by q 3 on Mon Sep 26, 2011 8:36 am
Squeaked by in Naga City with a Gnome Rogue, without CYDSTEPP. Binlor and GG on the surface for knockback + Humility/Enlightenment/Absolution, followed in the arena by Dracul for MP and resist then Mystera for more MP and health potions then Dracul again for Blood Swell; Agnostic Collar, Strength Potion, and Piercing Wand shops were all very important as well (in addition to a locker Trisword). Gnomes with a large MP pool are still quite broken, as are the aforementioned four items (although Agnostic Collar is a bit underpowered in any other dungeon). Would be nice to have a unique reward for what is probably the hardest dungeon right now - I really can't see any way to get a Purist medal here aside from insane luck - but then again there are already enough overpowered items even without the vicious dungeon rewards. (Namtar's Ward is still pretty useless, though. If it's feasible, a consumable item that adds death protection but can be used around 3 or 4 times before it's destroyed would be more suitable and a lot more useful.)
IMO Assassins need some sort of buff if this is how APHEELSIK is going to be in the long run, even with the reduced cost (which is just as expensive as it was in the alpha, only now with 100% more suck). Assassins just don't have the offense or defense to use it effectively at low levels; e.g., when attacking a level 2 monster at level 1, you must deal more damage than it does to you with each hit or it will out-regenerate you even while poisoned. Assassins have a very hard time doing that because they don't have any relevant bonuses. Even Rogues do better with poison, as their high offense already allows them to out-regenerate nearly anything they can take a hit from. Maybe give Assassins an offense (or defense) boost when attacking a poisoned enemy? Assassins apply 1 corrosion every time they poison something?
Of course, any boost is potentially going to be overpowered once the Assassin hits level 10 and can use poison at full effectiveness... I'm not really sure what the optimal solution is. Give Assassins +1 or +2 to their level check whenever they apply poison? (E.g. a level 1 Assassin applying poison reduces regeneration by 2 or 3 instead of only 1.)
I like the new animations. For monsters that would require more than a dozen hits or so to kill it might be better not to show the preview anymore, as at that point it's pretty ugly and not very helpful.