Patch notes for 1.03

[Magrusaod]

 

 

 

 

Nothing about long save/load. A pity, can't play like that.

 

Umm, it takes me 20 seconds tops to go from clicking the icon on my desktop to moving my characters around. About 2 seconds to save using the 4 button on my mouse for "Save", part of that is selecting which slot I want to save it in requiring me to click several buttons and make a decision during this process. Which means perhaps it's your computer and not the game itself. 

 

 

54 seconds here on a C2Q 2.6 / 8GB PC. Not exactly current spec, granted, but no slouch either. Lemme guess, you're using an SSD, right?

 

No, my drives are actually damn slow with my current set up. I just formatted my drives and reinstalled Win7 last week. I have a new hybrid 2 TB seagate as my C Drive straight up. It loads slower now that before, must slower. But I had an older 2tb seagate as my drive partitioned. The partition for my system was tiny, and it used to boot up relatively fast compared to now trying to pull data from a system with 3 Hard drives and 4.5 TB of space between them. 

 

However, my processor and RAM, despite being 4 years old, blow yours out of the water. Quad Core 3.6 mzh with 16 gb RAM. 

 

 

Blows mine out the water? This isn't a manhood measuring contest, at least not in my mind. Did you even read what I wrote? C2Q - Core2Quad quad core, same as yours. Yes, slower clock speed, but that's less relevant when load speeds are largely determined by drive speeds, and I hate to burst your bubble of superiority, but a huge portion of your 16GB of RAM will go completely unused.

 

 

Lol, wasn't meant to be acting superior, and I'm in an altered state at 5 am, had never heard of C2Q before, made the assumption it was short for 2 cores something for I have no idea reason. *shrug* 

@Katarack21  I can fit like 2 medium pizza boxes in the case. It's massive. >.< 

[Katarack21]

 

Two things immediately stand out to me:

• No fixes to Attributes, which practially everyone has realized are lopsided as all hell. This was pointed out by a lot of beta testers before release, but have since been mentioned time and time again by newly arrived noobs players.

   

• Devs have mentioned that they wanted to do away with the ridiculous "Combat Only"-mechanic, but despite it already serving no reasonable function in a lot of cases (Zealous Charge comes to mind; whereas Zealous Focus, widely recognized as superior, isn't restricted at all), now even more "Combat Only" restrictions are patched in, instead of the other way around. What gives?

   

• Slicken spell is now a single hit AoE.
• Chill Fog is now a friend or foe spell.

That was the only reason to even think about having a Wizard in the party.

 

I'm not even going to try playing one until a all encounter-spell or permanent-rest mods are made now.

 

I can thematically understand the change to Chill Fog, but Slicken being a single-hit AoE is just utter nonsense. Wizards were already acknowledged to be wildly inferior to Druids and Priests, and now I really don't see any reason to take one, let alone take poor Aloth, aside from story/roleplay reasons; a gimped wizard with a gimped set of Attributes, with gimpy spells.

 

Slicken definitely should be a Hazard AoE. I have no idea what they were thinking.

 

And if Chill Fog is changed to AoE from Foe AoE (...they really should rename "AoE" into something like "All AoE" or "Friendly-Fire AoE" to fit the format...) it should be considerably buffed in some other way, such as being much larger, or do more damage.

 

No, Chill Fog does not need a buff now that it has been 'fixed'. You're underestimating how incredibly good AOE blind is. Eothas forgive that you might have to actually micro instead of spam chill fog + attack move. 

 

Swear to god, I'll be the Effigy if this isn't a true statement of fact.

[ROMEO]

Thank you to the developers! And please, we must be patient with them. This is only the first game of a series of great RPG games that they are going to develop and I am pretty sure they will polish it as much as possible in the following weeks.

I have only a question. Will be the localisation "bugs" fixed in the next patchs? Because 1.03 changelog doesn't include them.

Thank you.

[sparklecat]

 

It's nice to see the bugs fixed, but was anyone really asking for Wizards to be nerfed? Chill Fog and Slicken were two of the three decent level 1 spells and now they're a lot harder to use effectively. Maybe Wizards become powerful at higher levels, but this game is mostly about the lower ones...

 

I actually never knew Chill was enemy-only until I read the patch notes.  I had been treating it as if it would damage allies, and was careful not to cast it on them.

 

It's not so bad.

 

 

Same here.  I've also never used Slicken.  And yet I'd still consider Aloth one of my most valued party members; he's certainly outdamaged everyone else thus far, though I'm sure Grieving Mother will catch up quickly.

[Luckmann]

 

• No fixes to Attributes, which practially everyone has realized are lopsided as all hell. This was pointed out by a lot of beta testers before release, but have since been mentioned time and time again by newly arrived noobs players.

 

"That'd be too complicated post-release!"

 

 

• Devs have mentioned that they wanted to do away with the ridiculous "Combat Only"-mechanic, but despite it already serving no reasonable function in a lot of cases (Zealous Charge comes to mind; whereas Zealous Focus, widely recognized as superior, isn't restricted at all), now even more "Combat Only" restrictions are patched in, instead of the other way around. What gives?

 

 

Well, duration-based prebuffing is genuinely noxious. It's just that they've chosen to deal with that in the worst possible way, rather than recognizing that the DA model of "invest resources : maintain buffs" actually works really well.

 

Wizards were already acknowledged to be wildly inferior to Druids and Priests, and now I really don't see any reason to take one, let alone take poor Aloth, aside from story/roleplay reasons; a gimped wizard with a gimped set of Attributes, with gimpy spells.

 

Whaaaaa

 

Come on, everybody knows that Aloth's not a wizard once you ChangeClass him into a druid

 

And if Chill Fog is changed to AoE from Foe AoE (...they really should rename "AoE" into something like "All AoE" or "Friendly-Fire AoE" to fit the format...) it should be considerably buffed in some other way, such as being much larger, or do more damage

 

I actually don't understand this gripe. It's easy enough to target AoE spells so that they don't hit your tanks ... hell, I assumed Chill Fog would, and used it as such. Worked fine. I guess it might be harder if you're using one tank instead of two? /shrug

 

While it makes sense, it is really unintuitive, though. Especially since you don't seem to be able to stack DoT:s of the same kind (I think; it might be a tooltip issue with the duration/dmg not showing the stacking, but I doubt it), adding length to your DoT without adding damage is a straight-up double-nerf. First because it takes longer to do the same damage as before, and second because you can't re-apply the same debuff before the last one has run it's course.

 

Int really shouldn't decrease damage for DoT, if only because low attributes should only ever reward you via opportunity benefits. As it is, if I want to do something like run a Ranger with Wounding Shot, that ability is actually more powerful if I dump my Intelligence score. That's wrong and stupid.

 

My gripe with Chill Fog is really minor. It should be noted that if you've played with it as if it was Friendly Fire, you will obviously not see any issue; but if you've learned to take advantage of the fact that it's not, it's actually a significant nerf. I do not mind the change in itself, I think it's odd that it's not Friendly Fire to begin with, but whether a major or minor nerf, it's something the wizard really, really do not need.

 

If Chill Fog is nerfed/changed, it really should be buffed in some other way. Like you say yourself, if the spell is fine without FF, and you won't notice the difference, why change it at all, if it's "fine" either way? Either way, whether minor or major, the Wizard need definitely not be nerfed, and absolutely not their early-game spells.

 

So if Chill Fog is objectively nerfed, it should be objectively buffed in some other way. My suggestion is dmg or size.

 

Also, the change to Slicken is just dumb. I must say that again, even though it has nothing to do with your particular post. Goddamn. If they want to nerf Slicken, have it only affect each enemy once per cast, and then just slow them down or something, but it should absolutely, definitely, positively be a Hazard AoE.

 

It's a large pool of oil, for pete's sake!

 

 

Two things immediately stand out to me:

• No fixes to Attributes, which practially everyone has realized are lopsided as all hell. This was pointed out by a lot of beta testers before release, but have since been mentioned time and time again by newly arrived noobs players.

   

• Devs have mentioned that they wanted to do away with the ridiculous "Combat Only"-mechanic, but despite it already serving no reasonable function in a lot of cases (Zealous Charge comes to mind; whereas Zealous Focus, widely recognized as superior, isn't restricted at all), now even more "Combat Only" restrictions are patched in, instead of the other way around. What gives?

   

 

• Slicken spell is now a single hit AoE.
• Chill Fog is now a friend or foe spell.

That was the only reason to even think about having a Wizard in the party.

 

I'm not even going to try playing one until a all encounter-spell or permanent-rest mods are made now.

 

I can thematically understand the change to Chill Fog, but Slicken being a single-hit AoE is just utter nonsense. Wizards were already acknowledged to be wildly inferior to Druids and Priests, and now I really don't see any reason to take one, let alone take poor Aloth, aside from story/roleplay reasons; a gimped wizard with a gimped set of Attributes, with gimpy spells.

 

Slicken definitely should be a Hazard AoE. I have no idea what they were thinking.

 

And if Chill Fog is changed to AoE from Foe AoE (...they really should rename "AoE" into something like "All AoE" or "Friendly-Fire AoE" to fit the format...) it should be considerably buffed in some other way, such as being much larger, or do more damage.

 

 

No, Chill Fog does not need a buff now that it has been 'fixed'. You're underestimating how incredibly good AOE blind is. Eothas forgive that you might have to actually micro instead of spam chill fog + attack move.

 

If you had basic reading comprehension, you'd realize that I don't mind the FoeAoE being changed to FF AoE, which takes care of the rather ridiculous jab at "spam chill fog + attack move".

 

The issue is that the Wizard is already a gimp compared especially to Druids, and it absolutely do not need to be nerfed, espespecially at the lower levels. If it is microing you are after, upping the damage or the size of the Chill Fog should play up that, without reducing the relative power of the wizard, because it would be more important to keep the Chill Fog away from your friendlies.

 

So my suggestion still stands; make it FF AoE instead of Foe AoE, but up the damage and/or size to compensate for the lost oomph. It keeps the wizard relevant (or at least doesn't nerf it into oblivion) while also putting a greater emphasis on placement of the spell; adding tactical depth, however miniscule.

Edited April 3, 2015 by Luckmann

[trashmyego]

I'm kinda devastated that there's nothing about abilities becoming permanently locked with the 'Already activated' status. There've been so many threads about this and it was something the popped up during the backer beta in September, which was also the last time we saw a Developer respond to a thread about it. But no big deal, just losing core abilities for the entirety of a play through unless you catch it first. 

[Katarack21]

My highest-damaging character is my cipher PC. Second is Grieving Mother; I tend to lead with both and spam Mind Blades and Mind Lance, so....it works out.

Aloth, however, is a close third.

[Luckmann]

My highest-damaging character is my cipher PC. Second is Grieving Mother; I tend to lead with both and spam Mind Blades and Mind Lance, so....it works out.

 

Aloth, however, is a close third.

I got Grieving Mother just the day before I left for Germany, and damn if Mind Blades aren't crazy. The devs have a tendency to over-nerf things, so I'm worried that they'll suddenly be completely useless, but to be quite honest it's probably the first ability I've tried in the release version that really stood out to me as "This can't be right".

 

I've seen it devastate entire groups of wounded Xaurips. I'll be sad that I can't do that anymore with Grieving Mother, but at the same time, I can see why I shouldn't be able to, even though I often end up focusing more on the debuffing Ciphers bring to the table. I can't wait for the day I play the game as a Cipher, just to see how insane a party with two Ciphers can get; debuffs and rape galore, as Ciphers have the capacity to really compliment eachother in a way I can't really say other classes seem to have.

 

I shouldn't comment too much on Aloth, because he struck me so much as a generalist utility wizard in character that I chose to play him based on those aspects, so I primarily pick utility powers for him. His actual damage output is still pretty high, though, but that's because of Blast and the Blast Penetration Talent (I forget the name of it). Wizards make surprisingly good auto-attackers and can go a long way with just that and Arcane Assault.

Edited April 3, 2015 by Luckmann

[gkathellar]

@Luckmann - That's a larger problem with the wizard, though, and I don't feel this one spell having increased numbers is a remedy for said problem. The remedy, I think, is having more spells of this type (good AoE spells that blend damage with debuffing), and more advancement of spells through the tiers (a second-level version of Chill Fog that is an Enemy-AOE, for instance).

[Atheosis]

Great looking patch overall but I really wish they were doing something to address how weak wizards feel right now.  Instead they are just making them feel weaker.  Combined with the enemy AI being designed to target them it's rather unpleasant having them around much of the time.

[Drow37]

What are you guys crying about? Mage UP? We're all level 6 now and I run this game on hard and aloth is super effective. he doesnt even have those 2 spells in his book.

[archangel979]

 

 

It's nice to see the bugs fixed, but was anyone really asking for Wizards to be nerfed? Chill Fog and Slicken were two of the three decent level 1 spells and now they're a lot harder to use effectively. Maybe Wizards become powerful at higher levels, but this game is mostly about the lower ones...

 

I actually never knew Chill was enemy-only until I read the patch notes.  I had been treating it as if it would damage allies, and was careful not to cast it on them.

 

It's not so bad.

 

 

Same here.  I've also never used Slicken.  And yet I'd still consider Aloth one of my most valued party members; he's certainly outdamaged everyone else thus far, though I'm sure Grieving Mother will catch up quickly.

 

Haha, I did the same as both the people quoted here. Except Aloth is not a damage dealer in my group, he almost only casts debuffs and his Int and AoE is very high.

[Luckmann]

@Luckmann - That's a larger problem with the wizard, though, and I don't feel this one spell having increased numbers is a remedy for said problem. The remedy, I think, is having more spells of this type (good AoE spells that blend damage with debuffing), and more advancement of spells through the tiers (a second-level version of Chill Fog that is an Enemy-AOE, for instance).

While I agree entirely, that the issues with the Wizard does not rise and fall with this one spell, it does contribute.

[Fhoenix]

Will the load times be fixed in this? I don't see it mentioned in the patch notes. Atm it's very annoying that walking into any room takes half a minute.

[PrimeJunta]

In re Slicken, IMO it makes sense both as a single knockdown (floor is suddenly magically incredibly slippery for a second or two, after which the oil goes back wherever it came from) or as a longer-term hindrance (magically produced oil remains in place until it soaks into the ground).

 

However: for the latter, the knockdown effect should not be anywhere near as reliable as it is. If it has a significant duration, it should hinder movement reliably but only knockdown on crits or something like that.

 

Basically, until the nerf it was way OP. If the other spells were underpowered, that's a different problem and one I believe they've also addressed. 

[Cluas]

Great work.

It seems though, that there are a lot of us, with no money to buy new computers - So here is a suggestion for the next patch...:

 

 

I'm dreaming about some more options to tweak (turn off stuff) in the graphics/performance...


So the game can run SMOOTH...


Please? 

 

Saving a game is 5-10 secs- Loading an area are 30 secs plus - Running through Dyrford is at least a minute... I'm spending too much time WAITING.

I don't need fancy graphics, particles,  weather fx, i want a SMOOTH game, that's all... It can't be that hard to make it an option in the menu, something like this:

GRAPHICS

• [uLTRA LOW] (my pc)
• [MEDIUM]
• [HIGH]
• [uLTRA HIGH] (current only choice)

 

Or perhaps I will have to get myself a new pc? AGAIN? (it was brand new when i backed the game ...)

[Katarack21]

Great work.

It seems though, that there are a lot of us, with no money to buy new computers - So here is a suggestion for the next patch...:

 

 

I'm dreaming about some more options to tweak (turn off stuff) in the graphics/performance...

 

 

So the game can run SMOOTH...

 

 

Please? 

 

Saving a game is 5-10 secs- Loading an area are 30 secs plus - Running through Dyrford is at least a minute... I'm spending too much time WAITING.

 

I don't need fancy graphics, particles,  weather fx, i want a SMOOTH game, that's all... It can't be that hard to make it an option in the menu, something like this:

GRAPHICS

• [uLTRA LOW] (my pc)
• [MEDIUM]
• [HIGH]
• [uLTRA HIGH] (current only choice)

 

Or perhaps I will have to get myself a new pc? AGAIN? (it was brand new when i backed the game ...)

My computer was five years old when I backed the game. I'm still using the same computer...only now at least I have a graphics card.

[SeekDWay]

I'm running the game on GTX 275 / 4 GB RAM / i5 and I have no problems with fps, loading times on SSD are 2-15 sec.

Loading times on Unity games tend to be long, early D:OS was giving me 60+ sec load times on an SSD, it has since improved but is still slow. I don't think they can fix the loading times judging from other games.

 

Are you running on a 32 bit OS? I had performance issues on another (better hardware) 32 bit OS PC.

[Mazisky]

Finally they improved the temple rendering, first time i saw it i noticed that it was kinda low-res compared to other places

[Jazriel]

So if Chill Fog is objectively nerfed, it should be objectively buffed in some other way. My suggestion is dmg or size.

 

 

*facepalm*

 

Game design doesn't work that way. I've read a lot of stuff you've written but this is the clearest example of you having no idea what you're talking about. Please stop.

 

If it gets nerfed, so what? The problem that I keep seeing people talk about on these forums is that none of you have any direction with your criticisms or "advice". All of you seem to live in this fantasy land where you can see into the future and with your omniscient understanding you proclaim whether something is "objectively correct" or not.

 

By what valid logical criteria can you demonstrate that "an objective nerf validates an objective buff"? Because honestly that's literally false. If your sense for game balance is to naively move things around an equal sign then take it from me, you are wrong.

 

You want a buff that makes sense? How about increase the casting range of a Friend-Or-Foe AoE spell so that you can properly position with it? Oh wait they're already doing that.

 

 

*And thanks to the fellow who posted the /refresh link to gog.com. It's working now.

Edited April 3, 2015 by Jazriel

[NoxNoctum]

Can someone explain the change the Chill Fog? I don't get the description of the change.

[Shdy314]

It used to be Foe Only, which means it only hurt hostile creatures. After the patch it will be a regular area of effect (AOE) meaning it can hurt anyone inside the AOE.

[Longknife]

Can someone explain the change the Chill Fog? I don't get the description of the change.

 

 

Chill Fog was a rare exception where a damage-dealing Wizard spell didn't hit allies. This meant you could safely stick it directly on your squad to damage anyone who got close. Now it hurts your team too.

 

I actually agree that it could use a buff now. The issue is that nerfing it in this way has the opposite effect and makes Fan of Flames superior. Fan of Flames seems superior on the damage front, but it's cone shape AOE and ability to damage allies made it situational. Chill fog wasn't as devistating but was useful more often. Now it's just not so great.

[PrimeJunta]

 

Can someone explain the change the Chill Fog? I don't get the description of the change.

 

 

Chill Fog was a rare exception where a damage-dealing Wizard spell didn't hit allies. This meant you could safely stick it directly on your squad to damage anyone who got close. Now it hurts your team too.

 

I actually agree that it could use a buff now. The issue is that nerfing it in this way has the opposite effect and makes Fan of Flames superior. Fan of Flames seems superior on the damage front, but it's cone shape AOE and ability to damage allies made it situational. Chill fog wasn't as devistating but was useful more often. Now it's just not so great.

 

Chill Fog is way easier to use because you can fire it from the back.

[Luckmann]

[...]

 

By what valid logical criteria can you demonstrate that "an objective nerf validates an objective buff"? Because honestly that's literally false. If your sense for game balance is to naively move things around an equal sign then take it from me, you are wrong.

 

[...]

 

Oh, thank god I didn't say anything like that and your entire post is a massive strawman, or I'd be in trouble, because such a position would be indefensible. Phew. Dodged a bullet there. The bullet was intended for a strawman three miles away, but with that aim, I was lucky nontheless.

 

Can someone explain the change the Chill Fog? I don't get the description of the change.

Basically, there are several different kinds of AoE effects. A "Foe AoE" only hits enemies. A "regular" AoE hits everyone (excep right by the edge of the spell, where it only hits enemies.. for some reason).

 

And Chill Fog was changed from Foe AoE to a regular AoE. The reason this is causing some commotion is that the Wizard is widely considered wildly underpowered compared to the Druid, while the Wizard is considered meh at best, and Chill Fog was a really, really powerful low-level spell available to wizards (who rightfully suffer more at lower levels than higher ones). I think most people are OK with the change itself, just that it needs to be balanced to account for it.

 

Slicken was also crazy, and have been known to be crazy since early in the beta. It's odd to see something done about it now, of all times, when it should've been adjusted a long time ago. The criticism levvied against that change has more to do with theme and the underpoweredness of Wizards, rather than against the actual change itself - most everyone that was in the beta knew that Slicken was pretty broken. Again, I think most people realize that it clearly needed a nerf, and just question the way it's done (since it changes the nature of the spell; rather than being a persistent "trap"-like effect, it's instant and localized, like a fireball that does no damage and just makes people go prone).

Edited April 3, 2015 by Luckmann