[Feedback] (long) 3 years of playing Grim Dawn

Ok. If it is intended, then fair enough. It just feels weird to have something that is clearly dedicated to maces or swords that actually applies to completely different weapons and attacks though.

This is 1986 game design. This kind of way to make a game no longer belongs today, whatever how you look at it. If the area is supposed to do acid damage, then the acid resistance should apply, same for aether and everything. And if the damages are done by the ground, then some boots should have some resistances to ground damages, exactly the same way that the chest armors are supposed to help you deal with the damages you receive at the chest.

An average player is not supposed to have fully reviewed the whole database of the items of the game to start playing the game. I am not talking about planning to use specific items, I am talking about planning your character some way, like “I am going to make a caster doing chaos damage”, which then is going to require that kinds of items. But then bam, the only item that perfectly fits for your character (all the damages bonuses and resistances and skill bonuses etc) is that one with that stupid conversion that just turns your main damage into something that you just don’t do.

Grimtools is no answer for the flaws of the game.

The financial reason to explain flaws in the game are wrong in two ways:

  1. if something is not financially possible, then this can end up meaning that everything is actually not financially possible. Everything can be financially impossible. Just let some managers consider the options, read some documents, do the math, organize meetings to more or less talk about it, do some spreadsheet, some powerpoint, organize meetings again to really talk about it this time, and finally say no: too expensive. You can always find guys in offices who will say no because of budget reasons whatever the option is. Interestingly, those guys are often those who are the most concerned about the finances of the company but also those who have the highest payrolls, ie those who cost the most to the company. Anything can be vetoed for finance reason, which means that finance reason is no real reason by itself.

  2. This problem belongs to core problems in the game. As long as you stay in the little bubble of this forum, everything is fine, but if you go outside, you will find a lot of players who have stopped playing the game because they just couldn’t stand all the non-sense with the tens of resistance to manage and some other things that got in their way all along the game and where at some stage they just said ok, that’s enough. Fixing this would help the game makes more sense with itself, with what it tries to be.

Or you can fix this simply by making sure that at least 3/4 of the items along the whole game are conversion-free.

It is negligence from the game if a boss, ie with lots of HP, can get healed instantly and fully by a random healer. That’s no longer a problem of prioritization if the healers can make the front mobs nearly invincible as long as you cannot kill them in one hit. Those are supposed to be healers, ie providing healing, not invincibility. The healing effect and the cooldown are ridiculous. Or rename them like “Immortalizers” or something like that.

And, again, if you end up in a tight corridor and blocked by mobs tanking you while the healers stay behind and you have no ranged/AoE attack, the problem no longer has anything to do with prioritization. All the health bars just get back to maximum nearly instantly and forever. That’s not how “healing” works.

No, it’s not. This belongs to the whole set of options the game provides to the player, which is then going to reward or punish him depending on his choices. Exactly like the skills, the items etc, the attributes are supposed to be an interface to ask the player what he wants, what he considers would be the best for himself (his character), and then to show him the consequences of those choices (death, reward, waste of time, not that good etc).

That’s interesting to see how your arguments can be completely opposite between the question of the items (it’s my fault, I have to completely plan my character before starting him) and the question with the attributes (don’t worry, there is nothing to plan here, why should you worry about this ?). I see a direct contradiction here, but maybe it is just my imagination.

The attributes are remnants from the old tabletop RPGs, they define what the character is. If they are now pointless, then why are they still here?

That’s a good point.

The reason why they should be screwed is because those are the effects of my auras, exactly like my attacks are the effects of my abilities. If they aren’t happy with my efficiency then they have to let me know, and I have to better manage my character.

Good. Now please find Benn-Jahr in the Depraved Sanctuary, lead him to the stairs, let him/it spawn its crystals all around and eventually get stuck all by himself like a fool, and then trash him from a distance with pistols and see him being turned into a completely defenseless piece of junk (nearly, it still has its prison to cast on you occasionally, but that’s about it). What is going to think Ch’thon of that hireling?

The crystals can be more trouble to the caster than to its target. Is that supposed to make sense? And anyway, Benn-Jahr and Mooselauke are way too big on screen to be hindered by those things. They should be able to walk over them and eventually to destroy them if they get in their way.

Isn’t the funniest part the fact that you took my comments very personally and that you look like to have set as a mission for yourself to blame me year after year for my opinions about the game? But why not, let’s talk about what is funny: please tell me what you think of your comments.

And yes, I am sorry for Grim Dawn. 15 years after Diablo 2, it just won’t learn the lessons its predecessor has supplied.

You missed my point: the conversions are killing the creativity in this game. Most players may be interested into playing the game because of the options it provides. You can try some sort of soldier/arcanist who is half-tank half-caster, or a fully ranged build with demo-inqui and so on. And up to this point, Grimtools is indeed a solid option to enhance your experience. And then comes the conversion, which pushes you to play your build one way and that way only

I completely disagree though.
It is in fact the exact opposite, conversion provides ways of combining masteries that wouldn’t otherwise combine due to their damage types not matching.
There are hardly any raw build ideas that can’t be done, mostly thanks to conversion, and of course the huge item pool.
The build compendiums prove this with their staggering amounts of exotic builds.
Proof is in the pudding, so to speak.
Truly there is something in there for almost everyone and everything.
To me that is astounding and one of the reasons why I love this game to death!
Granted, there are moments when conversion limits build possibilities (cough… star pact… cough…) but they are mostly intentional and should be, because we want things to be balanced fairly right?

Honestly I don’t get you.
You seem to care, because you did take the time to write an essay on it.
It is so long and outraged though that I don’t see anything positive you’re experiencing in this game…
So why bother?

lol, thanks for the laughs, OP.

Sent from my Ultra Shine using Tapatalk

Well the OP does have a point in regards of conversion, though.

The problem is not about conversion itself, but rather the way it’s currently implemented. Instead of having certain gear pieces giving a solid amount of damage conversion at once, we have a lot a few gear pieces that gives us 10, 15 or 20% damage conversion, so in order for us to benefit from conversion, we have to scavenge for those gear pieces, so that we can get to 100% conversion, or as close as 100%. In PoE, for example, damage conversion is awarded with at least 50% damage conversion through a single gear piece, so if you’re looking for damage conversion, you don’t need to equip 3 or more gear pieces, just so that you can get a decent amount of conversion.

Not to mention that not all gear pieces have the proper conversion you need, nor there’s enough damage conversion for all possible damage types to allow more build diversity, which is another issue with conversion in this game…

Then there is the “Elemental Damage” conversion, which is extremely annoying and frustrating. Want to make a fire focused character, but want to use a Blessed Steel in your weapon, for example? Tough luck! Because a good portion of your damage will be converted to cold and lightning as well, which is why I LOATHE any type of X damage -> Elemental Damage, because you’ll always end up getting screwed!

I think Elemental Damage conversion, and perhaps even flat elemental damage should just be removed entirely from the game, because it just screws you up, even if you focus on a single damage type out of the three. Replace any X damage -> Elemental Damage to a single elemental instead (e.g Blessed Steel, make it convert physical to fire or lightning instead, since it fits thematically). That way you won’t have your damage leaking to other sources you’re not even interested to build.

EDIT: On a sidenote, why doesn’t devotion grants conversion as well? It would be pretty cool if certain devotions granted some damage conversion on them (e.g Tempest conversting some Physical do Lightning, for example).

I know all the words you used, but have no idea what you are saying.

GD is not the successor to D2, and doubt it was ever intended to be… If anything, it’s a spiritual successor to Titan Quest.

I’m not exactly sure what lessons it was supposed to learn, but it is often listed among the best aRPGs currently out, right along with Path of Exile, and seems to be doing quite well for itself. It’s a niche game (much like Titan Quest was) with a small development team, so perhaps your expectations are either not realistic or not in line with the development scope.

Conversion is options. More options allow for more creativity. Arguing that more possibilities leads to LESS creativity is so out there I can’t even begin to tackle it.

If you’re dying to ground effects, I don’t know what to tell you. Tactical positioning, aka “don’t stand in crap”, is the least you should be doing in any game. Unlike MMOs, you don’t even have to worry about lag here.

As for healers healing bosses: literally git gud, either in build or playing. Get attacks that go through mobs, for instance. Get attacks that don’t use line of fire is another instance. Go AROUND the frontline. If the corridor is too narrow for you to do so, pull the frontliners to somewhere it isn’t and then go around. “Take out the healers first” is such a basic game concept in any game that has healers that I can’t believe people still haven’t grasped it.

And FG is going to give you at least TWO gear-based ways of getting to the healers regardless of anything, anyway.