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Synmachus

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Synmachus

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About this mod

Brings all gear on equal ground at the 3rd Enhancement. You just can't go wrong.

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(If you would like to support me, I just made a Ko-fi @ https://ko-fi.com/synmachus)

NOT RECOMMENDED for first playthroughs, as it is currently very much exploitable and unfit for the intended player progression. I have yet to balance the materials cost of the 3rd upgrade and the compensation stats for the 1st and 2nd upgrades. For now, this mod is targeted towards regular high-level players.



DISCLAIMER

As far as I am concerned, this mod is in a BETA state. There are still things I'm hoping to do, and some of the weapon balance might be up for debate. That is without mentioning the numerous errors that I'm guaranteed to have made in the process. I've been mired in figures and percentages for two weeks, and have spent hours upon hours inputting them into sheets, then back into files. There is not a chance in the world that I haven't made an error, or two - probably more like a dozen - somehow, somewhere. If it is a large one, I hope someone else will be able to point it out.


What this mod does

Masterworks All aims to succeed the End-Game Stats for All Dragonforged Equipment mod by Filipemaros96. Both have a shared goal: bringing all gear to equal ground, for the endgame/NG+ players who care about performing and looking good doing it.

But this mod deviates in significant ways - one, in that it does not affect the Wyrmfire upgrade, but the 3rd rank of all four Smithing Styles. This means that, instead of being solely based on the Dwarven enhancement path like Filipemaros' mod was, there are now 4 variations regarding endgame gear stats.

Concurrently, this mod operates a somewhat weighty rebalance of the Smithing Styles enhancements. It accomplishes that in two ways: on weapons, by nerfing the Dwarven knockdown power increases ; on armor, by buffing every other Smithing Style's knockdown resistance increases.

I highly recommend combining this mod with Nickesponja's Dullahan, Durnehviir and Weaponlords, as well as with talimity's Custom Difficulty Tweaks so that the game isn't so easily trivialized by endgame-level gear. Hide Wyrmfire Upgrade by Liquidation is also a must-have for me.

Filipemaros' maths and mine are also a bit different, though we've at times come to similar conclusions.

Here are more details on how gear is balanced. Forgive the wall of text, abbreviations and numbers. Because it is difficult to articulate this design process into words, you might want to check out the Google Sheets I used and see the numbers for yourself:


- WEAPONS - (spreadsheet here)

  • Through their 3rd Enhancement, every weapon is brought to the same level as the BEST 3-times upgraded weapon* in its respective category. This means that the Trusty Sword, following the Battahli enhancement path, can be upgraded to 527 physical strength (STR) and 300 knockdown power (KDP), matching the Dragon's Dogma. Both can then be Wyrmfired for a flat increase, to a total of 587 STR.
*In vanilla, the "BiS" (best in slot, MMO term) weapon, usually the one with the most STR or magickal damage (MGK), isn't necessarily the one with the most KDP. With the exception of magickal weapons, the BEST, separate stat available to that weapon category is always chosen. This means, for instance, that even the Dragon's Vein, which would be considered BiS for Daggers, inherit the Heaven's Key's amount of KDP.

  • Dwarven KDP increases have been heavily nerfed. A 3-times upgraded Dwarven weapon now has 25% more KDP than its Vermundian, Elven or Battahli counterpart. No more, no less. Still a significant advantage, but not as crushing as vanilla.
  • Magickal "enchanted" weapons (ie: Almace), for a general lack of endgame option to base ourselves upon, necessitated a bit more flexibility in handling numbers. Overall, they get 10% less STR than their physical counterparts in exchange for dealing innate MGK damage.
  • To differentiate them, Maces have 10% less STR than Swords, in exchange for a 20% increase in KDP. This means that a magickal mace (ie: Molten Fury) has 10% less STR than a physical sword, and then 10% less on top of that. The same thing applies to Hammers and Greatswords.
  • Some exceptions take place: Dragon's Flight, being an axe, is the in-between of Greatswords and Hammers in terms of STR and KDP. Which, given the KDP changes, is a nerf. Likewise, Heaven's Key's stats have been slightly lowered so that it does not completely outshine physical Daggers.
  • The unique effects of weapons (ie: Labyrinthus' bonus damage on Minotaurs) are not altered by this mod. Only STR, MGK and KDP is affected. While Filipemaros accounted for these effects in their mod's calculations (which might have been wise, given the significant advantage of some of them), I decided not to. I think they are situational enough not to be super OP - but mainly, I plan on using Nickesponja's Weaponlords mod which adds new effects of their own.
The final effect of these equalizing changes is that, in the end, whatever weapon you are wielding will feel and perform just the same (sometimes marginally better) as the BiS vanilla option. Conjointly, the Dwarven knockdown nerfs mean that combat is less easily trivialized by choosing this Smithing Style, and might open up more balanced choices in how you enhance your gear.


- ARMOR - (NEW spreadsheet here)

  • (NEW METHOD) While weapons are pretty straightforward, armor balance is a bit more involved. Filipemaros' mod roughly brought all gear to a unified set of stats regardless of who could wear it. But I wanted to acknowledge the vanilla balance, if any, and take the nuances between Vocations/weight class into account. Here is how I handled it: for each Vocation, I cataloged what could be considered their BiS, the most Vocation-specific pieces of equipment accessible during the endgame. In the Unmoored World, every Vocation has access to a few pieces of gear specifically playing into their fantasy* - some you get at the Dragonforged in exchange for Wyrmlife Crystals, and others through exploration/combat in the Unmoored World. For instance, the Thief's two BiS chests are the Dvarapala, acquired at the Dragonforged, and the Enshadowed Battle Garb, looted from a Gorechimera in Unmoored Battahl. The Dvarapala has higher magickal defense (MD) and knockdown resistance (KDR), but lower physical defense (PD). So, to determine the baseline of every maxed Thief-only chest, I take the MD and KDR from the Dvarapala and the PD from the Enshadowed Battle Garb, keeping the best of both alternatives. This method, compared to my previous one, ensures a fairer, vanilla-like, more compelling state of balance - instead of relying on hybrid gear stats that sometimes skewed benefits in favor of certain Vocations.
*Although the Mystic Spearhand has access to both the Vashara Scaleskin (top-tier PD & KDR) and the Silhouette of Sorcery (top-tier MD), I consider his endgame BiS chests to be the Duelist's Coat and the Soaring Surcoat, which to me are clearly designed as the two Mystic Spearhand's final, "defining" armor. Thus the baseline for his best chest stats does not account for any other armor than these two. A very deserved nerf compared to my previous method which gave him extremely high stats all around.

  • Most of DD2's gear is hybrid, meaning it can be worn by multiple Vocations. To naturally balance this out, I give all hybrid gear the average, in every stat, between the best stats cataloged for each Vocation through their BiS Vocation-specific endgame gear. Let's take the Allesian Oxhide Hood (+3 Dwarven +Wyrmfire) as an example, which is available to Fighter, Thief and Warrior. The Allesian Oxhide Hood PD stat is the average of 140 (Fighter's BiS), 134 (Thief's BiS) and 146 (Warrior's BiS), which is 140. Its MD stat is 93, the rounded average of 84, 121 and 73. Finally, its KDR stat is the average of 122, 66 and 133, which is 107. The Allesian Oxhide Hood, at +3 Dwarven +Wyrmfire, comes up at 140 PD / 93 MD / 107 KDR, naturally balancing between the Fighter's, Thief's and Warrior's best dedicated gear.
  • In the case of the Vermundian, Elven and Battahli enhancement paths, I buffed the BiS KDR stat of each Vocation, upon which I did the rest of the calculations regarding hybrid gear. The way KDR now balances is: Vermundian is 20% less than Dwarven ; Elven is 30% less than Dwarven ; Battahli is 25% less than Dwarven. This means that, while still very strong, the Dwarven Smithing Style isn't the absolute, definitive choice in any and all cases. Or it is at least much closer than before.
  • Like weapons, the equalization applies at the 3rd upgrade. The Wyrmfire upgrade is the same flat stat increase as it is in vanilla (plus the weight reduction).
  • The slash/strike and debilitation resistances & weaknesses are not altered by this rebalance. Only PD, MD and KDR is. This participates in preserving some amount of uniqueness or identity in gear.
The effect of all these changes is that every piece of armor is made competitive. My method of balancing stats reflects the vanilla gear balance while bringing (almost) everything up, as well as maintaining distinctions between Vocations. There is still an idea of "stats maximization" for those inclined, but every choice is roughly on par with one another. You'll never feel much disadvantaged by choosing one armor over the other.


In addition to these changes - for both weapons and armor - the weight REDUCTIONS of the Elven enhancements, as well as the weight INCREASES of the Dwarven enhancements, are doubled. This may sound like a lot on paper, but it is actually very fair, and largely quashed by the Wyrmfire upgrade which reduces the weight of gear by half. But it participates in balancing Smithing Styles just a bit more, while differentiating between Vernworth/Elven (which, in vanilla, share the exact same weight reductions) and Battahli/Dwarven (which in vanilla share the same weight increases).

You will notice that some rare pieces of armor are nerfed - notably, the Charming Corset and the recent Sovran’s Plate. This is a by-product of my BiS stat distribution system. Both items enjoyed ridiculously high stats compared to everything else, so this is, in my humble opinion, a positive.



● ISSUES AND FUTURE CHANGES ●

Whereas Filipemaros' endgame mod was pretty clean with progression (adding to the cost of Wyrmlife Crystals to prevent new players from reaching max stats early), my method causes a few issues: it is very easy right now, for players, to get an early game weapon to max stats - AND, one might hire a Pawn that already has its gear enhanced to +3, making them much more powerful than the Arisen depending of the latter's current progress. Since this mod mainly speaks to those who have played the game extensively, it is not something that I'm overly worried about. You are aware of what you are putting into your game. But it is something I do want to expand upon, so here is my next goal:

- Reinforce the first two upgrades of every piece of gear to compensate for the loss of a third "regular" upgrade.
- Transfer the cost in gold and materials from one enhancement rank to the previous one (and increase them proportionately to the increased benefits).
- Adding to the cost of every 3rd rank enhancement material so that it reflects the endgame access to materials. So that, instead of a Rugged Bone, you'll               need a Cursed Dullahan Bone. For example.
- POSSIBLY rebalance upgrades so that, at each stage of one's playthrough, buying the best armor in a shop isn't always the definite better decision.
- POSSIBLY rebalance every single enhancement to further differentiate the Smithing Styles.
- POSSIBLY, for weapons specifically, give certain weapons a "Smithing Style" bonus in accordance to their theme - like giving a 5% bonus to curved blades for               going the Battahli path, and the same to straight swords for going Vermundian. An interesting idea that I'll keep pondering.

I wanted to do all of this before releasing this mod, but I realized that the task was at least as big, if not bigger than what I've already done so far - not in difficulty, but in the mind-numbing labor of numbers, that is, manually putting them slowly into a file without too many mistakes. And I want to do this right. So I'm making my mod available right now, and will endeavor to expand upon it in the coming days, weeks or months. Depending on how slowly or rapidly it moves. Working on this mod is very tedious due to the thousands of inputs I have to make every time, and even the easiest addition or the smallest change could take a full day to implement.


Huge thanks again to Filipemaros96 on which spreadsheets I built my own, to Nickesponja for providing valuable feedback and ideas as to the future of Masterworks All, and to Mur4s4me for being my unpaid QA tester.