TOPIC: Thoughts on Ranged Combat/Melee hosing this year?

In the Moongate Maze combat dungeon 2 of the creatures hosed melee, and 1 in the Dancing dungeon.

1. The Raven folk had a much higher AC vs. Melee.

2. The end boss in the Moongate Maze was immune to melee (maybe there was a way to get through the Brambles).

3. The end boss in the Dancing Among the Stones dungeon could move in and out of melee range.


I was pretty happy to see this, and think it's great for the game. I would welcome "Best in slot" coming to mean a balance of melee and ranged capabilities, as opposed to jamming stackable STR boosters in every available slot.

As a side effect, this also brings down the damage gap between Ranger/Monk and Wizard at higher token levels.

So - overall I was very pro.

But - I'm curious how everyone else felt about it?

This just gives the advantage to the ridiculously overpowered Relic/Legendary Bows and the overpowered Gloves of the Flying Fist....

Did the GoTFF work on the shadow creature in the bramble?

As a sword-wielder, I hated it. I am totally ineffective with ranged attacks, but I slid my crossbow anyway, hoping for a 20, or to bump someone to 20.

Dave Autzen wrote: As a sword-wielder, I hated it. I am totally ineffective with ranged attacks, but I slid my crossbow anyway, hoping for a 20, or to bump someone to 20.

But if you knew it would be like this every year, might you have more fun optimizing a more balanced build with trade offs?

It's ok if the answer is no - for me it's yes (my whole party of melee classes has like +15 to hit melee, and like +2 to hit ranged, so we're in the same boat for how things went down this year).

Matthew Hayward wrote: In the Moongate Maze combat dungeon 2 of the creatures hosed melee, and 1 in the Dancing dungeon.



2. The end boss in the Moongate Maze was immune to melee (maybe there was a way to get through the Brambles).


But - I'm curious how everyone else felt about it?

I didn't do combat. But considering there were wooden construct spiders in one of the puzzle runs and fire based spells had special effects on them, setting them on fire.

I would guess that since Brambles are plant based "Wooden" in nature, did anyone try burning them? Flame dart, burning hands, fire ball....

I just used this and my sword worked great.



Potion Leaping Attack

I'm not a fan of overly penalizing melee combat, especially when ranged combat isn't similarly penalized. I'd rather the monster just have a significantly higher AC for both ranged and melee to hit than restricting melee combat.

My group was able to handle it though. Since we play Hardcore, I balanced most of the group so almost everyone hits on melee, and probably half hit OK on ranged - and most of the party members that can't hit very well with a ranged weapon can hit with spells. It did bother me a LOT more though when we used to play Nightmare.

I guess upping my ranged attack ability might come in handy for these occasions.

I agree. I prefer ranged-only scenarios here and there. It rewards spell casters and well-balanced builds or parties.

SnakeEyes (Eric) wrote: I just used this and my sword worked great.

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Potion Leaping Attack

I was told potion of leaping attack would not work as it's the brambles preventing the melee not a height difference. That's why I was wondering about the gloves of the flying fist and if they worked.

GaryM wrote:

SnakeEyes (Eric) wrote: I just used this and my sword worked great.

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Potion Leaping Attack

I was told potion of leaping attack would not work as it's the brambles preventing the melee not a height difference. That's why I was wondering about the gloves of the flying fist and if they worked.

I was told the same thing.