Messages

1

Suggestions Corner / Re: February patch preview, input appreciated

« on: January 18, 2015, 11:23:05 pm »

The change to glove looms for "medium" and "heavy" gloves seems weird to me.  Except for the Heavy Plate Gloves -> Heavy Gauntlets upgrade, you were always paying 0.2 weight for 1 armor.  With the new changes, medium +3 looms are +3 armor and heavy +3 looms are +4 armor at 0.2 more weight (the same cost as you normally pay).  This just seems to unnecessarily create a gap between base 6 armor and base 7 armor loomed gloves without really separating them into classes.  Both medium and heavy gloves should just both use the new medium loom chart.

2

General Discussion / Re: I quit

« on: December 16, 2014, 10:28:53 pm »

Not even believable.  Everyone knows that cRPG players never leave their basements, let alone to  go exercise.  Now, give us the true story.

3

Beginner's Help and Guides / Re: learning to block /attack effectively

« on: December 16, 2014, 09:33:26 pm »

Personally I think you learn blocking best from playing 1H without a shield.  It is generally easiest to block when you S key because you can stay centered on the person you are fighting.  Using a short weapon forces you to not rely on this advantage.

Another thing about blocking that people don't mention a lot is that blocking isn't just about raw reactions but can be about prediction as well.  Based on your foot position relative to your enemy, people tend to throw out certain attacks.  If you expect a certain attack direction, it makes it much easier to block.  For example, left swings are generally very good on 1H (fast, aimed easily at head), so if I'm on the left side of the 1H, I generally expect a left swing.  Or, if I am farther away from a 1H, he is much more likely to right swing or stab because they are longer reaching.  You definitely can't just rely on prediction but it makes much easier to "react" if you see it coming.

4

Game Balance Discussion / Re: So... after 8 gens of random builds I've finally decided to try my old AGI build

« on: December 13, 2014, 07:02:03 am »

I don't think it is as much the weapon speed as it is the footspeed.  When you combine it with the nerfed turning a fight can just devolve into running around each other swinging away.  It also makes the problems with turning overheads (where you miss ones that look like solid hits and hit random ones off target) even more of problem.

5

cRPG Technical problems / Re: Higher than normal ping..

« on: December 06, 2014, 04:04:54 am »

Same for me.  About 50-80 ping higher than normal on NA servers recently.  Ping to all other cRPG and native servers is fine though.

6

cRPG Technical problems / Re: Servers lagging ?

« on: December 03, 2014, 06:41:02 am »

At least on the NA side, the servers recently seem to be lagging for me every so often.  I just took this picture like 20 minutes ago.  Note that I'm from California yet my ping to the EU server is almost the same as to the NA one.

visitors can't see pics , please register or login

7

Game Balance Discussion / Re: Helmet Weight Variance

« on: November 16, 2014, 01:30:16 am »

You're absolutely correct in terms of min/max balance.

However I feel that this sort of trivial stat-imbalance gives otherwise homogenous items a measure of character.

I don't see how the Phrygian Helmet with Faceplate being 0.1 weight less than the five other 50 armor helmets adds any kind of "character" to the game or the items themselves.  The character of items comes mostly from their appearance.  I don't think the Saracen Keffiyeh Helmet is any better off providing 1 less armor than the Kettle Helmet for the same weight.  There are better ways of making items unique than by arbitrarily making some 100% superior to others.

8

Game Balance Discussion / Helmet Weight Variance

« on: November 15, 2014, 06:08:18 am »

There are quite a few helmets that are the same weight but provide different armor values.  This occurrence is most prevalent with the lower armor level helmets but even exists at the upper levels with items like the Phrygian Helmet with Faceplate.  In a game that is supposed to encourage people to make and customize a character, it seems counterintuitive to discourage people from using certain helmets by making some statistically superior.

What is the rationale for having helmets with the same weight but different armor levels? Realism?  Because when we are talking about differences in .1 weight, I don't think realism is impacted.  Yet, on a game level, it does have effect.  It makes it so that when I use items like the Norman Helmet or Roman Helmet, that I have to make a choice to purposely have 1 less armor than I could be having for the same weight amount.

9

Game Balance Discussion / Re: Few item balance suggestions

« on: November 12, 2014, 07:50:38 am »

Interesting points.

At low armor, the damage reduction is close to 1:1, so you'll be saving ~6-7 damage * your shield skill damage reduction, usually around 4pts per hit. Kite shield has above average stats, but it's in the 16-18 armor tier where arbalests can shoot through them pretty easily. +10 armor would see a massive difference in durability, ~6 damage difference per hit. Going from 40 to 36 isn't a big deal, but usually it's something closer to 20 to 16, a 25% increase before factoring in health, assuming that damage to shields is similar to armor. -2 shield skill and the damage reduction is reduced by 12%. Going from 4 to 2, 34%->22%, close to another 20% durability loss. Both stack up relatively quickly.

Guess the gist is that +2shield and the better shield is close to a 50% durability increase (1.25 * 1.2). If you have higher shield skill, it's more durability in the realm of 2x% vs. weight.
I agree with this, but shield has a low difficulty threshold. I think many of the 5 difficulty shields are getting to ridiculous points in stats outside of the Triangle Shield which needs to be made 1 slot. And Fur Covered Shield is terrible.

Shockingly enough, some players want more weight on their shields to prevent block stun and crushthrough. The 4-6 weight section handles this just fine. I did ponder for a long time whether to change The Knightly Heater Shield's and Kite Shield's weight, but ended up just getting the former reduced from 5.5 to 5. I'm very hesitant to touch any widths except for ones that are blatantly out of place like the Green Crescent Heater or Long Pavise Shield. The way they worked were changed a few years ago and it's a bit confusing for me, especially coupled with the shield forcefield increase. The low width shields tend to just have better stats everywhere else.

Makes sense.  I do think it is pretty close balance-wise and was only suggesting tiny changes.  But I can see why you would come out on the other end. 

One thing I would like to note though is that, when the opportunity arises, you should consider adding a light-weight difficulty 4 shield.  There is Horseman's Kite Shield (difficulty 2/2.5 weight), Brown Lion Heater Shield (difficulty 3/2.5 weight), and Knightly Kite Shield (difficulty 5/3 weight) but nothing comparable at difficulty 4.  Lightest difficulty 4 shield is 4.5 weight.

10

Game Balance Discussion / Re: Few item balance suggestions

« on: November 12, 2014, 04:59:58 am »

Shields are similar to cav due to the fact that you get a double benefit from raising shield skill and gaining access to objectively better shields. 0-2 (and 5) skill shields were buffed, but they still have crappy durability with only 0-2 shield skill. If you have 4-5+ shield skill, you wouldn't have any incentive to use the lower tier shields outside of the slightly lower weight anyways. That's why I think that the stats don't need to be very far apart. The heavier round shields haven't changed their stats in a while, and Round->Heavy Round->Huscarls are roughly +3 armor and +50 hp at each step. The Elite Cavalry Shield has below average durability in its class because of its prowess in all areas, so the light round shields are all pretty close to each other with only minor durability increases.

I borrowed a +3 Round Cavalry Shield from the armoury and it still breaks very quickly in-game with 2 shield skill. I need to have my shield sheathed a lot of the time.

I agree that there should be some incentive to use the lower rank shields over the higher rank shields, but I feel that the weight differences are too much for certain shields.  Compare the Heavy Kite Shield to the Kite Shield.  For upgrading to the 1 difficulty higher requirement Heavy Kite Shield, you get +7 armor and lose 15 hit points at the cost of 1.5 weight.  I understand that the +armor makes it more durable despite the hp reduction but is that really worth 1.5 weight when you also put another point in shield just to get access to it?  Or look at the Horseman's Heater Shield vs. the Knightly Heater Shield.  A Knightly Heater Shield, which is 2 difficulty higher, gets +10 armor and +12 hp at the cost of 1.5 weight.  Of course, the +10 armor will make it a lot more durable, but I'm not sure its worth 1.5 weight considering it also takes an investment of 2 more shield skill which could go towards something like IF.

I don't think the durability should be increased on higher rank shields, but I think the differences between the weights should be slightly lowered or the shield speeds/radii should be slightly increased.  Even if you compare the shield situation to horses, compare the difficulty 4 and 5 horses to the unarmored 6 and 7 horses.  There is pretty much 0 reason to use those lower difficulty horses if you have 6 or 7 riding skill.  Though I think there should be some incentive to use lower rank shields, I don't see the problem of making the higher rank shields the more desirable choice if you invest into shield.

11

Game Balance Discussion / Re: Few item balance suggestions

« on: November 12, 2014, 03:32:54 am »

My problem with internal shield balance is that the shields of the same type progressively increase in weight as you go higher in difficulty (ex: Round Cavalry Shield is 3.5 weight (2 difficulty) while Elite Cavalry Shield is 4.5 weight (4 difficulty)).  The stat differences between the items is pretty underwhelming considering the lower tier versions have the same radius/width/height as their higher tier counterparts.  As a result, I find that I'm not really motivated to go more into shield unless I want a special kind  of shield like a Huscarl/Plate shield or I just have spare points to throw into shield.

12

General Discussion / Re: Give me ladders, or give me death

« on: November 12, 2014, 03:14:15 am »

Y not

All I can see is cRPG turning into some kind of medieval Ace Combat game where everyone is flying around in these balloons attacking each other.

Well, on the bright side, at least there wouldn't be any more cav.

13

General Discussion / Re: New weight/WPF formula?

« on: October 21, 2014, 09:21:09 am »

I believe 5 IF would make it the same pre-patch (it was 10 weight right?).  Above 5 IF would give you a higher cap before wpf reduction kicks in.

14

General Discussion / Re: Let's all take a moment of silence.

« on: October 21, 2014, 02:54:01 am »

My Danish became a Scottish Halberd.  May it rest in peace.   

15

Faction Halls / Re: Astralis [NA]

« on: October 05, 2014, 11:08:45 am »

Hey guys.  After a few years of being absent, I decided to start playing cRPG again.  Hopefully, I'll see some of you old timers on the battlefield.