Glorious Alpha Two Testers!
Alpha Two testing is currently taking place five days each week. More information about Phase II and Phase III testing schedule can be found here
If you have Alpha Two, you can download the game launcher here, and we encourage you to join us on our Official Discord Server for the most up to date testing news.
Alpha Two testing is currently taking place five days each week. More information about Phase II and Phase III testing schedule can be found here
If you have Alpha Two, you can download the game launcher here, and we encourage you to join us on our Official Discord Server for the most up to date testing news.
Power Scaling / TTK / Enchanting & Tinkering
spdy
Member, Alpha Two
Current Power Curve Issues & Gameplay Concerns
The current power curve we're seeing in the game presents several issues that are impacting both gameplay and the broader game economy.
To start, I want to clarify that I’m not advocating for a return to the one-shot meta we recently moved away from. The previous pace of combat was too fast, and increasing the Time to Kill (TTK) was the right call. However, I believe the change has been taken a bit too far.
The Power Ceiling and Its Consequences
Right now, most players are capped around the 2xx Power range, and there’s currently no meaningful way to widen the gap. This stagnation has unfortunately invalidated several core systems—namely crafting, enchanting, and tinkering.
- Crafting: There's no longer any reason to craft level 10 gear, as even basic green/blue level 20 gear outperforms it. This not only harms the in-game economy—since players now hoard level 20 materials exclusively—but also delivers a major blow to crafting and merchant-focused players.
One of the game’s most compelling loops was the ability to gear up through crafting rather than being forced to farm the same mobs repeatedly. That alternative path helped set this game apart from others in the genre, and its loss is deeply felt. - Enchanting: In the current system, enchanting gear has become almost irrelevant. The ~160 additional Power points provided have minimal impact on performance, making the time and resource investment unjustifiable.
- Tinkering: The same issue applies here. I tested a full upgrade of my BiS level 20 gear on Legendary and applied tinkering setting minimum and maximum quality.
The result? My Healing Power increased from ~306 to ~318—a marginal improvement for what would cost thousands of gold. Again, not worth the effort.
TTK and Group Dynamics
Another side effect of the higher TTK is that group size has become an even more dominant factor in fights. For example, in sieges, attackers can no longer outpace defenders’ respawns, which often leads to defending forces never losing a battle. With everyone clustered in the 220–250 Power range, individual progression and gear quality matter far less, reducing strategic depth.
Suggestions
With all this in mind, I propose the following:
- Improved Communication: Please provide better transparency and communication when game-changing adjustments are being made and supply us with the formulars as well as give us the best possible gear on the PTR.
- Reintroduce Power Progression: Allow players to meaningfully progress into the lower 4xx Power range again through crafting, enchanting, and tinkering. This would not only restore depth to these systems but also bring back a sense of meaningful gear progression and individuality.
- Improve Defensive Stats: Defensive stats are currently not functioning as they should, and they fail to provide a viable alternative method for mitigating higher power levels.
Let’s bring back some of the pace, excitement, and alternative gameplay paths that made this game truly shine.
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Comments
Low enchanting boost is amazing, because it means that even the hardcorest players out there will not become gods, simply because they are the hardcorest. They'll be stronger, but that strength will show itself in the long run, rather than in each and every fight.
The current tightness of power scaling is, imo, the best thing Intrepid have implemented into A2, and it makes me very hyped for starting my grind in P3, because I know that I'll have way more people willing to fight back against me, even if my gear is better than theirs.
While I do agree with the issue of crafting becoming irrelevant, to me its a completely different cause. Increasing power creep and removing diminishing returns and decreasing TTK doesn't fix any of it. To me the solution is:
1. Remove blue or under gear from mob drops past level 10 gear. That way, the node progression will soft lock the gear progression and players will craft level 10 gear while level 20 gear is not available
2. Epic/Legendary lvl 10 gear should be better than uncommon/rare lvl 20 gear. That way, if you decide to go for level 10 epic/legendary gear, you can keep it until you upgrade it to heroic level 20 gear instead of your gear becoming irrelevant once level 20 gear unlocks.
You are looking for % upgrades in a simplistic way, looking for upgrades in the power stat that you already stacked way past the effective soft cap. If you build it properly, you can still gain 8% power upgrade enchanting all your gear to +10, maintain the same power stat while increasing other stats like accuracy, penetration, crit, attack speed, evasion, mitigation, etc. There is now opportunity for build diversity because of the diminishing returns. Power is not the only stat that matters anymore. The same goes for tinkering
While I do agree that of course, bringing more players gives you a better chance to win things, I think the difference between a small skilled well coordinated group and a big uncoordinated zerg of bad players is way bigger now. You can outplay bigger groups by skill and coordination now, instead of how it was before (beating big groups by just attacking first, which realistically, it didn't happen other than ganking and surprise scenarios). Of course, if the groups have the same level of power, skill and coordination, then numbers will be the main determinant as it should be because why would a smaller group with no advantages over the other group win?
There's a huge difference between the two states of design.
If Epic Lv15 gear can look like:
Base Def: 100
Slot1 Def: +30
Slot2 Def: +20
Slot3 Def: +15
Then the game is entirely different than if it cannot, in the case where Green Grade level 20 gear can 'only' look like:
Base Def: 120
Slot1 Def: +30
And similarly most people will flow differently if mobs (if they must drop something) can only drop the Common version of the same lv20 gear that is just:
Base Def: 120
And that's before we even start looking at Enhancing or any Crafting Commissions.
Blown past falling sands…