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Post by xdesperado on Feb 23, 2014 2:17:15 GMT -5
Fights are getting annoying now at the stage I'm at. (Nearing end of E1 I believe.) While getting mobbed can be a pain, a decent defensive position can make it easily manageable. However the AI has decided instead of rushing in with a swarm attack to only send one or two units against me at a time waiting for me to kill those before sending the next troop. Meanwhile the enemy archers are peppering away and I can't risk rushing forward to deal with them without risking undue exposure. Not horrible really just annoying. LOL
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Post by algesan on Feb 23, 2014 6:42:24 GMT -5
Fights are getting annoying now at the stage I'm at. (Nearing end of E1 I believe.) While getting mobbed can be a pain, a decent defensive position can make it easily manageable. However the AI has decided instead of rushing in with a swarm attack to only send one or two units against me at a time waiting for me to kill those before sending the next troop. Meanwhile the enemy archers are peppering away and I can't risk rushing forward to deal with them without risking undue exposure. Not horrible really just annoying. LOL Yep, annoying that.
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Post by fallen on Feb 23, 2014 10:23:00 GMT -5
Sounds kinda like a smart idea ... using the choke point against you.
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Post by algesan on Feb 23, 2014 14:56:26 GMT -5
BTW, with a Selen party you can sometimes draw them to you by sitting her just in range of the forward archer. Not always, but sometimes. Note that she needs her +Dodge self buff & Warder's to a decent level if you want her to survive doing the Neo thing.
Other times it seems they are chained to their square.
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Post by tenbsmith on Feb 23, 2014 18:05:45 GMT -5
That can be frustrating. In those situations Ethereal Anguish is your friend.
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Post by vdx on Feb 23, 2014 20:42:30 GMT -5
Most of the enemies that don't charge you, will if you wait a turn or two. For those that remain stubborn, moving forward one step at a time till they are in bow/fireball range and hit-and-retreat in a turn will draw them out--or kill them where they stand.
Also, I hope there are enemies that remain stubborn. Heavy hitters that remain just outside of range attacks force a player to adjust tactics on how to deal with the heavy hitter, esp if there are several other enemies near by. If the heavy hitter charges in a middle of a fight, it can sneak through a gap and attack your weakest hero or add damage to the warrior when he least is ready for it. If the heavy hitter doesn't charge, it forces the player to charge, using up precious AP.
In an we -can-only-hope-worst-case scenario, there's a battle between a group of enemy arches and mages who have extended range, lets say 14 or so and they are guarded by high defense, high damage dealing knights with a single file, narrow trap and locked-gate lined way to get to them. With the extended range, there's no way to attack the archers and mages without being in melee range of the heavy hitters and vice versa. In that scenario, the enemy not charging would require the heroes to storm a brutal gauntlet that would test every character's combat ability. If the enemies charges, than the narrow path becomes a death trap for them.
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Post by vdx on Feb 23, 2014 21:11:05 GMT -5
Fights are getting annoying now at the stage I'm at. (Nearing end of E1 I believe.) While getting mobbed can be a pain, a decent defensive position can make it easily manageable. However the AI has decided instead of rushing in with a swarm attack to only send one or two units against me at a time waiting for me to kill those before sending the next troop. Meanwhile the enemy archers are peppering away and I can't risk rushing forward to deal with them without risking undue exposure. Not horrible really just annoying. LOL This is an example of how different builds and tactics are impacted differently by various combat situations. In the final keep, with a range focused party (fireball and aimed shot maxed out etc), those fights become hilarious easy (if you have enough SP). However, the trade off to get those maxed out skills is that you get a wizard with few, if any buffs and a thief that better not get caught in melee range (even through the maxed out dexterity helps her defense). When I went though the keep, and the game warned about archers hiding behind locked gates, I'm pretty sure my Wizard and Thief were laughing about shooting fish in a barrel. Conversely, in the gatehouse and final fight, my party sorely missed the buffs it could have had with a more buff focused wizrd. Good rule of the thumb: if you can't kill an enemy in one round, you have to be able to survive it's attack. "Almost killing" doesn't help. There's also a lot of benefit gained from understanding the difference between a character build, a party build, player combat tactics and player exploring tactics. While there's been a lot discussion on builds for individual characters and overall party builds, how you as a player use those builds is equally important. How well you use formations, the terrain and even how you explore a map, all factor in the group's overall combat ability. Given the diverse terrain and enemy tactics, combat rules are fluid not static because different party builds require different tactics to excel in different terrain or when facing different attacks. Identify the strength and weakness of a build and than adopt the appropriate tactics. The alternative to having such a fluid system would be a dry, predictable combat system that results in mere button pushing to win.
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Post by fallen on Feb 23, 2014 21:34:00 GMT -5
vdx - can't wait til you meet E2 monsters They will keep you hopping.
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Post by algesan on Feb 23, 2014 21:39:47 GMT -5
Well I solved most of these issues by simply walking back to a camp when anyone other than Vraes got to half mana. Most. Which avoided repeating my out of spirit & out of potions runs to the steps. Fortunately, since IIRC Cory said the RH steps lock sometimes. The one time it potentially could have happened there was an archer behind(!) my party who wouldn't open a door to attack. Stepping in to open the door triggered more mobs, but I was able to control the situation at a chokepoint & finish the fight OOM and quaffing healing pots.
Ethereal was critical to allow a break at those times.
From a "fun" perspective, both are suboptimal, but trudging back & forth & back & forth to camps beats the heck out of having to run to zone when dry, then dumping a ton of coin on potions. Hopefully this is just lowbie blues and by the time a party gets in to 30ish, it won't just be bigger & badder of the same with longer treks to resupply.
OTOH, it seems that grinding might be possible in some if these extended fights by killing all you can, then allowing death to happen without draining your pots down to nothing. Recover and the encounter resets.
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Post by Cory Trese on Feb 23, 2014 22:42:20 GMT -5
Well I solved most of these issues by simply walking back to a camp when anyone other than Vraes got to half mana. Most. Which avoided repeating my out of spirit & out of potions runs to the steps. Fortunately, since IIRC Cory said the RH steps lock sometimes. The one time it potentially could have happened there was an archer behind(!) my party who wouldn't open a door to attack. Stepping in to open the door triggered more mobs, but I was able to control the situation at a chokepoint & finish the fight OOM and quaffing healing pots. Ethereal was critical to allow a break at those times. From a "fun" perspective, both are suboptimal, but trudging back & forth & back & forth to camps beats the heck out of having to run to zone when dry, then dumping a ton of coin on potions. Hopefully this is just lowbie blues and by the time a party gets in to 30ish, it won't just be bigger & badder of the same with longer treks to resupply. OTOH, it seems that grinding might be possible in some if these extended fights by killing all you can, then allowing death to happen without draining your pots down to nothing. Recover and the encounter resets. I follow some of what you are talking about, but I get lost at a few points. I don't think what you are describing is how our metrics are showing most people playing. The goal for most players will be to venture into the dungeon and advance until a certain amount of risk is achieved , and then they will utilize an in-dungeon camp site to recover, followed by a rebuff of the party and continued advancement. For the average player, and the target strategy, potion purchase will define that risk buffer and potion use and continuation of dungeon exploration on mandatory potion rations will drive a larger risk value, perceived I think in the most part by the player relative to the number of remaining "potion recharges" they have in inventory.
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Post by xdesperado on Feb 23, 2014 23:27:17 GMT -5
Any chance that Kyera can get some sort of XP bonus from healing? She's doing very well keeping Vraes and the rest of my party up and fighting. However, because she isn't spending all the time dealing damage she is starting to slide farther and farther behind on XP. I try to get her as many kill shots as possible but even so she's now several hundred XP behind and I don't see that trend reversing itself as she has a specific role to play in the party. Unless you want to try and live off health potions and burn others AP using them she will always be spending a significant amount of time and energy supporting the rest of the team.
Know its a bit late in the program, but perhaps having one or more of the other available charecters be able to function as a low powered back-up healer would help. Much like Karjtan can double up on the scouting and lock opening for Tamlin/Selen.
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Post by fallen on Feb 23, 2014 23:37:42 GMT -5
xdesperado - sorry, only the Healer slot will be providing healing capabilities in the game. The XP difference is coming from boss-kill-shots. In the long run of the game, a couple hundred XPs will not matter. My current test group is straddling 17 (Vince & Kyera) & 18 (Tamilin and Vraes). In about 20 monsters, we'll be back together again. When I do a Smite-Kyera, I've seen her keep up in levels with Vraes, but that means Kjartan is behind.
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Post by John Robinson on Mar 5, 2014 15:11:08 GMT -5
Starting fights blindly. I sometimes will "advance to contact" with Vraes. So when monster sound is triggered Selen can light up the area showing their occupied positions. This is more helpful than the red flash revealing empty space.
However most of the time. I use a "Leap Frog" movement. Selen two squares ahead, Vraes and Vincent two squares ahead of Selen and repeat. I want Vincent as close as possible to the initial contact even if he takes a hit or two. Why? I want to begin the battle by casting Frigid Air on the largest clump of targets with enough AP to retreat out of range.
Another interesting use of Sly Look. When in a area I think might contain a secret door but I'm having trouble finding it. Casting Sly Look over the walls will illuminate the hidden treasure room.
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