Several people have mentioned the unintended changes to weapons as making the game too generic, leaving everyone basically fighting with the exact same weapons with the exact same stats, just with different pixel shapes. Honestly, I’m getting a very similar impression with the new stamina system.
Based on what I’ve seen in playing on the Testlive client, there is now exactly ZERO reason to fight in light or medium armor. Maybe–MAYBE it has use if you’re out farming, but for actual gameplay and fighting, there is now zero reason to choose light or medium over heavy. With stamina costs all being the same, and regen being so fast, there’s basically no meaningful stamina management in combat. Moreover, the only remaining difference between these armor types is their roll speed, but with the invulnerability timer doubled, even heavy armor makes it very easy to roll out of any danger in all PVE and most PVP situations.
Firespark81 does a great breakdown in his latest video called “Stamina Regen Changes Comparison Conan Exiles 2020 Testlive Update 2.2”
What we see in all of these cases that he demonstrates is that when it comes to picking armor, you only have 2 choices to make:
- How much other stuff do I want to carry?
- How much damage do I want to not take?
That’s it. End of list.
If this were Rust and the whole world reset itself every month, then the added cost of constructing heavy armor would have some impact in what we’d choose, but that’s a complete non-issue after only a week or two of play. Before moving this change to live, there REALLY needs to be consideration given to how to differentiate armor types, or suddenly, what is the point–AT ALL–in picking up something other than heavy armor? I really don’t like the idea of having my choices taken away from me, let alone 2/3 of the armor taking up space in the game files suddenly being useless. The flavor of armor was already pretty flat, but this is just going to wipe out any hint of choice. Something needs to be done to differentiate between light, medium, and heavy armor other than their own weight, and roll times. Some possible directions to go:
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Lower heavy armor durability by a LOT. It’s bigger and covers more of the body, so it’s getting more hits, and it’s more complicated, meaning that it takes more upkeep to maintain it. This would translate into a lower durability, not higher, and adding some maintenance costs to the considerations of whether or not to wear it (might) help with balance.
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Give a damage and/or armor penetration boost to characters wearing medium and light armor. The people aren’t so restricted in their movements wearing these armors, so it’s easier for them to deliver harder, more precise hits. in PVP, this keeps heavy armor feeling much more tanky, and lets light and medium matter more for PVE targets.
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Leave armor class stamina penalties in combat, but not climbing. Each piece of armor worn, not the highest class, determines the added cost of attacks. Light armor adds +1 per piece worn, Medium adds +2, and Heavy adds +3. Suddenly, it makes more sense to do something like hybridizing and mixing armor sets to find what works best for you, so you have the right blend of protection and stamina management.
But, whatever you do, for the love of Crom, please Please PLEASE do not go this direction. Let light and medium armors matter.
(Also, and this is a MUCH smaller consideration: It breaks the lore. Seriously. In all of Howard’s works, Conan himself only took up heavy armor, I think, four times. In almost none of the writings and very few of the art were other characters ever clad in heavy armor, let alone head-to-toe plate armor. Can we at least pretend we’re still paying homage to Howard’s works?)
Nowhere near it, and you’re basically wasting the time of your own people who have designed light or medium armor. Why even have the two classes in the game if they’re clearly inferior? It’s certainly not a progression from light into heavy. These changes need to be reconsidered.