Hey all, 

 I'm going to propose a couple of changes - I've been playing this game for a month already and I've really enjoyed it. I'm close to saying I love it. (The number of games I love could be counted on a single hand of a ninja-turtle.) Some of the changes are small, some can be considered a serious change to the DG system. I'll even post those from the latter group which will most certainly be discarded upon reading; still, I see Demigod as a game that will live for many years and have many sequels. Some ideas may just as well be used for an improved sequel of this game. 

 First, I'll list the smaller changes that could immediately improve our gameplay. 

1. Starting "stats" for Demigods. 

I have to say I was shocked when after taking things for granted for the first couple of days, I discovered that - especially regarding what's said on the tin - there's more than meets the eye. Rook is an obvious example; people usually describe him as "squishy" around here, but the game says he's very durable. And he surely looks like he is. 

 Let's make a comparison between two Demigods that are supposed to be on opposite sides of the armor stats. Erebus starts with 220 armor (8,1% damage mitigation), compared to Oak's 400 (13,8% damage mitigation). If we take 160 damage as an average amount dealt with auto-attack at those levels, we have about 9 damage difference between two of them due to armor. I am still not sure if that's too low, but intuitively, I'd say yes - but it's not the main problem I want to point out to (although it is a problem that might need addressing as well). Let's take a look at two of them, without items & abilities - at level 20. Erebus has 885 armor (26.1% damage mitigation), while Oak has 875 armor (25.9% damage mitigation). 

 This is a problem. 

 Let's cover it a little bit more. 

 Unclean Beast starts the game with the highest armor rating (475) and ends the game in the same mould - 1083; compared to Rook who starts at 240 and ends with 658, this just doesn't make sense. It's completely counter-intuitive. 

 It's one side of the problem. If we look at it from the perspective of players, it's not a big deal. Many people I spoke with were not even aware of this problem. And since the game works, and it works well, we shouldn't be fixing it, now should we...? 

 I think we should. Since it can become better. 

 Some might say this is not a problem at all. I think it is, but it is just my opinion. If we do agree it is a problem, let's see how we could fix it.  

 All Demigods could be fixed to represent their nature. Rook, although described as "durable", surely isn't. He might be a bad example, since he does have the highest base health. But the armor problem still persists. If we just raise his armor to represent what he is (and he is a creature made of stone, mind you), then something needs to be done with his health and/or something else. That would require major (or not really?) overhaul, which - I am guessing here - many people would not like to see.  Anyway, we'd have Demigods with naturally low armor: Regulus, Lord Erebus, Torch Bearer. Sedna and Queen of Thorns would be in the higher middle part, while Unclean Beast would be in the lower middle part. Oak and Rook should have the highest armor rating. I leave the exact numbers to those who are better at numbers. 

 Maybe we should also look at speed. There are differences, but the only one that really stands out is Rook; the rest are just way too close to each other. I don't think a difference of 0.3 is negligible, of course, but I am quite sure even small increases to speed differences would make it noticeable. Even with 3 speed items (Swift Anklet, Boots of Speed and Journeyman Treads), difference between Lord Erebus and Oak, which was 0.3 in the beginning, is 0.4 now. A mere 0.1 increase. 

2. Items. 

I was shocked after I found that I can actually buy two armors and use them at the same time! Coming from a D&D background, I didn't even try buying two items from the same group until I read my first guide here. It was a couple of days after I started playing. Yeah, this game shocked me couple of time, that's for sure.  

 Items that we have at the moment are not really well distinguished to serve different purposes.  

 This game works on both strategic and tactical levels. Main strategic levels include getting the right combination of Demigods to properly fight the enemy and balancing between buying items and Citadel upgrades. One of the most important tactical parts is which items to get with the armor / health dilemma being a very important one. There are a couple of great posts on forums which explain when to go for more armor and when to go for health, but from reading them people might think the choice is really hard, while in fact - it's not. We only have two pure armor items. People will get Nimoth Chest Armor in most of their games because it's 100% good investment. Breastplate items are just mashup from my point of view. Most of them are good for everything. 

 I know I am asking a lot here, but don't take it as criticism. Here is an idea: 

 We could use more items (talking about breastplates only at the moment) that will help increase just one part of your Demigod, either health or armor. More expensive ones would add health per second to the health items, and armor items would have bonuses similar to those that Groffling Warplate or Armor of Vengeance have. If we mix armor and health items, make them more expensive. Not filthy expensive, of course, but those who want to reduce number of slots used need to pay for that. That's one way of solving the problem and making your build much more unique. It would require more knowledge, of course, and thus would alienate some players. Or not? I doubt it. But it's a possible trap, yes. 

 My next proposition is even further complicated and while it surely would bring more thinking to the game, I guess it's too late to change the whole system. But here it is, for the next generation, or just food for thought. 

 Since, in my ideal world of Demigods which I've proposed before, all Demigods would be starting with very different base stats and those differences would be very important and noticeable, we could work on an item-system that would further push the idea. 

 There would be two kind of items: some would give a fixed bonus to a stat (like +600 armor), while other would give a certain percent. Those that give some percent increase would be cheaper - since it would increase your stats proportionally so if an Oak that starts with 400 armor used a +100% item, he'd have 800 and if Erebus used the same item with his 200 base, he'd have 400; ratio would stay the same at the same level, and it would increase as they level up. Now if Erebus wanted to get that +600 armor, he'd have to pay much more, since he'd on a par with Oak who used the other item. That would make Demigods have to sacrifice something (money, which eventually leads them to sacrificing some other item and thus making them worse in some other area) if they want to fix their natural weaknesses. All of this would take some serious work to make it equal on all levels, but - in an ideal world - it would be an ideal way, since the number of qualitatively different possibilities would be higher. 

An easier solution would be to change starting armor stats for Demigods in a similar fashion as proposed, and change their armor / level gain. Oak would still have naturally much higher armor than Erebus, and that's it. As I've mentioned before, it would require tuning some other attributes, but for the sake of gameplay, I don't see it as an obstacle.

 Back to what we have. 

 innociv posted a good collection of things that should be fixed: http://forums.demigodthegame.com/348135 

 I do agree with most of the things, I do not agree with some, but it's definitely a must read.  

 Vlemish Faceguard is a typical example how items should not be like. It gives, for mere 1.750g, more mana per second than all Demigods, except Torch Bearer, naturally get at level 20. If it was its only ability, I'd swallow it somehow; but it gives mana pool bonus, as well as aura. Ah, and that aura. In ideal world, we'd have many aura items (and same auras from same two items on two Demigods would not stack), which would require just a little bit more coordination between players than we have now to unleash those aura potentials properly. Yummy. But, since this is the only aura item I am aware at the moment, it just looks like a bonus that you put there for fun. But it gives as much mana as Scaled Helm, and to all Demigods around you. I hope you see my point. I'd love to see more aura items. Hell, I'd love to see aura minions (as someone else suggested). But if we can't have it now, just drop that aura part off the Vlemish Faceguard and save it for later as well.  

 Artifacts are surely an issue. Attack speed stacking is insane, and something just does not feel right when ranged attack (or attack against buildings) steals health back. All right, it might be one of those things that should just be ignored, but 4x critical (Ashkandor) or +300 damage (Bracelet of Rage) doesn't make me comfortable. Like someone else pointed out, when it becomes more about auto-attacking than using skills, it's just not right. I am too tired at the moment to write more about it, but I hope it will be discussed. 

 3. How to make game more balanced when it's already near the end. 

 This is just a collection of small tweaks that might make the game more interesting. I am sure many people will have their own suggestions for this part and I'd love to hear them. I really feel like this game could benefit extremely from players' suggestions, although I am not sure if anyone is listening.  

Anyway, intuitively, I have a feeling that after one point in mid-game, towers just don't present a serious threat; actually, it's not far from the truth to say they're not a threat at all unless you remain between a couple of them. People rarely invest much into them aside from the obvious upgrades (healing + splash, 600 + 500). From my experience, it's because people are aware long-term investments into towers are just not worth it since they're going down when catapults get on the scene. And that's what Catapultsaurii are for, of course. What I'd do is just increase health and/or strength of towers per war-rank; a natural increase as war-rank goes up. Nothing drastic, of course; I'll end this post with a suggestion on how to implement possible changes. 

 If we agree that artifacts need to be weaker, prolonging the time needed for a war-rank increase might actually put a greater emphasis on the strategic part of the game. I think we would benefit from that. 

 Although making noticeable game-changes would make them easily noticed and thus more easily judged, I think changes should be made in tiny, tiny steps. For example, raising the time needed for a war-rank gain for just a percent per war-rank level; reduce Ashkandor critical possibility from 4x to 3x; decrease Erebus' mana recharging for 10% while in Mist form (regarding all the topics with Erebus being able to stay in Mist for minutes), if you decide to change it at all; et cetera. This would work only in case changes are going to the right direction, of course; but rather than making huge changes (which need more time to be prepared for implementing), I think it's better to make small steps that can easily be reverted if they are wrong. (Which is hard to judge, I am aware.) Small steps toward better balance.