Development Update: Weapons & Artifacts

Hello and welcome! Today we are here to share and gather feedback on our plans to update Artifacts, Weapons, and together the Precision meta as a whole. 

Summary

•  Goals
  • Players will be able to choose more freely between which Artifact, Weapon, or Focus (Might vs. Precision) to use.  

•  Artifacts
  • Artifact ranks will increase to their final maximum rank of 200 with the launch of Episode 35: Metal Part I (this September).
  • Venom Wrist Dispenser was extraordinarily powerful and will be adjusted down. 
  • Some other artifacts were not extraordinarily powerful and will be adjusted up. 
  • We will have two gifts for players as a result of these changes.

• Weapons
  • Weapon attacks were too inconsistent.
  • Most attacks were not very powerful and will be adjusted up.
  • A few attacks were extraordinarily powerful because of Venom Wrist Dispenser, and will see minor adjustments.

Background

Players have been discussing the state of precision gameplay and weapons for some time, and we also have wanted to do a weapon consistency pass. That time is now.

Separately, we have been working towards increasing artifact ranks for the final time to rank 200 and on artifact balance. Not surprising anyone, these two initiatives are closely interwoven. 

With the time to dig in and some helpful hard data from Survival Mode, we identified some of the inconsistencies in weapon attacks and, more importantly, where they stemmed from. 

Again not surprising anyone, we found that most weapon attacks were not appropriately powerful. We also found the best weapon attacks were right around where we wanted them. The reason they were too powerful was directly a result of the Venom Wrist Dispenser artifact. 

And that brings us to artifacts. Far and away, the most out of line artifact was the Venom Wrist Dispenser. Several artifacts were not powerful enough, several were right on target, and the Venom Wrist Dispenser was easily twice as good as any other artifact. The issue here again links back to inconsistencies in weapons and the (then impossible) task of creating a balanced artifact for precision gameplay. We need to deal with the consequences now.

We want players to have real choices between artifacts, between might and precision, and between weapons and weapon attacks. 

Now that you're up to date, here's the plan.

The Plan: Artifacts

First, we will adjust up the less powerful artifacts. These will mostly be older artifacts that we approached more conservatively when the system was new and scary. 

Second, many other artifacts were right on target and will receive either no adjustments or minor adjustments up and down. You try putting a team of designers in front of a spreadsheet and have them not touch it.  

Third, the Venom Wrist Dispenser was too powerful, twice as powerful as the next best artifact and more than twice as powerful as our target. We will adjust it down so that at rank 200 it will be about half as powerful as it was, which will still be a little over our target.

Why? If we don't adjust it down, nothing will ever be as good, precision won't be good without it, and it will limit what we can improve with weapon consistency. Please know, we never make this kind of change lightly. 

Fourth, we will offer two gifts: one for all players and one more for players using the Venom Wrist Dispenser. We understand how difficult this change may be and we want to ease the transition, both for players that want to continue using the artifact and for players that want to move on to something else.  

Gift #1: Artifact Celebration Pack

All players will be able to claim the Artifact Celebration Pack if they log in during the two weeks after this update (date to be determined). Please enjoy this as a thank you for your support. This gift will include:

• 1 regular Seal of Completion to guarantee success on your next breakthrough.
• 1 set of catalysts with all that's needed to get to rank 80.
• Peculiar Nth Metal (50,000 Artifact XP). 

Gift #2: Venom Wrist Dispenser Boost

Players who have a Venom Wrist Dispenser at or above rank 80 will automatically have their artifact boosted to a higher rank.

• If your Venom Wrist Dispenser is between rank 80 and 100, it will be boosted to rank 120. 
• If your Venom Wrist Dispenser is between rank 101 and 140, it will be boosted to rank 160. 
• If your Venom Wrist Dispenser is between rank 141 and 160, it will be boosted to rank 200 (maximum rank). 

We want to invite players to continue using the still powerful Venom Wrist Dispenser or, if not, provide more Artifact XP to transfer into a different artifact. 

The Plan: Weapons

With the Venom Wrist Dispenser out of the way, we will be able to go forward with a weapon consistency pass.  

First, we will make minor adjustments to the few weapon attacks that were really powerful and dominating the precision meta. With the Venom Wrist Dispenser change, we expect these attacks will still be great to use, but on par with other weapon attacks and might builds. 

Second, we will adjust up weapon attacks that were not very powerful. Most weapon attacks will receive an increase. The amount of increase will vary by attack, but many will see an increase between 50-100% or more. 

Third, test test test. 

Feedback Wanted

These changes will be a step toward more consistent weapon attacks and more choices for players at all stages of the game. Our combat is complicated and skill-based, though, so we don't expect we will solve every outlying problem and we do expect we will have missed things in this first pass. 

That's where we need our community's expertise. Please weigh in where you see potential pitfalls in these plans. Later, if you can, please join us on the test server to see how the adjustments play. If you cannot join us on test, please weigh in once the changes are live. We will continue to iterate and adjust as needed.

The full list of adjustments will be provided later as we approach launch on the public test server. For now, join the discussion on the official forums!