Larian Studios Forums Divinity - Original Sin Divinity - Original Sin - General Comprehensive list of changes I would like to see.

I really like this game, but it has some issues that a lot of us seem to agree on. I was thinking a lot about what this game needs today, and I decided it would be nice to have a post where we can document and discuss what we want. Most of this stuff is not new, but I'll start with my list:

1) Elemental resistances. These should be decided by a resistance "rating" rather than flat percentages. Flat percentages just result in us being nearly invincible in the second half of the game, which is boring. With ratings, you can implement diminishing returns so it's very difficult to get over, say, 80% resistance to any element. You can also make it so each point of rating is less effective at each higher level, while higher level gear has higher ratings, encouraging us to update our gear. We should only be immune to or absorbing elements with special traits such as zombie. Physical armor is already done with a "rating" so I'm surprised elements were not done the same way.

2) Sneak 5. We shouldn't be able to strike and then re-stealth in the same turn. It basically makes us invincible (as with the resistances above). I propose that attacking from stealth "marks" the character as spotted that turn, meaning he/she can't re-stealth. This makes sense because striking out of nowhere would definitely attract attention. This would give the AI a turn to attack us in between stealth attacks in most cases, and leaping away or otherwise creating distance after attacking would remain a valid strategy.

3) Invisibility. We shouldn't be able to just steal ANYTHING or bypass ANY fight with invisibility. The AI should be able to use its own "hearing" stat to detect our presence and somehow respond. Perhaps if we walk too close to a monster and it "hears" us, a nearby caster would be able to cast a spell to detect us and force us into combat. Some powerful creatures (demons, shamans, seers) or those sensitive to vibrations (spiders, earth elementals) should also be able to detect us and enter combat. This would help the developers control which fights should and should not be easily avoidable or "cheesable." And, if you stole using invisibility right in front of a mage, you might get caught with a detection spell, or the townsperson would call the city guard which may include a mage that can see you. I would even be fine with removing invisibility if the potential countermeasures are too much work. It doesn't belong in a game with no countermeasures.

4) Tweaks to the AI. The AI, at least in the case of opponents of human-like intelligence, should know not to throw poison at zombies or fire at fire elementals. They also shouldn't throw all their spells at a summoned spider just because it is there. They need more of the spells already present in the game to present a challenge at later levels. Enemy pyromancers, for example, should sometimes use purifying fire on my protection shields or healing spells...which brings me to my next point.

5) Elemental shield spells. I really don't think these things are working correctly. They all seem to create an ablative shield equal to my current HP against ALL damage types, in addition to their other effects. This makes us nearly impossible kill once we have a healthy hp pool, since these spells also have a pretty low cooldown. The ablative portion of the spell should only shield me against the element appropriate for the spell, and it should be a flat amount based on caster level, instead of mirroring my hp.

6) Attacks of opportunity. Intelligence based skills and ranged attacks should set these off. Being engaged in close combat should really matter.

7) Leech. Rename this to vampire, with the following effects: adds some fire vulnerability (25%?), but you can no longer bleed because your body actively attracts blood, (Prevents abusing your own blood with bloodletting or the like to full heal) but you heal significantly as you walk over blood and consume it. This removes the main exploit with the skill, and the drawback makes it more in line with zombie and more interesting.

8) Rework the Tenebrium skill. This one is pretty obvious. Tenebrium handling should probably be a free talent. However,I could see a separate Tenebrium crafting skill that would influence the amount of damage added to weapons by Tenebrium bars.

9) An enforced hardcore/ironman mode. The only options in this mode are to save and quit, or continue. There is no save-scumming and party wipes are permanent. Yes, you could probably get around it by crashing the game or outright resetting your computer, but I think having an actual mode for hardcore players would really raise the re-playability value of the game and inspire me to do some runs. Especially if some of the game's exploits are fixed and it gets harder.

What do you think? Am I off-base? Do you have any ideas?

I disagree with 1.
In general, I don't like relying on 'diminishing returns' formulas. I would rather have both Armor and Resistance be a flat reduction in damage, or a percentage reduction in damage. Otherwise it's very hard for me to know what benefit I am actually getting when I get +50 armor/resist. I'm not certain what the formula is behind armor, does anyone know?
Solving the resistances problem is pretty straightforward - just limit what stats you can get from what equipment.
Only allow resistance on Chest, Ring, and Necklace. Each of which is capped at 30% resist for one element, or 10% resist for all.

I thought about what you are saying, but I think soft caps are better than hard caps. Also, do we then remove the resistances from all spells like Fire Shield or Immune to Burning to preserve our hard cap? The rating system, while somewhat vague at first, incorporates all of the game's existing mechanics.

No, because I think the player SHOULD be able to push their resistances up past 100%.
Just not for all resistances, at all times.
My numbers would allow you to have well over 100% resistance for one (but only one) element, at all times.
Or you could have 65% resist to ALL elements (with weather the storm), which you could then push past 100 by spending some AP.

The problem, as I see it, is not that the player can become immune to elements. It's that it's so easy to become permanently immune to all of them.

I kinda agree with the ALL Immunity by end game.
Game was kinda hard till I spent most crafting resources on capping the resists, and suddenly most magic attacks are ignored by my mage, who is only worried of stun/knockdowns.

1. I think Weather the Storm is too strong of a talent, mostly because it provides "all resist" rather than picking an element to boost. I think Weather the Storm should be removed from the game. I do not think the concept of "I have over 100 resistance so I can heal" should be removed from the game. Having over 100 resistance and healing is pretty darn cool, providing the game doesn't set you up for a relatively easy "80+ in every single element."

2. Actually, it's not hard to imagine a ranged attacker making attacks from cover and remaining functionally invisible. Even with a melee character, it's not unbelievable so long as the kills are "silent." The problem has more to do with Sneak 5 reducing the AP cost to a ridiculously low 1, while Sneak is useless in combat with an AP cost of 4 or more. The concept of an ability reducing AP cost by 1 per point is not one which is possible to balance. It's the AP mechanics of Sneak which should change, not something which makes the "sneaky rogue" character type unplayable.

3, 4, 5, and 6. Agree.

7. I think Leech will need some added prerequisites in order to be a cool talent. If we keep it at "no prerequisite," we'd have to hit it so hard with a nerf bat to keep it balanced that it wouldn't be interesting anymore for people to take. Whether or not your version of it hit it hard enough with the nerf bat or not isn't really the point.

8. Yep.

9. Pretty much impossible to implement. It's a single-player game so we should be assuming players are cheating as much as they feel like. If you want to do this, just enforce the rule upon yourself.

Since I havent played that much yet everything I say should be taken with a grain of salt, but as outlined the above issues seems the kind of issues I would want dealt with in ALL games. so please +1 vote to address these issues somehow.

Cause we aren't already having next to none useful talents?
Might aswell take the talent system out if our choices are 'get 2 more HP from food' or 'make durability less of a problem, what do you mean, it's already so nerfed that repair/durability isn't an issue anyway?'

I also wouldn't want 100%+ to be out of the game for the PC to achieve. Having plate armor get +25% all (barring boosts to boost it more) is probably a bit too much though yes.

I don't quite agree with 6. AoE is powerful enough as is. Making enemy wizards useless by just parking your melee next to it is not something we need.
And as I always say about 9... I seriously don't see why developers need to waste time for people's inability to control themselves. There are better things to do with that time...

The goal is to struggle against a challenge and win. If the only thing you're struggling with is your own self moderation, it's less compelling.

I thoroughly disagree. Currently, being engaged in melee combat feels pretty meaningless. I would go so far as to say there shouldn't be a limit on attacks of opportunity, and that bows should trigger them too. If you're getting run down by a dude swinging a sword, your first priority should be to remove yourself from that situation. A mage should not be able to totally ignore someone who is swinging a sword near their head.

Currently, ranged characters can completely ignore attacks of opportunity. In my opinion, they are the characters who should be most threatened by attacks of opportunity.

Not really... they have to shoot the target infront of them... if they want another (unless behind them) they have to move anyway.

As said, I think AoO would be too powerful like that. Just locking down enemies in place is easy enough as is, nothing added by making it even easier. Infinite AoO's is even worse... just sit there while the enemy kills itself in it's own turn... what a fun (not)...