test content
Logo
What is the Arc Client?
Install Arc
Imbalances (weaknesses) in Weapon/Armor enchantment scaling?
mortox911
Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 3 Arc User
Has there been any discussion from the devs so far on the clear imbalances in weapon/armor enchantment scaling? I'm talking about the ones such as Lifedrinker, Soulforged, Vorpals, etc.
For example you look at Lifedrinker, the "Lesser" variant does 4.4% weapon damage as Necrotic damage and heals you for the same. The "medium" variant does 6.1%, and the "Greater" does 7%. Basically you're paying about ~1M worth of materials to go from Lesser to Medium, for a 1.7% gain, and then about ~2.5M+ in materials on top of that to go from a Medium to a Greater for a 0.9% gain. Also keep in mind that this is a percentage of WEAPON DAMAGE not of your actual damage to the target. So what this means is that lets say you have the Castle Never weapon on your GWF, the "Ancient Castle Champion's Greatsword" with a listed damage range of 805-984, which is the highest damage weapon in the game (I think?) Your "Greater" Lifedrinker Enchantment is only going to damage/heal for 7% of 805-984 which is 56-69 per strike. This is absolutely negligible when you're dealing with combat where ~10-20k crits are not uncommon and players have 20-30k health pools. I mean who is going to spend a total of ~5M AD for such a bonus when you could get something like Greater Vorpal that adds 38% crit severity instead? Hmm a ~60 damage boost and 60 hp heal, or an extra 38% crit damage, that's a tough call.
I mean the discrepancy in power level between Enchantments is just too vast, it makes investing in most of them a complete waste of time and money. It also prohibits experimentation and build development not only because of the price but because so many of the enchantments are clearly sub-par.
Are there any plans to bring any of these enchants in line with others? I feel like the internal cooldown on some of them is what really makes them weak compared to ones that have no ICD; I mean something like Frost or Holy Avenger could be fantastic without an ICD (or a less severe one anyway) but when put beside something like Vorpal or Plague Fire there's just no comparison - even on a DC you'd be better with Plague Fire than a more buff-centric enchant like Holy Avenger simply due to this.
It's the same with Armor Enchants, many have potential but with such high ICDs you're not going to want to run much besides Soulforged anyway. I think Thunderhead, for example, could be insane if it had maybe a ~15 second CD instead of the 60 seconds it currently has. It's simply not worth it to run something that only has a percentage chance to proc when you need it to and then only once per minute. Same story with Negation, it could be great but again you have just a percentage chance for it to activate when you want it to, and then it's only up for 4 seconds every 60.
This has become a little convoluted on my part and I suppose I'm really just venting at this point; ultimately all I want to know is whether the devs are aware of the skewed power levels and whether there are plans to do anything about it? As it stands now offering such a wide array of choices, but only having a few of them actually be viable is nothing but a newbie trap.
For example you look at Lifedrinker, the "Lesser" variant does 4.4% weapon damage as Necrotic damage and heals you for the same. The "medium" variant does 6.1%, and the "Greater" does 7%. Basically you're paying about ~1M worth of materials to go from Lesser to Medium, for a 1.7% gain, and then about ~2.5M+ in materials on top of that to go from a Medium to a Greater for a 0.9% gain. Also keep in mind that this is a percentage of WEAPON DAMAGE not of your actual damage to the target. So what this means is that lets say you have the Castle Never weapon on your GWF, the "Ancient Castle Champion's Greatsword" with a listed damage range of 805-984, which is the highest damage weapon in the game (I think?) Your "Greater" Lifedrinker Enchantment is only going to damage/heal for 7% of 805-984 which is 56-69 per strike. This is absolutely negligible when you're dealing with combat where ~10-20k crits are not uncommon and players have 20-30k health pools. I mean who is going to spend a total of ~5M AD for such a bonus when you could get something like Greater Vorpal that adds 38% crit severity instead? Hmm a ~60 damage boost and 60 hp heal, or an extra 38% crit damage, that's a tough call.
I mean the discrepancy in power level between Enchantments is just too vast, it makes investing in most of them a complete waste of time and money. It also prohibits experimentation and build development not only because of the price but because so many of the enchantments are clearly sub-par.
Are there any plans to bring any of these enchants in line with others? I feel like the internal cooldown on some of them is what really makes them weak compared to ones that have no ICD; I mean something like Frost or Holy Avenger could be fantastic without an ICD (or a less severe one anyway) but when put beside something like Vorpal or Plague Fire there's just no comparison - even on a DC you'd be better with Plague Fire than a more buff-centric enchant like Holy Avenger simply due to this.
It's the same with Armor Enchants, many have potential but with such high ICDs you're not going to want to run much besides Soulforged anyway. I think Thunderhead, for example, could be insane if it had maybe a ~15 second CD instead of the 60 seconds it currently has. It's simply not worth it to run something that only has a percentage chance to proc when you need it to and then only once per minute. Same story with Negation, it could be great but again you have just a percentage chance for it to activate when you want it to, and then it's only up for 4 seconds every 60.
This has become a little convoluted on my part and I suppose I'm really just venting at this point; ultimately all I want to know is whether the devs are aware of the skewed power levels and whether there are plans to do anything about it? As it stands now offering such a wide array of choices, but only having a few of them actually be viable is nothing but a newbie trap.
Post edited by mortox911 on
0
Comments
Weapon-wise it seems like Vorpal takes the cake no matter what class you are, with Plague Fire being the only truly viable alternative for people on a budget.
For Armor, is there anything besides Soulforged that's even remotely worthwhile?
What's the point of variety when all but one or two options are effectively a trap and a huge waste of money?