My lvl 2 heroes are also pretty well equiped, +16 orc armor etc. Of course I knew the location from previous alpha, but also the vendor already has some nice replacements which you can buy early on. I feel I shouldn't be able to wear this armor before level 6 or so. I just got into the game and I'm already superstrong, I don't like this. There is two ways to deal with this:
-Put lvl requirements as well as str requirements on items.
-Put stat/lvl cap. For example if you're level 2, you may have max 7 str/int/dex etc.
Level requirements on items are a
terrible mechanic - not only are they a meta-game balance response, they serve no purpose barring admitting you cannot balance your ingame mechanics. Likewise, capping stats to level is also a
terrible idea - I don't feel I need to even explain that one.
My level 1 fighter had
Str: 10 (9 base + perk 'big & better). My level 9 fighter has
Str 11 (+gear, for 12/13, depending on load-out).
See the issue?
Character creation is optimal if you pump early, then fill out your character's other stats.
All players will do this (and, indeed, the presets encourage this). Capping to level just isn't on the cards ('cause, you know, Larian can actually make RPGs).
Put another way - if we take level 10 to be 50% of a character's lifetime [at which point, I have severe issues with game length, but I digress] or even 33%, then a character should be [ideally] getting to 50-66% of full potential in a stat on generation
if they pump that stat excluding all others[1]. e.g. our base fighter starts with 10, ends with 14/15 @ level 20... which is our magic 33% growth.
For the record:
The armor is AC 16, Str+1, +res Earth 15% [Unique]. Req: 9 str.
As a comparison, purchasing armor @ level 9 from Esmeralda, I find:
"
Fortifying Metal Armor" - AC 40, Mov -0.56 Req: str 11 (2167gp) or "
Fortifying Boiled Leather Ring Armor of the Warrior" AC 28 Mov +0.42, Str+1, Initiative +1 Req:
Dex 8 (1097gp).
Obviously, what's missing is a requirement for the skill 'Armor Specialist'[2]. I complained about the requirements on shields, because the scaling was way off (i.e. the metal bucklers etc should have been shield specialist: 1,
not 4), but I didn't expect the removal of skill requirements on gear. In the above situation, the Orc armor should be 2, the others 3 for the fighter, 2 for the survivalist/rogue [because the skill is more costly for that class, in terms of skill spread, essentially. However, the dex requirement should be 9/10 at least, the scaling is off].
This is obvious, surely?
[1]This is a rough rule-of-thumb. Actually crunching the numbers requires an excel spread sheet, the formula for gear mechanics etc. With the RNG Larian is using, they'll have a master sheet that generates values against a level progression.
[2]Another way to do this is what Larian seems to be going for with the -mov penalties; however, without some serious tool-tip explanation of how much -mov = -AP etc, and how much 'Armor Specialist' off-sets this, it's an irritating mechanic atm. Rogue armors should
not give +mov bonuses, unless they have that specific pre/suffix either. [Trust me: it will break shit @ higher levels of dex/speed builds if the higher the level armor, the higher the +mov bonus]. A simpler mechanic would be to have tiers of weight (none, light, medium, heavy, titanic) that gave -AP penalties, with each level of Armor Specialist off-setting a tier. Simplistic, but it works; you can also do this through number-crunching, but making it transparent to the player means you'll translate it into crappy lore text anyhow. SHOW LORE/GUFF NOT NUMBERS! [rule-of-thumb 101]
