Problem with the Balance

[The Zen Kitsune]

There seems to be a great deal of difficult balancing that I have noticed early on. I haven't played all the classes but it's immediately apparent this game can be too difficult, especially if you choose the Courtesan. I have mainly played two classes: Black Mage and Courtesan, and the indifference in balance is evident right from the start. I have played other classes in previous versions as well.

The Courtesan, especially when you play the class as a seductive heart breaker (as I used to in the original CoC), is very weak. The Courtesan, at its best, is most effective as a one on one fighter, (as the wyvern fight has been the only fight I have been successful with, but even then, I need Cait to win this). You have all put a higher emphasis on AoE and group battles for this game, and I think there has been strides forward in this department as well as an unfortunate couple of steps backwards. The Courtesan's single AoE ability that isn't consumed that they get from the start is powerful but not strong enough. The Tease attack isn't as strong as it was in the original CoC, either (I would be fine if it needed to be upgraded over several fights, but this isn't enough). With how difficult the fights are, too, it's shifted the Courtesan from be a capable one on one to needing to be two on one. This could possibly be fixed if the Courtesan's Arousal status ailment stayed much longer than others, letting the class ramp as the fight dragged on, but it would also need more life support.

However, the Black Mage, is by far one of the most powerful classes in the game and it has to do with their spells. The consumable ability is too strong, summoning another ally that is capable as a damage sponge is much stronger than having base tank stats yourself due to two quirks:
1: With single target attacks, it's basically a second health meter that blocks all damage that exceeds it.
2: It can be REVIVED by Cait, unlike your sorry self that ends the fight after losing.
It's due to this spell and the current set up that the Black Mage is more potent than a warrior for soaking up damage, you have 3-4 harpies that do too much damage, health and resolve, when it can take 2-3 shots to take one down and can burst you down if you're unlucky,
It's also due to the fact their specials are really strong, two potent AoE abilities off the bat, one of which can be spammed constantly, and a level ability that does potent burst and staggers.

The main problem of CoC2 is that the focus from usually single ally, single enemy encounters of the original CoC and TiTS, the balance has not shifted at all from that, making enemies that are capable of fighting you one on one and then doubling or tripling them, just so that they outnumber you. It takes a class that can effectively counter them and create an extra body to survive.

 

[Inkbane]

Honestly, I'd have no problem with Courtesan if Cait wasn't such a little liar. "I'm good for healing" my ass. I admit I have no idea how the a.i. works for her, but for repeating the 3 cultist tutorial fight multiple times, what I've seen, she just randomly picks an action with no prioritization at all.

I have 10 health? I'm sure that protect spell will do wonders. First turn of combat? Sure, melee attack three rounds in a row, rather than use any magic at all. And despite being a healer, how many times has she cast the heal spell, the thing we need? Two times in Ten attempts. Where's my damn heals!?

It's just me, right? She can't be really this seemingly random, can she? Maybe I just don't get something but I feel a healer's order of operation is pretty basic at lvl 1.

Healing> Buff> Magic Attack> Melee Attack

And I can't think of any real reason any healer shouldn't behave in this order. Why is she buffing me at when I have low health? Why is she meleeing before instead of her much more effective fire spell?

And why can't we issue some kind of orders?! In a game where multiple character combat is going to be a constant, instead of a rare bonus like in TiTs, having a party of NPCs that just do whatever they want without you being able to have any input is going to end in one of two ways. It will end in combat being pure RNG, trying the same fight over and over till the numbers line up; or the NPCs are so powerful you the PC can just sit and watch as they chew through everything. We at the very least need to be able to set a party stance of Defensive or Aggressive. Because at this point it's down to "If she ever actually casts a heal we can win- but she probably won't, so we'll lose. "

 

[Upcast Drake]

Honestly, I'd have no problem with Courtesan if Cait wasn't such a little liar. "I'm good for healing" my ass. I admit I have no idea how the a.i. works for her, but for repeating the 3 cultist tutorial fight multiple times, what I've seen, she just randomly picks an action with no prioritization at all.

I have 10 health? I'm sure that protect spell will do wonders. First turn of combat? Sure, melee attack three rounds in a row, rather than use any magic at all. And despite being a healer, how many times has she cast the heal spell, the thing we need? Two times in Ten attempts. Where's my damn heals!?

It's just me, right? She can't be really this seemingly random, can she? Maybe I just don't get something but I feel a healer's order of operation is pretty basic at lvl 1.

Healing> Buff> Magic Attack> Melee Attack

And I can't think of any real reason any healer shouldn't behave in this order. Why is she buffing me at when I have low health? Why is she meleeing before instead of her much more effective fire spell?

And why can't we issue some kind of orders?! In a game where multiple character combat is going to be a constant, instead of a rare bonus like in TiTs, having a party of NPCs that just do whatever they want without you being able to have any input is going to end in one of two ways. It will end in combat being pure RNG, trying the same fight over and over till the numbers line up; or the NPCs are so powerful you the PC can just sit and watch as they chew through everything. We at the very least need to be able to set a party stance of Defensive or Aggressive. Because at this point it's down to "If she ever actually casts a heal we can win- but she probably won't, so we'll lose. "

The AI right now just uses a random available action. It will be tuned eventually.

 

[Phoenix11]

Yeah combat in this game isnt fun.. and it gets really frustrating when you constently lose and it feels like you have zero chance. Perhaps bumping up the "Fix combat settings" thing would be a good idea because the only fight you can win on any real basis is the one vs the Single foe like COC 1. Giving the player controle over the party would help i mean yeah you would have to make extra actions but it would reduce the frustration level imensely removing the RNG element with your partner entirely. As it is Combat is the weakest part of COC2 and atm really the only thing you can do...

 

[Zavos]

The game is still in its vary early stages, content wise. I expect once we have more level 2-3 content, well get balence tuning to make everything fairer and polished.

 

[Balaknightfang]

I also expect Brint being added will be enough to balance almost everything, tbh. The tank should make things perfectly manageable damage and threat wise

 

[Upcast Drake]

We're only doing minor changes right now until we release the Forest. After some Forest content is released (which means easier encounters to grind and a 3rd companion) and companion AI is tuned, if it still feels bad we'll explore more options.

 

[Phoenix11]

How about the option that almost every RPG lets you do... Take controle of the entire party and chose actions you want to do..

 

[Upcast Drake]

How about the option that almost every RPG lets you do... Take controle of the entire party and chose actions you want to do..

That's the fallback if everything else doesn't work. We want to avoid combat taking forever, and if it were made optional, balancing around it.

 

[Phoenix11]

A proven system that works allowing players to plan out attacks and focus down one foe that is doing a ton is the backup plan Vs having the AI randomly decide when you have full HP to heal you when it has 10 HP and dies the next turn . Look not trying to be a jerk or like "this is what you MUST do" but the AI even if it is fixed is going to piss people off because it wont behave like the player is going to want it to in every instace. With combat taking a more centeral roll in the game to gather things for transforms (which are what people play these games for) with it broken or relying on RNG its going to frustrate alot of people out of playing for a while and maybe entirely.