transitive

For Kestrel: Hot Topics That Aren't God-Awful Bickering

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For Kestrel: Hot Topics That Aren't God-Awful Bickering

from Demigod Forums

in another thread, our esteemed colleague Kestrel suggested we talk about something that actually matters. i whole heartedly agree. this is the list of topics he suggested

 

Please take the following examples and make posts or comments about them at your leisure - 

1.  Most of the items in the game could use some love.  What are your thoughts on pricing, effects, and synergy?  How can we make the items more dynamic with the least effort?

2.  Several of the maps have obvious flaws.  How can we make the maps more balanced with the least effort?

3.  What would an effective friendslist look like?

4.  What would an effective game lobby look like?  I.E. what information do we need about other players?  What communication options should we have?

5.  Should player stats measurement be made public or kept under the hood?  We don't have access to the baseline formulas.  Should we?

6.  What are the holes any new demigods should plug in the current selection of 8?

7.  Should the results of 1v1 duels reflect our understanding of the game's balance?

8.  How can AI be improved, and what protocols should exist for AI in online games?

9.  What improvements could be made to the single player tournament with a minimum of effort?

10.  How should minions be altered?  Specifically, should they be nerfed or buffed?  If so, how and why?

 

i concur that these are good topics to discuss. in other post in this same thread i will offer my opinions on some of them. please join me in this discussion. 

demigod
22,238 views 33 replies
Reply #26 from Demigod Forums Top

worth noting there are undocumented scalar decreases on proc rates for Demigods with ranged ranged auto-attacks. for example, Regulus proc rate with Wyrmskin Handguards is like 9%, not the advertised 15%. i don't have specific numbers for eveything but this is in general a true statement. 

 

i understand doing this for balancing concerns, however, in addition to raw stats adjustment many many many items need improved in game documentation. players should have a better understanding of what they're buying. 

Reply #27 from Demigod Forums Top

Quoting maxxy, reply 13
Did anyone know that Gauntlets of Despair have a hidden +8% attack speed bonus that isn't documented? It's in the LUA files (I don't know if this was fixed later on, but I doubt it).

Is this really true?

Groupy 2 - Organize multiple applications into grouped tabs on your Windows desktop
Reply #28 from Demigod Forums Top

                BuffBlueprint {
                    Name = 'Item_Glove_030',
                    BuffType = 'ENCHANTCRITMULT',
                    Debuff = false,
                    EntityCategory = 'ALLUNITS',
                    Stacks = 'ALWAYS',
                    Duration = -1,
                    Affects = {
                        MaxEnergy = {Add = 350},
                        RateOfFire = {Mult = 0.08},
                    },

Still there :P

EDIT:

I'm 65% certain that the gauntlets of despair don't actually give you mana, they just take it away from the target.  Could be wrong.

 Buff.ApplyBuff(target, 'Item_Glove_030_Drain', unit)

no buff is applied to 'self' so you may well be right.

Reply #29 from Demigod Forums Top

nah .. u gain it but it RARELY happens...

Reply #30 from Demigod Forums Top

2.  Map Balance -  

- Leviathan needs two more towers which can cover the citadel to prevent minion swarming.  I would make them ToL just for the survivability, but I wouldn't add more than two towers on each side. 

-The bottleneck towers on Exile and Crucible need to be shifted so that no more than two can bear on a single target at any time. 

-The home crystal on Exile needs to be shifted away from the lanes to prevent lane regen for smaller DGs

-Exile and Crucible should be automatically excluded from Slaughter Pantheon or Skirmish matches

-The Celerity and Fortitude flags on cataract should be swapped, as Fortitude is by far the best flag on that map and lines up with light's gold flag for dark players

- The gold flags on cataract should be moved back 2 meters or so, enough so that capping them without tower interference is impossible. 

- Valor debuff bug needs to be fixed.  If you didn't catch it, capping your enemy's valor flag buffs your creeps but if you lose the flag after that then your creeps lose both flag buffs (60% debuff instead of 30%)

- AI and automove pathing on Crucible needs love

- Exile's portals should be flagged, and artifact shop stripped out of base and moved to one of the center flags


3.  Effective Friendlist

It's been covered a bunch already, basically everything said above

Also the friend pm system is extremely unresponsive.  Yesterday I got four requests to join or host a game - all of them were from previous sessions, some several days ago

4.  Effective Lobby

Also covered above - One thing that'd be cool would be an auto-rematch button in the victory screen - everyone who selects it will be popped into a new game lobby with the same settings, map and host.  Alternatively the victory screen should kick you back into the starting game lobby.

5.  They should opensource the stats.  Unless the system is easily exploitable (and it shouldn't be if they are using ELO) then we should have access to the numbers.  Keeping them cryptic goes a long way towards making it difficult to take stats seriously. 

6.  Holes to be plugged

  - Right now almost every ability we have is about damage or speed.  I'd like to see Demigods with some strong support abilities that go beyond augmentation/mitigation of those two factors.  Offensive purges, stealth, mana burners, mana buffers, cooldown buffers, item buffers, building buffers, unconventional movement, totems, traps, elemental synergies - any and all of these things could really deepen current gameplay.  

7.  1v1 Duel Balance

 - In a word, no

8.  AI

I'm giving up hope on this one.  AI should stop taking initiative in online play.  In most ways it would be better if it was slaved to the remaining players on the team like minions are.  Puppet AI is the best solution we can hope for, until behavior mods are out, imo

9.  Single Player - modes of play which can be unlocked like straight Tower Defense-type Assault, or any of the other cool ideas here: http://forums.demigodthegame.com/348146 . These would also be good in multiplayer (especially Capture the Flag!)

10.  Sedna and QoT minions do need a careful buff, if not a mechanic alteration in how they are generated.  Horn of Battle needs to be tweaked - right now you can run your minions up to any building from across the map and bring it down with minimal losses. 

I would lower the health of vamps a bit, maybe 20% considering how many of them you can get..

Reply #31 from Demigod Forums Top

Quoting Kestrel,
I would lower the health of vamps a bit, maybe 20% considering how many of them you can get..

Yikes! How about we just fix the horn first?

Reply #32 from Demigod Forums Top

10.  How should minions be altered?  Specifically, should they be nerfed or buffed?  If so, how and why?

  • Shamblers and Yetis are subpar compared to Spritis and Vampires. The vampires can have vast health and are easily numerous and spirits have a direct benefit to Oak himself. Making Shamblers / Yetis much cheaper (mana-wise) would go a long ways.
  • Basically, Shamblers and Yetis need a major boost to make them worth taking over other abilities.
  • Merge Entourage and Summon Shamblers for QoT and her problem would probably be solved... Yetis just don't do enough damage to make someone want to take them over any of Sedna's other abilities.
  • Make the shamblers summoned on a per Creep killed basis, so kill 6 creeps with spikes of either flavor and get a shambler.   Add to compost a Decrease in the number of creeps needed to be killed to generate a shambler.  Keep the total available at 4 (to balance the ability to mulch)

Yetis are tough ...to do for an auto summon so I am at a loss on that.. but the QoT really does have that synergy with Killing things, composting them and having stuff GROW from it :)

Reply #33 from Demigod Forums Top

Quoting transitive, reply 1

the most obvious issues at the moment all resolve around the primacy of Health items above just about everything else. the inefficiency and genericness of many of the helms and gloves also contributes to this problem. at the moment almost any Demigod in the entire game is well served by this same item set

 

* Nimoth Chestguard

* Narmoth's Ring

* Unbreakable Boots

* Vlemish Faceguard

* Boots or Wand of Speed

EDIT: stop i'm using only two of this items, the ring and the speed boots.

and if i play not an ooze ub i temporary use the vlemish facegueard too. and i know many that do not follow this list neither without being less effective. so although i partially agree that there are items not very used this list is by far not so fix as you mentioned.

 

edit: hell, this hidden bonus of the gaunlets of despair is nice. i will rethink using them more often.