Verdict (Post Act 1)

[Arthur]

So far I have to say I'm enjoying it, though I do have a few complaints about specifics.

1 - Nicholous the Fallen, major nerf needed. Compared to the rest of act 1 he is waaaaay to strong. Everyone else felt a step or two ahead of the rest but he's harder than some of the stuff in act 2 and all the act 1 bosses after him.

2 - Why is the Study so far into Act 2? By the time I get the Study i'm going to have all the books already and be done with it the moment I craft it unlike the research table where I unlocked it and chipped away at it over time.

3 - Lack of upgrades. I had full Merciless like 4 bosses in and you don't get a new set until boss 13. You spend like 90% of each act in the same gear. Act 1 you're kitted out right from the beginning, Act 2 it looks like you have to play through the entire thing and only get things at the very end. Spread things out more, or add more gear in general.

Other than those 3 things though it seems fun (Solo as well and it clearly isn't balanced for solo but I won't fault it for me choosing to not look for a group)

[Army of Optimists]

There's three general tiers in Act 2. You start Act 2 in Merciless Copper, upgrade to Iron soon after. Upgrade to Merciless Iron when you unlock the Study. Finally, you get the Ancient Forge and start repairing Shattered Weapons.

You kind of contradict yourself. You want the Study moved earlier, but then you want upgrades spread out further? The Study is a massive source of upgrades - essentially blocking you from Merciless weapons and armor, plus a half-dozen different pendants with various effects. And unless you're hardcore grinding camps for scrolls, you won't have the whole thing unlocked before you hit Act 3.

Lack of gear variety is a bit of an issue within the game, but most of the meaningful upgrades are in unlocking new skills and the new jewel system. Gear is largely just used to up a number so bosses aren't one-shotting you. What would adding more upgrade tiers do? Make you craft more sets of armor and weapons for smaller number gain? Reducing the rate at which your gear level rises by dividing it among more sets would only narrow down which bosses you can actually fight instead of giving you the option to tackle the ones near your level in an order of your choosing.

[Arthur]

Originally posted by Army of Optimists:

You kind of contradict yourself. You want the Study moved earlier, but then you want upgrades spread out further? The Study is a massive source of upgrades - essentially blocking you from Merciless weapons and armor, plus a half-dozen different pendants with various effects. And unless you're hardcore grinding camps for scrolls, you won't have the whole thing unlocked before you hit Act 3.

Well I mean sure it will be a big jump, I've only gone to 2 towns in Act 2 and already have 4 recipes to research, hence why I imagine it'll be a jump since i'll have so many recipes ready by the time I get it. But There's also the fact that research means nothing aside from giving you a goal if you can't make the materials. I mean to move it sooner so I can go "Alright I researched this, how do I make that? I need these materials which I unlock the recipes for from this boss. Alright." *Goes and fights that boss* "Next recipe, how do I make this. Okay I need the crafting table from this boss."
As it stands I'm gonna be able to craft materials I don't even know the use for before I get a way to use them. Like I have 700 cotton from 1 town and have no idea what that's used for because the materials come in faster than a use for them

[Toki's Road to 6k Elo]

Study boss is easy if you use that ground AOE that spawns zombies after the npcs die, mixed with axes
For Nicholus use xbow

I thought it was well done because she forced me to change my game style to get something useful, until that I was just rotating around things with my xbow.

[Army of Optimists]

Originally posted by Arthur Beltway:

Originally posted by Army of Optimists:

You kind of contradict yourself. You want the Study moved earlier, but then you want upgrades spread out further? The Study is a massive source of upgrades - essentially blocking you from Merciless weapons and armor, plus a half-dozen different pendants with various effects. And unless you're hardcore grinding camps for scrolls, you won't have the whole thing unlocked before you hit Act 3.

Well I mean sure it will be a big jump, I've only gone to 2 towns in Act 2 and already have 4 recipes to research, hence why I imagine it'll be a jump since i'll have so many recipes ready by the time I get it. But There's also the fact that research means nothing aside from giving you a goal if you can't make the materials. I mean to move it sooner so I can go "Alright I researched this, how do I make that? I need these materials which I unlock the recipes for from this boss. Alright." *Goes and fights that boss* "Next recipe, how do I make this. Okay I need the crafting table from this boss."

Sure, but the research tables act as tier blockers, too. Most materials have several uses. When you first get the material, it gives access to a building or item at that moment, but it's also used in patterns down the line. The tables lock those advanced patterns from you as a form of progression. Not to mention many of the advanced materials can just drop in small quantities, making the research lock necessary to avoid jumping ahead too quickly.

There's a broader discussion to be had about how rigid the tiers are in progression and whether that's for the best, but that's the way it currently works.

As it stands I'm gonna be able to craft materials I don't even know the use for before I get a way to use them. Like I have 700 cotton from 1 town and have no idea what that's used for because the materials come in faster than a use for them

This is confusing to me because Cotton is the very first thing you unlock in Act 2 if you're following the V Blood chart. Maybe you didn't notice you unlocked a Loom or you haven't been hunting down the bosses? If you don't go after the bosses when you meet the level requirements and just run around the areas, you're gonna end up with a lot of materials you have no use for yet.

[Arthur]

Originally posted by Army of Optimists:

This is confusing to me because Cotton is the very first thing you unlock in Act 2 if you're following the V Blood chart. Maybe you didn't notice you unlocked a Loom or you haven't been hunting down the bosses? If you don't go after the bosses when you meet the level requirements and just run around the areas, you're gonna end up with a lot of materials you have no use for yet.

I was scrolled up a little to high on this one, I missed that theres a branch for 1 single boss. I thought Tristan and what not was the first part of Act 2. So I missed the loom and was fighting the branch above her x_x

[Pay Child Suport]

the fact you need radium alloy, which is a level 60 boss to unlock a requirement...

it's almost like you can't progress too far until you get the complete merciless iron. i think this is the biggest roadblock so far.

edit: and that you need tailor flooring for discounts. good luck getting good rng for this. same with jeweler flooring. sure this is the point where you should be hunting for servants, but still.

[Shazza]

Originally posted by Tentacle Grape:

the fact you need radium alloy, which is a level 60 boss to unlock a requirement...

it's almost like you can't progress too far until you get the complete merciless iron. i think this is the biggest roadblock so far.

This was always the case with Octavian's Dawnthorn Regalia needing Ungora for silk. Nothing to say that both radium alloy and silk are acquirable in their respective areas from loot containers.

And by this point you're drowning in Scrolls because of the Paper > Scroll conversion stack-up.

[Xuhybrid]

Originally posted by Arthur Beltway:

Originally posted by Army of Optimists:

You kind of contradict yourself. You want the Study moved earlier, but then you want upgrades spread out further? The Study is a massive source of upgrades - essentially blocking you from Merciless weapons and armor, plus a half-dozen different pendants with various effects. And unless you're hardcore grinding camps for scrolls, you won't have the whole thing unlocked before you hit Act 3.

Well I mean sure it will be a big jump, I've only gone to 2 towns in Act 2 and already have 4 recipes to research, hence why I imagine it'll be a jump since i'll have so many recipes ready by the time I get it. But There's also the fact that research means nothing aside from giving you a goal if you can't make the materials. I mean to move it sooner so I can go "Alright I researched this, how do I make that? I need these materials which I unlock the recipes for from this boss. Alright." *Goes and fights that boss* "Next recipe, how do I make this. Okay I need the crafting table from this boss."
As it stands I'm gonna be able to craft materials I don't even know the use for before I get a way to use them. Like I have 700 cotton from 1 town and have no idea what that's used for because the materials come in faster than a use for them

4 out of? lol

[Terotrous]

The study being super late is a big problem for sure. You will generally have almost all the books in storage by the time you actually unlock it. It's worth noting that before the update, you unlocked it at the very beginning of act 2.

If they want to create multiple equipment tiers in act 2, the logical thing is just to gate them through the items needed to actually make them, not through unlocking the study itself.

In general though, the study is a symptom of a larger problem where there's not enough you can do outside of killing bosses to become more powerful. If you ever get walled by a boss there's nothing you can really do to increase your power level. This is unlikely on the official settings (since at 1x/1x all bosses are trivial to beat) but if your server has the boss stats raised there are many bottlenecks.