Posts by Brontes

Quote from Merkur

I didn't notice any editing. Nevertheless, my tank will also defeat the second boss without any problems. Not only that, he will defeat every next one, only the first one, not

I cannot directly comment on why that is as the specific circumstances are not known to me, but thank you for bringing this observation to the table. We will be monitoring the damage dealt by the first boss closely following this patch.

Quote from Merkur

Quote from Brontes

Damage reduction skills like Shield of Discipline or the Warrior/Priests Barbarian Battle Cry work, if that was your question. This also includes the Warlock ISS or similar things. Direct increases of defense will have their effectiveness drastically lowered due to the increase in attack countering the increase in defense.

My question was if every skill in the game that reduces damage taken works for KS, I'm not just talking about the tank here. From my observations and also following this thread, it appears that this is not the case. A similar situation took place at hoto.

The only things that cannot be reduced in damage are certain damage over time debuffs and fixed damage. The only source of fixed damage in this instance are the muses which have direct counterplay to their flat damage. This consists of proper positioning or shielding.

Quote from Merkur

Quote from Brontes

With the addition of refined artefacts the grind (overall) will have to be re-done by the "big guys" too; I realize that the changes may seem frustrating without specifics but it is important to note that the devil lies in the details here.

But getting to the stage where we are has been made difficult for these players, you will not tell me that it is not. You won't tell me it's easier for them than for them, or the same.

It is slightly harder than it was before, so much is true; but the soft requirement of a golden rofl set (and frankly, enough skill to play the events) is enough to incentivize the weaker players to seek alternatives to Kalin until they are ready. This is intended.

Quote from Merkur

Quote from Brontes

That being said, the entire dynamic that one could obtain an artefact without running the full instance was a design flaw; one that had to be fixed. The solution to create an upgrade so that players are incentivized to fully run the instance is just the natural progression.

I would like to ask, since this is an oversight, how did this happen, if there was no such possibility at hoto.

New systems provide new frameworks and challanges - and the idea that one may upgrade materials that drop was supposed to take the pressure off the players, get the progression towards the artefact more fluid and make it easier to split the loot for random parties, as one could then simply divide by the number of players in the party to distribute. During testing, the focus laid on mostly damage values, mechanics, the artefacts themselves. Mistakes have been made and we'll avoid them in the future! We're only human, after all.

Quote from Merkur

Quote from Brontes

Other mechanics that reduce damage heavily can also be employed to increase the fights length further.

Am I to understand that all types of reductions work on this ini? : D

Damage reduction skills like Shield of Discipline or the Warrior/Priests Barbarian Battle Cry work, if that was your question. This also includes the Warlock ISS or similar things. Direct increases of defense will have their effectiveness drastically lowered due to the increase in attack countering the increase in defense.

Quote from Merkur

Quote from Brontes

If your tank couldn't survive this boss without major hassle, they couldn't survive locathas freeze.

And yet, my tank will not stand on the 1st boss, and it will easily stand on the locath

Locatha, more than anything, is a reaction based boss and not a stat-wise tank check. These two bosses do not compare.
Edit: Locatha is Boss three, I meant to write Yusalien's freeze in my original post.

Quote from Merkur

Quote from Brontes

The boss works as intended. It is supposed to be a direct damage check for the party and a tankiness check for the, well, tank. The boss gains 5% pAtk and 5% damage every second whilst losing defense.

Since the boss increases damage every second by 5% and patt, does the damage dealt to him by 5% and defense decrease by 5% every second?

Players will incrementally deal more damage up to their maximum, which is reached at 20 stacks regardless for gear (as the boss then reaches 0 defense).

Quote from Merkur

For days you could kill this boss without a tank, it was hard to find one that was powerful enough.

We, as the team, are not here to tell people how to play their classes, but the instance was tested with red plate gear from ROFL as knights and champions; the latter struggled hard in longer (longer than 15 seconds) fights, while the knight had a decently easy time for about 16 seconds - from then on, immunities can be used. Golden Tank gear extended this time to more than 20 seconds. Other mechanics that reduce damage heavily can also be employed to increase the fights length further.

The boss is supposed to be killed within the first 30 seconds; our data shows that there was not a single run of heavily undergeared players that kited boss one but made it beyond boss two. This is a non-issue as, comparatively, the iron rune warrior is the easiest boss in the entire instance. If your tank couldn't survive this boss without major hassle, they couldn't survive locathas freeze.

Quote from Merkur

For days you could kill this boss without a tank, it was hard to find one that was powerful enough. And now that these most ambitious players have obtained artifacts by defeating this boss along the way without any problems, you will now "patch the hole" preventing weaker players from doing so.

It is indeed a very fine politics, very kind of you to wait for us strong players to make artifacts and now you are making it difficult for the weaker ones.

With the addition of refined artefacts the grind (overall) will have to be re-done by the "big guys" too; I realize that the changes may seem frustrating without specifics but it is important to note that the devil lies in the details here.

That being said, the entire dynamic that one could obtain an artefact without running the full instance was a design flaw; one that had to be fixed. The solution to create an upgrade so that players are incentivized to fully run the instance is just the natural progression.

The base-equipment for running kalin comfortably is a golden ROFL set.

Quote from Merkur

Quote from Wesker

This is intended. The bosses should have required full plate armor with parry rate and so on. It makes me a little sad that some groups managed to kite bosses. But that's ok for the moment.

The AoE from bosses are intended the way they are. There are gameplay mechanics to lower the received damage though.

The boss is stacking dmg into cosmic values, I think there is a big bug in boosting the damage

The boss works as intended. It is supposed to be a direct damage check for the party and a tankiness check for the, well, tank. The boss gains 5% damage every second whilst losing defense.

Quote from Proxima

Again: You do not need to kill any bosses to get the first artefact. Only for the refined one.

Kalin is supposed to be hard, something to give the playerbase something to strive for. Weaker groups are not supposed to be able to clear the instance. These groups should otherwise try to find ways to improve.

So weaker player can make artifact but can't wear it cause he is weaker player and can't clear KS to unlock the slot. This doesn't make any sense.

If you are not strong enough to clear the instance you are not entitled to the rewards. This is an essential truth of the game that has been around since it's inception.

That being said, we are aware that it's not optimal that things fluctuate in power like that but the initial growing pains of the instance forbid that absolute fairness exists at this point. Kalin had flawed loot design which this new system fixes; the side effect is that the vast minority of players, the ones that were barely able to do the instance, are no longer able to do so consistently. For everyone else, this new harder kalin is the definitive challenge.

The grind will be the same for everybody.

Quote from Proxima

Quote from Brontes

That is precisely the opposite of what I am saying. The normal artefact is now again farmable for weaker groups while they improve their characters to a point where they can get the improved version.

And in addition to this increase in difficulty came a new form of rewards. Again: You do not need to kill any bosses to get the first artefact. Only for the refined one.

"And in addition to this increase in difficulty came a new form of rewards. Again: You do not need to kill any bosses to get the first artefact. Only for the refined one." -> you need to kill Regin to unlock slots!!!

Quote from Brontes

Kalin is supposed to be hard, something to give the playerbase something to strive for. Weaker groups are not supposed to be able to clear the instance. These groups should otherwise try to find ways to improve.

Quote from Madox

You guys are saying that the normal version is meant for weaker groups. You also say weaker groups shouldn't clean the instance so they shouldn't have acess to the normal version of the item. Clear your mind please xD.

That is precisely the opposite of what I am saying. The normal artefact is now again farmable for weaker groups while they improve their characters to a point where they can get the improved version.

Quote from Madox

Instance is harder now than it was before. B1 removed possibility to kite. Locatha not dying at 50% means many groups can't kill it, etc. I think if you really wanna make normal artefact to be used by weaker groups, then activate the npc without needing last boss so those people can still farm the simpler version of the artefact.

And in addition to this increase in difficulty came a new form of rewards. Again: You do not need to kill any bosses to get the first artefact. Only for the refined one.

Quote from Proxima

Quote from Wesker

It is intended to be an upgrade, so no plussing level is transfered. This way everyone can farm the normal artefacts through trashmobs while not being forced to clear the entire instance. But the refined artefacts require loot from the final boss and do require full clears. So if a group of players is not able to clear the entire instance yet, they can still achieve the normal artefacts. And stronger groups can go for the refined ones additionally. Everyone wins.

So your assumption about weaker groups is wrong. If weaker group is not able to do full instance they will not unlock the artifacts and there is no point for them to farm anything.

I think there is a big misunderstanding: The loot that has been removed as a hotfix to remove the possibility to skip the content is returned to the monsters, so you will still be able to farm the normal artefact. For the refined one though, you will need to finish the instance. The content that is in the game right now will be retained, it's farmability even reverted to when it was first released, but it's improved counterpart will be locked behind the endboss.

Kalin is supposed to be hard, something to give the playerbase something to strive for. Weaker groups are not supposed to be able to clear the instance. These groups should otherwise try to find ways to improve.

Thank you for your input. Some changes are planned. We will share them in time for the players to review.

We're not currently planning such a change in nostalgia instances, as it would wreck the pacing of them.