Megaloot

Megaloot

View Stats:
Smudgius Sep 6, 2024 @ 10:00am
A great start, but here are a few issues...
I love the premise of this game. I've had fun with it so far, but I'm already getting burned out - mostly due to the lack of consequential choices. I'm playing on the test beta branch atm, and I can see that nastier monsters are already being added, but player viability hasn't been increased. There are late game damage boosters - but damage is pretty much never the issue on a build past floor 30/40.

There are a couple of issues I see, and I'll provide my thoughts on potential solutions.

Gold issues: The late game reroll costs are just too high, especially when gold gain is linked to sets the way it is. Gold income should either be based on tower level, or rarity of the equipment piece - or maybe a combination. Some formula like Rarity x Item type x floor multiplier. In the 50+ floors I get maybe 50-100k per floor (unless a very valuable item drops) and re-rolls start out at 500k+.

Damage/HP imbalance. There are a lot of ways to scale damage - but only 1 for scaling health or armor, and that 1 is rarer, and less impactful than damage scalers. (You can get 300-400%+ faith or power on a single item - +life% is much lower, and armor lower still) Afaik there is also no armor leech, making armor tanking less viable. In general, static defenses just don't matter because monster damage scales so much faster than you can scale toughness - so it is ALWAYS a matter of hitting first. (Or going Chromalure + Royal).
Introduce some defense multipliers like faith and power. (I would actually suggest adding both = 1 each of faith/power equivalents for armor and life)

Dead/Useless Mechanics - most of the mechanics in the game: Dodge, block, parry, shields, crit chance, etc etc - are completely useless unless you play 1 specific build. Make them more generalized. Put them on lots of different gear types. (more on this at the bottom)

Set Options: Far too many sets have only 1-3 items, severely limiting their late game utility. More sets need to be added, but even more than that - the existing sets need to be expanded. Malice, elemental damage, dazzle, etc etc - these are all worthless right now - none of them have any effect at all past floor 45 or so when most monsters have 50 million+ hp. Power should affect ALL damage - including blackthorn and curse. There should also be another multiplier so they can actually be effective at higher floors. There could also be a penetration stat for elemental damage, and one for curse/blackthorn damage.

What it comes down to is this: Right now there are very few viable builds, and the lack of options in sets makes many builds feel stifling. Create more multiplicative stats that can be dismantled. The best feeling you can achieve in a loot based game is having "too many" good options. Force the player to choose between the many different useful effects they could dismantle - adding more dodge, or precision, or ele multiplication, etc etc. Then they have to carefully balance and manage their progression, rather than just focusing everything on damage, with a few nods toward precision.

Along with that, I think a long look should be taken at monsters - specifically hard counter monsters. Frankly, I think absolute counters are a mistake in any game. There should always be counter-play. Things like parry or block should have an energy or mana cost - and energy/mana drain, or the ability to block energy OR mana abilities should be gear options. With some solid balancing, the options for interesting builds could be massively increased. There is no point in worrying about players "breaking" the game - if one build just outperforms everything else to a comic degree, it can always be nerfed. I think the game would be more enjoyable if the monsters ramped less aggressively, and the floors were stretched out quite a bit. For an 'endless' game - having floor 60 or so act as a hard limit seems a little... well, limiting. But that is probably something they are already planning to expand...

Well, these have been my two cents. What are everyone else's thoughts?
< >
Showing 1-2 of 2 comments
Enjoyluck Sep 6, 2024 @ 10:04am 
They could add scaling to all perks or maybe some unlock system tree to make your char stronger each run i duno. Most of stuff you said i agree.
Smudgius Sep 6, 2024 @ 10:06am 
Yeah, I was thinking about that. What if you got to unlock a new set at floor 30? (Not a full open slot - but you could pick 1 specific set to add to your character) I think it could add a ton of options to the game.
< >
Showing 1-2 of 2 comments
Per page: 1530 50

Date Posted: Sep 6, 2024 @ 10:00am
Posts: 2