Old timer RPG reflections

I'm a big fan of the Malachai fight from a mechanics perspective - the pacing is great for an ARPG, very fast, but if you think fast you can avoid getting hit more than once every few seconds - but I think his damage typing could use a little more variety. For instance, imagine if his "land mines" were a tad less damaging, but did Cold damage (and thus also chilled you).

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ScrotieMcB wrote:

@Databeaver: there's a world of difference between a functional AI on an easy enemy, and a potato which just sits there. I wasn't advocating enemies which are evenly matched against players, merely enemies which actually do things.

More complex mechanics on rares and bosses would be nice, sure. But designing mechanics that will stay challenging is hard. There are only so many variables you can randomize, and a biological brain is amazingly capable of learning. Before long players will have developed counters to the new mechanics and status quo will be restored.

Similarly, creating a defensive AI is hard, because it would need to analyze the player's actions and react to them. Players would soon learn to lead with an attack that causes the AI to expose itself for a bigger hit.

Some monsters also have thematically restricted abilities. If I fill the screen with shock novas, firestorms and GMP ice spears, what's a zombie in the middle of it all to do? Zombies are not exactly known for their agility, and even a reasonably fast monster would be hard pressed to escape.

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G7Ghost wrote:

Coming from old WoW, I like the boss fight style of Merciless Malachai, more of that in this game wouldn't be bad IMO

"don't stand in the fire" as it were

The Malachai fight indeed has a decent amount of mechanics. I find the size of the playfield in the second stage a bit restrictive for characters who can't take too many hits though. It was rather hard to find the place and time to recharge my ES.

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phrazz wrote:

Just introduced payed leagues. Problem solved.

The majority will always gather around the temp leagues anyway.

Always? It wasn't so long ago that permanent standard league had the biggest population. Even if things have changed that is only proof that your statement is false :)

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Shagsbeard wrote:

Not confusing them... drawing an analogy. I've seen many games go the way that PoE has.

Only every ARPG known to mankind...

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ivkoto77777 wrote:

Always? It wasn't so long ago that permanent standard league had the biggest population. Even if things have changed that is only proof that your statement is false :)

Depends, during the first half of a new challenge league I estimate it looks something like this these days, based on previously known stats
1. Softcore temp ~60%
2. Hardcore temp ~20%
3. Standard ~15%
4. Hardcore <5%
Depending on leagues in question, of course, some are more popular and some are less. During the second half of temp leagues, those that play both temp and standard start to migrate back but the total number of players on the server drops off so it probably doesn't go over 20-25% of the peak number, so even though it does become the most populous league at some point in time we still can't say the majority play it.

It used to be somewhat more favorable for standard but the game transferred to temp league model gradually, with more and more development time going into them. Nowadays they have more interesting mechanics than 'monsters are 20% faster', mtx rewards and more accessible challenges.

It's basically a 2:1:1:0 ratio.

Me and My friend are working on a self made D&D type game. We are tired of character sheets and a million rolls per game.

We are gonna make it like a tabletop grid style game for combat, with a customizable deck of action cards for each character class.

Then we are just going to RP all non-combat stuff without rolls, the DM's discretion will judge outcomes of RP interaction based on how good you RP. We are sick of making 20 dice rolls to RP a 5 minute conversation.

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Khoranth wrote:

Me and My friend are working on a self made D&D type game. We are tired of character sheets and a million rolls per game.

We are gonna make it like a tabletop grid style game for combat, with a customizable deck of action cards for each character class.

Then we are just going to RP all non-combat stuff without rolls, the DM's discretion will judge outcomes of RP interaction based on how good you RP. We are sick of making 20 dice rolls to RP a 5 minute conversation.

Good luck ... You will need it.

@OP
The initial crushing difficulty of this game intrigued me. So much so that it actually got me interested in ARPGs. But it's not really what kept me around, it was the possibilities for builds, gearing, min-max etc.

I just don't think anyone truly misses back in the day when there were 10 endgame builds, literally nothing dropped, exp bar didn't move and there were like 5 build enabling uniques in the whole game all of which were stupid rare.

The scope of the game is so much larger now. Naturally so is the drop table. Realistically, GGG can't have a game with this much content and have say 20% of it accessible to the average player. That is just plain foolish and a bad business decision. While its common to say (trying to exclude Perandus) that the game is "easier" now and I agree because it has to be to a large extent, it still favors the most knowledgeable and disciplined players in the end.

My only concern is for the new players that are getting into the game now. It's a lot to take in a once and there is a lot of uncertainty about everything when your knowledge is so low. I think GGG should do a progression explainer video showing the evolution of the game and what items/features are related to each expansion etc. I think that would help new players tackle the learning curve.

4 white mage challenge.

Sorry, that's what this is about right?