Let's talk about: Game Difficulty!

I know a bulk of my issues are gear related, I am still getting crappy draws but I am well into into level 7 and cant even bring down half of the mobs in white scar. Yes i use the choke points, and us the terrain to my advantage. But I still run into the problem of no damage dealing cards coming up and when there are that many mobs. I go down quick. Part of the problem too is that my cleric has little to no healing power. It doesnt matter that he can heal for 3, when the mobs are doing 8+ in a round. I am not new to strategy games and I really do enjoy the card drawing mechanic. But I wont lie it gets really frustrating when i go back to grind an earlier level, like the prison level and get mowed down by dogs doing vicious stabs or backstabs for 10 plus damage when I go two whole rounds without an attack card. I know i am being a broken record but I promise its going to be a problem for other people.

Its part of that leveling wall. I would be okay if I just drew one attack card and it was a high level damage dealer. But I dont have the gear to compete against these mobs. And as a player said to me just a bit ago in MP, its all about consistency. The mobs have it and we dont.

 

Example, my level 7 Dwarf fighter is still using the level 1 kobald killer for one of his weapons because I have gotten NOTHING that is a better replacement for its slot. All the weapons i have obtained for him are either level 15+ ones that are GREAT in multiplayer but i cant use for many levels or level 1-3 junk. Believe me when i say I feel the difference between getting only one attack card there and getting only one in PvE. Likely nothing can be done aside from what has already been done increasing the store. But I know others will run into this problem too.

 

I agree with you about where your best stuff should come from. I've just noticed a small quirk (in my friends so hardly everyone) that if a store has static items, even a tiny percentage, they just stop checking it as often because it begins to feel a bit stagnant, it's not, they just start to feel that way

 

I think the game has a good balance.
If you choose the right equipment (maybe after a loss), and the right strategy, you can win every quests.
I'm aware that sometimes the lack of right equipment could ruin the best strategy.
Pengw1n suggestion about the items in the market is a good one: maybe (and I say maybe) going further and put assured common equipment specific for each class (1x or 2x maximum)?
Sometimes you don't find anything for a class in the tavern (the first one) and you get stuck with your equipment, still losing.
Just to ensure a tavern reliability ("I don't need this sword/axe/hammer. Better come back tomorrow and see if the new is better.")

 

Wait, I've been getting a little lost here on the "17 set slots + a random assortment" discussion: I, for one, wasn't talking about anything "static" or "stagnant." Obviously, there is no reason to check a store that always has the same static assortment; I even tend to forget that such stores exist.

I was talking about guaranteeing that the random items generate a minimum of 1 for each slot. Some people are more extreme than that: some people want literally all items to conform to your current build, so you don't have to "waste time" looking at items you "can't use." (Which is very efficient if you're an experienced player looting for your current build, of course, but shoots yourself in the foot as a new player in such a strategy game.)

I'm just talking about using the same code the says "if the loot selection from this fight doesn't give a minimum of 1 Rare, then give 1 Rare" (that's the treasure hunt and multiplayer code, of course) and editing it to "if the stock in this store doesn't give a minimum of 1 [go down a checklist of 17 slots], then give 1 [checklist]." Or other implementations that get at the same idea, like generating the checklist items first.

 

Given how expensive the store is, I would like to keep players encouraged that it's worth their while.

 

On that note i would really like to see they high end dropped a bit in price

 

I keep thinking about the economy. Now that I'm playing levels over and over to see the changes, I'm definitely getting enough gold to be able to afford the highest items. Soon I'll even be able to afford nasty-priced items that are higher-level than I am and are thus multiplied.

However, if you're paying attention here, you'll see an issue: I've completed all beta content and am at maximum level. NOW I can afford higher-level-than-I-am items, but NOW there are none. Will there ever come a time when I have the OPPORTUNITY to spend 7500 gold on an absurd Legendary above my level? Not really.

Instead of dropping the highest-end prices, I might suggest they put a cap on the multiplicative effect (for Epic a little, and for Legendary a lot). I could see everything else working out through normal play.

 

Sadly yes, I have that weapon equipped. I also done all the free pizza things and spent them all on treasure chests. I have gotten a lot of interesting gear none of which i can use until i get at least 2 boxes or 2 circles. I check the shops often but since i dont have 300 plus gold to spend there is nothing there to improve my warrior or my cleric. My wizard is sitting pretty and i am thinking of buying some new characters to level up a new wizard because of the gear handy for him. I realize I may be one of the few to truly have these loot problems or at least the only one really vocal about it, but i feel it needs to be said and detailed. Most people would just get frustrated and quit. This is the probelm of total randomness in a game of this nature. Like has been stated many time in this thread alone. The right gear for the right job.

Bringing piercing weapons to take on the skeletons not a great and useful idea. I keep the kobald killer around because it has that one vicious strike on it. That is not only the highest damage dealer on my dwarf, its the only one about 5. Its not for lack of playing or searching the shops. I will be okay once i get another talent or two. But to do that I have to grind for xp. I am now at a level that the only things that grant me xp, are these long adventures that still kill me 3 times out of 4 after i devote 40 minutes or so to the multiple level adventures only to die and get no xp. Sure i occasionally get some good loot, epics and legendaries even, but they are ALWAYS boots. I kid you not, rare boots out number my other rares 5 to 1thank. If the names of them would come up without a tool tip I would post a screen shot. I am waiting to sell them when a good weapon i can use comes up. Even with the new loot increased shops I typcially find 3 warrior weapons out of the group, non of which are worth buying. Hoping the random fairy comes by.

I will keep looking for some better weapons but honestly the flaw behind the right gear for the right job becomes very apparent when you dont have the right gear and cannot purchase it either. If i am in the minority of falling through the random loot cracks so be it. I will struggle on, but I want to give others like me a voice. This is a great game, i dont want somebody trying it for a day, getting draw and loot rolls like mine and saying "Screw this" and missing out on the greatness. I have to admit even i am getting really frustrated since i cant make anymore progress in the campaign mode with xp.

 

I had loot problems for one day back when items where hard to come by and the shop was miniscule so i really cant see there being any long term or actually short term item problems once you can afford a few commons in the shop.

 

Yes, and rest assured of two things:

First, you are NOT "one of the few to truly have these loot problems." We know about said problems. Trust us.

Second, as was implied by Pengw1n there, you are NOT "behind the game" because you don't have attacks (aside from Violent Overswing) that do damage above 5. I'm looking at my weapons up to level 6 (no talent requirements), and I have exactly one Divine Weapon that has damage above 5 (again, ignoring Violent Overswing), and 6 regular Weapons. That's out of 30 unique regular Weapons, mind you. How many did I have when I first faced level 6 and 7 adventures? I don't know, but it must have been less.

There's seems to be the attitude that "max damage" is how you define "winning," but there's no reason it should be. Penetrating Zap does 2 damage, and it was central to my Wizard's anti-Troglodyte build. If you feel you need to do more damage to "keep up with the bad guys," do you have the option of a more defensive strategy instead (e.g., masses of Blocks and Armor)?

First exhaust your strategic ideas; then, if strategy doesn't save you, you're running out of things to blame other than the game.

 

This game has too many items to provide any consistency in the loot you find. I find you get way too many useless boots and skills when the biggest need for many low level characters is weapons.

The shops provide 20 or so different items. Too bad there's something like 1000 different items in the game. Either the shops have more inventory or the number of items has to shrink.

Grinding also isn't really possible in this game since you can only do each adventure once per day. The amount of potential gold you get is miniscule compared to what things cost. 2500 gold for a legendary item doesn't sound horrible except that the average yield per adventure is 12 gold worth of items.

 

Well first off i am glad to hear that I am not the only having the issues. Second also glad to hear I am not the only one with a lower hit range. I have only my experince to go by and while i know multiplayer is not the same playing field it seemed more often than not I was out matched on gear, but I just got into beta last week so wasnt stressing there.

I am certainly not relying on epics, first the epics i have gotten are pretty useless except to sell or maybe for one specfic fight. And Frankly I have tried and tried and tried refining strategies and really time and time again it comes down to the draw of cards. I can make whatever strategis i like but the cards dont hold out. Maybe i just have truly crappy luck but (and i am not exaggerating here) it happens so often its killing any enjoyment of the game. Somtimes thats how it goes, sometimes the dogs swarm you on their first move and kill two of your characters before you have time to react and the round is over in 3 minutes. Yep that actually happened and it was after I had already beaten the thing several times. But honestly i have to wonder why are poor draws now the norm for me.

The reason I keep those big number cards in my decks is because time and again this game has taught me chances are good I wont get an attack card so close to one shotting something is the best i can hope for. i have 21 of attack cards 33 cards for my dwarf warrior. I counted. Only two pieces of gear do not have an attack card on them, my armor and my helmet. I have not items for those slots that have attack cards. Just finished up agame where my warrior did not get a single attack card through out the 4 round match. The odds of that are mind boggling. I drew armor I drew multiple move cards on a DWARF of all things and I drew an insane amount of blocks. You would think that would make him at least a tower of defense. Not so much really. I find i am making strategies built less around the enemies and more around the draw chances.

When i began playing i didnt have this problem. My deck was smaller since i had fewer item slots, but with the increase of items slots and comes the chance that pure randomness is going to mess you up. And there are some later adventures that one round with all three characters not getting a single damage card will mean game over. I have taken to Denfense of woodhome is the only adventure i can win most of the time that give me xp, 3 xp each. I have looked up strats for the other adventures and build ideas, many i dont have the gear to do but i am trying.

I really dont know what else i can do

 

Wait, wait, wait. Yes, we agree that "argh, the game won't give me anything with [card X] on it!" is a problem in the stores. But the "20 items to 1000 items" comparison is misleading. I have 7 unique Arcane Items and 3 unique Staves with two copies of my friend Penetrating Zap on it; when once upon a time I went "argh, I need more Armor Penetration for my Wizard!" there was built-in overlap between card suites to give me more chances of finding what I needed. The thing's random, I know, but they're doing what they can, and this "card suite" system makes it better on us than pure item-based games would be.

Having said that; the idea of "argh, the game won't give me anything for [slot X]!" is a problem they can solve more easily. I hope they do.

That is a familiar-sounding ratio, so there's not much else I can add. I do know that some people focus on draw chances, though, so it is valid strategic thinking.

 

Yeah i looked at those, they start at 2 talent points none of which my characters have, also I dont really understand how that translates out into drawing any specific card. However if the chance to one kind of card is different than another, that explains a lot. I just tried one of those all equipment must have draw backs chanllageds. I chained all 5 of my drawbacks for my wizard on the first turn 2 games in a row.