Baldur's Gate : The Sword Coast Chronicles : NWN2 Persistent World

Hello,

I believe that the open lock and disarm skills are very not worth to invest in. I have noticed that people tend to just bash the chests and do not bother with either traps or locks.

1. Bashing through does not destroy items inside, no risk.
2. The traps on the chests spawn once every reset, not with every chest reset.
3. Traps are close to worthless in damage. Getting hit by 10-15 damage when having a 80+ hp char is just a scratch that you will quite quickly healup with a regeneration until the next fight.

There are some random (or quasi random) traps in caves/dungeons but these are also quite easy to handle - usually small or average that tickle you instead of doing serious damage.

Suggestions (1): Make bashing the chests have a % chance to destroy valuables in the chest.
Reason (1) I very often see ppl just run through the dungeon and bashing through the chest (high level players just rush through very often ignoring the mosters as well). This is ridiculous.

Suggestion (2). Make traps a bit more dangerous - both on traps and on the ground.
Reason (2) Currently they just tickle.

Suggestion (3). Have the traps reset with every chest reset (on chests) and every X minutes like monsters.
Reason (3). Traps are encouters as well, not just decoration and should have some kind of challenge. It will also stop players from doing mindless run through.

1. True, but opening the lock does give XP, that's the advantage. There are also chests that cannot be bashed at all across the server, only open lock works.
2. False, traps do reset as well.
3. Very very false, some traps are absolutely deadly and can only be disabled by rogues.

Valefort wrote:1. True, but opening the lock does give XP, that's the advantage. There are also chests that cannot be bashed at all across the server, only open lock works.
2. False, traps do reset as well.
3. Very very false, some traps are absolutely deadly and can only be disabled by rogues.

1. try go further and get higher lvl and you will find more chests that cannot be opened and doors that cannot be opened without high open lock

2. traps reset every so often

3. some traps even give damage around 70 damage, 110 divine damage(no way to avoid), 205 damage, and might reach up to 215 damage if not careful.

i agree that i would like to see more troublesome chests and traps, i do not think open lock/disarm devise is useless. almost every one of my characters have some amount of points in those skills. only my SP starved toons do not and they excel at bashing and eating damage. it sounds similar to me to the appraise or heal skill. everyone can still sell/buy items but that doesnt make appraise useless at all. same with healing.

Personally, I think the XP from opening locks could be better. For as few locks as there are to open (compared to monsters to kill or RPXP ticks), 10-15 XP might as well be nothing. I do appreciate that the XP scales according to DC on the trap, though -- that's pretty awesome, but it doesn't quite push one into seeking them out.

As for most skills, Open Lock and Disable device only really come into their own at mid- to late-level. Keep at it, and you'll be rewarded for the effort.

I do agree that it is frustrating when someone with a rogue dip cuts off a dedicated rogue, or a bruiser just walks past you and smashes a chest. Fortunately for me, this tended to be the exception, rather than the rule. 99% of the time, if I just spoke up, people were more than happy to let me do the work.

All that said, even though my rogue is dead and gone, and I'm back to bashing chests, myself, if like to see better rewards for the guys and gals that invest the points into these skills. Is there a way to maybe add something though, rather than take away? Instead of % chance to ruin a good item, maybe add a % chance to get a little something extra out of an unlocked chest -- even for party members. This would make the Rogue a much more valuable commodity.

- DFM

I still believe that chests should loose loot (or have a % chance to loose it) when are opened with a club.

Utran wrote:I still believe that chests should loose loot (or have a % chance to loose it) when are opened with a club.

this would go a LONG WAY to justifying the skill.

DeepFriedMoose wrote:For as few locks as there are to open (compared to monsters to kill or RPXP ticks), 10-15 XP might as well be nothing.

except when you are high epic in the UD, the open lock xp is more than what you can get from kills (and yes thats sad)

Blackman D wrote: except when you are high epic in the UD, the open lock xp is more than what you can get from kills (and yes thats sad)

Ah, sadly I didn't make it that far. Thanks for the info.

Can we combine Set trap and Disarm Device into one skill.

There is no set trap skill in paper and pen.

we added a bunch of skills to the module outside of its original creation that become fun for role play and needed in some situations.

It would be a nice quality of life experience to combine these two skills as they will not unbalance any aspect of pve. These returned skill points will just end up in a wide array of RP skills like Bluff, Disguise, or even the lores ((we broke them all up so now you need even more points!))



thank you for reading! =)

this is true, tho set trap is mechanically embedded into the game, if the mechanically aspects can be merged into disable without breaking anything then it wouldnt be bad

Suggestions (1): Make bashing the chests have a % chance to destroy valuables in the chest.
Reason (1) I very often see ppl just run through the dungeon and bashing through the chest (high level players just rush through very often ignoring the mosters as well). This is ridiculous

This would punish most solo characters and those who cant open locks or use spells to do it.

there is alot of stuff that punishes solo characters. its a social game.

V'rass wrote:

Suggestions (1): Make bashing the chests have a % chance to destroy valuables in the chest.
Reason (1) I very often see ppl just run through the dungeon and bashing through the chest (high level players just rush through very often ignoring the mosters as well). This is ridiculous

This would punish most solo characters and those who cant open locks or use spells to do it.

This is why I suggested adding to a successful lock pick, rather than taking away from those who lack the skill. Destroying items is going to infuriate a LOT of non-rogues, even if it is straight out of PnP rules.

My two cents: If the issue is "bashing = lock pick", then give better rewards for lock pick. Don't punish players for not having a rogue.

aaron22 wrote:there is alot of stuff that punishes solo characters. its a social game.

Yes, it's a social game, but not everyone is a social person, and speaking for myself, as a social person, there aren't always people enough to play with. I'm sometimes literally the only person in the UD -- at least, the only person visible on scry, which might as well mean the same thing, since if you're invisible on scry, you're obviously not interested in RP at that moment. I certainly want to hang out with people, but if they aren't on, or aren't willing, then am I just supposed to log off?

I guess what I'm asking is: What's the difficulty curve for a solo player supposed to look like? If you make everything a social activity in an arena where socializing is not guaranteed, then eventually everyone loses out.