Bounty Hunter's role in DD2 needs to be changed

[calderon]

Imo, Bounty's Hunter role in DD2 requires a fundamental change. His presence is completely underutilized and marginal. This hero is among the most interesting DD1 characters. He deserves to be on the DD2 roster, even with his own story.

I can see one way to do it. My suggestion (and request for consideration) to Devs is to do it in future patch or dlc:

1. BH could have his own quest chain path to unlock his services (as Crusader has with his own story).

2. After unlocking he could be available to short hire as he is now but for 50 relics with his own shrine of reflection path like others to do only when he is temporarily hired. This would require many runs to come across him and many runs to come across shrine of the reflection with him in team to unlock all his skills (only basic not mastered).

3. After unlocking, player could decide to hire him permanently (to be available at the crossroads) or not (then available at the inn to hire for 50 relics not candles just as he is now but with 2 personal trinkets and without mastered skills). In the future player could hire him permanently if he would change his former decision.

This change is possible because BH is already a playable character. Devs do not have to create him from scratch. It would only require to create his shrine of reflection path, basic skills and some minor changes in the code.

In my humble opinion this could reunite players who are for and aginst his presence at the crossroads.

[calderon]

Do not take it personal but players who underestimate or have no knowledge of the impact of the DD1 community on DD2 numbers have such arguments.

DLC with Crusader shows how important are playable heroes from DD1. Many players waited untill DLC to rate the DD2. 89-90% last ratings compared to former 69-74% are a huge difference. You can't argue with numbers.

And as for BH mastery points. He is not fully upgraded by developers but by your candles at the Altar of Hope and that's a huge difference.

[BuggeX]

I like the way as it is, he allays comes with all skills unlocked and maxed, paying him to carry you past the first / second region comes in handy.

[calderon]

Originally posted by deimos:

... and hes just some faceless sub in with decent numbers

I also see his current role that way. That's why I think his role could be more visible.

[MKDS nikos]

Permanent BH is in the top of the most popular mods on nexusmods. So he absolutely deserves his place in the pool. There could be a possibility to hire him after e.g. successful hiring. Paying him in candles is a nonsense, should be only in relics.
As for paying him every confession in relics, it's a good point.

[Raki]

I would really regret having the Bounty Hunter lose his current role. He is incredibly useful, especially on higher levels of difficulty:

• He comes with all skills upgraded. So if you switch him in, you can focus your mastery points on 3 heroes instead of 4. If I see him in the first inn, he's basically auto-hired simply because of that.
  
• He always comes with a trinket, further increasing the power spike you get with him early on. Sometimes the trinket is not a class trinket, meaning you can use it for your other heroes.
  
• His skillset really shines at killing lair bosses. I think this is his most important role, and one that is very consistent with his Job description. Basically, every time he appears, you can start planning to take down a lair boss, as early as the first inn.
  
• Many heroes like trinkets exactly from the bosses they struggle with, mainly because DOT trinkets drop from bosses with resistances against exactly these DOTs. E.g. Runaway teams struggle against the Librarian, especially if she's the damage dealer of your team.
  Bounty Hunter to the rescue! Switch him for Runaway, kill the librarian, and (relatively) safely earn some shiny trinkets for your Orphan to deal some crazy fire damage.
  
• His choices have no negative effect on relationships, and he likes to attack on most nodes => You can attack almost anything without negatively affecting your relationships.
  
• Since he has no permanent relationships with anyone, you can let him meltdown without lasting effects, and focus your stress heal on your "real" party members.
  
• If things go south, you can choose to risk/sacrifice him. On the other hand, if a "real" party member dies, you need to pay candles for switching a path for the new recruit at the next inn, their relationship will be damaged to start with, and they may not fit into the overall strategy as well.

Bounty Hunter is a very central mechanic to DD2, and enables a number of impactful choices that simply would not exist without him. He is so versatile and strong that you can switch him into practically every team with net benefit.

If you made him a "normal" hero, all of that would have to go.

Also, if we're talking flavor, the tragic expendability of mercenaries is highlighted quite well. He's ultimately an "expandable asset".

[Jinxedster]

Last time I had a meltdown with my BH my other companions hated the character he replaced instead. This was a long time ago so it sounds like it got fixed I hope.

[Raki]

I don't remember ever seeing any visual confirmation of relationship decline on the Bounty Hunter. While I can't exactly rule out that this becomes an "invisible burden" for the stay-at-home character, I imagine that got fixed.

I'll try to check next time it happens to confirm this.

[calderon]

Originally posted by Raki124:

Bounty Hunter is a very central mechanic to DD2, and enables a number of impactful choices that simply would not exist without him. He is so versatile and strong that you can switch him into practically every team with net benefit.

If you made him a "normal" hero, all of that would have to go.

Also, if we're talking flavor, the tragic expendability of mercenaries is highlighted quite well. He's ultimately an "expandable asset".

I have changed my initial suggestion in the first post. In its current shape it could reunite players who are for and aginst his presence at the crossroads.

DD2 have changed the core elements from DD1:

- You have to create and prepare the right team for a whole variety of enemies esp. bosses in up to 5 regions (mountain included). Additionally there're 2 waves of enemies before the regional boss (not mountain).

- No one regular hero can inflict a 100% stun(s) and/or blinding(s). You can’t even try to blind enemy with probability of 75% or stun with probability of 50% or 75% (Vestal and Plague Doctor lost half of their former power). You always need relevant circumstances to rob the enemy of his turn.

- No hero clones

With BH in the pool or with the possibility to do it players would have more options to build their teams.

[Noizemare (Ger)]

Had about 25 runs. never met him ONCE. yes maybe they should change something xD

[Jinxedster]

Originally posted by Noizemare (Ger):

Had about 25 runs. never met him ONCE. yes maybe they should change something xD

I see BH in 75% of my runs. You are doing something wrong imo or bug

[calderon]

Originally posted by Noizemare (Ger):

Had about 25 runs. never met him ONCE. yes maybe they should change something xD

Forget about him. His role in DD2 is pathetic. He's like temporary trinket. In DD1 you can permanently hire fully upgraded heroes. In DD2 you can't even have him at the crossroads. It's been over 2 years since the game was released on EGS and it still has less of everything than DD1.