Balancing issues with COC2

[Shrike675]

Leveling method

Let's do some testing. Judging by your words I went and started a fresh file, and followed to the best of my ability what you did. Barring the levels that don't exist, following your method of leveling (along with figuring out how much exp other encounters would give) You get:

Spoiler: Mathy stuff

Starting exp:225

Level 1:500

Level 2:2,000

Level 3:5,000

Level 4:10,000

Level 5:25,000

Level 6:75,000


Old woods (levels 1-3)

Wolves:60

Wyld elves:90

Hornet x3:60

Hornet x4:110

Alrune effigies:90 if not level 2, 60 otherwise

Ninian:25

Azzy:150 (challenged or provoked)

Effigy Herald:160

Alrune:1078 if not level 3+, otherwise 750

Eryka (One time fight):130

Kas (Wayfort):200



Foothills (level 3+)

Harpy ambush : 160, 240 if Wingleader is included

Vaush:165

Wyvern girl:100

Arona:200

Berwyn:100

Manticore:80

Mercs:105

Byvernia:450

Jen:255

Frostwoods (Levels 3-6)
Imps:200, 260 w/Imp lord

Kura:150

Kitsune group:1,200

Drider queen:500

Hellhound:1250

Gytha:1000 + razorcup for first victory

From levels 1-3, if you fought just the hornets, it’d take roughly 125 fights for the trio, and 68 fights if four are encountered. After that, just fighting the harpies would mean it’d take 687 fights, and 458 if the wingleader is encountered with them to reach max level. Now if you fought something like the hellhound, which is an easily repeatable encounter unless you get her pregnant and then actually advance it far enough for her to turn non-hostile, it’d take you a measly 88 from 4 to 6.

Not to mention the razorcup you'd get from Gytha, which gives the lesser of 250k exp and is more than enough for a level up at this stage of the game. But sure, let's assume for a second levels 7 and 8 exist. I can only guess, but based on the amount of exp gain required for each subsequent level I'd ball park 7 to be the 250k a razorcup would provide you, and level 8 to be either twice or even three times level 7.

Even then, there are a bunch of one time dungeons that also give out rewards and fights that are more than enough to mitigate grinding so hard in the early areas. If the enemies are so difficult for you to fight, the devs added easier difficulties that tone down the damage you take and increase damage dealt to foes by more than half. And that's not even going into the Glacial Rift where even encounters like the Jotun duo give 3k per fight.

 

[Kingu2]

My grind strategy is to just grab cait and brint and ignore the old forest completely to head straight for the foothills. you can reach level three in about a week from the enemies there (just watch out for orcs). then I stop by the convo of mirrors to get the mirror magic, and beat the alraune. after backtracking to get the fast travel spots I grind in the old forest to get to level five where I beat Gytha and down the razor cup to get level six. I don't know the specific number of fights it takes, but it's around 30 to 40 ingame days and an hour and a half long play time from start to finish.

as far as balancing goes I don't think any of the classes are particularly overpowered since the strength of your character comes from the build you use not the class. when I say build you're looking at all of the equipment, perks, skills and buffs your character has. for example my Crit. assassin build has max cun, str, and dex, 2 lucky strike rings and the thief class buff giving another 10 to crit. for a total of 37% chance and 54 base evasion with all my armor modifiers. the chrysanthemum petal takes advantage of the of the crits with it's ability and I pair it with either a flaming dagger or sanc. gladius in my offhand. my cool down skills are sure shot and crowd control with my encounter being eviscerate. if I open with sure shot which is guaranteed to crit. I get the blessed buff and the choice of eviscerate or crowd control for the follow up depending on if it's a single enemy of multiple, I might skip the sure shot if I think I can take them out without the buff. I can reliably clear out most enemies in the game in one or two turns. this doesn't even take advantage of twist the knife and is only relying on the sharpen blades class buff. It's mostly centered around the chrysanthemum's ability and the crit modifiers which could be much higher and not even need the class buff.