ARPG improvement ideas to GD

Grim Dawn Ideas and Feedback
1

Hi there.
Since I’m now unable to play the game, due to technical issues, I feel like chipping in my 2 coins (or more) here.

TLDR: Nice solid base for a great game, with many good mechanics (love the devotions and the dual-character ideas), that could use a few adjustments to be more enjoyable after reaching max levels. Both in drops, as in some character adjustments.

For most parts, this concerns end-game play, after a character reaches max lvl.

1. Loot: Most ARPG’s are about the loot. I certainly play these kind of games, for the enjoyment of levelling up, trying various character types, and gaining loot. Upgrades, new combinations of various pieces of loot, that both compliments each other, or gives the character a new twist, feature or adds coolness to a given build.
1 a. I find that chests and lootables in the long run, looses their value of looting, due to the extremely low droprates of anything of significant value (not including one-shot chests here). More often than not, it’ll be a component or two at best.
1 b. I find that ‘white mobs’ are equally dull to kill, due to limited/insignificant droprates as well.As with lootables, it’s a novelty to experience anything of interest dropping from whites, so they quickly diminish in value bothering with.
1 c. Boss chests. Taking from 10 - 20 minutes to run through a ‘fixed path’ dungeon, using Skeleton keys, can feel like quite a drag after 10-15 times, and at best sometimes watching an empowered item drop from a chest like that.

IMO it would increase the value of both the long repeated runs, the looting of chests, bodies and other lootables, if the droprates of interesting items increased. I do get the point that it should not become excessive, but all in all, this game still takes a serious amount of hours, to get close to several valuable set items, etc. (That was among other things, what made Diable 2 so unique. There -was- certain items you could farm for, for years, and actually make a build, based on just that weapon or some other). I do think GD has the potential, but to me, its running from boss to boss, nemesis’ along the way, with a reasonable amount of dicouragement when I click on ‘end-chests’ or boss-kills, with chips/fragments dropping for most parts.

2. Movement-features.
After having tried a speed-related character, like soldier or nightblade, I actually CBA combining a character without either of the 2 classes. Why not? Well other classes just makes me feel like dragging along with a ball and chain, to get to above mentioned bosses, nemesis’ or end chests (yawn).
2 a. Please. Include movement features to all classes, whether it’ll be arcanist teleport, shaman spiritwalk or whatnot. It will certainly increase the options and playability (in my point of view ofc), of the other classes/combos.
2 b. Another means to that end, could very well be to include more movement bonuses, to various set items, some devotions and whatnot, that can enable more builds to achieve a pace that is more ‘reasonable’, and in pace with the often longer distances to get to bosses, chests and what else there may be of interest.

3. Casters.
What casters? I’m not trying to whip anyone here, but as much as I like a good melee character, I have always enjoyed the caster-type character as well. And IMO they barely exist atm in GD, or in comparison to a melee-proc-based character, they are by far no equal.
I am certain it’s no easy task to make a game like this, with mechanics that works around it all, and benefits both challenging gameplay, as various aspects of the ARPG characterbuilds in all their facets. But damn I would love a good solid caster-build, with enough movability and caster-skills to match a melee character.

4. Endgame hack n slash
Now I am at it, I do feel a bit gutted about ‘end bosses’ and ‘nemesis’ bosses, that are styled in a way, with resistances and defences, that more or less means the following: Primary character goal: achieve maximum resistances in basically all categories (including stun resistance), or your character is too flawed to match the onslaught of most of them.

The minimum amount of CC available on end bosses/nemesis bosses, ensures that there is just a few builds as is, that can break through the massive defences, and actually CC for a few seconds, or fragments thereof.
Heck, I’d certainly like if there was actually a chance that some abilities could slow/cripple them a bit, and whether or not bosses could then get more curses/debuffs/ranged abilities as well, it’d suit me just fine to add more complexity to some fights, than the hack n slash, where offence/max defence is what makes the most of my fights atmo.

I just feel the majority of my endgame fights, consists of more or less the same defence/offence/healthpool vs. the same of the boss. And whether I use fire, poison, electricity, physical, bleeding etc. basically doesn’t make much of a difference. But cold can freeze, with enough resistance reduction, you can manage to CC a boss, so they won’t threaten that golden rotation of potions and cure-abilities so much, that you can actually ‘tank’ em with reason.

Pardon if it felt like ranting. I have really enjoyed the game sofar, but primarily the levelling process, rather than the endgame, which should be equally fun to play, in my opinion.

2

This would be true, like 3 or 4 updates ago. Casters are pretty much meta now with BWC Sorcerer and Light’s Defender Stun Jacks being some of the best builds.

There’s also Vitality Conjurer, Vitality PB Witch Hunter/Conjurer, Warlock Obsidian Tremors and some other caster builds.

Caster builds are perfectly fine, better than they probably ever been. Melee on the other hand has been taking huge hits in the last updates.

Crate stance on CC is that it should only work on regular mobs. It’s called Crowd control and not Boss control. This is why freeze resist was upped to heroes and Nemeses in the last update because you could literally freeze lock Nemeses and Mad Queen and completely trivialized them.

3

@OP: pretty much all of your points have been brought up before. While you have some good points, I don’t think you’ll find much sympathy here because of the above, and most people think the game is fine as it is.

Edit: you can get a mobility skill from the component Riftstone by the way, it’s a weapon socketable.

I don’t agree, note how there’s a distinct lack of Arcanist caster builds in your examples.
I consider Arcanist the primary caster class, but all of its main caster spells are pretty lackluster or outclassed by something else.
The only exception is CT, because it has a weapon damage component.

But of the regular spells (PRM, TSS, AAR, OFF, Devastation), is there currently even a single one that can reliably beat the toughest content in the game now?
I hate to bring up Gladiator performance since I dislike using it as a measuring stick, but fact is that those above skills generally can’t do that.

If you have a build that can, it’s more likely related to unusually high individual skill/knowledge and/or extremely well-rolled MIs that normal players can’t get without cheating.

There just happen to be a few things that make the Sorcerer class combo viable (Warpfire is too good an item, the new sets help too) and Flashbang is way too good in its current state.
I wouldn’t consider that casters are fine just because of a couple mechanics that are out of line, if they were brought down to relative normal power levels, all the caster disadvantages would be right back.

TL;DR: Arcanist as the primary caster class is ironically probably the weakest caster type, Flashbang is absurdly OP

4

Sorcerer is Arcanist and Warlock is Arcanist…

And i didn’t mentioned every caster build. There’s also Winter King Spellbreaker. There’s also Trozan Druid which some people completed Gladiator Crucible with it.

5

I meant builds actually using those Arcanist spells.
If there is a TSS build that can beat Glad, that’s cool though.

I should optimize my own TSS char for that sometime.

6

The OP meant casters in general. Just because Arcanist is the weakest caster mastery (which i completely disagree), it doesn’t mean casters are in a bad spot because Arcanist is not the only mastery that can go caster. That’s a really flawed logic.

7

Elaborate?

8

My first char was a Poison Caster (Occultist/Soldier I know Witchblade would probably have been better but with no gear the 20 something % free Elemental Resist was a pretty good pick). It is 85 I was able to kill Valderan Fabius and Mad Queen in Ultimate still have to try Chtonian and Undead (they both spawner in Rogue dungeon first time around). Yeah it ain’t perfect and it might be hard to make it into a Melee (to maximize Soldier) but still it at least can kill a couple of Nemesis to farm me some stuff for the future.

I’m running a PRM with Devastation right now it is FAR from being optimized and I’m only level 50 but I’m having fun and I know I will be able to get to 85 with it.

Once I’m there if the build is not good enough even after optimization in the worst case scenario I will end up 50 Aether Crystal and couple of Iron bit away from a BWC Sorcerer which is a top build.

I feel some Class got some pretty massive skill that make them easy go-to CoF and Flashbang are two of them and even when either of those class ain’t a first Mastery it become a pretty damn good choice for a 2nd one. My next class will be a Melee one just to be different