About Skill

First i want to clear out that i prefer games which are extremly based on skill. But i dont regret enjoying this game, and as long its only PvE its fine. Games from this kind arent based on skill very much. Its part of the design of those game that you character gets better the longer you play, or that it contains a huge amount of luck (drops, orbs, crit, hit). I think most people like this, thats why i dont aim to change it. Its just that there are a few points which could actually improve the game much from my point of view.

There are a few abilities i realy like enemies to have. For example those of ROAS (also nearly every melee or range with slow projectiles). Its because you always have the possibility to evade. This makes the fights in this game dependent on your skill. You can say: You will ONLY die, or even only get hit, if you did something wrong. This is what i like, and to be true, i also died against ROAs, but i always had the chance to beat them, i just wasnt fast enough to evade/cast spells. But there are some abilities that dont offer this possibility. To name a few:
Flicker Strike, Bows, Cold Snap. Of course there are much more, you can identify them easy.

Another point is about Equippment (orbs, sockets, stats, links included). This is basically only luck. I would like to see the possibility to improve armor with some work on it. i imagined it this way: As we all know you can use Orb of Fusion to reforge the links between sockets. As its still only based on luck which item you find, which rarity it has, which stats and how high/low they are and how much sockets, which color and links it has, why not make the improvement of an item non random? There could be a dungeon with a friendly blacksmith or magic anvil at the end, where you can use your item with one Orb of Fusion to create a specific link you wish. You can only use this once per run (and need to clear the dungeon). This will give the possibility to improve a item without luck, but need some time for it. You can make a crappy item to a good one, if you have the time and fun to clear the dungeon 24/7, but the need for good items which just needs a few adjustments would be there as it is now.

The trouble with non-random itemization improvements is that it makes the wealth gap between "decent" and "godly" gear a lot smaller, which in turn takes a lot of the fun out of the item hunt. If everyone has perfectly linked items, after all, fusing orbs become worthless... never mind what they'd have to do to make sure the game had some remaining challenges in it.

As for flicker strike and cold snap - there are tactics that deal more effectively with this, due to the AI associated with them; the tactics just happen to be less intuitive than simply "run away!"

There are definitely occasions where the enemy mob flicker strike ai just complete flips out, kills all my summons, my friends, my sister, my totems and me.

:O

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Skivverus wrote:

The trouble with non-random itemization improvements is that it makes the wealth gap between "decent" and "godly" gear a lot smaller, which in turn takes a lot of the fun out of the item hunt. If everyone has perfectly linked items, after all, fusing orbs become worthless... never mind what they'd have to do to make sure the game had some remaining challenges in it.

As for flicker strike and cold snap - there are tactics that deal more effectively with this, due to the AI associated with them; the tactics just happen to be less intuitive than simply "run away!"

Thats wrong. if you have the same item, but one with 5 linked sockets and 1 unlinked, the other one with 6 unlinked sockets. which one is better? At the current system with only luck its noone, you just need to spam orbs at those, the worse item can instantly be better than the first one, while this still sucks after 10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 orbs.
my suggestion creates a difference between god and better gear, which is currently only there withoput orbs. but with usage of orbs it becomes wayne what the beginning stats where and how many colored socket where linked. btw i dont mean this only for links between soket, but for everything else too (with some exceptions ggg may choose, stats (and their value) for example). you should also be able to change the color of one socket with its orb after clearing the dungeon another time, you just can only choose one thing.

Given that it is only luck deciding what drops you encounter, shouldn't it be a matter of skill to progress without optimal gear?

You can dodge/evade flicker strike, or you can have high enough armor/ES to nullify the blow, or you can boost your HP or HP regen... dodging isn't the only means of avoiding damage. Being able to recognize that and develop a build that can progress also requires skill.

If there was a dungeon with a magic anvil allowing me to forge specific links/color slots that I want, it would quickly become the only place worthwhile to go. Why would I hunt for orbs/trade with players, when I can just go to the magic anvil and forge the gear exactly as I want it?

Beyond that, the developers have said time and time again that the player will not have the ability to predict/determine mods or slots or links in any way. The only "exception" is the mirror, which of reproduces an item.

I think you missed the point of these games, there is indeed a lot of skill involved here. It's simply more like poker than chess. You have to plan your build and the bonus' you get which in turn make different "cards" that you might draw more or less useful.

Every character type is a winner, and as you level up you get more cards to pick from. It takes skill to pick the right combination of items, skill gems, support gems, and flasks to make a really good character.

Then you have to understand how to play that character. Are you kiting? Are you doorway fighting? Are you a tank sitting in the middle of the crowd, or do you dodge in do damage and dodge back out? When do you lay a trap, how do you protect your totem? Those are all choices that are dependent on a level of skill.

Sure you can simply spam the same ability over and over again in PVE and do fine, not good but well enough. However if your going up against me you're either going to want a "winning hand" with a good number of options.

It would stink to be a fireball spammer and then realize that my character two bears is almost immune to fire, regenerates 5% of his health every second without using flasks, and does nearly 300 dps in melee damage while laying traps and cursing you.

Not that the character I mention is unbeatable, he's got issues with crowds, and a skilled summoner might cause him issues, as would someone with really high melee dps and well used bear traps, or any number of other well put together and well played "hands".

Luck and skill are a powerful combination, and then you add in skill at trading, or maybe skill at networking with close friends who also play the game, and that adds in an entirely different element of "skill" to the mix.

So I'm not sure where you getting that these games require no skill except maybe in pve. Sure some skills are harder to evade than others. But that's like saying an ace is harder to beat than a deuce.

Flicker strike for example is a bit over powered against anyone who dodges in and out, but it's useless against a tank who can stand toe to toe it's almost guaranteeing you keep moving into melee range and getting hit yourself.

To balance flicker strike we really do need more skills like molten shell in my opinion. Cards that make them less over powered and more easily countered without unbalancing the rest of the game.

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Arrob wrote:

Thats wrong. if you have the same item, but one with 5 linked sockets and 1 unlinked, the other one with 6 unlinked sockets. which one is better? At the current system with only luck its noone

I think you and I have substantially different interpretations of "better".

If you're holding out for "six-linked or bust!" it's true that from a crafting standpoint the five-linked is in the same boat as the none-linked, but as an actually useful item? Five-linked is excellent.

I do agree with the general feedback that being unable to dodge bow shots from monsters through skillful use of movement feels unsatisfying, ditto cold snap spamming monsters.

I find Cold Snap is actually dodgable a lot of the time, since you can predict where they are going to cast it. (edit: or straight out bait it)

I'd love being able to dodge arrows though, yeah.

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Neonexe wrote:

I do agree with the general feedback that being unable to dodge bow shots from monsters through skillful use of movement feels unsatisfying...

I'm willing to forgo that feature because it means I don't have to lead targets when I use a bow. That would be incredibly difficult and frustrating.