God Challenges Feedback!

[Aarik D]

Greetings Watchers and well met!

 

 

Josh Sawyer and the team would love to get some feedback from all of you. What we're asking for specifically is feedback on the God Challenges. 

 

• What do you like about them?
• What do you not like about the challenges?
• Whats your favorite challenge and/or combinations? 
• Do you find them enjoyable? 
• What can be improved upon them?

 

We'd love to hear from you! Thank you all for helping us create a better Eora for everyone!

 

 

Check out the latest changes in our Beta Branch here!

[Teclis23]

I dont like them. I would like to see challenges that make the game more difficult on POTD as the mid to late levels currently are not balanced properly. After my party hit level 14 the rest of the game became a cakewalk.

 

God challenges i would like to see:

 

- not able to use empower

- higher level scaling

- more expensive unique items

- more enemies in encounters

 

 

Stuff like this basicaly. You have introduced trivial stuff with the god challnges that i will never use. Please introduce challnges like the above

Edited September 8, 2018 by Teclis23

[iamgoukas]

I like the challenges so far. What I'd really like is the option to turn challenges on in every difficulty. I want to create my own game balance, and these challenges would be perfect for that.

[mant2si]

Well I personally don't like only Magran's challenge, because one of the reasons why I playing in CRPG games is pause feature, I can stop game and thinking about few next steps, this challenge ruined my game experience (of course I easily can find party or even solo character who will steamroll game on AI control, but what the fun to setup AI instead of playing game ?).

This challenge also upset me because I already know that will be exist at least one uncompleted challenge

Edited September 8, 2018 by mant2si

[InsaneCommander]

I like Berath's and Abydon's challenges. I'm not sure what to think of Skaen's until I test or see it.

 

But I don't think I'll ever try Magran's because I really like to take my time (even if it's just a few seconds) and consider my options and strategies. Having the game run non stop and "fast" doesn't appeal at all to me.

 

 

I second these:

 

- higher level scaling
- more enemies in encounters

[Breckmoney]

So far Abydon's is the one I could see myself playing the most, though I wish you weren't able to repair the items. I appreciate Magran's being in there but I just know I'll never do it, probably the same with Berath. 

[InsaneCommander]

Another interesting challenge would be reduced experience gain. (75% of normal? 50%?).

 

And the idea proposed here:

 

https://jesawyer.tumblr.com/post/177523061556/what-are-the-chances-of-you-making-one-of-poe2s

[Teclis23]

Another interesting challenge would be reduced experience gain. (75% of normal? 50%?).

 

And the idea proposed here:

 

https://jesawyer.tumblr.com/post/177523061556/what-are-the-chances-of-you-making-one-of-poe2s

Yes that would also be good if they are not planning to increase the level cap and introduce more abilities/ spells

 

Staying on the same max level and not levelling up for a long period of time really makes the last part of the game quite boring

 

The introduction of the expansions has made this problem even worse

Edited September 8, 2018 by Teclis23

[Harpagornis]

My main concern regarding god challenges are:

 

---> Disabled Mods and Beraths Blessings <---

 

It would make the challenges a lot more - well - flexible.

 

I think that it should be up to the player if he wants to use them. No?

 

Maybe you can explain us why Obsidian decided to deactivate them?

 

P.S. Consumables (Scrolls & Potions) are out of control so adding a challenge that reduces their effect could be an option!

Edited September 8, 2018 by Harpagornis

[misterjimmy]

- Give all enemy caster "contingency"  spell.  The caster chooses one or more spell that will be released under certain conditions, such as being hit by an enemy or combat start.When this condition occurs, all spells are cast immediately.

 

- Highly chance ambush events when you resting in dungeon or outside.

 

- You must rest to restore power source pool.

 

- More easily get injured and you must use medicine heal them not food.

Edited September 8, 2018 by misterjimmy

[AndreaColombo]

I too would like the ability to mix the challenges with mods and Blessings, as well as decide whether or not to use Expert mode with them. I’m fine if I don’t get the in-game achievement—I would just like the option.

 

If smarter A.I. across the board is not an option, I second the request for higher scaling and more enemies (especially in high-level areas.)

[DozingDragon]

I think Magran’s challenge is not appealing at the moment, as it just requires you to rely on making custom scripts for your party. Similarly, the fog of war increase with Skaen’s challenge seems more annoying than challenging. I like Berath’s and Abydon’s challenges because they actually interact with the game’s systems in a nonsuperficial way.

 

As for what I would like to see:

 

1. Enemies that use consumables at the start of combat for a buff, and/or enemies that have randomly assigned resting bonuses from food items.

 

2. Ambushes or reinforcements during combat encounters. This is why I think Skaen’s Challenge was a missed opportunity, because the player could have been regularly hunted and ambushed by the Effigy as part of Skaen’s challenge.

 

3. Increase the quality of each enemy’s equipped gear by one step, but make that gear undroppable. Enemies could also have a chance to have generic undroppable accessories, like rings of deflection, that provide passive buffs.

 

4. Randomly assign buffs to some of the creature-type enemies (i.e., non-kith), and similarly, assign random extra passive talents to some of the npc-type enemies (i.e. kith). Ideally, these bonuses will provide enemies with some level of increased defense, resistances to afflictions, or extra potency with their standard abilities so no AI-tweaking will be required.

 

Overall, I think these bonuses would help level the playing field, and force even a well-equipped party to need to occasionally think outside of the box to counter enemies on the fly. For example, any random bonuses to defenses would incentivize the smart usage of the weapon proficiency modals to decrease specific defenses, and any random resistances or immunities could force a player to alter their crowd-control tactics and seriously consider how to best leverage their consumables for that encounter.

[AndreaColombo]

I very much second enemies’ using consumables (including potions, scrolls, active abilities from items they have equipped); in general, if something’s available to the player, it should be available to enemies too. This is part of what I mean when I say “smarter A.I. across the board” (my idea of smart A.I. draws a lot from the Sword Coast Stratagems mod.)

 

Before using cheese difficulty boosts like arbitrary stat increases, I would like to see enemies use the stuff I use as a player.

[Teclis23]

Yeah and i also think that is debatable that some of  the challanges you are introducing arent actual challenges. I view them more as "inconveniences".

 

For example having the fog of war reduced would to me be extremely annoying and i would never consider playing a game with this enabled. To me this is not challenging this would just annoy the crap out of me. I would prefer the challenges be directly more combat focused eg better enemy AI or higher level scaling 

 

In regards Magrans challenge where you cant pause the game and Breaths Challenge where if you are knocked out for 6 seconds you die. Why are you introducing stuff like this when there has been hundreds of Forums posts with people complaining about how easy the game is on the late levels. Surely resources could go towards fixing the mid to late game balancing which is currently in complete and utter ruin before introducing stuff like this.

 

You are making these balancing problems even worse as you are releasing the DLCs because people are going to these new areas getting all the new loot and earning more exp and then coming back to the main game supercharged. 

 

I had to stop my playthrough at level 14 after i completed Beast of Winter because i  was completely steamrolling the game. It was almost impossible to die.

 

Please fix as i love this game but these kinds of things are extremely annoying as they actually prevent you from enjoying the came and can be fixed very easily.

Edited September 8, 2018 by Teclis23

[Infinitron]

Some of these requests are weird. "I want Path of the Damned Plus Plus Plus, just bump up all the stats!"
 
The god challenge modes are supposed to do weird and unique stuff you wouldn't typically use, that's what they're about. It's not their job to fix the game's balance.

 

Even if you implement something like that, it's just one god challenge mode. What about the rest?

Edited September 8, 2018 by Infinitron

[Infinitron]

And the idea proposed here:

 

https://jesawyer.tumblr.com/post/177523061556/what-are-the-chances-of-you-making-one-of-poe2s

 

You're welcome!

 

And since we're already making the game more Infinity Engine-like, you could also have a mode that disables health regeneration or at least brings back PoE1-style endurance/health. Or maybe one where you can be wounded by grievous blows before you're knocked out, like in Tyranny.

Edited September 8, 2018 by Infinitron

[Teclis23]

Some of these requests are weird. "I want Path of the Damned Plus Plus Plus, just bump up all the stats!"

 

The god challenge modes are supposed to do weird and unique stuff you wouldn't typically use, that's what they're about. It's not their job to fix the game's balance.

 

Even if you implement something like that, it's just one god challenge mode. What about the rest?

 

I very clearly said there are hundreds of forums posts about people complaining about the mid to late levels not being balanced properly then i moved on to say that i am surpised that they are doing God challenges before fixing the broken game

 

Lets not confuse what is "weird " and what is fact

 

It is also more then fair enough to suggest that OBS introduce God challenges that directly make combat harder for the people that want it to be harder. What is so hard to comprehend about that? Why do you find that "weird"?

Edited September 8, 2018 by Teclis23

[Glassarm]

Some of these requests are weird. "I want Path of the Damned Plus Plus Plus, just bump up all the stats!"

 

The god challenge modes are supposed to do weird and unique stuff you wouldn't typically use, that's what they're about. It's not their job to fix the game's balance.

 

Even if you implement something like that, it's just one god challenge mode. What about the rest?

This. There's another time to talk about overall balance/difficulty.

 

Berath and Abydon challenges look like a lot of fun, and I want to try them on my next playthrough. Magran's challenge doesn't appeal to me at all, as I have no idea what I'm doing with AI scripts, and those are going to be essential. Skaen's challenge could be interesting, or just an annoyance; I'd have to see it in-game to know for sure (incidentally, does the fog of war idea make more sense for Wael than for Skaen?). I like the overall concept of god challenges, that you can use them to customize difficulty. With this in mind, I wish they didn't force PotD and disable mods.

 

Some spitballing for future challenges:

 

* Galawain: Bounty hunters periodically track you down and attack (or maybe they can be bribed to leave you alone?)

* Ondra: Sea monsters can attack your ship in open waters (possibly a text adventure)

* Rymrgand: No health regen after encounters. Resting/consumables required.

* Eothas: Difficulty of sneaking is dramatically increased.

Edited September 8, 2018 by Glassarm

[Teclis23]

 

Some of these requests are weird. "I want Path of the Damned Plus Plus Plus, just bump up all the stats!"

 

The god challenge modes are supposed to do weird and unique stuff you wouldn't typically use, that's what they're about. It's not their job to fix the game's balance.

 

Even if you implement something like that, it's just one god challenge mode. What about the rest?

This. There's another time to talk about overall balance/difficulty.

 

Berath and Abydon challenges look like a lot of fun, and I want to try them on my next playthrough. Magran's challenge doesn't appeal to me at all, as I have no idea what I'm doing with AI scripts, and those are going to be essential. Skaen's challenge could be interesting, or just an annoyance; I'd have to see it in-game to know for sure (incidentally, does the fog of war idea make more sense for Wael than for Skaen?). I like the overall concept of god challenges, that you can use them to customize difficulty. With this in mind, I wish they didn't force PotD and disable mods.

 

Some spitballing for future challenges:

 

* Galawain: Bounty hunters periodically track you down and attack (or maybe they can be bribed to leave you alone?)

* Ondra: Sea monsters can attack your ship in open waters (possibly a text adventure)

* Rymrgand: No health regen after encounters. Resting/consumables required.

* Eothas: Difficulty of sneaking is dramatically increased.

 

Yeah but they are called "challenges"

 

Correct me if im wrong but what is the point in introducing " challenges" when the game is 100% completely and utterly broken on the mid to late levels?

[Glassarm]

 

 

Some of these requests are weird. "I want Path of the Damned Plus Plus Plus, just bump up all the stats!"

 

The god challenge modes are supposed to do weird and unique stuff you wouldn't typically use, that's what they're about. It's not their job to fix the game's balance.

 

Even if you implement something like that, it's just one god challenge mode. What about the rest?

This. There's another time to talk about overall balance/difficulty.

 

Berath and Abydon challenges look like a lot of fun, and I want to try them on my next playthrough. Magran's challenge doesn't appeal to me at all, as I have no idea what I'm doing with AI scripts, and those are going to be essential. Skaen's challenge could be interesting, or just an annoyance; I'd have to see it in-game to know for sure (incidentally, does the fog of war idea make more sense for Wael than for Skaen?). I like the overall concept of god challenges, that you can use them to customize difficulty. With this in mind, I wish they didn't force PotD and disable mods.

 

Some spitballing for future challenges:

 

* Galawain: Bounty hunters periodically track you down and attack (or maybe they can be bribed to leave you alone?)

* Ondra: Sea monsters can attack your ship in open waters (possibly a text adventure)

* Rymrgand: No health regen after encounters. Resting/consumables required.

* Eothas: Difficulty of sneaking is dramatically increased.

 

Yeah but they are called "challenges"

 

Correct me if im wrong but what is the point in introducing " challenges" when the game is 100% completely and utterly broken on the mid to late levels?

 

I'm operating on the assumption that Obsidian can both implement god challenges and address late game balance. I'd rather have challenges that add spice to the game, than something mundane like higher level scaling or more enemies (although more ambushes could be spicy enough).

[house2fly]

One I'd like to see: no permadeath but injuries are more debilitating, no resting allowed except at inns.

 

I love the idea of some of the god challenges, but I'm a bit intimidated by Path Of The Damned, even with everyone talking about how easy it is. So if possible I would love the option to have the god challenges available for lower difficulties/allow mods or Berath's Blessings

[Bronsteijn]

I would like to be able to activate them for an existing save. Right now I am waiting for the new patch to start playing. All my other games without the challenges became useless.

[1TTFFSSE]

Make the following challenge:

-All enemies enraged:+20%attack speed, +2 penetration, +5 Might

[IndiraLightfoot]

I dont like them. I would like to see challenges that make the game more difficult on POTD as the mid to late levels currently are not balanced properly. After my party hit level 14 the rest of the game became a cakewalk.

 

God challenges i would like to see:

 

- not able to use empower

- higher level scaling

- more expensive unique items

- more enemies in encounters

 

 

Stuff like this basicaly. You have introduced trivial stuff with the god challnges that i will never use. Please introduce challnges like the above

 

 

I like the challenges so far. What I'd really like is the option to turn challenges on in every difficulty. I want to create my own game balance, and these challenges would be perfect for that.

This might seem contradictory, but I really want a Deadfire challenge approach that encompass these two perspectives and provide as many options as possible.

[Srex]

I think the god challenges are a cool idea, but I haven't tried any of them yet myself. I think making sweeping changes to strategic aspects of the game is the way to implement more challenges going forward.

 

I would like to see more challenges like these:

 

• all per-encounter abilities become per-rest
• empower disabled
• resting only allowed in rare "safe" zones, inns, etc
• pillars 1 style health/endurance system
• all "supernatural" type mobility abilities disabled (martial class teleporting, dashing through things, etc)

 

 

I will probably never play the magran challenge, the abydon challenge could be cool (but it looks like it could also just become tedious, like weapons breaking in bg1), and the skaen one sounds fun but not that difficult. I will definitely play the berath one.

Edited September 11, 2018 by Srex