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Wondering ???

zaksame

Visitor
Stratics Veteran
I have noticed a continuous onslaught by the lead dev to nerf or strengthen mobs,it already seemed perfectly fine a long time ago and never needed any changes.What i fear but i could stand to be corrected is we are not looking at the combat from the EVEN up stand point but judging based on players having the very best gear and already far above skills than what they are fighting.
Example i heard of these Fire nerfs,well i played Fire,it never felt o/p and that was fighting with 40-50 skill versus level 20-30 stuff,it SHOULD be o/p fighting lower minions.

Also i mentioned this long ago,grouping is a GREAT idea but ONLY if there are actual grouping mechanics and a steady flow of players to group with,neither of which is the case ..yet. I really don't like the auto 25% xp for being in a group,that is not grouping mechanics but follows more in line with old Asian rpg's.Why would you get more xp just for being in a group,it is not a plausible idea,it should be EARNED.
Point being ANY player with ANY skill/class SHOULD be able to walk in with a 50 skill and easily beat any boss at level 30,this is not the case.This is not even about SKILL because most players know how to utilize to their best ability each class by now.

One final point that i think i also mentioned before.EVERYTHING is based on mana but seems to also run out far too fast making for upgraded skills to feel no better than level skills just more dmg and more cost,so never really feels like your player is advancing just trading more mana for more dmg.

I have also noticed that quite often especially on Bosses you do absolutely no damage and he regens it fast anyhow if you did manage to nick him.Not a very realistic idea,you should always be doing damage and how is plausible he is regen with no active regen spell nor does he take any potions just nothing.I mention this because for a long time the lead seemed to always lean towards plausible realism,we have some fixing to do in that regard.

PS i really really loved this game back when i started playing but it seems to be going in the wrong direction for me,i have not wanted to play for the past month now ,sad because i was having lots of fun.
PS. i still give this game props and try to encourage others to play it,it is just not fro me anymore but that might change in the future.
 

Citan

Project: Gorgon Developer
VIP
Stratics Veteran
I'm sorry you aren't having fun. Have you sent more specific feedback than this in-game? I can't really make any changes based on anything you've written here, it's not specific enough.

I can address some of your complaints though. I try to do rebalancing in batches -- I leave things alone for 4-6 months, then I revise based on the data that's been collected. It's been six months since the last batch of changes, so now I'm slowly rolling out new changes. This is hardly the norm, as you could see if you look through the historical patch notes for the past few years. And most of the changes I've made have been pretty mild. Much of the time I doubt you'd even notice the change if I left it out of the update notes. For instance, the last update tweaked twelve monsters to have about 20% more armor. This will make them take about 1 more hit to kill. It's just bizarre to call these small changes a "continuous onslaught" of nerfs, if not leastwise because the changes have had more buffs than nerfs in general.

I can't tell if you just read the patch notes and go "**** this guy" and quit, or if there's specific experiences that you're reacting to. But the bottom line is I need specifics in order to make changes. I have plenty of general feedback already.

For instance, I've had lots of general feedback telling me that there's not enough fun group activities, that the bosses and group dungeons are trivially soloable. When players who like to group show up, they apparently get bored and leave. So I've been working to fix that. Bosses were always supposed to be a group encounter (at least a duo encounter), so I'm trying to get them there. One of the least frustrating ways I can do that is to give them high regen. Another way I can do that is to give them much higher damage so that people have to micromanage their health meters and control aggro better. I think that's more annoying, but would you prefer that? Or something else, given the goal of having group-combat bosses?

As for mana changes, I've been working to make food useful again because the last batch of changes (six months back) accidentally inverse-nerfed it by making built-in regen too high. Much like in classic MMOs, you're expected to be consuming food and drink every hour you're fighting. Are you consuming food and drink and still having trouble with mana? If so, what food and drink are you consuming? What skills are you using? I need specifics.

I guess the main point here is that this is an early alpha. Not a pretend alpha from EA, but a real one. And I'm just one guy, and so you're often testing stuff literally one day after I implement it. (I can't even play-test group content until I put it live -- I'm only one person! So naturally the content isn't going to be balanced until after several revisions.) You mentioned that you thought balance was "fine" before, but it's NOT fine based on a bunch of other factors, and really, saying it's fine is giving me way way too much credit. It'd be a MIRACLE if I had balance right at this early point of the game. I haven't even implemented a full fledged aggro system yet, and I'm probably going to rewrite the rage control system, and on and on. I've got a year of development to go, and lots of changes to the combat system to come.

I understand if you don't want to deal with the ******** and constant changes of an alpha. Because yeah, a lot of it is ********. I try my best to avoid screwing players over -- I leave balance alone for months at a time. But at some point I have to change stuff. If this is too frustrating, I seriously do understand. But it can't be helped; the game isn't ready for mainstream player consumption. It will go through many more changes in the coming year.

If that's not for you, I hope you'll come back in a year when I can offer a more stable, less constantly-changing product!
 

Nauscica

Visitor
Stratics Veteran
I don't know about anyone else, but I believe you are on the right track. I've felt more challenged while playing this game than I do in most action or themepark mmo's, that's saying something for a one-man army such as yourself. Keep up the good work. :)
Can't wait to see what other changes roll out.
 
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