So Many Broken Elements

[Rytrik]

Everything I've mentioned above is still broken in the new update. Bosses still cheat, controls still sketch out, targeting is still garbage, etc.

You still haven't shown us a video of the bosses cheating.

Speaking of my Mage: I made it to Paywall-- er, I mean Trial 75. Started having some difficulty, so I switched things around a bit and managed to add 30K to my DPS. The Paywall-- er, the Trial completely soaked it. So I'm now certain that Trials are scaling to the player-character's power instead of remaining static as they're supposed to. Pretty sad.

Trials do not change their power according to the player's power.

Also... paywall..

Given the fact that the devs are prioritizing things like flowers and IAPs over fixing some very broken mechanics and severely cut corners, and that most of the changes in recent updates were focused on player NERFing, I can only assume that their current business model centers around gradually turning this game into just another over-monetized pay-to-win turd. It's sad, really, because they had a good product on their hands.

Where were the players nerfed? Please provide the evidence of said nerfing.

[Humus]

Melchiah pay·wall
ˈpāwôl/
noun
noun: paywall; plural noun: paywalls; noun: pay-wall; plural noun: pay-walls

1. (on a website) an arrangement whereby access is restricted to users who have paid to subscribe to the site.

[Melchiah]

Everything I've mentioned above is still broken in the new update. Bosses still cheat, controls still sketch out, targeting is still garbage, etc.

I started playing a Bounty Hunter. I'm not getting ready notes for Rapid Fire or Heatseekers. I've only mainly used those two skills along with Snipe, but I assume that the ready notes for other skills will be broken as well (since it doesn't appear to be the kind of the thing that the developers cared to do right). He also appears to have some real difficulty finding set items and items that don't drastically decrease damage, relative to my Mage.

Speaking of my Mage: I made it to Paywall-- er, I mean Trial 75. Started having some difficulty, so I switched things around a bit and managed to add 30K to my DPS. The Paywall-- er, the Trial completely soaked it. So I'm now certain that Trials are scaling to the player-character's power instead of remaining static as they're supposed to. Pretty sad.

Given the fact that the devs are prioritizing things like flowers and IAPs over fixing some very broken mechanics and severely cut corners, and that most of the changes in recent updates were focused on player NERFing, I can only assume that their current business model centers around gradually turning this game into just another over-monetized pay-to-win turd. It's sad, really, because they had a good product on their hands.

Oh well. I'm just glad I realized this before I spent any more money. I also saw a comment on here recently where one of the developers sarcastically said something along the lines of, "Sorry we have to eat." But this game has 10 million downloads on the Google Play Store alone, so I'm willing to bet that the devs are doing pretty well between ad revenue and IAPs from casual players to whales. It's bad enough that they're trying to squeeze and NERF and frustrate their players into spending money, but it's even worse that they feel the need to insult our intelligence by trying to poormouth us in between useless updates that fix nothing of substance. I can't really in good conscience support anyone who thinks that their customers are stupid or worth such little effort.

Like I said, it's sad. Eternium could have been a great game, but evidently the developers are content with mediocrity.

[Humus]

The best way to avoid gold when reforging is to choose it so other things roll

[Rytrik]

At this point, I'm pretty much doing Trials just for the gear drops. I have no real expectation of progressing given the current issues.

*Still* can't seem to Reforge any more Damage onto my L Necronomicon (which sucks, because I *really* need those skeletons and that particular Necro has a nice fat 20% rate). Only thing useful it rolls is Ability Rate, and Extra Gold continues to roll up every. single. time. even after about 20 Reforges now. It never used to be that consistent, and Reforging had been working great for me up until recently. I have ~900,000 Gold. I may spend it down a bit just to test a sneaking suspicion of mine...

Oh, and Trial 71 has scaled WAY up in difficulty since I updated yesterday. Might not be due to the update but rather the same trend I described above in my previous comment, but still not cool either way. Ugh. :-(

Little suggestion: you may want to swap out either blink or frost beam for Singularity. I think you'll find trials get a lot easier with that.

Also, when you mentioned earlier that you're at ~240k damage and 100k hp... your hp is quite high. You can probably drop that down a bit. You'll also want to figure out how to bump up your damage level by a lot

And Ability Rate is quite useful on the necronomicon, since mages need to cast spells. That's where the majority of damage comes from. What are the other stats on your Necro book? What are you trying to reforge off?

[Melchiah]

At this point, I'm pretty much doing Trials just for the gear drops. I have no real expectation of progressing given the current issues.

*Still* can't seem to Reforge any more Damage onto my L Necronomicon (which sucks, because I *really* need those skeletons and that particular Necro has a nice fat 20% rate). Only thing useful it rolls is Ability Rate, and Extra Gold continues to roll up every. single. time. even after about 20 Reforges now. It never used to be that consistent, and Reforging had been working great for me up until recently. I have ~900,000 Gold. I may spend it down a bit just to test a sneaking suspicion of mine...

Oh, and Trial 71 has scaled WAY up in difficulty since I updated yesterday. Might not be due to the update but rather the same trend I described above in my previous comment, but still not cool either way. Ugh. :-(

[Melchiah]

Melchiah can you video these problems happening?

I'd love to, but the amount of footage required to sufficiently capture and illustrate my points would exceed the amount of storage space I have on my phone. Screen recorders also don't seem to like my device very much and vice versa. Eternium runs just fine, but it also experiences enough occasional FPS rate drops for me to not want to further tax my device by running a screen recorder simultaneously. The result would be less a video and more a collection of choppy frames.

I may be able to make an exception for the Frozen Beam/Blink refresh notes and a few Magroth battles because those would be easy enough to catch, but I can't promise anything for the same reasons stated above (i.e. technical difficulties).

Did you take your user name from the food? Because IMHO, hummus is awesome. ^_^

GrauGeist, my Mage is at 17.6 feet per second currently. As I said, it'd be good enough for my Trial needs were cheapo-deaths not setting me back. Elban on 71 laid it on pretty thick last time, for example. I caught *one* Assassinate the entire battle and the drain was negligible (~3400 LOH, and full Arcane Bolts with 4-piece Arcanist Vestment boost and ~109K T, so toe-to-toe with him is easy) until Elban got down to about 1/8 health with about 2:00 left on the clock, at which point the drain *skyrocketed.*

Another issue to add to the list (which I noticed right away, but didn't think to mention before): Blink mirrors can be killed, and usually one-shotted. Kinda defeats the purpose when fighting bosses. That majorly NERFs an otherwise and often vitally-empowering spell. :-(

Sorry I couldn't quote you, but this forum system won't let me multi-quote in the same reply and copy/paste produces some...funky results. :-\

[GrauGeist]

I have enough move from Assault 4, boots and pants - , so zero more from CLs. I finish TL67 in 3 mins.

If you're getting killed by minions at 73, you need to dial back to 70 or 67.

[Humus]

Melchiah can you video these problems happening?

[Melchiah]

Yes indeed, GrauGeist. You need a good movement speed for that, though, and I've found that literally impossible to Reforge onto my best pair of boots. Otherwise, time is lost.

Another thing that bothers me is how Trials seem to sometimes scale to just beyond character power over time or multiple attempts, at least in my experience. Ran 71 yesterday, reached the Boss with ease. Ran it today with the same character set-up and strategy, was getting one- and two-shotted by basic Lich in the first group I encountered. Kinda reeks, if you ask me...

I've also recently noticed enemies re-appearing in areas of the Trial map that I already cleared, but only after the Boss has spawned. That never used to happen, and it's gotten me killed many times since. Of course, it's more common the more time I have left on the clock. Seems a little "convenient," y'know?

[GrauGeist]

TBD's location is easy enough to manage - as you clear the level, you scope out where you want TBD to spawn, and leave a couple mobs in that area, going around and coming back when the bar is almost green. The worst is when you miscalculate and end up with TBD spawning at the end of a pocket - that's a tough spot that you need to draw her out of, before moving on for the kill.

[Melchiah]

Going to reply point-by-point in no particular order instead of quoting everyone directly since my time is a little short right now, but your replies are appreciated.

An in-game beastiary is what I was referring to, like in games like SAS 4 or Castlevania SotN: After you face an enemy for the first time, it creates a reference entry for that enemy detailing it's stats/behavior/abilities etc. IMHO, it's one of those little features that every RPG should have, and I was surprised that Eternium doesn't have one given the quality of the game's writing and the depth of its system.

I'm pretty good at dodging around Magroth, including his Meteor Strike (I see the red zones and it always misses by a mile). I can go toe-to-toe with him just fine until he Enrages, and even then it's a simple matter to deal with. But then I'll just get killed by meteors that were dropped while he was frozen and/or that didn't spawn. Also got taken out a few times when I was *well* beyond their radius when they landed. I've also been killed by his Charge arrow -- not the Charge itself, but the *arrow* -- while he was clearly still frozen and 1/2 a screen away at 120%. Like I said, random and inexplicable.

And again, the constant gliding towards the player that he does no matter what is the biggest issue. The Mage has a number of anti-mobility spells that would be otherwise effective in dealing with Magroth if he "played by the rules," but he doesn't (and yes, I know how to keep track of his Breaking Free buff, but it happens even when that's not active). That kind of player NERFing always irks me.

Elban isn't much of a challenge either. I kick him around consistently, but it seems like sometimes the game keeps his Life Drain going long after it should. He very rarely drains more than 1/4 of my bar before I break free. I didn't know that eating Assassinates raised Damage, though. I had been avoiding those thinking that maybe they were the reason that I was being drained to death inexplicably, but it still happens even when he hasn't hit me with a single one because they're incredibly easy for me to avoid. And like I said, it always happens when I'm totally pwning him.

I'm guessing the permanent drain only applies if he hits you with the charging part of the Assassinate, but please correct me if I'm wrong on that. I've caught the first knick or two from him before, but never noticed any drain afterwards.

I know about long-press running. Problem is that it rarely kicks in instantly. Sometimes it goes into Draw mode, or does nothing at all. Seems like a lag & command buffering/caching issue to me. I'm not a programmer either, but I have a pretty good grasp on how mechanics like that are supposed to operate.

But my reference to the stylus wasn't about movement; it was about enemy targeting. Hell, even the little ? ad boxes are easy to miss at 120% for some reason even though I'm pretty sure I know how to use my fingers for stuff. The bottom line there is that the standard enemies need larger hitboxes, and Magroth and TBD need their hitboxes to not extend to things like the sword and wings. As it seems now, the game's targeting strictly references the target's image on the screen, and that leads to issues when dealing with the large Bosses and the tiny enemies like Healers. Fingertips aren't razor-edged surgical devices, and that needs to be taken into account design-wise.

I figured out the staggered Cooldown for Blink a while back, although that really should be stated in the spell's description. But I'm still not getting any ready notes for it or Frozen Beam. I've experimented with both just to make sure, and the notes simply don't come up.

My Trial load-out right now is Frozen Beam/Blizzard/Blink, but I'll try others as I get them up to snuff level-wise. I *was* using the Nova/Blizzard combo to clear crowds, and it's only recently that I had to change due to the Bosses. D/T/R is around 240K/109K/30K. 4-piece bonus for Arcanist Vestments, 2-piece for Adventurer. So I'm pretty certain I'm typically getting around 500K+ DPS against mobs, and around 400K DPS against Bosses when I keep my Blink game tight. So far they seem to be good stats from my play experience, and 2 weeks of moderate playing is more than enough time to figure out this game (it's deep, but not unfathomable).

I'll admit that I initially focused on Abilities that are less-suited to Trial Bosses beyond 50, but also notice that none of my complaints reference Boss or enemy toughness. I'll get my stats up just fine, but that won't stop the issues I mentioned that undermine/bypass a player's actual skill and preparation.

I'm around Trial 70 or 71, and I always reach the Boss with enough time left to clear the Trial given my DPS output. But like I said above, once I have the Boss on the ropes, I catch cheapo-deaths and then lose that time on the re-try. It happens like clockwork, which is why it's so frustrating. Magroth is the worst offender, Elban the least, and TBD somewhere in the middle depending on battle specifics (she *LOVES* to spawn on me in tight quarters and luring her out costs time, but she's usually a pushover). I can *always* beat them, but how many times I get cheap-shotted is what determines the time required. Seems like once the timer has expired, they start "playing nice" with very few issues... :-\

Are there really only 3 main people developing this? I assumed there were much more than that. I'm duly impressed, and will cut them a little more slack since that's the case. I still like playing and I'll stick with it until I've "mastered" all 3 Classes, but holy expletive are the issues I mentioned annoying.

Oh, and I'm noticing that the Reforge RNG seems a little rigged. I have a good Legendary Necronomicon that I want to Reforge for higher Damage, but I've gotten Extra Gold + something else equally useless 10 times in a row now. Kinda flies in the face of the law of averages, frankly. It's like the game *knows* I just need more dakka, and it's dead-set against me getting it. :-\ What's *really* funny is that I wasn't getting *any* Legendary Tomes until I decided to craft one, and then I wound up with 3 of them after running Trial 70 twice after initiating the Craft. Seems a little tricksy to me... *suspicious squint*

So yeah, there's another $0.02. Again, thanks for the replies, and it's good to hear that my biggest gripes are already on the developers' radar. ^_^

[Purple Potato]

So many things that are simply because you have played the game for 2 weeks and don't understand the game. Your boss issues are not with the boss and are with your knowledge of the boss and how to not die. Another good thing to do is hold down your thumb or stylus or whatever you use on the screen for movement instead of tapping.

[Rytrik]

This breaks the Mage in many ways, specifically when a combination of Frost Nova --> Blizzard is the only way for a player to achieve the DPS output necessary to clear a Trial within the allotted time.

*and some more snipping*

Nobody uses Nova + Blizzard at higher levels. But they're clearing higher level trials. Maybe it's worthwhile to try other skill combos..

Likewise with Elban, during battles with whom my life will start to inexplicably drain despite my not having been hit by any special attacks for quite some time. It seems very cheap to me, and again, it always seems to happen when I'm winning. Very odd timing.

Elban's "Assassinate" skill leaves a bleed debuff on you that deals constant damage for the entire rest of the fight. Each assassinate adds another bleed debuff, and they stack. After you eat enough of them, your Life on Hit might not be high enough to sustain the damage from the bleeds. So there's no cheating there. Normal boss mechanic.

Also to note, whenever you eat an Assassinate, your damage goes up by 5%. This also stacks. It's a trade-off mechanic. Do you put yourself in danger of dying in order to kill him faster? Or do you play it safe and not eat many, but kill him slower?

Ability Ready Notices: Perhaps a small issue by some measures, but I don't see notifications for when Frozen Beam and Blink are ready to be used again. These spells have very long cooldown times, so it's important that the player get those notices. It seems to be a very easy fix, so it's hard for me to see such an issue as just an innocent oversight as opposed to the result of lax testing or intentional design. I've only played the Mage thus far, so I don't know if this issue also happens with the other classes' abilities, but it wouldn't surprise me if it did.

Frost Beam comes off cooldown in the same way other spells do. Blink has 2 charges when fully 'cooled down', so you need to watch to see whether you've cooled down 1 charge or whether you've gained your second one.

[Nhat]

(Disclaimer: no offence intended, just trying to help ease the tension...)

if these are the mechanics of the bosses, then it should be stated somewhere. Eternium needs a beastiary record anyway, as it's sometimes hard to determine what certain enemies actually do.

Yeah, a complete bestiary would be helpful, but someone will need to write it (any takers?) In the mean time, you have Bosses mechanics from v1.2.65 Release Notes and Boss guide, those should help.

2.) Sketchy Controls: There are times when the controls start behaving downright spastically, and as with the RIDs above, the timing of such issues always seems to be "convenient." Attempts to draw spell signs/abilities start being constantly misread. One could chalk it up to user error, but if your main control mechanic is constantly screwing the pooch when being used by experienced players, then your game has bad controls. Period.

Lags and unresponsiveness have been noted by many players, and the devs have mentioned that it's a high priority on their list and will look into it when they can...

3.) Broken Bosses: Bosses defy the mechanics that apply to lower enemies. They can't be effectively frozen, for one. This breaks the Mage in many ways, specifically when a combination of Frost Nova --> Blizzard is the only way for a player to achieve the DPS output necessary to clear a Trial within the allotted time. This is the case even when they're not using their Breaking Free skill (which, if it's not limited in terms of use frequency like Player-Character abilities, really should be for fairness' sake). Another example is how Magroth will constantly advance and "glide" towards the player even when performing actions that should leave him stationary. Still another is the constant life drain during Elban battles I mentioned above.

Again, noted in the Release Notes and boss guide, there's also a CC resistance bar/count-down, which is unfortunately a bit hard to see for bosses, have also been noted. The "gliding" seems to be contributed by the performance issue, I've seen it a few times as well.

4.) Companion AI: To put it lightly, it leaves a LOT to be desired. For example, whenever they are trying to attack an enemy that is off-screen, they'll bounce back and forth between the PC and the border of the screen. This is quite frankly ridiculous, and comes off as the result of woefully amateur developer craft.

Yep, don't like them running around in circles either. Changes are "in the works"...

8.) It seems *impossible* to Reforge the Movement Speed perk onto pants and boots. I've wasted many Gems to that end. Really, the entire Reforging and Crafting systems seem tacked on solely to get whales to make purchase Gems. As they currently operate, I find it hard to see what other actual purpose they fulfill.

From what I've seen on the forum, Reforging seems to have its uses, but Crafting is generally viewed as useless - I've only ever reforged once (replaced +Gold for Carnival Cape), and have never even used Crafting. A remake of Crafting to "ingredients based" is "in the works", so will wait to see what the new system is like...

I apologize if the tone of my first post to this forum borders on accusatory or cynical, but when ostensibly simple fixes go unimplemented in games that generate their profits from in-app purchases, then it's easy for people to assume that the developer is leaving such issues unaddressed because they are hoping to frustrate players into making IAPs. I've already purchased the Stormblade and Stormgun, I've watched a *TON* of ads, and I was considering making a few more IAPs prior to encountering such issues and subsequently questioning the developers' motivations. I have no problem supporting freemium developers who are offering a balanced product in the best of good faith, and I would easily pay $10 to $20 for a sufficiently "triple-A" and fixed/balanced version of Eternium. But when I encounter issues such as the ones above, I just have to shake my head and wonder.

Eternium is a pretty good game even by PC and console standards, and I say that as a fan of the genre. I like it and want to continue playing it and even supporting the developers, but a lot about it needs to be seriously tightened up. These are not minor issues, and I'm sure I'm not the only player who is noticing them. Frankly, they keep this good/pretty okay game from being great, and that's honestly disappointing.

I have zero experience in game development, and haven't really played enough mobile games to make a comparison, so I really have no idea of how "easy" something is to fix or not. Also please note that there are currently 3 developers for Eternium, again, don't know how that compare to other games out there, so things take time - and depends on priority placed on the developers by the company itself, which sometimes caused players to wonder why something completely difference is done rather than addressing things that players have reported.

And yes, others have noticed similar things and have reported them too, hopefully they're "on the list" and will be addressed "soon"...