The Balance Thread

[jureidinim]

I guess this will be a lot of tweaking to get just right

I do like the randomness of DC and difficulty it gives. One time you can have a walk in the park town to save, the next is utter chaos. Every game is different.

1. For the quests, yes its different from DoP, but remember, DoP had a completely different victory/loss condition - your covenant. So even if quests themselves slacked off in pacing, you still had opposing covenants to deal with.
In DC, the town is everything. The increased pace also reinforces the need to do (certain) quests quickly or the consequences will add up. It's a passive difficulty modifier which i think works well.
Honestly for me, even though it can be frustrating, having the bombardment of quests at one time just gives the game its own uniqueness. It makes each town feel different as the pace will vary from town to town - and it does give a huge feeling of accomplishment if you are able to bring the town back from the brink of unending chaos. Whatever you do for the quest system, please do not make the pacing feel "predictable" with each town. I dont want to figure out that if i have four pending quests that the others will "slow down".

2. Beating the boss.
Well - i'm not sure of this (on the point of killing the boss early). If i'm lucky and the boss is created on one of the early levels (levels 1 - 3) or i'm extremely lucky and find a trap or unknown gate which transports me straight to the lower level the boss happens to be on, then that's the only time i can maybe think about taking out the boss early. Other than that, the other quests keep me busy that i cant really make it down to his level to kill him. Worse if there is are multiple bosses and a superboss spawned.
This is one place where i think the (sometimes) rapid pace of quests (as discussed in your first point) is a benefit, as the player is kept busy fighting fires. Of course it could also be that i suck and take too long to kill a boss.. lol
One suggestion i would make if its possible - maybe enhance the monster promotion mechanic. You would be more knowledgable of this than I, but from what i see, a monster can move up to elite status - but not a boss - unless promoted by a superboss. Maybe it could be possible that if there are no bosses left, then after a certain time if the other quests aren't finished, a monster can promote all the way up to a new boss which would then start triggering those plot quests again.
Of course to prevent farming bosses then definately a reduction in XP/loot gained would have to be done as well as you suggested, or even just limit it to one new boss per town allowed.

3. Boosting bosses... sure as long as its balanced..

4. Difficult bosses.
I had one such boss once. A Changeling. Caused me to abandon the town. But, like a town that gets overwhelmed with a ton of quests - I just accepted it as a boss i could not beat - so this town was lost to me. And moved onto the next. I don't think DC is really about having to beat every boss you encounter. Unless you are on the optional difficulty level which kills you if you lose a town, the game allows you to move onto another town and continue with no real penalty.
Another character type/skills may have been able to beat a boss i find unbeatable.
So yes - this one would be hard to balance for every type of build in game WITHOUT nerfing bosses across the board. Bosses should be tough, and i dont think its so bad if you come across the odd one that is uber strong compared to your build.

Still enjoying your changes - looking forward to the new ones