Pre-alpha testing report.

[Variaz]

As I mentionned in the Monk's thread, I've started playing a bit the game before releasing it. And so, here's some comments so far:

ENEMIES

With the monster level now playing a huge role in determining the stats, I find myself fighting much stronger opponents overall. Suddently, that pack of kobolds that made me laugh in 0.4 isn't so funny anymore, and can be an actual threat if not careful, especially if they surround my character.

Elites and Bosses no longer have the immunities and the returning abilities. It's nice to not have to worry about returning bosses! But Elites and Bosses are very scary. Not because of cheap abilities, but because they are powerful monsters. So, no more level 1 fruit bat killing a level 200 character due to returning ability. But your character may very well die due to the creature's power.

Overall, the early game is harder. Of course, it's a vanilla-style alpha, without the quests or the big cities, and random dungeons and the Flow, so the actual final release will probably be a bit easier. Or at least, there will be more ways of dealing with the threats. But overall, the game is harder so far. And I haven't even faced my first CR 2 enemy yet.

SKILLS

10 skill points per levels instead of 5. Why? With the new system requiring Agility for dodging, defense for AC and Magic Defense for, well, magic defense, combined with the main attack skill, 5 points just wasn't enough. So I have raised it to 10, and so far, it has been a huge help, yet did not make anything overpowered. Some skill bonus have been tweaked to adapt to this increase in terms of skill points.


Now, back to my Monk!

[zekk]

It's nice to know that elites and bosses are going to be rough fights because they're actually strong, rather than random abilities making your attacks useless.

Edit: interesting how skill points per level has gone from 2 to 10. Wonder if it'll get any higher by the time the game is out of alpha/beta/gamma? testing >.>

[Variaz]

My monk is currently stuck in Limbo(even the new class isn't invincible), so I've tried the new Mage class.

And I'm having a blast! ;D Explosive Spells ability, plus the fact that elites don't have returning powers anymore, means we can finally blast a group of enemies without fear of dying to returned damages! No immunities makes this even better. It's fun to blast things with fireballs(and waves of Acid in my mage's case).

But there is another change that I did to casters. To_h and to_d bonus will now apply to their spells as well(and to magic damages as a whole). The reasons for this is that overall, it felt like they needed a little buff to make up for the extra blows and combat feats of the melees. Also, for hitting purposes, melee has Dex, Skills and to_h, three attributes, while magic only had skills. So I've added to_h to the list. And finally, it felt like many of the gear pieces weren't all that useful to a caster.

So I think adding to_h and to_d makes a nice buff, and make items more useful to casters. And so far, this Mage is really fun, and it's also going to help the Monk, who will likely use many items with to_h and to_d bonus.

[Variaz]

Just defeated Quazar with my Human Mage, and was happy with the fight.

Killed him at level 25, with good gear, but no leveled blues or red. He put up a much better fight than he did before, with two spells per rounds, and no longer one-shotable due to extreme damages. In fact, I had to have quite a bit of Magic Defense, make stronger spells and get better gear. Also had to make it possible to resist his twists, otherwise he is nearly impossible for a caster. His Int/Wis destroying twist is now resistible with the proper "sustain" ability, and his ability that puts your level back to 1 can be resisted with resistance to experience draining.

Overall, quite satisfied with the results of the fight. Challenging, but beatable at level 25 with good gear, but not blue or red gear. We will have to see with the other classes, or different mage builds, how easy or hard he becomes.

A melee character with no combat feats to do hit & run tactics will probably have the most trouble with him due to his powerful melee attacks.

A ranged zulgor character will just laugh this fight off. 100% chaos immunity means his only ranged attack won't affect you. Easy, easy kill. (may have to do something about this, maybe have him do Physical or Harm damages with his spell if you're a zulgor. It even makes sense, being a zulgor himself, he would be smart enough to not use chaos against you. I say Physical or Harm to keep the flavor of standard elements all turning to Chaos.)

[zekk]

You could change the pre-fight dialogue a bit if you're a zulgor, to have him note that and change his attacks accordingly.

Sounds good, sounds good.
Four days left... Can't wait >.<

[Gando]

Id say you should not have him change his style for zulgors...if you want him to have a better chance against them mix up his styles/elements for all fights.

Also are you going to do any work on the races I suggested last year after this alpha is done and you start restoring the game to its setting? If you need some background writing let me know. I am passable as a word smith in English.

[Variaz]

Oct 27, 2010 14:38:14 GMT -5 Gando said:

Also are you going to do any work on the races I suggested last year after this alpha is done and you start restoring the game to its setting? If you need some background writing let me know. I am passable as a word smith in English.

This could be an option, though I will probably focus on finishing the main quest first. But there is a lot of room for expansion of the game's world, so this will be worth taking a look at.

[kipar]

Oct 27, 2010 0:30:11 GMT -5 Variaz said:

Also had to make it possible to resist his twists, otherwise he is nearly impossible for a caster. His Int/Wis destroying twist is now resistible with the proper "sustain" ability, and his ability that puts your level back to 1 can be resisted with resistance to experience draining.

Isn't potions of restore stats\restore levels enough to counter this abilities?

[Variaz]

Isn't potions of restore stats\restore levels enough to counter this abilities?

Not when he casts it again right after you drink the potion. And for int-casters, it doesn't restore your mana. Or your hp after you lose it from level draining.

[shinmajin]

Is mutation going to be implemented in the new version? If not, can I suggest removing the mutation list in the stats section?

[Variaz]

Good point.