XP Drain Vs Gain

Great, you've buffed Mob HP. Now it takes me 2-4 times longer to kill some mobs, making it so I burn thru 2-4 times more xp using abilities, and yet they don't give any more xp than they did before. I burn thru xp so quickly now I barely have any left. Think you need to tweak the system some more...

 

seconded. preferably NOT by slowing skill growth, but rather by upping xp to match the increased kill times.

 

Or, a better idea would Be to Learn some Skill management

 

I was just about to come here and post this. it's not that we are gaining less xp though. its because more is going into our skills and less into the pool. I guess we will just have to turn off more skills.

Before this patch I had my skills set up so that I was banking about half my earned xp into my pool. Now after this patch I'm losing xp from my pool. That seems a bit extreme of a change honestly from upping mobs hp.

 

Only melee enemies got their health buffed. Ranged had their health reduced. The mages that accompany those ~800 hp melee mobs have ~350 hp. If you're looking for faster kills, then look for archers and mages.

 

archers didnt get their hp reduced, only mages.

also. skull 3 melee mobs have as much hp as me at level 80 lol.

 

I've started locking some abilities and passives already, this is from only using a few moves over and over. Should I lock my main abilites now just to get a little xp to level them?

 

My guess is that it may differ depending on the mob group (bandits/skeles/elves, etc). I'm an archer, using a fixed bar consisting of every attack glyph from ranged, stone fist, obsidian arrow and a couple of heals. I just ran through Plains of Righ Inis, where a skeleton archer would fall after around a full spread of skills, and now falls after three, maybe four shots, while the large skeleton footmen definitely had A LOT more hp. Before a large footman fell after a single pass through my skills, compared to two to three times through on average now. So, at least with respect to the skeletons, I can vouch for the archers taking an hp hit.

When it comes to the pooled xp, I have most of my skills in the ranged tree set to go up, as well as some from other trees to grant some bonuses. When I am running through an area more appropriate to my level, like Deep Ravenswood, I haven't noticed a decline in pooled xp, but rather a steady gain. If I go through an area that is now slightly challenging to me due to the recent changes, like the Plains, I see it dropping. One of the reasons you are seeing the extra drain on the pool is the increased skill use when dealing with the melee mobs.

 

Anything that can be done to make the grind more tedious will be done. 8^(

 

Then the beatings must continue until morale improves. *wry grin*

 

So far, I've seen nothing tedious about this. Maybe it is because I haven't explored the map, so most everything is new to me and thus feels less grindy? I dunno, but I'm not seeing a common sense adjustment making this more tedious.

Also, I just made a quick trot through Vauban Pass, and the archers and mages there hit fairly hard (at least, to my leather wearing sensibilities), but were VERY squishy, even compared to the wolves and bears present.

 

Something that takes 3-4 times as long to kill, but doesn't reward extra XP makes it very grindy. My comments was directly related to that aspect. Also, being only lvl 54 I've already had problems with advancing to the next tier skull zone (difficult to survive) but getting less returns on the zones I'm currently farming. So more work, more spells used, same xp means you spend much more for less reward and that exacerbates the grind.

 

*shrugs* As they usually have a balance of the different mob types spawning, I see one type that takes 3-4 times the effort to kill, spawning with 2 others that take half the effort to kill. In my experience so far, its a wash, and makes you prioritize targets more than before. I'm running 2-3 levels below you, and have some difficulties with the 5 skull zones... not even close to being able to tackle ALL content in them, but enough with enough rewards to make it worth my time. Just my what I've encountered, that's all.

 

Two different experiences within same level range. That's why we all should give feedback. 8^)

 

It sure feels like it this release. I hate having to play skill micromanagement. I can only have one active at any given time and keep my xp pool level.

What happened to "just play", @Chris? I can't "just play" because I have to micromanage my skills and watch my xp pool. I need to step back a while. this release feels incredibly punishing and grindy....much more than normal for a casual.

for reference: lvl 40 in 3-4 skull scenes.

 

Oh, not saying we shouldn't by any means!

I'm just not seeing what everyone else is, that's all.

As a matter of fact, I went to my old stomping grounds to collect some kobold hammers, and found that everything there matched the experiences I had already encountered. Hardened skeleton archers hit like hell, but were dispatched quickly, while the hardened footmen, I could handle one at a time, but paired with any other mob, and I needed to beat feet outta there.

Still having fun, but I also recognize that part of my glass ceiling with Graff and places like it was the locking of my mid level ranged skills around 45, which stunted my growth significantly. Graff mines is helping me overcome that discrepancy

 

Or.. keep all your skills on.. realize your pools empty because its in the skills and either
A - kill stuff thats easier and less exp useage..
B - use less skills at once.
C - stop worrying about power leveling each skill up to max as quick as possible.
Your still getting same amount of exp. its still going in same place. it just stopped being so redicoulously easy that you could keep your skills on and PooL hundreds of k of exp to essentially x20 the leveling speed of skills.

Im hardly noticing a difference.
Mages are weak as hell... pretty much balances for fighters not being useless anymore.c

 

What is the point of fighting harder enemies and not being rewarded appropriately for it?

The melee enemies were not labeled properly - no color increase and no increase in XP reward for fighting them because they are more difficult now.

 

If anything, leveling up was too easy before. The problem is that people get used to a certain pace of progessing, and balance changes like this mess with the expectations people have of effort/reward. But in the end it may have been less balanced before so there is no use to hang on to it.

To me it seems like a good thing to have to pick between skills instead of raising all or even half at once. And the melee enemies surley needed a boost, so I have no problem with this.

 

That is awesome news, less gustball practices.