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Topic: Legion of Shadow -Difficulty Balance

• Darkless
  
  Community Member
  11 posts
  Legion of Shadow -Difficulty Balance

  16 September 2023 at 7:56am

  I'm playing the first book of the serie and honestly I must say i'm madly in love with it.
  That said I think the book is bit brutal and unfair. So far i reached the end of Act 2 and Im playing as a rogue.
  Now, from the path description I intended the rogue as some sort of "glass cannon". You have very few HP compared to other paths (35 is really low, bit too low I'd say): high speed to avoid being hit, good Brawl and passive skills to deal nice damage, skills that prevent the opponents from dealing you damage or lower their speed and low armor. Sounds great as playstile and I love it but... sadly there are few opponents that inflict you a huge damage over time no matter what and usually they even ignore your armor. Being more specific I'm having real hard time trying to beat King Luis (15 damage each turn ignoring armor... that's Insane !!! 3 rounds and I'm done, and he has 50 HP with 12 armor so no way I can kill it quickly) and the Carnivore plant legendary Monster (2-4-6-8 etc. etc. damage each turn and a huge amount of HP).
  I'm wondering if things will turn worse in Act 3... I'd hate to start over the book choosing a different career.
  Am I making any mistakes ? My Hero has 14 Speed, which lets me win almost every round of combat (thanks to the skills too) and 12 Brawl. Even with pierce, Venom and other passive damages it takes a while to kill an opponent with 50-60 HP.
  Any suggestions from some mor experienced player ?
• Da Boss
  
  Forum Moderator
  1014 posts
  Re: LEgion of Shadow -Difficulty Balance

  16 September 2023 at 10:08am

  Hi Darkless

  You've probably read elsewhere that Legion is a very difficult and unforgiving book, and one that I desperately wanted to rewrite but my publisher for that book (Gollancz) will not give me permission.

  Your build sounds perfectly fine. You must remember that the monster encounters you are talking about are the 'optional ones' (a legendary monster and the arena) and are not necessarily meant to be beaten by all types of build. That was a design philosophy for that book that I did not carry on with future books.

  You might want to note that for the Italian translation, I was able to make a ton of balance changes which are catalogued here:

  http://www.destiny-quest.com/forums/general-discussion/show/3836#post3836

  http://www.destiny-quest.com/forums/general-discussion/show/3837#post3837

  I don't think I made changes to the combats you have mentioned.

  Yes, Legion is a tough book and not representative of the rest of the series. Certainly if you enjoy the game system and the style, but find Legion too frustrating, I can assure you that you will have fun with the other books. I'd almost suggest you jump to Raiders of Dune Sea after this one, as that starts my trilogy - and is where the game system is most refined.
• Darkless
  
  Community Member
  11 posts
  Re: Legion of Shadow -Difficulty Balance

  16 September 2023 at 11:03am

  Thanx for the Reply
  Yes, im already playing with the rebalanced stuffs of my Italian edition and, maby it's a little cheat, with all the special items from cards, boosters, etc.
  I know those combat are optionals but well... I can't ignore them or well, i was already planning do ignore the Plant but the rewards for the arena are way too good to pass.
  Actually I also have a solution: I have those healing items that recover your full health that i got from killing Zandrell, with those i can defeat King Luis... just I would like to keep at least one for act 3.

  I really hope you will be able to make a new edition of this book, I'd gladly buy it a second time

  P.S. Please, this is a beg: in future books raise the number of items you can carry
• Da Boss
  
  Forum Moderator
  1014 posts
  Re: LEgion of Shadow -Difficulty Balance

  16 September 2023 at 4:25pm

  Glad you are still enjoying the book! Yeah, my advice is never save stuff - if you have it use it!

  Re: backpack space, actually in later books (well, Raiders and Wrath) there is opportunity to expand it.

  Legion was very much a learning curve for me - and a book written at the start of my 'gamebook' career, so it does have a lot of rough edges and things I would love to change. You never know, I might get chance one day to revisit it. I do have a few ideas...
• Darkless
  
  Community Member
  11 posts
  Re: Legion of Shadow -Difficulty Balance

  17 September 2023 at 8:24am

  Rough as it is I'm really enjoying the book (expecially all those remindings to Jungle Book, Elvira, Little Red Hood and so on, as an old nerd i adore them) and I'm looking forward for the next ones (I hope to get the italian version of the 3rd book soon).
  Worst case scenario make a post here or better a downloadable PDF with the main balance changes to enemies (just reduce the passive damage from King Luis and Snapjaw and you will make me an happy child), skills and items and the main changes to the sections.
  Not really like a new edition but better than nothing, and "never say never..."