Balance issue: under powered skills or overpowered NPCs

gunplummer · October 2014

i have been playing since early beta and have noticed a disturbing trend... Most of the content i can easily solo, but there is still a few difficult bosses and dungeons i can't without a few tries, some skill swapping or a random player happens along. However, when i do have problems its always when i get the message that the NPC is too powerful for that skill.

This weekend as a VR14 i was mixing it up with a VR8 WB in Rivenspire with no success. The fight takes place in a small tower keep so there is not much room to move around. Most of the time my skills would not work because the WB was too powerful which being 6 levels above her i find it a bit ridiculous and depressing. I was able to get her health pretty low a few times, but would get hit with two 1500 plus damage spells and would be sent back to the shrine to try yet again.

My problem is not with the high damage or a tough fight i actually like figuring out the solutions to defeat the hard bosses especially when i solo. For me, soloing content is a perfect way to improve my skills, experience, and game knowledge which makes me a better group and PvP player.

My problem is when my skills don't work on the NPCs. I understand the game is designed to work this way, but even if i use the same skill the NPC will work and mine won't, which is fine if our levels are equal or the NPC is a higher level-the NPC will always have the edge. When i am 6 levels or more above an NPC i should be able to go in with a banana and a turkey leg and just curb-stomp the heck out of an NPC.

I have not encounter many NPCs that fall into this category maybe 6-7 total, or am i the only one who feels this way that sometimes our skills are more under powered then they should be or that certain boss level NPCs are just too overpowered for their own good.

My equipment is all VR14 and either purple or gold. Also i am not advocating for another nerf or buff just a balance observation.

nerevarine1138 · October 2014

Your issue here isn't really balance-related. You're misunderstanding how the VR system works. Any VR world boss is going to be pretty hard (and in a number of cases, impossible) to solo, regardless of how many Veteran Ranks (which are not levels) you have on said monster. The difference between VR14 and VR8 is not the same as a 6-level difference in the pre-50 game.

Anyway, once the Champion System comes, none of this matters anyway, but the short version:

- World bosses aren't meant to be taken on solo by anyone.
- VR ranks aren't the same as levels.

Nestor · October 2014

gunplummer wrote: »

when i do have problems its always when i get the message that the NPC is too powerful for that skill.

Group Bosses are just that, a Boss that needs to be taken down with a Group.

Some Bosses can not be Snared or Knocked Back, that is why you get that message. It is kind of nebulous, but that is all it really is. The damage from the skill is still applied, just not the knockback or snare. Note, this means that some snare skills that damage are not useful against the Boss, just the adds.

There seem to be one or two Bosses per zone that are almost impossible, if not just impossible to do solo. Helps to have someone along to help, or just send out a zone request to help with that particular Boss. People will show up as they have found out that Solo is not the way to handle them.

GnatB · October 2014

Long story short, (and I'm surprised you don't already know this at vr14)
"Too powerful" message is poorly worded has nothing to do with level (or power, really). It simply means the target is immune to that type of effect. i.e. many monster types are simply immune to certain forms of crowd control.

Aeratus · October 2014

Rivenspire certainly has a few tough world bosses that are very difficult to solo. I remember that this zone was more challenging as far as world bosses go than any other zone.

gunplummer · October 2014

I probably wasn't clear enough about what i was asking. I understand about the cc effects and it seemed that none of my attacks other then a light/heavy weapon attacks were producing any significant damage on certain monsters. Also shouldn't most have some element weakness i.e. fire, frost, poison?

I normally carry multiply weapon types and armor to swap out as needed, but certain monsters seem immune to everything other that a good old fashion beating.

nerevarine1138 · October 2014

gunplummer wrote: »

I probably wasn't clear enough about what i was asking. I understand about the cc effects and it seemed that none of my attacks other then a light/heavy weapon attacks were producing any significant damage on certain monsters. Also shouldn't most have some element weakness i.e. fire, frost, poison?

I normally carry multiply weapon types and armor to swap out as needed, but certain monsters seem immune to everything other that a good old fashion beating.

There is no monster I'm aware of that will take more damage from light/heavy attacks than from ability attacks with that same weapon, but yes, certain monsters will have higher resistance to spells. That doesn't mean that every monster has a weak point when it comes to elements, but certain ones do (undead are generally vulnerable to fire, etc.).

The only reason I can imagine a weapon ability not doing damage is if its damage is dependent on its CC effect, like with the Nightblade Agony ability. With that ability, the enemy takes damage after the stun breaks, but if the stun never takes hold, the damage never happens. Oh, and bleeds would also be affected by this. But abilities that deal straight damage from your weapon should be as effective as your light/heavy attacks (in terms of the percentage of damage the monster resists).

Woolenthreads · October 2014

I get really irritated when I'm fighting an NPC mer of the same level as I am who is "too powerful" for leveled perks but I'm subject to their cc perks.

Attaching that to specific critters for specific reasons? Fine, I find that acceptable. Attaching immunities to Bosses just to make them harder is just annoying, especially when they then use their CC-perks to kill you.