View Issue Details

IDProjectCategoryLast Update
0009017Valley 1Suggestion - Balancing IssuesJul 25, 2012 9:17 pm
ReporterBlahness Assigned To 
Status consideringResolutionopen 
Product Version1.203 
Summary0009017: I dislike being instakilled.
DescriptionI died in 3 seconds by accidentally jumping in front of a Deepwoods Gargon in a boss mission in the desert. Attached are two pictures - one of the instakill, another of me going back to look at what murdered me.

It's the same level on me, on Hero difficulty, and I had 600ish HP at that time. I understood the game design to be "death is a culmination of mistakes", so instant deaths (We're talking sub-two-seconds) seem out of place.

Edit: I killed it on the second try, so I suspect that my instant death may have just been a brambles-related fluke. I noticed complaint about how powerful the Dread Gazebo is, and it's also using bramble-based weaponry, so I'm putting a relationship between them (since nerfing or adjusting brambles would affect both of these monsters).
TagsNo tags attached.
Internal WeightFeature Suggestion

Relationships

related to 0008707 resolvedkeith.lamothe Multi-hit damage way too high. 
related to 0009002 considering Dread Gazebo extremely over-powered 

Activities

Blahness

Jul 22, 2012 12:42 am

reporter  

Instadeath.jpg (304,753 bytes)

Blahness

Jul 22, 2012 12:43 am

reporter  

Gorgon.jpg (434,957 bytes)

lavacamorada

Jul 22, 2012 3:36 am

reporter   ~0027034

The main issue is that a direct hit from any cluster attack (which includes the Gargans as well some other enemies) causes you to be hit by all of the projectiles. This makes cluster attacks hard to balance; if the projectiles are strong enough to be more than just a nuisance when you get hit by one or two, then being hit by all of them is probably enough to kill you or at least very close. Most of the main attacks are not too difficult to avoid, but they're extremely punitive if you get hit by them.

One possible fix is to make the projectiles from cluster attacks start out weak and become stronger as they travel until they reach full strength a few squares from their starting point. This way, the projectiles would still be a threat (standing in an area with lots of them would still hurt), but being hit by the main attack would not instantly kill you.

Leafy Greens

Jul 22, 2012 3:56 pm

reporter   ~0027044

Last edited: Jul 22, 2012 3:57 pm

this happened to me as well, but i couldn't check again, since it was in a boss tower and (somehow) the mission disappeared after i died.

also: i like your idea, lavacamorada. making the brambles increase in strength as they travel would definitely fix the balance problem with the gazebos. would you mind if i add that as a suggestion in the gazebo issue?

doubtful

Jul 22, 2012 11:26 pm

reporter   ~0027048

I will say that "3 seconds" is quite different from "insta", but I agree that these cluster attacks applying 100% of their damage at once on a direct hit is pretty annoying.

They could stand to be made a bit more visually obvious and visually distinct from the cluster bits they produce, if they're going to continue with this behavior.

Frankly, I like the danger of the full cluster damage, but they need to look a bit more dangerous and distinct from the smaller pieces they produce. Sort of like how insanity burst thingamajigs look different from the pieces they fart out when they explode on shooting them.

Blahness

Jul 25, 2012 8:51 am

reporter   ~0027134

Happened again today.

"3 seconds" includes the time it took for me to jump down, for him to fire a shot, and for the shot to travel to me. 100% of the damage was applied instantaneously.

Today, however, I took I saw a bramble split 3 times, and thought it was safe to jump into it. Turns out it had 5 more splits in it, and they all applied instantly inside my body the moment I touched it.

I think projectiles that split should do a large amount of impact damage, but the split projectiles need to not instantly collide with the player. That way, if they get hit by a cluster and keep moving, they'll keep hitting the cluster's projectiles. If they stay still, they'll take large initial damage, but not hit the smaller cluster projectiles. Of course, dodging the clusters completely is still preferable, but that way there's danger but not instantaneous death when hit by a bramble canister.

Matthew Carras

Jul 25, 2012 9:14 pm

reporter   ~0027144

Last edited: Jul 25, 2012 9:19 pm

A lot of action platformers use a very brief moment of invincibility after being hit to avoid this exact issue.

Edit: In bug 0008707 they said "no" to brief invincibility (I was thinking around 200 milliseconds), but I do think cluster attacks AND melee attacks should have a timer on them to prevent enemies spamming them (especially bats/sea worms/wasps/etc. for melee)

Issue History

Date Modified Username Field Change
Jul 22, 2012 12:42 am Blahness New Issue
Jul 22, 2012 12:42 am Blahness File Added: Instadeath.jpg
Jul 22, 2012 12:43 am Blahness Category Bug - Monster Behavior => Suggestion - Balancing Issues
Jul 22, 2012 12:43 am Blahness File Added: Gorgon.jpg
Jul 22, 2012 12:44 am Blahness Description Updated
Jul 22, 2012 12:44 am Blahness Relationship added related to 0009002
Jul 22, 2012 3:36 am lavacamorada Note Added: 0027034
Jul 22, 2012 3:56 pm Leafy Greens Note Added: 0027044
Jul 22, 2012 3:57 pm Leafy Greens Note Edited: 0027044
Jul 22, 2012 11:26 pm doubtful Note Added: 0027048
Jul 23, 2012 9:56 am tigersfan Internal Weight => Feature Suggestion
Jul 23, 2012 9:56 am tigersfan Status new => considering
Jul 25, 2012 8:51 am Blahness Note Added: 0027134
Jul 25, 2012 9:14 pm Matthew Carras Note Added: 0027144
Jul 25, 2012 9:17 pm Matthew Carras Relationship added related to 0008707
Jul 25, 2012 9:19 pm Matthew Carras Note Edited: 0027144