[POTD Difficulty] Launch NOT tuned discussion thread

[Nixl]

 

During beta, I suggested something similar.  Specifically, that certain creature or boss abilities would apply a wound without a K.O. being a prerequisite.  That way would put more emphasis on player input, such as dodging or interrupting enemies.    

 

An increase to the cost of ship upkeep could work, although I still lean more towards medicine/wound duration, because it already exists in the crew injury system to an extent.  Furthermore, in a setting that  has medicine and surgeons, why would cheap hardtack be a cure to all injuries?  It is kind of ridiculous when I think about it.     

 

As it currently stands, the player input is reduced to putting hardtack in a slot and hitting the rest button.   

 

 

I think your idea of tying it into the existing crew injury/rest system makes perfect sense, it's just that as long as spending time is a non-issue it would just result in players putting their favourite injured party member into the recovery slot and simply waiting/resting the duration with little to no consequences. At that point the entire mechanic may not as well exist.

 

If standing around waiting a few days actually cost me a significant amount in gold/resources when I'm trying to save up for a particular item, upgrade or whatever else, that would at least introduce some semblence of decision-making to the process. But maybe still not enough.

 

I believe time would be be an issue, or at least a bigger issue, for two reason: first, crew wages and upkeep would eat into your resources if you simply rest/wait; and second, the pc cannot be rotated out of the party, and so you either have to spend money upfront to heal the pc with medicine/doctor or rest and endure upkeep costs.   At that point, it is a matter of tuning money supply and cost.  

 

One could rotate injured party members in and out, but that requires player input, which the current system lacks.  The cost in that case would also be losing a companion that is potentially instrumental to your group, such as a tank or healer.  Furthermore, the player still would have to ensure that the party does not accumulate wounds faster than it heals.  

[Zelse]

Or they could just make it so you dont get unlimited rests anymore... Just like in the first game.

 

2 rests max after leaving the ship. Rest limit resets back to max everytime you visit the ship.

[Jimmy]

I believe time would be be an issue, or at least a bigger issue, for two reason: first, crew wages and upkeep would eat into your resources if you simply rest/wait; and second, the pc cannot be rotated out of the party, and so you either have to spend money upfront to heal the pc with medicine/doctor or rest and endure upkeep costs.   At that point, it is a matter of tuning money supply and cost. 

 

One could rotate injured party members in and out, but that requires player input, which the current system lacks.  The cost in that case would also be losing a companion that is potentially instrumental to your group, such as a tank or healer.  Furthermore, the player still would have to ensure that the party does not accumulate wounds faster than it heals.  

 

 

I guess it's just a matter of tuning the numbers. But yeah - given some thought I generally like the idea.

 

While we can expect a general tune-up to overall difficulty in the future, I'll be very surprised if they touch any core mechanics like this though. I've heard that Deadfire is more mod-friendly but I genuinely don't know if this is something that could be addressed on that front. I guess time will tell.

[darkhain]

This is a massive deception, coming from a game of this genre.

[nemesis205bw]

This game is so badly balanced in terms of classes abilities that its impossible to balance POTD. Literally every class has something so stupidly OP that it allows it to solo 3 skulls dungeons on POTD. I would nerf every single ability in this game so their impact is low to moderate in terms of performance.

 

 

All classes I have played so far:

 

Cipher

- why can I stack full focus on cipher ascendent in 1 shot which allows me to spam +3 power level strong abilities from the beginning of fight? I dont even have to go thro reload animation. Amplified wave crits for 100dmg in huge aoe as well as CCing enmies and can be spammed so fast that enemies cannot get back to feet

 

- why I have spammable -5 armor debuff so early in this game, while other abilities on different classes that reduce only 3 armor points are 8 or 9th level of power? Dragons are joke. Totally unbalanced ability copied and pasted from POE1 without taking into account armor system overhaul. In POE1 it increased your dmg vs enemies by flat 5 and here it can potentially increase your dmg to enemies 4 times!!!

 

- why can I have +300% action speed while reducing all enemies action speed by half all in 1 ability that can be cast at the start of combat? 300% action speed puts my spells on 0.3 sec cast time and 0.7sec recovery time. Is this a joke?

 

Chanter

- why can I summon highest level summons I have access to at the start of each combat? Why can I summon 2 powerfull dragons so early in this game that can aoe 1shot most enemies and if they survive put super strong dot on them? Remove empower from summon skills pls

 

- why can I have +100% permanent healing aura that when combined with fighter 50% healing from dmg received makes me immortal? I can cast it 7 times and for total 160+ sec of immortality

 

- why can I cast super strong buff at the beginning of fight that gives me +1 resource every 3 sec? Combined with above, it can make me immortal FOREVER

 

Paladin

- why can I have so much armor on 1 character when we have this kind of system where armor can reduce ALL dmg by 75% instead of flat reduction like POE? Large shield modal allows me to receive only 12.5% dmg and synergises well with stoic steel passive effectively making none but the strongest enemies penetrate my armor beyond that 12.5%. I dont think my paladin ever got reduced to less than 80% health

 

- why can I get extra 21 deflection from 1 passive so early? srsly?

 

- why lay of hand can be casted 12 times per encounter for 120 sec of immortality (yes, it makes you immortal now) or 18 times with empower.

 

- what if I refill my zeal with genius inspiration? Can I die somehow?

 

Monk

- why can I get immune to melee dmg so early in this game? Dance of death + blade tunning + high int = immunity to melee dmg as soon as power lvl 3 and it also reflects FULL DMG back with 100% accuracy

 

- shatter pillar - can you delete this subclass pls?

 

- why level 9 abilities are joke? 1500 dmg with 100% accuracy or AOE + untargetability that can be spammed forever untill your enemies die?

 

- why can he have + 80% dmg from turning wheel and lightning strikes that can be active all the time? Its broken especially when multiclassing dps class. No ability should have such a huge impact.

Edited May 14, 2018 by nemesis205bw

[Dongom]

POTD is undertuned and scaling doesn't work.

 

Also it's launch build and it's Obsidian, that should tell you all you need to know. Wait for patches.

 

P.S. Wizard is OP too lol. 

Edited May 14, 2018 by Dongom

[mazeltov]

It's the Bugsidian way: release a flawed gem and then polish it for a few years while working on the next title. Anyone who's seen this show before realizes that the final picture of 'balance' the devs hit upon won't be reached for a year if not longer, and certainly long after all the extra content has been released and bugfixed.

[nemesis205bw]

Well, they already had some base from POE1 as 90% of abilities are copy pasted. They didnt make everything from scratch.

[master guardian]

It's the Bugsidian way: release a flawed gem and then polish it for a few years while working on the next title. Anyone who's seen this show before realizes that the final picture of 'balance' the devs hit upon won't be reached for a year if not longer, and certainly long after all the extra content has been released and bugfixed.

1 year away from getting fixed?

 

I serisously hope not, they should be fixing the difficulty on POTD soon

 

Sawyer said it will be done in the second patch

[cokane]

Well, they already had some base from POE1 as 90% of abilities are copy pasted. They didnt make everything from scratch.

In a way though, they did have to redesign everything from scratch. Altering some of the core combat mechanics created a ripple effect of requisite changes, which means a lot of labor had to go into pretty much building a new combat system mostly from the ground up. It's unfortunate actually, because I think the new combat system offers significantly less depth than PoE1.

 

It's doubly a shame because I think the gameplay outside of combat is greatly improved in the sequel but could have been even better if they had mostly stuck with PoE1's combat, injuries and resting rules. I have some more thoughts about this and will probably make a new topic on it, but suffice to say, almost all the combat encounters ask the player to play one way and only one way, and to do so over and over again.

[master guardian]

 

Well, they already had some base from POE1 as 90% of abilities are copy pasted. They didnt make everything from scratch.

In a way though, they did have to redesign everything from scratch. Altering some of the core combat mechanics created a ripple effect of requisite changes, which means a lot of labor had to go into pretty much building a new combat system mostly from the ground up. It's unfortunate actually, because I think the new combat system offers significantly less depth than PoE1.

 

It's doubly a shame because I think the gameplay outside of combat is greatly improved in the sequel but could have been even better if they had mostly stuck with PoE1's combat, injuries and resting rules. I have some more thoughts about this and will probably make a new topic on it, but suffice to say, almost all the combat encounters ask the player to play one way and only one way, and to do so over and over again.

 

I think you will enjoy it more after they fix the difficulty issues,

 

It is currently impossible to die with a party of five on POTD

[cokane]

 

 

Well, they already had some base from POE1 as 90% of abilities are copy pasted. They didnt make everything from scratch.

In a way though, they did have to redesign everything from scratch. Altering some of the core combat mechanics created a ripple effect of requisite changes, which means a lot of labor had to go into pretty much building a new combat system mostly from the ground up. It's unfortunate actually, because I think the new combat system offers significantly less depth than PoE1.

 

It's doubly a shame because I think the gameplay outside of combat is greatly improved in the sequel but could have been even better if they had mostly stuck with PoE1's combat, injuries and resting rules. I have some more thoughts about this and will probably make a new topic on it, but suffice to say, almost all the combat encounters ask the player to play one way and only one way, and to do so over and over again.

 

I think you will enjoy it more after they fix the difficulty issues,

 

It is currently impossible to die with a party of five on POTD

 

I'm skeptical this is the case. Because there are only an extremely scarce number of things the player has to manage between combats, most of the challenge of combat/dungeons/wilderness has to be centered on encounters that threaten to wipe the party. Gone is any attrition during dungeon crawls. There's no agony over whether to burn a camping supply or to push for one more fight. There's no agony about using a high level spell in a fight.

 

I do not doubt that the game will get better, but I think it's impossible to match the strategic depth of the original with the major design changes.

Edited May 14, 2018 by cokane

[master guardian]

One thing I’m really concerned about is al the negative reviews and comments they are getting is seriously damaging the sales of the game.

 

It’s only barely in the top 10 in steam.

 

People would be reading comments on the forums stating the game is broken because of the difficulty issues ( its impossible to die) and not buying the game until it’s fixed

[cokane]

One thing I’m really concerned about is al the negative reviews and comments they are getting is seriously damaging the sales of the game.

 

It’s only barely in the top 10 in steam.

 

People would be reading comments on the forums stating the game is broken because of the difficulty issues ( its impossible to die) and not buying the game until it’s fixed

To be honest, that's perfectly fair. Obsidian managed to excise one of the core strategic elements of CRPG's dating as far back as Pool of Radiance by my memory. A strategic element that made these kinds of games compelling both in a game-y way but also in an immersive way. Fans of the genre are right to be turned off by it. Like I said above, it's deeply unfortunate as much of the rest of game is deserving of the highest praise.

 

I don't understand why they felt the need to redesign out the camping and attrition elements of the original, as they were one of the best tweaks on the old IE dungeon crawling experience. It's a failure as is, imo.

[seed_ls]

It is possibly to change scaling via console? i play on path of damned and scaling up only, but only for a main campaing. Someone know how i can turn on scaling up for all? thx

[master guardian]

Still no comment from obs about them fixing the POTD difficulty and the broken level scaling

[GuyNice]

Still no comment from obs about them fixing the POTD difficulty and the broken level scaling

They addressed POTD difficulty before the game even released. Your constant whining about it is ridiculous. They are fixing bugs first, they will get to it. If it bothers you that much take a break from the game and come back in a few weeks. Spamming the forums about it accomplishes nothing except making you look childish and self-entitled.

[master guardian]

Don’t bother it is currently broken

[master guardian]

You show me one official response from anyone at obsidian on this forum stating they are fixing both POTD being broken and level scaling not working

 

You can’t

 

Cause there is none

Edited May 15, 2018 by master guardian

[InsaneCommander]

Still no comment from obs about them fixing the POTD difficulty and the broken level scaling

 

This was posted in another thread. But I don't remember which one...

 

https://twitter.com/jesawyer/status/992566809856434177

 

https://twitter.com/jesawyer/status/992566809856434177

[Lobotechx]

I just finish The game POTD Expert All Scaling 1 save.

 

No scaling, after lvl 12 i put everything on aggresive mode til the end i did'nt even play.

 

I'm disapointed i though the hardes difficulty was suppose to be hard, Not even a challenge. The only thing which i fear is a mistake on a fight boat insult the god or run to fast in a sigil/trap to be desintagrate. 

 

Hope they will rerite the difficulty cuz this is not fun its a kid game.

[master guardian]

I hope they fix It soon cause I’m not going to be able to play deadfire next week because of work.

 

This path of the dammed screw up combined with level scaling being broken is a complete frickin disaster.

 

I got 20-30 hours into the game and realised I was winning every battle way to easily and had to stop my playthrough.

 

IMO completely broken and unplayable at the moment

[TheMetaphysician]

You show me one official response from anyone at obsidian on this forum stating they are fixing both POTD being broken and level scaling not working

 

You can’t

 

Cause there is none

Sawyer literally addressed this BEFORE the official release, after the initial streams of gameplay registered the concern:

 

https://jesawyer.tumblr.com/post/173590363081/cohcarnage-didnt-reload-on-potddid-you-tuned-down

[master guardian]

I think he underestimated how players would interpret how easy the game is on POTD.

 

It doesn’t need a minor beefing up it needs a drastic overhaul.

 

It is the hardest difficulty and everyone is beating it blindfolded.

[InsaneCommander]

IMO completely broken and unplayable at the moment

 

You can play it now, as long as you don't mind an easy game and being in a parallel universe where your companions did completely different things.