If anything at all?
This single-handedly ruins the combat in DOS2. I bought this game after reading all these 10/10 reviews praising it for its strategy and challenge only to find out it's just artificial difficulty due to stat inflation.
I don't have a problem if an enemy fighter targets my party member with the lowest armor. That's smart, fair, and exactly what the player should do against the enemy. I don't necessarily have a problem wih the physical/magical armor separation either because I can see pros and cons to it.
I DO have a problem when an enemy who is the same level as me has twice my armor, three times my damage and four times my health. It forces me into a constant cycle of looting every container, grabbing very object that's not nailed down, and transferring everything to my barterer to sell so I can scrounge up enough gold to buy equipment that's half as effective as the enemy's just so I don't get two-shotted. Then I meet an enemy one level above me and repeat the same process all over again because all my equipment became obsolete.
There is no strategy involved; no counterplay. It's cheap, artificial difficulty that gives the illusion of challenge. This is no different to games like Destiny 2 that gates your progress based on a gear system that forces you to grind.
So Larian, can you give an official statement about what you're doing or planning to do with the stat inflation in DOS2? Or perhaps it's too hard to fix without changing the entire combat system to maintain the challenge that earnt the game so many praises from reviewers. Or maybe criticisms posted on message boards don't mean much when the game already has a 90+ rating on metacritic.
If nothing changes, I fully expect DOS3 to be a loot grinder like Diablo 3. Perhaps we could have an auction house as well.
Last edited by puff_ng; 06/10/17 03:56 AM.
