TLDR Feedback and Suggestions for Main issues with the game

[arkraven]

Since the Open beta is coming up, apparently in Korea at least, i feel i need to do this ASAP.

PROBLEM: I think this is the biggest one. Classes Feel unbalanced because killing AoE is more efficient than killing single target mobs, so AoE Classes feel stronger. Also, support feels unncessesary because klling higher level mobs is not as effective as mobing because of the amount of exp they give.

FIX: More variety of monsters, some stronger that take longer to kill, some weaker to magic (with a noticable difference not just 50%) so we get different zones for different classes and styles of leveling (Maps with monster of various weaknesses focus on groups that can do all sorts of damage.

PROBLEM: Second biggest problem. Tier requirement on items. You just go to the AH and buy the best or second best for the tier and drops are just for sale, no emotion or excitement at seeing a drop since chances are is worse or at best, the same you have.

FIX: Remove level tiers requirements. You can have level requirements but not as tiers (15- 40 - 75 etc…) make them vary. Also, take advantage of buffs that are not level-related so some lower level items can be used for a long time, so its worth investing in them (Vubbe Fighter Gauntlets, or the +10 stamina boots)

The next ones are minor things.

PROBLEM: MoneyDumps, (Attributes, Repairs, Upgrades) are annoying. Most Passive Attributes are fine, but all those (+1% are just plain annoying). Repairs to make you go back are also annoying since you have no choice over it.

FIX: Remove the +1% Attributes, having money and time consuming this is just annoying. Same suggestion as before for Upgrades, since now they don’t matter. Use repairs as a mechanic not a grinding time control/money dump, such as stronger items with lower durability so there’s a choice and a tradeoff. Also, better durability for blue-purple-orange items.You can even use weapons that selfheal over time, for example as a “secondary status”. Add some RNG moneydumps, they make the game more exciting, like “Recipe Books” that when opened contain 1 random recipe (controlled for rarer and such), and such items.

PROBLEM: Dungeons-quests-monster levels-penalties make it hard to party with friends, we need to be in the same questline for that and having a limit to dungeons as a minimum makes it so lower level of the party cant go, and later on, for higher levels is not worth it, since items and exp are “for that level”.

FIX: Same as above for items, have allrounder drops, at least materials or recipes, so its worth to go to lower level maps. Or it is worth for lower levels to start quests that are above 10 levels. I should be the one who sais “nope, this is to hard for me right now”, not some random NPC. If i am strong enough to kill monster 20 leveles above, that should be my decision.

PROBLEM: Status feel somewhat simple, you usually go full something. Stats on gear are usually really strong or just feel like “meh”. (changing from +22 physical def to +33, feels like w/e, or getting +10 evasion and such).

FIX: We need more information about how formulas work for skills, gear and such, currently it feels like putting 1 or 2 points in strength has no impact in the damage output. (monsters that didn’t die before, wont die now). Getting +10 Physical defense feels like whatever, since monsters either don’t even touch you or they do A Ton of damage.

That’s it so far. There are a lot of things i would change (such as more maps for leveling, orbs feeling weak as hell, stats too simple and such) but they are not by any means “game design related” as they are personal preference. I also avoided things i assume would be changed when the game releases (immortal pet, name changing, amount of drops)

Thanks for reading.

[diogo_pilhas]

only agree with level dungeon penalty problem and respective fix, sorry.
Ranger is full aoe oriented class for example, and the damage he does in aoe is negligible. Take any swordsman for example and watch him auto attack any number of mobs relatively close to him. Problem here is class mechanics and wrong skill damage formulas that do not scale at all.

[arkraven]

At low levels yes, if you consider that the game go until lvl 600, then you cant consider anything lower than rank 4 for the analysis since Devs have stated that first 3 ranks are going to end up with useless skill at the end. So im refering to rank 4 and above.

[exdarklight]

1. I wonder if it’s really monster balance or class balance that’s at fault. Nonetheless, a good suggestion.

2. I don’t think that fixes the problem, it just breaks apart into small pieces. Instead of stepping on broken seashells, you’re walking on sandpaper. Yeah, it hurts less, but in the long run it’s still going to hurt. In addition to your suggestion, i would have mobs drop gear with required level higher than the mob itself. That fixes the problem because you’ll already have something you could use, but have the option of buying the best weapon if you’re that kind of player.

3. Money dumps (goldsink) are necessary in mmos to control inflation. I know most attributes suck, but they are there for a reason. Repairs are there to control how long you play. Essentially, it reminds you to go take a break or buy attributes. It helps prevent you from getting burnt out. It’s also a goldsink, but it’s a fair one.

4. If they fix the exp curve so that it’s not better to be overkilling weak mobs, then yeah. That’s fine. With linear scaling, everything is going to feel easy within a certain level range. I could probably kill a lv190 mob at lv 130 if I wanted.

5. Linearity has that problem. Linearity works in small numbers. Going from 1 to 2 is double. Going from 5 to 10 is double. In tos, we’re still dealing with thousands of hp, so improving damage by 1 isn’t doing anything. Unless everything in tos is stop being linear, we can’t avoid this problem. 200 str going to 201 str is only going to add 1 attack. Even if skills had multipliers, this is nothing significant. Unless atk and matk becomes a nonlinear function, this won’t change. We can only hope R7+ classes use real formulas on stats to determine power.

[arkraven]

1.- Im not saying is the only thing, but it would be a start, before going into “overbalancing”

2.- If it was up to me, no level requierements, i was thinking something along the lines of Diablo? But still i don’t it to go linearly “higher”, so i dunno really.

3.- I know they are a necessity, but you can make them Fun! items with RNG, like OBB OPB; OCA and such in RO were fun, same with items as Old Branches, things that summon random monsters. In Requiem Online you could reroll the secondary stats on your gear, getting higher and higher as you tried again, and they where random. You could get 1 stat bonus or 3 stats bonus (the total amount of stat was the same) and it was nice. Also, same as in other games, items didn’t get progressibly Expensive and Drop was Wayyyy lower, Ro level lower. As for repairs i get it, but you can make the same with HP/SP or “Weight” So you choose “Do i want exp or items?” not just “I have to go back” because you take the choice away from the player. It becomes a task.

5.- Technically, each rank adds 10% bonus to STR and INT, so it becomes non linear later on. I guess if we had more info on the damage formulas, how block, crit and evade worked, we could see the value of 1 more stat o a gear with 2 more armor. But as it is now, if it gives more damage, or more AoE, then its better.

Thanks for replying!.