they also said that they can increase the challenge in r6+ skulls. which they probably should, as constant updates, tweaks, nerfs, and fixes maintains a healthier meta. and they can introduce new things for reapers to do tactically/spell-wise/buffs.

@Pseudonym

I feel the same.

Frank wrote on Aug 10^th, 2018 at 7:01am:


It's a circle that needs to happen in an MMO. I used to play PnP 2nd edition, so the game didn't go south when tanks started to sport 7k hitpoints (9 times more than a freaking tarrasque! (5th edition) )

This game started to derail when they changed up the enhancements to be more WoW-like.

Rickyretardo wrote on Aug 10^th, 2018 at 7:52am:


From a game design perspective that was the right move. It broadened the appeal and removed some of the confusion from the previous system. The issue is it however built the tiers and the asinine point requirements.

Let alone the general change in power design further fucked the system. Had they merely translated the old to the new during MotU without the first pass, things would have been better.

Who Cares wrote on Aug 10^th, 2018 at 3:15pm:

I think you just won the internet today.  By far the most accurate summarization of his posts.

Frank wrote on Aug 10^th, 2018 at 7:01am:


A)  Reaper mode is not "trivial".   The people claiming it is are trolls.   Elite has been trivial for years.  Trivial is when even a moderately knowledgeable player with a moderately geared toon with little or a few past lives can complete ANY and ALL content on that difficulty with ANY class solo with NO risk of a single death, let alone failure, and do so in the same time it would take to run an easier difficulty.

R10 does not fit that description.  R10 still requires either a specific(few) builds in specific (few) quests by a handful of skilled/knowledgeable players to be completed solo.  And then not in the same time period you could run R1-R5.  Most completions are full/mostly full groups with players satisfying specific roles and working in some coordination.   Death is common.  Failure is a possibility (or high resource cost for recoveries) if the group is not up to snuff.   

That's not trivialized content.

B)  This change, which I would have done differently were I developing it, is designed to target a specific issue which exists in some content, not just reaper, that disproportionately affects a subset of builds/classes.   It's a balance pass.   The problem is that the methodology in question is flawed and builds are so varied that it is very difficult to target the builds you want to provide a benefit to.   

C)  One of the biggest community feedback issues will be builds/classes this change is not intended for thinking it should be intended for them.  Ranged and casters will see "ooohhh  HPs!!!!!  I gotta have that.  I deserve to  have that.  SSG is screwing me by nerfing my character when I get the HPs!!!!!"    No dumbass.   The HP are not for you.      (That's part of why this solution is flawed.  You need one that clearly keeps it where you want it to be)

D)  It is possible that the better solution is to make changes on the content side in the particularly problematic content.  (Hint.  It's not R10 6 man content or high skulls in general.  If you think this is about high skulls/R10, then you don't know what you are talking about.  Time to keep quiet and learn first or ask questions and learn first before spouting off your opinion)

Vaultaccount wrote on Aug 11^th, 2018 at 12:51pm:

Close, but not quite.

What they want to balance, but will never be able to, is player skill, at least not without dumbing down the game to the point that all the good players get bored at the lack of challenge and quit.  Skilled players are what make R10 trivial, not this build or that build.  Change the builds and the good players will find the new meta while the bad players continue crying about the same stupid, incorrect crap they do now.

Another way to put it is, you could give a full group of mouth-breathers from the mobos (Chai, Fran, etc.) quadruple-triple completionist reaper capable toons and they'd still fail completely and utterly at end-game R10.  Give a full group of the players in those high-skull Baba and Strahd completions first-life toons with a full set of RL gear, and they'd clear the same R10s without trouble (and probably be drunk while doing it).

Coding can't fix stupid and there's a lot of stupid on the mobos.

Rubbinns wrote on Aug 11^th, 2018 at 2:06pm:

Yes, this is probably true.  The tank/s would probably need PLs.  The rest would be doable.

Asheras wrote on Aug 11^th, 2018 at 12:08pm:


I agreed with a fair amount of your post, but I'd like to point out that you don't get to decide what trivial means in this context and then call everyone who disagrees with your definition a troll.

Rubbinns wrote on Aug 11^th, 2018 at 2:33pm:


I was arguing that the difference was not all from pl and also that one shouldn't take kolbold tests as real game dps (people don't test a build, they build for a test), but ofc I agree past lives help a lot with dps. The difference is even greater when it comes to defense, because a character with less defense has to sacrifice dps to survive, and the game is in a so terrible situation that even if do build for more survivability, the grinded out guy will have more survivability in his full dps focused build.

Vaultaccount wrote on Aug 11^th, 2018 at 3:10pm:

agreed, but the difference between a game build and a kobold racer is not that different depending on the build. tempest, for example, is almost point for point the same as it would be in game. Pretty much true for barbs, too.

Very few ap are different. The most an in game build would differ from a pure kobold racing spec'd build is around a handful of ap. Like, dropping assassinate on rogue, or not taking stalwart on fighter.

Digimonk wrote on Aug 11^th, 2018 at 3:40pm:


No, i know. I was just stating that I regularly get smashed by someone with reaper wings on my server that has limited knowledge of what mobs even do, how to build and gear properly, or how to use optimal rotations and abilities. the guy solos r6 grim while getting carried purely by past lives, reaper points and smarter people gearing and building him. meanwhile if that same player makes his own build, or was on a character before all this power was acquired; he would be shit tier.

Rubbinns wrote on Aug 11^th, 2018 at 2:06pm:


R10 Strahd.   

Lol.