My Personal January Balance Stuff (Ruined Capital Beta)

[HeatAndRun]

Okay, so the Ruined Capital beta has received some juicy new contents and appropriate balance changes and the beta almost came to an end now. Here I am writing another opinions of mine about general balance stuffs at the end of the January. Let's begin!

 

1. Parry

Spoiler

Parry is one of the heck of interesting new stuffs introduced in this beta. The concept sounds really fun but in a real hunt the skill feels a little bit.. creaky. I personally think this skill's direct competitor is dodge. The i-frame is longer than parry and many unique mechanisms and armors exist only to support dodge. Compared to dodge parry is a little harder to activate, and not many unique synerges exists with the skill. Here's the list of possible improvements that can be applied to make parry more interesting :

• Parry can be activated any moment that you can perform "dodge cancel".
• Successful Parry will be considered as "taking damage" or "perfect dodge" for more synerge with other powers and armors.
• Parry can knock down small enemies, if the attacker is very close to the player who parried.

 

2. Toadstomper

Spoiler

I tried this hammer for a while in beta with crit armors and gems. The overkill damage is surely a lot but the effect is very situational and the overall gameplay was quite inconvenient. First you need to get a kill with "Critical Hit". Without crit-themed powers, the only stable way to recieve granted critical hit is "Fist Pound". The skill only grants one critical hit. To successfully utilize this weapon :

1.  You should yield the strongest attack possible to maximize the critical damage.
2.  You should "Kill" the enemies by critical hit.
3.  Other enemies should stand closely to the enemies you killed.

In the end my general gameplay loop with this hammer was repeating 10 Fist Pound and Golf swing, and that was not so... entertaining. Moreover, in super frenzies, enemies' HP is higher so I couldn't insta kill enemies with my 100% crit golf swing, even with 3 Crit damage gems and Floracrance Garland. So I had to attack the enemies a few times before do the 10 Fist Pound - Golf Swing combo. 

Anyway, here's the list of buffs this hammer could use.

• If you kill an enemy with Critical Hit, your next attack will become Critical Hit.
• Overkill damage applies to every enemies in the same clearing.
• Fist Pound gain +20% Critical Chance instead of +10%.

 

3. Sporeshot

Spoiler

Sporeshot's "10 Cannonballs per reload" is definitely a unique trait. But planting Proximity Mines and detonatining it doesn't feel that smooth to me. Since the landmines' trigger range is quite small and the manual detonation can do self-damage to player, the optimal gameplay becomes like a melee class - approaching to enemies and plant mines right next to them. 

I instantly came up with Stickybomb launcher in Team Fortress 2, so the sporeshot could use a teaspoon of inspiration from it, like :

• Light attack launches Proximity Mines ahead, instead of normal cannonballs.
• Skill button will detonate all mines.

 

4. Quetzi Waist Guard

Spoiler

This armor might be one of the most powerful armor in this beta. Basically armor version of "First One's Free" power. Nobody hesitates to pick that power in the hunt, and you can literally start a hunt with it. The problem is there's a terrible discord between this armor and the Quetzi Scalemail.

The wearer gains random 2 temporary powers in every combat room. In other words, if you wear it with the Quetzi Waist Guard you'll most likely to loose 200 HP every clearing. And there're possible alternatives to this problem :

• Quetzi Scalemail does not upgrade any temporary powers.
• Your max health will be decreased according to the numbers of power you currently have. (for example, -50 HP per power) - This way Quetzi Scalemail won't constantly hurt the player.
• Decrease your max HP at the beginning of a hunt.
• Start damaged (Similar to super frenzies' 4th penalty)

 

5. Bonejaw Breastplate

Spoiler

Damage Resistance from body armor is very rare, so the Bonejaw Breastplate has some unique position among all armors. But even considering that, the effect is quite situational and the numbers are not rewarding enough. You need to take damage first from anything to get the damage resistance, anyway. Unless you're not using Yammo weapons, taking damage is highly risky in any situations, especially in super frenzies. And the armor itself cannot be a reasonable alternative to Meowl Mitts in current status. I think the buff duration should be longer than now, at least. Like, 5 seconds?

 

6. Bonejaw Jawbelt

Spoiler

The Bonejaw Jawbelt reward the player when they frequently change the direction when attacking. I like the way of playstyle this armor encourages the players. It thematically fits well with Bonejaw's Charge skill. But the problem is the damage bonus is applied to only "One" attack at a time after changing the direction, thus it does not work well with most of the combo attacks that includes more than one hits. I'd very much like to see some "buff duration" for this armor, such as :

• If your Attack is facing a different direction than your last Attack, you gain 1 second of Damage Bonus. (+50%)

 

7. Torchfly kneeguards

Spoiler

Recently in beta you can now see the situational passive abilities of some armors, so I can figure out how the Torchfly Kneeguards works with those changes. And the conclusion was it only gives 20% damage resistance while you're dodging, like this.

Technically you're not attacking while dodging, so it is obviously inferior to Yammo Elasti-Shorts. Seems like the damage reduction should be higher than now, and the effect needs to be reworked, since you're invincible while dodging, anyway. Here's my idea to change it :

• The wearer gains 40% damage reduction for one second when dodge.

Plus, I wouldn't mind some nerf to Yammo Elasti-Shorts. The precondition is too easy to achieve and the damage reduction it gives is too high, enough to make other damage reduction gears not attractive.

 

8. Torchfly Epaulets

Spoiler

I was always curious about how exactly this armor would work, and thanks to recent changes in beta I could figure it out. In conclusion, the armor was... worse than I expected. Here's the video I recorded, and look closely to the numbers of buff this armor provides.

As you can see, to gain the critical chance buff you need to stand "very" close to enemies, and the buff immediately wear off right at the moment you get out the "close range" of enemies. As shown in the video the "close range" is smaller than the spear's focus hit distance. Even the melee weapon cannot properly utilize this armor which is soley made for supporting close-range combat. It would be perfect if there're a little more adjustments to this armors, like :

• The "Close Range" radius is bigger than now.
• If you get away from the enemies, the critical hit chance will last for one second until it ends. And if you get closer to enemies within that time, the critical hit chance will remain.

 

9. Gourdo Elasti-Shorts & Aspect of Owlitzer

Spoiler

They might be one of the most outdated stuffs in the current version of Rotwood. They were not that great from the beginning, but after the Gems & Anomalies update so many sustain gems with healing capability were introduced, so nobody would pick those things nowadays. Don't forget the Regen Gem in a proper gem slot heals 90 HP every rooms. And those abilities are not that helpful in boss fight regardless how much they can heal because they cannot heal more than your max HP. The amount of healing those things offer should be 5 times bigger than now at least :

• Aspect of Owlitzer heals 200 HP per clearing.
• Gourdo Elasti-Shorts heals 100 HP per clearing. 

 

10. Long Arm of the Claw

Spoiler

The very first weapon newcomers can find in the shop - strong focus damage and long range is good for any situations. However there is one little change I want to see in this weapon :

• Long Arm of the Claw's Spinning Drill now has longer attack range.

It is quite awkward to use the dash attack with this weapon. The attack range suddenly becomes much shorter when you use the spinning drill. Look how short it feels!

 Those change can make this weapon's "Long Range" aspect more consistent.

 

Side note, the "Pole Vault" skill does not grant invincibility while using, it's just airborne status similar to Floracrane's Divebeak or cannon dodge. Kinda underwhelming for a skill without any attack capabilities... But that's just me.

 

11. Destruction Therapy

Spoiler

Even though it's not an armor or equipment, I think there should be some changes for this power. It is too difficult to gain the healing from this power because the healing radius is too small. Theoratically it can heal other players but it's almost a joke for now. I should communicate with teammates to maximize this power's healing efficiency, and it merely heals 100 HP with all the fuss... Does not worth it in terms of convenience. I would prefer to change it into :

• The first time you destroy an Environmental Object per clearing, it Heals all Allies in the same clearing.

Just as how Sheepdog power heals the entire crew!

 

12. Bullrog's Turn Around Punch

Spoiler

I personally prefer to use it with "Dodgeless" armors with damage buffs because the skill itself has a brief window of invincibility when used. In other words, you can dodge without loosing those armors damage bonus. However one minor flaw of this skill is the i-frame is a bit... Strange.

As you can see in the video, I still took damage despite I used the skill right before I get a hit from the enemy. If the i-frame is more wider after activating the skill, it would feel better to use this skill for dodging purpose.

 

13. Armors with Attacking Abilities

Spoiler

There are many kinds of armors with attacking abilities in Rotwood. But only few of them are used, because most of those armors' damage is not rewarding enough to compensate their difficult requirements for activation. and the standard for comparison will be the Snortoise Armour.

Moderate damage. Super easy to activate and stable AoE radius. Good for both dealing damage and maintaining hitstreaks. This armor has been used well by many players from the very first. And other damage-dealing armors should deal significantly more damage than Snortoise Armour considering how hard their precondition is.

 

1. Colossapphire Plate

"Leaving the ground" is almost the same word as "Landing on the ground". That means Colossapphire Plate is surely worse than Snortoise Armour. It deals the same damage, but the effect radius is much smaller. The damage should be higher than now, and it would have a noticable difference compared to Snortoise Armour, giving preferable diversity to player's choice. Maybe 150% damage?

 

2. Scrambler Briefs

Deal 100% weapon damage around the player when perfect dodge a trap. Dealing 100% damage when perfect dodge is already a joke when Snortoise Armour exists, but this one even go further than that and requires to dodge "Traps" for that mediocre damage. It could use some serious buffs such as :

• Dealing 500% damage around the player when you Perfect Dodge a Trap.
• Dealing 200% damage to all enemies in the same clearing when you Perfect Dodge a Trap.

 

3. Bulbug Tarsi

After recent changes given to Bulbug armors in beta, the bulbug armors kills shielded enemies in Ruined Capital very well, perhaps too much. However this armor is still not so viable in a hunt without shielded enemies. Even with the crewmates wearing Immorel armor sets. The Bulbug Tarsi is very similar to Torchfly Goggles. This time it's the shield instead of hitstreaks. Shields are considered quite valueably in Rotwood, and this armor prevents the player to maintaining shields. In return, the armor gives back not-so-high damage with not-so-wide AoE radius. Considering how easy to deal damage with Snortoise Armour, I don't think the value of one shield is same with 2 dodges.

There could be various alternatives to make this armor actually charming even without those shielded enemies :

• Simply dealing more damage (400%?) to enemies after breaking player's shield - This might be too OP for enemies with shields.
• No longer instantly break the shield, instead dealing a large amount of damage to enemies when the player gaining the shield.
• No longer instantly break the shield, instead dealing a large amount of damage to enemies when enemy breaks player's shield.
• Instantly break the shield and deal damage (200%) to all enemies in the same clearing.

 

14. Colossapphire's Ice Puke

Spoiler

The Colosspphire skill finally got a massive buff in beta! But there could be a little more touch to make this skill more strong and unique :

• Shooting a single Ice Chunk can be dodge-canceled faster.

Compared to every other skills the Ice Puke skill is somewhat slower to dodge-cancel :

Spoiler

Dodge-Cancel Big Yammo Slammo

Dodge-Cancel Groady Groak Gulp

 Dodge-Cancel Keeper of the Moon  

And Dodge-Cancel Colossapphire Ice Puke

 

Pressing single skill button takes almost one second to shoot a single Ice Chunk to enemies. Sounds not big, but in a real gameplay it feels way longer than other skills. More instant skill activation could surely improve the overall feeling of the Ice Puke skill.

 

• Ice Chunk creates an Ice Cloud when hitting the enemies.

The exact same Ice Cloud the Frostbite's skill creates. Unlike Ice Puke skill, Frostbite's Cold Plunge doesn't have any requirements such as certain amount of hitstreaks, and players can make an AoE Ice Cloud anywhere anytime they want. It seems the Ice Cloud is what the Colossapphire Ice Puke needs the most. Help freezing enemies easier and stacking a lot of hitstreaks with it!

• Colossapphire weapons' extra hit to frozen targets won't thaw the enemies faster.

Currently Colossapphire weapons deal extra hit against frozen enemies. And this extra hit thaws those frozen enemies extra faster. If the extra hit won't affect enemies' frozen status, it would finally match with the weapon's crowd control possibility and boosts even more hitstreaks more comfortably. AGAIN, the Frostbite is better than the Colossapphire weapons at this aspect because the bow deals extra damage to frozen enemies instead of extra hit to frozen enemies like how Colossapphire weapon does - resulting keeping enemies frozen more easier. At this point the Colossapphire weapons feel like a failed prototype, abandoned in the process of making Frostbite. 

Those changes obviously make the Colossapphire weapons feel better to use!

 

15. Striker's Arcing Recall

Spoiler

It is an artwork on Steam joking about general experience of strikers in multiplayer. Coincidentally striker is my least favorite weapon type of all. Hard to constantly deal damage from a distance, and the DPS is quite low compared to other weapons even if you're using it most efficiently. When people are using strikers they use it because the strikers have highest base damage, not because the striker itself is strong. To my perspective the only striker that can catch my attention is the Jackalope. All the other stirkers feels like an inferior version of the Jackalope not considering their skills or passive abilities. And in my opinion, the most desperate change the striker needs is buffing Arcing Recall.

The player automatically do this when they're trying to do heavy attack without holding any strikers in their hand. Problem is the recall distnace is a little short in most of the situations if the strikers went far away from the player. The player should do Arcing recall several times to recieve the strikers if they're not moving. What if the strikers fly further with Arcing Recall? Similar to how Ballmerang flies a long distance when rebound to the owner :

 

 And this is normal Arcing Recall for comparison.

 

 

 You can receive the striker more easily if you move forward while the ball is flying, but it's hard to do so when you're Power Class because your dodge will be more tedious.

If the striker returns to its owner with longer distance (not when struck by something, only when the owner casts Arcing Recall), it would be quite more convenient to use the strikers in most situations. Cannons are recieving impressive buffs lately, so a little improvements for striker won't harm the balance. There is still the Jackalope after all!

 

16. Spear's Focus Attack Requirements

Spoiler

For me, using spears are essentially a hard mode for the fight. The gameplay inevitably become risky since it's melee weapon anyway. But unlike hammers players should re-position themselves every moment to nail the focus attacks. And it's quite difficult to do focus damage in higher difficulties when there are hordes of aggressive enemies which are constantly moving around.

It's my personal preference but I wish the "Tip" of the spear was slightly wider than now. While I was trying the Snarling Spear. The Javelin Backstep often misses focus attacks even with the auto-positioning nature of the skill. And it's not easy to hit all Multi-Thrust with focus hit because the player slightly moves forward when doing the combo attack. Also weight system kinda disturb the player to learn the feeling of focus hit since the dodge distance differs depending on the weight class. If only focus hit condition was less strict than now, especially against small enemies.

 

Okay, that's it for now. Gosh, that's one looong post again I brought up here. And that's why I delayed writing this until now from back in December... And some of it looks like to be my weird obssession at the point of reviewing it! Anyway, recent patches in beta feels really nice, and I enjoy to see every unexpected surprises introduced in Rotwood. I think the game is going to the very right direction. Looking forward to see more changes in 2025!

 

 

[Azamagon]

Some feedback on some of your feedback:

1. Parry - Agreed with all of your suggestions here. Make it rewarding and synergetic!

7. Torchfly Kneeguards - Yeah, that seems pretty darn aweful. Never thought it sounded good to begin with, but that just looks useless. Definitely needs a buff. Sidenote: The various helm/armor/leg-pieces in this game really need a good rebalancing in general. For example, all the poison related ones are generally quite useless and far, far too niched. I know that's beyond this specific thread, but just wanted to highlight that opinion as a general statement. And another thing: I'm currently working on trying to rebalance all the defensive equipment, but it's still quite the work in progress.

8. Torchfly Epaulets - Agreed with both of your suggestions here.

9. Healing on enter - I think your suggestions sound a bit too strong, even if I do agreed with you that they need to be a little bit stronger. However, I'm also of the opinion that the Regen gems are a bit too strong though. I'd say:

• 60 total for Regen gems
• 100 for Aspect of Owlitzer
• 50 for Gourdo Elasti-Shorts

Something like that, maybe?

10. Long Arm of the Claw - I dunno, I think it probably would be a bit too good if it had such a massive range on its dodge light attack too. If it was a SLIGHT extension, sure. But the full length? Probably a bit much.

11. Destruction Therapy - Agreed.

13. Damage Armors. Well, here is my opinion:

• Snortoise Armor: I think this is actually a bit too strong. Maybe reduce it to 75%, or even 50%?
• Colossapphire Plate: I think this would be decent as is, if Snortoise was nerfed. But I think the Colossapphire should be turned into a heavy armor set. I mean, this mini-boss is MASSIVE!
• Scrambler Brief's: I think the "perfect dodge a trap" is such an overly specific trigger. Here's what I'd propose: On perfect dodge (against ANY attack), deal 200% damage to all enemies around you in a big radius.
  • I think something similar could be done with the Boarfrost legs: On perfect dodge (against ANY attack), launch a 400% damage projectile towards the dodged enemy.
• Bulbug Tarsi: I think it could be made a bit more flexible (and indeed, not break the shield). My proposal: On shield or shield segment gain, deal 75% weapon dmg around you, per segment gained (meaning if you gain a full shield, such as with Iron Brew = 300% damage). Deals 2x damage if your shield is already full when you gain shield or shield segments.

14. Ice Puke - Agreed with all suggestions.

15. Striker Recall - Brainstorming here: What if all Strikers' recall by default worked like Ballmerang? Meanwhile, Ballmerang could have its recall effect home in you, constantly adapting its return-trajectory to follow you even when you are moving? This would make most Strikers' heavy+light comboing much better overall, as currently, the only striker which can even slightly compete with Jackalope is Ballmerang, imo. Well, and the Rootbound Knot, but that's simply because it's active skill is so powerful.

 

[Creamean6_7]

It is safer to attract monsters with a light attack after planting mines. It is more effective to lay mines at the birth point of monsters and the landing point of bosses.Although it is sometimes necessary to bury mines near the enemy, this weapon can still use the remaining bullets to stay away from danger.For me, the damage of this weapon has ranked first in the cannon.