159 réponses à ce sujet

[Peter Thomas]

ishmaeltheforsaken wrote...

But wasn't there ever a time when you thought, "Man, I wish I could give Aveline a two-hander"? *whistles innocently*

I didn't really use her that way... but if I did, and it was possible, it would have been for Mighty Blow and Whirlwind specifically when enemies were bunched up around her or in a doorway.

From the front page I probably would have gone 1-3-6-7-9-10-8.

[Peter Thomas]

themageguy wrote...

but didnt DG say the red eyes was blood magic? Suppose he just used blood magic to fuel his crushing prison deathblow.
Seems hawke uses fire lightning telekinetic and blood magic (going off trailers etc).

I wonder if rock armor will have a really noticeable effect in reducing damage taken.

This seems to be a misconception about what those bonuses give. If something says "Armor +25%", it doesn't mean that your armor value (say... 67) is increased by 25% (giving ~84), it means that the physical damage resistance is increased by 25%. Say Armor of 67 at your level gives 39% physical damage resistance. Turn on that other ability and it becomes 64%.

So Rock Armor reduces all physical damage done to the character by 1/4. Likewise, the Warrior mode Turn The Blade gives a 10% Defense bonus. This means 1/10th of enemy attacks will miss you.

[Peter Thomas]

ghostmessiah202 wrote...

Do armor and items still give defense as numbers (as in DAO where you might have 80 defense, which means against an opponent with 80 attack its a 50/50 chance to hit {i think}) or is it now just if something gives you defense then you have that percentage chance of avoiding physical damage?

Attack and Defense are party member stats. The party member's values are the ones that matter. There is also a difference between flat numbers given for Attack and Defense (and Armor and Resistances) and percentages. Flat numbers are added together and converted into a percentage value, which then has your percentage bonuses added on top of it.

Items generally give flat numbers for those stats (which go up as you get better items), and abilities generally give percentages (since they stay the same throughout the game).

Cunning gives you 84 Defense + 16 Defense from a sweet pair of boots = 100 Defense, yielding 32% Defense + 20% bonus from a mode = 52% chance to avoid enemy attacks.

Attack values for enemies only really matter if they deviate from the norm. An enemy Attack penalty effectively increases your Defense, and a bonus lowers it.

[Peter Thomas]

Sabresandiego wrote...

Thats kind of confusing but I understand what you are saying. You are saying that talents that boost attack, defense, damage, or armor are additive instead of multiplicative. So for example if I am using cleave (boosts damage by 100%) and might (boosts damage by 10%) I am doing 210% damage rather than 220% damage. Is this correct?

Yes. The exception are the CCC effects. It says 400% damage, not +400%. Get the base damage, put in all multipliers, then multiply all that by 4 for the CCC bonus.

[Peter Thomas]

Sabresandiego wrote...

So just to confirm I understand, Ill go back to my tornado +cleave + sunder example (Yes I cant wait to play my warrior and set up sweet CCC's!).

Tornado = 100% crit whirlwind
Sunder = 50% stagger on crits
Claymore = 40% stagger on hits

Therefore when I use tornado while under the influence of Claymore and Sunder I should have a 90% chance to stagger everyone around me, correct? The reason this scenario is confusing is because the stagger effect doesn't say +50% but rather just 50%. Is this a scenario where the larger percentage simply overrides the lower percentage or is it additive as well.

They're each a separate on-hit check. Checks one. If that fails, check the other. So it would be around a 70% chance to get a Stagger.

[Peter Thomas]

-Skorpious- wrote...

Is cunning a stat worth investing him for warrior tanks? I assume that defense/dodge rating is more beneficial to a rogue (for tanking purposes) while a warrior would be better off using talents such as Shield Wall, Turn the Blase, or tank-based plate equipment with +defense to improve his/her dodge rating.

For me, Aveline was roughly equal Str, Cun and Con.

[Peter Thomas]

Sabresandiego wrote...

Phoenixblight wrote...

Yes um. Just like the original 2 talent points + the base skill. 

So you are saying you start with 3 points, 1 of which is invested into your base skill, giving you 2 free points to spend at level 1? Is this confirmed?

That has never been confirmed.

[Peter Thomas]

Sabresandiego wrote...

ghostmessiah202 wrote...

Mr. Thomas, while you are here being ever so helpful .

Does Attack matter? It seems like all your characters attacks are guaranteed hits anyway. I haven't really noticed any 'Misses' in Previews or Demos, or does Attack now give you a better chance to make a full hit, and failing an attack check gives you a glancing hit?
Please clarify, many thanks

Thats how it works, failed hits give a glancing hit which does 1/10th the damage.

1/10th is specifically on Nightmare. Glancing blows do more on lower difficulty levels. Casual I think is 3/4 damage. Less significant an effect, but that mode isn't focused so much on combat statistics.

[Peter Thomas]

Sabresandiego wrote...

Yes but I dont think we know what status effects brittle, disorient, and stagger have on their own.

I'll just leave this here...

Brittle +50% critical damage taken
Stagger -25% attack, -25% defense
Disorient -50% defense
Obscure +20% dodge

[Peter Thomas]

Sabresandiego wrote...

The cooldowns for abilities in the demo are much shorter than the cooldowns listed in this thread. Which one is accurate?

The ability info in this thread seems to be from a more recent build than the one used in the demo.

[Peter Thomas]

dreamextractor wrote...

Well, I just wrote down Aveline's

Aveline's Guardian tree:

You missed one.

[Peter Thomas]

Naitaka wrote...

Question for Peter again.

It seems in the demo version, stagger, disorient and brittle all share the same visual effect. (red fissure appearing on enemies) Will this be changed in the retail version, because it's really confusing especially with passive triggered ccc.

They have different VFX in more recent builds.

[Peter Thomas]

ViSeirA wrote...

So Peter, a quick question, in the demo (the one from the website not the TGS one), Archers seem to do massive amounts of damage, highly overpowered, also 2 Handed warriors in basic attacks do the same amount of damage as a S&B warrior, has that been addressed in more recent builds?

Damage numbers in that demo are very rough, not necessarily what is in the final game.

Per hit, bows do about 3.5x what a 2-handed weapon does. This is because they are a single target weapon and have a slower attack speed. In general, the DPS of a Rogue will be about double that of a Warrior, but it only applies to single targets, whereas a Warrior can affect multiple enemies. Mages have the same DPS as a Warrior, but only affect a single target, but their attacks are much easier to vary in damage type, bypassing armor/resistances.

DPS values for Rogues are actually higher for Dual Weapons than for Archery, but this is, in part, offset by the increased danger a Rogue is in by being in melee range. Archery does have an advantage in that all it's damage is applied at once, which is more likely to knock an enemy around with the force of the attack.

Here are some statistics for optimal basic attack chains with high-level weapons (to better show differences).

Style - Weapon Damage - Hits per Chain - Optimal Chain Duration - DPS - DPS compared to Two Handed

Weapon and Shield - 42 - 5 - 2.77s - 75.58 - 1.007
Two Handed - 48 - 5 - 3.2s - 75 - 1.0
Dual Weapon - 52 - 10 - 2.52s - 205.8 - 2.7
Archery - 166 - 5 - 5.58s - 148.5 - 1.98
Staff - 57 - 5 - 3.86s - 73.7 - 0.98

[Peter Thomas]

Naitaka wrote...

Is there a difference in damage between primary and secondary for a 2-handed warrior? Does it mean that I will have equal/higher DPS than Dual Weapon Rogue if I manage to hit more than 3 targets at the same time with my attack?

If you hit 3 targets at once, you'll have a higher DPS than a Dual Weapon Rogue, yes. Each target in your arc gets a separate to-hit roll, though, so you'll need to have a decent Attack score. Each target hit has it's damage calculated based on the hit result, not based on if it was the primary target.

[Peter Thomas]

Sabresandiego wrote...

ViSeirA wrote...

I'm guessing full damage... that 1/10th is for glancing blows, which translates to a "miss".

The 1/10th damage is also for hits on friendlies with standard melee attacks. I don't know if you can get glancing blows on friendlies. I also don't know whether melee abilities also cause 1/10th friendly fire damage, or 100%.

Warrior AoE basic attacks do glancing blows to friendlies on Nightmare.

[Peter Thomas]

Sabresandiego wrote...

3. Thats a good question. Not sure if whirlwind does full damage to friendlies, or if rogue area control tools like fog and grenades hurt allies.

Except for specific abilities, all AoEs affect friendlies with full effects. Things like the Glyphs and the electricity abilities don't affect party members even on Nightmare.

[Peter Thomas]

alkealol wrote...

2Peter Thomas
1) How exactly does chain lightning work? It strikes the first victim and?..
2) Does unupgraded tempest hit only one target every 4 sec?
Thanks...

1) It hits one target. Selects enemies within 2m. Sends a bolt to each. That's the first arc. Repeat for each of those enemies. That's the second arc. It can't arc back on someone its already hit. If the positions of enemies are set up right, it can affect a more people that Fireball.
2) Tempest affect every enemy in the AoE each tick.

[Peter Thomas]

Sabresandiego wrote...

Fog is a strange one though, because when its upgraded it both helps allies and hinders enemies. I wonder if in nightmare it will both help and hinder allies at the same time, making it not worth the points.

It will apply both positive and negative effects of being in the AoE. You'll be slower, but have a dodge bonus. Might still be valuable for someone whose main benefit to the group is existing, rather than acting.

[Peter Thomas]

Sabresandiego wrote...

Peter Thomas wrote...

Sabresandiego wrote...

Fog is a strange one though, because when its upgraded it both helps allies and hinders enemies. I wonder if in nightmare it will both help and hinder allies at the same time, making it not worth the points.

It will apply both positive and negative effects of being in the AoE. You'll be slower, but have a dodge bonus. Might still be valuable for someone whose main benefit to the group is existing, rather than acting.

Enemy attack speed: -50%
Enemy movement speed: -50%
DISORIENT chance: 100% vs. normal enemies (-50% defense)
Obscure chance: 100% for all party members

I see 3 negatives and one positive for friendlies being in the fog. Fog sounds like a terrible series for nightmare! (unless friendlies stay out of the fog, which defeats the impenetrable fog upgrade except as a stepping stone to overpowering fog)

Actually I checked that one specifically. It doesn't use the normal check. Friendly creatures only get the obscure bonus.

[Peter Thomas]

Sabresandiego wrote...

Question for Peter: Do attributes and attack/defense percentages work the same across all difficulties or change according to difficulty? For example, if 15 strength gives me 100% chance to hit a normal enemy at level 5 on normal dificulty, will it do the same on nightmare?

Player and player ability stats don't change across difficulties. Effect chances and durations are lowered on higher difficulties, though. (50% vs normal enemies, stun for 10s, that kind of thing)

[Peter Thomas]

Sabresandiego wrote...

Any information on how fortitude works? Does it have diminishing returns like attack/defense? I am tempted to put all my points into strength because I hate losing control of my character, but I would also like to be able to diversify my attributes a bit and still have top notch stun resistance.There is no tooltip clarifying how fortitude works like there is with attack/defense for example I know that I can put only 2 points per level in strength and still have nearly 100% attack across the board. This knowledge allows me to invest in other attributes, however there is no tooltip for fortitude saying I have a 90% chance to resist stuns against normal, elite, or boss characters. Can you elaborate on how fortitude works?

Force reactions work based on how much damage you take vs your total health.if any single hit does more than 10% of your max health, you'll play a reaction animation (of arying strength) and your current action will be interrupted. Some attacks have a bonus to force as well (say a x2 multiplier, so 5% of your health in one hit counts as if it was 10% for force purposes).

(Damage * Force Multiplier) - Fortitude = Force of the attack

[Peter Thomas]

andar91 wrote...

Peter, I'm really, really curious about something. If the talents listed here are more recent than the demo build, than I have to say some of the cooldowns seems excessively long on the mage abilities (I specify mage because I know them the best). A 20 second cooldown on Winter's Grasp, for example, when we can get it so early seems a bit long in my opinion. There are other spells as well. Fifteen I might have understood, but 20 seems long for a starting ability, especially when basic attacks don't do a whole lot of damage.

I haven't played the final game-maybe it works great. But I'm curious as to what the rationale was on the cooldowns being so long (or short in some cases). And, of course, the fact that they reset is awesome and alleviates the problem for short encounters. The problem is that you're often mobbed my enemies in waves.

Enlighten me?

The basis for combat is that a two-handed weapon should kill a critter rank hurlock in ~4.2 hits. That's how enemy health and weapon damage is related.

The basis for ability damage is that 20 stamina/mana with a cooldown of 20 seconds will kill an equal level critter in one shot. Add secondary effects, damage goes down if the cost is the same. Increase damage, cost or cooldown goes up. Others had their cost/cooldown set to something for very specific reasons (I'm guessing Heal is one of your concerns; that one was balance; I wanted 60s) like Healing Aura and Blood Magic. Why use 20/20? It felt decent. Too fast cooldowns and abilities are spammed constantly. Too low cost and stamina/mana is no longer a limiting factor. As you play, if you use abilities on everything, you'll find they're always in cooldown and never there when you need them. With certain exceptions (Tempest), I generally didn't use my abilities on critters at all. I saved them to combine on the larger creatures that can pop up in the middle of waves.

Oh, and the after combat cooldown reset doesn't happen in Nightmare.

[Peter Thomas]

Adhin wrote...

Yeah godlike13, but keep in mind all that damage listed is based off what amounts to a lvl1-3 Mage with low Magic stat. ALL of that will increase to much much higher amounts with just a few lvls. They've said damage for all skills is basically your (weapon + stat) * Skill modifier. The modifier doesn't seem to be shown at all but you can see the total via the skill its self. Looks like walking Bomb is probably an x2, maybe x3-4, done over the course of its duration. It was never a heavy dmg skill in its DoT form it was all about its explosion, even in DAO.

It's basically like getting a free Spirit Bolt extra.

One thing I'm not sure about is if people read the detailed description of Walking Bomb. It does the creature's health in damage to everyone near it. Based on how many times you hit it, how much health did the demo ogre have? Lots.

[Peter Thomas]

Adhin wrote...

Yeah I'd like to get a direct confirmation as to % of maxHP being the 'check against' for force applied. That being higher HP increases the 'check' for the whole thing. For instance something like this.

((Damage * ForceMod) - Fortitude) > maxHP*0.1

Yes. Damage is post-resistances as well, so Armor reduces physical force as well.

Someone mentioned earlier about player ability damage numbers and force multipliers. Enemies do not use player abilities, so don't use that as a basis for how much you need.

[Peter Thomas]

Sabresandiego wrote...

So then the data listed in this thread is roughly equivalant to the final build (gold release) in terms of cooldowns, stam/mana cost, etc?

It had some things that were changed pretty recently, but I can't vouch for it being 100% correct without going through everything manually.