The dbr loading and character auto-saving improvements would help maintain higher average framerate. I’m glad you had a noticeable improvement. It generally takes a lot of small improvements to add up to a big gain though and there are still other things we plan to optimize more.
Other than that: the 5s cooldown on the Bladearc…I’m not sure how I feel about it. Was it because you found that skill to be overpowered? The thing is it used a lot of energy, so this is how I used to play with it:
With the skill bound to my RMB, I would use it non-stop if surrounded by enemies (or, if I was feeling a bit kamikaze, after bull-rushing into a pack of monsters). Since it was very powerful, I could also use it against a single foe (“cough cough”, The Warden, “cough cough”…).
The thing is it used a lot of energy…So you had to be careful when using it. I Then had two options:
Walk away and wait for my energy to come back, which took time…
Use a energy potion, while knowing that because of the potion cooldown I wouldn’t be able to take another one before minutes…
No cooldown on the Bladearc really added some dynamics to the fights (mainly because I was always alternating between my LMB and RMB depending on the situations), and a bit of strategy because you had to keep an eye on your energy bar.
I haven’t played enough with the new version of the skill to really see how it works. The fact it uses WAY less energy and has a cooldown will prevent you from overusing it and running out of energy…On the other hand, combats feel less dynamic and “fun”…As for the strategy, I guess it is still present even it has now changed: you can only use your bladearc once and then rely on your other skills for some seconds…It’s more useful against packs of enemies since it hits 5 enemies instead of 3, not so much against single foes…So, we’ll see…
It wasn’t due to it being overpowered but rather because it seemed like many people were not sure how it should be used and, at the same time, it there were a lot of calls for more crowd-control, AoE, and higher-damage periodic skills for soldier. It sounds like you were using it as I had envisioned - reserving for moments when you were surrounded and then potentially firing it off a few times in a row to help clear out the fodder. However, from other people’s feedback, it seemed like they were trying to use it continuously and complaining the energy cost was too high.
So, my goal in changing it was to make it more powerful, have some crowd control component, allow it to hit more enemies and also configure it in a way where it was not as easy to misuse. The cooldown became necessary once I increased the damage and added knockdown.
Give it a chance and see how you like the new version. If people aren’t happy with it, it is possible I may try something else.
I just tried the print button and it did not work. There is no screenshot directory on my Grim Dawn folder found in “My Games”. The only folders are: crashreports, SaveData and Settings.
Thanks for the answer, I would have never thought that was why you changed the skill. I will definitely try it a bit more before giving a final judgment (another option would have been to decreasing its damage, leaving one of the last synergies on the skill tree increasing its power).
EDIT : I almost forgot, there is an odd bug that appeared. I no longer can pick up objects if I am using SHIFT to show them (I would literally need to stand up on top of an object for my character to pick it up). If I use any other button then no problem at all: I click on the object and my character goes to pick it up.
Many people use shift to hold position while firing ranged weapons but it was allowing them to still move to pickup items. So, this was bad as items could drop during combat, they might accidentally click on them while trying to shoot enemies and then instead run forward to pick up the item. We made a change so that you won’t move to pick up items while holding shift.
Hate to say it but I’m not liking the new Blade Arc at all. In fact I’d say it’s made leveling melee somewhat tougher. Maybe I just need to get used to it. I’m not sure why anyone would have had trouble with the previous iteration, obviously if you spam aoe’s in any rpg you end up out of resources quickly.
Also, with military conditioning, are we now at a point where it’s almost always better to just ignore early on, (because you’d be better off just sticking those points in the soldier mastery?).
OMG Thank You. All the changes made GREATLY improved being able to play this on my laptop now as that’s my main gaming platform very happy with changes
