Why is combat so terrible?

[Raptor]

I'm a level 52 with 560 heavy armor. I can get destroyed by a basic named NPC, as if I'm wearing light armor and a low level. How am I supposed to fight bosses solo with such a wacked out armor/damage system? I've tried to fight several bosses and they've completely wrecked me so fast, and I don't even do any damage even with decent weapons, that I run away. It seems like things are either way too easy to kill, or absolutely impossible to kill, and they will randomly 1-shot you with little way to tell their true difficulty.

Also combat just feels awful. Half the time, your blows will stun enemies, half the time they won't. The only way to get out of enemy combos that basically stun-lock you is to roll, which uses lots of stamina. Once you're out of stamina, you can't even block. LMAO how am I supposed to feel like Conan when I die 1,309,234,364 times trying to figure out this absolute mess of a combat system? Does it ever get any better or do people just rely on thralls and gimmicks like gas globes and other stuff I haven't gotten into much yet?

It's honestly getting pretty frustrating. I love, LOVE, many things about this game, and the exploration, building, and atmosphere of the Conan world are absolutely sublime. It's really bringing me down how random/terrible the combat system seems to be.

[Frosty]

In the same boat as you, really love the setting and building aspects about this game, but combat in this game is by far the worst thing I've experienced in a game. Like there's crappy early access scam games that do combat better than this. I don't know why the developers haven't done anything to improve it, my guess is the core coding for the Ark hand me down system they adopted just doesn't allow for any improvement without rewriting a bunch of stuff that would probably just break how the game works or something. I don't even see the devs acknowledge how bad the combat is ever, seemingly wanting to ignore it as it is and just collect the cosmetic dlc money.

[Raptor]

Originally posted by Frosty:

In the same boat as you, really love the setting and building aspects about this game, but combat in this game is by far the worst thing I've experienced in a game. Like there's crappy early access scam games that do combat better than this. I don't know why the developers haven't done anything to improve it, my guess is the core coding for the Ark hand me down system they adopted just doesn't allow for any improvement without rewriting a bunch of stuff that would probably just break how the game works or something. I don't even see the devs acknowledge how bad the combat is ever, seemingly wanting to ignore it as it is and just collect the cosmetic dlc money.

Good post, and the Arc thing seems like a likely situation. Even the lock-on mechanic feels like some weird holdover from a console game that had a lazy port to PC, but sometimes you almost have to use it as the combos for certain weapons will have your character lunging all over the place. I've even lunged right into enemies and not landed a hit, but the lunge like pushed them out of the way.

I recently was trying to check out the Black Galleon and tried to fight some NPC's on that huge bridge. Thought it might be a cool cinematic fight, lol yeah right I did one combo and lunged clear off the bridge to my death.

[Frosty]

Originally posted by WolfSpider:

Originally posted by Frosty:

In the same boat as you, really love the setting and building aspects about this game, but combat in this game is by far the worst thing I've experienced in a game. Like there's crappy early access scam games that do combat better than this. I don't know why the developers haven't done anything to improve it, my guess is the core coding for the Ark hand me down system they adopted just doesn't allow for any improvement without rewriting a bunch of stuff that would probably just break how the game works or something. I don't even see the devs acknowledge how bad the combat is ever, seemingly wanting to ignore it as it is and just collect the cosmetic dlc money.

Good post, and the Arc thing seems like a likely situation. Even the lock-on mechanic feels like some weird holdover from a console game that had a lazy port to PC, but sometimes you almost have to use it as the combos for certain weapons will have your character lunging all over the place. I've even lunged right into enemies and not landed a hit, but the lunge like pushed them out of the way.

I recently was trying to check out the Black Galleon and tried to fight some NPC's on that huge bridge. Thought it might be a cool cinematic fight, lol yeah right I did one combo and lunged clear off the bridge to my death.

Yeah when my friends and I went into that area we had the same situation where comboing that cause lunges like that more often than not fling you into more danger than they're worth.

[marcusaddamsson]

Well, this game has always kinda "centered" on Thralls. You needed/wanted certain thralls to get new/different recipes. And then there's thralls in combat. I'm not sure how it all started (I've been playin' for years, but not long enough), but essentially game balance was built to incorporate thralls. Right now, my best thrall has nearly 8,000 hp... I think my character has 360. Again, my best thrall has all heavy armor and since he doesn't use grit... a lack of grit doesn't really affect his performance. Which is why once you give him a Sword of Crom (takes all grit to swing once), the Thrall is now the star of the show.

I'm not sayin' it's good, not sayin' it's bad.. it's just the way Conan is.

As far as the Black Galleon being a horrible place for combos.. yea. It is. But again the Thrall solves that problem, as he can't fall, draws aggro, and hits for a truck ton. Shrug. When I've been in that site, I'm mostly concerned with navigating than killing...

[Raptor]

Originally posted by marcusaddamsson:

Well, this game has always kinda "centered" on Thralls. You needed/wanted certain thralls to get new/different recipes. And then there's thralls in combat. I'm not sure how it all started (I've been playin' for years, but not long enough), but essentially game balance was built to incorporate thralls. Right now, my best thrall has nearly 8,000 hp... I think my character has 360. Again, my best thrall has all heavy armor and since he doesn't use grit... a lack of grit doesn't really affect his performance. Which is why once you give him a Sword of Crom (takes all grit to swing once), the Thrall is now the star of the show.

I'm not sayin' it's good, not sayin' it's bad.. it's just the way Conan is.

As far as the Black Galleon being a horrible place for combos.. yea. It is. But again the Thrall solves that problem, as he can't fall, draws aggro, and hits for a truck ton. Shrug. When I've been in that site, I'm mostly concerned with navigating than killing...

Thanks for that info. After training just a measly level 2 fighter thrall, giving him full medium armor, and then watching him tank hits from dangerous enemies waaaaaay more than I could, I think I'm realizing that you're right and thralls seem to be a very important part of the game.

I guess it is what it is. What still frustrates me though is I just built some heavy armor for the first time, the Hyrkanean Raider set which gives like 520 or something (over 500) and I'm still getting absolutely jobbed by level 2 black hands with maces and pikes wearing ragged cloth. I really, really don't understand it lol.

[marcusaddamsson]

Well, I could make armor that'd be like 1300 or so... but it wouldn't matter too too much. That's 80-90% dmg reduction, but again.. it's the numbers, comparatively. And I'll be using my grit up something fierce if I dodge, meaning I'll get hit a lot.

The Thrall on the other hand, will take a ton of dmg, but given the hp pool is so much higher and the Thrall can regen health with virtually any crappy food, meanwhile you're using high powered potions and expensive wraps.

Conan isn't a "real" MMO, and never was. My theory is the Thralls are kinda designed to take on the MMO Tank role, which is often regarded as the least favorite role for players. Instead you're more of a DPS. You can build yourself as a tank, but you'll still never do it as well as a Thrall can.

[Solomon Hawk]

If you're playing your game solo:
It won't hurt to experiment with your settings.
In the long run, it might make your game more enjoyable.
I understand the frustration. Seriously, I've gone through it.
I don't make my game easy, I make it challenging.

[gonzalo]

old school combat system :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tbcZvGSgVk

[gonzalo]

The problem with combat is that it is only based on combos and nothing else if each weapon had a series of basic blows apart from the combos it would be much more fun,

[Draxas]

i use axe and shield.
build up my combo like gonzalo said.
stack up bleeding and kill the enemy.
2-3 Enemys at one i possible.
if i get the last armor i can kill bosses solo if i have potions to heal and move out of the havy attacks.
it works but you have to train und know your enemy.
A littlebit like a darksouls game.
For attribute i focused on agility for armor
Vitality for life
and strength.

[gonzalo]

Originally posted by Noxsa:

hey look on the bright side, soon you can do challanges for some free items in the battlepass with that wacked armor / gear. how great are they eh, they care more about money then what's actually wrong with the game.

we should fork out more money to them, who knows they fix the game eventually, right boys?

only money from monopoly XD

[Paprika]

i play as archer, got rid of melee.

[Captain Worthy]

It's essentially a game of Pokemon, you hunt and level up the best of them to do the fighting for you. You are just a weak trainer and a builder character.

Originally posted by Paprika:

i play as archer, got rid of melee.

I recommend trying the Black Globes of Yeezus, they're great to pair with archery as you wouldn't want to be in the same melee with the thing the globe summons anyways.

[Paprika]

Never thought of that, gonna try. Using hollowbone bow and starmetal arrows. Pretty underrated.

[Captain Worthy]

Originally posted by Paprika:

Never thought of that, gonna try. Using hollowbone bow and starmetal arrows. Pretty underrated.

Yeah, so is the black globe, I found a thread from earlier this year complaining they were worthless dead weight. But a few of them will kill a 12k+HP world boss for you and then you get a free legendary weapon from its chest. >_>

And you get the globes much earlier and with much less effort than you get Thralls. They're the most OP thing you can get in early game.