Feel free to add other things that should really be changed/fixed/improved in the future, here’s my little list:
1h axe deals EXACTLY the same damage versus monsters with normal and charged shots
handgun doesn’t penetrate shields of shieldvermin when fired from the hip, but easily defeats them when you aim down sights, even though it’s the same goddamn weapon firing the same bullet with the same amount of powder
some of the most exquisite Saltzpyre’s rapier illusions come with a patchwork pistol - including the one and only red illusion. It feels like wearing a 3000$ suit jacket and dirty shorts with holes in them.
troll’s overhead attack can be dodged easily if done early enough, but if you dodge just after the axe starts dropping, it’ll now follow your movement and smack you on the head, try it out yourself. And it’s not about having not enough time to get out of the way, because there’s still more than enough. IRL all dodges are done “as late as possible” to not grant the enemy a chance to adjust.
shieldvermin will block your shots even if you are invisible and firing crossbow at their backs. Give them superarmor on the torso, if you really want to annoy everyone, but at least promote skill and smart tactics
weapons are in such a bad state that no sane person would take such a piece of scrap to the battlefield because they would most likely not withstand the intense fighting (really, look at the cracks and chips on the blades of almost all weapons). At the same time armor on heroes is mostly in perfect condition, Bardin’s IB armor doesn’t even have scratch on it. Also wood on the weapons have not been treated with anything for years.
Oh hell yeah, a thread where I can suggest anything I like!
Ok, here goes:
Ditch the lootbox-based gear system. Lootboxes for costmetics is fine, but having them act as the sole root of the game’s entire gear economy causes problems. Ever have a host drop a game because someone forgot a tome? That’s because losing a tome cost them an emp’s, which cost them their chance at getting a red. Now you know.
Overhaul the crafting system. “Click here to randomize your stats until you get the combo you want.” is needlessly tedious.
Streamline the process for opening lootboxes. 5 clicks spread across 10 seconds and the whole screen for each one is way too much.
Relocate some of the books. Book locations dictate the path that a team takes through a map. There are areas of some maps that are completely ignored because there are no books there. The Pit is a prime example of this. It’s a huge map with lots of interesting places and paths to explore, but there’s only one path that anyone ever takes. If I was the map designer, I’d find this pretty disappointing.
Shade needs her stealth backstab boss damage smacked hard with the nerf bat. Bosses are a joke when there’s a shade around.
Footknight Kruber’s hats need bigger/more feathers. This is important.
Add a hardcore mode. I want to really feel it when I lose a hero.
Maps should have fewer ledges and chokes, or the way enemies traverse them should be reworked. Having the team stand still and spam m1 for 30 seconds breaks the flow of the run. It’s also boring as hell.
Rework the Rasknitt and Halescourge fights. Chasing them around their arenas for 5 minutes while they actively run away from you isn’t challenging, it’s frustrating.
Add a new random event type: A special/elite/miniboss enemy that’s visually distinctive and is more powerful/tough than the normal variant. Possibly has unique, altered or randomised abilities (For example, a blightstormer that casts multiple small tornados at the same time). It may be alone or be accompanied by a posse of regular enemes. It might patrol until engaged, immediately move to attack the players upon spawning or try to run when aggro’d. It might drop useful items on death like a lootrat. It might act as a guard for tomes/grims or it might drop these books on death as a way of adding some variety to the way the books are obtained.
Thanks for the thread Krator, I’m sure I’ll be back with more.
I think your ideas deserve a separate thread! And those rarely used places on the maps would be more popular if there was really something there to be found. It doesn’t have to be the book. F.e. relics, randomly spawning in the dark corners of the map, granting some small bonus to the whole tram, so you’re rewarded for exploring, but it has its cost in time and health lost due to fighting hordes. Idea with the semi-boss is good too. I think for new players CW is this kind of enemy, they shoot him in the body, and nothing, then they drop from an overhead strike
But I’ve since learned to 1-shot them with a pick (you do require +25% chaos/armor for that on Slayer, with no stacks of trophy hunter) Shade can kill 2 at once, and to be honest, I really enjoy boss fights, I just don’t particularly like how they are executed in VT2, so a “miniboss” with a completely different set of challenges would surely add a lot of fun to the game.
And yup, current loot system is just a waste of time.
I think the loot system could be improved, but I don’t think it should be scrapped. It’s tedious getting the same properties/trait repeatedly when rerolling to get something you want and eventually running out of green dust so you have to spend 10 mins converting blue dust into green. It’s annoying having to click all the boxes inside each loot box, continue, and then click on your high tier chests and then repeat. I have almost 300 commendation chests because they don’t really have anything worthwhile and I’m not about to spend a bunch of time opening and scrapping everything I find. It’s boring watching the chest tier increase at the end of the level for the thousandth time and by the time it’s done you’re back in the keep and the scoreboard got skipped. I wish there was more of a reason to play still other than to kill time.
My thoughts on the current loot/gear system are a small part of my thoughts on game career progression as a whole. To summarise: I think there’s a design misalignment. On one hand, it is unquestionably the player’s choices, skills and knowledge that decide the outcome of a mission. The power is entirely in the player’s hands. On the other, we have a gear progression system that denies us the ability to choose our own path. The only power the player has here is the power to hit the RNG button and hope for the best.
100% agree. To go further, it doesn’t even have to be a reward that makes us want to go there. It could be a threat placed on another path that players will want to avoid or escape from. They could also just do more of what Fort B does and have the available paths change on each run.
This is exactly what I’m trying to address. In the early game (and in BtB deeds), every CW is a miniboss, as they should be. As you progress, they become just another enemy and the game experience is lesser for it.
