Larian Studios Forums Divinity: Original Sin 2 Divinity - Original Sin 2 - General Anyone else disappointed by the Combat Abilities?

I mean compared to the first game, the combat abilities (I think they were called skills in DOS1) are just really underwhelming. I mean 3% damage bonus? 7% armour bonus? Makes almost no difference.

Seems like the only thing worth putting points into is the skills to get more spells.

Edit: Just noticed the Vitality combat ability goes: 4% at lvl 1, 5% at lvl 2, 6% at lvl 3. And it's not even 4+5+6, it's just 4 to 5 to 6. What? Why would anyone chose this over the spells?

Crit multiplier, extra damage on top of static bonuses, crit chance, etc.

Really, you want to say all those things make no difference? Even the armor ones matter after awhile because having enough to survive an alpha strike means the difference between being CC'ed for the first few rounds or being able to shrug it off.

Some skills are essential to the build. For example if you don't use two weapon fighting or Two handed weapon skill... It is useless to even bother using those.

But I will say the ones for Scoundrel, Warfare, Hydrosophy, Necromancy, and the like... Do feel kind of gamey in a manner of speaking...

It would be one thing if they just improved that school or made you better within that school...

---

Also no... You never can just "shrug it off" from an alpha strike :P

If you consume all your resources and put yourself at a tactical and strategic risk for the next few turns while failing to achieve your objective that's essentially having your alpha strike being shrugged off. That can happen on both sides in the EA (and in other games too).

No...

Shrugging off an alpha strike means doing a full attack.

In this game's terms it would be using all your AP on attack.

In Mechwarrior/Battletech it was firing every gun you had.

Having tactical or strategic risk isn't necessary to the definition.

I agree with the defensive skills being lackluster, but Scoundrel and Two-hand skills were pretty exciting for a 2h Warrior character. Crit multiplier on both those skills allow you big hits during Rage, and the increased Movement speed along with Strength from utilizing 2handers gives you a lot of movement over the battlefield without the plethora of movement abilities available to a Warfare/Scoundrel Knight mix.

Gotta say I agree. Now It may very well turn out that the extra % you get are a huge help in the end, but for me that doesn't change the fact that it feels very underwhelming. Small % differences are very boring IMO. I had the same issue with DOS1 but it's worse in 2. I do love the skill and perk systems, outside of that I have always felt that the stats and leveling were one of DOS's weakest points (needles to say I love the game in general).

For comparisons sake my favorite leveling/stat system of all time is from the slightly obscure cult classic 'Arcanum: of steamworks and magick obscura'. It was so open ended and every choice you made felt like it had tremendous impact, at the same time every stat/skill/perk you choose not to get felt like a tremendous loss. A level-up in that game ended up being such a high-point, and the choice was always teeth grinding.

I think that part of the problem here is that Marian are presenting us with a game that has it's math set up in a way we're not used to seeing.
There's actually a good case for linear scaling, as opposed to exponential. It's how those numbers factor against the opponent's stats that's important, specifically how they scale between levels

Linear scaling? I'm curious what you mean by this because it seems like the scaling is % based. Whereas I see linear scaling as: +2 to damage,
not +2 to damage and +5%.

I am feeling that I am missing something about the scaling of this game, as what I see on my character sheet doesn't directly translate to how it's working in the game.

For example, I waltzed into the cavern of poisonous frogs at level 1 and died within one round. Coming back at level three, with no new skills, % damage malus' through poor stat distribution and maybe ~30 more hp on average per character (including from Arm/MagArm) I found the fight a cakewalk.

Has anyone tested whether we get flat + stats on level like Attack Bonus works in D&D?

I feel like the fights are fun, engaging, and possibly too easy. I also haven't gotten the feeling like the scaling is off somewhere.
BUT
I do feel that while browsing my options while leveling up nothing screams "yay click me" or "meaningful game changing choice" which is a problem. As the 'level up' and the customization power increase that comes with it is a huge part of the fun of combat RPG games.
This could simply be a presentation problem, as the choices may be way more awesome than they look, so then you'd just need to make the choices look more awesome or make the awesomeness more apparent.

I have basically been putting all my Combat ability points into the Skill category I've been using because other than that, the only thing which seems worth investing in is your weapon specialization.

Of course, that makes sense since the Combat ability points go to [Weapon Type] / [Skill Set] / [Defense]. It's really just that the Defense category is too underwhelming compared to points in the other types.

Can't say most skills are anything to write home about either. Just Necromancy (if not zombie).
There seems to be some hidden leveling boosts, but nothing, and I mean literally nothing, is explained on the skills itself or anything. Fortify still tells me it gives 30 armor, and by now it's already 2.5x that amount. Why? Nobody says. What's the formula? Nothing.

Why did they get rid of charge... I loved that ability...

i like the necromancy bonus. not b/c its super strong or something like that but because for RPG reasons. think about it used by an undead! yeah!