Kraken DR bugged/underpowered? [PotD, 3.03]

[AlexKidd]

Hi all, long time lurker, first post (approve me!   )

 

I can't find many reports about the Kraken fight on the board, it looks like nobody ever had any issue with him, and sure it looked like a pushover during my first blind attempt. I didn't rush for it but fought the tentacles first and those proved to be way sturdier than the main body.

 

It's just a level 12 enemy on the pedia, that's already quite lame for the supposedly final boss of the wm2 main quest, and his stats are nothing compared to dragons and the like.

 

Upon completing the game, I went back and checked his stats, to see what could be done with a bit of modding to buff him a bit.

 

 

0 dr to everything.

 

These are his theoretical resistances, shared with the tentacles (those are working), and are the ones shown on the pedia (weak to burn/corrode, strong vs bludge).

 

 0 float DamageThreshhold = 8.000000
 0 float DamageReduction = 0.000000
 0 float SpeedFactor = 0.600000
 0 int ArmorCategory = 1
 0 int Material = 0
 0 int DtPercPiercing = 100
 0 int DtPercSlashing = 100
 0 int DtPercCrushing = 200
 0 int DtPercBurning = 50
 0 int DtPercFreezing = 100
 0 int DtPercShocking = 100
 0 int DtPercCorroding = 50

 

 

I took the first screen in a moment he had no buffs/debuffs hence I am not sure why the defences are a bit off (are potd changes reflected on pedia?)

 

It doesn't look like the px2_kraken_tentacle_armor.unity3d file is the culprit, it's more like Krakky failed to equip his own armor but I am really too noob of a modder to give more details and figure what is not working for this mob in particular.

 

 

 

Is there anybody who can help me figure what's going wrong with his dr, and if this is something worth report?

 

Do you think the fight itself is a bit lame/worth some buffing in upcoming patch as well? I mean, even with working DR, those stats are quite low and a level 12 boss for wm2 is a joke.

[AndreaColombo]

Hi,

 

PotD changes are NOT reflected in the bestiary, so that would account for the differences you are seeing. DR, however, isn't affected by difficulty that I know of.

 

This looks indeed like a bug, and I encourage you to post it in the support subforum.

 

That this fight is way underwhelming has been known since PX2 released. Thankfully devs are now taking feedback on exactly this kind of stuff for patch 3.04. I intend to post about this encounter as soon as I have time; if you could do it too in the 3.04 feedback thread (beta patch forum), I guess the more people point the issue out, the more likely it is to be addressed (I'm talking about the Kraken being a level-12 p***y, here.)

[theBalthazar]

Kraken = Joke

 

Its a shame.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7OEvo-GjUg&feature=youtu.be&t=1m28s

 

: p

Edited October 6, 2016 by theBalthazar

[Reent]

my naked solo chanter (no items at all) was able to defeat the kraken within a few tries (and the the kraken wasnt the problem... the kraken died in the very first try, only... i missplayed the eyeless)

 

in terms of difficulty its lower than almost every fight in the game (since you can defeat the kraken and not fight the eyeless) maybe the single xaurip in cilant lis is easier, but something like the 3 ppl that abducted the cook is a harder fight...

[Elric Galad]

Kraken seems to have more HP than other bosses of the games to compensate for its lower DR. I think it is nice to have powerful monsters with low DR as it makes some weapons (fast low damages) more useful against them.

 

Maybe poor kraken just lack even more hitpoints and/or really powerful attacks.

 

And a couple of DR points against some damages could have been more realistic. Seriously, kraken, 0DR against cold and you live in a frozen lake ?

 

By the way, kraken should be a beast, not a primordial. Primordials are supposed to be plants, mushrooms and cell colonies (slimes). A kraken is just an inverterbrate much like vermins who are beasts. (But ok, "it's magic" )

Edited October 6, 2016 by Elric Galad

[AlexKidd]

That this fight is way underwhelming has been known since PX2 released. Thankfully devs are now taking feedback on exactly this kind of stuff for patch 3.04. I intend to post about this encounter as soon as I have time; if you could do it too in the 3.04 feedback thread (beta patch forum), I guess the more people point the issue out, the more likely it is to be addressed (I'm talking about the Kraken being a level-12 p***y, here.)

 

I cannot access the beta patch atm but feel free to point at this thread as well, or I'll just jump aboard once you get done posting your feedback.

 

I checked this board quite religiously but white march content isn't discussed a lot, maybe with the exception of alpine dragon. Being a completionist I entered wm2 at level 15-16 so it felt a bit like story mode, hard to give realistic feedback but on future playthroughts I'll play with nerfed xp tables: that might change a bit the overall feeling but I am sure that even at level 10-11 the kraken fight will be a pushover still.

 

Kraken seems to have more HP than other bosses of the games to compensate for its lower DR. I think it is nice to have powerful monsters with low DR as it makes some weapons (fast low damages) more useful against them.

 

I agree, and the kraken strikes me as a high hp/average dr/low deflection sort of enemy. Also, he really needs some more status immunities (how can you prone that thing? ). I was going to toy a bit with values to find an acceptable balance but then the armor DR not being applied made me ask for help here. Fwiw, I 'think' I know what I am doing, since I could edit other monsters (kraken tentacles included) just fine. Any experienced modder hint would be welcome anyway.

 

What I am not sure about is if those who also found him a joke fought against him at 0 dr, or against the correct pedia values. Does anybody else have a save for a quick check, or the fact he's lacking dr is common knowledge?

[AndreaColombo]

The patch discussion thread can be found here.

 

I too can't partake the beta for I'm on GoG, but Sking mentioned in another thread that our feedback is still welcome on matters that aren't strictly related to testing the patch (e.g. communication, balance, what else we'd like to see fixed) so I'm going to drop a few lines in that thread in the coming days.

 

I cannot remember whether I faced the Kraken with 0 DR but I seem to remember its having 8 DR back then (it was a couple patches ago.)

 

One thing we could do, since we all seem to share the sentiment that this fight isn't challenging enough, is agree on a list of tentative changes that we believe would ameliorate it. I guess if we all make the same suggestions, we'll have more chances of them being implemented

 

Getting started:

 

• I'd love for the Kraken to be a 16th-level foe, but I know the devs want to make the whole game beatable by non-completionists; however, I think it should be at least level 14. It's really hard to get there at a lower level than that, since it's in PX2 and level 12 was the cap with no expansions (which could already be achieved long before the final act in the base game.)
• I agree that more affliction immunities are in order. I'd suggest Prone, Stun, Petrify, Distracted and perhaps one more (e.g. Sickened). Thoughts?
• Smarter targeting would help.
• Of course if there's a bug preventing its DR from being applied, by all means it should be fixed.
• Let's change it to Beast for lore consistency as well while we're at it, even though it won't make the fight harder

 

Thaos and the Eyeless will also be on my list of underwhelming encounters, btw.

Edited October 6, 2016 by AndreaColombo

[demeisen]

It was certainly underwhelming both times I encountered it (2.something and 3.03, both PotD).  Bit of a let down really.  I'm liking AndreaColombo's suggestions, and feel it should be on par with, say, the adra dragon in general difficulty.  I also felt that it didn't really hurt my party at all, but then, defense generally seems overpowered in the game, so it's hard to tease apart how much is due to that, and how much is Kraken-specific.

​

​But come on!  Kraken!  It should be a damn cephalopod wrecking crew.

​

​

[Sking]

I begrudgingly confirmed this issue. Our beta update is currently being uploaded . We will try and get a fix in for this issue later this week.

 

Oh Kraken...

- Sking 

[AndreaColombo]

On the bright side, you can use the extra time to also change it from Primordial to Beast and ... I don't know ... buff it a little, perhaps :D

[Jojobobo]

I actually kept a save for it on my last play through right before, so it'll be interesting to try it again post patch. It was rather a wimp, however I'm not a 100% sure on what difficultly to pitch it at however as you kind of want its eyes to legendasize (a legit word, obviously) your end game weapons to attempt the other tough fights. If the Kraken is made much tougher than the dragons, then there isn't really much point it making its eyes the thing that upgrades your weapons as you're not going to get to use you legendary weapons on anything interesting.

[AndreaColombo]

You make a fair point, but the same could be said about the bog dragons which provide the scales to legendasize your armor. That's an actually challenging fight that doesn't leave much content with which to enjoy your legendary armor afterward.

 

With that said, I don't think the Kraken should be harder than the dragon fights; more like on par with them. Right now, even fixing the DR bug it remains easier than Adra Dragon, which is supposedly a 12th-level enemy. You need to put in some real effort to be only level 12 when you face the Kraken.

 

In my current game my party is level 14 (protagonist's 15), with character builds over 90% complete even in terms of equipment, and most tough fights are still untouched (including the last two bounties from PX2 and some bounties from the base game.)

 

Even with DR 8, the Kraken will go down really fast (most of my party members have 5 DR bypass, which leaves the Kraken with a measly 3.)

[Jojobobo]

I think the difference is an extra 2 DR or 3 points of Deflection is more negligible by that point - end game enemies have high accuracy and high damage so a little more DR or Deflection is going to be a drop in the ocean of what you already have. Comparatively, I'd say that as legendary enchantments add both accuracy and damage they make much more of an impact - so it's a lot more fun to get to use them against the remaining boss monsters after the Kraken.

 

Even so, I think it does need to be a little tougher (more than just DR added) - it's just important not to go overboard and make it just as tough as the Bog Dragons or maybe Alpine Dragon, etc. From the sounds of things it seems like they're pressed for time, so likely DR will be the only thing added.