Now that we have experienced Part 2 for the first time on live, here are my thoughts on it:

The Mechanics

The most major change was the introduction of the now complete Crescendo phase. Featuring a mini-boss fight accompanied by the Wall being subject to the new mechanic introduced, Dark Snakeheads. Thus creating an effective resource sink in the siege shields required to prevent damage to the wall from either the opening salvo of 4 or any potential mechanic failures in the mini-boss fights.

While we did get an increase of 1 round spawn delay for the Pariahs in the mini-boss fight, I believe there could afford to be another round delay to clearly signal the Pariah being spawned into the circle to make it more obvious and perhaps list the effect of its sacrifice as a skill if nothing else. It's a very punishing mechanic that's effectively trial and error to figure out, and actively punishes everyone in firing another Dark Snakehead at the wall for players figuring this out the hard way, so it could afford to be more transparent.

The construction of siege shields makes for a good resource sink but it is effectively left in the hands of a few players to foot the bill without much room for others to contribute bar finding said player to fork over their resources to. With how the shields are meant to only ever be put into specific spots I don't see why they couldn't instead be constructed on the spot with multiple others being able to contribute to the resource cost. That way it's easier for there to be more diverse contributions. There's a lot of ways it could be handled to allow others to provide resources as needed if not specifically for the shields. Perhaps a wall specific resource pool to donate to? Who knows. The repair feature being fixed/functioning on shields could make this a moot point.

That's about it for the specific mechanics of the raid. The out-of-combat interactions are fine even if the horn's are all so specific in their requirements we tend to only ever see Tone of Battle. I have no further complaints aside from wishing that the merits, rather than rolling over at the end of the month, rolled over at the start of the next Preparation phase so we can actually see everyone's contributions for the current cycle rather than having merits wiped mid-raid. It's happened 2 out of 3 times now.


The Enemies

Sneak mine.

Seriously, Sneak Mine alone warps fights around it due to how much damage it does and the fact there is no answer to it other than killing the Caimic responsible through its 50% extra DR or actively moving away from it repeatedly as it chases you down slowly. The other enemies barely even register compared to how absurd Sneak Mine is. Something needs to change about it, and I along with many others have already spoken to death on it.

While hilarious to some it was very clearly targeted at my setup utilizing Divine Shower to give Caimics light reflect, then give Manscorpions dark absorb to counter Blackened Faith being able to alter Divine Shower to dark damage, on top of causing Sneak Mines to travel per damage tick so attacks like Divine Shower cause the mine to move 8+ tiles toward you. Making it so my setup now has to begin each fight moving as far as possible away whilst not being able to damage the Manscorpions.

I can't say I appreciate bringing my character to these raids and having said raid adjusted to counter me. It put me off participating at all. What's the point of building a character to succeed if when you do, the game is changed so you cannot succeed? Some argue that you 'shouldn't be able to solo easily'. The price I pay for being able to solo easily is that the build drops off after that burst of damage. I'd still have to party for the boss fights. Even prior to these changes if I did not move in certain spawn combos I could die before I could act again.

I'm glad I can at least play the character still but the main thing I set them up to do ICly now tries to hard counter them. Doesn't feel great.

The Prince/Darkmage and Manscorpion are all fine, I already listed the issues for the Darkmage fight above. Manscorpions are a bit loaded on eHP and I don't know why it's become normal to slap 50% unlisted resists on newer mobs.


The Timing

Perhaps the biggest issue in all honesty.

The raid now has a runtime of approximately 7 real life hours. It has historically started at roughly 7PM EST, 10PM EST, and now 7AM EST. With no control over when the raid begins OOCly participation can be bordering on the impossible for some people. Having the option for nation leaders if not GMs to adjust the start time would be a step in the right direction. I think it could afford to have a shorter total runtime as at least to me it feels awkward to be unable to reasonably participate for the full length of the raid, especially now that there's the Crescendo phase to catch midway through, which ended this time at around 11AM EST.

Compare this to say, the Black Beast raid on G6. That lasts half an hour, and occurs roughly every 3-4~ hours. Obviously the Wall Raid should not happen that often but combine being able to dictate when it happens on the day of and cutting the runtime, it'd be less OOCly daunting to have your character participate in the raid to its fullest.

For something as integral to the nation as the Wall's defense it feels very strange to have to dip out midway through an attack because of how egregiously long the event is right now, and the inconvenient times it can start at.

Removing the Rest Phase (90 minutes) would be the easiest and quickest way to cut the raid's runtime down by a significant chunk that I don't believe would cause many if any issues.

Final Thoughts

The raid system has a lot of potential and I appreciate all the work put into it, especially the out of combat skill system introduced alongside it. More difficult and engaging content helps keep the game alive and interesting. This feedback/suggestion is made in hopes of seeing it improve as it slowly makes its way to being introduced to the other three nations.

I did not touch upon the rewards as comparatively underwhelming as they are to what you could get farming outside the raid, as Dev himself said if I recall correctly, that more specific rewards would likely only be when similar systems reach the other nations, so it's a bit early to give a verdict on the reward quality with that in mind.

I can only hope in the future changes are not made to spite player's efforts to clear said content without anything being given to said players to work around those changes without compromising their setup entirely. It only discourages players from participating if they have to fear their characters being nerfed or countered because they were observed by Dev performing well.

AoEs from the Wall are, very much uh...

Misleading in their size? Unless it can be shifted by one-or-two tiles. Something that should have hit a group of 4 enemies. Only hit 1, because the others were on the 'outer edge'.

The condensed damage for divine shower doesn't display a Weak! when enemies are weak to the damage, even though it still gives you the +1 momentum. I'm not sure if resist shows, but I can't remember any enemies resistant to light to easily try it out.

It would be nice if there was a way to engage in pvp that isn't just random spars in an arena. I don't like the fact that 99% of pvp that happens in this game is completely inconsequential. I love pvp and I wish I could engage in it in a more regular, rewarding fashion.

Playing a "bad guy", aka antagonist, isn't really a great way to engage in pvp

First of all, many people you engage with don't enjoy pvp. I don't want to force people into playing pvp.

Secondly, getting into a fight must happen through rp. It's not reliable, unless you're playing some psychopath that just attacks literally everyone. But even if you do, finding a person who isn't in the safety of a town isn't as easy as it sounds.

And thirdly, if you lose as a bad guy, it makes sense that you would get arrested or killed. Thus you need to make a whole new character again if you wanna do more.

Fourthly, people can take losses very personally. It can cause ooc bad feelings.

What's the solution?

I've made many suggestions on this subject in the past, but I think this is a more simple version.

I would like a zone, gamemode, or mechanic, that has people engage in pvp organically and gain rewards for winning. This would ideally take the form of an area, with a sort of safe hub that acts as a bandit town. Anyone fighting in the area would get loot when they win a fight, and those who lose don't actually lose any of their precious items, they just lose like a normal pvp match.

This would mean that characters are aware this is a dangerous area, but they can go there to fight "bad guys" or other people. Essentially it would be like a bandit dungeon but instead of bandit mobs it would be me, I'd be the bandit mob. High risk moderate reward! There could be some lore justification for this, like having a "bounty" on people, and it goes both ways. So the bandits give you loot if you beat a bounty hunter kind of deal? I dunno. It could also be magic, or a god, or something like that. Or alternatively, just don't make reference to that mechanic, just make it so the loot you get is purely a gameplay thing. After all, it doesn't make much sense already to get 30 gold out of a creature made of pure fire.

Then just have a way to check if there's people in the area so ppl know when it's active and can go there and look for a fight. We would roleplay as normal and have a serious fight and the winner gets loot. The loser gets to escape if they want, or they can die if they consent. It's a win-win.

This would mean pvp enjoyers get to fight each other, instead of getting in conflict with people who aren't into pvp. And it would make pvp actually rewarding, making it actually fun.

While I'm not sure this is a bug, It doesn't feel like an intended feature.

Thunderbolt's actual AOE is way larger than what's displayed.

Currently I don't think Hexer fulfills many of the class fantasies that it sets out to achieve anymore, it's kind of gotten outdated by time since it's barely changed aside from getting nerfed over time, it faces the same problem that DH did in which it's become somewhat of a shell of it's former self with a lot of old class designs that just scream "This button hard counters you" in many situations.

I think that Hexer should be about debilitating and absolutely ruining singular opponents over time, forming it's gameplan around withering someone down and standing on top of them, currently Hexer kind of just hits you with Poison, Silence and/or Burn and then uses it's 10% extra HP and inflated DEF/RES to try and kite the opponent out and win through that.

As you might expect, this doesn't work quite as well anymore, I won't get into the specifics of why but generally it boils down to the stat walling nerfs in GR2 and just  damage creep in general has really seeped it's way into making them able to be rushed down like 50-60% of the time.

Here are some ideas that I concocted up about Hexer and how I feel it could represent it's class fantasy juuuust a bit more, I urge you to at least look at Spirit Pain if nothing else as I think there is at least a great idea there to implement.

Quote:Goals:
-Double down on Hexer's ability to cripple individual opponents over time, increasing the impact of curses and hexes and relating Hexer's class mechanics to those.
-Create a more unique identity for curses
-Integrate base Mage's kit into the class.

Quote:Black Bubble:
-Changed from 3 range circle to 2 range circle
-Dark/Water ATK scaling changed from 20/25/30/35/40 to 40/45/50/55/60%
-Kraken Effect: Water damage/scaling are changed to Ice damage/scaling, lays down ice tiles underneath the dark water.

Underworld Flame
-Nerhaven Effect: If burn infliction is successful, additionally apply a status which reduces the opponent's bonus Resistance to 0.

Wretched Oil
-Galren Effect: Cover targets in oil for 3 rounds, reducing their MOV by 2, and decreasing fire/earth resistance by 10%.

Black Static
-Redgull Effect: AoE size can be extended with + or - keys, up to +2 additional range.

Fleeting Spectres
-Talvyd Effect: Spectres are now ethereal and pierce through enemies instead of stopping.

Eternal Darkness
-Changed effect to: Inflicts Blind for 2 rounds, or extends blind duration by 1 round.

Quote:Spirit Pain:
-Completely reworked.
-Now summons up to 1/1/2/2/3 spirits of Black and White varieties onto the field in random locations. Spirits take 1 round to start moving.
-Black Spirits move slowly towards the closest non-immune enemies (like butterflies) and possess them before disappearing, causing their next action which costs 3m or more to be completely negated, afterwards an enemy cannot be possessed again for 3 rounds.
-White Spirits will float towards the closest ally, and heal them for 40/60/80/100/120 HP.

Quote:Curse Mechanic Change:
-Enemies can now only be affected by 1 curse at a time.

Noshka's Famine:
-Changed to gradually reduce the SWA of the target by 4/6/8 for every round passed for the duration of the curse.

Crippling Muysig:
-Changed to gradually reduce the hit/evade of the target by 3/4/5 for every round passed for the duration of the curse.

Frailty of Credwa
-Changed to gradually increase the damage the target takes by 4/6/8% for every round passed for the duration of the curse.
-Rank based duration increases removed.

Fellel's Fumble
-Main Class Restriction removed.
-Cooldown increased to 4 rounds.
-Now works on all attacks except those that ignore evasion. Hit Counter mechanic unchanged (more/less powerful with single/multi hits)

Plisfa's Masochism
-Cooldown increased to 4 rounds.
-Now works on all attacks except those that ignore evasion. Hit Counter mechanic unchanged (more/less powerful with single/multi hits)

Quote:Hellflame Uorate
-Removed nullification of bonus RES
-Target afflicted by hex now suffers Hellfire damage instead when damaged by Fire damage.

Imagin's Despair
-Removed damage taken increase
-Target afflicted by Hex is increasingly tormented by visions, doubling the effectiveness of fear, at the start of each round they may be inflicted with Knocked Down.

Llunel's Decay
-All healing the target receives is reversed, being dealt as unprotectable physical pierce damage.

Quote:Evil Force
-Main class restriction removed

Bloody Karma
-Because curse effects only target once per enemy now, this has been tweaked slightly.
-The Hexer now gains 10/15/20/25/30 Critical/Critical Evade versus Cursed Targets

Essence Taking
-Changed to 1 rank (Engi and RM have this)

Dark Invasion:
-Changed to 1 rank
-Still Main Class Only
-Curses placed by a hexer with this skill do not affect themselves or allies, but still may power up over time or be transfered.

Can we make the night a little bit less dark in game? It's really hard to see anything and there's no way for the average adventurer to properly light up an area. It would be great to have either a proper light source or a less dark night. It's especially a problem in places like the sky temple where it's night in a dungeon and you can't see the mobs

Rapid Kick is ignoring status-based DRs, such as Grindylow's Burrow, Guard, Demon Translation etc.



Who'd win in a fight

first things first kill double turning and like 90% of the hatred for the class is gone.

With that out of the way, I like GS! I think summoners in games are fun, I love minion types, and I think the versatility of youkai having niche passives (as summons) to fight back a variety of opponents is really cool! My favorite thing to do in this game is position Drowned Woman so that people can't AOE me without losing momentum, or walking Wind Elemental into gust traps.

Installing for elemental immunities is kind of lame but it looks like we're moving away from that with every youkai rework so that won't be necessarily the topic here.

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GS is not a weak class. It is however, an outdated one. Most of it's class power budget is in Chain Unsummon, which recently got gutted (as it fucking deserves), but almost the entire rest of the class feels dated. I am not insisting that GS is weak in any way- Youkai are strong, even in the current sphere where they're arguably at their weakest.

However, I think shapeshifter is better at the whole "having youkai on the field and commanding them" bit than GS. It feels like GS' entire class identity hinges on its ability to get 4 youkai out in a turn instead of 2, and literally nothing else.

Here's my list:

YOUKAI TAMER: +25 power to enemies with a Youkai race sounds really cool, and would be incredibly fun to play around now that there's a lot of new ways to play around that, except- It only works on basic hits. Leaving this passive to languish in the realm of weird 80 apt builds and awkward MG setups. If it just worked in general, I think it'd be kind of neat.

SPIRIT WELL: 5 SP for +18 FP. This is the most useless stat passive in the game. I have no idea why you'd ever take this unless you were just autopiloting clicking all the innates while filling out a class.

MISTY DIMENSION: I kindly request someone replying to this find me a single use for this passive. I guess a twin dancing ST/GS would run it for like...sneak attack? This passive blows.

ASTRAL AEGIS: This is a glorified stat passive for +5 Def and +5 Res. While that's good and all, there is very obviously a hole here where this was once a much better skill with interesting ramifications, but was too strong and nerfed into the ground. Aegis Shift is completely pointless I have no idea why you'd spend your time pressing that button.

SOUL CHAINS/JUDGEMENT BLADE: Okay guys I know it's really cool but this combo kind of blows lets be real. More useful for punishing other summoners and people wearing beast bands than it is for it's actual intended combo. However, it's a fan favorite so w/e i'm not too broken up on it.

SPIRIT REGENERATION: don't.
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Other passives/skills in GS that aren't listed here are, in my opinion, solid enough to merit their current state. Even if Encourage could totally be a lot cooler than just a raw stat buff.

This isn't necessarily meant to be a "WE SHOULD BUFF GS" thread, because GS isn't bad. But I want to bring attention to just how lame like 70% of this class actually is.

Status Inflict vs Status Resist has long been extremely polarized. Either you will always fail or you will always succeed with almost no middle ground existing.

This is because of the fact Status Resist is attached to Sanctity, a stat that most races gain extra benefits for and thus almost no characters will willingly build Sanctity on a race that does not get something on top of what you get by default. Yes, I am aware some people will still build things like SAN Humans out of spite but the fact of the matter is the exact same stat spread will perform much better if you alter the race to something that gains a significant bonus for having built SAN.

It becomes problematic when you want to avoid statuses then realize you are not a race that gets anything for SAN. Thus you're faced with the decision to build sub-optimally to have status res or to consider a different race to make it more beneficial. Not to mention the Corrupted that are actively penalized for building SAN.

A potential band-aid fix for this issue would be providing benefits to races that otherwise did not have any SAN benefits prior. So every race (other than Corrupted, thems the breaks) gets something for building SAN unique to them. These races being:

Humans
Homunculi
Mechanations

Every other race in the game gets something for SAN even if it might not be great (reaper/apertaurus made obsolete by Arcane).

I'd envision the SAN benefits being attached to preexisting racials rather than something entirely new, building off what's already present.

Some possible suggestions being:

Human -