Project for a Balance Mod

[Elric Galad]

Minor update to Summon Rebalance package : I've found a bug that caused Fire Stag's final explosion to have mediocre PEN (undue effect of changing it to a passive abilty)

The Stag is on Fire !

[peolone]

@Elric Galad Thanks for the effort. Your mod looks interesting and I would like to try it, but I don't understand how it relates to the community patch mod. Does it include all the changes already in the CP, save from stuff that you overrode? Do I have to load both of them in sequence? How about the unique icons mod? 

Edited May 3, 2020 by peolone

[Elric Galad]

42 minutes ago, peolone said:

@Elric Galad Thanks for the effort. Your mod looks interesting and I would like to try it, but I don't understand how it relates to the community patch mod. Does it include all the changes already in the CP, save from stuff that you overrode? Do I have to load both of them in sequence? How about the unique icons mod? 

It was simply designed with CP in mind and tested with CP installed. 
I own no right on the CP so I cannot include its files within my own file.

So to get the intended experience :
- Download and Install CP
- Download and Install my mod files.
- Check the mod menu after the game is launched. The files should be loaded after the ones from Community Patch, so they have to be lower on the list.

Small note : there is only 2 abilities for which I "cancelled" CP modification : Sacred Immolation and Heal Companion, because I wanted to change these abilities in different ways (for reasons of Class design consistency).


The content is almost complete. Next Package will be about Druids and Priests (apart for summons). Final package I plan to collect and address a couple of minor known issues, and of course make a complete updated list of changes (rather that the not very convenient various posts in this thread).

Don't hesitate if you have any further questions. If you play and encounter any problems, don't hesitate to tell me

Edited May 3, 2020 by Elric Galad

[Trisk3lion]

Awesome mod! 

Do you have any plans to look at Spiritshift? I especially think single class Shifter could use some sort of buff either to the subclass directly or to a Wildstrike Frenzy.

Edited May 3, 2020 by Trisk3lion
Typo

[peolone]

 

55 minutes ago, Elric Galad said:

The content is almost complete. Next Package will be about Druids and Priests (apart for summons). Final package I plan to collect and address a couple of minor known issues, and of course make a complete updated list of changes (rather that the not very convenient various posts in this thread).

Thank you! I think I'll wait for the complete package then... I hope it will come soon!

[Elric Galad]

5 hours ago, Trisk3lion said:

Awesome mod! 

Do you have any plans to look at Spiritshift? I especially think single class Shifter could use some sort of buff either to the subclass directly or to a Wildstrike Frenzy.

Thanks you !

Indeed I have just completed a change to Wildstrike Frenzy. It procs on Crit with Spiritshift attacks instead of kills now.

I don't think shifter as a subclass needs special care though. There was an excellent thread about how to use Shifters, which underlined it should be mostly considered as a caster, with added versatility of spiritshifting almost at will. Also I like to underline that the greatest feat of Spiritshifting is not the weapons but Armor. It's basically equivalent to a plate (only 8 base AR, but non weakness) with 0 recovery penalty. Also note that CP added elemental keywords to their Wildstrike... Which enable getting +1 PEN through elemental talents.

But that's not the whole story : I have also changed Entropy from 3 to 5 procs (and the charges are not spent by Graze and Crit as they were) and I've added 3 base Bounce. So it will enable getting a lots of procs from my version of WS Frenzy.

4 hours ago, peolone said:

 

Thank you! I think I'll wait for the complete package then... I hope it will come soon!

I hope too. But as I am currently teleworking with a 16 months child due to pandemic, I only have a couple of hours to grab here and there. I have hope for next package next week end, maybe complete version 1.0 in a couple of weeks...

Edited May 3, 2020 by Elric Galad

[Elric Galad]

Here I go for  the last version of my balance mod with "new content". Next package should only be about bugfixes (and glitchfixes) from base game bugs (such as Spirit Tornado not applying Staggered on Spell Hit while unupgraded version did). This will be the first release of the complete mod !!!
I don't exclude to make further modifications later but to be honnest, I want to take some time to play a little  

(But of course, I'm not closed to suggestions, and I will try to address any bug)

So now it's time for Druids and Priests and the shining star and final point of a rightful balance mod : addressing Salvation of Time abuses (included in the nerf package of the mod !)

I) Druid

 

Druids have weird spell Tier distributions : some are a bit crowded (Tier V especially), then Tier VI, VII, VIII are full of spells which might be good but are often situationnal (due to poison damages, meta-dependance for Avenging Storm, weird inconvenient mechanics for Nature's Bounty, summons unavailable to Lifegiver...) And finally Tier IX only has a Shining star (Great Maelstrom) and a sidekick (Pollen Patch), rest of spell being meh. I've tried to address that, and also buff Wildtrike Frenzy a bit so Single Class can benefit more from Spiritshift. 

 

Wall of Thorns  :

No actual changes, but this ability displayed a base PEN of 7 which was wrong : it is actually base PEN 9, so I corrected the display

 

Nature's Terror :

- Casting time changed from 4,5s/3s to 3s/3s.

This spell suffers from comparison with Relentless Storm. In order to be a bit more friendly toward its melee focus, I lowered its casting time a bit.

 

Sunlance : 
- Casting time changed from 4,5s/3s to 0,5s/4,5s.

- Added Interrupt on Hit.

Even if this spell wasn't terrible, I wanted to give it a bit of Oomphf, given that spells of this Tier aren't very spammable (especially because of poison/disease damages from 2 of them...). Priest gains Pillar of Holy Fire, Wizard gets Minoletta Precise bursting while Sunlance is not even multi-target and Disintigrate laughs.

I thought Interrupt + fast casting would give it the special touch it needed. Interrupt has a very good interraction with its crazy Range !

 

Nature's Bounty :

- Now its effects (20 health restored, +2 PER and MIG, +20% Action Speed for 30s) will apply directly instead of summoning potion.

- AoE reduced 5m -> 2,5m to compensate that it now affects summons and everything.

This spell was just too much of a headache to use.

I think that this spell looks good compared to Crown for the Faithful, for example.

 

Entropy :

- Added 3 Base Bounce (Base 4 Targets)

- Number of procs raised from 3 to 5. 

- Charges are not consumed by Graze and Crit anymore (yep, this spell was THAT BAD)

- Removed Interrupt part (was good when it was single target)

This spell is designed to be an AoE Alternative to Rust, albeit less appropriate for Single Target Focus.

 

Tornado :

- AoE set to 10m radius. I really wanted something a bit silly because it is a freakin Tier IX spell. It would also allow to avoid any friendly target quite easily. Thematically, it would fit the destructive nature of druids.

- Range set to 20m (a bit necessary because of the increased AoE)

- Added a true "Interrupt on Graze" effect, which is consistent with the Vertical Launch part.

- Casting Time tuned from 6s/2s to 4.5s/3s, to be more easy to use as an alpha move.

This spell suffered from comparison with Maelstorm. This version is a screen-wide attack with 3,5s of Hard CC due to Vertical Launch, so it could be situationnally better than Maeltstorm. Also, it is fun ! It can be complicated to position indoor, but, hey, it's a freaking tornado !

 

Touch of Death :

- Set casting time to 0,5s/3s instead of 3s/3s.

- Add a +25 Acc modifier for this spell. So if your accuracy is equal or greater than foe's Will, the kill is guaranteed (Club Modal for the win). Not guaranteed against the strongest foes, but still high chances to land.

Probably not to be used every encounter, but very useful vs bosses !

 

Wildstrike Frenzy :

- Changed from Procs on Kills to Proc on Kills

Designed to have good synergy with Entropy, and less dependence on Kills.

 

J) Priest

Priests don't have many ability balance issue IMHO (their subclasses might have been more original, but that's not what I'm trying to address, there are other mods for this). But, overall, their abilities are OK (of course the few changes made by Community Patch did help). Apart for the infamous Salvation of Time (and its combination with BDD and Brilliant), most of the problems come from their weird and disappointing Tier IX.


Divine Terror :
- Duration 20s -> 30s
OK, Priests may not be true Crowd Controller, but this spell was still too weak compared to its counterparts (Secret Horrors, Nature's Terror). In addition, Priest Tier IV was crowded with good spells, so this wan't too weak in comparison. It is still only 1.5m radius, which limits its power.

Salvation of Time :
Change to a lasting beneficial effects which adds 0.5s to every beneficial effects every 1s. That effectively halves their ellapsing speed of buffs (including SoT itself : it lasts 20s with a base duration of 10s).
Basically still add 10s but :
- Now benefits from PL and INT
- Now applies to effects cast after it (especially useful for Vanishing Strikes...)
- Useless to cast several times in a row
- The most important : now a single effect cannot have its duration more than doubled. 
It is still a very good spell, even better than before, but it is now impossible to abuse by combining it with Brilliant, and all other buffs will also have to be re-cast again at some point.

Hand of Berath :
- 5PL -> -10PL
- Now auto-hit.
Basically a boss fight ability. No one can escape neither death nor Berath. Since it only debuff abilities, and Resolve of the target still applies, I think it is fine like this.

Revenge of Skaen :
- Range 5m -> 10m
- Added a -20 Accuracy effect in addition to Blind.
The idea was to create a "Greater Blind" from the "Greater Skaen Darkness".
The -20 Acc does not stack with -10 Acc from Blind but the idea was to create an effect that goes through Perception Resistance
Disoriented and -20 Acc is roughly the same as Blind and -20 Acc.
Even Perception Immune will suffer from this spell.
It is meant to be a good debuff with an enormous AoE.

Blessing of Wael :
- +5 All defenses -> +10
- Now works vs any kind of attacks (not just melee ones)
- Now targets Will
- Changed the Blind affliction (which was too redundant with Skaen's Revenge) for a random effect of -10 PER, INT or RES.
Once again, I wanted a god power that goes through Affliction Resistance. INT Afflictions could have been nice, but would have been trickier to balance.
Foes who strike several time, or several party member because of AoE attacks will quickly suffer from 2 or 3 large penalties to their mental attributes.
Also, this feels more Waelish than a mere Blind Affliction...
 

Miscellanous change : Bashing Shields :

 

Since Bashing Shield (apart Tuotilio's Palm) have weird mechanics that may cause the character holding it to do less damages than with classic sword and shield ( refer to  https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/114801-bash-mechanic-question/ for more details), I've changed a bit their stats.

 

For Best Defense, I've added +16 Accuray to its roll, and attack is now 11-15 base damages with 11 PEN.
+16 Acc ad 11 PEN are because it's supposed to be a legendary item.
 

Spoiler

To calculate "11-15" damages, I've taken the damage of a medium attack speed 1-handed, I've applied the same damage reduction factor as Tutotilo's Palm compared to Monk Fist  (x 0.55)
Then, to compensate for the absence of +60% damages bonus from a legendary weapon, I've multiplied the result by 1.5 (not 1.6 because base damage increase are better than additive % damages).

 

For Magran's Blessing, I've added +8Accuray to its roll, and attack is now 11-15 base damages with 9PEN because it's supposed to be only exceptionnal.
Since you can't upgrade it, I've let the same damage as legendary Best Defense.
I've added Fire Keyword to the attack so it can benefit from Scion of Flame and Ring of focused flame. That's a way to compensate the absence of upgradable quality.
I've also tweaked Magran's Blessing fire shield to +10 Accuracy and 10 PEN (for both base and upgraded version) since it did not scale with level and was stuck at 7 PEN.

They are the only items I've planned to address because they were really weird. I don't think there is really a big need of balancing items in general.

 

BalancePolishingModBuffs.zip

BalancePolishingModNerfs.zip

BalancePolishingSummonRebalance.zip

 

Edited May 7, 2020 by Elric Galad

[coralzombie]

Thank you for the list of changes,  the visual info display bugs you are fixing are very helpful.  Wall of thorns doing pen 9 is something that applies to what i am doing now. I am sure the other players will appreciate the effort you are putting into this,  Thanks!

[Rimiu]

I wonder if the original patch has been abandoned? I saw people posting bug reports on the nexus about 6 months or so ago with no new fixes.

 

Does your patch include those fixes Elric? Will you ever make a Nexus entry?

[Elric Galad]

11 hours ago, Rimiu said:

I wonder if the original patch has been abandoned? I saw people posting bug reports on the nexus about 6 months or so ago with no new fixes.

One of the author, Maxquest, is not active anymore. And he is the one with the Nexus account, so no one can upload a new version of the CP now.

Other authors are still a bit active, so there's a Community Patch Add On, but I think it only addresses Shattered Pillar + Lesser Wound bug.

Quote

 

Does your patch include those fixes Elric?

I will include any fixes from the base Game, CP or and course my own stuff.
But I have to be aware of those problems first.

I have quickly read the Nexus Comments about CP specific bugs, so in addition with the issues I've found myself, I plan to correct :
- Shattered Pillar + Lesser Wound bug and Shattered Pillar updated subclass description.
- Toughened fury generating only discipline in 20% of crits instead of 25% written in patch notes.
- Deep Wounds only adding 15% damages instead of 20%
- Lasting Empower applying to everyting including incoming effects (but for this one, I will simply revert the changes to Base Game)
- Defensive Mindweb not working (to investigate first) 
- Carnage missing string (to investigate first)

EDIT : also Sacred Immolation AoE increased didn't work on SI's Upgrades in the CP. But that doesn't matter because I overrode this change anyway (as I said, nothing personal just class design consistency purpose)

For other bugs, I have to find them first. "There's missing string" as I have heard, is not enough for me. I need the ability and preferably the language one is playing with.

The next version of my mod (the 1.0) is planned to include these fixes as well as fixes from the original game..

Quote

Will you ever make a Nexus entry?

Yes, that's the plan, but I wanted the mod to be complete first.

Edited May 8, 2020 by Elric Galad

[Elric Galad]

On 5/3/2020 at 7:10 PM, Elric Galad said:

Also note that CP added elemental keywords to their Wildstrike... Which enable getting +1 PEN through elemental talents.

=> Ney, Keyword is added to the passive, but isn't applied by the attack.
Not that bad, but I should avoird spreading fake news.

[Elric Galad]

I'm happy to announce that 1.0 is released !

[dudex]

8 hours ago, Elric Galad said:

I'm happy to announce that 1.0 is released !

where do i download the v1.0 files? 

[Elric Galad]

They're on the release thread (before I release the mod on Nexus) :

https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/114861-balance-polishing-mod-release-10/