The one change Dom2 really needs.....

[Frosted Flake]

I know what i think it is. The game has a rich assortment of weapons and shields and basically they are all useless. National troops and even Scs are helpless against a wraith sword/hell sword weilding SC. You get them at level 4 construction for dirt. There should be 1 blood and 1 death lifedraining weapon each at level 8 construction. People would be forced to use troops and other weapons. I love this game dont get me wrong but I think the lifetap weapons make regular troops less than meaningless. Any other ideas for the one big change?

frosted flake

[Arryn]

I don't agree that making them "artifacts" would be fair. I think a better compromise would be to raise them to L6 from L4, and increase their costs substantially. They are too easy to get and far too cheap. OTOH, if you'll recall Moorcock's stories, plus the D&D novels and games that are derivative works from Moorcock's original idea, lifedraining weapons aren't unique (ie: artifacts), though they are rare and VERY prowerful.

BTW, even without a Wraith Sword, a cheap Bane Lord mini-SC, equipped with Flying Boots and Jade Armor is plenty effective. Give him a Flambeau and watch the fun. Are you going to suggest that Bane Lords be nerfed too?

[Graeme Dice]

Frosted Flake said:
I know what i think it is. The game has a rich assortment of weapons and shields and basically they are all useless. National troops and even Scs are helpless against a wraith sword/hell sword weilding SC.

You've never seen 40 barbarians take down a banelord with herioc toughness(100 hitpoints), luck pendant, jade armour and a wraith sword? It happens often enough that I avoid barbarian provinces altogether.

[The Panther]

ALL life drain should be summarily eliminated from the game. I mean, the bane lord comes with a powerful bane blade that you need to sack for a wraith sword? How utterly stupid is that?

Life drain is busted and severly unbalanced. Inherent life drain is perhaps the primary reason the VQ is, by far, the best SC Pretender out of the box.

Without life drain, you just might see an Ice Devil die to 50 troops surrounding it, just like it ought to be.

In fact, I am very disappointed with the game after watching battle after battle where a single commander with life drain eliminates unlimited size armies. I have been on both sides of that equation and it leaves an extremely poor taste in my mouth. In fact, I have already decided to not enter anymore MP games until the SC problem is fixed, which I believe is caused by life drain more than any other single thing. Having life drain reduce fatigue is even so idiotic that I can hardly believe it actually happens that way!

If this is not fixed until Dom3, then so be it. If that is not fixed in Dom3 either, then I will cross that bridge when I reach it.

[Zen]

The second Conceptual Balance Mod in the Series deals with Items and makes those Life Draining weapons considerably more in line. Though this won't in effect stop people from making SC's with lifedraining weapons, but unfeasible to make a ton of mini-combatants. I don't know whether or not this is a good or a bad change, but a change nonetheless. As a spoiler, the costs have been adjusted on various items to look like:

Wraith Sword - Construction 4, 4D, 40 Death Gems (Now you will probably pick Standards of the Damned, but that's the trade off)
Blood Thorn - Construction 6, 3B2N, 20 Blood Slaves, 10 Nature Gems
Clam of Pearls - 4W, 10 Water, 10 Astral
Fever Fetish - 2F2N, 10 Fire, 10 Nature
Blood Stone - 3B2E, 20 Blood, 10 Earth
Winged Shoes - 2A, 10 Air

etc.

[Zen]

The Panther said:If this is not fixed until Dom3, then so be it. If that is not fixed in Dom3 either, then I will cross that bridge when I reach it.

Well you might want to pick up another hobby then I doubt you are going to be able to convince the Dev's that Life Drain is 'idiotic' as you put it. And that you feel that there should not be any powerful beings able to destroy hordes of normal men by virtue of either Godliness or Uniqueness. You might try playing R;TW, which has nothing akin to magic or gods or such things and relies totally on historical units and formations and other such things (I enjoy RTW, btw for exactly that).

A post stating a tantrum of "If they don't do this, I'm not playing! I'm taking my ball and going home" type of attitude isn't exactly indicitive of reasoned feedback why or how you feel that way other than if you can't play it the way you want, you won't play (which is fine, many a game of solitaire has gotten started that way).

If you really feel that way, you might want to present your case and reasoning for it and maybe you can initiate a change that there shouldn't be Life Draining at all.

[Frosted Flake]

Once in a blue moon a poorly protected SC can lose to a host of indies but its rare. Bane lords are only a level 5 summons and cost only 10 gems and are very very effective.They come with a cool blade that noone would consider letting them swing. If lifedrain was nerfed, and screw thematic I'm talking game fun, people would still summon every SC they could they'd just maybe want some troops along and we'd see them decked with different toys. I love Jotun neifelheim and a properly equipped jarl can take out a stack of heavy cav solo..its kinda sick

frosty

[Graeme Dice]

The Panther said:
ALL life drain should be summarily eliminated from the game. I mean, the bane lord comes with a powerful bane blade that you need to sack for a wraith sword? How utterly stupid is that?

This is little more than whining.

Life drain is busted and severly unbalanced. Inherent life drain is perhaps the primary reason the VQ is, by far, the best SC Pretender out of the box.

She isn't actually. The ghost king is easily better, so is the PoD. The daughter of the land is another one who does better. In fact, just about any of the titan types will work better than the VQ.

Without life drain, you just might see an Ice Devil die to 50 troops surrounding it, just like it ought to be.

Why should a demon lord die to 50 measly humans?

In fact, I have already decided to not enter anymore MP games until the SC problem is fixed, which I believe is caused by life drain more than any other single thing.

What SC problem?

[Arryn]

Zen said:
Clam of Pearls - 4W, 10 Water, 10 Astral

Are you able to "disconnect" the path requirement from the gem cost? Because for every other item I can think of, the progression goes:

1 path = 5 gems
2 path = 10 gems
3 path = 20 gems
4 path = 40 gems
5 path = 80 gems

So you'd either need 40 water gems (and no astral), or pathing of 2W2S?

[Zen]

Frosted Flake said:
Once in a blue moon a poorly protected SC can lose to a host of indies but its rare. Bane lords are only a level 5 summons and cost only 10 gems and are very very effective.They come with a cool blade that noone would consider letting them swing. If lifedrain was nerfed, and screw thematic I'm talking game fun, people would still summon every SC they could they'd just maybe want some troops along and we'd see them decked with different toys. I love Jotun neifelheim and a properly equipped jarl can take out a stack of heavy cav solo..its kinda sick

frosty

So what do you do with Vampires? Just a question I'd ask. Change it to Steal Strength? Or just let them tear people up and not have them suck blood (I'm not saying this couldn't be construed as thematic since I doubt every vampire that ever attacks is allowed to suck blood).

Some people do leave the Bane Lord with his normal weapon, I do very frequently, because he is decked out and his weapon does decay. And at the rate Bane Lords can die and their incorporated cost, it doesn't seem economical for me to spend another 10 gems for a Wraith Sword, when I can just get another Bane Lord for another 10 gems (baring Forge bonuses, but they are hardly common to every time I use death).