I figured we could probably use a thread for general discussion about use and balance of various attributes, skills, talents and traits.


Speed is a phenomenally useful attribute for all classes. More speed not only gives more Action Points, but makes each action point spent on movement make you go farther - thus leaving more action points free to spend on combat. I wonder at what point a speed-heavy build could out-damage a more traditional build. I think I should try that.

EDIT: I was wrong on the action points thing. I'll look at this again.



Skills that I don't know what they actually do:

1. Way of the Warrior / Way of the Ranger Survivor / Battle Magic

Okay, I know the general idea behind these skills, but I want to know if there's a reason to boost specific skills in those trees instead of just those top tier ones. What's my wizard's incentive for boosting Fire Magic when Battle Magic boosts all four elements at once? If there is a difference, it's currently unclear and should get explained better at some point.

9. Unarmed
Currently, Unarmed is locked at power level 1, further points do nothing. Don't bother putting points into it in this build.

2. Black Rock
This is a mysterious skill. I have two guesses as to how it could go: A) at some point Black Rock weapons will be so common that it's worth specializing in them, or B) Black Rock weapons will be rare, but very powerful and nigh-unusable without specializing in them. Either way, I have to wonder if a one-handed Black Rock weapon will stack with the bonuses of my one-handed skill, or if one overwrites the other.

3. Shield Specialist
Does this only count for the defense bonus of using a shield, or if I use a one-handed weapon and a shield (requiring me to also spend points in 1H weapons), does the shield skill boost my damage with a 1H weapon as well, and overwrite whatever skill I have in 1H weapons?


2 & 3. These are possible balance issues. The easy solution would be that they do not stack, and black rock ignores any other weapon proficiency, and shield ignores 1H proficiency.


4. Man of Iron
At the moment, each point seems to increase your poison resistance by 10% and nothing else. Is there supposed to be something else?

5. Willpower
What does this do? You act on your turn and can't be interrupted as far as I know, so what does this skill do?

6. Way of the Ranger
This should probably be renamed to Way of the Survivor, as this probably covers a lot of skills in this area, only one of which is actually ranger-specific.

7. Field Medic
Another "why would I ever take this" skill. Potions seem to be pretty cheap, there's a low-level healing spell, food items can heal you, and I haven't seen any medical kits. What does this skill do that all those other things can't?

8. Leadership
What does this do? It's unclear what bonuses it conveys. Related is the Warrior spell "inspire" that boosts something or other, but I have no idea what it does.


Talents

1. Gold Digger
It makes it easier to spot hidden gold? Does this mean it increases the gold you find in treasure chests, it spawns extra gold when wandering the world, gives you extra gold when selling things, or what?


2. Dress Rehersal
Maybe it's just that I'm still in the starter grounds, but at the moment, it seems like combat will have to be made a whole lot tougher before I'll be worried enough to consider switching my gear in mid-battle instead of fighting, running, or healing.


3. Talents are Generic/unimpressive
Most of the Talents are basically just booster packs for certain skills. Sure, that may be effective, but most aren't spectacular. At first glance, the really interesting ones are Pet Pal, Sixth Sense, and "Comback Kid" (sic).

It's also unclear how effective some of those Talents will be worth later on. Sure, at level 2 that 5 points of Offense from Gladiator might look sweet, but I'm not sure what those 5 points will still be worth at level 14.

Traits

Quote
Personality traits reflect the choi...g the game, depending on your decisions. These personality traits give your characters benefits and penalties. For instance, a Ruthless character gains certain bonuses in combat but becomes more infamous. A Loyal character receives bonuses when fighting back to back, but gets a penalty when trying to flee.


I thought that the idea behind Traits was that they have both a benefit AND a Drawback. Right now, it seems like it's a choice between skill boost A or skill boost B. Is this another thing that isn't fully fleshed out yet? [s]Will we eventually see some of the ideas from the old thread?[/s] EDIT: Actually, after reading that, I think a lot of those are in there already.

Will we eventually be able to pick a starting trait or two in character generation?


Last edited by Stabbey; 19/12/13 12:08 AM. Reason: action points of speed