v.2 update released. I’m more confident about the change in this version.
I think subtle, small changes are probably the best way to go about things like this. This is mostly a personal mod - I actually really like the majority of grim dawn’s balance.
The one thing that has always bugged me was how it is such a must to invest a ton of points in physique on every character. Hands down, physique is far and away the best stat for pretty much every build. This is because it double dips on survivability - it boosts HP and exclusively adds to DA. I dislike it because it feels brainless to me. There’s not much thought required - you’re almost never going to go wrong with more physique.
You want some lore logic? Additional cunning enables you to identify attacks and plan how to dodge or lessen the impact. Additional spirit ,well uh… being formerly aetherial possessed allows you to fortify your body with your will due to lingering remnants in your body and soul. (Also, DA reduces crit % from spells, I believe?, so I don’t think it makes sense for it to be purely physical).
v.3 released
New DA formula: (defensiveAbilityDV + (characterLevelDV * 6) + (((strengthDV + dexterityDV + intelligenceDV) 0.5)+ (bonusDV).5)) * (1 +defensiveAbilityModifierDV / 100))
Explanation of changes:
Every 2 points of any attribute now grants 1 DA. Each level now gives 6 DA instead of 12. Default DA bonus is lowered from 113 to 65 (to make level 1 DA similar).
Premise:
The premise behind why I started doing these changes is that I was playing hardcore and found it extremely uncomfortable unless I was playing a soldier hybrid maxing physique. I want to make more builds viable for that sort of play, without necessarily buffing the one class that had little difficulty with it. It should let you go 100 points in spirit or cunning without sacrificing a massive amount of DA - just a lot of HP, which is already a harsh punishment. v.2 granted too much DA, so it’s been toned down.
Logic :
To narrow the gap between best and worst possible DA values for masteries.
In default GD, there are 840 attribute points (1008 for each level + 58 from quests) to distribute, with 50 base per stat. There are 500 attributes per mastery, for a total of 1000 from masteries for any character (this means that there are 1890 attributes possible for a naked character). Max physique from mastery combo is 450. Highest naked physique is 1,340 (450+840+50). This means the highest naked DA is 1870 (1200 + 670).
The lowest possible DA is occultist arcanist. 225 physique + 50 for the lowest possible DA in the game. 1337.5 DA. This is a roughly 550 DA difference.
With this change, all mastery combinations can get 1790 DA at level 100, and additional points in any attribute will increase DA further. Every character should easily have higher DA than this due to stats on equipment and devotions. It buffs %attribute boost skills quite a bit, which wasn’t exactly intended.
What this change means - each level now grants 6 DA. The attribute point given grants +4 DA per level. Any mastery point will grant about 5 DA (some grant fractional stats). This means mastery points are more meaningful.
It is possible to get 25 DA per level until mastery is capped (though definitely not generally advisable) or level 50 is reached (then it becomes 22.8) . Before it was only possible to get at most 23.5 DA per level 12+4+7.5(3x soldier points) DA. However, individual level gain is less meaningful - if a level is gained and no mastery point is skilled there is only 10 DA gain instead of between 12 and 16 . It also allows for more ways to control DA. The effect I believe this will have is that this will make it easier to gain DA until about level 50, at which point it starts to taper off until it becomes noticeably more difficult to gain it without gear improvement at 90. Gear improvement will likely have a larger effect than in vanilla.
The problem is every time you lvl up, you get 1 point for attributes that is stupid. That is where the problem is, if they changed it to give 4. Grim Dawn would have even more viable builds, but because you get 1 point. The viable builds are lesser.
So devs make it so every time you lvl up you get 4 attribute points, up to lvl 50. After lvl 50 you get 1.
If Physique is the best attribute, then that means everyone will simply invest the additional points in it. So unless low Physique is what in your opinion prevents more builds from being viable, that accomplishes nothing.
Also, it helps builds that make good use of Physique (the currently viable ones) even stonger, so they keep their lead and you did not really accomplish anything.
If you want more diversity in stat points, you need to adjust what they offer, not more points.