How can I make this harder?

[fab]

Caster characters are far easier to play than melee classes in Din's. This has pretty much been the case since the beta

Yeah, I thought there was an imbalance due to the fact that the classes using projectiles can clear up rooms much easier than a a melee.

I think there is some imbalance in that many of the interesting environment interactions in Din's Curse such as destroyable pillars, barrels, and other chaining effects, are easily triggered at distance by casters/rangers whereas the melee has to go in.

A Wizard with Sweeping Flames for example can clear the room of dangerous items and kill half the critters at the same time. To do the same with a Warrior I guess you could use expendables like Flaming Oil, but this costs money, is limited in supply at vendors, and is really awkward to use.

Gotta say, throwing sweeping flames in a room full of barrels and pillars is entertaining to say the least

[Kruztee]

Originally Posted by fab

A Wizard with Sweeping Flames for example can clear the room of dangerous items and kill half the critters at the same time. To do the same with a Warrior I guess you could use expendables like Flaming Oil, but this costs money, is limited in supply at vendors, and is really awkward to use.

Gotta say, throwing sweeping flames in a room full of barrels and pillars is entertaining to say the least

True, but this is another example of where hardcore mode really evens up the difficulty.

Mages and caster characters are generally more fragile than melee types, and need to be played more cautiously due to their lower armour, hitpoints and defence.

[MasterMorality]

Caster characters are definitely easier to kill stuff with - case in point I play a Gladiator/Necro at the moment who is level 22. It's a lot of fun but on one particular floor of a dungeon I got killed so many times.

I prefer melee and I try to balance my DoT and summons with my ability to cave somethings face in with an axe. I also have the fire spell if ever I want to light up some barrels (Which I do frequently).

So this particular level (I think it was four) was swamped with dark elf reavers, mages and nagas. What would typically happen is this:

I would take ten or so steps away from the portal. I would find myself attacked by a mage, who would then alert everything else to my presence. I would then be totally surrounded by reavers who would come out of hiding to put a ring around me of about two men strong.

The mages would all start casting fire and ice spells (Typically the ice AoE), whilst I frantically mashed at the DoT and carved my way through the reavers. My DoT would alert any other monster in the area to my presence because it would hit everything surrounding me within about a hundred feet, and then I'd have nagas and skeletons chasing me, as well as more dark elves.

So. Many. Monsters.

I found that resurrecting one of the sorcerers helped a lot - their AoE really came in handy. But usually I'd end up having to peg it back to the portal because I was having to use up so much food just to get through the solid walls of hidden mobs the game was throwing at me.

[GreatStalin]

Seems peculiar that the imbalance between melee/ranged has been in since the beta! I think that Sasha probably touched on the main reason it is overpowered:

Originally Posted by Sasha Nein

I am wondering if the fact that I can move and attack/cast abilities is the root of these seemingly overpowered classes.

I think that just spamming spells while monsters are simply chasing after you as you kill them is the major problem, as you are rarely touched as you dance around and kill everything! I actually don't know any other RPG game where you can cast spells/attack while running around, would this be too hard a fix to implement?

[FloodSpectre]

I agree. Being able to move and cast spells simultaneously really gives mages (and archers, for that matter) serious killing power that can't be matched by a purely melee character.

Maybe some spells, particularly the damaging ones, could only be cast when stationary (with this fact mentioned in the skill description of course). Some other spells/abilities should still be usable while moving though, such as swapping between a Rogue's Concentration skills or when using some defensive skills like the Defender's Block.

For the Archer it may make sense to allow him to fire and use his arrow skills while running, but to impart a penalty of some sort for not staying still and "taking aim" so to speak. As accuracy isn't a part of Din's it could instead be abstracted as reduced damage by a certain percentage, perhaps?

[Kruztee]

Originally Posted by FloodSpectre

As accuracy isn't a part of Din's it could instead be abstracted as reduced damage by a certain percentage, perhaps?

I think that accuracy is already abstracted as the attack value of a character, granted it's only hit and miss though.

[FloodSpectre]

You're right, for some reason I was thinking Titan Quest right there instead of Din's. In any case, I still think it's viable to have a move & attack penalty...

[Shadow]

I don't think it would be too hard to force the player to stand still while casting or shooting, however I'm not sure that would go over very well with the community as a whole.

[fab]

"Standing still while casting" is more of a MMORPG mechanic, isn't it?

[MasterMorality]

Actually it's a general RPG mechanic. MMORPG's use it because it was used in pretty much every RPG before, and after, the ability to take the RPG onto the web.

As far as limits go - there does definitely need to be a restriction of movement. If not wholly standing still, then at least a 50% movement speed cut.