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Messages - Zardoz
1
« on: 03 August 2023, 14:35:03 »
You can call me an inexperienced player if you want, i don't claim or consider myself to be a TQ pro. I've played the game a lot for many years, but everyone has a different ceiling of skill when it comes to ARPG, and no matter how long i keep playing these types of games, i'll always consider myself an average casual player. And as a result, my opinions are from the point of view of the average player type, and as such, i don't consider TQ an easy game, if we're talking about beating all difficulties without dying, or without turning the gameplay into a struggle once you get to legendary... for that type of challenge and for me, i feel some amount grinding is absolutely needed. I've shared my opinion on the resistance penalties before, and why i think they are unbalanced. If a game forces you to constantly swap items to juggle your resistances depending on the situation, then there's something wrong with the game. For me, that's not fun gameplay, you should be able to max the resists without the need of item swapping and without too much grinding. You can do that in Diablo 2, you can do it in Grim Dawn, but TQ gives you the finger in that regard. Grinding should be necessary for making that god tier build, but not for basic resistances to cover penalties on higher difficulties. If they can balance that, TQ will be on a whole different level, while still keeping most of the challenge, because resistances are not everything after all, they alone won't make you immortal on legendary, but not having them... it just ruins the game for me, because i hate glass cannon gameplay, and playing without grind is nothing but glass canon gameplay, can we agree on that? And it's almost guaranteed to not have the resistances in legendary if you don't grind, sorry, but on that you can't convince me otherwise.  Besides, didn't you say in a previous discussion we had, that you're stashing items from previous characters? So you're not playing solo self found after all. Yes, you don't grind, but the items you carry with you are across multiple characters, so you've still spent a lot of time acquiring these items. Grinding for specific items is not a solution and no one should do it, unless they have a very specific build idea that they really want to see it through, or if the item has a big drop chance, like some easy MI's. If we're talking about just beating legendary without dying, grinding should be a general thing. You never grind just for one or two items, no... You grind for everything you can get your hands on, out of the thousands of legendary, epic, and monster infrequent items in the game, that's what grinding is all about. There's a big difference between searching for 1 item and taking a massive gamble, as opposed to just farming in general for any helpful loot. I don't get why this is so hard to understand... you've been saying the same thing about chasing specific items in my thread too, even though general grinding is never about just one, or two, three, or any number of items. As a result it's not so much about luck, as it is about investing some time, because it is guaranteed 100% that you will find a lot of useful stuff for your character if you know where to look for it.
2
« on: 03 August 2023, 06:10:47 »
I'm stuck in act III on epic, because I couldn't find the right items that increased protection against fire.
So, let me get this right... you're stuck because you can't find the right items with resistances, but the game does not require grinding in your opinion? You're kind of contradicting yourself in that sentence alone. And sorry, but if only a few classes out of 45 (or were they 55 possible now?), are "manageable" without grinding, then most of the game (taking into account the rest of the classes) isn't really a no grind game, is it? The fact is, for a new player with no experience, playing without grinding will be a very, very frustrating and hostile experience, and not just with their first character, but for many future attempts. And even an experienced player will have a hard time with the game. Keep in mind, i'm mainly talking about beating all three difficulties, you don't have to tell me how easy normal is... though even normal can brutalize newbie players in acts 3,4 and 5. And no, there's no such thing as unimportant resistance, they are all important. Lighting, cold, poison, they all matter in legendary. Let's see you survive act 5 if you disregard bleeding resistance. Carrying reserve gear for situational encounters is only a partial solution, and definitely not a very fun way to play, when you constantly have to swap items, depending on ot what you're facing. Not to mention that it requires extensive knowledge of the enemies and their locations. A new player, like the OP, won't have that knowledge, right? So what is he suppose to do? Throw himself at the enemies and reload a thousand times at rebirth fountains, until he beats legendary? I think that will be slower and more tedious than spending 20 hours total, on a few popular grinding spots. Also, the dragonians are not even close to being the most dangerous foe in act 3. It's the tigermen (on legendary) you should worry about the most... especially tigermen heroes, these guys will destroy you regardless of resistances, and are dangerous in all difficulties. I don't know, maybe i just suck at the game, but i can't take opinions like yours seriously, unless you can provide proof to your words. Record a playthrough of you beating legendary without grinding and with no more than 20 deaths, and i'll bow down in awe of your skill. To be clear, not saying a run like this is impossible, i know it is, but i also know that not many TQ players can do it.
3
« on: 14 July 2023, 15:12:02 »
^ Sorry, i can't agree with that. It's true that you can beat the game (all 3 difficulty levels) without grinding, but you will die a lot in the process, and the third difficulty will be a frustrating experience, especially for a new player, because he'll be as tough as a feather, not knowing how hard the game is about to get. So, just because you can beat the game in that state, doesn't mean that "you don't really need to grind". It's a Dibalo clone, so yes, you do need to grind, unless you enjoy reloading at rebirth fountains 100 times or more, while constantly losing experience points because your character is not up for the challenge.
4
« on: 08 July 2023, 14:46:33 »
@Antar36 that's understandable. When you don't farm and rely on whatever the game gives you, moving items between characters is the least you can do. Over time you will gather good items to build strong characters more easily. I personally like farming, but it depends on the mood, sometimes i get easily bored by it, and when that happens, i just take a break from the game. Other times i can be obsessed, especially when get to the Larnean Hydra, i might do up 500 runs without getting bored... of course not in one sitting. What i don't like about TQ is the resistance penalties on higher difficulties. More or less, they force you to farm for gear. Don't get me wrong, i think the penalties are a good thing and a propper challenge for the harder campaigns, but the items in the game are not balanced to accommodate them. Not everyone will agree, but i think the player should be able to max all resistances without having to rely on too much farming. The rares and MI items should be enough to do the trick with charms and relics, while the epics and legendaries should be there to make you even stronger. What TQ does is, if you want to have maxed resistances on legendary, not only do you need to have the right legendary gear, but you also have to sacrifice a lot of damage most of the times. Well, that's not the case in a game like Grim Dawn for example. I've played through the first two difficulties of GD, without doing any farming, because i hated the maps, the long distances to bosses and the lack of a rebirth fountain system like in TQ. Yet i was able to maintain all primary resistances maxed and deal good amount of damage at the same time (i had 83k dps with a ranged dual pistol build by the time i reached the third difficulty). And let's add Diablo 2 to the mix... if you don't farm in D2 your character will be awful in Hell difficulty, but you can still at the very leas max your resistance without the need of any unique items. You have options like charms and low level and easy to make runewords - Ancient's Pledge, Rhyme, Smoke In TQ if you don't farm, not only is your damage going to be weak in legendary difficulty, but also your resistance will very inconsistant or in the negative.
5
« on: 08 July 2023, 13:46:25 »
There are builds here, in the forum... https://titanquestfans.net/index.php?board=155.0...and i'm sure you can find a lot of builds on youtube, if you just type your desired class in the search bar, just search for "Titan Qest dual wield build" or "guide", and start watching. The youtube channel "Line of Epic Heroes" or "Mr. Fae" also does a ton of diverse builds, but his charcters are more thematical and centered around very specific items, so they're not easy to make if you want to build them exactly the same. Another thing you can do is to use the TQ Build Calculator. Chose your masteries and assign the skill points you see fit for a dual wielding build. Then copy the link, share it here, and we can discuss and make suggestions on what you can tweak. I'm sure at least a few players here will give you helpful suggestions.
6
« on: 08 July 2023, 12:35:21 »
Hey, no problem. Like i said, i understand that you're trying to help and i'm happy to have a discussion. There's no magical way to find exactly the stuff that you need for your character, but with some research you can do some pre-planning in advance. That at least is my way of playing a new character. There was a time when i wasn't doing it, but back then i wasn't trying to beat all three difficulties without dying, so my approach was much more casual. In time i got bored with playing like that so i tried the next challenge of attempting deathless runs, and always being extra careful at every step. The monster infrequent items are perfect for planning a build, especially for melee or bow and arrow characters, because there are so many really good MI's that are super easy to get, and you know you'll have them as part of your arsenal even before you start your new character. So these items become a part of your plan. That's what i meant about the predictability. Recipes are also fairly easy to find. For example, the Talisman of the Jade Emperor recipe is almost guaranteed to drop from Legendary Hydra if you kill her a few dozen times, and if you character can handle that boss, you have no reason not to farm there, because you'll also get a ton of legendary items in the process. The Raven Shadow should have been easy from Talos with that drop chance, that's why i so shocked when it refused to drop and it got under my skin, so i kept doing runs in sheer stubbornness. Of course it all depends on what type of player your are. If you play without ever farming bosses or MI ietems, or vendors, then you have my upmost respect, because this game is insanelly difficult without any farming... at least for me, i cannot handle it if i don't farm at least a little bit. I will beat normal at best and then get destroyed in epic. So i like to take my time with it, do a few Telkine runs here, a few Typhon and Golden Boar runs there, and then repeat on higher difficulties by adding Talos and the Hydra to the mix. I farm them as long as i'm having fun, and then use whatever items i have from them, but i never target specific legendaries or epics, because that will be a sure way to frustration.
7
« on: 08 July 2023, 11:35:22 »
I know you're just being helpful, but you don't have to explain to me how percentages and drop chances work. I've been playing Diablo style ARPGs for nearly 20 years, Titan Quest for more than 10 years. I don't think i've ever said that "if an item has 1% chance to drop then it has to be 100% guaranteed to drop within the first 100 runs". Making the assumption that i don't have a grasp on such a simple calculation is slighltly offensive to be honest. You must think that i'm some sort of casual dummy who plays TQ for less than a week. Sure, i don't consider myself a pro, but come on, this is basic ARPG stuff here. Now read this again, carefuly - Earhen Talisman, Dwalin Simulacrum, Ebony Globe, Emerald Quil, Phylactery of Shadows, and a few more that i'm surely forgetting.. all these recipes are listet with a 1.3% chance to drop from epic Talos, but most importantly, that is the drop chance for Raven's Shadow as well, according to the database. In roughly 400 runs i got more than 5 of each of these recipes, some of them dropped up 8-9 times, and Phylactery of Shadows a total of 15 times by the end when i gave up. Yet not a single Raven's Shadow dropped. If the information in the database is correct, then i challenge you to calculate what are the odds to get 15 PoS and half a dozen of all other lesser recipes that are possible to drop from epic Talos without getting a single RS recipe. And let's not forget that this happened on another one of my characters two years ago... expcet then i got one RS between 250 and 300 runs while still getting half a dozen drops of the rest of possible lesser drops before that. You're going to tell me that this is just a bad luck and the database is 100% correct about every drop chance in the game? If so, then i dare you to farm Talos until your create an opposite scenario, getting 5 Raven's Shadow drops while missing one of the others... no need, i can tell you right now that such scenario is never going to happen, i can bet on it. And what about when most leg armor MI's in act 4 were bugged and were impossible to be dropped? I don't even know if they're fixed in this expansion, but that's not the point... The point is, the item database still had them listed with their original TQ IT drop chances, even though for most of them you had exacly 0% chance to ever see them. In case you're wondering, this is one of the earliest reasons of why i always take the information in the database with a grain of salt, because this was a proven case of false information being presented there. And i 100% disagree with you about predictions of drops. You can absolutelly predict certain drops, but only If the the information about the drop chances is correct. A 1.3% drop chance is huge, totally predictable (again 15 Phylactery of Shadows... if only i was looking for that one, right?). The same way farming Sonebineder's Cuffs, Ichtian Stinger, Bramblewood Bow, or some other common MIs is predictable, the drop chances are on your side there... what is unpredictable is getting these MIs with godly affixes, then you have to trully gamble with your time, but that choice is up to the player. The point is, he's not being lied about his chances of getting these items, and this is how it should be. Other MIs like the Revenant Plate/Crown are unpredictable because of how rare they are, but you know that in advance and you can decide if you're willing to spend dozens of hours to maybe get one of them to drop.
8
« on: 08 July 2023, 10:20:09 »
@Antar36 i agree with what you're saying, and normally i don't farm for specific epics and legendaries. But i still farm some bosses a certain amount of time without any concrete goals, just to test my luck and whatever i get in these runs, i roll with it. But recipes are an exception, same with monster infrequent items, i like to target them as part of the pre-planning of my builds. For my current character i have a plan to use Talisman of the Jade Emperor later in the game, and i like to get all the components ahead of time. I don't like it when i'm in legendary difficulty and i want ot craft a divine artifact, only to realize that i need to go back and farm lesser and greater recipes in epic and even normal difficulty... once i'm in legenderaty, i like to stay in legendary. And this is a fun way to play the game for me, but only if i don't come across a faulty item database information about drop chances, that will make me chanse a recipe for 400 runs. Guess what? I gave up on Talos after my 15th Phylactery of Shadows drop, then got to Typhon, where the drop chances for Raven's Shadow are more than twice as lower according to the database, and i found two of them in the first 30-40 runs. I rest my case. I didn't get frustrated beause of my farming system... if that was the case i would have changed it a long time ago. I was simply deceived by the database and my stubbornness got the better of me. If the information about the Raven's Shadow were correct i would have found it within the first 50 epic Talos runs.
9
« on: 07 July 2023, 02:06:54 »
Oh boy... i am never trusting the TQ Database for drop chances ever again. I'm tired of being lied to, and it happens so often. Two years ago it got me to chase the wind on the Amazigh Banner Stake, by spending over 40 hours farming it in its supposed "best place/enemy to drop it", in the Upper Atlantis ruins... it never dropped, made me quit on a character and a build idea i had at the time.
Then i spend over 300 runs on Epic Talos, with a Conqueror, to get a single Raven's Shadow recipe, which supposedly has 1.33% chance to drop there. The frustrating thing is, Talos has a bunch of lesser recipes in his loot table that all have the same 1.33% drop chance according to the Database, and of course, i got each one of them more than 5 times over, before i got a single Raven's Shadow. I concluded back then that it was just a bad luck, but now it happened again. This time i'm closing in on 400 epic Talos runs and i've got more than 5 of each lesser recipe he can drop, except the f'n Raven's Shadow, which is the only one i care about. I got the stupid Phylactery of Shadows 11 times... 11! I even got a Kingslayer which i was expecting to farm from either Aktaios or Typhon. This is not bad luck, this is wrong information. I'm chasing the wind again.
The funny thing is, i got pissed and now i'm not going to give up until i get it from Talos, it has to be from him, even though i won't need that artifact up until mid-legendary difficulty. And i bet that i can get it 10 time easier from epic Typhon, even though the database states that there the drop chance is 0.5%. It's a total bs it's what it is!
10
« on: 05 July 2023, 19:42:55 »
If you're rather new to the game, i suggest beating it with at least one character before going for mods. Get the full original experience first, you might just like it better at the end. As for extra loot modifications... anyone is free to play how they like, but i strongly recommend to avoid them, they're no different than cheats. A lot of the satisfaction of playing a game like TQ is findig good loot, and when the loot is handed to you because of a cheat, the value of the items is lost, as well as the satisfaction of finding something interesting. You might not care about that now, but when the gameplay and item gain gets boring, redundant, and you lose interest before the end of the game, then you'll understand.
11
« on: 04 July 2023, 13:32:40 »
I've played for about 20 hours so far with no deaths and i'm loving it. Got to act 5 with a Melee Monk build that i'm improvising... if you can call it that, since the useful skills for that mastery combo are pretty obvious. Aura of Tranquility (with it's synergy) has to be one of the most OP defensive skills i've seen, but it requires you to play the game with your finger on the energy potion button. In combination with Denfense Mastery tankiness, the build has potential to be very sturdy in later stages. Looking forward to making it work. I also tried to farm some electrum and i quickly regreted it. The time investment is too severe and the return is not guaranteed. Especially when i only play solo self found and even if i drop these unique to the electrum orbs legendary items, if they're not fitting for my character i'm just going to sell them. Farmed about 10k electrum until i came to my senses and watched a video by Mr. Fae. When i saw that even the most expensive orbs only drop 1 legendary, now i know for certain that i'm never going to waste my time with them. In my opinion he electrum trade is not well designed and the amount gained needs to be updated, somehting along those lines: - 1 curse - 1 electrum per kill - 2 curses - 3 - 3 curses - 5 - 4 curses - 8 - 5 curses - 12 - 6 curses - 17 - 7 curses - 23 - 8 curses - 30 electrum per kill It's ridiculous, that you have to nerf your character so severely, and sill have to kill hundreds of thousands, if not millions of monsters, just to be able to open all orbs. And all this while getting destroyed at every corner, because you're defenseless. So at the end, i will stick to my usual style of playing TQ, simply going through the game, making the popular boss farming stops, while enjoying the quality of life changes and later the new act, if i can reach it.
12
« on: 01 July 2023, 15:49:38 »
I see... well, thanks for clarifying that, because i would've been very confused by the end of normal difficulty, and be on the look for where to enter the new act . I guess this leads to the next question... How hard is the new act? Does it compare with the legendary acts 4 and 5, or is it much harder. I will be attempting another deathless run through the game, and if i reach it, i'll be going in blind, so i'm worried a little bit. But i also don't want to watch a youtube video and spoil it for me.
13
« on: 01 July 2023, 13:21:53 »
@MedeaFleecestealer, so no new act in normal and epic difficulty? Or do you mean the hardcore dungeons, mentioned by @icefreeze?
14
« on: 30 June 2023, 14:32:10 »
@icefreeze , sounds good, really good! Since there are no restrictions of where i can obtain the electrum, i think i'll do it the coward's way and only curse myself in areas that i'm feeling safe in. I have good enough knowledge of the game up to Atlantis, enough to play it semi-casual and plan my own builds, but i'll never claim to be an expert or feel confident enough to risk my character with these nerfes and in places that are tough even in vanilla. And i'm only being extra careful, because i'm always trying to compelte the three difficulties without dying... which usually almost always leads to a death somewhere in early to mid Legendary. I guess for normal i'll farm enough electrum to open two orbs, one from Act 5 (becuse it has the best items for normal difficulty) and the other from Act 6 to see what the new world has to offer. It's disapointing that the summoner doesn't get the attention it deserver... just one small tweak on wolves can make the Nature summons trully fun to play, but i gues kow they're only worth taking in combination with Core Dweller. Thanks for the help.
15
« on: 30 June 2023, 07:53:54 »
Hello there! I felt the near 2 year long pause from TQ was long enough to get me excited to play the game again. I will now probably get lost in it for a couple of months before i'll take another break.
I was aware of the Eternal Embers release but intentionally kept myself in the dark as much as possible, to make it more interesting when i go back to playing the game. However, now i can't find a lot of information on it so far... at least not the information i'm looking for I know it adds a new act, a new mastery. I know about the curses that allow you to farm a new type of currency that can be spent on yet more loot orbs. I know they have added some more epics and legendary items to the game... but what else?
I'm more interested in the following questions, so please, help me out if you know the answers:
Are there any new rebalancing tweaks done to the already existing skills or on the epic/legendary (even monster infrequent) items? If yes, is there a way to find out what exactly is changed?
Are there any new monster infrequent items? No need for specifics here, just yes or no will be enough.
Are there any new affixes for rare items? Atlantis added the Tinkerer, but i'm hoping for more possibilities to get interesting rare and magic loot.
Are there any new rebalancing done to the monsters? Are the pets AI and the way monster react to them changed. I think i've read somewhere that pet AI is improved, but how exactly? The major problem i have with previous updates was monster ingnoring the wolves at all times and chasing the player instead, which in my opinion is not how it should be. The enemies should prioritize the wolves, not you, since they are the bigger threat to the them, when you're focused on a pure summoner build.
How are the new electrum orbs different that the orbs you can gamble with gold in Atlantis? I''m sure they're better, but are they really worth all the frustration of playing with a severely nerfed character? Especially when the only viable way to farm electrum fast is to enable all the curses... but then how is it even possible to play with a total of -200% resistance penalty on legendary difficulty?
Is the speed you gather elecrum determined by the level of the monsters? Meaning, the harder (higher level) the area is, the better the electrum gain? Or is it just 1 electrum per kill/ for each curse, or a total of 8 with all curses? If yes, then what is stopping me to farm just the starter area of Helos, up to the shaman where i'll be safe once i'm overlevelled for the area? Doesn't seem like a very well thought out feature in my opinion.
Anything else new that i'm missing to mention? Endgame content, or interestig feature i don't know about? I've already noticed the 3rd stats tab in the character screen with the additional information. Really cool and useful stuff.
Thanks in advance!
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