SallazarSpellcaster wrote:Hello!
I've made a playthrough as Parias on Hexen + Deathkings, so I got a feel for his weapon, especially the Spear, here are some thoughts! - Full disclosure: I played using Doomed Souls mode, with It's So Raven monster preset because I really hate myself enjoy the challenge!
Thanks as always for the feedback! You're an absolute madlad for using Dimensional Instability and Doomed Souls on the already frustrating Deathkings.
SallazarSpellcaster wrote:First off, the spear: GODS ABOVE the damned spear! As others have mentioned before, it's perfect right out of the gate. It offers an excellent mixture of tactical and defensive options, while giving a much-needed improved melee weapon. Its secondary I found especially useful, as it's the first true fire-and-forget weapon; being able to summon ghostly spears while circle-strafing and dodging projectiles while knowing they'll strike true is a blessing.
I'm glad everyone likes it; the Lightbringer is a tough act to follow, but I'm happy to have managed it.
SallazarSpellcaster wrote:Crux Calicus' first and third upgrades are useful but circumstantial - the hovering shield is particularly useful during large engagements when the game becomes a bullet hell, while the first upgrade simply makes its primary fire a more viable long-term option. Secondary is ancillary - the vortex is already ridiculously powerful enough, so a little more, while appreciated, usually goes unused because monsters are dead before it triggers. Fun fact: Heresiarch's shield doesn't protect it against the singularity's damage - managed to one-shot the bloody bastard, which was nice.
The Crux Calicus was indeed a challenge to find sufficient upgrades for, especially the vortex as you notice. Making it bigger is arguably a downgrade, making it cheaper would be too strong. I tried extra energy pulses and lashes but that made it way too strong. So the spherical manifolds at the start and end were the only viable solution in the end, but there's only so much you can add.
Its the reason that right now, Ultimate upgrades are still costing 1 upgrade item rather than 2 as originally planned; they are kinda like 'win-more' buttons for most encounters and I wanted to see how people felt they stood on the usefulness scale.
Yep, nothing in Hexen is immortal to G-Forces from the Vortex, lol. Whereas since Doom has no fall damage, its actually less effective there.
SallazarSpellcaster wrote:The one issue I had with the Crusader is something I believe I mentioned once before: His Icon of the Defender sat unused in my inventory. Especially in Doomed Souls mode, where every bit of health counts, it finds little to no use; being surrounded by monsters who whittle down health even through damage reduction is ultimately counterproductive - I found it preferable to pop an Ambit Incant and launch multiple Crux Calicus singularities, or letting loose with Firestorm, over using the icon. Before, I believe I suggested letting Parias' Icon work as vanilla, offering raw invulnerability, but as I played this time around, I may offer a different suggestion: You may consider making it analog to Ilitheya's, but boosting and regenerating armor rather than health; since armor beyond 100 takes the full brunt of damage, it's a viable option for jumping into the fray, surrounded by enemies, while still being a risk that armor may drop too low and still get injured, offering a cost-benefit scenario.
I suppose its the only icon without a big HP recovery or saving mechanic, though I find it super-useful myself (you'll see it being used to fire the spectral spears ultra-fast in my most recent video in fact) as the Zeal component was always its big feature, briefly turning Parias into an offensive murdering class with the double attack speed, 50% damage reduction, and damage reflection. The Mystic Ambit for him was meant to be the defensive option since it instantly gives two sets of stacking bracers worth of armour which is otherwise impossible, so I'd have to clear that effect from the Ambit to make the Icon armour-focused.
I was actually considering removing the Ambits entirely, as they muddy the water a bit with the Icons in Hexen. One use scroll/wand/utility items unique to classes are eventually planned, and the Ambit spawner would instead drop a handful of those. In this case, some of the Ambit effects might migrate across in lesser forms to the Icon.
SallazarSpellcaster wrote:One thing I noticed is that Disciples of D'sparil dropped upgrades - I understand these were originally Tomes of Power, which works nicely and led me to a different suggestion for both Doom and Heretic: You may consider having the spawns for Tomes of Power and backpacks spawn Pnakotic Manuscripts with a high chance, and upgrade items with a very low chance; this is meant to balance the number of upgrades that spawn on both games, since the base games and certain megawads can include a large number of these items from the get-go, giving players every upgrade almost from the beginning.
Another one of those clear signs I don't play enough Heretic; I forgot Disciples can drop tomes.
Yeah, I'll make them force drop Manuscripts instead, and think about altering item spawn for those. If you have suggestions on how these sort of things end up in Heretic megawads I'll happily listen since balancing it is always a bit whack.
SallazarSpellcaster wrote:I've been having fun with this update. Soon, I may commence a playthrough as the Myrmidon to get a feel for his new upgrades. Keep up the great work!
Thanks again.
