General critique of game, gameplay and skills

[AdianAntilles]

Hello everybody,
i recently upgraded my ubuntu to 19.10 and with this came a 1. release of Flare. Psyched, since i played the beta demo very happily, i started a wizard char and played her like nobodys buisness. No worries, this is no "I liked where this is going but now i am disappointed"-post. No, quite the contrary. I really enjoyed the empyrean campaign and see how this could lead to more campaigns (imagine being in empyrea and suddenly the realm is under attack from beings from another realm or kingdom etc). Here is my general critique of the gameplay.
First of all, its not as easy as in comparable games, like diablo. One cannot kite enemies and obliterate whole stacks with aoe attacks, no, one has to use pulling tactics. Without aoe blasts, its very hard to hit an enemy, since they move around and elude direct attacks with their movement.
But it is not impossible to run through a game in less than 10 hours. The only real match was Metzger, where i died like 4 times until i ran past him, teleported to another isle and blasted his pulled butt to pieces. His aoe dark attack really got me.
Generally, the story is wonderfully developed. More flavour devices would be nice, like books you can read in the book shelves or the stands.
I managed in power level every time a new level began, but i feel that the item drops felt a little bit low. I stumbled over 3 set pieces and used them in the levels accordingly, but i hadn't had the "Diablo" Experience, where only certain drops are picked up. Maybe you want it that way, but i want to feed back that i had both ring slots with item drop and it was very hard to find something useful. Often, i would rather sell my whole stash for money.
To the wizard class: Investing two points in an aoe skill is costly, yet absolutely necessary for hitting enemies. The single target spells don't hit anything, so you have to invest two points in a mana-costlier spell that does less damage! Here, i would really liked a steeper progress, but on the other hand the game seems perfectly balanced. With that, i mean that there is seldom the case of me going back to a earlier level and farming xp there. I managed to kill the endboss (whatshisname? i don't remember.) with lvl 16 and heavy use of pots.
I didn't complete the infinity quest, the third statue is missing. Does anyone know where to find it?
Maybe i walk through the whole game once or twice, to look up the other chars. If i do that, if you want to hear it, i repeat the critique for warrior and ranger.
My build was a 2/1 Mental/Defense fire build.
Love and greetz, AA

[dorkster]

Thanks for the positive feedback!

Maybe you want it that way, but i want to feed back that i had both ring slots with item drop and it was very hard to find something useful. Often, i would rather sell my whole stash for money.

I kind of agree. The problem with the current way we do drop bonuses is that it affects the entire loot table. The player gets a bonus to their chance to find rare items, but the same bonus applies to lesser items. So the player can end up littered with junk. I think implementing some way to fine-tune drop rate bonuses by item quality would be a good idea. That way, we could have a piece of equipment that jacks up the drop rate for only rare/unique items.

I didn't complete the infinity quest, the third statue is missing. Does anyone know where to find it?

It's located in Fort Nasu, which can be reached from the Dilapidated Sewers.

[AdianAntilles]

Maybe you want it that way, but i want to feed back that i had both ring slots with item drop and it was very hard to find something useful. Often, i would rather sell my whole stash for money.

I kind of agree. The problem with the current way we do drop bonuses is that it affects the entire loot table. The player gets a bonus to their chance to find rare items, but the same bonus applies to lesser items. So the player can end up littered with junk. I think implementing some way to fine-tune drop rate bonuses by item quality would be a good idea. That way, we could have a piece of equipment that jacks up the drop rate for only rare/unique items.

So this is how it works. AFAIK this is the same effect in Diablo. Speaking from personal experience, there is no harm in leaving white stuff on the ground and only picking up rare and unique items. But maybe you want every drop to be meaningful to the game, then your proposed way would be preferable. But running around with 115% drop and only getting aloes and crystals is kinda disappointing. Then again, my equipment is on the better side there could be, as far as i can tell. I would only have loved to see more from the sets and uniques.

Edit: I managed it into infinity dungeons and must say, as a beta player, was positively surprised to see some old dungeons there. Expected a side quest, but i can see the logic of a xp farming site right before the end of the story. Nice to see a merchant in vicinity as well, so i deem it fairly good. Am farmed up to level 17 now. Archmage Staff droped in a dungeon, so i am quite certain this build is not going to be any more powerful anytime soon. I wished there were more sets and uniques, so i could take on the endboss more than once, but i fear my power would let me down if i attempted that.
Further ideas for the game:

• Items with skill bonuses for advancement further than lvl 5.
• Items according to possible builds: Mental/Defence, Physical/Offence/Defence, Physical/Offence
• increase Bosses drop possibilities for uniques, sets and rares
• Items with cross-class skill boni (MP regen for Brutes and Scouts, HP/regen and absorb for Wizards, crit improvment for Wizards)
• Alchemy for more than just Pots, i.e. lvl-based crafting of magic items with third ingredient
• Items that reduce cooldown of abilities (always waiting for the magic shield to come off cooldown is slowing the game experience down)
• Rare potions that increase attributes permanently -> if its there, i would use it, even off build attributes
• Resistances higher than 100% heal when exposed to resisted damage
• Leeching for mana and health -> increased survivability of Fighter and Scouts

[AdianAntilles]

Hey, i did manage to "run" the campaign with a fighter in 4 hours. Build was pretty straightforward 3/2 Physical/Defense, with some crit chance pinched in at lvls over 14. Generally, the fighter has a way higher survivability and is more likely to deal high damage with his abilities. I generally find this build more playable than the Mage, since you only need one skillpoint per stat of the aoe damage. And it does 15% per lvl! The fact that its only an aoe close to the character doesn't make it any weaker, since nobody wants to be close to me anyways. I never used shield bash, since the base run speed is enough to close in on creeps.Warcry is paramount to survive, but one point in it is enough. At 32% Crit, i smashed lezaith in the ground, not even sharpened him to do so.
Maybe i try a rogue next, or a throw fighter, but i generally have a problem with ranged classes without meaningful aoe. But! It was fun to play the brute. Smash'em, boil'em, stick'em with a stick!

[flarediablo]

@AdianAntilles

Actually, the mage is more durable in the later stages of the game with a maxed Shield. I could easily tank Metzger, just need to wait for the Shield cooldown to reset before teleporting to his location.

Some of my other thoughts:

1. Shield gets improved by increasing the Mental attribute, however its protection also gets increased by equipping the Owl figurine (+10 mental damage). That seems to be a bit misleading.

2. I believe another merchant should be added somewhere between the mines/caves and Temple of Mez... perhaps if Aldwulf didn't die (presumably happened off-screen) so quickly he could be that merchant. Explore Stormrock Ruins, find him hidden inside, rescue him(?) and he start selling items to you. Something like that.

3. The drop rate of items, especially rare items from bosses, is a bit screwy. Often I see a defeated boss drop two of the same rare item.

4. Too many aloe veras and mana crystals. Either reduce their drops or allow each inventory slot to stack a lot (200?) of them. This is more pertinent in future if you wish to add more alchemy ingredients.

5. The artwork of tier 2/3/4 armor for warrior and ranger should be differentiated. For example, the leather gloves for a warrior should look different than that from leather gloves for a ranger. And call them something else e.g. gauntlets, pauldrons.