Status effect transparency

[PrimeJunta]

The trick to playing P:E is knowing which defense(s) to attack. Hammering away at a critter with high Deflection isn't going to get you anywhere. Spell and special ability descriptions helpfully state which defense each of them attacks.

 

The real clincher however are status effects. The most important effect of most of these is that they debuff specific defenses. So, for example, your standard Fireball becomes a great deal more effective if cast on Hobbled enemies, because Fireball attacks Reflex and Hobbled applies a -20 penalty to it. 

 

Here's the problem: I didn't find information on what the various status effects actually mean anywhere in the beta. I had to look them up from the wiki and write them down on a piece of paper. Ever since I did that and started using combinations of spells and specials somewhat intelligently, the fights got way easier.

 

I believe something ought to be done about this. Because these combos are so central to the gameplay, the game should communicate explicitly what the status effects mean.

[IndiraLightfoot]

Yes, please!!! And the combat log should give info that's more than "glancing blow", but immediately say "The deflection of Indira Lightfoot's opponent is almost unbreachable. Please, consider changing your combat tactics." 

[BlueLion]

Agreed, this is imperative as this is the foundation of the tactical combat decisions.

 

As an aside, how do you find out enemy weaknesses for different types of attacks (Crush, Slash etc)?

[PrimeJunta]

Oh, forgot one thing:

 

http://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Status_Effects

 

@BlueLion ... the bestiary, eventually?

 

What's annoying me about that specific thing is that it is not transparent at all. The way it works is logical enough, but it's plumb near impossible to see the numbers:

• Each weapon deals one or more damage type
• Each armor (including, presumably, natural armor like beetle shell) has a damage threshold (DT)
• A part of your base damage always goes through the DT
• Different armors have DT bonuses or penalties against different damage types, e.g. Chain has a penalty against Crushing and--I think--a bonus against Slashing

So to figure out which can opener to use against which can, you would need to know what the DT of the can is against each damage type. That information is not easily available. There absolutely has to be real-time combat feedback that includes this information, e.g. in the floaty numbers: raw damage and applied damage. So if you see something like 23/8 you know that most of your damage is getting soaked and you ought to try something else, but if you see 23/18 you know you're doing pretty well.

[morhilane]

If you put your cursor on a mob while in combat there is a popup with information in it. It include health status, various D.T, saves value and even accuracy. The information gets populate over time. For example, if you use a fireball, the D.T. for burn will show up in it otherwise you won't see it.

[BlueLion]

If you put your cursor on a mob while in combat there is a popup with information in it. It include health status, various D.T, saves value and even accuracy. The information gets populate over time. For example, if you use a fireball, the D.T. for burn will show up in it otherwise you won't see it.

 

So, ultimately, you can't hover over at the start of combat and have all the information available, even with a high Lore value?

[Elerond]

 

If you put your cursor on a mob while in combat there is a popup with information in it. It include health status, various D.T, saves value and even accuracy. The information gets populate over time. For example, if you use a fireball, the D.T. for burn will show up in it otherwise you won't see it.

 

So, ultimately, you can't hover over at the start of combat and have all the information available, even with a high Lore value?

 

 

With current system high lore value brings more information about enemy with each hit and kill, which I don't think is most intuitive system and beta's scope and variety of enemies don't let you benefit from that information much with character that finds it out, although you can use your meta game knowledge with next character.

[Sensuki]

Lore is a p. sucky skill for combat lol. Survival and Stealth are p. good.

 

Btw, how do you set a trap ?

Edited September 7, 2014 by Sensuki

[morhilane]

 

If you put your cursor on a mob while in combat there is a popup with information in it. It include health status, various D.T, saves value and even accuracy. The information gets populate over time. For example, if you use a fireball, the D.T. for burn will show up in it otherwise you won't see it.

 

So, ultimately, you can't hover over at the start of combat and have all the information available, even with a high Lore value?

 

You can over at the start of combat, because combat start when you target something. The trick is that the level of information you have will depend on various factors. Like Elerond said, the current beta setup doesn't allow the player to maximize the benefit of Lore. In the real game you would have 5 levels worth of combat/encounters by that point. So you either takes notes for future playthrough/reload (which is what I've done in pretty much every games I played since the mid-90s) or go with the flow and adjust yourself in the middle of combat (which is what I've been doing in POE, less or more, so far).

 

There is also the entire concept of learning a new game system. POE needs a manual, badly.

[Sensuki]

Lore is only really useful on the first playthrough, after that you can metagame it by looking values up on the wiki.

[Matt516]

Yes, please!!! And the combat log should give info that's more than "glancing blow", but immediately say "The deflection of Indira Lightfoot's opponent is almost unbreachable. Please, consider changing your combat tactics." 

 

With the amount of clutter in the log already, I actually greatly prefer the brief "Bob grazes Bill for 2 damage". There's still a "Bob's weapon is ineffective against Sally because of high DT" message if their Deflection is really high (and an auto pause option to go with it).

[morhilane]

Lore is only really useful on the first playthrough, after that you can metagame it by looking values up on the wiki.

 

They should add the feature that Lore gives you combat bonuses (offensive or defensive) against creatures in your "bestiaries".

[Sensuki]

Would be too good then probably, but from a Simulationist point of view it makes sense.

Edited September 7, 2014 by Sensuki

[Fiebras]

Reposting a bit. Regarding the Cyclopedia:

DT information would be nice though vulnerability information would be even better even if its in the flavour text. The damage types are, afaik: shock, burn, freeze, corrode, raw, piercing, crushing, and slashing but nowhere are resistances to these mentined outside spells and weapons so we have no information on resistances and such. Raw damage being the most useful since it goes through armor but nowhere is this stated in-game.

 

I only found out that beetles were weak only to crushing damage through the forums (I mean youd go "but of course!" but nowere was this sugested in the game) on the other hand the Forest Lurker´s description at least mentions burning it (and even if its a plant and it would be obvious you can never know unless the game tells you about it, at least with this type of game).

 

As it stands we dont even know these specialized resistances and vulnerabilities or how they work. Not even with out own party with things like Chain or if Death Godlike Paladins in Full Plate are more flamable than Fire Godlike Rogues in Hide Armor.

 

Edit: Also, is the only lore that matter in regards to filling the Cyclopedia the PC´s? or is it the one that does the killing blow?

Edited September 7, 2014 by Fiebras