a lot of death both ways.
Ash secondary is whip-like attack. Seems OK although I'd prefer to use the primary for one shot power as you also get a big range with that. Should in
theory be useful for punching through multiple enemies, although I rarely find opportunities to do so. -- upgraded as of 728 due to new melee monsters
Luc secondary is similar to a much larger range melee attack with much more unorthodox controls (facing left is different to facing right)
Snow secondary is a high bouncing arcing shot. Useful.

Usability Scores:

Feath: B (fun, can be used to zoom overland although it's a little risky doing so)
Stam : B (Large caliber should see this being used defensively)
Litt : C (typical charge shot, usable)
Term : A (for a tactically useful split shot this is also very powerful)
Ash : B
Luc : C (interesting but pretty tricky to use)
Snow : B

Maybe a slight nerf to the Term secondary power is in order. Not sure about those whip attacks. I'd imagine that they would be useful for piercing multiple
enemies, but the opportunity doesn't seem to arise much for me (edit, upgraded to B as these attacks are much more useful now due to the new melee monsters).


Specials

Feather special is a typical fusillade shot. Don't tend to use these much as the primaries are better in most cases.
Stam special is a AOE effect attack. Always useful.
Litt special is a ricochet shot. Pretty powerful in it's own right, with the Ricochet effect too must be useful.
Term special is a homing shot. Always useful for enemies with weak-spots.
Ash special is a high arcing bouncing shot with OK power. Tactically useful.
Luc special is a typical homing attack.
Snow special is a snaking shot. Always useful.

Usability Scores:

Feath: C (I don't really find that much of a use for these shots but it's OK)
Stam: B
Litt: B
Term: B
Ash : B
Luc : B
Snow: B

Ammo attacks

Feath ammo attack is multi projectile launching attack. Low cost of 3 ammo. Not very cheesable on bosses as far as I can see. Might be a good spell for
stealing Skelebot plans.
Stam ammo attack is a slow to initiate wall of mines. Cool to look at. Useful. Cost of 15 seems fair for what it does.
Litt ammo attack is a half circle of powerful projectiles. Reasonable cost of 7. Hugely cheesable on bosses. Powerful.
Term ammo attack is a swingable projectile one. Interesting although tricky to use.
Ash ammo attack is an AOE attack with a low power. Also pretty low cost of only 5 though, so balances OK
Luc ammo attack is currently broken. It hurts the player.
Snow ammo attack is also broken. Same as Luc.

Usability Scores

Feath: C (low cost makes this at least useful, seems cooler than it actually is in practise)
Stam : B (just scrapes a B)
Litt : A (hugely powerful against bosses, creates a wall of death)
Term : B (useful for skelebot research runs)
Ash : B (low cost make this nice)
Luc : E (hurts the player, bugged, C if fixed)
Snow : E (broken, C if fixed)
Overall Class Scores:

Feath: 14 B
Stam : 16 B
Litt : 16 B
Term : 18 A
Ash : 15 B
Luc : 12 C
Snow : 14 B (despite a broken ammo attack!)

This set also seems a lot more well balanced than the spells from the first report. Terminist seems like the most powerful class, even the ammo attack is useful for escaping from research facilities. Terminist primary as reported by Misery could do with a small caliber nerf. Small power nerf possibly, too to the secondary split attack.

Ash primary illumination effect seems broken, once fixed that would raise it to a 15 score.

Littorist ammo attack seems overly powerful to me. Maybe increase the ammo cost to 10 rather than 7.

Luc ammo attack is broken, othewise would probably get a C. Luc primary should probably change angle when down is held as well as down-diagonal or the description text should change.

Snow when fixed will be a powerful class.

That's about it actually. I'm not sure if I'll be able to a proper part 2 as that would require playing the game through to level 2 a few times and hoping that I get the remaining spells. I might just skip to Tier 3 next.

As always any thoughts on whether I've underrated/overrated certain spells much appreciated.

Edit: upgraded the Terminist ammo attack as it is quite useful for research facility hacks.
Edit: updated for .728 with a couple of other classes and for the new melee mechanics, hopefully it's not too dense now
TagsNo tags attached.
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tigersfan

Feb 13, 2013 11:37 am

reporter   ~0030730

Not to dense. Thanks! This is a huge help.

I'm not seeing the problems with the ammo attacks you were talking about. I'm assuming they are fixed. If you see differently, please let me know!

Pepisolo

Feb 13, 2013 1:13 pm

developer   ~0030732

Yep, they were fixed a few builds back. Thanks!

Issue History

Date Modified Username Field Change
Feb 1, 2013 11:58 am Pepisolo New Issue
Feb 1, 2013 11:58 am Pepisolo Description Updated
Feb 1, 2013 12:00 pm Pepisolo Description Updated
Feb 1, 2013 6:07 pm Pepisolo Description Updated
Feb 7, 2013 11:08 am Pepisolo Description Updated
Feb 7, 2013 11:11 am Pepisolo Description Updated
Feb 7, 2013 11:17 am Pepisolo Description Updated
Feb 13, 2013 11:37 am tigersfan Note Added: 0030730
Feb 13, 2013 11:38 am tigersfan Internal Weight => New
Feb 13, 2013 11:38 am tigersfan Status new => resolved
Feb 13, 2013 11:38 am tigersfan Resolution open => fixed
Feb 13, 2013 1:13 pm Pepisolo Note Added: 0030732