Another Pile of Balance Change Suggestions (Splintershard Beta)

[HeatAndRun]

Hello again!

As more and more updates comes in with various new equipments, we can now make more diverse equipment combinations with those than before. Also some delicate comparison between new gears and old ones became possible. After looking into the effect of old equipments, The lists below are some balance change suggestions mainly for old gears with niche uses.

 

1. Gustree Armors

Spoiler

Gustree Helm

It seems like this helm intended to be used with Gustree Breastplate, which allows the player push the spikeballs backwards when perfect dodge. But without the Gustree Breastplate, the helm itself does not provide much. So I suggest to give interruption effect to Gustree Helm, which can gives great defensive value to it, as the changed Groak skill proves. Especially for the weapons without offensive active skills!

Compared with recently updated headgears, the power of Gustree Helm feels quite outdated. In this beta interrupting enemies' attacks became much easier through skills and heavy attacks, so I think the Gustree Helm can join the queue.

 

Gustree Breastplate

This armor itself has no problem to me. However the skill of Owlitzer weapon cannot push the spikeballs from this armor for now. Oh, and it would be interesting if Owlitzer weapons can create spikeballs as its own special ability like "Creates spikeballs in front of player when landing focused hits to enemies". It would possibly expand the unique "spikeball" gimmick further.

 

Gustree Greaves

Much alike Gustree Helm, this armor is overshadowed by other brand new fancy armors. According to the description - to gain wind resistance, you need to "stand still". In other words, you need to "completely stop moving and attacking" : literally doing nothing. In my perspective, wind resistance is not a strong advantage, even in Nocturne Grove. The precondition for wind resistance can be more generous such as while "Not Attacking", instead of "Standing Still"!

 

2. Bulbug Exoskeleton

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Currently the Bulbug Eyes deal additional damage to shielded enemies, and the Bulbug Tarsi convert your shield into AoE damage. The problem is the entire Bulbug armors are almost completely useless in the areas where Bulbugs doesn't appear. So, I suggest the complete rework for the Bulbug Exoskeleton. Instead of current effect, the reworked ability could be like this :

When you gain Shield Segments, Apply Shield Segments to All nearby Allies and Enemies.

It would also thematically fitting to the shield-giving nature of bulbugs. With this effect, the armor can become a great supportive armor like Gourdo Vest. Moreover, the synergy with Bulbug Eyes / Tarsi will become very effective even if there're no enemy Bulbugs in the hunts. There could be even more interesting combinations and strategies in multiplayer!

 

3. Meowl Armors

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Meowl Booties

This armor gives significant amount of Dodge Speed & Runspeed. But the effect only actives when the player specifically "Quick Rise", while other Meowl armors require "Taking Damage", which is already quite hard to achieve to my perspective. So what about changing the precondition of Meowl Booties effect - from "Quick Rise" to "Taking Damage"?

 

Buff duration

Thanks to recent hotfix, the Meowl Cowl got a huge buff to its stat boost and effect duration. However, the buff duration of Meowl Mitts and Booties are still 3 seconds. Could those armors get the duration buff for consistency?

 

4. Torchfly Armors

Spoiler

Torchfly Goggles

I tried out the hat in this beta since there was a huge buff with Groak skills, and frustrated by its downside. Almost every hitstreak related powers in Rotwood benefit the player with higher hitstreaks remaining for longer duration, except Encore. Because this hat consumes all hitstreaks every dodge, wearing it makes picking up those powers kinda meaningless.

Its hitstreak consumption even brings a negative synergy with the hat itself. Regardless of how many hitstreaks you consumed, all the spins will be overwritten immediately with new hitstreaks consumed when you dodge. For example, if you have 40 hitstreaks and dodge twice in a row near enemies, the 40 spins gonna be gone immediately and there will be only 3~5 spins left. 

Therefore, I sincerely suggest to completely remove the hitstreak consumption from this hat. Instead of removing the hitstreaks, the spin can restart every time with the same amount of hitstreaks you have at the exact moment of dodge. So you'll be able to maintain the spin much easier than now, as long as the hitstreaks remains. It also encourages the player to stand near the enemies while not getting hit. Even if the spin lasts indefinitely, the sheer damage this hat does won't be so destructive. The dps was quite  low from the first place, compared to all the other armors with attacking ability. Without the disadvantage, this hat will help stacking massive amount of hitstreaks regardless of weapon types, while becoming an incredibly great choice for melee weapons and Colossapphire skill.  Allowing the players make plans for hitstreak powers found in a hunt! (Instead of making those powers almost unpickable)

 

Torchfly Kneeguards

In the aspect of damage resistance, there are two leg armors which provide solid 40% defense to players - The Yammo Elasti-Shorts while not attacking, and the Bullrog Laced Boots when attacking. Meanwhile, the effect of this armor lasts for very short amount of time right after a dodge, with the mediocre amount of damage resistance. In this state the Torchfly Kneeguards is obviously an inferior version of Yammo and Bullrog pants. The number of damage resistance could be more than 40% at least , to become an attractive alternative.

 

5. Scrambler Shellcap

Spoiler

This hat decreases the damage of 15 hits by half until it breaks. It might prevent the player from death in difficult hunts until getting survivability-related powers. But the real problem is that the player receives double damage after the hat broke - which  is far more serious downside than it seems on paper. It also does not combine well with this hat's defensive aspect, and even the players who want more protection won't prefer this armor that much while leaving other numerous useful headgears. This armor would be more  preferable after the "Taking Double Damage" penalty is removed from it.

 

6. QoL Feature for Antleer Armors and Bullrog Gauntlets

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Antleer armors provide permanent stat boosts throughout the hunt for each destroyed environmental object, and Bullrog Gauntlets provide massive damage bonus if you didn't dodge in combat rooms. The minor inconvenience is there's no way to view the exact amount of stat boost these armors give. It would be nice if there was a visual indicator. It could be similar to the case of "Scrambler Shellcap" in-game like this :

for each "Enviromental Object Destroyed" and "Damage Bonus".

 

7. QoL feature for Mothball Armors and Torchfly Epaulets

Spoiler

Speaking of visual indicator, the Mothball armor set and Torchfly Epaulets could be the next candidates for such improvements. Mothball armors provide advantage with the allies nearby, and the Torchfly Epaulets increases critical chances near enemies. Both armors give stat boosts when the allies/enemies are near. The problem is it's not so intuitive to know the exact distance of "Something Nearby". It would be more convenient if there was a round around the player which indicates the buff radius to the wearers - Pretty much like the power "Imposing Presence" does show like in this picture.

 

8. Boomball

Spoiler

The Boomball was quite desirable option for strikers at the very early stage of the game, but this weapon didn't changed much since then, and nowadays there're plenty of more alternatives with stronger abilities and skillsets. The Boomball can explode in more frequent situations than now. For example :

Explode after falling in an arched trajectory, both on the enemies' head or the ground.

This change can encourage the player to hit the enemies in indirect way further. It would also work well with the "Lob" skill since the lobbed ball flies in arching shape instead of directly go to the enemies.

 

9. Spiker Ball

Spoiler

The Spiker Ball requires the player a good planning and positioning. Juggling with the "Seek" skill is slightly easier and faster than other strikers, and the skill offers a little mobility to player. However, the overall damage is not rewarding enough even for the players use this weapon in the most efficient ways. Below is some buff this weapon could use :

Deal additional damage when the strikers are thrown by the "Seek" skill.

Invincible while Seeking. (Similar to Bullrog's Turn Around Punch)

Can dodge cancel while Seeking.

The skill is the main identity of this weapon, but there's not so meaningful difference between the default strikers and the Spiker Ball in current state. Those buff would make a great reason for the players to utilize this weapon differently from other strikers, without worrying about the risks much.

 

10. Poison Pool

Spoiler

 

There are 3 equipments that allows the player to create poison pools around : Stinger, Gloop Top Glaze and Wollusk Hauberk. But these armors have never been the mainstream since the poison pool deals too little amount of damage to enemies while the players can take damage from it. Poison might be the least useful environmental hazard the player possibly take advantage of. So, I suggest to more unique effect to poison such as

The damage of enemies decreases while poisoned.

The attack speed of non-boss enemies decreases while poisoned.

With these buff, the poison equipments effect will be able to be a unique option for support, offering defensive advantage upon its risky nature.

 

11. Shellshot Blunderbuss

Spoiler

This cannon is indeed one powerful and unique piece of weapon. If timed well, it allows the player deal massive damage while dodging a longer distance from enemies. The only questionable thing is the practicality of Skill Button. (Shift) It allows you dodge exactly up / down, but besides that there is pretty much no reason to use the skill to fire the Big Blast because using right-timed heavy attacks are much more faster to trigger.  There could a reason to use the skill even for the players who mastered this weapon. These are possible improvements that can be made :

Automatically fires the Big Blast after fully charged.

Charged Big Blasts are always focused attacks.

Similar vibe with Big Yammo Slammo, or Floracrane Divebeak.

Also, It's quite hard to land consecutive Big Blasts to enemies, so it would be handy if the Big Blast travels further until disappears.

 

12. Bullrog's Turn Around Punch

Spoiler

This skill is getting better every day in the beta, I'm quite sure the skill is not finished yet and will be improved further in the rest of the beta. It would be more convenient if there was a glowing effect every seconds up to four times to show the "ramping up" status of this skill. In addition, the punch can become a focused attack after charging more than 2 seconds. (Like some of the other miniboss weapon skills)

 

13. Random Concept for New Equipment

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Armor Concepts

Personally, I think the overall output of ranged weapons are higher than melee weapons, solely because there're strong armors like Bullrog Gauntlets, Colossapphire Greaves or Boarfrost Headband. Those armors fit so well especially with ranged weapons, providing huge advantage with little risks. So, I came up with some concept of armors that can possibly buff the melee weapons in indirect ways.

When you heal, heal more while standing near enemies.

Gain Damage Resistance while standing near enemies.

Players with the ranged weapons are less likely to stand close to enemies, so introducing armors with such abilities could manage the risk of melee weapons. (Fighting in a close distance)

 

Weapon Concept

I also came up with an idea of the weapon related to Environmental Object :

Deals 200% more damage to Environmental Objects.

The skill spawns 3 Environmental Object around the player. Recharges after clearing a combat room.

Would work well with Ribbat Legs / Antleer Armors, and all those powers related to environmental objects!

End of the trains of thoughts! These are very personal opinions of mine, but It'd great to see some balance changes given to those forgotten armors and weapons some day in the future.

Thank you for reading!

[Wormboi]

You do you think about the ribbat armor set?

[HeatAndRun]

3 hours ago, Wormboi said:

You do you think about the ribbat armor set?

I don't see a big problem as of now. Each piece of Ribbat set has its own unique use, and does the job other armors can't easily do.

Ribbat Wings - The effect is less immediate than the Bullrog Headgear, but It can offer positive synerge with Ribbat Legs and the teffra powers such as Surgical and Jackpot, unlike the Bullrog Headgear.

Ribbat Surcoat - Basically a universal 20% protection for all damages if you have enough teffra. Can be equipped with Yammo / Bullrog pants for even more damage reduction since it's a body slots armor. Works well especially with the Big Yammo Slammo since you can heal 120% of the damage you received while using the skill.

Ribbat Legs - Currently the only leg armor that lets you obtain additional teffra in the game. (And by a lot.)

[HeatAndRun]

Wrote something more in the "Torchfly Armors" section!

[HeatAndRun]

Status update of Anomalies & Gems Beta :

Spoiler

Gustree Greaves now provide complete Wind Resistance!

Meowl Booties activates after taking damage now, and the Meowl sets duration increased to 5 seconds!

And the hammers are super easier to handle now.

 

Thank you for those lovely changes!