Puppyman

Like what seems to be 99% of all game companies and their games:

We could use a company that listens to player feedback and also have an idea of what it's like to actually play the game

Mainichi wrote: »

dazedgumball wrote: »

That would be absolutely insane tbh. I don't think they're stupid enough to do that.

Don't underestimate DOL's stupidity.

TBH: Next update "Ascension into the Heavens"

- Removed Evie's corona
- Removed Lann, all Lanns become Fiona
- Remade Fiona from scratch
- S3 raids now have a minimum enhancement requirement of at least +11 and can be higher if set by party leader
- New Redeemers Raid: Nuadha : Caps at 50k att / 30k def / 221 crit | Rewards: Nuadha's Wings [Wing Slot] + 10 completion title [+5 crit, 10 bal, 8 att spd]
- Relocated all npcs to a GUI accessible from anywhere outside missions
- New enhancement mechanic, success stacks: The more success in a row, the less likely the next will succeed
- +1 enhancement coupons for weapons past +13 in new gachapon
- Full +10 95 to new players, nothing to pre-existing characters
- Balance cap raised to 100
- Additional Damage formula changed again, now has a more noticeable effect [ Dev note: "We felt additional damage was not rewarding enough to the playerbase who actually worked hard to get as close to +20]
- Defense formula rewritten: Essentially now provides 1/4th less protection until within the 1k range of enemie's attack
- Removed Equipment durability mechanic when in battle: Equipment no longer breaks while fighting
- Merc potions are now 37.5% more potent and provide swagger resistance for 5 seconds
- Introducing 7 new r5 enchants: 10% max success rate / 87% break rate / *new* 13% chance to wear out equipment
- New "Wearing out" mechanic | When a r5 enchant fails, there is a 13% chance the item will became 'worn out' and is unusable until fixed by a cash shop item
- New "Anti-Wear out Soap" added to cash shop
- New stat "Swiftness": Aquired only from new r5 enchants | Provides chance to completely ignore flinch and damage from an attack ; caps at [33.3%]



Ok I'm done, I wanted to keep going but it was getting long and scary ridiculous

If the update comes soon Globally, which I have yet to see a valid confirming source, it makes me a bit uneasy.

I get that people are like, people will always complain, and what not. But understand this little bit at least:
Look the updates got good additions to the game and many areas that could use some touching up but overall can be dismissed after ~5 days of the update being out. But some other things have the potential to really harm Vindictus in the long run. It should be obvious what I'm referring to here.


Here are some thoughts of mine, well all of this post is so feel free to ignore if you outright disagree or provide worthwhile feedback if you so please:

Now I'm no expert, never claimed, never will, but this addition of +16-20 sounded not so bad. When I first heard of it, it made me curious as to what their aim with it was.
However, understand that now they have cut chances to get past, I believe, +13 all the way to +15 by almost half. Were there already a lot of +15s, yeah quite a few; hardly ran a ran without at least one present at one point. They have also made +15s roughly 100% stronger than +10s in conjunction(what's your function) with the changes to additional damage.
Speaking of which, the additional damage changes are just, well outrageous, but opinion aside, it was not the most optimal change.
The main point is not that it is harder to get +15, it still luck based, chances are people who got them before will still be getting them. (If you believe in that)
The problem is the conjunction of enhancement uncap and additional damage. We're talking one shotting bosses at one point, which will happen inevitably. But now extremes aside, let's talk +16 and +17. With the, which I just learned about and am actually upset about, changes to evil core's mechanics, dealing most damage means more cores for you, and dealing less means less cores for you(Oversimplification).
With these changes we are likely to enter a new meta for the game. DPS only matters. Yes, it was a driving force for a while now but it will become more prominent with the changes to cores and backed up with the additional damage overbeefening(wat?).
I believe they may have attempted to counteract this by limiting party sizes, but I'm not sure how that specific change will pan out, so I'll give it a glance at most.
With this tragectory, carrying can potentially become the norm for all people capable for achieving the higher stats, and tied with the core change, will gimp those who don't already have the stats. So this could affect casual players the most. Obviously most people may suggest to only party with friends, but we all know that's hardly working now; Vindictus is heavily party with randoms driven, for now.

I've only covered a small bit of it all, I'd need a lot of time to think of a proper way to state it so I'd rather get out what I could think in a whim. This is intense theorycrafting but based on observations of both playing Vindictus for a good while and also playing other games.

Sidenote:
I've noted quite a few games have made big controversial(I'm using this word lightly) updates within the past year or so that have turned, in my small tiny opinion, not so much for the better. Skyforge and Archeage come to mind for games that managed to disinterest me in one update, ironically, trying to escape Nexon games. I've passed much time for Mabi and Vindy, but they touch good spots of me to let go easily, though I haven't logged in Mabi in a while. Guess that's a small success depending on how you look at it.


tl:dr
I'm no expert, but the changes to Enhancing, Additional Damage, and Cores can be harmful to the game in the long run.
I'm not anti-rise, but I am a tad bit worried deep down inside.

Postnote:
In no way, shape, nor form (Ha! I used nor) will this kill the game, that's for sure. But it most likely will make Vindictus become a very different game if it follows this new tragectory.

Staff Evie is hardest because she has to constantly watch out to not burn/electrocute/freeze herself as opposed to everyone just having to worry about giving themselves a lil' flesh wound.
I guess Scythe Evie can count too because she can accidentally get stuck in another dimension if she's not careful >>