just a quick question about magic and skill damage

[funkmonster7]

Is it true that the devs are working on some kind of magic system in this game? As the current game seems to focus almost entirely on melee damage. I don't have a problem with the current iteration of the game, being melee focused and all, but just interested in knowing if skill damage can be scaled to some degree.

I'm also wondering this for the sake of "lore" as well, since there are some elven houses who are said to focus on bow combat or something. And the newest update seems to be about some kind of magic system. I'm still new to the game so I'm wondering what the devs are thinking regarding this development. Not offering any suggestion at all.

[Tyrax]

I was wondering the same, feels odd there's no bows or ranged style. The new update didn't seem to change anything for magic yet, unless I'm missing some patch notes...

[funkmonster7]

Originally posted by Tyrax:

I was wondering the same, feels odd there's no bows or ranged style. The new update didn't seem to change anything for magic yet, unless I'm missing some patch notes...

My guess is the new update sets up the precedents for future magic combat features. But this is just my guess based on the latest devlog.

I'm actually currently in the process of finding Alaloth's discord channel right now... I don't like using discord, it feels too much of a job but the One Tree feature and other "exclusive content" seems a bit tempting. So, ever since I last joined Discord for Monster Hunter: World (which was, 2018?)... I guess I'll give Discord another go.

[Eldacar]

Heya, yes we are reworking magic a bit, even if we are not going to change the design of the game around it, to keep our vision and consistency with the game lore. For sure, we are going to improve everything we can and we have a few cool ideas for magic builds as well

Discord is great btw :P

[Tyrax]

Originally posted by Eldacar:

Heya, yes we are reworking magic a bit, even if we are not going to change the design of the game around it, to keep our vision and consistency with the game lore. For sure, we are going to improve everything we can and we have a few cool ideas for magic builds as well

Discord is great btw :P

Any plans for ranged combat? Feels weird that so many enemies have bows, but we don't...especially for an elf...

[Eldacar]

Originally posted by Tyrax:

Originally posted by Eldacar:

Heya, yes we are reworking magic a bit, even if we are not going to change the design of the game around it, to keep our vision and consistency with the game lore. For sure, we are going to improve everything we can and we have a few cool ideas for magic builds as well

Discord is great btw :P

Any plans for ranged combat? Feels weird that so many enemies have bows, but we don't...especially for an elf...

Marksman is a profession but yep, we are working on a few things :)

[Tyrax]

Originally posted by Eldacar:

Marksman is a profession but yep, we are working on a few things :)

Yes, but those are abilities, I was referring to actual ranged weapons for basic attacks - right now everything is melee, unless I'm missing something. I really like the game overall, but I never liked melee in games, so it feels odd to be locked into that.

[Eldacar]

Originally posted by Tyrax:

Originally posted by Eldacar:

Marksman is a profession but yep, we are working on a few things :)

Yes, but those are abilities, I was referring to actual ranged weapons for basic attacks - right now everything is melee, unless I'm missing something. I really like the game overall, but I never liked melee in games, so it feels odd to be locked into that.

The game is born around melee fight by design, but we are on many different sys right now following community feedback. Improving magic could open to something for ranged combat in general :)

Glad to know you like the game, please consider a review here on Steam, it really helps us at this stage :)

[funkmonster7]

Personally I think the game is fine being melee-focused. Even though there are enemies with bows, they usually do tickle damage compared to getting whacked in the face by a polearm or sword.

My only issue with abilities that do damage right now is less than half of them are only useful for the damage... And the others are basically worthless.

For example, I like Power Sting. 300 physical damage, short-ish cooldown, fast cast time (faster than casting spells anyway), thus allowing for kiting especially when paired with Boahi's Hand.

The problem is, Arrowchain is near worthless. It hits for 140 damage, and then the damage falls off with the more enemies the shot bounces off. And it has longer cooldown than Power Sting. I can see that if the damage gets buffed up it will become OP, but its problem at the moment is it has no scaling. When Power Sting becomes almost useless, Arrowchain becomes irrelevant. I only used Arrowchain against undead before, because they're so slow anyway that I can take my sweet time kiting them. Then again, I can also go into melee and slaughter them much more quickly as well.

In fact, I even prefer the fire spell from Way of Nature because it has no line-of-sight penalty. I lock someone down with Boahi's Hand, and then I cast the fire spell. It even does AOE damage, even though it is weak damage but the fire dot is good when it procs.

There is also a Way of Nature spell, called Lightning Bolt or something. It is ... underwhelming. 160 damage, but 1 second cast time. 4 seconds cooldown, but I find myself a sitting duck just to do 160 damage from range. When I can go into melee and put down over 500 damage per second. I guess it is nice to attack from range but Power Sting is infinitely better than Lightning Bolt in that sense.

I tried using Force Wave and its 1-second cast time has cost me more often than not. Even if it has 3 seconds cooldown, I don't know...

Currently my top 3 picks for skills regardless of build are: Boahi's Hand, Puppet Wire, and the WotG damage/crit buff. As you can see, they are all support skills. (I'm intentionally avoiding the familiar summoning skill and Vampiric Touch because there is a limit to how many of those I can use per fighting area.)

So, in a nutshell I think damage skills not having any scaling is hurting the skills' purpose. Probably they're meant to be early-game skills and not late-game. Don't know... but doesn't change the fact that Arrowchain is still near worthless. And there are 2 of these AOE skills in Marksman tree...

Btw I'm not asking for a change or anything right away. :) I'm just chatting... Maybe I should do this on Discord instead.

[Tyrax]

I didn't play long enough to realise the skills weren't scaling, that is indeed an issue...

[Eldacar]

Originally posted by Tyrax:

I didn't play long enough to realise the skills weren't scaling, that is indeed an issue...

Next update :)

[funkmonster7]

Originally posted by Eldacar:

Originally posted by Tyrax:

I didn't play long enough to realise the skills weren't scaling, that is indeed an issue...

Next update :)

No problem. I'm happy to just patiently wait for it.