In our amazing game called Grim Dawn, there are several interesting mechanics that are either rare or non-existent:
Sleep:
However, after several thousand hours of gameplay, I haven’t noticed any enemies using sleep. There are a few items in the game that increase resistance to sleep, but that’s about it. Maybe we should introduce heroes or champions that can put us to sleep? I don’t know how the sleep mode works in GD, but if the character wakes up immediately after taking damage, then sleep won’t be very effective against us when the character is surrounded by a crowd of enemies. Maybe we should change the sleep mechanics to make it more like a stun?
Duration of Pet Mind Control:
Another mechanic that I’ve never encountered, even though I play as a summoner quite often. However, the resistance to pet mind control in the game exists in the Typhos constellation and on the Halion’s medal. However, this resistance is not present in the tab that relates to pets. If some bosses and nemeses could control our pets for a while, then resisting pet mind control would be really useful.
Energy Leech
Usually, there are no energy problems in GD, and most players almost never use a spirit potion or do so rarely. There is also resistance to energy leech in the game, but I have not met any enemies that would absorb our mana (Ravager exception). It is possible that there are such enemies, but they are either rare or do not absorb a lot of energy from the character. It might be worth adding new enemy heroes to the game that have an aura that absorbs mana when they hit us, and this aura also affects smaller enemies. This means that the enemy hero and their allies can absorb our mana when they hit us.
i don’t remember the exact reason why sleep didn’t exist, i think it was because it was deemed useless? not 100% sure tho
But making it like stun “to make it not useless” also seems redundant; then you just have 2 stuns/freezes/petrifies/“another CC that does exactly the same”
I’ve always thought it weird it wasn’t just straight up removed from the sheet instead
this might sound fun, until you encounter it
Ravager is a good example of why it’s not really fun in general play, and the small amount that currently exists on wraiths?/leechers doesn’t require ex 1 specific devo to counter, or sacrificing a bunch of regular stats on the off encounter chance.
Contrast to this would be making energy leech a cheaper cost opportunity or more available so you’re not forced into 2x soul shards etc running a high wd build with spark from lvl 30, but then it also becomes a little more meaningless.
I agree about the sleep. It would be better if he was removed from the game, since he is of no use.
I’m curious about the opponents who can control their pets’ minds. There are probably only one or two enemies in the game.
Let’s remove everything that annoys us and that we don’t like from the game. I think that way, all that will remain of aRPG is its name. Moreover, GD has already become very easy to complete. The game has an energy leech mechanic, so why not add it to other enemies instead of just the Ravager?
i think you misunderstand my point
energy leech already exists in the game, and there are only 2 forms of it to “work”, either it’s like it is now, ravager has sky high amount you need to hard counter or can’t fight against him (this is not fun when it occurs on regular enemies), or it’s the lesser amounts as exist on current race/hero enemies, where it’s more easily outweighed, hence why you’re not noticing it the same atm;
but the times you do, it’s highly annoying, because there isn’t always anything you can do about it the way leech works at given stages in the game for different builds, and then becomes similar to the ravager fight, makes it impossible for you to fight (this isn’t fun in MC/regular levelling when you get 0 mana to use basic skills/all skills in GD cost mana)
What’s the point? Why waste dev time changing how a mechanic works, then spreading resistances across itemization/devotion so players can have some counterplay, all for…Stun 2?
Freeze and Petrify are already not unique relative to Stun. (Although you can potion while frozen)
People already hate the Energy system as it is, because it’s very binary. Either you have enough energy regen to last between potion cooldowns, or you don’t and your build goes in the dumpster. Proliferating energy leech through the game only suffices to brick characters that are on the edge thereof while leaving most everyone else utterly unaffected.
Turns out, not being able to play your character isn’t very fun. Who knew?
With Ravager, it’s clear, but as for other opponents, I don’t feel like anyone is draining my energy during the game. Perhaps it’s worth enhancing the mana absorption of those opponents who can do so.
Let the developers think about adding energy leech resistance to various equipment and piety stars. Then there won’t be any problems. You’ve already taken care resist of stunning, freezing, and so on in your builds.
That’s not exactly true. Quite a lot of builds, especially spam casters and channelers, have energy problems at the start and chain drink potions. Solving that problem with ectoplasm, Bard’s Harp or whatever, becomes the highest priority. Once the problem is solved then you rarely need potions. If you couldn’t solve the problem - if the build was constantly struggling for energy whatever you did - you would just discard it as a crap build because if you don’t have energy you can’t play.
Similarly with CC, you gear to mitigate it. If you didn’t you would constantly die.
This game is nowhere near casual, easy and simple. Especially for the vast majority of players and builds. I don’t think builds need even more taxes put on them, definitely not more unfun ones.
I think if there was almost no stun in the game and I suggested increasing the amount of stun in the game, you would all write the same thing. That it’s boring and difficult, and GD doesn’t need it.
I’ve been arguing for years that removing player agency from the game doesn’t feel good as a player. I’ve argued for years that players should be immune to all forms of crowd control - after all, we’re not a crowd, are we? (I guess pets can take the L there) It never feels good to eat a giant, easily avoidable attack because you missed the four pixels on your screen that stunned you beforehand.
Enemies can be threatening without stunlocking the player. In fact, if you need the player to be standing still or otherwise unable to cast their skills in order for them to have a chance in hell of dying, then something has gone seriously wrong with the rest of your design space.
I agree, we are playing it because players can be crowd controlled, and consequently players can statwall content with resistances to (partially) negate the presence of that crowd control. I think the game would be a lot more complex if this was not the case and enemies were designed with the expectation that players are…playing.
Edit: To borrow the Monster Hunter community’s opinion:
Absolutely all of you encounter freezing, stunning, traps, and so on in GD. No one complains about this, it’s part of the game that was designed by the developers, just like the energy leech. This wasn’t something I came up with myself, it was designed by the developers 10 years ago. Why don’t you write to Crate to have them remove the mythical heroes with nullification from the game, as they also interfere with your builds.
We already have Stun, Petrify and Freeze, and I’m not sure those feel distinct enough as it is. What would introducing another hard CC meaningfully add to the game?
Duration of Pet Mind Control and Energy Leech are very rare in the game. It wouldn’t have made a significant difference, but it would have added some variety or challenges to your journey through Cairn.
There are resistances to these two types of control in the game, but there are too few opponents who use this control against us. It might be worth adding new heroes to the game who have an aura that allows enemies to burn our energy when they attack, and this aura also affects their allies. In addition, regular opponents who are affected by this aura will also burn our mana until we defeat the hero with the aura.
As for the Duration of Pet Mind Control, some existing bosses/nemesis or those that will appear in FoA may occasionally control pets.
there are 2½ times you will feel this outside ravager
playing classless and using a high energy cost skill like Conflagration
Playing a semi energy intensive build in act 1 running into one of the rare energy leecher heroes or combos
getting unlucky with your combo
*i don’t think i encountered it as issue outside act 1/depraved sanctuary, but might also be either that infrequent or just a nothing burger for most regular chars outside early specific leechers because regen/cost gets better to maintain
But it’s not fun the times it happened, let alone when there is nothing you can do at that point/don’t have spark/soul shards etc yet
I personally have stated that it’s not fun, but it’s there and it’s not going away. So no sense to complain about it. Fully agree with @Ceno, taking away the ability to control your character is not fun.
I don’t understand what the problem is, if let’s say an enemy hero burns some of your energy before you can defeat him? Make defeating him a priority and move on, as with mythical heroes who remove all our auras, which is much worse than being left without mana.
No energy means no active skills, which means no responding to further situations. It also means no lifesteal, no healing from PB or BoD, no movement skills to reposition, no ability to debuff enemy damage or speed, and, of course, no means to kill threats.
No auras means…slightly lower damage and defense, at worst.
