A-EftP - Lethal blow doesnt work well for melee

[Death Knight]

The title says it all. My first game i used hardiness, blademaster and parry for melee weapons and had no problem.

 

This time, i decided i would try making a lethal blow/critical hit based melee and it has so far failed completely. Im of the opinion that lb is good for ranged weapons but is not as useful for melee as it costs way too much for what you are getting. Dualwielding gives more for less and even riposte gives more than lb as you are already going with parry for melee anyway.

 

Its alright now, but i would hope lethal blow gives a higher chance in future games. Ranged get much more from it and i wouldnt recommend a point for melee.

[Randomizer]

Look at the percentage chance of getting a lethal blow per ability level and you see that it's fairly low. You are better going for critical hit since that works for more attacks.

[Slawbug]

In this game, Lethal Blows and Critical Hits are exactly the same thing. The Lethal Blow skill just increases your chances of getting criticals.

 

From what I can tell, the chance is nonzero to begin with. I'm not sure what adds to it, but something does. Lethal Blow adds only +3% chance per level, and a critical hit does only an additional 50% damage (applied after multipliers, so it is actually an extra 50% damage done). That makes Lethal Blow significantly worse than Blademaster, and also worse than the Dual Wielding skill -- and in most cases, given the investment in useless Quick Action required to get there, worse than just putting more points into Melee Weapons.

[Enraged Slith]

Critical hits only give an extra 50% damage? That's lame.

[Death Knight]

Is it possible that jeff will increase the amount of percentage in avernum 2 or other future releases? Maybe a percentage of 5% will be better than a measly 3%. Critical hits work in avadon quite well and blademasters and shadowwalkers both can deal many. Even the shamans and sorceresses can deal criticals at 50% endgame.

 

As it stands now, archers deal more critical hits than warriors and combined with distance, is more of a reason for me to play ranged than melee.

[Slawbug]

You can believe what you want, Death Knight. The mechanics on paper are extremely clear: archery is not as effective as dual wielding, not by a longshot.

 

It's possible Jeff will increase the percent, but I doubt it. In the past, most of his changes between games have been to create new skills or to nerf old ones, not to make old ones better.

 

Honestly, I think Jeff would be better served by having more playtesters who point out skills that are not working for them, or which seem to do something but actually do nothing, rather than these silly Torment players who just point out the really strong ones.

[Randomizer]

Jeff seems to prefer weak skills than having them be too useful. There was a shift during beta testing to weaken spells compared to weapons.

[Slawbug]

Originally Posted By: Randomizer

There was a shift during beta testing to weaken spells compared to weapons.

You've got to be kidding me.

Well, that shift failed pretty horribly.

[Randomizer]

Spellcraft was lowered and blademaster raised. It was mostly the damage since to hit isn't as significant.