[X] My Assistant

I'd suggest trying to up things like agility and Wisdom, both helpful in dodging/defense. From what I see of my battles, even with mobs, I tend to dodge quite a few...

As for attack tactics, if you're having trouble, start the battle with a health draught(I'd suggest higher than average draught), then do AOE attacks (though I don't much do them anymore - due to the fact they're expensive to cast- if you're having trouble, I suggest it...). Also, always start the mob with the lowest level, since chances are that's the one you're likely to kill in 1 hit, and that means less attacks you have to dodge. I usually leave the strongest for last, since it's best to face them alone. If a monster has only a small amount of health left, slap it to death with normal attack: it takes less time to cast(less dodging for you to do), uses no MP, and increases overcharge for tough spots.

Also, I recommend to try the hourly at higher than normal... Hard or Heroic. Sure, you'll lose sometimes, but not as often as you'd think, and you're gonna get a crapload more exp.

I usually go for the rabid hamsters/fire foxes. At least for me, these enemies do the most damage of all the enemy types aren't mini bosses or bosses, by far. I usually take out scary ghosts last because they have a ton of HP and take too long to kill, and they don't do a lot of damage. Of course I'm only level 22, but I don't see why it would change at higher levels.

And that difficulty level idea is interesting, since I noticed I tend to finish my hourly battles at like 3/4ths HP. I can't believe I haven't thought of it earlier (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/mad.gif)

I usually go for the rabid hamsters/fire foxes. At least for me, these enemies do the most damage of all the enemy types aren't mini bosses or bosses, by far. I usually take out scary ghosts last because they have a ton of HP and take too long to kill, and they don't do a lot of damage. Of course I'm only level 22, but I don't see why it would change at higher levels.

I do basically the same thing. I aim for the hardest-hitting mobs first, figuring I can take a couple of hits from the squishier ones, who seem to miss more often to boot.

Okay, so after getting my ass kicked four consecutive times in my hourly battles (I'm still on normal), there needs to be some kind of balance there.

For example, it's pretty frickin ridiculous for me to run into 3 or 4 enemies level 20 or above (note: I'm level 22) and one of them being a mini boss and the rest being stuff like hamster/fire fox/peacock/whale/etc, the tough mobs, not jokes like slimes. It's like I can't even do anything, because after the first turn half my HP is gone.

And occasionally, hourly battles will be like, one level 18 blue slime by itself or something stupid. It's so dumb. The exp I end up getting is like, worse than one grindfest battle.

Arenas are guilty of this too, since my last arena victories were basically "pray I don't run into more than one godly mob". I'm not even bothering with the arena anymore. It's pointless. I just lose credits.

Grindfests are okay since you can just run away at any time with no drawback (running away from an hourly battles means you can't get all that exp, and arenas means you lose your credits).

There needs to be some kind of system where the enemies that spawn in an hourly battle or the arena have a balanced difficulty. For example, none of this "lol 3-4 godly mobs that could've taken you down by themselves but they're sadistic and want to gang up on you" or "lol 1 joke mob that only does 5 damage to you".

If a mini boss spawns, perhaps it'll be accompanied by joke mobs and not tough mobs, in order to not overwhelm the player. Similarly, there won't just be 1 joke mob by itself, because I kinda want decent exp from my hourly battles, which I'm not going to get if I end up facing 1 weak enemy.

If possible, perhaps a system here might work? Add up the total levels of the mobs, and it should only be a certain times greater than your level, say roughly 3 times. A mini boss would counter higher, say x1.5 (so a level 20 boss would effectively count as a level 30 mob). Tougher mini bosses could be higher, say x2. Stronger mobs could count as slightly higher (like, rabid hamster could be x1.2). I guess legendaries don't matter since they assrape you by themselves anyway.


So if you were level 20, and the "level cap" was x3 player level, the following combinations could appear in hourly battles...

3 regular mobs each at level 20
2 regular mobs at level 20, and one slightly tougher mob (say a peacock) at level 18 or something.
2 regular mobs at say level 17, and one mini boss at say level 17

Arenas are a little different of course because you can take them on at any time, so the level cap can be higher depending on the difficulty. A harder arena battle could be, say, x4 the player level. Grindfests don't need this since like I said, there's no drawback to just running away and starting up another grindfest.


Enemies that spawn have levels that fall within a certain range based on the player's level, which means you're keeping track of their level, or at least the player's, so this could be possible, and it might result in people like me not getting completely overwhelmed, or facing one joke mob.

My guess right now is that the enemies that spawn are completely random. They just have to fall within a certain level range, and there can't be more than a certain number of enemies around (it looks like 5 is the max).

Just as a wild guess, using my 1337 h4xor computer programming skills (aka one semester of java. I got an A though!), perhaps you can have a "level pool" where when you spawn a random monster, its level will subtract from the pool. So for this level 20 player, the "pool" will be 60. The first monster that is randomly spawned may be, say, a level 20 scary ghost, which is a regular mob. So the pool will be 40. Then say a level 18 mini boss spawns. So 27 would be subtracted from the pool, leaving 13. At this point, the program can detect that it can't spawn a monster that will only draw 13 levels from the pool, so it'll stop spawning monsters and start the battle.

Or say that we have the pool at 60, then the program spawns a level 20 ghost (40 left in the pool), then say a level 18 rabid hamster spawns (assume its level multiplier is 1.2, so 18 left in the pool). Now if the program tries to spawn a level 20 mob, it'll reject it and try to spawn another monster, until it spawns say a level 17 mob. Then the pool will be at 1, and the game will realize it can't spawn a level 1 mob, so it'll stop spawning monsters and start the battle.


Of course all these values are arbitrary. You could use a x4 player's level cap, or have mini bosses count as x1.75 instead of 1.5, and so on. but there really needs to be a system so we stop getting these "manthra/hamster/peacock/whale wtf is this shit" battles.

This post has been edited by roflcopt0rz: May 5 2009, 09:52

Maybe a silly request...

Couldn't you change the dead monster graphic to be more different from an alive one? I usually stop attacking a monster being sure it is dead (seeing the health bar totally black) and don't see the "dead" writing.

I was actually thinking it would be nice just to darken the entire box instead of just that bar.

I had the same idea too.

For example, it's pretty frickin ridiculous for me to run into 3 or 4 enemies level 20 or above (note: I'm level 22) and one of them being a mini boss and the rest being stuff like hamster/fire fox/peacock/whale/etc, the tough mobs, not jokes like slimes. It's like I can't even do anything, because after the first turn half my HP is gone.

You should never encounter more than 3 mobs total at the lvl 20-40 difficulty range, and no more than 1 of them is a boss monster. I looked at the logs of your recent battles, and you never did encounter more than 3.

Arenas are guilty of this too, since my last arena victories were basically "pray I don't run into more than one godly mob". I'm not even bothering with the arena anymore. It's pointless. I just lose credits.

No, they're not. Arenas have a pre-defined number of mobs of each type for every single battle. You will never face more than one boss-class monster in any fight until you start getting pretty far down the tree.

My guess right now is that the enemies that spawn are completely random. They just have to fall within a certain level range, and there can't be more than a certain number of enemies around (it looks like 5 is the max).

Incorrect. Random encounters do have a random element to what types and numbers of mobs will spawn, but it can't for instance spawn more than 3 normal mobs or 2 normal mobs and a boss at lvl 20. These mobs will all be between your level and five levels below you. I'll consider tweaking the system to be a bit less random with regards to the difficulty of monsters, and the level pooling isn't a terrible idea on how to do so.

Of course all these values are arbitrary. You could use a x4 player's level cap, or have mini bosses count as x1.75 instead of 1.5, and so on. but there really needs to be a system so we stop getting these "manthra/hamster/peacock/whale wtf is this shit" battles.

The peacock and whale are mostly there to allow me to test some stuff. This is a beta after all.

Well I'm glad my suggestion could be useful.



I don't know if this has been suggested yet, but how about some sort of ability to combine weaker potions/draughts you have to make better ones? I know when I played Diablo 2 you could combine 3 of some lower level potion/gem to make one of a higher level (even though it was largely unnecessary since you could just buy the high level pots, and gems were pretty worthless). Crude pots and stuff are pretty useless in battle because of how little they do. I suppose when you implement the item shop there can be an option to do this for free, or for a cost lower than what you'd pay from buying the higher level potion? Or perhaps you can start up a synthesis shop where you can do this with old weapons?

I also second the mercenaries idea. It's really lonely and hard to fight by yourself (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

Well I'm glad my suggestion could be useful.
I don't know if this has been suggested yet, but how about some sort of ability to combine weaker potions/draughts you have to make better ones? I know when I played Diablo 2 you could combine 3 of some lower level potion/gem to make one of a higher level (even though it was largely unnecessary since you could just buy the high level pots, and gems were pretty worthless). Crude pots and stuff are pretty useless in battle because of how little they do. I suppose when you implement the item shop there can be an option to do this for free, or for a cost lower than what you'd pay from buying the higher level potion? Or perhaps you can start up a synthesis shop where you can do this with old weapons?

I also second the mercenaries idea. It's really lonely and hard to fight by yourself (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

Well if you could transmute higher level potions at a lower cost than buying them, and you actually could buy them, there wouldn't be any point in it would there.

As potions and draughts above greater will most likely not be available in shops, there will probably be a way of obtaining them outside of drops. I'm planning on including a form of item combination system, but we're talking a pretty distant update (0.5 or 0.6 at earliest).

As potions and draughts above greater will most likely not be available in shops, there will probably be a way of obtaining them outside of drops. I'm planning on including a form of item combination system, but we're talking a pretty distant update (0.5 or 0.6 at earliest).

Just so long as it isnt as annoying as Star Ocean 3s item creation system that will be something to look forward too (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/happy.gif)

Well if you could transmute higher level potions at a lower cost than buying them, and you actually could buy them, there wouldn't be any point in it would there.

As potions and draughts above greater will most likely not be available in shops, there will probably be a way of obtaining them outside of drops. I'm planning on including a form of item combination system, but we're talking a pretty distant update (0.5 or 0.6 at earliest).

Well, transmuting lower rank potions into higher ones was pointless in D2 because the potions were so cheap. especially since gold's not used as currency when trading with other players, and the equipment the NPCs offered were crap, so it's not like you spent your gold on anything else.

But credits are used here for training and stuff, so they're actually relevant, not like gold in D2. So I wouldn't mind saving a bunch of credits by converting my junk pots into better ones.

Also, item storage in D2 wasn't nearly as limitless as it is here, so you couldn't just hang onto the junk pots and transmute them later, since it'll just clog your inventory until then.

Here's another little idea...

You could implement a special merchant offer event system which randomly happens taking the place of hourly battles (not often, I'd say about 1/10 times). This merchant should knock at your door offering you a special offer for some random generated items or equip piece (when it will be implemented), at a lower price than its usual.

How's this for a possible magic/skill, if it's not in one of the higher skill trees already.

Make a non-elemental magic that will always hit. It doesn't have to be really strong, but 100% chance to do damage is always nice. And for the physical guys that don't specialize in magic, maybe you can make a physical version under skills, or whatever.

Traps(1), counters(2), Life Tap(3), Mana Tap(4), Soul Destroyer(5), Convert(6), Parry(7) Teh Zerk !(8)

1. Item. Triggered when entering battle. Does something awesome, like skewer a whale in bamboo.

2. Passive, derived. Based on AGI, DEX, END. Grants %chance to counterattack on a hit / crit (physical only)

3. Drain life, adds to your own. Forbidden prop, runs off Forbidden and deprecating. Prereq: Life Tanks(X) Poison. X rating in forbidden / decrepating

4. Same as Drain life except it drains mana. Prereq: Mana tanks(X), Poison, X rating in forbidden / decrepating

5. Single target running off deprecating only. Blasts the enemy's spirit, causing feedback and damaging it for 1.5x $spirit burned.

6. Convert. Brainwashes a monster, making it attack other monsters for X turns. Very small chance to work on bosses. Never on legendaries.

7. Parry. Goes under talents (the one where flee is). Assumes a counter stance, granting increased dodge / block rating. (more or less like defend) chance is increased with 2 hand weapons.

8. Teh Zerk !. Triggers on 100% overdrive. Self buff that slowly drains spirit / overdrive (X% total each turn) In return, double damage and small haste increase at the cost of lowered defense / barrier rating. Lasts until round is cleared.

@roflcopt0rz, Take Aim ? Takes longer to use but never misses. somth like that?

This post has been edited by Cyriel: May 8 2009, 10:02

Also, I recommend to try the hourly at higher than normal... Hard or Heroic. Sure, you'll lose sometimes, but not as often as you'd think, and you're gonna get a crapload more exp.

Now there's a remarkably good suggestion. Not that the other points weren't, but this is one that hadn't occurred to me.

Just so long as it isnt as annoying as Star Ocean 3s item creation system that will be something to look forward too (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/happy.gif)

Amen to that! I still have memories of synthesizing a land mine with about a 1% chance of success. Plus it was ridiculous trying to make anything without referring to a guide.

looks like skills from final fantasy. parry aim?

yeah it would be also good if we had diffent classes like also having physical based skills which dont use up a lot of mana. like cross slash, charge, cut in two, and stuff

and some passive skills like having 10% chance to deal double, triple, quadruple damage in attack. 10/20/30% chance to reduce damage/reflect/dodge damage recieved or something like that. and also passive offensive skills like 100% chance to gain 10% of your damage as life (lifesteal)

and some gamble skills too. like deal damage equal to credits spent (you lose credits for using this move)

It might just be because I have them, but I think the special auras should add to your elemental rating.
White aura should add to Holy.
Black Aura should add to Dark.
Rainbow aura should give you a boost to fire/cold/elec/wind. Possibly Holy and Dark as well if you love us.
I'm not certain what the metallic auras should do. Physical maybe? Everything? Make you a God?

As much as i've suggested, this one really must make the cut
Pwitty pweeease (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Ready?
AOE equivalents of deprecating magic

Because they're so goddamn sexy \o/
I even made some names !
aoe sleep = Emerald dream (props radixius for inspiration ^^)
aoe poison = Mexican swine flu !
aoe weaken = Newton Theory / hard gravity !
aoe slow = Money Shot ! (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Well ? well ?

I gotta admit, the idea of AOE debuffs is an interesting one. I can imagine the cost would be nightmarish, though. (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

The effects would also have to be reduced a lot. Normal effect on target monster, smaller efffect on the others? And a cost that only makes it viable for magic-oriented characters.

Something that would be interesting: Monster attacks proccing effects on you. Disabled on Easy, perhaps?