Valorian

Well, of course, but this is a topic about armor. There are simple and intuitive solutions for both resolve and con.

A damage reduction percentage for armor instead of a flat DT would be a cop out. Undoubtedly, everything is easier to balance with percentages (that's why there are already lots percentages for everything in PoE), but IMO that's bland design and best avoided if possible. If armor had a deflection penalty instead of an action speed penalty, characters in the back would not be discouraged to wear it. Although, I know that the design goal was to link an offense penalty with a defense bonus for armor, instead of a defense bonus + defense penalty; it's just that these are vastly different types of defenses (DT vs deflection). I'll just point out that this is something completely different (compared to the exhaustion mechanic that I suggested). Also, "Fatigue" already exists.

Also, Sensuki, this is totally not about "going for a simulationist system". In a simulationist system you'd also get more "exhaustion points" when running towards an enemy to attack. I deliberately eliminated that.

It's possible regardless, and once they're down to 1 melee enemy it becomes easier, of course. And you know what? It's not something I will lose sleep over. Kiting is a trashy "tactic" in a game with pause&play so I won't use it, but I'd like people to be encouraged to use their creativity instead of resorting to this.

And you are conveniently ignoring the fact that you can already kite in the game. Suit yourself, I guess. Huh? No, I'm not ignoring it, I'm pointing it out as a problem. When you go on about how it's like this in RTS games too, you also forget another crucial resource in RTS: TIME. If I decide to spend time kiting (neutral) creatures in a game like Warcraft or Dota, I must analyze if it would be better to simply stand there and engage in melee, killing hostile jungle creatures faster to not give the opponent (AI or player) an advantage. In such a game time is a resource, in PoE it is not.

This is not Warcraft 3 or anything similar, Sensuki. You have to execute orders in real time in such a game. There's no convenient pause-and-assign-orders there. You seem to not understand that kiting trivializes the aforementioned type of enemies in a game like PoE. I'm glad you asked. The solution is in the OP of a recent thread (I think you posted something in that topic too). Constitution. I suggest adding a mechanic called Exhaustion (or Stamina, if stamina gets renamed to endurance). Effects of exhaustion: Characters and creatures would be able to run for a specific amount of time (substantially modified by Constitution) during combat before becoming exhausted. Exhausted = 50% movement speed. The timer for exhaustion would activate only when clicking on open ground to move, during combat, and not when you click on opponents to attack them; thus affects only people and creatures who run away from combat. (AI wouldn't be debilitated by this unless it's programmed to run away.) Health and stamina are obviously more important to people who actually stand toe-to-toe with foes and take hits. If a party member is not suited for melee combat and gets targeted by monsters, what do you do? No, there's no need to panic, you just click on the character and keep moving him away from the monster(s). The character will keep running in circles during the process of dismantling monsters with ranged attacks. A melee character who's already engaged will have to deal with disengagement attacks first. It also eliminates a popular exploit.

So what? That's something you can do in literally every RTS ever You're probably thinking of games where your finger-flexes (reflexes) are an important part of gameplay. PoE is not such a game and you can only compete against an AI. If so, they can as well add an ability that does one million damage in a large aoe (enemy only, 1/ecnounter) that appears each time you face a melee foe that moves at the same speed (or is slower) than you. Saves time.

Good for RL! It's also good that RL combat isn't transplanted into PoE combat. That would be rather boring. I believe you don't understand. If a melee enemy is not faster and you have some basic press-pause-button skills, you can use the party member that is currently targeted/followed as your run-away bait. You don't have to attack with the character who's being chased.

No. AI can't do anything about it. Read the example.

In a game like PoE, kiting is an exploit. Being able to bait an enemy to chase one of your party members in circles while you shoot it down with the rest of your party is silly gameplay.

In a flat DT against damage system, like PoE's, high damage per hit is often the difference between dealing almost no damage and dealing a good amount of damage. So even if two-handed weapons end up having the same duration/power for on-hit effects as one-handed weapons, it wouldn't necessarily mean they'd be UP.

Update. Josh said: "That chart is a little out of date. I made it a few months ago. Two-handed weapons, one-handed weapons wielded alone, and one-handed weapons with shields now all have +50% Recovery Time. Dual-wielding has the fastest attack rate (even faster when used with two fast weapons like stilettos or rapiers)."

It doesn't ignore it. It applies to on-hit effects as well (sorry, I haven't listed all possible effects that can be applied to weapons). If they're going to design a weapon and give it the "paralyze on Hit" property I expect they'll balance the duration of this effect taking said weapon's attack speed into account. am not believing we are communicating. Gromnir's fault. left hand weapon stuns. right hand weapon wounds. 2 h weapon stuns. ... advantage to 2h weapon load out. even if 2h weapon is given a longer stun, the advantage is still likely favoring 2 effects. That entirely depends on the difference in duration and the difference in power between these effects, doesn't it? If Y is better than X it's more useful to have 1 second of Y than 0.5 sec of X and 0.5 of Y. Currently, as you have probably noticed, these two styles have the same attack rate (attacks per unit of time).

It doesn't ignore it. It applies to on-hit effects as well (sorry, I haven't listed all possible effects that can be applied to weapons). If they're going to design a weapon and give it the "paralyze on Hit" property I expect they'll balance the duration of this effect taking said weapon's attack speed into account.

I wasn't really advocating realism here, but I appreciate your observation. I'd rather he push realism for attributes (as an aspect of role playing) than in weapon vs weapon balance. am suspecting the damage from 2 attacks with the 2h will be greater than 2 attacks with 2 medium weapons. however, please realize this is a mechanic for a game with magical weapons. each equipable slot allows for additional magical buffing. a theoretical general accuracy improvement conferred by a weapon could conceivable stack with a 2-weapon load out. 2 weapons that each grant a stat buff. 2 weapons that... etc. regardless o' damages, dual wield has almost always become a better approach at high levels as magic weapons allowed stacking o' benefits. a mechanic that recognizes the inherent superiority o' 2 equipable slots in a game world with magic equipment sounds like a good idea. gonna need to see if 2h actual gets enough of an advantage to make it worth the obvious penalty o' having one less equipable slot. HA! Good Fun! Weapon buffs (such as +fire damage) scale with base weapon damage in PoE, Gromnir. I think it's sensible to design the system so that, for instance, a magical accuracy bonus applies to the weapon that is providing it and not on both weapons if dual-wielding. Separate values for accuracy: http://thebitpulse.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/pe-ui-character-sheet.jpg So if that's the case (intuitive design) then your point is moot. extra damage is the least worrisome o' benefits. stat benefits, and secondary stat benefits as well as qualities such as stunning can be stacked or multiplied. HA! Good Fun! I expect attribute bonuses to be applied with 'one-handed vs two-handed' potential in mind.

I wasn't really advocating realism here, but I appreciate your observation. I'd rather he push realism for attributes (as an aspect of role playing) than in weapon vs weapon balance. am suspecting the damage from 2 attacks with the 2h will be greater than 2 attacks with 2 medium weapons. however, please realize this is a mechanic for a game with magical weapons. each equipable slot allows for additional magical buffing. a theoretical general accuracy improvement conferred by a weapon could conceivable stack with a 2-weapon load out. 2 weapons that each grant a stat buff. 2 weapons that... etc. regardless o' damages, dual wield has almost always become a better approach at high levels as magic weapons allowed stacking o' benefits. a mechanic that recognizes the inherent superiority o' 2 equipable slots in a game world with magic equipment sounds like a good idea. gonna need to see if 2h actual gets enough of an advantage to make it worth the obvious penalty o' having one less equipable slot. HA! Good Fun! Weapon buffs (such as +fire damage) scale with base weapon damage in PoE, Gromnir. I think it's sensible to design the system so that, for instance, a magical accuracy bonus applies to the weapon that is providing it and not on both weapons if dual-wielding. Separate values for accuracy: http://thebitpulse.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/pe-ui-character-sheet.jpg So if that's the case (intuitive design) then your point is moot.

Perhaps it's an error and 2-handed weapons are actually supposed to have 1.5 sec attack + 1.5 sec recovery.

It makes it a superfluous tiny inconvenience, nothing more. Especially if the penalty for switching is 2 pitiful seconds and you have plenty of slots to start with.

No. But the advantage of fighting with two medium sized weapons gives you the ability to mix damage types (slashing, crushing, piercing) while with you're 2 handed weapon you're stuck to whatever damage type the weapon has. And mobs are vulnerable to certain types of damage. It is possible to switch weapons during combat in PoE. It takes what, 2 seconds? Base damage is king (especially when you don't lose any attack speed...), vulnerabilities are just a situational bonus.

Fighting with two medium weapons yields the same number of attacks as fighting with a two-handed weapon. Is the damage of larger one-handed weapons comparable to that of two-handed weapons in PoE?

Regardless of additional talents, the sparseness of levels at which they're gained is what hampers customization. I believe there's no good reason to delay the first talent until level 3.

That would be the nicest thing. A bit of clipping? Not too bothersome. However, I'd love to see varied attack animations.

I'll point out that talents are available at level 3, 6, 9 and 12; for a total of 4 talents. By the time I add some customization spice to my character through talents it will be The End.

You're right, it's more a matter of being able to exploit the AI by moving your character away from the predator indefinitely, which wouldn't be possible with some kind of exhaustion mechanic.

I don't enjoy swapping weapons in combat so I'd appreciate a trade-off talent that removes a weapon set slot (or 2, for a greater bonus) and grants a permanent combat bonus. I agree. I think it's good to let players "imprint" a fighting style or weapon (group) of choice on their characters, as part of their personality and combat training, at level 1. From the above, there's weapon group focus and weapon group specialization (for fighters), but only available from level 3 and 4 respectively.