Combat Zones - Feedback

Areas full of hostile baddies just itching for a fight, and ready for you to practice combat against.
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Lexx416
Posts: 563
Joined: Wed Sep 06, 2017 6:14 pm

Re: Combat Zones - Feedback

Post by Lexx416 »

I think my only real negative feedback regarding combat zones would be related to stagger (and the fact that the Volmonk corpses can't be dragged). Stagger is such a big determining factor of who's going to win a fight - if you don't have defense measures/abilities that let you avoid those special combat abilities, ways to mitigate or break out of stagger, or an additional method of balance recovery, getting tackled can basically mean that you're more or less unable to do anything except just use the attack command, or flee.

I actually really like hunting the volmonks on my berserker. The combat is interesting. They do tend to swarm, so I have to be more careful. But it feels like it rewards stealthy hunting a little more than other areas. The only real drag is that I can't move the corpses, so sometimes I end up losing out on potential meat and pelts (plus, mass cooking meat is kind of wonky; but I've found if I find someone that wants to make a quick buck cooking, that part does end up working out alright). Plus, the area is just cool to look at and wonder about. It's also out of the way, so there isn't likely to be a lot of traffic/overlap there.

Group combat, for me, mostly suffers from the stagger thing. I don't really pay much attention to encumbrance, but active berserker abilities (Except shield bash) can't be used at less than 0 balance, so I do tend to be a bit more gun-shy about going along with group fights since they sometimes turn into swarm events (and in swarm events, all of the staggering abilities that get thrown at people basically turn off all of my abilities).

I think it'd be nice to run into more NPCs that use ranged combat, or occult abilities though. And it's always interesting to run into new damage types to have to worry about. While it might be a bit more difficult to rationalize (especially or mid-tier and lower tier places), seeing enemies that use sorcerous abilities, druidic abilities, and perhaps do acid, cold, or fire damage would make things overall more interesting.


I don't really do combat on my ranger, so I can't comment yet on non-warrior group combat. I did a little bit on my Arcanist while I had him active, and it was pretty fun.
"You hear the Woses, the Wild Men of the Woods... Remnants of an older time they be, living few and secretly, wild and wary as beasts."
Onasaki
Posts: 90
Joined: Tue Jun 01, 2021 9:20 pm

Re: Combat Zones - Feedback

Post by Onasaki »

Personally, I don't know absolute jack about the actual rates and stuff. XD I was going on personal experience. I'm not sure what the difference is between new zones and old zones, if I'm being completely honest. Outside of what roams there.

So my comments on the riln are mostly just based on the drops I've seen split in the groups.
I have two forces by my side,
One's the truth and one's a lie,
Which one's which I cannot tell,
This enigma is my hell.

Baako leads you over to the grass to graze.
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Fellborn
Posts: 85
Joined: Tue Jul 20, 2021 12:34 pm

Re: Combat Zones - Feedback

Post by Fellborn »

Onasaki wrote: Wed Nov 24, 2021 11:14 am Personally, I don't know absolute jack about the actual rates and stuff. XD I was going on personal experience. I'm not sure what the difference is between new zones and old zones, if I'm being completely honest. Outside of what roams there.

So my comments on the riln are mostly just based on the drops I've seen split in the groups.
Zones vary, greatly, and some very popular zones are actually very poor for riln. Current zones I'd consider intended for larger groups would be "Northwest Valeria", sometimes referred to as the "New Quarter" and portions of the recently released Hillside Fort. Both of these had their rates adjusted the beginning of this week to help offer more incentive.
Prism
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Location: SHADGARD, BABEH

Re: Combat Zones - Feedback

Post by Prism »

NOTE: I migrated here from Clok. If that matters to anybody else who did so-- these are my thoughts on Cogg based off of that fact.


To start, I'll give a general description of my build, how I feel using that build, and what I like about it. Then, i'll talk about my experience in single efforts in individual areas. Then, i'll go into further detail as to how I experience those areas with a group, and my experience in areas intended specifically for groups. Just so we all know that despite the length of this post there's some organization to it.

Please for the love of god don't read too far into this if you're new. It'll take a lot of the joy out of exploring and experiencing these areas for yourself.

Class Description: My main warrior character is a dreadnought. Mid 20s currently, melee combat stats roughly near the upper end of my skill range given what I can currently skill up to with level caps. I've got all of the dreadnought abilities, all of the general warrior abilities that mean anything to me personally (All except graceful dodge, basically) and I've used fine quality ridgeleather for the majority of my time playing the character. For the most part in terms of weapon choice, i'm switching actively between longsword and warhammer/polehammer/poleaxe depending on how I feel that particular day.

General experience: I really, really dig the way the dreadnought feels in combat. I feel powerful. I feel like I can deal damage, and soak it up. I feel like I constantly have a role in combat, whether on my lonesome or in groups, and I feel as though that the general asthetic put forward by the class description/ability descriptions shines very prominantly through combat playstyle. Dreadnoughts are fun. They feel strong, they feel dense, and they certainly are both in practice. That said they aren't invincible. I still feel vulnerable when i'm hunting in areas relative to my skill range, and definitely feel threatened in areas above that skill range. In truth, I feel a little bit more capable of soaking damage than I thought I would be-- but I feel like that's more so a result of the way implemented heavy armor functions currently more so than any overpoweredness of the build in question or anything like that. I believe once armor rebalances and more types of heavy armor are available to switch between that that ability to soak damage will be nerfed a bit. Guardians should soak the most damage-- but i feel like dreadnoughts should soak a bit of it too, so it feels good currently without feeling broken.

In terms of mechanics-- the things that are most threatening to me, like everyone else, are knockdowns. Balance reductions on part of multiple enemies simultaneously also put me in a tricky situation-- but it's not impossible to intelligently navigate out of either of those situations as a result of my armored bulkiness. I can safely soak up a few hits while i'm flat on my back or trying to rebalance myself-- but i'm constantly on my toes while taking those hits out of fear that i'll be armor chinked or thrown back onto my butt. Which is, i think, the proper way it should feel. I should feel confident in my ability to recover my stance and my balance so long as i'm being smart-- but there should always be risk involved that puts the concept of retreat on the forefront of one's mind. And as things stand for me personally-- that's the way it feels in practice, too. Even though I feel like I can usually work out bad situations, when things get too shady, I'm quick to retreat like a little girl and take a few breaths. Energy drain and negative balance are my biggest, biggest weaknesses, and I feel those weaknesses pointedly in exchange for my comparative combat strength.


Now, here are my thoughts on specific areas that I progressed through as I levelled and grew in the game.

Tarueka Environs: This is a great place to get familiar with the general combat mechanics of the game. By the time i'd been here for an hour real time, I felt totally comfortable with the rhythm of combat. you quickly learn how to anticipate the basic moves the vagrants have, and how to best compensate for those predictions with moves of your own. You get a really good feel for the way balance and weight effect you in different ways, and it's a good time to experiment with different weapon styles and see what you're going to feel most comfortable using as you move forward in the game. The area feels threatening still without armor-- but more than anything it feels like an amazing introduction to the mechanics involved in combat. Needless to mention the offered riln/boxes from the vagrants are a nice way for combat characters and non-combat characters alike to amass wealth in a reliable, but different manner than the profession-based alternatives. That said I wouldn't group up here. If you do, it takes all of the learning and threat out of it entirely.

Tarueka Farmhouse: If the environs are the place where you learn what a bike is, and how to pedal-- the farmhouse is where you really start to ride. The training wheels are loose, but they're still there, and you feel it. The farmhouse feels more actively dangerous, and definitely feels rewarding for the effort put in there. The appearance of differing weapons makes combat feel more "real" and "weighty" with the amount of thought you do in response to them, and the higher skill alongside them makes them hit a little bit more accurately than the vagrants would be otherwise. This is when the additional warrior abilities started to get more use, and really feel more useful. Particularly blade catch, stunning blow, and tackle. Tackle is fantastic.

Consequently, this was also the first area that I really "grouped up" inside of, and it facilitates that well. The crowds pick up, and small groups of 2-4 in particular are a great experience here. Much like the environs, the farmhouse can serve as an excellent introduction to the group dynamic, and what it feels like to do group combat here on Cogg. It's threatening enough that no one ever feels completely safe, but safe enough that no one feels like they're risking life and limb by grouping up with others in there when they're not at the right skill level to go inside. Basically-- if you're a low level character who wants more of a challenge, wants to still feel useful, but doesn't want to feel completely useless by comparison to stronger people-- group up with like-minded characters and head to the farmhouse. It's a great way to test your mettle and get an idea on how to best strategize and approach problems and combat from multiple perspectives.

Tarueka Riverbed: No more training wheels. I feel like when I started messing around with the spearfishers, it was go time. The area feels a lot more crowded than the farmhouse and the environs as a result of lack of space to move around, and that cramped space with fewer exits per room becomes really felt as the mobs start to stumble in in search of a victim. It's still manageable, and it's still fun, but this was the first area I was in on my lonesome that really felt "dangerous". The infested have weapons that can facilitate parrying very easily, the terrain imposes roundtime as you move through it, and the infested themselves are just unrelenting in their volume-- at least in my experience.

The same advice given about the farmhouse applies here, but multiplied by two. It's more crowded, it's more dangerous, and there's more thought involved. It's like the level 2 group dungeon for people who aren't actually strong enough to enter the area individually yet, and it's a great way of getting a peek at the area itself before your stats are good enough to survive in there for prolonged periods independently.

Dusklamp: Okay, I love Dusklamp. I love Dusklamp a lot. And that's because whether I was in a group, whether I was solo, it didn't matter-- Dusklamp beat the living shit out of me. The infested in Dusklamp are mean, and they let you know it. They hit you hard, they kick dirt in your face, they tackle you, they throw feints at you, they have shields, they have armor, and they have a bulkiness and tenacity fringing on the sociopathic. Their weapons are crazy, they're crazy, the area is crazy. That said? I only ever felt overwhelmed when I threw myself into a situation that I *knew* was going to be overwhelming. It never felt unfair despite it's challenge, and the rewards felt particularly fair for the effort involved-- riln and otherwise.

The same is said for the area in group situations. The number of infested goes up, and therefore the number of meanies kicking dirt in your face and tackling you goes up in turn. You and your allies always feel on the edge of success or failure at any moment-- it's loud, it's prolonged, it's gritty, it's a beatdown, and it feels.. GOOD. Really, really, really good. Long live Dusklamp.

Hidden Bandit Camp: Much like Dusklamp, these guys feel threatening. They're quick, they're strong, and they'll make you feel the hits they hit you with. They aren't afraid to stagger you in a variety of ways, throw multiple feints at you simultaneously when grouped up, and use their miscellanious abilities to their advantage when grouped up against you. Their varying levels of armor and coverage and weaponry keep the thought and flow active during combat, and I felt particularly more at risk here than I ever did in Dusklamp-- mostly because I just felt like they were beating on me more potently. They made me bleed and retreat for breath way, way more often than the infested ever did. And i'm not sure whether that was a result of my lacking rolls, lacking preparation, approach in fighting style, or something else entirely.

(Do they have side by side? If they don't, they should totally have side by side. It'd be a great place to introduce such early on given the dynamic of mob descriptions and the like. If they do, and I didn't notice, that'd certainly explain why I was getting my ass kicked so hard by myself.)

I never grouped up all that much here, but hwen I did, it did usually become more manageable to a certain extent. It didn't feel quite as dangerous as it did solo, but it didn't feel so satisfying as group engagements were in Dusklamp, either. I think that was a result of the mobs' lighter armor overall, though. Where Dusklmap's mobs can soak up a lot of damage individually, differing types of mobs here can soak varying levels of damage-- only one of which is relative to the marauders by comparison, where I was doing a lot of my training at the time before discovering this locale. Groups make it easier here, but they don't suck the fun out of it so long as they don't get too big. I'd say this is a good place to approach as a comparably skilled duo as opposed to a small or larger group.


I'll likely edit this post with the rest of the areas I have experience with when I have more time to write-- but here's a start. I'll post again when i've edited this one.
"The sky, above the clouds; A rainbow that fate has devoured
I gave up Hope
But I'm not going to be lost tomorrow; Even if it is hell
I'm gonna' crawl. "
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