Unrealistic Difficulty!!!!

The hardest thing is to stop playing and go to bed. QFT!!

This does not mean they are the best builds to put in a team.
I use MM and SF eles very little because they also have some disadvantages.
However, you need to think more in team-build and less in individual builds.
I am thinking when the last time was we (HM guild) used a MM or SF ele in a vanquish when playing with a guild team. Can't remember and I know I've played with mixed human/hero teams a lot. And that's what I want to see in the new system. Ideally it works with a 2-8 human party with heroes in the mix because you can pick and choose what skills to take. By having greater rewards for using skills that work in harmony with one another across varied professions and characters, a party can look at all the skills and choose ones that could string together in a long chain bring in the best rewards when pulled off successfully, but wouldn't be required to do so if they are playing builds they fully enjoy playing, as long as they continue to follow good tactics and teamwork.

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In all reality, I don't believe that any point in the game comprises an unrealistic difficulty when factoring in what challenges the area is supposed to represent. Part of the problem I see is that the game doesn't always set you up to be prepared to meet these challenges when you come across them. Plus there is still many failings in the AI and other bugs that may cause areas to seem more difficult than they should. Again, we see the dicotomy of people who just think the whole game is far too easy. Tweaking the combat system, making monster difficulty less reliant on offensive power and more reliant on defensive capabilities, and changing the AI as I and another player discussed several months ago would hopefully present more of a challenge to those who do find the game to be easy without adding to the difficulty of those who think it's just right or too hard.

Let me go back to Boreas Seabed. Before the Hero system, I thought this was one of the hardest missions to play (aside from the Co-op Kaineng City mish for obvious reasons). To really have success in this mission you need to shut down Argo and Zu Hanuku. The most effective way to do that was with interruption skills, hence making an Interrupting Ranger a boon, though nearly all professions carry some kind of similar skills. However, at the time, the characters I was using didn't have access to those skills as I was only using the skills provided upon quest rewards and the elites I had thus far capped to that point. In effect, my characters with the henches had not skills effective enough to shut down Argo and Zu Hanuku. The new system would make those build choices less of a penalty than they are now. Instead of bringing a set interrupt skill, I would have to figure out the best way to chain attacks with the skills I do have available that would give the added benefit of shutting down the Argo's and Zu's spellcasting abilities the same way as if I had brought straight interrupt skills.

As a broad generalization, one single powerful build would no longer be a deciding factor in bringing down a monster, but how that build works with the rest of the team would. Let's say a party enters combat with a mob of comparable level. Neither one uses any skills, including healers, but simply attacks with the weapons at hand. This fight would eventually end up with the party's defeat because the mob has an inherent health regenerative ability thereby countering any damage the party dishes out. Certain creatures would also have an added inherent ability that can cause health degen in characters, similar to the Afflicted Explosion in Factions that causes damage upon death.

Now let's take it up a notch. Both sides now use their basic skills, but do not form any chains, nor necessarily use any tactics - each character simply picks a foe and attacks. The mob would use monster specific skills only, with the exception of bosses who would carry an elite as this is the only way to obtain elites in the game for the most part. This fight will end in stalemate, because even using the most powerful build, the monsters' inherent, and uninterruptable, defenses can counter and outlast any damage from the party. Let's throw some tactics in here now by target calling a specific creature in a mob. Again, this 8-1 fight would either end up in a stale mate or result in the eventual death of the creature, but take so long to accomplish as to not make the effort worth the time. And now since the creatures in the mob no longer have a strong offensive capability, any healers in the party have no problem counter-attacking any damage inflicted by the mob, while everyone is focusing on this single creature.

Now to the final step. The party uses their skills, and begins to form attack chains similar to the ones I previously mentioned like an Assassin's Lead/Off/Dual attacks - but wouldn't necessarily be as straightforward as that. As long as the players are using skills in such harmony, they begin to get combat bonuses.

Let's say a W/Mo uses Sig of Judgement with Crushing Blow. That's a chain using two professions and an elite skill. On top of the basic damage and effects already given by those skills, he now gets a +15 damage bonus for the chain. An Assassin comes in uses his three skills, one of which causes a condition such as poison or bleeding. No combat bonus here, but then he uses a Necro skill that causes damaged to creatures with a condition. Here we have a chain using two professions - a +10 damage bonus. Now let's say that the Assassin uses the chain, but another character comes in with the Necro skill istead - we have a chain involving two characters of different professions. Instead of the +15 bonus the lone A/N got, the same chain of attack here would net a +20 damage bonus because two different characters of different professions executed the chain.

Using these basic and small chains, the party would begin to be able to overcome the inherent abilities of the mob and win the fight, again with healers being able to counter the enemy damage. But, this type of fight would take a fairly long time to conclude, thus the end drops would be minimum value. Now let's take a jump and say the party was able to execute three or four short attack chains within a set period of time. On top of basic damage bonuses, they now get the bonus of shutting down a monster's inherent healing ability for a brief period, allowing for an easier and quicker kill. Thus since the fight ended quicker than the first example here, the drop reward is slightly better.

Now let's say the party was able to execute an eight skill chain using all eight party members (but only 5 different professions), the party gets larger bonuses that allow them to bring down the creature even faster, thus upping the reward even more. Therefore a party executing a long chain involving all eight party members and 8-10 different professions, would get bonuses that allow them to kill the mob the fastest and reap the highest drop rewards. But, there will be one hitch.

Though the mobs are less powerful offensively, they will have abilities that give them opportunities to break a chain and if they are able to break a longer chain, they get bonuses against your party, be it similar combat damage bonuses, or skill shut downs, etc. Therefore, a party needs to choose wisely how they are going to attack a mob. They can go in, use smaller chains of attack and eventunally win the fight without having to worry too much about defeat, but at the cost of receiving high end rewards. Or they can go in for the quick kill by using long chains, but at the risk of taking serious damage and an equally quick defeat if the mobs break those chains. However, the rewards could potentially outweigh that risk.

One of the things that needs to be worked out with this system is determing what would constitute a long chain and a short chain and what would contitute failure and success of a chain. I'm thinking perhaps an additional system that a party uses to pick and choose their chains, just as we currently pick and choose our skills and attributes. First, after forming your party, everyone gets their skill bars and attributes set. Then the party forms their chains of attack with the skills everyone has chosen. They can form a set number of chains of varying length prior to heading out to an explorable area, upon which their choices would be locked, as the skill bar and attribute allocations are. Upon entering combat or during combat, a member in the party selects a chain of attack they want to execute which sets off the bonus mode. The party now has to execute that chain successfully (perhaps even within a given time limit), to gain the combat bonuses. If they fail to do so, then the bonuses are awarded to the mob. Therefore, choosing "weak" chains offers a safer route, but less rewards, while choosing "stronger" chains offers a more dangerous route, but greater rewards to boot.

Hanok Odbrook
Real Millennium Group Guild
Truth * Knowledge * Peace

PS- Upon further comtemplation, this system would virtually eliminate the solo bot farming problem as well, since a single character would no longer be able to vanquish a monster or mob.