I was going to complain about how the Shield Expertise ability seemed kinda lame because all other weapon specializations only need 1 ability. Instead, I decided to try it out: I'm playing a two-warrior build. One will boost 1H and Shields, one will boost 1H only. They'll get the same attributes and talents at the same time, and I'll see if maxing shield expertise is really worthwhile. It adds 5% blocking per level, so I'll see if that +25% blocking makes a noticable difference.

I will still suggest automatically adding some kind of Shield Bashing skill for putting points into Shield Expertise. Hmmm... Maybe it does one round of Stun per level of Shield Expertise (but the AP cost also rises with points into Shield Expertise)?

How does this sound:

Shield Bash (Requires Shield Expertise 1)
Shield Expertise Rank 1: Shield Bash stuns for 1 turn(s). AP: 5 Cooldown: 4 turns
Shield Expertise Rank 2: Stuns for 2 turn(s). AP: 6 Cooldown: 4 turns
Shield Expertise Rank 3: Stuns for 3 turn(s). AP: 6 Cooldown: 5 turns
Shield Expertise Rank 4: Stuns for 4 turn(s). AP: 7 Cooldown: 5 turns
Shield Expertise Rank 5: Stuns for 5 turn(s). AP: 8 Cooldown: 6 turns




Originally Posted by SniperHF
Been compiling some of my general observations since Alpha release, figured I'd dump them in here.

1. The frozen water and in general other elemental status effects take too long to dissipate outside of combat. Trying to grab Items in the middle of a frozen sheet of ice is really annoying without fire spells.


I agree, although I'm sure that's just a bug with certain causes of ice. Ice from Winterbreath and Ice Shard melts properly.

Poison from killed undead also sticks around forever.

Quote
4. I would like to see spell scrolls have a better tactical use then just as a substitute for having the skill. Right now scrolls cost almost as much as the skill itself in gold. This makes them instant sell items for me. Right now I only see them as valuable if you have no wizard or to cast spells you can't learn yet. So once you have the spell learned from a book that makes the scroll version of it a garbage sale item.


One use for them is to cast the spell again while the spell is still on cooldown.

Quote
5. I agree with Stabbey about the 2 handed crushing weapon issue. There should be some giant mauls or something. But I disagree on the crushing weapon for back stabbing. That seems like an appropriate trade off for picking a back stabbing weapon to me. Since it's still just a 1 handed weapon you can go with a club.


The Blackjack would essentially be in all respects just a crushing-damage version of the dagger. Same AP cost, same low damage, same inherent backstabbing ability.

The reason why I want that is because I ALSO want the resistances of the undead increased to something like 50% resistance to slashing/piercing. Right now, daggers work fine backstabbing against the undead - not amazingly well, but acceptably well. However, if the resistances get boosted like I hope, that will mean much less damage - even with a backstab, and Rogues won't be very viable against a LOT of the enemies in the alpha.


Daggers are dexterity based, and I'm sure that Clubs are Strength based (and they can't backstab by default).


Quote
6. Staff of Pergamon recovery needs a dual dialog screen. Perhaps one party member would prefer to keep it.


That does sound like a good idea, trigger a one-time dual dialogue if someone tries to give it back, but if someone tries to give it back again, it's auto-given back?


Quote

9. Weapon skill investments don't seem to have a corresponding benefit for their cost. Right now since everything is attribute based it's too easy to switch weapons around without much consequences. My two handed sword user can switch to a 1 handed club without any ill effects at all. The slight damage boost is not enough incentive for upgrading your weapon skills heavily. My suggestion would be to move the chance to hit bonus from the attribute over to the skill side.

That way a high strength character can use weapons that make sense for a strength character. And the skill level represents a level of training boosting your efficiency with that weapon. This way you face a clear penalty for switching away from your chosen discipline. But not make everything unusable like the old level locks.


I agree with this as well. I paid attention once when I boosted my 2H weapon skill, and it increased my minimum and maximum damage by a whopping 2. Yay, that was sure worth all those AB points.

Last edited by Stabbey; 08/02/14 02:37 AM. Reason: shield bash