PD
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One of the things that I've been doing a lot recently is playing a lot of low level AQ. And one thing I noticed is that compared to older quests, new quests now scale the monster's level equally to the player's level thanks to the Engine Version 45 update.
Beforehand this would follow a stepwise function in increments of 15. So for example, if you were level 19, you'd face level 15 monsters until you got to level 30, which at that point you'd start to face level 30 monsters. And at level 35, you'd keep facing level 30 until you got to 45 when you faced level 45 monsters, and repeat so on and so forth.
But this update to automatically scale the monster to the player's level has drastically increased the difficulty of playing early on. Equipment stats matter much more than player stats as a function of damage for most of the early game. Not only that, monster damage now scales much faster than the player has the ability to take in damage. And due to the stat scaling, the monster will also dodge far more than usual due to enemies now also gaining scaling MRM while player stats remain hampered by the lack of quick upgradeability.
Though I suppose this balance issue is also a question - is it implicitly assumed that at the early game (up to level ~50) you're meant to buy most of your items at Yulgar's given that quest items tend to be bad options for the early game in terms of keeping up with monster stats? Though I think even if this assumption is true, the game is in fact a lot harder than it used to be than before this scaling update. Or at least monsters would give you some time to build up before your next expected tier. Now this is not true anymore, and you have to replace far more frequently than the assumed replacement rate:
quote:
Assumed Equipment Replacement
These assumptions are not hard requirements but rather an average assumed baseline of what will happen. These assumptions are also not necessarily the most-efficient use of gold. For example, you will probably find it useful to replace armors more frequently and shields less frequently at higher levels, and warriors will have much less use for spell upgrades, so act as you see fit.
Weapon: One upgrade per level, so each item is replaced every 7 levels.
Spell: One upgrade per level, so each item is replaced every 8 levels.
Pet: One upgrade per two levels, so each item is replaced every 16 levels.
Misc: One upgrade per two levels, so each item is replaced every 16 levels.
Armor: One upgrade per three levels, so each element is replaced every 21 levels.
Shield: One upgrade per three levels, so each element is replaced every 21 levels.
A common piece of advice is that defense doesn't really matter early on but this could hardly be further from the truth: With equal level scaling defense actually matters a lot, especially against monsters with damage skills.
Now I know no numbers are being shown here despite this being the balance forum, and possibly with the fact that Yulgar's is just the assumption, that this is all within the game design. However I actually think it's acceptable (maybe even required) for the early game to throw weaker-than-usual monsters at the player given the critical stage of the game. Games should be easy early on an then ramp up in difficulty, yet AQ is actually at its easiest when you are at max level because you no longer have to worry about keeping up with stats along with a host of other reasons. So I guess what I'm asking for at the end of the day is a change to the Engine's scaling function so that it still continues to be automatic, but returned to a stepwise of every 15 or 20 levels.
I also want to mention that these equal-scale monsters now also regenerate SP way faster than they should. It results in them being able to skill you every 2 turns instead of the standard 4 turns.
< Message edited by PD -- 9/24/2022 15:35:51 >
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