BUGS - game manual, in-game tooltips

[mikeprichard]

GAME MANUAL
1) The section describing armor mechanics on page 24 of the game manual is unclear and possibly incorrect; please see details at http://spiderwebforums.ipbhost.com/topic/25006-how-armor-works-chest-head-shield/.

IN-GAME TOOLTIPS
1) The Battle Frenzy and Haven's Might skill tooltips imply that the skills have nearly identical effects, when they do not; please see details at http://spiderwebforums.ipbhost.com/topic/25040-party-composition-races/?do=findComment&comment=307602.

Edited September 18, 2019 by mikeprichard

[TriRodent]

If you're trying to get Jeff's/SW's attention by making a 'bug' thread, you'd be better off just sending an email to SW ( support@spiderwebsoftware.com ).  He's been here a lot recently because of the games release, but that's no guarantee that he'll see this.

[mikeprichard]

Yep, I'm well aware that Jeff usually doesn't read the forums except right after a game release, but since that's where we are now and he is responding to these bug reports here currently, I preferred to raise another issue here rather than spamming his email folder. But if he doesn't get back in a few days here, I will shoot an email to let him know.

[mikeprichard]

I'm repurposing this topic to collect bugs regarding text in the game manual and in-game tooltips/instructions. I fully realize that a) these will be lower priority for fixes than gameplay bugs, and b) it's likely Jeff may not notice this topic. Regardless, I (and others) can add to this topic as time goes on and I'll continue to collect new entries in the top post, then I'll email the list to Jeff in a while for his consideration. Misleading documentation always "bugs" me, so I figure it's at least worth a shot.

Edited September 18, 2019 by mikeprichard

[Spidweb]

The armor description in the docs looks correct. It looks like it's accurately describing how the armor works. In the example, the 9 is the MAXIMUM the armor can block. So in the example it won't block the full 60%.

 

I'll look at the Haven heal description, but how is it wrong? It says it powerfully heals and cures, and it does that.

 

[mikeprichard]

Jeff, thanks for the reply! As I mentioned above, I understand these are likely lower priority fixes than gameplay bugs, but these manual and in-game text corrections would prevent a lot of confusion among players, including here on the boards. Please let us know here if you need anything more than the below.

Re: the armor description, the manual currently states: "Each piece of armor absorbs a percentage of damage you take, and each piece has a maximum amount of physical or magical damage you can absorb. For example, iron chainmail blocks 60% of damage. It can block up to 9 points of physical damage and 4 points of magical damage. If you take 20 points of physical damage, 60% of that is 12 points, so the armor will block 9 of that, you will take 3 points of damage."
 

There are a few confusing parts to this. Most significantly, it implies in the last sentence that of the 20 total points of raw incoming damage, you will only "take 3 points of damage" total. However, I believe what you mean to say is that the armor will only block 9 points of the 20 - i.e. up to the 60% limit of .60 x 20 = 12, then 9 within that - so you'll still take both the 3 points of damage out of the 12, as well as the 8 remaining (20 - 12) to result in 3 + 8 = 11 total damage received by the player. If this is the case, I suggest the below revised paragraph. If it isn't and something else is going on, please consider revising the paragraph in another way to clearly reflect the total damage actually inflicted on the player out of the 20, which I don't think is only 3 as currently stated.

"Each piece of armor is assigned a percentage representing the maximum possible portion of total incoming damage the armor may block, which is further limited by specific maximum values for the amount of physical or magical damage the armor can absorb. For example, iron chainmail may potentially block up to 60% of incoming damage, further limited to the absorption of up to 9 points of physical damage and 4 points of magical damage. If an enemy attacks to attempt to inflict 20 points of total physical damage on the player, the player's iron chainmail may block up to 60% of this total - 12 points - with the amount of damage actually absorbed by the armor further limited to the armor's physical damage absorption limit of 9. Thus, 9 points of the 20 total incoming points are blocked, and the player receives only the remaining damage of 11 (i.e. 20 - 9)."

In addition to the above revision, it would be extremely helpful for you to include an additional paragraph in that section explaining how exactly the corresponding percentage/flat damage reductions related to chest (armor/robe), head (helmet/cowl) and shield (shield/orb) defensive pieces interact with each other to produce the character's overall damage reduction. There's detailed educated guesswork and several questions in Slarty's post at http://spiderwebforums.ipbhost.com/topic/25006-how-armor-works-chest-head-shield/?do=findComment&comment=307210 for your reference on this issue.

Re: the Battle Frenzy vs. Haven's Might tooltips, both currently have the exact same starting description: "Hastes and blesses all allies within 6 spaces for 5 turns". However, per the in-game testing described at http://spiderwebforums.ipbhost.com/topic/25040-party-composition-races/?do=findComment&comment=307601, this is incorrect, as Battle Frenzy in fact lasts 1 turn + 4 turns per skill point in the skill, while Haven's Might lasts 5 turns + 4 turns per skill point in the skill. Since you've already made efforts to be exact in the skill tooltips regarding the skills' specific effects, it would be very useful if you could please adjust the text (and similar text for other skills that may not match actual game mechanics) for these skills accordingly.

[Spidweb]

Ah, I see the problems. I'll look into tweaking the documentation some time, though it's a low priority.

 

I tweaked the Haven's Might tooltip to make it clear it's a much beefier effect.

[mikeprichard]

Great - I know you're getting a ton of reports on email, here, and on Steam, but you're doing a champ's job of responding and fixing any issues. Thanks for your hard work!