The thread regarding Acid damage specifically as found here: Assid Damage
Highlighted the level 90 augments that are there for other damage types, but not for Acid. It spurred the idea of looking at the level 65 augments because they’re the only other option if a level 90 augment doesn’t support your type. The hope is that the pool of the Level 90 augments increases while the pool of Level 65 augments decreases, since leveling is much more linear while many builds can’t get online until they specifically get the Level 85/94 equipment that makes the build possible.
I’ll stick to a specific damage type to make the point clear: pick one between Fire, Cold, and Lightning.
This one is a good Level 65 augment. It gives +36% Damage and a resistance
These give the same 36% bonus while also giving something useful like Health or %Armor
Meanwhile, this augment is also level 65, gives +36% damage, and a measly 12 flat DoT damage (unless you’re looking at Rotvine Powder, which gives… nothing).
Can all these ring/amulet augments that have no resistances at all be replaced with something better? Faction augments (at least since FG release) are designed with some type of defensive utility in mind, so hopefully a big balance pass is taking place between the old faction augments and the new ones introduced in FoA so that there aren’t any 100% outclassed augments.
they’re ok for levelling, which i’m guessing is their purpose?/“not intended to be super exciting” - but i’d guess there are people that enjoy a 20% build boost still (even if just at “number go bigger” facevalue)
imo the nice ones are those with both 200? hp +oa/da/etc, i often find resists are ok to cover without the 65s, meanwhile a bunch of hp is actually worthwhile trade and feels nice when i get to “upgrade”. Getting both would be pretty stonks tho
When playing through campaign, repeatedly dying from lack of defenses is a far worse energy drain than winning through battles slowly due to less damage. And that’s assuming all Level 65 augments are the same, and they’re not.
I’ll use the above Rotvine Powder for example. Why would you ever choose Rotvine Powder when Rotflesh Powder is available at the same level and gives the exact same +36% Vitality Damage bonus and ALSO has 15% Bleeding Resistance on top? Yeah, Bysmiel might be a faster faction to reach the appropriate Honored status, but once people see that one option is clearly superior to the other, they’ll focus their leveling around getting the appropriate faction level.
There’s no reason to have an augment that’s completely outclassed by another augment at the same level, especially when there are so many type + archetype combinations that have nothing valuable to use (Acid melee was the example stated, and I’m sure there are other lagging archetypes as well).
Replacing them with generically useful options like +2% OA + 300 Health or 10% Resistance would be infinitely better. There is literally nothing to lose making these changes.
i don’t understand? i’m not disagreeing with you that some augments are better than others,
i’m outright saying the ones i think are best is the ones with hp +attributes like oa/da/etc (since resist is usually fine for me to cover)
i just also don’t think these augs were ever intended to be “exciting” nor that mid level was something that was ever given “minmax”/optimization consideration, so they were probably more tossed in for for flavour/“number go up” crowd, than people worrying about getting +30 every resist on 3 augs all the time. But i’m almost willing to bet you have some number go up guy out there which would be “annoyed” if they suddenly lost 3x36% dmg regardless of actual value, “because number bigger”.
And “free” catch all resist/“optimal levelling augs” was probably just never a consideration when these got made because their very temporary nature. (tho it could technically have been that good ol “we want them to have some build puzzle still”, but kinda seems off then)
Ideally we have a bunch of augs with both, (resist can be wasted at somepoint, hp will probably “never” be so duo is best of both world’s/everything)
The OP is a hope (prayer?) that whoever on the dev team is in charge of making the new faction augments is also going through every one of the old faction augments and making sure there is no augment that is 100% outclassed by another augment in the same level pool. The design space is too limited to have two or more augments that give the exact same %damage bonuses, but one of them has additional bonuses and the other one does not.
[quote=“Gnomish_Inquisition, post:4, topic:151835”]
But i’m almost willing to bet you have some number go up guy out there which would be “annoyed” if they suddenly lost 3x36% dmg regardless of actual value, “because number bigger”.[/quote]
This scenario will never exist because there are already augments that give the exact same “number go up” damage bonuses bonuses ON TOP OF giving another bonus like a resistance boost.
When I said there is literally no downside, there’s no “gotcha” moment or secret meaning, I meant there is literally zero downside. There is no reason for a player to choose to use Rotvine Powder when a superior augment exists at the same level range.
again, i’m not sure what your point is
either you’re continued misunderstanding me as if i’m disagreeing or rejecting the idea/“saying don’t do this” ? -which i’m not
i’m merely saying resists aren’t always better/resist isn’t the only option “gief hp and attributes” too
while then speculating the reason many of these augs “suck” might simply be because it’s never been deemed significant let alone important (for xy potential reason)
people have complained about stuff that was literally a buff as a nerf before, never underestimate what others might think a gripe
But i’m also not sure it’s entirely accurate either?, like, just quick glance says there are no chaos augs with dmg res (or hp), so if you strip away chaos dmg augs to give them no dmg but hp and res; you’re now in that potential scenario. - or you’re creating the very scenario you’re lamented in the first, creating an obvious 1 choice superior one/always choose Desert Tongue over Ash.
edit. again, this is not me saying 65 augs can’t or shouldn’t get changes, i’d love if there were more attribute and hp sprinkled around as options
This is a classic case of me making a point in subsequent posts that I thought I made in the OP, only for me to go back and actually read the OP and realize I never made the point I thought I made
I revamped the OP so that it’s more in line with what I’m talking about. I can’t compare the new FoA augments since I have no idea what they look like, but I’m hoping they’re more in line with the good augments and not Rotvine Powder-level augments.
Those are some good examples of augments that still have niche uses, despite not having the raw stats of the DLC augments.
I agree with the OP, in the sense that there are a ton of other augments that could use a small boost to make them more useful for leveling. And maybe opening a niche for endgame applications.
outcast’s wrath probably one of the more underrated augs, always in my mind when people say “siding with/killing anasteria doesn’t matter because her shop is useless”
- but i’d guess there are people that enjoy a 20% build boost still (even if just at “