Weapons

I've wanted to write this post for a while, but I held off because I didn't think it would make much sense.  There's five major groups of weapons in LotTO.  They are:

Two handed weapons (fire-axe & maul)
One handed weapons (longsword, wooden sword, torch)
Martial Arts (unarmed, weighted gloves)
Wands (starter wand, fire wand)
Staves (staff of water, staff of earth)

Before you read any further, take a second & rank those five groups in your head.  Is there one group that's your favorite?  Why?  How about is there one you always ignore?  Although it may not be obvious, I'm trying fairly had to balance all five against each other.  Now that I've played with them a bit, there's going to be some buffs coming.

So, here's my opinion on the 5 groups.  If you're feeling chatty, now's a great time to disagree.  =D

1. One handed weapons.  Grade: A+   Not too long ago I re-tuned this special attack so that monsters wouldn't be knocked clear on the first hit.  That really put these weapons over the top, as now you have a very safe attack that does fantastic damage.  These weapons were supposed to have problems with ranged casters & with monsters creeping up behind them.  To a minor extent that's true, but it's not nearly the downside I was expecting.  Changes: None planned.  They're powerful, but I'm okay with that (and I hate nerfs).  New one handed weapons may suffer slightly though, as I will likely only apply very minor bonuses.  If they still feel too powerful after a round of changes, I may slightly reduce their reach, but I'd rather not go that route yet.

I'll also note that I think this is a large part of why folks say Farah is too powerful.  Her default weapon is simply better than anything else out there.

2. Martial Arts.  Grade: B+  Martial arts combines good damage with a fair bit of movement.  In most cases that movement is a good thing, as it keeps any monsters from creeping up behind you.  It also has the best special in the game (arguable perhaps, but it does have the longest invincibility).  The downside of martial arts is that it can be downright terrible if the monster is immune to knockback (tentacles) or merely highly resistant (slime boss).  More so than any other weapon group, I think this one requires a backup weapon.  Other than that drawback though, I think martial arts are quite solid.  Changes: None planned, although later weapons will probably get some reach on them.

3. Wands.  Grade: B-   I hear that wands are terrible.  I'll grant that they're not awesome, but I think they're really solid.    Wands have the ability to keep mobs offscreen, making them the safest weapon of the bunch.  They do very good damage and they bypass damage reduction.  Their special attack has the highest DPS of any weapon class out there, making them my boss killer of choice.  Their only real drawback is they aren't good when you're surrounded by multiple monsters.  The basic attack has a slow fire rate, and the special attack grants almost no invulnerability.  I think it's the last part that makes folks dislike wands.  If you're about to break a grapple & you're surrounded by multiple monsters, the wand is probably the worst choice for making some space.  Changes:  I have been playing with how projectiles work.  You can now cancel enemy projectile attacks with your own (assuming they touch).  That wasn't meant to be a buff honestly, just something I wanted to include.  But I'm noticing that it makes wands a tad stronger.  The actual planned buff here is that I'm going to extend the minimum range a bit.  It's supposed to be the ranged weapon, but for a low spirit character I think the normal sword has a longer reach.  I'm also hoping to include some better wands earlier in the game.

4. Two handed weapons.  Grade: C   Let me back up here.  Every weapon has a 'difficulty' assigned to them.  So for example, many of you noticed that when K. Fox first equips the weighted gloves, she loses her fifth attack.  For the gloves, that last attack requires a body score of 7 for her, and typically she'll have a 5 or a 6 when she first finds them.  Similarly, the wooden sword & the longsword both have the same attack chain, but getting the entire attack chain with the longsword requires a much higher body score.

I'm pointing that out because so far I've only introduced two extremely heavy, off-balance two handed weapons.  They both have an extremely high difficulty rating.  I don't think it's even possible to see the final attack in the chain yet.  I'm of the opinion that these weapons are actually great.  As soon as y'all see the fourth attack in the animation, I think that this class of weapons will jump up there with the 1 handed weapons.  Maybe not quite as good, but definitely viable (Grade A or A-).  Changes: None, other than adding some better weapons in this group.

5. Staves.  Grade: F   Staves are in a rather distant last place right now.   Which I find funny, as the special attacks are crazy powerful (imo).  I'm pretty sure a fully powered meteor would one-shot the slime boss, just to give you some idea.  But their basic attacks are terrible, and the special move has no invulnerability.  So, it's really tough to justify using them (other than as a backup weapon for their special). Changes: I'm playing with having the projectile continue after it hits.  It makes it sort of a baby AoE attack, as it can hit & push back multiple monsters.  What I'm seeing right now may actually be too powerful, but I think I can balance it out.  I don't think it will make Farah players jealous, but it will definitely makes casters pause & think which weapon class they want.


So that's my mindset at the moment.  Although I don't think it's possible to get them all perfectly balanced, I'd like to be able to grade all five of them as either an A or at least a high B.  I'm not there right now, but I think I'm on my way.  For whatever reason, this is one of the most enjoyable parts of making the game for me, so don't be shocked if this part comes up again.  =)

DirtyC101