Descent Feedback

While I enjoy the Descent race, there are some glaring issues that should be worked out.

First off, there should be two starting chests, just like at the end of each map. This should allow for classes to have more than one starting build. For example, there is no option for a melee Ranger or ranged Duelist. This should also allow for better starting flask allocation, such as allowing a caster heavy build to get 2 mana flasks instead of 1. I think this alone would go a long way to balancing some things out.

The second thing would be to give certain builds a boost via special decent-only unique. For example, give a summoner witch an amulet that boosts minion resistances (since the gem isn't available until L19, and cruel penalties start in Frozen Abyss which is labeled as L17 and players will most likely be around L10 when they get there). This also might be a good place to make the three L2 skills (sweep, det dead, poison arrow) into L1 skills. Having Poison Arrow as a starting skill could go along way in fixing starting rangers.

Also, Bosses need to have a much higher chance of dropping high quality drops. As it stands now, they are a waste of time which, IMO, defeats the purpose of having bosses. Fighting a boss should be a strategic choice between gear vs speed. Right now, the only choice is speed, so skip the boss.

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CycloneJack wrote:

First off, there should be two starting chests, just like at the end of each map. This should allow for classes to have more than one starting build. For example, there is no option for a melee Ranger or ranged Duelist. This should also allow for better starting flask allocation, such as allowing a caster heavy build to get 2 mana flasks instead of 1. I think this alone would go a long way to balancing some things out.

Why not just put it all in 1 chest? For ex., a bow duelist does not use same gear as melee duelist so what difference does it make if you get the gear for both builds from the first chest.

Having it in 2 chests has problems: What if I wanted to play a bow duelist but picked the melee chest because I didn't know which one was Alluring and which one was Curious. It's a dumb reason to restart because I didn't know which chest corresponded to the build I wanted to do.

I support the addition of more build choices.

I start as a ranger but normally play her always in melee combat. It is strange the even the Marauder can decide between different melee styles but the Ranger is bound to be bow user only even if she got many passive melee skills in her starting zone.

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PolarisOrbit wrote:

Why not just put it all in 1 chest? For ex., a bow duelist does not use same gear as melee duelist so what difference does it make if you get the gear for both builds from the first chest.

Having it in 2 chests has problems: What if I wanted to play a bow duelist but picked the melee chest because I didn't know which one was Alluring and which one was Curious. It's a dumb reason to restart because I didn't know which chest corresponded to the build I wanted to do.

Same reasons for having to choose at the end of the level, keep things (somewhat) balanced and let the player's choices determine their progression. If it's that much of an issue, the Provisions chests could be specifically named, such as Ranged Provisions, Melee Provision, Summoning Provisions, etc, but I still like Curious and Alluring.

Descent is brilliant idea, but it definitely needs some tuning. Chests work rather well but they could still be evolved so that there are multiple chests some only available if you kill the level boss and still you'd have to make selection. What I'd change is:

1) Solo descent starting time should be abandoned and just make the descent race available once a day any time of day (could still be 24h intervals locked to NZ/GMT TZ, everyone would still have same chance to play once a day). Goal was to reach highest level, tie breakers that could be used: who achieved the highest level first (e.g. date to encourage hitting the dungeon as early as possible instead of waiting for information what lies ahead), number of level bosses killed and/or completed the dungeon and exited alive. Optionally it could be allowed that you can play e.g. 2 descents a day with different starting characters.

2) Active skills per character would be limited to certain preset selection at start and certain guaranteed general purpose skill gems and supports available at chests. Only support gems would drop in descent dungeon (if any at all). This would make the race sensible to compete for overall highest level and highest level per class (with given skill set up) without random element on how good skills you can aquire (and prevent that everyone used the same cookie cutter build per class just because it was available). For each descent race different types of builds would be available to play overall but starting characters would differ. Actually there should not bee too much room for selection and customization at start to keep the intended race builds comparable and balanced at least within each class.

3) Give multiple chests to choose from but you'd only be able to open one. E.g. 4-6 chests per level, 2-4 of which would be only available if you don't open the "easy" chests and kill the level boss. This way you would need to choose whether you boost your character with easy chest and maybe be able to take on the level boss and get chance for some sweet drops and the coveted XP from it (or just have better chance to surviving a bit longer on next level) or take the level boss head on without opening any chest yet and get a chance for the premium chests guarded by the boss (e.g. key drops from boss).