Combat to easy

The food and the blessing help, I can't speak on the harp of invigoration since I've never had access to it. I'm 100% ok with the in combat focus regen, I'm just not into the out of combat rate. I find myself standing around idly waiting on focus before pulls. Prior to the soul tap life debuff I would just spam that while my water elemental restored hp, that would speed up the wait time quite a bit. I could use less skills during encounters to draw out my focus, but honestly from a design perspective I don't see the need to balance focus use over multiple pulls. Just refill it out of combat and balance cost and use around in combat encounters imho. The food, blessing and harp would still have a place, obviously having more worth for longer fights like bosses or in group settings where you have a bunch of guys pulling so you're never actually out of combat often. A few games handle it in different ways, many newer mmos just refill it close to instantly out of combat, gw2 just removed focus entirely and uses cds (not an option for sota) FFIX offered a pretty nice mix, you'd have to /sit after a fight to regen mana at a very fast rate and for group settings they created the red mage class which was taken in groups mostly for it's group mana regen abilities. I like where he was going with passive stance, although I'd prefer it to root you on the ground in lotus position and give you like +20-40 focus regen~

Black mage in FFXIV is probably my favorite though, it's a class based mechanic. All your high damage fire spells would put a stacking fire buff on you each cast that increased fire spell damage, but increased the mana cost as well, you'd cast until you were almost oom, then switch to ice spells which would put a mana regen buff on you each cast, but do much less damage. If you ran your mana to oom without leaving enough mana for your ice spell cast you'd be stuck in limbo waiting for regen. The rotation and mechanic was a lot of fun.

 

I'm having a HORRIBLE time with the combat changes. I used to be OK with an overland encounter with skeletons if there were 2 or fewer archers, but I could manage when there were 4 with a few potions (just regular skeletons, the 100-200HP kind, not the hardened kind), but now they take off about 150HP after maybe 10 seconds, with 1 or 2 archers. I'm sucking down potions like nobody's business, and it's ridiculous.

Sorry, but the changes are not good, at least for my character, especially with the reduction in my own HP. Why must it continually feel like each release takes me 2 steps backward when I finally made it 1 step ahead? I don't like to be so negative, I want to love the game, but at this point, I'm becoming increasingly disappointed in how the game is feeling more and more like work than fun.

 

It seems we are getting varied responses to the combat changes. This obviously has to do with the different setups we individually have as well as the mobs we are taking on now that we used to before. I guess I'll just throw in my two cents, with the caveat that I only went to one place in R42, and did not go anywhere else because I felt this was my challenge spot. My other spot seems to have had it's loot tables changed, so going back there makes no sense for me if I cannot grind out the XP and gold from drops (Halberds, etc.).

The Rise. I spent some time right before R41 getting myself ready to tackle The Rise. I got my offensive Death and Air skills to 80, but also some of my defensive skills: Death Shield and Defensive Stance for the Elven Archers, and Douse and Ice Shield for Elven Mages - all to 80. I have a lot of passives at 80 as well, along with my Focus Tree innate skills, Strength, Dexterity, etc. And of course, the Strength, Air and Sun Buffs. Again, all to 80.

Now for a few weeks I would periodically buff up with the devotionals (Focus and Health regen), as well as eat a Dragon Stew and Coleslaw and head to The Rise. Once there, I would buff up and then, depending on whether it was an Archer or Mage, apply the appropriate stances/shields. I would hit Chaotic Feedback (at 80) and then use my one Locked Skill (Death Ray), and my Dynamic Deck (Death/Air offensive spells). My only other unlocked slot had the "yellow" spells to debuff the mob, along with some of the Light Armor skills you can use to Dodge, etc. (those are all at 80 as well).

Was I a beast? No. These fights took a while. Occasionally I would die (if I was there for an hour or two, I wouldn't mind as eventually deaths did not penalize me after the first few - in my time there I would make up the lost XP and then show good gains at the end of a session). Some times a Mage and Archer would aggro me and I would NOT be able to handle that. I could, however, with some patience and positioning, take on two Archers. I would ALWAYS have to pop a health potion, and occasionally pop a focus potion, during these fights. My Death skills obviously helped to keep me alive as well. But certainly I ALWAYS had trouble with the Mages.

I did this, admittedly, to farm Artifacts. If I killed 300-400 mobs over the last month before R42 I would say I obtained 5 artifacts (nothing outstanding, and in one case two of the same one on different occasions), along with some recipes.

Now with R42, this is impossible. I can't speak to the Archers, but I died eight (8!) times to the first Elven Mage I encountered. He had 1087 HP, and the best I could whittle him down (combat logs showed ~22 damage from Death Ray, for example) was to about 800. But he would heal himself instantly and be back up over 1000, while I was being hit with 200 damage regularly. I popped potions early on hoping that the CD would end but I would be dead before that.

I have not otherwise changed my deck, armor, weapon, etc. I am using Carapician Epic Cloth with an average of +8, and a Staff with +10 Necromancy. I am using the intellect belt (+20 Int, -15 Str, -15 Dex), which I had on before R42. Since we lost the stillness bonus, I was mobile, occasionally ducking around a wall or behind something to get some semblance of cover (which didn't seem to work - but that's probably a desync issue).

I know I have to reconfigure my deck or approach. I don't want to go back to a wand/shield combination, but it seems that likely might help. From my perspective, however, the changes were harsh. I don't expect to roll-stomp through The Rise, and in fact, I never had before. It was always a slow methodical approach to the individual mobs - kiting when I can, pulling what I could, etc. Which, in all honesty, was the only fun I was having in the game since all the changes to group content last year.

 

Dear Gentleman...

...I for my part am really having a hard time playing the game and get a little xp as a solo player.

I am still discovering the skills and the game...and my xp payout went down the toilet due to the mobs being smarter and casting different spells. If you like it, its fine...I understand it was needed but please understand that it feels like someone banished me to a newbi zone like Highvale and threw the key away.

One day I will be able to discover the game, slay demons and dragons alone in my solo player experience...I do understand that the price to pay for it is the "grind" until my character is high enough...this patch made me clear that the grind will go on until 2018 with killing thousands of brigands all day.

So...please understand that this coin has two sides...try to remember how it was before you joined your big guild when you character was young, then you might get closer to understand what a new and soloing avatar has to go through now.

----
And after reading this thread and other answer...you have skills at 80??? Guys...I am still working day and night with my xp soloing to get skills to 40 !! 40 is a real benchmark for me...please understand that if YOU with those skill levels that I can only dream off are having a hard time...for me its a clear signal to go play something different that keeps me motivated with maybe giving me a little feeling of accomplishment.

yurrrrks...people with 80 complain...how long would I have to play with my few hours after work each day to get to that point?

This-is-not-motivating.

 

I just retried the game...

...just tried to get some decent xp in, playing solo grinding mobs...not a chance...unless I kill little mobs that give me little xp that leave me without any feeling of accomplishment after having killed a dozen of em.

I do understand, that this patch is ok for most of you that have a character with higher skills, in guilds, but for me...the soloing dude, not so much.


Or maybe one of you has an answer and can help?!

- I dont quest, I am based in Resolute and I solo 100% of the time...I am looking for mobs to grind that give decent xp and give me a little feeling of accomplishment after having wacked through them for 2 or 3 hours.

 

@Julian Baskerville I can understand your concerns. I have played over 800 hours since May 2016 to get to Adventure Level 80. So, roughly 10 hours of play time per level - this is not scientific, as the earlier levels go quicker. I understand you want to play solo, but it helped me tremendously to join a guild and to adventure with others. This helped in showing me the ropes/zones, and it also helped with XP. If you group up and get shown a zone you can handle, then you can learn to go through the zone by yourself later on to "grind" the XP. Once the zone gets easy, you move on to a higher tier zone, etc.

There is a giant world out there, and if you chose to go it alone that is your right, but understand that you will have an uphill climb to achieve the levels you want.

Also, you never mentioned your "build" in terms of what you are trying to achieve. And is it possible that you have too many skills turned on to level, thereby seeming like you are crawling in XP gains? For example, if you want to be an Air Mage, then you should consider leveling skills only related to that. I would personally start with leveling a few offensive skills since this helps immediately with killing mobs. Once you get one or two of those to 40 (again, just leave one or two skills turned UP, the others do not level or keep at MAINTAIN), then move on to some Focus related skills, like Intelligence and Focus and some of the other skills in that tree that help you to Mage.

Everyone here is very HELPFUL and is always willing to give advice or lend a hand. You need only ask!

 

For me, R41 found DR to be easier than before, with R42, its harder, not because its harder harder, just because those damn mages blink and heal (more than they used to) and the "help a friend" system the mobs now have more of them tend to come running at me.. I actually spent a few hours playing yesterday and ended up with less xp than I started, having not played for a week due to playing on qa, and i died I think 3 times.. so, yesterday was not a winner for me.. but Id rather it was harder like this.

 

I agree, if the game gets more challenging I will just have to adapt.

 

I understand you completely. I wanted to play this game in solo player online. I see people here offering their support which is grand and noble but I think they are missing the point. You want to play solo, not having help. The game offers little support for the solo player. I have in the past brought this up many times. I wish this could be addressed by hirelings or some sort of companions. By having 3 modes of play and only having one of them balanced is part of the problem with the new player experience. If I was new I surely would start in single player online.

 

If it helps, I solo, and have solo'd a lot of this game, I dont actively seek groups, I spend most of my time in friends (as theres no difference between solo and friends) .. the only thing I dont get are many artifact drops, i can get xp, I can get gold... same as I did in EQ, sure it may not be the fastest, but, i can make my way in the world.

 

Changes to the combat hot-bar and buff times have allowed me to re-arrange my combat bar and make it more powerful. Alternately, changes to mages have made it harder. It ultimately feels like a wash to me.

 

its slightly harder for me but my deck has 169 glyphs in it, yeah <insert all your insults here> but it works for me and the only real way its harder now is when they come from far and wide cos their friend said so

 

I'm feeling the strife in combat as well, and have been for a few releases.

It's tough to avoid giving up, and it feels like such a shame that the changes in each release don't seem to have much benefit toward the lower-skilled end.

I've become of the mindset that I might just wait out SotA until it fully releases and the kinks are worked out. I don't know how much useful feedback I can provide when I feel so unable to progress and like the game is a chore to work my character through. I used to play UO and it was relatively clear that okay, you had to macro your skills up or you'd be next to useless, but the game was still fun when you were "getting there". It kept you going.

The more I play, the more I wonder, who is in charge of keeping the game a little less realistic to ensure the game is fun? I don't think it's just the maths here, the fun factor is being overlooked and above any other patch note, it must be prioritised.

 

I think you hit the nail on the head here, as a developer it's easy to get caught up in balance, realism, solving problems, etc and forget to ask the simple question is this change going to make the game more fun? This is a pretty simplified view, but I think it's important to always keep these following statements in mind when making iteration passes on your games mechanics, systems and gameplay.

Fun is pleasure with surprises.
Play is manipulation that satisfies curiosity.
A game is a problem-solving activity, approached with a playful attitude.
(credit for the statements belongs to Jesse Schell)

On the positive side, I think they can easily make some small tweaks with an iteration pass focused on making everything a bit more fun. Things like, out of combat focus regen, loot tables, enemy npc density (so you get less chaining), etc =P Chris, LB, Star and many others working on sota have a decade or more design experience than myself, so all my comments should be taken with a grain of salt and nothing about a huge project like sota with a small team is easy. I hope they and everyone else knows I'm just trying to offer feedback that is actionable and constructive. In the end it's impossible to please everyone when tastes are so subjective about what makes a game fun, great or enjoyable. I just happen to be in the camp that doesn't think talking a look at the gameplay experience mainly with the fun lens in mind is going to hurt anything.

 

i played solo from first day... i changed zone to zone from 1 skull to 5 skulls.. what adv-level have you reached? ( /stats in chat )

 

According to stats apparently Im 96! (I swear it was 85 before the patch!)

 

asking to Julian Baskerville (just to understand this combat issues)

 

Holy Crap That's like all of your glyphs in one deck!

 

Not even close!

 

Jesse Schell is a genius. I watched a speech he made in (I think it was) 2010 about the future of gaming. The talk he gave back then was 10 years ahead of its time.

(edit: I think this is it: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFD4B075C94E2F4F1)