Combat and QoL Feedback Thread

Balaknightfang

Resident Coke Addict
Moderator
Aug 5, 2018
1,208
1,475
I'm making this so you all have a place to immediately provide me with feedback on the given changes. So, that said, how're people feeling with the public patch?
 

Tide Hunter

Well-Known Member
May 4, 2019
863
1,140
I haven't yet played with this patch much, but reading the patch notes, but I have to say, thank you for these changes. Especially the affinities one, the way they worked annoyed me particularly because of the racial affinities and how they, even in a minor way, restricted affinities. Similarly, overburdened being changed to no longer punish players who enjoy pregnancy in combat is great. The penalty was so harsh that every new character I would make immediately took birth control and only got rid of it when I could get Evergreen to alleviate the debuff. Now, I might stop doing that.

The +25 attack power bonus for Veteran is nice. It allows Warriors who would rather be damage dealers than tanks to not ignore the benefit of their starting perk, without being such an overwhelming boost that I expect everyone switching the physical damage dealer class of choice from Thief to Warrior.

The other changes seem, unilaterally, to be nice quality of life changes or plain fixes. Except the blessed thing, but I don't think there's any reason against that change.
 

Bast

Well-Known Member
Aug 12, 2021
339
238
I love the new highlights to defensive stats and that you're able to know now what they mean when you hover over them but dislike the changes to the "overburdened" status effect. Feel like getting rid of its flaws through evergreen will feel less like an achievement now. Most players probably wouldn't care about the debuff to overland movement speed that has been kept.
Rp wise it makes the status effect feel more "arcade-ey" and less "true-rp-ish" now. It's a nice thing when aspects of your characters physique play into how a game is played.
 

Tide Hunter

Well-Known Member
May 4, 2019
863
1,140
Rp wise it makes the status effect feel more "arcade-ey" and less "true-rp-ish" now. It's a nice thing when aspects of your characters physique play into how a game is played.
No other aspect of a character's appearance impacts gameplay. Perhaps an argument could be made for overburdened having some gameplay impact, but having appearance have such a massive impact as overburdened had is far too much. If overburdened decreased initiative by a small amount, or something of the sort, then it's a neat little impact that your rp has had on gameplay, but the 50% agility reduction was way, way too punishing, crippling any character which has it, because basically every character type benefits from agility regardless of archetype.
 

Bast

Well-Known Member
Aug 12, 2021
339
238
No other aspect of a character's appearance impacts gameplay.
That is correct. The game is lacking of that. And now the devs decided to get rid of it instead of adding more. - Which is something that I dislike.

way, way too punishing
It forced me to think more while playing. With the recent changes it doesn't do that anymore as well.
 

MeiLan

Well-Known Member
May 15, 2019
60
65
29
I like the additions to the Veteran perk, i tend to play as a skirmisher-type warrior and i like the attack bonus it provides. I would probably extend the limitation to any type of non-heavy equipment like helmets slots, arms and the legs.
Above all, i love the build variety the perk provides, letting me pick between either tanking or damage was a great idea, hopefully we get similar choices for other class perks. i would love to see what you have planned for charmers.

Stagger is great as a debuff, It's a shame that it lost the physical resistance malus it gave to enemies. i often took advantage of that by making combos with bull rush or thunder strike. Oh well i can make do with just putting more points in accuracy.
One concern i have is that these kind of status effects start losing effectivenes as enemies grow higher in level, i would like to have more opportunities to exploit these kind of debuffs. A sort of "they lose power but remain useful as they open the way for a better attack" thing.

Driving thrust is a great example of what i'm talking about, it deals extra damage if the enemy is sundered.

All in all, i am happy with the changes.
 

Balaknightfang

Resident Coke Addict
Moderator
Aug 5, 2018
1,208
1,475
I would probably extend the limitation to any type of non-heavy equipment like helmets slots, arms and the legs.
Imo, it should have the exact same set of rules as its opposite effect. If you aren't getting one, you should always be getting the other. This is both a balance thing (the certain application of the perk in one of its two ways is a valuable tool in assessing the strength of the class) and a tool used to avoid more "GOTCHA" moments that result from failures of clarity or comprehension. Veteran has already confused enough people as-is. Besides, it makes the really bad fashion souls even funnier.

It's a shame that it lost the physical resistance malus it gave to enemies.
This is a complex issue, and a lot of it boils down to "I want to see how it feels now that people should be paying attention to it reducing all damage that the given character does by 10%", which is a pretty powerful ability in and of itself. I want to see how it lands, then I might tweak it more. Besides, it does still reduce evasion, which is a benefit on its own.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Erzulie and MeiLan

Wint3rRyd3r

Well-Known Member
Feb 14, 2021
929
2,150
Besides, it does still reduce evasion, which is a benefit on its own.

Personally I think that's a fair trade off. You want reduced damage? Fine but you gonna get hit a lot. And the new damage buff for light armor wearing is nice. And I'm totally not just saying that because big number damage good. The complete removal of the preg debuff instead of a nerf is weird but I'm fine with it. If Brienne can fight pregnant with no issues, I should be able to as well.

The removal of affinities restricting stat allocation is the best to me though. I haven't had a chance to check though, does this change mean every stat gets a normal boost every level up or is that still tied to race and background and we can just the points wherever we want with nothing greyed out?
 

Tide Hunter

Well-Known Member
May 4, 2019
863
1,140
The removal of affinities restricting stat allocation is the best to me though. I haven't had a chance to check though, does this change mean every stat gets a normal boost every level up or is that still tied to race and background and we can just the points wherever we want with nothing greyed out?
Affinities literally just do not exist anymore. The only remaining fragment of it is a suggestion, where the three "affinity" stats your class, and only your class, had now have little stars next to them in the level up screen. There are no more greyed out stats. If you make a new character, the tooltips for backgrounds and races no longer have a section on affinities. Affinities, quite simply, just do not exist.
Now, as to your question, I have no clue what you're asking. What is "a normal boost"? Do you mean +1 or +3? Whatever it is, you can assign +3 to any 3 stats on level up, and the others get +1. Again, affinities no longer impact shit, where they can even still be said to exist. Nothing about stats is still tied to race and background, and I'm not sure why your question was phrased like that.
 

Wint3rRyd3r

Well-Known Member
Feb 14, 2021
929
2,150
Do you mean +1 or +3? Whatever it is, you can assign +3 to any 3 stats on level up, and the others get +1.

The automatic plus 1. Didn't stats that weren't in the character's affinity not get that before?

and I'm not sure why your question was phrased like that.

Because I have a talent for butchering the English language and difficulty with articulating sometimes. In my defense words are hard and sounded good in my head.

No no, staggered reduces the enemy's evasion. By 10. Used to be 15, actually, but it's 10 now

My bad I misread it.
 

Wint3rRyd3r

Well-Known Member
Feb 14, 2021
929
2,150
Got ya. I've run a human noble warrior for so long I guess I just forgot and assumed the non-affinities didn't get the +1.
 

Blueboy

Active Member
Dec 7, 2020
34
29
26
All of the changes end up on the positive side, was worried about the wording of the veteran perk since it did not include shield as a limitation in the patch notes but the wording in-game since to include it so all is well.

I am deeply saddened to see bless stacking go away, seems like Petal will be relegated to an offhand weapon.

I think the change to the veteran was great and I hope to see more similar additions like this to more classes, specifically charmer which only has a few spells tied to sexiness, and is better off temporarily changing classes when they reach enemies immune to resolve damage.
 

Balaknightfang

Resident Coke Addict
Moderator
Aug 5, 2018
1,208
1,475
Rather than start a new thread, best to just revive this bad boy and get everyone's thoughts
 

Tide Hunter

Well-Known Member
May 4, 2019
863
1,140
I am not a backer, so as such can't play this, so these are just my thoughts looking at the patch notes.
I'm very much surprised by resolve's removal. I guess that means hp is representative of how close someone is to giving up, regardless of how it got to that point. Probably for the best, it's probably easier to balance a system if there's just one type of health, and everything targets the same pool. Plus, a tease damager can be in a party of magic or physical damagers and they can mesh better. I've often been put off from using a tease build because of that, it felt like doing that would only clash with the party if not going all-in with a tease comp, and some enemies are immune to it.

Threat no longer being random seems great. My current main playthrough is a tank, and it's a bit frustrating to have a red threat while my companions are both green and then my companions still get hit several times.

At-will stances automatically activating makes at-will much better, though a bunch of at-wills had a special effect that happened when activating them (like, a surge of threat, or +attack power for two turns, or an aoe attack). I'd assumed that this was to make up for your loss of a turn. Do they happen with the free activation too, despite no longer using a turn?

Companions having the same xp seems like it should be nice. You don't need to grind to get a fresh companion on par with your old ones, and people can have a properly leveled Etheryn for Palace of Ice without needing to use her that much before it if they don't like her kit or just don't want to be forced to use her just to avoid having a level 3 in a level 5 dungeon.

I didn't even know that Brienne had different vulnerabilities from Brint.

I don't know how the Outrider set has been changed, but I'm interested in what it is now. The Outrider Set was kinda a mediocre jack of all trades, and you're stuck with it until Palace of Ice. I'm interested to see what it's become.
 

Balaknightfang

Resident Coke Addict
Moderator
Aug 5, 2018
1,208
1,475
. I'd assumed that this was to make up for your loss of a turn. Do they happen with the free activation too, despite no longer usin
They do indeed! I kept them around for a couple of reasons, including to make reactivation costs lower if you will and to make sure they could still be stealable
 

Ireyon

Well-Known Member
May 14, 2018
305
347
I know I'll love the at-will stance changes despite not being a backer at the moment.

Having to waste a turn at the beginning of the battle always felt so terribly clunky, especially since most battle were incredibly short. So I'd either 1) only switch in stances for bosses (clunky if you don't know they're coming) 2) not use them ever or 3) have an at-will that you'd never use in regular battles. Considering that one of the kitsune powers is a stance this always felt really off. I got this power from a quasi-deity and now I won't use it because it's not very efficient in combat.

No longer having two separate HP bars is nice as well. I'm not sure about actually calling it HP though...

I mean now that resolve damage classes are no longer an all-or-nothing thing I've actually thought about using it. I think it's a little weird that being really horny would decrease your health. Wouldn't it make a little more thematic sense to rename it to fighting spirit or will or even resolve?

Being horny and getting bashed around the head with a giant fuck-off sword would both make people less willing to fight and damage their resolve to keep going but I really don't see how a magic stiffy could be a health hazard. It's just a quibble though.
 

wery12345

Well-Known Member
Aug 1, 2021
1,631
1,427
28
Thank you for making disarm no longer stackable, nothing beat having imp groups disarm me for 8 turns. Also making it to where my generating threat means something instead of having it at red and watching them not hit me 3 turns in a row. those were my 2 biggest gripes and theyve already been fixed.
 

The Observer

Scientist
FoE Mod
Aug 27, 2015
1,357
3,165
HP is simple, common parlance and gets the metric across without fuss to newcomers. Flexible Survival used it to measure everything from behind smashed by oversized tits to being covered in spooge, and it's worked out well enough.
 

Balaknightfang

Resident Coke Addict
Moderator
Aug 5, 2018
1,208
1,475
No longer having two separate HP bars is nice as well. I'm not sure about actually calling it HP though...

I mean now that resolve damage classes are no longer an all-or-nothing thing I've actually thought about using it. I think it's a little weird that being really horny would decrease your health. Wouldn't it make a little more thematic sense to rename it to fighting spirit or will or even resolve?

Being horny and getting bashed around the head with a giant fuck-off sword would both make people less willing to fight and damage their resolve to keep going but I really don't see how a magic
To quote my post on the blog on this same subject:
I’d thought about that tbh, but I felt it was easier to convey its overall role by maintaining the HP name instead, which is important for any new players. Functionally, you’re absolutely right, and I’ll probably write something in the codex to the equivalent of “health in this game is an abstraction of a character’s willingness and ability to continue fighting, which is why such a broad variety of abilities target the same bar.”
 

EvilK

Well-Known Member
Aug 14, 2020
53
26
29
Wouldn't the new HP total make more sense if it was calculated based on Toughness + Willpower instead of Toughness + Prescence?
If it's about the will to keep fighting then the Willpower stat would be more appropriate, especially since it used to increase the amount of resolve the pc had prior to this patch.
 

Balaknightfang

Resident Coke Addict
Moderator
Aug 5, 2018
1,208
1,475
No it didn't. Presence was. Willpower increases focus, which is the resistance to the things that damaged resolve.

There's an argument to be made either way imo, and I went with presence for the time being for two reasons
1.) Consistency. Presence increasing some health bar meant it retained its function in the damage absorption category.
2.) Balance. Giving willpower, an already incredibly powerful stat HP scaling is just asking for mages to be completely unstoppable.
 

Ireyon

Well-Known Member
May 14, 2018
305
347
To quote my post on the blog on this same subject:
Oh, sorry, I didn't see an explanation for that in the blogpost.

No it didn't. Presence was. Willpower increases focus, which is the resistance to the things that damaged resolve.

There's an argument to be made either way imo, and I went with presence for the time being for two reasons
1.) Consistency. Presence increasing some health bar meant it retained its function in the damage absorption category.
2.) Balance. Giving willpower, an already incredibly powerful stat HP scaling is just asking for mages to be completely unstoppable.
Hmmmmm. A summoning/support mage with willpower/presence/toughness sounds interesting.