Actor Condition resistance skill balance

[Walnut]

Hi all, I've been playing for a couple weeks now and I'm really enjoying the game! I just wanted to share my thoughts regarding some balance concerns with Pure Blood, Strong Mind, and Enduring Body.

There will always be some skills that are better than others (things like Combat Speed and Increased Fortitude will always be strong), but I really don't think there's any reason at all to take these status effect resistances at the moment. Even if you spend the full 7 skill points (28 xp levels), you're still only at 70% resist for a single category of debuffs. 10% per level per effect/condition class makes these skills far too specific to be interesting or useful character development choices; by the time you can pump enough skill points into the relevant skill to have a meaningful impact, you will be facing off against completely different enemies with wildly different status effects.

Look at it this way. Say an enemy has a 20% chance to inflict a status effect. One level of a resistance skill gives you 10% resistance. If my understanding is correct, that means you'll avoid a status condition just (0.2 × 0.1 =) 2% of the time you get hit by that enemy for each skill point invested. Invariably, you'd be better off taking a point of Dodge for +9 block against all enemies.

This has the downstream effect of making Rejuvenation less appealing. Not only is the 20% chance of *lowering* a single status effect underwhelming by itself, but you first have to commit 9 skill points (36 xp levels!) toward skills that effectively handicap your character.

Personally, I think these skills would be viable options at 40% resistance per level, capped at 2. Rejuvenation could then require 1 point of each (and maybe it should completely remove a debuff rather than lowering it by 1 stack). Ultimately, status effects just aren't debilitating enough to justify as many as 7 skill points per category.

[rijackson741]

Hello Walnut, and welcome to the forums.

I understand your point, but these skills (and Rejuvenation in particular) were intended as options for those that have reached very high levels, for which the other skills are either already taken or not useful. There are quite a lot of players that have made it past level 100, some that have made it past level 200, and even a few that have made it past level 300.

Also bear in mind that the game is not finished. It is a work in progress, so as we add more content and more players reach higher levels we will need higher level skills.