Improvement suggestions / Bug report MEGATHREAD

[Pure_Poetry]

Hi Green Guy,

First of all, huge KUDOS for that great game. It is a true gem which combines every genre I love, in a very well-designed, well-crafted, bug-free, well balanced, visually nice and fun game . Great attention to details, well done.
Because EA is also used to further improve the game with player feedback, I collected along the way some minor bugs and improvement suggestions.
Please bear in mind these are just very humble suggestions from a player who knows it is hard and complicated to do this on your own, that I know you already have your agenda and might be swamped with player requests that do not fit your "vision" of the game.
However, I thought sharing these might help bring the game from an already A level to S level in my humble opinion ;-).
There are many, collected and finetuned along my playtime, either technically minor or major to develop, so obvisously feel free to dismiss/adjust/sort whatever you deem worthy.
Campaign still in progress (but there are many elements and I don't know when 1.0 is scheduled, so...), played on PC with mouse/kb, hard diff. Sorry if some features I mentionned are seen later.
Best regards (and sorry for broken english)

UI/UX

1.1 Auto-Equip function to swap best equipment between selected adventurers/parties in a quest and the other adventurers to give them the best tier to start with for their class before fine-tuning (or even better : save/load multiple prefered equipment for characters/classes, inc accessories).
Unequipping 24 and re-equipping 24 manually is very tedious. Moving automatically 40+ items and fine-tuning c.5 depending on quest/team would be far better
1.2 Inventory sort order should be memorized. Each day I have to reapply sort by rarity while managing my equipment before quests to better access top tier equipment. Same goes for all sorted lists.
Also, sorting by rarity should also be sub-sorted by type (Heavy armors all together, etc...)
1.3 While selecting party members for a party or for a quest, add on each character frame (bottom right?) the total relationship value they have with the already selected members (to better pick the next adventurer to complete the team).
Average value would work too (less digits).
1.4 Auto-exit savegames list once you've saved/owerwritten savegame. That'll be one less click. I don't see what else one could do at that moment.
1.5 I canceled many moves by mistake while trying to scroll the combat map with right click (as it requires to hold Rclick to slide). Add border scroll at least or maybe cancel move via a double right click only ?
1.6 Heights triggers weird and unwanted movements vs selection (already mentioned in other posts). Very frustrating when it makes you move on a trap. Keybinding for adjusting height is a nice workaround so far though.
1.7 Might want to add a "are you sure?" pop-up in case adv runs over or to a trap.
1.8 While in town, have a clear view of which adventurers are 1. Available / 2. Available but injured / 3. Unavailable (With total numbers on the side). Maybe with the unavailable characters being greyed out. The current icons are OK but not visible enough / sufficient imho.
This is partially done for individual parties through Fiona section once available, but not for the guild as the whole and individual members (and should be on main town screen imho).
1.9 Have the adv list on more than just one line that constantly needs to be scrolled. Maybe 3 lines would be better to see up to 30 adv at once.
1.10 Can't access character sheet while in training ground list ==> Should be possible.
1.11 Have aura visual effect trigger at the start of turn and at the beginning of the said char turn too (for a quick reminder), instead having it permanently flickering (option in settings ?)
1.12 Display post quest stats (mostly : dmg done, HP lost, dmg soaked, block/dodge rate, dmg healed, etc...) and maybe the same thing campaign-wise !
1.13 In the character sheet, have access to the complete available skill tree (not only the current skills of the character) and the class details
1.14 Blue movement range should be toggle on withtout having to select the adventurer when it is his turn.
Same thing when hovering over an other adv or enemy (or add it in the settings menu as an option). In addition, the extra red range of the furthest possible attack would be nice.
1.15 Explain how ini calculation works (in order to be able to guess what will be the next turn order, or have a way to guess it somehow).
1.16 I constantly believe that the adv currently playing is actually the one about to play next round. I feel the frame just above the "bigger frame at top left" should be the current player, and that the bigger frame should be the current selected char/enemy (so sometimes being the same as above, sometimes the target, and sometimes empty).
After 60h of gameplay It still itches and I can't change my mind, dunno why, doesn't feel intuitive, and leads to many mistakes. Eventually add the choice in settings ?
1.17 Double click on char frame in list should assign him/her to the quest (in addition to possible drag & drop)
1.18 Add a reminder before entering quest management if no guild upgrade are currently researched and if some are available (as an option in settings, with possibility to toggle on/off)
1.19 Double click on a skill which is only usable on self should cast the skill, without having to re-selected the adventurer (ex : block)
1.20 If i misclick and cast a damaging skill/spell on my own adv, there is no warning for friendly fire (add it in settings, toggle on/off)
1.21 The right click to see details about skills on items that now has a timer and a loading bar is a bit slow (but that was a nice added feature :-))

...

[Pure_Poetry]

Mechanics :

2.1 For each quest, add a preview of what main type of monster to expect, other than just the map type (ex : oh it is lightning elemental this time... better not bring my lightning mage then), with possibility of a scout guild upgrade to add more preview slots when RP si higher.
2.2 Provide a skill (or guild upgrade, related to scouting upgrade like quest preview of enemies maybe) that allows to pick the combat map between 2 , upgraded to 3 possibilities when making contact with moving enemies (=unless ambushed, defensive enemy or scripted map).
Reason is some maps are soooo much better than others depending on party/enemies that it is a should be part of the tactical challenge to choose ones ground and not let it to RNGesus, whenever relevant.
2.3 Add at least 1 extra difficulty setting (+40% enemy HP, -10 mood, everything 25% more expensive, -25% resources)
2.4 Prevent save scum abuse by fixed seed or running the RNG way prior 'major' events happening (so that people don't save scum just before lvl up to get max stats for instance, you know, those idiots min-maxers... just like me :-)).
Quest success or failure could for example be determined and stored when sending the party, not when it comes back. Same for lvl up : could be predetermined when N-1 level-up or just when changing class/adding traits if that happens in the meantime.
Workaround should obviously be you saying to the player "just stop save scumming idiot", but that's not how it works :-D !
2.5 Provide an explanation of : % hit chance depending on various factors (what does height do, obstacles, archers being in melee range, etc...), and same for crit eventually. - Same for "magical penetration" (does it lower elem resistances ? and/or shadow/light as well ? IS there a floor/cap ? )
2.6 Provide an explanation as to what each status does precisely (help page ?). Some aren't crystal-clear. Same for resistances (ex : is bleed res a %dmg reduction or does it only provides a chance prevent the status in the 1st place). Can XXX penetration make XXX target res negative and increase XXX damage above 100% ? Can one regen ?
2.7 Better clarify skill duration "block lasts "until next turn"" ? Is it until the beginning of N+1 turn timer / End of N+1 turn ? No it's actually the next adventurer turn (and actually END of his turn, which matters if he gets countered or so)... Better if specified because that can be 2x shorter/longer than expected.
2.8 Str and Int are underwhelming depending on class (str has 0 impact for pure mages, Int for warriors). Might as well provide a very small bonus to make it just slighty relevant (ex : +1 elemental res every 2 int point and +1 Block every 3 str, above 5)
2.9 Races such as dwarves, elves, etc... would be a great addition (albeit complex to implement because many impacts on many topics). I see you already have "tags : human" on char sheets :-). Someone already posted on that matter.
2.10 Explain clearly what S/A/B/C/D values mean for stats and level-up. After all, you explain in what way each traits gives "+X" benefits to levelups. You might as well explain what the base values are :-) (help page ?)!
Worth noting that classes from the same tier have very different totals ? Those totals might be displayed as well (like 420% avg total growth per level for that class and 380% total for that one)
2.11 Add numbers on the reputation bar (how many RP out of how many needed for next level : same thing, you mention how many RP each character brings for each feat, might as well provide detailed info on the global progression).
RP could also come from general feats the guild as a whole achieved, and not only from the sum of the reputation of the individuals it is made of (just a suggestion).
2.12 Going from Acknowledged to Respected is too easy in terms of RP but too hard in terms of mission to accomplish in terms of level (I had my rep bar 99% filled for many days before I could consider the mission to get to respected)
2.13 Should add gloves as weapon equipment for monks (and transfer current gloves accessories to that slot).
2.14 Would suggest +25% XP from battle and -20% XP from quests (or similar, while staying roughly even in total). There is atm a too big incentive to just skip battles on the map to rush quest XP. Except for "multiple wave missions".
2.15 Is speed the same thing as Initiative ? How is it calculated since turn order varies ? If the same, replaces all speed by ini.
2.16 I had way too many wood and common ore while hides where very scarce ==> Might want to rebalance ?
2.17 Have adv individually get (expected avg quest level - their level) x 10% quest xp bonus or malus (better risk/reward for bringin low level or too high level adv in quest).
2.18 Mana regen trait is OP. As a comparision, amulet of mana regen gives only +2 SP/turn and is rare. 1st should be nerfed from 10 to 6-8% SP regen/turn, the other buffed from 2 to 3-4 SP/turn imho.
2.19 I have a 119 PhD char that still takes physical damage (due to phy penetration from enemy i presume, or because cap, but i can't say) : display dmg penetration (phy, elem, etc...) on char sheets (enemy as well as adv) and explain mechanics (help page ?). Is regen possible ?
2.20 Should have a way to speed up guild upgrades (like +50% gold and some ressources to get them 100% faster). It slows progression while I'm swamped with resources/gold.
2.21 I feel elems are OP. Having a reinforcment wave of elec elem (very high ini and 4 move + 4 range) is a sure way to have a lightning storm that can focus & kill 1-2 adv in 1 round as they come from all sides.
2.22 Add late game guild wars/rivalries or similar. With possible firendly tournaments/champion mechanics (quest and assignment).

Bugs (or exploits):

3.1 Flower of eternity : after the 1st "unsuccessful search" (1st quest), I had no way to talk to the alchemist about it, and had a permanent side quest displayed "keep searching" but nothing to do in assignments related to it. It stays like this (mb later quest ? but the fact that it stays visible is weird).
For details : Flower of Eternity ended on beginning of day 11. Day 10 was "save the village". On beginning of day 11 I also had Elan puppy recovered, talks about the successfully saved village and Alyssa having made her decision (to join the guild). Replayed the fight in the village 2x but same results.
3.2 Defend the village quest battle : It seems some enemies reinforcment will forever skip their turn if there is an explosive barrel in row 3-4 where they could go on their 1st move... 2x
3.3 Some minor typos here and there, absolutely not an issue for EA (Damge, ...). A simple spellcheck + Replace all should fix it in a few secs before 1.0. You also used a lot of ".)" or "?)" (punctuation before parenthesis), while it should be the other way around ")."
3.4 Vases are flagged as wood on map
3.5 It is probably not intended but it is currently profitable to hire trash mercs and fire them before the end of week while paying a fee to prevent mood loss as you can sell their equipment (for 2*50 - 50 = +50 gold profit at minimum + some herb gathering in the meantime or similar ==> it aint much but it's honest work... so the firing fee should be 100 I think).
3.6 Gilbert rescue mission : there are some obstacles that, if you fail the dice roll to remove them, make you lose 100 vigor... but it's a mission where you have infinite vigor. Might be worth mentionning you lose BP as well.
3.7 On Gilbert quest battle, a NPC soldier and my bottom left adventurer started on the same tile (both could move then). Also the end mission text mentioned that "Gilbert will repay them some day" twice (same sentence on 2 diff screen).
3.8 I once had a camping dialogue about "we're sad that Sasha is dead". No Sasha ever died, Sasha was a party member, full HP, standing right next to them :-)... I expected a joke as "hey i'm right here - "oh sorry, just a premonition", but no, just a bug.
3.9 After having dismissed some adventurers, there are still in the relationship list of the remaining adv (which is especially weird, and even more so if you renamed them "TRASH" to better manage the roster, and can't modify their name anymore since they're gone :-)).
3.10 Reloading older saves in the hub can bring a screen where you can't click on anything (might be update related) => ALT+F4. Just FYI.
3.11 Using "Body slam" to send an enemy bump into an other with the plagued trait ends up poisoning the adventurer => Should poison the moving enemy or no one.
3.12 One can camp indefinitely for full regen using "meagre meal" option + archer camping skills. Using 3 meals to get back 3 via hunting skill + anti-ambush skill to get ambush to 0 + other skill to regen HP, SP or BP. Repeat & you are 100% HP SP & BP.
Maybe make these skills cost +1 CP, and add extra +10% ambush chance per extra camp (uncapped) ?
3.13 A chest is missing on the map of the troll hunt (c.lvl 10, chest is the first top left of entry zone)
3.14 On assignement page "In process - X days remaining" ==> I think you meant "In proGRess - X days remaining" :-)
3.15 Holy damage is shortened as HOR in char sheet (instead od HOL I think)

[Pure_Poetry]

Content / Misc :

4.1 Expand the list of possible default names. I had 5 "Belle" by the end of week 3 :-D ! And 3/6 recruitable "Odin" on week 4
4.2 A battle music is a music from a TD game I won't mention here for obvious reasons. Not sure if you could have copyright issues here.
4.3 Provide details about hit%, crit% and the exact range of expected damage output (with and without crit) when hovering above an enemy with an attacking skill selected, while providing the final formula with digits that lead to those numbers (computing height, dmg res, dmg penetration, etc...).
When i'm hovering I see the results for hit%, crit% and a colored health bar, which is already great, but don't know why (and the health bar isn't precise enough). I also see the skill expected dmg without bonuses/maluses in the skill data but not the final dmg.
At least have a help page explaining in details all the crit/Hit% mechanics if that's too much of a hassle. I understood along the way a bit about obstacles, height and such, but I'm still not clear. Combat log could be used for that actually.
4.4 Pressing Esc to open menu does not stop combat. Enemy keeps doing its stuff. Should be stopped (better CPU usage/loading time, and doesn't miss what happened)
4.5 Elite Alpha wolf encountered on lvl 4-5 is way too strong imho. I met 1 with permanent crazy auras, and another with Iron skin (+100 phy res) both 100+ HP.
4.6 Add bestiary of all enemies defeated (cross-playthrough)
4.7 Same for items collected (less important)
4.8 More pets would be nice (ex : magic elemental related, scripted to appear after a mage choose a specific element maybe ? Elan puppy quest is top notch)

Once again, just humble suggestions, do whatever you want with all these (sorry if that was too long :-)), and what a great game this is even for EA. Looking forward to 1.0 and more content.

Kudos .

[TheGreenGuy]

Thanks for the extensive feedback and I really appreciate it. There are a lot of good suggestions here and some I'm already planning to do in the polishing phase and some I didn't think of but seems like really good suggestions. :). The others I need to evaluate (races will definitely not happen. Would be too much T-T).

I'm curious about the battle music. The only music I have in the game are assets bought from asset stores, so it's very likely that the game you're thinking about is probably using the same asset. So there shouldn't be any issues.

[Pure_Poetry]

Well, glad you found some of these relevant and looking forward to having them ingame.
OK for races, perfectly understandable. I assumed the same for the asset library.

[DaviddesJ]

This may be too obvious but I really want a graphical indication of which character is active on the map, not just in the list to the side. A glowing ring around them, or something.

[TheGreenGuy]

Originally posted by DaviddesJ:

This may be too obvious but I really want a graphical indication of which character is active on the map, not just in the list to the side. A glowing ring around them, or something.

Have been thinking about that a long time, but kept pushing it off. Will probably start adding it now.

[Swift-Li]

contents>QOL Bugs are good to fix before they become infested. :D

[Evalle]

Totally agree with point mentioned about profitability of fights vs mission complete rewards. Right now, fights are better to be avoided. Therefore it's a good idea to raise reward for it. Maybe, indirectly, like making fights pushing title exp bar as well, like it goes now with reputation only. Also, i know, there's chance to trigger trait "talent with sword" while you're training. It's good idea to add such a trigger chance for fights too with different traits, like solder's training, luck etc. Maybe tie it to certain achievements, like kill count or so, as i know, there's trackers for it anyways.
As a side note, reducing penalty for fights (aka hospital timers) are also possible idea. Currently, if you are forced to engage fight, the most efficient way to handle it, is to burst things fast. Otherwise your dmg taking characters are forced for long heal timers or morale loss. Maybe, it's worth to account not total damage taken even after healing, but lowest hp percentage that character reach for hospital timers. That would make beefy tanks supported with heals viable way to play. Also current bursty meta makes dmg over time effects (burns, poisons, bleeds) not viable tools at all. And, titles boosting it becomes waste as well. Maybe, something could be done with it. And, even after all the nerfs it suffered (adrenaline cost, shoot cost) ranger is still the king, because of this bursty meta and him, being the only character able to burst down dragon in a single turn with his massive multiple crits from the distance of 7. Maybe, another indirect nerf needed, with adding non-crittable property for certain bosses.
That's some suggestions, sorry about my english, it's not my native language.

[Zeks]

I wonder if it would be possible to gain exp boosters from the fights. RN levelling is kinda slow in general and I am sometimes even taking the fight to make it a little bit quicker. If you could get freely assignable exp from winning fights it would be more palatable.

[TheGreenGuy]

Originally posted by Evalle:

Totally agree with point mentioned about profitability of fights vs mission complete rewards. Right now, fights are better to be avoided. Therefore it's a good idea to raise reward for it. Maybe, indirectly, like making fights pushing title exp bar as well, like it goes now with reputation only. Also, i know, there's chance to trigger trait "talent with sword" while you're training. It's good idea to add such a trigger chance for fights too with different traits, like solder's training, luck etc. Maybe tie it to certain achievements, like kill count or so, as i know, there's trackers for it anyways.
As a side note, reducing penalty for fights (aka hospital timers) are also possible idea. Currently, if you are forced to engage fight, the most efficient way to handle it, is to burst things fast. Otherwise your dmg taking characters are forced for long heal timers or morale loss. Maybe, it's worth to account not total damage taken even after healing, but lowest hp percentage that character reach for hospital timers. That would make beefy tanks supported with heals viable way to play. Also current bursty meta makes dmg over time effects (burns, poisons, bleeds) not viable tools at all. And, titles boosting it becomes waste as well. Maybe, something could be done with it. And, even after all the nerfs it suffered (adrenaline cost, shoot cost) ranger is still the king, because of this bursty meta and him, being the only character able to burst down dragon in a single turn with his massive multiple crits from the distance of 7. Maybe, another indirect nerf needed, with adding non-crittable property for certain bosses.
That's some suggestions, sorry about my english, it's not my native language.

I do like some of the ideas here. And yes, bleed and poison is currently in an awkward spot in terms of viable builds, considering the lack of good targets in most battles. Maybe I should start thinking about letting undead be poisoned and just ignore how little sense it might make. And maybe make some enemies more tanky. Dot-Effects definitely need some overhaul.

Originally posted by Zeks:

I wonder if it would be possible to gain exp boosters from the fights. RN levelling is kinda slow in general and I am sometimes even taking the fight to make it a little bit quicker. If you could get freely assignable exp from winning fights it would be more palatable.

I do intend to rebalance the game in terms of exp gains after the next content patch. It would have all the major content so it's easier to decide how much and how fast exp should be gained over the course of the game.

[Evalle]

as an idea for poison/bleed solution, probably it's worth to remake it from dots to instant poison/bleed, slightly increase damage, reduce initial proc %chance to balance it (and make +%chance items/titles worthy), have it non-multiplyable by crits ofc, and leave poor undead things as they are now, due to lore reasons ) That way instead of dots, that in rare occasion can tick once, and almost never tick twice, while 3rd tick seems to be something as fantastic as aliens invading Earth, we'll have unstable but exciting dmg add.
Another balance issue i've noticed is the value of legendary items. Ones i've met (30 str gloves, initiative hourglass, 20% reduction belt and bravery badge) was just either useless (gloves and hourglass) or worse, than it's epic counterparts (defence bracer and bravery cloak seems to be if not better, but at least comparable in terms of utility, while are 1 tier lower). I'm not even mentioning the most effective epic items: (fire badge with whooping permanent 20+50 when need boost), knight badge. cloak of archmage, scoundrel mask etc. Even certain blue items (cloak of violence, duelist gloves and mage gauntlets for specialized titled mages) are better than ANY legendary item. Legendaries needs some love, definitely. Probably, blues i've mentioned, worth to be moved one tier higher too.

[TheGreenGuy]

I think it would be good to keep the over time aspect, because it's part of their identity as effect, but the instant damage also seems like a good idea. What I could do is reduce all dot effect duration by 1, and make it so that they get triggered once when they are applied. Basically, if bleed goes through, immediately trigger the current stack amount on the enemy(Which makes it also great when stacking) and afterwards it triggers again on turn start on their turn.Would probably need a lot of tweaking, because I can see it becoming op if not handled carefully.

[Ignus]

Originally posted by Pure_Poetry:

First of all, huge KUDOS for that great game. It is a true gem which combines every genre I love, in a very well-designed, well-crafted, bug-free, well balanced, visually nice and fun game

+1 I totally agree

Just wanna add something to the suggestions list:
- stat grow percentages as mouse over tooltipp text when been over the letters (A, B, C, D)
- more item slots and some set items with class supporting stats like the lute for the bard
- more events that add perks for doing something often (like the +1 int for solving the riddles). For example +1 dex after dismounting 25 traps, +1 str after unblocking the way with/without a shovel 10x, +1 willpower after still been alive at the end of a battle 3 times with less than 10% HP, +1 endurance after getting hit 100 times, something like that
- Even more unique classes like an Animist (summoning mushroom turrets), Puppetier (taming none animal enemies as perma pets, Bloodpriest (sapping hp from enemies to gain stacks that can be used for heals/buffs). For a future dlc you can also add dark classes like: Lich, Vampire, Bonedancer, Succubus, Deathknight, Plaguewalker, and so on :)
- Multiplayer :)

[Sir Seadragon]

I love the art in the game if possibel i woud like to suggest to make it possible to hide Text boxes.
and it woud be cool if ther where a way to not only hire humans. i think like Beast people, elvs, dwarfs or even humanoid demons (like half demons)
P.S. thank you for the incredible game

[DaviddesJ]

I don't think the purpose of these forums is to insult other users. No one's making you play the way some other player plays, or watch his videos. If you don't like it then let him play his way and you play your way.