Magic Items under CBM

[Amorphous]

Originally Posted by Mardagg

Since i might make a Magic Item mod sooner or later, I want to hear people`s opinions/ideas about the current situation using CBM 1.6.
I think QM generally did a great job in balancing and polishing the items,but there is still room for improvement imo.
My plan is to not only improve balance but also make many items more thematic as well as adding some(not much) new items here and there.

I would like to start with the general situation concerning 1-handed and 2-handed melee items and some uniques.
I think this is where still can be done quite alot,thematically as well as for balancing reasons.

The first question that springs to my mind here, is whether you have thought through what kind of balance you have in mind.

Dominions is an intricate game and consequently so is trying to balance the magic items in it. Magic items do not just require a certain level of researched construction magic and a number of gems, they require a particular kind of gem. And just as the magic paths differ when it comes to summons, rituals and battle magic, so they differ in how they perform in the area of forging.

For a start,i think that:

-Fire and Frost Brands are too strong for the price
-many 2 handed items are extremely underpowered(e.g. Wraith Sword) and could need more thematic polishing(e.g. Hell sword).
-some uniques still need to be evaluated differently(e.g. Black mirror) or changed(Fever Fetish should be non unique again)

So far,i got the following ideas concerning some of the above:

-Fire and frost brand should remain massable therefore increasing the price shouldnt be an option.
I would like to see them dealing less base damage.
That would still make them equally strong vs chaff like PD,but it would make especially the Armor piercing effect of the fire brand significant weaker vs SC`s/thugs.

I do not think it a mere happenstance that it is fire and water - two paths not generally though of as very powerful in other areas - that are needed to craft these. However that may be, in comparison to the other weapons at construction 4 they do not seem that out of place.

Take the Fire Brand for example. Its damage and attack/defence are not that much better than the Sword of Sharpness at construction 0 and the area attack is the same as that of the Demon Whip at construction 2. Personally I think it a very bad idea to have the Demon Whip as is in CBM at construction 2 - it is just too early for that kind of area attack - but even if you bump it up to construction 4 the argument remains the same.

Also, I have to wonder if making the fire brand less effective against SCs and thugs this way is really a good thing. Big and strong commanders will not care much that you knock off a couple of points of inherent damage, but smaller and weaker commanders will. CBM has already made it easier to kill ordinary troops through price and path reductions of items (cfr Demon Whip), so I have a hard time seeing it as balance promoting to tip the scales even further in the direction of physically impressive commanders.

Nevertheless, if you really wish to take them down a notch, how about just bumping them up to construction 6? They will still be massable, but come sufficiently late that there will be a lot more counter measures available at a relatively cheap price.

Shadow Brand i would like to see dealing AN damage ,and generally making it stronger and more expensive.
It is meant to be a Cons 6 weapon after all ,so it is thematically appropriate to make it actually stronger than the other brands imo.

It is already a decent weapon that does what it sets out to do and death is already a powerful path, so I really do not see the need. Also, if you actually intend to lessen the power of the other brands, the difference will be huge. That seems not quite well advised.

-Wraith sword is the single most underpowered item in cbm imo.
Below average damage,average stats,nerfed life drain since dom2, uses 2 hand slots, very expensive with 25 gems+cons6.
It is actually dealing less damage than many single handed weapons!
Thematically it should be a no brainer therefore to improve the damage output by a lot and the stats also quite a lot.
On top of that i would consider to make it just 15 Death gems.

That seems rather extreme. To say the least.

Whatever the glory of lifedrain in the hallowed times of Dominions 2, it is still a very powerful effect. A weapon with lifedrain is as good as having a small amount of regeneration and a huge amount of reinvigoration. Using other equipment, this would cost you a couple of slots and at least 15-20 nature and earth gems. Giving the sword all around better stats and making it cost just 15 death gems makes it not just very powerful, but also very, very cheap.

As is, the Wraith Sword is very useful when you are not swimming in nature and earth gems but have a sizeable death economy. As such I really do not think it needs a boost.

Hell sword on the other hand is also slightly underpowered atm.
Here i would like to see a more extreme version,while staying at the same price.For sure some more offensive power,like Armor piercing attack or improving Att/Damage.

Again, lifedrain is powerful. And it goes very well with berserk.

Thinking of my earlier words about balance, look at your weapon suggestions as a whole. The primary beneficiaries of your changes are death and to a lesser extent blood. Do these paths really need the boost?

Water and fire take the hit. Do they need toning down?

[Quitti]

Originally Posted by Amorphous

As is, the Wraith Sword is very useful when you are not swimming in nature and earth gems but have a sizeable death economy. As such I really do not think it needs a boost.

Any sizeable death income tends to veer towards tartarians, not somewhat useless 2h weapons that cost a ton. I could see this argument if you used athame (ie. Blood Thorn) as your example, as blood is cheap and easy to get to those nations with access to actually forge the aforementioned item in general, and it allows you to actually wield either another 1h weapon or a shield alongside it. I don't know if this problem is due tartarians being so easy to get or being so cheap. Either way, I wouldn't certainly lose out two tartarians (gemwise, counting without hammer which would bring it down to around 1½ tarts) to a 2h weapon that can be surpassed in many ways by several 1h weapons at con4 or less.

[Illuminated One]

Especially as the Standard of the Damned has the same cost.

[Mardagg]

Originally Posted by Amorphous

Also, I have to wonder if making the fire brand less effective against SCs and thugs this way is really a good thing. Big and strong commanders will not care much that you knock off a couple of points of inherent damage, but smaller and weaker commanders will. CBM has already made it easier to kill ordinary troops through price and path reductions of items (cfr Demon Whip), so I have a hard time seeing it as balance promoting to tip the scales even further in the direction of physically impressive commanders.

I got a different opinion here.
Currently,the Brands are great vs chaff and great vs SC`s,all while being cheap.
That makes it a no-brainer almost every time for any SC or Thug to give it a Brand.Thugs with a Brand are pretty good vs chaff,too.
In turn,any SC equipped with a brand is well rounded.
By reducing the damage,generic SC`s become weaker vs specialized SC`s/Thugs,equipped for maximizing damage on just one target.
This is mainly the place where i see many 2 handed weapons in future use.
U could e.g. make the flambeu slightly better or cheaper and it would be a viable choice for anti sc purpose with its triple damage vs undeads.There are many,many possibilties here if you manage to nerf the brands so that they arent a no brainer anymore,while still being a good choice.