Extreme changes to Feather Cape

[thayer44]

EDIT: new patch restored Resistance to Frost. This is a great change. Now you have only to pop a fire resist potion and you're good. Plus the buff of 20% higher jumping and 20% less jump stamina is really useful in both Mistlands and Ashlands.

It went from Resistant vs Frost to Very Weak vs Fire. This will be terrible in the mistlands when fighting Gjall. And I assume pretty bad in the Ashlands, what with all the fire and all.

I can concede that the Feather Cape needed some re-balancing, because there was no reason to pick any other cape, but damn, when you're exploring the Mistlands it'll be rough.

What are your thoughts?

[Hoovyknight]

currently in mid mistland progression. also on beta branch. and can confirm the cape nerf if very rough. pretty much need a fire resist potion just to stay alive without burning all your health potions. not to mention taking up another inventory slot for thoses potions. un-equiping it before knowingly engaging a gnarl will help a bit but that fire dmg is rough nonetheless.

they did give the fire damage over time a hitsound now so i guess that cool.

[Nerevar]

the fire and forst part can be fully negated by useing the corresponding meads. and the cape also got a new BUFF effect :

20% less stamina cost for jumps and 20% HIGHER jump height. it did NOT have these on the live version.

the cold one is a bit annoying due to nights giveing you cold with it. but the fire resist one is justified given these new effects.

and well. you would be useing barley wine in ashlands ANYWAY if you arent playing on easymode. and you dont wanna be outside at night in the ashlands either. too many enemy spawns.

the new ashlands capes are pathetic compared to feater fall effect despite this nerf. you dont even notice them with high weapon skills. and the wind run one looks like utter ♥♥♥♥.

[Lucidess]

I'm all for having a large list of equipment that's all unique and interesting to use, and not over powered. Having that one overpowered thing just de-values other equipment pieces, and that having a growing list of equipment over time is more satisfying than having 1 set for the rest of the game.

[Shaken_Widow]

if you're being set on fire by the gjall you're fighting it wrong.

it doesn't use the fireball attack if you stand underneath it, but it will instead spawn ticks.

its weakspot is the belly, so standing under and firing arrows into it kills it fast, and switching to stagbreaker deals with the ticks.

there is literally no reason for your feather cape to be catching fire other than skill issue.

[Blakkrazor]

The need for protection from Cold Effect is obvious if you're doing anything at Night so the nerf to remove that is shameful. This is a PVE game where nerfs indicate laziness or lack of imagination or both. They could allow all cloaks to protect from Night Cold but only have Wolf and Lox protect from Freezing and that would make more sense as now you will either have to carry an extra cloak to swap to or have the necessary Meads.

[Shadow Wizard Fluffy Gang]

Seems reasonable. It had the benefit of being a utility garment while also just being a straight upgrade over any other possible option.

Now it is just a utility garment, and still a powerful one.
Frost meads having a purpose again is somewhat nice, and I always carry fire resistance mead in Mistlands anyway since it'll save me in a pinch from Gjalls.

[TheBoot]

I'm going to wait for the general public release but I have a question for those of you playing the beta; do you still get cold at night even in the Ashlands? Kinda seems like that particular effect shouldn't apply there.

[Balalaika]

Why not make new Ashland capes specifically for Ashland why do developers need to ♥♥♥♥ around with previous content gear. Have specific gear for specific areas. Why break things that are not broken.

Just have the ability to add featherfall to other capes. You did add enchanting/gems to the game. Why you gotta half ass it.

[Nerevar]

the sad part is this nerf was probaly done because the new ashlands capes SUCK compared to feather fall. they arent actualy upgrades. thier bonus is a bad joke. its hardly noticeable compared to feather fall.

[Lorska]

I'm just curious what this adds to the game.
Ashlands capes are supposed to be used in ashlands so they should naturally outclass the feather cape by virtue of their own effects, not based on how detrimental something else is.

So in the end this just leaves you with 2 options:
1) have multiple capes to switch between
2) grind fire and frost meads to chug

Neither of these really add any skill element or fun mechanics... It's just tedium added for no reason.

Also to all those people saying that there shouldn't be a "best cape", having a best in slot seems to be fine for armor? So why wouldn't higher progression capes be better? Why are you fine with half the capes being actually useless?

Personally I don't care much about the fire weakness, that's something that you should be countering with mead anyway, but the feather cape is something like a quintessential quality of life cape. Removing cold resistance (nobody actually cares about frost resistance, let's be honest) just feels bad.

[Exodite-Dragon]

Cold resistance nerf should be walked back and the stamina/jump change removed. I understand that frost resistance mead has been useless for a while but I'd rather slot Eikthyr to my Forsaken power than have to sacrifice another inventory slot carrying around another item when we're already pressed for space in vanilla. They need to find another compelling reason to use frost mead, because this ain't it.

Don't have a problem with the fire resistance debuff, though. We're already carrying fire barley wine as-is, but if this change isn't reverted you can bet your posterior there'll be an uptick in people using mods to restore featherfall's cold resistance.

[sirstevolot]

I don't see it as a nerf, definitely not extreme if we agree to disagree. The jumping bonuses are huge for Mistlands and Ashlands progression still. You should have root harnesk for ML anyways and that needs a fire resistance buff for the Gjall, too.

[JP_Russell]

Originally posted by Nerevar:

the sad part is this nerf was probaly done because the new ashlands capes SUCK compared to feather fall. they arent actualy upgrades. thier bonus is a bad joke. its hardly noticeable compared to feather fall.

Do I understand correctly that the ashen cape has up to 18 armor, frost resistance, and reduces weapon stamina usage by 10% and block stamina usage by 20%? I don't know that I agree that that sucks, it seems like a reasonable alternative to the old feather cape for those that just want to be tankier and more lethal in melee (but compared to the PTB feather cape, ashen just seems better unless you're in an environment or situation where you really need the featherfall).

From what I've seen of the asksvin cloak in videos, on the other hand, I haven't noticed a difference in the run speed. I don't really know what they were going for with that one.

[Nerevar]

Originally posted by JP_Russell:

Originally posted by Nerevar:

the sad part is this nerf was probaly done because the new ashlands capes SUCK compared to feather fall. they arent actualy upgrades. thier bonus is a bad joke. its hardly noticeable compared to feather fall.

Do I understand correctly that the ashen cape has up to 18 armor, frost resistance, and reduces weapon stamina usage by 10% and block stamina usage by 20%? I don't know that I agree that that sucks, it seems like a reasonable alternative to the old feather cape for those that just want to be tankier and more lethal in melee (but compared to the PTB feather cape, ashen just seems better unless you're in an environment or situation where you really need the featherfall).

From what I've seen of the asksvin cloak in videos, on the other hand, I haven't noticed a difference in the run speed. I don't really know what they were going for with that one.

the run speed only applys if you run with the WIND direction. which you can only control with moder power.

the problem with the 10% less stamina is you ARENT more effective in melee. i tested it.

you get the SAME AMOUNT of attacks out of a full stamina bar with or without it. the effect is too minimal and when weapons cost 14 stamina per swing base and you have a very high weapon skill the impact is EVEN SMALLER. its not noticeable at all. and you never spam your stamina bar empty in this game to begin with if you know how to probaly fight in combat. so you never attack so much that this bonus would be noticeable to begin with. its just too small currently. it has to be 33% or something to be noticeable.

blocking is nothing i do anymore to begin with as spaceing is just stronger and better in every way so that bonus is useless as you either parry or dont block to begin with by that point in the time.

the armor rating is okisch but that doesnt outclass feather fall effect by ANY means. you take way more fall dmg overall than you would take less with this minimal armor increase.

jumping 20% higher is HUGE when your jump skill is at 100. youll notice that. plus jump cost reduction. nothing reduces jump costs at thier base. not even the skill.

so this is simple a case of what is actually useful gameplay wise and what isnt. the ashlands cape is a straight downgrade from feathers effects currently.

its kinda funny. the devs dont want a best in slot cape but they have a best in slot for armors and are fine with that beeing the case?

i rather make frost meads and fire meads nonstop than lose feather fall. the fire mead is used EITHER WAY even with the ashlands cape to help you vs the fire dangers in ashlands so thats fully meaningless so its only really the frost mead. a minor annoyence at best.

[crowss_kizuna]

I read all the patch notes for the Ashlands beta again for the feather cape nerf, but there was no mention of it at all.
This is a very bad example of a silent nerf that is not mentioned in the patch notes.
Moreover, it is an extreme weakening.

It is puzzling that it would be Week against Gjal's fire attack when it is supposed to be equipment for the Misty Lands and appropriate for that biome.
The above says, "Gual acts to generate ticks if you get under him, standing right in front of him is wrong." but to say that all players arrive at the exact same answer and deny it by saying that everything else is wrong is just that, wrong.
And you can't be in a situation where you can always act that way.

But more than that, I feel that Feather Cape's loss of resistance to cold is more unjustified than its loss of susceptibility to fire.

The loss of resistance to cold made nighttime activities more difficult, and the mountains lost the means to move comfortably through their undulations regardless of the time of day.
Above all, when building a base, we often work through the night, so it is hard to lose our cold tolerance in that regard.
Having to give up and prepare a separate cold-tolerant cape and give up parachuting is a big negative.
Having to carry even more extras in limited inventory and weight is just an inconvenience and has nothing to do with difficulty.
This loss of cold tolerance is more of a negative in building a base than in adventuring.
Since building often involves working through the night, the feather cape, with its cold resistance and parachute effect to prevent falling to one's death, could be a useful piece of equipment for building bases, even if it will not be used in the future.

Just when play has become comfortable with progression, suddenly a cramped and inconvenient nerf is demoralizing to the players.

If you want people to use a variety of capes, wouldn't it have been better to give further ancillary value to other capes instead of nerfing feather capes?
If the Ashlands cape had the features of reduced stamina consumption and high armor, plus cold protection, I would have used the feather cape, the Ashlands cape, and both of them in different ways for my troubles.

Just when play has become comfortable with progression, suddenly a cramped and inconvenient nerf is demoralizing to the players.

If you want people to use a variety of capes, wouldn't it have been better to give further ancillary value to other capes instead of nerfing feather capes?
If the Ashlands cape had the features of reduced stamina consumption and high armor, plus cold protection, I would have used the feather cape, the Ashlands cape, and both of them in different ways for my troubles.