Combat XP Needs a Rework

[maestro]

Getting to Combat Level 10 is absolutely ridiculous.

I have at least half each of the Slayer achievements done (and a couple are done).
I've been to the skull caverns several times, getting to floor 20+ (and once to floor 50).
I've even done a monster musk run of 100-115 in the Mines.
I even bought a Combat XP Book.

And I am *STILL* not level 10.

So, I look it up on the wiki to try and figure out WTF is going on, and no wonder.

These XP tables make no fricken sense whatsoever.

How is it that a Lava Bat gives 15XP and a Pepper Rex only gives 7 when the latter has 5x as much health and does 2x the damage, and its attack is far harder to dodge?

Why do do the lowly cave fly, you know those flying bugs around Floor 15, give more XP than a Pepper Rex? Or heck for that matter, it gives more XP than a Skeleton or a Metal Head (Cave Flies give 10, Skeletons 8, and Metal heads 6).

[Maya-Neko]

Sounds like it's not based of difficulty, but rather balanced around where people are at which level. Otherwise people would probably reach level 2 halway through the first mines, but then suddenly get 5 levels in 2 days in the skull cavern.

Though i've never really paid attention to the stats in this, as lvl 10 just happens eventually and it felt like a reasonable progression throughout the game, at least for me. However, i play more casually, so i don't try to min-max XP gain on this.

[Hawk]

I think it's less to do with the XP Tables itself and more to how tedious getting to level 10 in combat is. When I got the level 10 in all skills achievement combat was by far the slowest and the last I got. It's just not that fun in this game to do combat and level the skill up. Mining is a close second with how slow it is to level and tedious the act is. Atleast the other skills happen as you're going about your days.

[MonkehMaster]

combat xp is fine, when you arent worried about rushing everything and instead just enjoy the game

[Crater]

I presume you're using the galaxy sword?

The cave fly is one monster, every other monster in the game is in line with the linear difficulty increase.

https://stardewvalleywiki.com/Combat

For one thing the pepper rex attack is not "far harder to dodge". Their aggro radius is lower, they are slower, and the attack animation is slow and actually very easy to dodge. I'm not saying that justifies the value but your characterisation of it is incorrect.

Second you're measuring your annoyance by invoking skull cavern dives, but the depth levels in themselves don't mean much. I can get holes skipping 8 floors, I can go through 25 + floors without hitting a monster if I'm trying to speed through it.

Third in terms of actual productive results for progression, combat is the least useful. I've been doing min max runs since 1.4, and whether you're rushing or casually farming, the order of the skills is something like : fishing (for early min max) > farming >(long term king) > mining (to help upgrade tools / progress to skull cavern, though this skill comes naturally) >>> foraging (long-long term gains with tappers) >>>>>>>>>> combat.

I can't even think of a moment where I ever though "man I wish my combat skill was higher so I could do x" - and this is coming from a player getting 500+ starfruit on summer 1.

[maestro]

Originally posted by MonkehMaster:

combat xp is fine, when you arent worried about rushing everything and instead just enjoy the game :gk_smile:

Starting on the new mastery system is kinda hard when you kill and kill and kill and kill and kill and kill and kill and are STILL stuck on Level 9.

I've killed thousands of enemies, and I'm still Level 9.

It's just ridiculous how long it takes. And I am a casual player, but I'd like to get started on the mastery system sometime this RL year. I have other things going on in my life and I'd like to make some progress towards the mastery system.

[maestro]

Originally posted by Tabasco:

I presume you're using the galaxy sword?

The cave fly is one monster, every other monster in the game is in line with the linear difficulty increase.

https://stardewvalleywiki.com/Combat

For one thing the pepper rex attack is not "far harder to dodge". Their aggro radius is lower, they are slower, and the attack animation is slow and actually very easy to dodge. I'm not saying that justifies the value but your characterisation of it is incorrect.

Second you're measuring your annoyance by invoking skull cavern dives, but the depth levels in themselves don't mean much. I can get holes skipping 8 floors, I can go through 25 + floors without hitting a monster if I'm trying to speed through it.

Third in terms of actual productive results for progression, combat is the least useful. I've been doing min max runs since 1.4, and whether you're rushing or casually farming, the order of the skills is something like : fishing (for early min max) > farming >(long term king) > mining (to help upgrade tools / progress to skull cavern, though this skill comes naturally) >>> foraging (long-long term gains with tappers) >>>>>>>>>> combat.

I can't even think of a moment where I ever though "man I wish my combat skill was higher so I could do x" - and this is coming from a player getting 500+ starfruit on summer 1.

I mentioned the Skull Caverns dives as a clue as to how much crap I've killed.

I have more than half of the mummies for the slayer achievement, about 800 slimes out of the 1000, etc.

And again.

The new mastery system which has some really nice rewards is locked behind getting Combat level 10.

I don't really care about the combat level, except that Mastery is gated behind it.

As for the pepper rex, try ending up on an Infested floor with 5-6 of them in the same room and then talk to me about how easy they are to kill vs lava bats, lol

[MonkehMaster]

Originally posted by maestro:

Originally posted by MonkehMaster:

combat xp is fine, when you arent worried about rushing everything and instead just enjoy the game

Starting on the new mastery system is kinda hard when you kill and kill and kill and kill and kill and kill and kill and are STILL stuck on Level 9.

I've killed thousands of enemies, and I'm still Level 9.

It's just ridiculous how long it takes. And I am a casual player, but I'd like to get started on the mastery system sometime this RL year. I have other things going on in my life and I'd like to make some progress towards the mastery system.

well, why waste time here, the game is waiting.

[maestro]

BTW, I missed this...

I presume you're using the galaxy sword?

I would be using a Galaxy Sword if, you know, the game would give me a Prismatic Shard, but after cracking open like 200+ omni geodes and doing half a dozen skull cavern runs and not seeing a single mystic stone, and getting 120+ iridium ores, and killing 70 void spirits, I have yet to see one.

EDIT: And that's just adding to the frustration too. Would like to start mastery, but the game refuses to give me Lv10 combat. I go out and kill stuff, which takes longer with a weaker weapon. Tried to Volcano dungeon for the guaranteed shard at the top but that's just way too hard with a weaker sword, takes forever to kill anything. Maybe I'll try again if I ever get the slime ring, still another 200 slimes to go.

I do geode runs (with the greater geode chance perk) and crack open dozens of omni geodes, no shard. Kill lots of void spirits, no shard. Go into the skull caverns, no mystic stones. Kill a bunch of mummies, no shards.

It's just frustrating all around.

[Crater]

Originally posted by maestro:

BTW, I missed this...

I presume you're using the galaxy sword?

I would be using a Galaxy Sword if, you know, the game would give me a Prismatic Shard, but after cracking open like 200+ omni geodes and doing half a dozen skull cavern runs and not seeing a single mystic stone, and getting 120+ iridium ores, I have yet to see one.

Okay well problem #1 if you're setting about doing a long grind, you ought to start with getting the right tool for the job. If you're then going to complain about not getting the right tool, you ought to figure that part out first. I suggest you get the burglar ring and then get deeper in skull cavern. Use staircases / bombs. You ought to be able to achieve floor 100+ even without the gsword. Every serpent you slay has a chance to drop one, the ring almost doubles the chance, and they also drop spicy eel which boost speed and luck. Also there is a skill book that further increases drop chance. But by floor 100+ you will also see prismatic nodes.

[maestro]

Originally posted by Tabasco:

Originally posted by maestro:

BTW, I missed this...



I would be using a Galaxy Sword if, you know, the game would give me a Prismatic Shard, but after cracking open like 200+ omni geodes and doing half a dozen skull cavern runs and not seeing a single mystic stone, and getting 120+ iridium ores, I have yet to see one.

Okay well problem #1 if you're setting about doing a long grind, you ought to start with getting the right tool for the job. If you're then going to complain about not getting the right tool, you ought to figure that part out first. I suggest you get the burglar ring and then get deeper in skull cavern. Use staircases / bombs. You ought to be able to achieve floor 100+ even without the gsword. Every serpent you slay has a chance to drop one, the ring almost doubles the chance, and they also drop spicy eel which boost speed and luck. Also there is a skill book that further increases drop chance. But by floor 100+ you will also see prismatic nodes.

You're kinda not reading what I'm saying.

I almost have the mummy slayer achievement, the serpent slayer achievement is about half done, the void spirit slayer is getting close too. I am killing this stuff. Lots of it. Ridiculous amounts of these enemies.

And it seems like CA highly nerfed the mystic stone appearance rate, so those aren't spawning either whatsoever. I mean, I did a few save files before 1.6 and on every single save, there was 1 mystic stone in the quarry. Not this time. I'd also see one or two on a run to Floor 50, but nope. Been there once, and the 40s again, not a single mystic stone.

[Maya-Neko]

Originally posted by Hawk:

I think it's less to do with the XP Tables itself and more to how tedious getting to level 10 in combat is. When I got the level 10 in all skills achievement combat was by far the slowest and the last I got. It's just not that fun in this game to do combat and level the skill up. Mining is a close second with how slow it is to level and tedious the act is. Atleast the other skills happen as you're going about your days.

And for me, the last things i unlock are usually fishing and forageing.

What you get early or late mostly depends on your playstyle and if you barely go into the mines or avoid monsters, then it usually takes longer to finish it compared to others, which you might do more often

[maestro]

Originally posted by Maya-Neko:

Originally posted by Hawk:

I think it's less to do with the XP Tables itself and more to how tedious getting to level 10 in combat is. When I got the level 10 in all skills achievement combat was by far the slowest and the last I got. It's just not that fun in this game to do combat and level the skill up. Mining is a close second with how slow it is to level and tedious the act is. Atleast the other skills happen as you're going about your days.

And for me, the last things i unlock are usually fishing and forageing.

What you get early or late mostly depends on your playstyle and if you barely go into the mines or avoid monsters, then it usually takes longer to finish it compared to others, which you might do more often

I am somebody who prioritizes the Mine, and usually gets to Floor 120 during the first or second week of Summer, and I generally kill everything in my path. I don't run from enemies, lol.

[ice]

wrong

[maestro]

So, it finally popped, I got Combat 10. Finally. Got the Bone Mill quest, and used some Monster Musk to kill the skeletons and it popped while I was doing that.

To put this into perspective, I spent about 7-8 game-days doing various mines, skull caverns, etc runs, probably easily totalling 3-4 hours to get that last level unlocked.

According to Wiki, Level 9 -> 10 takes 5,000XP to earn.

After I got my mastery, I went to the Night Market and took the Submarine Tour, and did some fishing.

That + taking care of my animals twice = 2,300 XP. So, about 2,000 of that XP was from Fishing.

One Night of Fishing gave me almost half of what I toiled away for hours in the mines and skull caverns for.

[EuBa]

sounds like a skill issue