Author Topic: Dungeon Defenders 2 - Current state of the game  (Read 20066 times)

Offline TheVampire100

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Dungeon Defenders 2 - Current state of the game
« on: August 24, 2016, 01:08:15 pm »
I've talked about this long ago in soem other thread (I don't remember which one) where I said DD2 is a very terrible game and has a very terrible buisness model.
Now I've changed my opinion. the buisness model still is crap, you pay horrendous amounts of money for very minor stuff. nad no one can tell me a little costume is worth 20$.
The gameplay itself however have been improved.

But let's start from the beginning. For those who don't know th egame, Dungeon defenders 2 is the successor of the well praised game dungeon Defenders and the not so well received Dungeon Defenders Eternia. The game takes several years after the first one but does not follow a true storyline at the momemt. The game is a hybrid of tower defense and rpg, you place towers and barriers in a 3dD environment but you also fight with a created character along your towers. Your character can level up and invest status points in his attributes, you collect also equipment with various traits. Those benefit both you and your towers in different ways, they can increase attack speed, damage, health or give special abilities.
The goal is like in any TD game to protect your base from waves of enemies, after each mission you are awarded with loot, xp, gold and medals.
Medals are a currency that has been introduced when the first new hero entered the game. Medals are used to buy various stuff but the main reason why tehy have been created was that you buy new heroes with it. The developers ignored the fact that people had already a working currency because they didn't want all people to buy the new hero instantly. Why? Because they wanted to sell him also for real money. You needed 12.000 medals to buy him. The reward for a daily quest (you get one each day and can holp up to three) was around 100 medals. 200 medals was the best you could get. This means you had to grind for 60 days (or more) to get the new hero. The backlash on this was really hard, the developers had to bear a lot of negative criticism but they pretended you could get the new hero in a week or two.
At that point I stopped playing the game because I was fed up how they handled the game. If you haven't guessed already, DD2 is a free to play game and is designed as a MMO game. Somethign the first game wasn't. But the first one had also its flaws because the released every tiny update as purchasable dlc instead of adding new features for free. I can understand when you charge for an expansion (which they also did. They made an expansion and divided it into four parts, you had to buy each part for the full expansion) but why do I have to buy the new hero that could have been free? Or why do I have to buy a winter themed costuem that coul also have been free? The dlc system wasn't well liked and because of this they went with the f2p model this time. because when the game is free you have a good excuse for charging extra stuff. Yay!
Like I said before, the buisness model is bullshit. They haven't leanred a single thing in the years and I doubt they ever will. But at least they won't charge for extra maps this time, these are for free (now).

Okay, all this sounds bad, so why do i suggest the game? Because they imrpoved the worst part of the game, the medal system. When the medal system came out it was the most terrible thing int he game. You could buy only one thing int he game and this was an overprized mess ant took you forever to get it. They chnaged this entirely. First they have improved the daily rewards, from 200 medals max to 450. They also decreased the cost of new heroes. Heroes still cost 12.000 medals but two weeks after release the prize will drop permanently to 10.000 medals. Additionally they also removed the monthly quests which were too hard and grindy to fulfill and added weekly quests that are easy to achieve. Weekly quests give you 600 medals each. Additionally each weekend is 3x medals weekend that increases the medal drop on maps you beat (does not increasee the amount from quests). With this imrpovements you can get a new hero in less than a month. This is still a lot of time but it's fair. Medals got also multiple new uses, you can use them as alternate currency to gold in every shop, you can also buy soem special ability spheres (give your characters new abilities) that are unobtainable with gold. the best thing is however, you can use them to by more slots for heroes. Each player has  alimit of four characters that you can increase if you unlock a new hero or buy a new slot directly with medals. Before it changed to medals it was only obtainable with real money.

They also have drastically buffed all the older heroes that were too weak compared to the new hero and enemy statistics.

The reason I got back to DD2 was basically because of the release of a new hero, the Lavamancer. That hero looked so badass, I wanted to try him out. I'm glad I gave DD2 another chance, it's a better experience than before and I don't have to work my ass off for tiny rewards. The game still needs big improvements but it's now playable for people that don't want to spend a single dime.

These are currently the heroes tha are in the game:

The four base heroes (free from the start) are the Squire, Apprentice, Huntress and Monk. These were also the four basic characters from the first game.

The Squire is a tanking hero, he  has a lot of health and can build barriers with a lot of health. These barricades block enemis in the way and attract their attacks, protecting your other towers and of course your base. He also has some attack towers to assist his barricades.

The Apprentice is a jack of all trades, he can cast powerful abilities, has his own barrier, has strong attack towers and a good support tower that slows down enemies.He can be built in any direction and is good for newcomers.

The Huntress builds traps instead of towers. Traps will never be ignored by enemies and amage them if they walk over them. A triggered trap looses a charge and will eventually disappear once out of charges unless you refill them. She also has a poison tower that deals damage over time and is her only true tower.

The Monk is a supporting character, he has no great offensive qualities but he has auras that affect enemies and towers in range. He can place a damaging aura, a healing aura for allies and a protection and damage boost aura for towers, he also has an anti air tower that targets only airborne enemies.


Since then the developers have added 4 new heroes.

The Abyss Lord was the first new character. Instead of towers he summons udnead creatures to the field that follow the basic tower rules. However each creature has its own ability that the Abyss Lord can trigger at wish. he also ahas a movable ultimate defense, the colossus. he can have only one but he can move him wherever he wants.

EV2 is the remade version of EV from DD1. She is  asupport character that builds small laser stations that link to other stations and build a laser grid. The built grid can either reflect incoming shots, slow down enemies or heal and boos other towers. She can also build a weapon manufacturer that gains charges with defeated enemies and builds a super weapon for a one-time use.

The Gun witch is the first combat only character. She cannot build a single defense but instead has twice the amount of abilities that regular heroes have. She can also fly in air and snipe enemies from there without having to fear getting hit.

The Lavamancer is the newest character in line. He is mostly a support character but has also a very strong attack tower that is however very costly. For his abilities he uses lava mana instead of regular mana, he has to collect lava mana from chasms that he can build for free on the map (two per map). He can build oil geysirs that slow down enemies and also a barricade that petrifies enemies and makes them taunting targets for nearby enemies. He can burrow underground and travel very fast while healing himself. His ultimate defense is a large and expensive volcano that can hit the entire map (except soem very large ones) and attacks very fast but the attacks are random and unpredictable. He can have only one volcano and move him around if he needs to (for some of the bigger maps). Additionally the Lavamancer can "errupt" which boosts all defenses in range with more attack damage, attack speed and special abilities. Thsi erruption costs a lot of his lava mana but is useful to boos defense points where a strong attack is happening.



Offline Mánagarmr

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Re: Dungeon Defenders 2 - Current state of the game
« Reply #1 on: August 24, 2016, 01:54:28 pm »
I tried DD1 way back and remember reading about DD2 coming out and just yawning. There was something that just put me off to the sequel, but I can't remember what. It could just have been me being utterly bored with the first one.
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Offline Draco18s

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Re: Dungeon Defenders 2 - Current state of the game
« Reply #2 on: August 24, 2016, 02:08:19 pm »
There were about two to two and a half years of bad decision making.  The game is slowly recovering.

Campaign Revamp is progressing (also slowly).  I can't say anything about it, both because NDA and because I haven't seen the latest changes.  I will admit that I haven't played Live since...er...last November and that I do get a bunch of stuff for free.

Personally I think the lavamancer's towers are too big, but generally speaking I like their mechanics (the 6 which does the petrification is just awesome).

Overall I still don't think the game is quite there yet.  Definitely still  needs a lot of work and there are things I definitely don't like, but it's better than it was nine months ago.

Offline TheVampire100

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Re: Dungeon Defenders 2 - Current state of the game
« Reply #3 on: August 24, 2016, 03:48:50 pm »
I haven't thought about this but yes, the defenses of the Lavamancer take up a lot of space. I'm pretty sure he will get  anerf sooner or later because at the moment his defenses are a little too strong. Especially the petrification barrier. Not only do they count as beefy barrier with lots of hp (but lower than other barriers), they also have a good supporting quality that completly disables an enmy and makes him a favourite target of other enemies. On normal enemies this is not a big deal, it is however for the mini bosses on each map. They can be petrified like any other enemy and you can basically stun lock them forever. Ogres are currently trivial problems.

About maps, I think incursions are currently the most interesting part of the game. They've added some very cool challenges. What started as maps with a specfic enemy theme (wyverns, goblins, skeletons) turned into several cool mini games/boss fights. Power Surge allows to instantly build and upgrade defenses during combat but all your defenses are defenses are destroyed after a short time, making it a mainly combat oriented map. The bling King pressures you to collect gold crystals in time or he will unleash a big tnt bomb. Demons Lair matches you against a giant demon lord that can only be attacked if ou knock him out with a catapult first. And the Spectral Knight Incursion summons incorporal knights that cannot be harmed by normal means, you have to match the colors of the cleansing torches to the colors of the spectral knights and only then you can defeat them.
The ideas for incursions are well made and give good challenges and varity for players while also prividing interesting items on each incursion fitting its theme. The bling king for example gives out a bow that can turn enemies into gold statues.

Offline Draco18s

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Re: Dungeon Defenders 2 - Current state of the game
« Reply #4 on: August 24, 2016, 04:09:13 pm »
Bling King is actually one of my least favorite of the new incursions for reasons I can't talk about.

The one where defenses only last for 30 seconds is my absolute least favorite.  There was nothing that would make that mode fun, it's really just ugh.

Offline TheVampire100

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Re: Dungeon Defenders 2 - Current state of the game
« Reply #5 on: November 16, 2016, 06:52:14 pm »
Dungeon Defenders released a Terraria Crossover Update. The game features stuff from Terraria in the game, there are two maps (it's actually the same map but one is a Blood Moon variation of it) that are designed after Terraria. It even has crafting stations where you can "craft" stuff for various buffs. In truth it simply is "collect this, use it there, get this buff".

They added several weapons from terraria to the game but these weapons can only obtained with a new exclusive resource that you get from finishing the new map.
And the final bit, they added a new heroine, the Dryad from Terraria. The Dryad summons defenses that summon monsters from terraria to fight for her. there are bees, slimes, hapries and the angy nimbus. She also can summon stars that fall on enemies or throw purification powder that creates mushrooms to heal her.
A twist to her is, that she got corrupted after she entered the world of Dungeon Defenders. Because of this she can now switch at any tiem to a corrupted form that enhances her abilities and defenses but deplets all her mana over time.
The new incursion is the Blood Moon event of Terraria. You are spammed with legions of udnead creatures and floating eyes and have to give your best to defend three crystals at once (it's very hard). In the last wave the Eye of Cthulu spawns with the same attack pattern it already had in its own game. It looks really cool in 3D, I have to admit it. But it's also a really easy boss to defeat since it does only minor damage and ignores defenses all together.

For Terraria players is also new content. In Terraria you can now find a new NPC, the Tavern Keeper. He sells the well known Etheria crystals that, when placed, start an invasion event. He also sells towers that you can use to defend against the new enemies that come from Dungeon Defenders. Defeated enemies drop a new currency (Defnder Medals) that you can use to purchase new cosmetics and weapons at the Tavern Keeper.
The stuff from DD looks really cool in pixel style.

Offline Draco18s

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Re: Dungeon Defenders 2 - Current state of the game
« Reply #6 on: November 16, 2016, 07:28:05 pm »
There should be an AI War crossover.

Offline TheVampire100

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Re: Dungeon Defenders 2 - Current state of the game
« Reply #7 on: November 29, 2016, 04:38:10 pm »
Thenew boss seems bugged. Happens more often in the highest difficulty. He simply floats into one direction and never stops. Since he has 50 Million Hp it is impossible to take him down before.

Offline Draco18s

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Re: Dungeon Defenders 2 - Current state of the game
« Reply #8 on: November 29, 2016, 08:20:28 pm »
Thenew boss seems bugged. Happens more often in the highest difficulty. He simply floats into one direction and never stops. Since he has 50 Million Hp it is impossible to take him down before.

Details, please.
What hero were you on, what did you do just before it happened, were you solo?

Offline TheVampire100

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Re: Dungeon Defenders 2 - Current state of the game
« Reply #9 on: November 29, 2016, 08:38:41 pm »
It happened many times so I cannot say much about it but I always was with a team and most of the time I used Apprentice. I canno remember what other players used and it hapened only in the NM4 difficulty for me so far. I heard from others however it can happen in lower dfficulties as well but NM4 seems to be th eone were it happens the most often.
It seems to happen when the find takes too long I think.

Offline Draco18s

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Re: Dungeon Defenders 2 - Current state of the game
« Reply #10 on: November 29, 2016, 08:42:00 pm »
Looks like its known about, but hard to reproduce.

Offline TheVampire100

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Re: Dungeon Defenders 2 - Current state of the game
« Reply #11 on: November 30, 2016, 11:13:09 am »
Yep, I saw the bug report.
I think it might have something to do with status effects. Since the eye is a boss and a flying enemy it might be that the game does not fully recognize specific status effects on it or cannot handle it well. For example knock-up shouldn't work for obvious reasons on it. But it could be that it is still affected to some point and because of this flies endlessy to the sky. That's just a theory though.

Offline Draco18s

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Re: Dungeon Defenders 2 - Current state of the game
« Reply #12 on: November 30, 2016, 12:49:52 pm »
I know someone managed something similar with the assassins on Alter of the Athane incursion.  But I think the cause there was different.

Offline TheVampire100

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Re: Dungeon Defenders 2 - Current state of the game
« Reply #13 on: December 01, 2016, 11:30:30 pm »
Bought the Dryad now. I don't know if you have her already but you can try her out anyway on the town for free.

The funny thing about the Dryad is, she feels more like a Summoner as the Summoner replacement in DD2 (Abyss Lord). She places "nests" on the map and the nests spawn in regular intervalls Terraria monsters. She has one fpr slimes, one for hornets, one for harpies and one for the angry nimbus. There is however a max cap for monsters per nest.
The annoying part for her is that she has to place first the world tree and then she can place her defenses around it. I don't know why but that's what she does. The defenses ont he other hand cannot get attacked, at least taht's what it looks like. They work similiar like auras and traps that they degrade when they are used. In this case whenever a new monster pops up.
The world tree acts as barrier, as anchor for the Dryad defenses and it also places some nice buffs on heroes that fight in its range. I don't rmember the exact stats but it heals 5%max HP and increases damage if I remmeber correctly. with spheres you can give it some new buffs, making it a big tanky support tower. Funny thing is, it improves other barriers while being one itself. I don't think this was well thought from them but whatever.

Except that I still have to get around with the switching between Corrupt and Normal mode. The corrupt mode drains the mana really fast.

Offline Draco18s

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Re: Dungeon Defenders 2 - Current state of the game
« Reply #14 on: December 02, 2016, 01:08:26 am »
Bought the Dryad now. I don't know if you have her already but you can try her out anyway on the town for free.
If I don't, I should.

The annoying part for her is that she has to place first the world tree and then she can place her defenses around it. I don't know why but that's what she does.
It's a mechanic that I'm not sure if I like it or not, but I am interested in seeing how players handle it.  That is: I'm sure it'll have some kind of metagame differentiation involved, but I cannot predict if it will be positive or negative.  In the meantime it's interesting and different.

The defenses ont he other hand cannot get attacked, at least taht's what it looks like. They work similiar like auras and traps that they degrade when they are used. In this case whenever a new monster pops up.
The harpy's nest is directly attack-able.  Angry Nimbus might be, I haven't checked in a while, might've been a bug.  Slimes are definitely a "trap" type defense, using up a charge to spawn a slime.

I don't rmember the exact stats but it heals 5%max HP and increases damage if I remmeber correctly. with spheres you can give it some new buffs, making it a big tanky support tower. Funny thing is, it improves other barriers while being one itself. I don't think this was well thought from them but whatever.
I think it heals 2%, actually.  Or I might be remembering one of her skill spheres (there's one that is literally "gain X% to every stat": +15% damage, +15% damage reduction +2% healing per second....)

Except that I still have to get around with the switching between Corrupt and Normal mode. The corrupt mode drains the mana really fast.
Yeah, it's super super fast.  There's a skill sphere that lowers it from 6 to 4, and she does regain some when she kills an enemy, but it's still like "be different for 45 seconds."  All her abilities change, too (her 1/2/3) and there's a few skill spheres that trigger off it (one gives your defenses more damage when you're not angry, the others give some kind bonus when you are).

TL;DR, if you don't own any additional heroes yet, the dryad is a solid choice.  The only "con" is that her mana is 100% generated by casting her 3 (single target high damage skill) while not angry.  It drops a star on something's head and you can pick the star up for 30 mana.  You're limited in how many you have available, and it recharges one use per....5 kills? Something along those lines.  Same charges are used when angry, too (that #3 being an AOE dot, similar to Broomnado or the Abyss Stone).

 

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