Mage and Ark Feedback/Suggestions [Spoilers Alert]

Owns

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I'd like to share some feedback on the Ark based on my Mage playthrough. I played on Hard difficulty, was level 20 and was using a caster/elementalist build that relied on spells and high damage more than anything. No summons and very fragile, a true 'glass cannon'. Up until the Ark, this build was more than fine. Undead were a joke, and I could typically kill multiple enemies at once. Enemies with elemental weaknesses were particularly vulnerable. I only struggled against enemies with high resistances, no weaknesses, and dealt heavy, normal damage (like Vorators and Iron Golems and to a lesser degree Earth Elementals). I don't think I ever needed more than 5 potions of any kind before starting the Ark of Lothasan quest.

The biggest challenge was obviously the fact that I no longer had a companion to depend on, and with my build no summons either. Until I eventually found a Tesla Emitter, I had to rely almost entirely on Lightning Bolt for damage using hit and run tactics, which was fine. 2 lightning bolts kill a steel spider, 3 for a steel wizard. It was fairly easy (and cheesy) to dodge wizard blasts while I waited for Lightning's cooldown. Sure they have the technology, but I can dodge bullets like Neo so there :cool: .

The next obvious problem then is mana consumption. Having fared quite well up until this point using my build and only occasionally needing a few potions, it felt like a poorly balanced difficulty spike in the Ark. All in all I needed to go back to town to restock (on both potions as well as the right gear) 3 times and in the process spending 40k gold to finally complete the Ark. Money I was saving up and hoping to spend differently :evil:. I could've opted for a respec, maybe to a build that was easier for the Ark, but I wanted to see if I could manage with the same build that did well everywhere else. Mage was promised to be a versatile class after all (and it is!). Please bear in mind that I went into this with no idea of what to expect, my first time playing through the Ark and having not read any strategies/spoilers.

My main concerns and suggestions are as follows:
1 - not a single mana recovery item drops on the Ark, while a plethora of health recovery medipacks drop. This made it seem like the Ark was designed without Mage class in mind.
I realized after conversing with the Oracle that story-wise, it makes sense for there to not be mana potions dropping,
but I think that the same line of reasoning that allows mana recovery from the medical facility should've allowed medipacks to also recover a small amount of mana. For a mage, mana is more important than health after all and without it, the dungeon seems imbalanced to me.

Suggestion: Medipacks should recover both health and mana.

2 - After completing the Reactor area, and returning to the Ark starting level, the entire dungeon respawned?!?! :shock: WTH?? The first time through this part I had been counting on going back to the medical facility for a full recovery, having exhausted my recoveries and mana potions. Parts of the dungeon I had already cleared! Yes, I realize that nanomachines or whatnot are continuously building new robots on the Ark, but I think a full dungeon respawn is a bit too much. I had to call it a day and use a scroll of recall at this point for yet another trip to restock, re-equip, and make the trek all the way back again... I don't think any other dungeon fully respawns in this way so why here and now??

Suggestion: Please don't respawn the entire dungeon when moving between Reactor and starting level. I think it's enough that a few rooms will respawn new robots at those manufacturing pods.

Yes it's true that after finding EMP weapons and learning your way around the Ark things do get easier but I think the above suggestions would make the dungeon more balanced and less frustrating, it will still be very challenging, just maybe won't break my bank on stacks of mana potions; or my patience, having to clear parts of the starting level twice in one play through.

Complaints aside, I absolutely loved the twist and storyline of the Ark. Did not see that coming, and the option of a peaceful resolution was not only interesting but a real breath of fresh air. Kudos! (Gameplay of the Ark can be improved though in my humble opinion).
 

Alan_SP

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Full respawn happens after 12 hours in-game time, or 9 minutes of real time. It happens everywhere.
 

Xen

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It is obvious why the Sunken Citadel is in the Ashen Wastes and near the Ark :) farm there first if you have many complaints about mana, that is the place where to farm Mana Potions for free, Making Medipacks that have mana is like giving the Mage the total breeze in the Ark reducing the challenge, hence will make it slightly boring. If you're really mana dependent then I suggest you to farm Golden Apples in Crimson Hills before going to the Ark and then convert it to Potion of Restoration, it will recover half of total health and mana loss meaning you will recover more if you use it in critical state :) or alternatively you can farm Chucks of Fat and then convert your Deepfrost Cognac into Whitetower Brew.
 

Duck123

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Honestly I think the ark is too easy for mage, I made it through without using any mana potions
 

Owns

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Alan_SP":1vuei6ji said:
Full respawn happens after 12 hours in-game time, or 9 minutes of real time. It happens everywhere.

True but I think you need to reload the area for it to take affect don't you? Because I don't remember this ever happening in other dungeons (before the Ark) unless I exited and re-entered. The difference here is that the Ark has multiple areas and so you experience the respawn even though you're still in the dungeon.
 

Owns

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All valid points. I guess the point I was making is not about how difficult it was, but about balancing. Sure I could farm potions/eggs, but I never needed to do that before. It's reasonable for the final dungeon to be more demanding but I felt like the difference was vast, at least for this build it was (again balance).

Changing to a different build is always an option, but is the game intended to be played that way? Changing builds according to the dungeon? The cost of re-speccing certainly doesn't suggest that is the case.

I don't think modifying medipacks so that they also recover small amounts of mana (maybe 30) would make it too easy for mage, just fair. Since other classes rely mostly on health, having so many medipacks available is a helping hand for them, while there isn't the equivalent for mage which relies mostly on mana. That's my main point
 

Owns

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Duck123":2en16kvl said:
Honestly I think the ark is too easy for mage, I made it through without using any mana potions

What level were you and what kind of build did you use when you had this experience? Also what difficulty were you playing?
 

BrunoPlay

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I think very powerful magician in the ark, in the mana issue, I get small battery I keep in the blue bag and then I go to the machine to recover mana or change 5 small in 1 big that restores all hp and mana + my breaks
 

Xen

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You can just put some points to summoning a Lesser Imp just to mitigate some damage and heavy mana usage, but the Ark is surely easier for all mage builds even if you don't have summon, your alternative to a summon is your Mage Barrier through Mage Armor. A good combo of Mage builds for me is a Summoner Staff-wielding Disintegrator Mage or Spellcasting Wand user with Barrier Mage.
 

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