1) Pickaxe is still a rotten pain in the ass to obtain
2) the visible Armor of Auros set is a SERIOUS fucking pain in the ass to obtain
3) Mad Warrior set is a pretty huge pain in the ass to obtain.
Seriously, it's like they don't want us to make unique characters with specific armor/weapons unless we just, grind into a tedious mess. It doesn't even add to the flavor of the game, it just makes it a massive pain in the ass with no serious way around it without CHEATING. Like, this is stuff that needs to be addressed way more than silly little online/pve balance issues because people can't dodge roll magic or beat NG+ bosses.
The Mad Warrior set is not hard at all to obtain. You don't even have to use a bonfire ascetic. All you have to do is go offline(or not but if you're just trying to farm it and not pvp you should) and just run up and down from the bonfire at Belfry Sol to check for him. Once you've wiped out all 12 spawns of the dwarf phantoms there it takes about 5 seconds max to check for him. I got all of his armor set plus the berserker blade without wearing a single piece of magic find gear. The only reason I was killing him was to get bellkeeper covenant credit for the trophy.
I'm not even saying it's not annoying just running up a ladder and jumping down to respawn the guy, but they made him not spawn every time for a reason. He's just there as a failsafe for people who are trying to get a platinum trophy without being able to go online, just like the dudes with the rare spawn sunlight medals, etc.
I certainly wouldn't classify it as a huge pain in the ass compared to a lot of things in Souls.
I agree about the Aurous Armor. I mean there you have to ascetic, make a decent bonfire run, kill the phantom and the boss, and ascetic again, and it's not even guaranteed you'll get an Aurous armor drop. That's definitely more than a little nuisance, though I also don't necessarily think it's a bad thing to have some sets require such pain in the ass steps to get. It's purely for fashion souls, and some people really like being the guy who has the armor most people won't bother to get. Nobody has ever needed the Aurous armor for anything other than the look.
Is Auros the one you get from
The Phantoms in the Flexile Sentry fight?
I heard you can use the eternal feather or just a good ol homeward bone to retreat from the fight, get back in and they'll respawn.
No, that's the shadow set, and you're right, you can kill the adds and bone out of the fight. The visible Aurous armor set comes from the twinblade red phantom that spawns on the boat in NG+. He's a one time spawn, can drop one piece of the armor at a time(or a stone twinblade), so requires ascetics and rekilling Flexile to get his stuff.
1) Pickaxe is still a rotten pain in the ass to obtain
2) the visible Armor of Auros set is a SERIOUS fucking pain in the ass to obtain
3) Mad Warrior set is a pretty huge pain in the ass to obtain.
Seriously, it's like they don't want us to make unique characters with specific armor/weapons unless we just, grind into a tedious mess. It doesn't even add to the flavor of the game, it just makes it a massive pain in the ass with no serious way around it without CHEATING. Like, this is stuff that needs to be addressed way more than silly little online/pve balance issues because people can't dodge roll magic or beat NG+ bosses.
The Mad Warrior set is not hard at all to obtain. You don't even have to use a bonfire ascetic. All you have to do is go offline(or not but if you're just trying to farm it and not pvp you should) and just run up and down from the bonfire at Belfry Sol to check for him. Once you've wiped out all 12 spawns of the dwarf phantoms there it takes about 5 seconds max to check for him. I got all of his armor set plus the berserker blade without wearing a single piece of magic find gear. The only reason I was killing him was to get bellkeeper covenant credit for the trophy.
I'm not even saying it's not annoying just running up a ladder and jumping down to respawn the guy, but they made him not spawn every time for a reason. He's just there as a failsafe for people who are trying to get a platinum trophy without being able to go online, just like the dudes with the rare spawn sunlight medals, etc.
I certainly wouldn't classify it as a huge pain in the ass compared to a lot of things in Souls.
I agree about the Aurous Armor. I mean there you have to ascetic, make a decent bonfire run, kill the phantom and the boss, and ascetic again, and it's not even guaranteed you'll get an Aurous armor drop. That's definitely more than a little nuisance, though I also don't necessarily think it's a bad thing to have some sets require such pain in the ass steps to get. It's purely for fashion souls, and some people really like being the guy who has the armor most people won't bother to get. Nobody has ever needed the Aurous armor for anything other than the look.
Is Auros the one you get from
The Phantoms in the Flexile Sentry fight?
I heard you can use the eternal feather or just a good ol homeward bone to retreat from the fight, get back in and they'll respawn.
No, that's the shadow set, and you're right, you can kill the adds and bone out of the fight. The visible Aurous armor set comes from the twinblade red phantom that spawns on the boat in NG+. He's a one time spawn, can drop one piece of the armor at a time(or a stone twinblade), so requires ascetics and rekilling Flexile to get his stuff.
OIh great.
"So have fun nuking this boss' difficulty into oblivion to MAYBE get some pieces of armor."
That dude seems to have a realllly low drop rate to boot. I've killed him three times and ain't seen shit, yet phantoms like Merciless Roenna are all about giving me their fancy gear.
That dude seems to have a realllly low drop rate to boot. I've killed him three times and ain't seen shit, yet phantoms like Merciless Roenna are all about giving me their fancy gear.
Covetous Gold Serpent Ring+2 plus Prisoners chestpiece/head piece might help.
I'm not 100% sure but after farming Old Knights for about an hour and then finally getting the piece I wanted as soon as I equipped the Serpent ring makes me thing there might be a "drop chance" barrier which you have to reach, otherwise certain items won't spawn at all.
I don't think enemies can't drop their goodies without magic find gear, but it certainly helps. I know for example every time I wear the merchant's hat from Melentia while just clearing the Forest of Fallen Giants I end up getting a bastard sword and a halberd from the hollow soldiers there without ever having to pick the ones on the ground up, and I've only ever seen the bastard sword drop without a magic find piece on one time. And I've played like 6 or 8 different characters through Forest.
Y'all best believe I never take the Covetous Gold Ring +2 off. My point is that the unnamed Opaque Aurous Knight is a stingy bastard. I don't care about getting his stuff, but it's pretty sad when he just evaporates and doesn't leave anything behind.
I was eaten by a painting and now I'm fighting tumor zombies that throw fire.
In Dark Souls we have a name for that.
Tuesday.
I'm trying to think of a painting that would eat you in this game and I can't think of any. Someone wanna fill me in?
Painted World of Aramis. Accessed by lowering the second revolving tower in Anor Londo, then taking the top exit. You'll be at the base of the cathedral. There's a bunch of painting guardians waiting to murder you. Take them out and make your way to the painting. You can enter it after obtaining the Peculiar Doll. You get the doll by revisiting the Undead Asylum and going back to your cell. And to go back to the Undead Asylum you'll have to go to the Giant Crow (forgot its name) near Firelink shrine; to get there take the elevator that leads to Undead Parish and jump off after the first opening, then jumping towards the tower-like structure and making your way upwards on the inside.
All right. Got the Very Large Ember again and broke the barrier with the Demon's Greataxe, so it is now +13. Will probably get it to +15 soon. And...
Well
If all I'm doing is fighting bosses, I think I'm going to be doing a ton more burst damage with my sorceries and pyromancies. I have like 37 Int, which is enough, when combined with the Dusk Crown and Bellowing Dragoncrest Ring, to do something like 318 in one hit with Dark Bead - and it fires, 7 projectiles? 8? Even with much higher magic defense than the starter enemies have, pile that shit on and it's going to really hurt someone. Put in Power Within and that's just preposterous.
Flame Whip may be faster at DPS than Dark Bead? Maybe not. It's close.
The point is the Four Kings better have a lot of health if they want to survive what's coming for them.
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MorninglordI'm tired of being Batman,so today I'll be Owl.Registered Userregular
Flame whip roots you in place.
Cryyyyyystal magic weapon, remember.
Is it S scaling yet?
(PSN: Morninglord) (Steam: Morninglord) (WiiU: Morninglord22) I like to record and toss up a lot of random gaming videos here.
Man probably! I tested it against the serpent bros with crystal magic weapon - doing something like 580 damage per hit on the snake bros, with Crystal Magic Weapon coming off the Tin Crystallization Catalyst. That's a ton!
But
I dunno
I think I could be doing more by enchanting my Battle Axe and hitting twice as often
And Great Combustion with my setup does like 700 per shot to most things without Power Within
I'll do further testing
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MorninglordI'm tired of being Batman,so today I'll be Owl.Registered Userregular
edited April 2014
Are you two handing and going wham wham wham?
Serpent bros are pretty tough but weak to fire and lightning.
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Two handing it is so slow! And I... I only have so much stamina
But I'll gather up the necessary Chunks and give it another go. Maybe test it on the Darkwraiths, who are in need of some disciplining.
Them being weak to fire makes sense I suppose; I didn't wnat to say it but the Chaos Great Axe (10 humanity) was actually kind of outdamaging the enchanted Demon's Greataxe, and I know that ain't right
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MorninglordI'm tired of being Batman,so today I'll be Owl.Registered Userregular
Two handing it is so slow! And I... I only have so much stamina
But I'll gather up the necessary Chunks and give it another go. Maybe test it on the Darkwraiths, who are in need of some disciplining.
Them being weak to fire makes sense I suppose; I didn't wnat to say it but the Chaos Great Axe (10 humanity) was actually kind of outdamaging the enchanted Demon's Greataxe, and I know that ain't right
Farm them like this. You wont need armor or a shield as long as you get below 25%. This run was a carbon copy of every other. Their behavior doesn't change much.
(PSN: Morninglord) (Steam: Morninglord) (WiiU: Morninglord22) I like to record and toss up a lot of random gaming videos here.
Yeah, I notice they have even longer hit lag than the Silver Knights do, which is preposterous. Been backstabbing them all day, and even on NG+ it's enough to take 'em out (again, with my Chaos axe, but sitll)
I learned a few things from the one(!) attempt it took me to beat them in NG+:
1. Boss-sized enemies do not like point-blank Dark Beads. No sir, they do not.
2. The Four Kings in particular don't like it because you can keep pounding their communal health bar as they die. If I had more charges I would have killed the whole shit and kaboodle in two kings instead of three. Shame on me for missing it in NG.
3. Spacing on the Four Kings so they get double-hit by Flame Whip is difficult, making them probably the most resistant boss in the game (outside of the Centipede Demon or Ceaseless Discharge, I guess) when it comes to that particular move.
4. I really shouldn't dismiss Flame Surge. Boosted enough and pointed in the right direction it can pump out DPS comparable to almost any other spell. It would have been really useful against the Four Kings just for how it would allow me to keep a constant stream on them as they die.
5. I look incredibly goofy running with a catalyst in one hand and a pyromancy flame in the other, but I don't even care.
+1
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MorninglordI'm tired of being Batman,so today I'll be Owl.Registered Userregular
Yeah, I notice they have even longer hit lag than the Silver Knights do, which is preposterous. Been backstabbing them all day, and even on NG+ it's enough to take 'em out (again, with my Chaos axe, but sitll)
Have you done a NG+ run with your fist dude?
Nope. I'm too distractible. Once I beat it the first time I moved on to exploring other builds. I like to know how things work.
Then I got distracted by other games.
Now DS2 came out and I'm all distracted again.
I plan to.
Eventually.
I changed my mind about my sl1 spoon run. Since it isn't possible to progress with only the spoon and you have to farm using other weapons I'll just level normally so I can enchant it, so that I can at least do some damage. Then later on I'll pvp with spoons.
Regarding pvp. Stopping at 150 is pointless. It's all based on Soul Memory. Get your character up to 120 if you like, but don't stop using the souls you get for pvp to level after that, because otherwise down the line you will end up running into level 200-300 guys with the same soul memory as you. You'll auto lose with such a gimped character.
Forget about the pvp meta. There's no such thing as a static pvp playing field anymore.
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I don't think that FROM is oblivious to the fact that there were strong communities built around organized and SL-limited PVP. I also don't think they are ignorant of the effect SM has on PVP.
Considering how fast they addressed/nerfed/buffed etc certain things within a month of release, I can see them addressing the SM/PVP issue in a future patch. It could be as simple as introducing a new item at Melentia that locks your SL in and only matches you up with the similar SL range, regardless of SM.
i'm not a developer, so Im sure my idea isn't foolproof. But considering the fanbase of the first 2 Souls games, FROM has got to be aware that a lot of longevity was given to their titles via the players organizing pvp in this fashion for long-term play.
I'm not going to level any of my characters past 150, maybe 160, until we see how this develops down the line.
In other news, I think I really like Havel's. I'm wondering if I should respec so I could get more points in VIT and get below 705 with my preferred pvp loadout, even if that means I take a hit to VIG. Havels+GMB let me tank some ridiculous amounts of Pyro and still get my swing out. I kind of liked that.
Sev: Your gameplay is the most heavily yomi based around. Usually you look for characters that allow you to force guessing situations for big dmg. Even if the guess is mathematically nowhere near in your favor lol. You're happiest when you have either a 50/50, 33/33/33 or even a 75/25 situation to go crazy with. And you will take big risks to force those situations to come up.
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MorninglordI'm tired of being Batman,so today I'll be Owl.Registered Userregular
This is an incredible interview with the director of Dark Souls 2 that goes into detail about how they thought about difficulty and the ease of understanding of various elements in the game.
Some highlights
Difficulty
You also mentioned something about making the game “harsher,” I think.
Let me make myself clear about that so nobody gets the wrong idea about what I have in mind. There’s more to raising the difficulty level as a developer than just being out to get the player. The idea behind that sentiment is that we want to imbue players with a sense of responsibility in how they carry themselves during exploration and character building segments. We want them to make an effort to try out different ways of playing as they figure out how to make their way through the game.
Can you give an example of what you mean?
The elemental switching you can do with weapons this time around that I mentioned early is a good example. By enabling players to swap out elements, our hope is that they’ll find out which ones work best for them in different situations and use them accordingly. And then if they fail to make a good decision, they’ll feel the implications of that mistake firsthand.
So basically Dark Souls II is harder on you if you don’t actively try to branch out in your strategies?
Yep, that’s the long and short of it. To give you another example, there’s an item in the game called a “Human Effigy,” which reverts you back to your Human form when you’re Undead. But there’s a catch: there are only a limited number of them that you can acquire within the game. So unless you’re careful about managing when you use them, the later parts of the game could prove to be rather troublesome to clear.
But again, we didn’t implement this system with a purely malicious intent in mind. Like I mentioned before, the point is that we want people to be conscientious about how they play and make do with what they have. That’s the basic message we want to convey when we make players go through those sorts of things.
Speaking of being Undead, when you’re in that state this time around, your health slowly drains with each successive death, right? I’ve seen a lot of people who played the previous game argue that such a move is excessive, but I’d like to hear what your take is on why that feature was introduced.
The biggest reason is that we wanted to more clearly delineate the differences between being alive as a Human and playing as an Undead. In the first Dark Souls game, there really isn’t that much of a practical difference in terms of how you play as a Human versus Undead. But in Dark Souls II, though, we wanted emphasize the fact that being Human is, in fact, superior to remaining Undead and ensure that players endeavored to revert to that state when possible. We noticed that a lot of people simply just preferred staying Undead in the previous game and we tried to make sure that didn’t remain the case in II.
Staying Undead was definitely a valid playing style in the last game, I agree. You couldn’t get invaded by other players and save for the fact that you looked pretty hideous in that state, I’d wager there weren’t really that many downsides to playing that way.
That’s how I feel, too. By making it so that your HP goes down bit by bit the more you die as an Undead, ideally people will therefore actively want to return to their Human form. When you become Human in Dark Souls II, you’re able to battle cooperatively with other players and it’s another way that we try to instill players with that sense of accomplishment we were discussing earlier. Since you can now get invaded in Undead form in this form, I feel there’s a much greater incentive to become Human in this game than what was there in the last game.
Hypothetically speaking, though, couldn’t you potentially end up in real trouble if you manage to run out of Human Effigies before finishing the game?
In that sort of worst case scenario, that could definitely be the case, sure.
Oh wow.
To be certain, we debated amongst ourselves as a team whether to provide a means to assist players in that sort of situation. But if we went about that in an overtly direct manner, we’d risk sacrificing that sense of accomplishment that’s integral to the series, so we decided against implementing anything of the sort in the end.
That being said, we made sure there were contingencies in place to avoid things being completely soul crushing, so if you find yourself in that situation, the game is still designed to be beatable.
Contingencies, huh? Can you explain that a little bit in more concrete terms?
So one simple idea we have that’s in the game is that there are items designed to soften the blow of being permanently Undead. There’s a ring you can equip, for instance, that raises your maximum health.
You could also argue that the way we handle Estus Flasks in Dark Souls II makes things tougher than before since we only give you one at the start of the game and then you have to pick up more one by one as you go about your journey. But on the flip side, to offset that, we made it so that there are also consumable healing items that you can use as well this time around, allowing you to readily compensate for your shortage of Estus.
Ease of understanding.
Is there any aspect of Dark Souls II in particular that you hope players pick up on and enjoy?
There are a lot of potential answers to that question, but if I were to pick just one, then I’d hope it’s the sense of discovery that’s to be experienced as people enjoy their newfound freedoms in Dark Souls II. That act of discovery is something that we made integral to the gameplay experience. You’ll come upon things whose meaning and significance aren’t made immediately apparent to you at first glance, but as you keep playing, you’ll have revelations about them and get what they’re there for. That’s one of the design tenets we developed the game around.
Do you mean to tell me you deliberately put things into the game that won’t make sense at first?
You got it. But again, we didn’t do that out of malice. That communal aspects of the Souls games where people exchange information with each other is one of the most fun aspects about the series and we wanted to make sure that was still upheld. That sort of information gathering by way of in-game messages that players leave for each other and external resources like forums and wikis has just become a fundamental part of playing these games. We figured that if we could introduce some unknown elements into the mix to keep people busy for a while, that would be one of the ways that the game could remain entertaining.
Basically you want to ensure that websites with strategy guides and whatnot don’t have all of the answers, that players will still have to go out and make some of those discoveries on their own. I can see that also being a solid way to encourage people to try out different ways to play the game. Not everyone is guaranteed to see the same things as they go along.
When I was a kid growing up, I used to go to the arcade to play Tower of Druaga and I’d swap information with other people playing the game. What we have going on with Dark Souls II is pretty similar to that, but on a much larger scale. That exchange of information will help people get a grasp of the things that they do and don’t really understand about the game. Obviously, not everything is going to be that obtuse and there are some things that will just make sense upfront. But even so, right now there are things that people totally have yet to find and discuss, let alone figure out, and hopefully running into those sorts of things will be fun for players. For instance, there’s a way to get your hands on a Titanite Slab at the beginning of the game despite it normally being one of the more important items you can find in the series.
But isn’t it useless to give that item to players right off the bat?
At the time it doesn’t serve much of a purpose, sure. People will probably look at it and just be confused about why they have it, but eventually they’ll realize just how important it really is. Moments like that are where some of the fun in the game lies.
I like this director.
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I just tried to give the herald an estus flask shard and it said : nope, your flask is max level already!
I have 12 charges, am nowhere near the end of the game, and am on NG. Is this *really* the fully levelled up shard?
Also, I am not sure lightning scaling is working right.
I looked at the lightning damage 3 different weapons
Heide Lance C Scaling: 60 base damage, +35 damage from scaling.
Heide Sword B Scaling: 134 base damage, +72 from scaling
Lightning Bastard SwordBetter B Scaling: 196 base damage, +30 from scaling.
I fear the original Dark Souls no longer; the greatest of its challenges are dead and buried. Perhaps it would increase, bit by bit, in subsequent playthroughs... but so would my stock of fire and dark, and that would more than compensate for another few percentage of health or damage from the four kings, or the Taurus Demon, or whoever.
40 Vit, End, Str, and Int. There are very, very few things that can stand up to me now.
Lets say I want to blaze through Dark Souls, having only ever gotten as far as Tomb of the Giants in the past. I want to do this before Dark Souls 2 comes out, and it has been a while so I'm rather rusty. I already grabbed the drake shield and astore sword thing. I'm terrible at planning builds. Is a faith/str build a good idea? I went pyro/master key. Build/run tips?
Lets say I want to blaze through Dark Souls, having only ever gotten as far as Tomb of the Giants in the past. I want to do this before Dark Souls 2 comes out, and it has been a while so I'm rather rusty. I already grabbed the drake shield and astore sword thing. I'm terrible at planning builds. Is a faith/str build a good idea? I went pyro/master key. Build/run tips?
It's viable but I don't know if it'll blaze through the game. My sorcerer on the other hand has blown through fights my melee character struggled with. Soul spear basically can 4 or 5 shot many bosses until the mid point. That's when you use another attunement slot for them.
No matter what route you go though, combustion and later greater combustion are excellent spells with fast cast times and good damage. Plus they can cut off tails from bosses.
I am leaning closer and closer to playing a guy with almost no health, who is completely reliant on his armor, spells and weapons to survive. The anti-Solaire, so to speak. Once I acquire the third dragon ring things are going to get interesting.
Sev: Your gameplay is the most heavily yomi based around. Usually you look for characters that allow you to force guessing situations for big dmg. Even if the guess is mathematically nowhere near in your favor lol. You're happiest when you have either a 50/50, 33/33/33 or even a 75/25 situation to go crazy with. And you will take big risks to force those situations to come up.
Estus flask maxes out forever and always at 12 shots of +5. There are enough estus flask shards in a NG run to have one extra so you can miss one(the last one you find is in Shrine of Amana so fairly far from the end of the game), but there are only 5 sublime bone dusts. I'm on NG++ with my Paladin and I can definitely confirm you never get more.
@Vorpal I think part of what you're seeing there is because the Heide weapons all have built in lightning damage on them even when not infused with lightning. So they get some FTH scaling based on that, then additional when you lightning infuse.
I know my Defender's Greatsword had only marginal lightning scaling without an infuse because it only did a small amount of Lightning, but once Lightning infused and upgraded to be S scaling it now scales ridiculously.
Estus flask maxes out forever and always at 12 shots of +5. There are enough estus flask shards in a NG run to have one extra so you can miss one(the last one you find is in Shrine of Amana so fairly far from the end of the game), but there are only 5 sublime bone dusts. I'm on NG++ with my Paladin and I can definitely confirm you never get more.
@Vorpal I think part of what you're seeing there is because the Heide weapons all have built in lightning damage on them even when not infused with lightning. So they get some FTH scaling based on that, then additional when you lightning infuse.
I know my Defender's Greatsword had only marginal lightning scaling without an infuse because it only did a small amount of Lightning, but once Lightning infused and upgraded to be S scaling it now scales ridiculously.
The same information source I found out about that big dump I posted about scaling mentioned that infusions seem to hugely change how the scaling works on some weapons in a way he hadn't worked out yet.
I bet based on how they've done scaling normally they've set it up so an infuse affects the scaling on certain weapons differently from others. They might have even tied it to type of infuse. Just like you can only infuse magic and dark onto a staff.
It may be that the letter grades are only meaningful for comparing the same class of weapon.
Just some ideas.
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Estus flask maxes out forever and always at 12 shots of +5. There are enough estus flask shards in a NG run to have one extra so you can miss one(the last one you find is in Shrine of Amana so fairly far from the end of the game), but there are only 5 sublime bone dusts. I'm on NG++ with my Paladin and I can definitely confirm you never get more.
@Vorpal I think part of what you're seeing there is because the Heide weapons all have built in lightning damage on them even when not infused with lightning. So they get some FTH scaling based on that, then additional when you lightning infuse.
I know my Defender's Greatsword had only marginal lightning scaling without an infuse because it only did a small amount of Lightning, but once Lightning infused and upgraded to be S scaling it now scales ridiculously.
The same information source I found out about that big dump I posted about scaling mentioned that infusions seem to hugely change how the scaling works on some weapons in a way he hadn't worked out yet.
I bet based on how they've done scaling normally they've set it up so an infuse affects the scaling on certain weapons differently from others. They might have even tied it to type of infuse. Just like you can only infuse magic and dark onto a staff.
It may be that the letter grades are only meaningful for comparing the same class of weapon.
Just some ideas.
As far as I can tell the letter grades are not meaningful at all. The only way to tell is to equip the weapon, and see how much bonus damage you are getting.
I know the heide's weapons have inherent lightning bonuses, that's what I'm looking at My question is, why does the bonus damage from faith scaling, with a constant faith value, vary so dramatically and unevenly when comparing letter scaling bonuses? My two swords, both with a B scaling, have dramatically different bonus damage from scaling. The better sword, with the 'higher' B scaling, and the higher base damage, gets less than 1/2 the bonus scaling damage as the other sword.
I would have no issue with an infuse changing the scaling letter (and indeed, i think if you infuse a heide weapon with lightning this does in fact happen), my issue is that it shouldn't make the scaling letter meaningless.
As it is the scaling letter is an utterly unreliable indicator as to how much bonus damage you'll be getting. They no doubt have some complicated behind the scene math to arrive at their letter, but the primary purpose of the scaling letter, informing the user as to which weapons scale better with which stats, is conspicuously failing.
The other question is: is the bonus damage you get a factor of the scaling and your respective stat, OR also a function of the base damage? When I saw the tiny amount of extra lightning damage my lightning infused sword was doing I assumed base damage was irrelevent.
On a side node, I did just find the last estus flask shard in shrine of amana. I have to say hurling lightning bolts at those mages standing in the water is the best thing ever.
Nope. Because helping someone beat the boss gives you back a bit every time you win, so you get to practice the boss and regain humanity.
Also there's a way to become human without effigies later in the game. And I GUESS there are limited numbers, but there are enemies that have a chance to drop them.
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OIh great.
At least the boss is optional. Still...
Steam ID: 76561198021298113
Origin ID: SR71C_Blackbird
Covetous Gold Serpent Ring+2 plus Prisoners chestpiece/head piece might help.
I'm not 100% sure but after farming Old Knights for about an hour and then finally getting the piece I wanted as soon as I equipped the Serpent ring makes me thing there might be a "drop chance" barrier which you have to reach, otherwise certain items won't spawn at all.
Steam ID: 76561198021298113
Origin ID: SR71C_Blackbird
I'm trying to think of a painting that would eat you in this game and I can't think of any. Someone wanna fill me in?
Steam ID: 76561198021298113
Origin ID: SR71C_Blackbird
oh, I thought we were talking about DS2. Sorry. Thanks though.
Well
If all I'm doing is fighting bosses, I think I'm going to be doing a ton more burst damage with my sorceries and pyromancies. I have like 37 Int, which is enough, when combined with the Dusk Crown and Bellowing Dragoncrest Ring, to do something like 318 in one hit with Dark Bead - and it fires, 7 projectiles? 8? Even with much higher magic defense than the starter enemies have, pile that shit on and it's going to really hurt someone. Put in Power Within and that's just preposterous.
Flame Whip may be faster at DPS than Dark Bead? Maybe not. It's close.
The point is the Four Kings better have a lot of health if they want to survive what's coming for them.
Cryyyyyystal magic weapon, remember.
Is it S scaling yet?
But
I dunno
I think I could be doing more by enchanting my Battle Axe and hitting twice as often
And Great Combustion with my setup does like 700 per shot to most things without Power Within
I'll do further testing
Serpent bros are pretty tough but weak to fire and lightning.
But I'll gather up the necessary Chunks and give it another go. Maybe test it on the Darkwraiths, who are in need of some disciplining.
Them being weak to fire makes sense I suppose; I didn't wnat to say it but the Chaos Great Axe (10 humanity) was actually kind of outdamaging the enchanted Demon's Greataxe, and I know that ain't right
Farm them like this. You wont need armor or a shield as long as you get below 25%. This run was a carbon copy of every other. Their behavior doesn't change much.
Have you done a NG+ run with your fist dude?
I learned a few things from the one(!) attempt it took me to beat them in NG+:
1. Boss-sized enemies do not like point-blank Dark Beads. No sir, they do not.
2. The Four Kings in particular don't like it because you can keep pounding their communal health bar as they die. If I had more charges I would have killed the whole shit and kaboodle in two kings instead of three. Shame on me for missing it in NG.
3. Spacing on the Four Kings so they get double-hit by Flame Whip is difficult, making them probably the most resistant boss in the game (outside of the Centipede Demon or Ceaseless Discharge, I guess) when it comes to that particular move.
4. I really shouldn't dismiss Flame Surge. Boosted enough and pointed in the right direction it can pump out DPS comparable to almost any other spell. It would have been really useful against the Four Kings just for how it would allow me to keep a constant stream on them as they die.
5. I look incredibly goofy running with a catalyst in one hand and a pyromancy flame in the other, but I don't even care.
Nope. I'm too distractible. Once I beat it the first time I moved on to exploring other builds. I like to know how things work.
Then I got distracted by other games.
Now DS2 came out and I'm all distracted again.
I plan to.
Eventually.
I changed my mind about my sl1 spoon run. Since it isn't possible to progress with only the spoon and you have to farm using other weapons I'll just level normally so I can enchant it, so that I can at least do some damage. Then later on I'll pvp with spoons.
Regarding pvp. Stopping at 150 is pointless. It's all based on Soul Memory. Get your character up to 120 if you like, but don't stop using the souls you get for pvp to level after that, because otherwise down the line you will end up running into level 200-300 guys with the same soul memory as you. You'll auto lose with such a gimped character.
Forget about the pvp meta. There's no such thing as a static pvp playing field anymore.
Considering how fast they addressed/nerfed/buffed etc certain things within a month of release, I can see them addressing the SM/PVP issue in a future patch. It could be as simple as introducing a new item at Melentia that locks your SL in and only matches you up with the similar SL range, regardless of SM.
i'm not a developer, so Im sure my idea isn't foolproof. But considering the fanbase of the first 2 Souls games, FROM has got to be aware that a lot of longevity was given to their titles via the players organizing pvp in this fashion for long-term play.
I'm not going to level any of my characters past 150, maybe 160, until we see how this develops down the line.
In other news, I think I really like Havel's. I'm wondering if I should respec so I could get more points in VIT and get below 705 with my preferred pvp loadout, even if that means I take a hit to VIG. Havels+GMB let me tank some ridiculous amounts of Pyro and still get my swing out. I kind of liked that.
This is an incredible interview with the director of Dark Souls 2 that goes into detail about how they thought about difficulty and the ease of understanding of various elements in the game.
Some highlights
Difficulty
Ease of understanding.
I like this director.
I have 12 charges, am nowhere near the end of the game, and am on NG. Is this *really* the fully levelled up shard?
Also, I am not sure lightning scaling is working right.
I looked at the lightning damage 3 different weapons
Heide Lance C Scaling: 60 base damage, +35 damage from scaling.
Heide Sword B Scaling: 134 base damage, +72 from scaling
Lightning Bastard SwordBetter B Scaling: 196 base damage, +30 from scaling.
WTF?
(edited in more detail)
PSN: Vorpallion Twitch: Vorpallion
What weapons were they?
What stat?
40 Vit, End, Str, and Int. There are very, very few things that can stand up to me now.
All that's left is Nito, and then Gwyn.
The world is going to get much darker.
Well that's good to know. I'm at 12 and +5.
I edited my original post: heide weapons and an enchanted bastard sword. Looking at the lightning scaling.
PSN: Vorpallion Twitch: Vorpallion
It's viable but I don't know if it'll blaze through the game. My sorcerer on the other hand has blown through fights my melee character struggled with. Soul spear basically can 4 or 5 shot many bosses until the mid point. That's when you use another attunement slot for them.
No matter what route you go though, combustion and later greater combustion are excellent spells with fast cast times and good damage. Plus they can cut off tails from bosses.
Steam Profile
3DS: 3454-0268-5595 Battle.net: SteelAngel#1772
Oh, really? So you get more later? Can you upgrade the sublime bone dust any further?
Absolutely everything I've ever read about it is extremely firm that it caps at 12 in NG+. Are you sure you aren't just misreading the number?
Both wiki's for example state it caps at 12 even in NG+.
Edit: Yeah. Nevermind me, I'm full of shit. I don't even have one character with an estus at 12.
*understanding hand on shoulder*
Memory, I know how fallible it is.
By the way who are you?
@Vorpal I think part of what you're seeing there is because the Heide weapons all have built in lightning damage on them even when not infused with lightning. So they get some FTH scaling based on that, then additional when you lightning infuse.
I know my Defender's Greatsword had only marginal lightning scaling without an infuse because it only did a small amount of Lightning, but once Lightning infused and upgraded to be S scaling it now scales ridiculously.
"We have years of struggle ahead, mostly within ourselves." - Made in USA
The same information source I found out about that big dump I posted about scaling mentioned that infusions seem to hugely change how the scaling works on some weapons in a way he hadn't worked out yet.
I bet based on how they've done scaling normally they've set it up so an infuse affects the scaling on certain weapons differently from others. They might have even tied it to type of infuse. Just like you can only infuse magic and dark onto a staff.
It may be that the letter grades are only meaningful for comparing the same class of weapon.
Just some ideas.
As far as I can tell the letter grades are not meaningful at all. The only way to tell is to equip the weapon, and see how much bonus damage you are getting.
I know the heide's weapons have inherent lightning bonuses, that's what I'm looking at
I would have no issue with an infuse changing the scaling letter (and indeed, i think if you infuse a heide weapon with lightning this does in fact happen), my issue is that it shouldn't make the scaling letter meaningless.
As it is the scaling letter is an utterly unreliable indicator as to how much bonus damage you'll be getting. They no doubt have some complicated behind the scene math to arrive at their letter, but the primary purpose of the scaling letter, informing the user as to which weapons scale better with which stats, is conspicuously failing.
The other question is: is the bonus damage you get a factor of the scaling and your respective stat, OR also a function of the base damage? When I saw the tiny amount of extra lightning damage my lightning infused sword was doing I assumed base damage was irrelevent.
On a side node, I did just find the last estus flask shard in shrine of amana. I have to say hurling lightning bolts at those mages standing in the water is the best thing ever.
PSN: Vorpallion Twitch: Vorpallion
Now that people have played the new one and readign that interview...
Are there a limited number of items to turn you human in the game?
Is it possible to get stuck undead?
Also there's a way to become human without effigies later in the game. And I GUESS there are limited numbers, but there are enemies that have a chance to drop them.