My personal wishlists of QoL in this beta

[HeatAndRun]

After playing beta for a while on a weekend, here I brought some lists of random things I want see.
 

1. The Jackalope still has no special passive ability.

Spoiler

It still says "[WIP : Upgradable ability] since the bonechill quarry beta.

I'm not sure what kind of passive ability would fit into the Jackalope.. My personal opinion is.. Damage bonus to Heavy attack at a very close range, perhaps?

 

2. Sharpoon is medium-weighted, unlike all the other Floracrane weapon variations.

Spoiler

As you can see, only the Sharpoon (Floracrane spear) is medium-weighted despite all the other Floracrane weapons are light-weighted. It has slightly more damage than others because of the weight difference. This is the only case of different weight in the same themed weapon sets. I suppose it's unintentional mistake?

+ Plus, I found out the "Old Leather Striker"'s weight is different than all the other basic weapons. Maybe the weights are swapped?

 

3. Unbalanced base weapon damage depending on the weapon types

Spoiler

Some weapon types have stronger base weapon damage than others. In other words, the base weapon damage is different, even if they have the same rarity, same weight and same fortification level. Strikers have stronger base weapon damage than all the other kinds of weapons. These are the comparison for the base weapon damage of each weapon types :

Strikers > Hammer = Cannon > Spear

For example, the damage of Snortoise armor is bigger when you wear Yammo strikers than when you wear Yammo spear. The fortification level is same.

As you see, the Snortoise armor is 33% less effective, simply because of the difference of weapon types. Not only the Snortoise armor, this damage affects all kinds of the equipments and powers that deals damage based on the weapon's base damage. It means all those powers and equipments are pretty inefficient with spears than used with strikers. I think the base weapon damage should be same, between each weapons with same fortification, weight, and rarity, for the game balance of long-term development progress, since there'll be more weapons to come in the future.

 

4. The damage bonus of Colossapphire Greaves does not persist between rooms.

Spoiler

This was mentioned in recent beta patch note. But it still does not persist between rooms.

Footage :

As you can see, the damage bonus of Colossapphire Greaves resets after entering the next room.

Also, it would be greatly appreciated if there's a visual indicator when the damage bonus is fully charged! (3 seconds)

Like, the weapon shows sparkling effect such as this after 3 seconds of standing still.

 

So far, it's been a lists of things that should be "fixed" soon in my perspective.

Below is the lists of things about balance changes I wanna see. I don't think they're "broken", but I still would like to see some tweaks about them.

 

5. Cannon Mortar's targeting speed should be faster.

Spoiler

Personally, I think current targeting speed of cannon mortar is a little slower than I think it should be. The mortar shot is ok in close range, but targeting the enemy far from the player is way too slow. It is even slower than player's walking speed.

Below is the example of mortar shots using Hail of Gory, in a long distance.

As you can see here, it almost took 20 seconds to hit all 6 mortar shots in a long distance. I personally think the targeting speed of mortar shots could be doubled, or even tripled. In recent patch the responsivity of overall attack actions became more faster, so I think the mortar shots can be improved in the same way.

 

6. Hammer's Focused Spinner attack should be dodge-cancled faster than now.

Spoiler

Several Hammer's attack combos includes focused attack in the end of their cycle. Like this :

As you can see in the video, all of the focused attacks can be dodge-canceled almost immediately at the end of the combos.

Except.. the spinner combo.

 In my personal taste, the time between the end of the spinner combo and the dodge feels a bit long. That 1 second delay can make you vulnerable enough, if you're fighting with hordes of enemies in multiplayer, or fighting with giant rots which are immune to knock-back of focused spinner attacks. I hope the dodge canceling for the focused spinner attack become more immediate! 

 

7. Change the precondition of Colossapphire's Ice Puke skill.

Spoiler

For now, the Colossapphire's Ice Puke skill requires the player to achieve 20 hitstreaks to recharge 1 more shot. Since the beginning, I thought the precondition of this skill is too hard to fullfill in many situations. What's worse is, the skill itself is not that powerful to compensate the hard requirements of the skill. The casting time is kind of slow, and the freeze effect doesn't last long due to the extra hit of Colossapphire weapons, and most of all, it does not work well against mini-bosses and boss rots. The precondition can be changed into something else. For example, 20 cumulative hits instead of straight hitstreaks, 5 seconds cooldown, or like this↓

The skill has some interesting concept, but the real application is not so strong, due to the 20 hitstreaks restriction. Just changing the precondition would help a lot.

 

8. Apply hitstun to Groady Groak Gulp skill, and increase the AoE radius.

Spoiler

Besides the Colossapphire's Ice Puke skill, I think the Groady Groak Gulp skill is the weakest skill among the skills of all miniboss themed weapons.

Firstly, the effect range is too small. Especially the Y axis (↑↓).  Here's the example of how small the effect radius is.

 Increase the overall Area of Effect range and the strength of inhalation will make this skill a proper "vaccum-cleaner like" ability.

Secondly, for now, it only changes the location of enemies. No other crowd control ability included. 

So, the player often gets hits from enemies unintentionally in the situations like this :

 Applying a short time of stun towards the enemies while being inhaled sounds very promising. It would make the skill much more convenient to use against enemies. After all, the skill itself does not deal any damage to enemies. So giving some utility to this skill would not completely break the game I guess.

With increased range and a short time of stun towards enemies, it would become the most fantastic Crowd Control skill out of all weapon skills, similar to how Yammo weapons became a decent weapon after the buff in the past. I'm so excited by just imaging it.

 

9. Poison pool from player's equipments need some changes.

Spoiler

In recent patch the Gloop Top Glaze got buff to its poison pool size. By reading this I came up with an idea about completely change the poision pool interactions that might be controversial :

Removing friendly-fire and duration of the poison pool from player's equipments.

These are 2 armors that makes poison pools :

And currently there are 2 armors that can creates enviromental hazards under certain conditions :

Each armor creates Ice fart and Spikeballs when doing perfect dodge. But unlike the poison pool, those two armors does not have friendly fire. I think the poison pool should not deal damage to allies too for consistency and cooperation. For now using armors that makes poison pool is almost a trolling unless all four players intend to take advantage of other molded grave armors synergize with poison.

Removing the friendly fire from poison pool will greatly enhance the versatility of those armors in various situations. And if the poison pool does not hurt the allies, the infinite duration won't be a problem to players either. Players can take advantage of the infinite poison pool to accumulate constant damage over time. Snortoises also spits out ever-lasting poison pools, so it's somehow consistent. Even if the duration is infinite, it still won't be overpowered, because scatter the pools all over the room takes quite long time, and the damage of poison pool against enemies are not so strong.

This change will make using those armors more interesting ways to play!

 

10. "Snowball Effect" Power is too weak.

Spoiler

Oh, the good ol' Snowball Effect. If I'm right, this power has been here from the beginning of the EA launch, and never been changed since then. The problem is, this power is too weak. The 1% (3% if upgraded) damage bonus is too small, considering the damage bonus resets every time you get hit. I suggest 2 possible changes to make this power actually viable :

1. Delete the "Remove all stacks whenever you take Damage" from On a Roll. This change can make the power into a really reliable "snowball effect". The rarity can be changed into legendary in this case.

2. Increase the numbers of stacks the player gains on each kill. The higher number can give the reason to do no-hit run to the player, and enhance the overall influence of this power in the entire run even if the player does not care about it too much.

 

11. The healing percentage of "Hunters-Pick-Me-Up" Power is too low.

Spoiler

This power only heals 25% (50% when upgraded) of teffra gained. Even in frenzy 3, The total amount of teffra player would likely to gain is 500~600 on average at most. It means the power does not worth half the potion. Even with the powers give teffra on hitstreaks / critical hit, this power is not greatly powerful. Surely the ratio of healing this power offers should be more higher than now. 50% (100% when upgraded) maybe?

Also, note that this power is entirely useless in boss rot fight since you can collect the teffra only after clearing the room.

 

12. "Body of Light" power should give a resurrection to the player when destroyed.

Spoiler

 

This power is quite preferable in multiplayer. Since the bonus damage it offers is huge, and your teammates can easily revive you in a run. The problem is, picking this power is too risky in a singleplayer run. Picking this power almost means direct game over, unless you have the Mulligan (revive power). In order to pick this power without much risk, you need to find the Mulligun, and find the body of light power next, which happens almost never. So I suggest to give a resurrection ability to this power. For example, the player can revive with 1 HP even after getting hit while having the body of light power. This change can make this power into "pickable" in singleplayer run at least.

 

13. 2 Powers that still does not deal damage based on weapon damage

Spoiler

I wonder those powers will be changed in the future, based on weapon damage?

 

14. Change some powers that can possibly interrupt other players' gameplay, to improve multiplayer experience.

Spoiler

In recent beta patch, the nameless NPC (???) now drops the power on the ground, instead of directly putting them into the player. After this change, the players now can choose whether accept the offer or not. I'm quite surprised because I've been considering them as an intentional part of gameplay to give some risk to players, combinded with some powers that have negative effect to the player. After noticing this was not the case, I came up with some thoughts about tweaking some powers to remove negative interactions in multiplayer. The lists are :

Thinking with Portals : Only usable by the player who originally creates it.

Powers that deploy landmines : Does not hurt other players. Only hurts the player who deployed it first. Like the brightshade bombs in DST.

Herd Growth : Does not change the players weight class when applied.

However I don't have strong feelings about those powers' negative side now than before, because I got accustomed to deal with those powers in multiplayer after playing quite a lot in multiplayer. But it would be greatly welcomed to see some improvements to those powers.

 

15. Bugbuster is still... weak.

Spoiler

In the beta branch the Bugbuster got the hitstun ability in its charged light attacks. I tried using the Bugbuster for a while, and came to a conclusion... That this weapon is still pretty underpowered.

1. The casting time is long - It takes 1 ~ 1.5 seconds to launch the charged light attack. Sounds not that long, but in a gameplay waiting 1 second right in front of enemies often leads into a dangerous situations. The charged light attack is melee attack after all. Also, the casting time differs depending on the timing you take off the finger from mouse, like this.

The former one is an example of fast series of charged light attacks, and the latters are slow ones if you don't take much care about it. I personally think the charged light attack should be launched immediately rather than waiting players to launch it manually.

 

2. The attack range is too short - It's not a particular problem of the attack itself, because every light attack of hammers are the same. The problem is you need to stand still at a very close range from enemies to land a hit. Like this :

 Still, I don't think directly increase the attack range is not the only solution. Buffing the other aspect of the charged light attack can help alleviate the problem in an indirect way, such as decreasing the casting time.

3. The damage bonus is kinda low - The Bugbuster has innate +150% damage bonus for charged light attacks, but the innate base damage of light hammer attack itself is low from the beginning, the charged light attack damage does not feel so attractive compared to heavy focused attacks of hammers, even with the +150% damage bonus. I personally think the damage bonus should be a little higher, up to +250% to +300%?

Difference between Charged Light Attack and Golf Swing :

4. Apply the charged light attack to "Rolling Attack" and "Fading Light Attack".

In a real gameplay, the problem of this weapon is you need to completely stop in order to start charging the light attack. What it means is you need to spend almost more than 1.5 to 2 seconds while standing still to successfully land a single charged light attack on enemies if you're dashing around, because only the "stationary" light attacks can be charged. Like this!

  If the Rolling light attack or Fading light attack is chargable, than it could be more convenient to utilize the charge attack against enemies.

The range is too short, the charging is too situational and tedious, and the damage is not so rewarding. This weapon needs some kind of complete overhaul!

And lastly.. The concept I've imagined for a while, it is...

16. Change the appearance of player's armors while keeping the real armor equipped

Spoiler

You heard that right. What I wanna talk about is the function that changes the player's appearance while not changing the armor the player is really wearing. For example :

Like this. It's very similar to the "Vanity Equipments" system of Terraria or Core keeper. Or the Transmogrification System of World of Warcraft. For now Rotwood has lots of armors, but only few of them are frequently used, and rest of it is just forgotten. In the end the appearance of armors the players are wearing are not thematically unified, and it's heartbreaking to see all those well-designed armors just... ignored completely. This system will greatly enhance the freedom of character customization at all! Especially combind with the upcoming "Armor Dyeing" system in the future. 

Alright, it was quite long post this time once more. In fact I didn't mean to write these things now, but since this update is revealed to be a QoL update focused on reflecting "Community Feedbacks" instead of super frenzy sneak peak, I ended up writing all these random things down here. Thank you for reading my feedbacks again anyway!

 

[HeatAndRun]

The Bugbuster got a huge damage bonus and chargable fading light in this update, much appreciated!

 

[BezKa]

If I could add on to this, a quick restart would be much appreciated. I'm training on the super frenzy and I die embarrassingly often. Not having to go through the whole camp each time would be useful.

[PerJacob]

This is probably a skill issue on my part, but can you consider nerfing the imbued treek max HP or just make them spawn further apart in encounters.