The fundamental problem with Toram Online

Let's do a thought experiment in this community.
What is, in your opinion, the fundamental problem with Toram Online?
Answers can include the game environment, the game, the developers, the community, and other factors.
--------------------------------------------
In my opinion, it's the STR stat, and it's effect on CDMG.
Critical damage is one of the most important and most powerful damage multipliers, which actually multiplies the damage, instead of adding 10%/20% more to your skill damage.
Almost every single Weapon in the game (stressing almost ) has STR as the secondary stat, so after maxing the primary stat, it doesn't hurt to invest more in STR.
250 STR gives 200 total base CDMG.

That's without equips. So these Weapons already get 2x dmg when critical, plus most of theseh weapons have high weapon ATK and Stat gain already.

Combine that with basic elemental gear/Unsheate gear/SRD you have some pretty insane striking power.

Now, if you decide to get CD10%CD+20 on armor and Weapon, that's close to 280+CDMG. With additional gear and xtals it can reach 300.

That's 3x the power. Yes, granted graze decreases stability, but the damage for these Physical classes is already high enough that graze doesn't reduce too much.

Now coming back to the "almost".
Mages and Knuckles. These don't rely on STR. (Unless you're ATK staff guy)

• Burst mages are oblivious to all this, they are madmen who rapid cast Burst, but at least they have elem advantage, SRD/LRD advantage, and cast quick enough for weaken to be useful.
• Finale mages used to shine at 150, but at 210 they wane out of existence. Weaken lasts shorter than Finale cast, Finale isn't affected by SRD/LRD, isn't affected by Weapon elem.
• And lastly, Knuckles. First, the game doesn't tell you to take STR, it tells DEX. So unless you meet a forum, you'll never know. Second, CDMG is the only reason why Knuckles would ever take STR. It doesn't increase ATK like, almost every other weapon, and it doesn't increase stability either, which would be another benefit on Bowgun. It really limits Knuckles which would have interesting gameplays with AGI - VIT.

So, you'll regret it a lot if you're a DPS and you don't take STR as the secondary stat on Knuckles. It gives a lot of CDMG, which is important, but since it doesn't do anything else (except give 20 ASPD lol), it really feels bad to invest points in it.
And if you're a Finale mage, trusting that Spellburst hits, with STR to increase stability by 10% and increase finale damage is all you can do.

STR is biased. You need it to DPS, and that what takes away the 'classless' feel of Toram.
At least Burst mages and Tanks enjoy their solitude.

 

Thefundamental problem is lack of proper events and delay on skills branches and lvl caps of things plus a crappy cook and pet system.

 

The skill tree/skill point and stats system itself.

Skills should be freely obtained with no prerequisites, stats... should exist as a consequence of level and weapon proficiency.

 

I would like a proficiency system with each weapon some kind of stats growth that each lvl increases it.

 

Yup, like using heavy weapons like 2h sword boosts STR, bows boost DEX etc with use. Maybe do away with the level system and just have weapons for levels.

Also, i REALLY hate that crafting skills use skill points.

With that on skills, i quote alchemia story which has it perfectly (other than the thrash tier combat system), i really like how you can mix and match skills and potentially learn every single skill on a character.

I doubt their newest game, project eternal would truly be up to mark but, eh, it's a pick your poison right now with mmorpgs. And the ones outside asobimo are so abysmally bad.

 

I feel like bow has become way too powerful in the game.

Looking back at the 5th anniv arena, it was infested by bow users and if you use other dps class, it will underperform like crazy and either you get kicked or people would simply leave.

For mass killing a treasured mini boss like Gopgerga, guess who is the best for mass killing?

And also when you need to ailment to suppress the big bad Volgagon and guess who is best for spamming ailments?

Bow is all over the place which is insane.

 

Maybe the proration should be removed and fighting bosses cant be soloed by players so it promotes more teamwork, maybe reduce the boss damage taken by 50% and increase its damage by 50% if soloed, 25% if tag team, and 10% if triple team.

Also even if brawler has low dps, brawler skills should not trigger bosses counter skills as a class unique ability, so brawler will not be used just for the fun but also for utility.

 

I don't like how hit rate is so useless. And boss with absurd flee rate. They should remove "graze" and make hit rate more relevant.

The scaling between boss difficulties should only affects hp, boss dmg, and boss resist. Things like defense and flee should be untouched.

This way some build will have advantage against particular bosses.
For agi str there is high mobility and high def but low flee boss.
For str dex, there is high flee and high def boss but slow boss.
For dex agi, there is high flee and and mobility, but have some crazy dmg cap.

 

Nope, guard is the OP weapon in toram.

In 5th event, who is the one tanking all 3 boss and 4 fluffy animal and absorb all their deadly skill?

In mini boss mass kill like gopher, who is the one taking all the aggro and guard their body slam.

in Volgagon, who is the one stop the boss moving and defending all his breath and lock his movement with some ailment spend.

so I suggest nerf the guard and guard related skill. Too op nowadays.

 

i think the problem is the wild combination of different systems.
they took the traditional weapon based class system with main and sub classes, and added the freedom to distribute your stat and skill points wherever. but they didn't remove the restrictions of the class system.

you can spread out your points in all trees and all stats even when they are unusable with your weapon. this is more like a "fake freedom" which feels like being able to do anything, but actually not. you are still restricted by your weapon. 1h swords may be free with all the options they got, but MDs and katanas are the almost the same as in a class-locked game.

so far, all games that offer free class customization had issues with one or another thing, there always was a limiting factor. but toram has too much. they tried to have everything and so they also got all of the limiting factors.

if i had to design a class-free system, i would use this approach:

- no stat points.
stats grow with level, all equal.
equipment is classified in groups that increase and/or decrease certain stats when equipped.
similar to how heavy/light armor works, but for all equipment and with more variation. like differentiating between cloth robes, leather armor and metal armor. staves, rods and maces. longswords, shortswords, broadswords, rapiers, ect.

- no skill points/skill levels
skills should be obtained as they are. if a skill can be improved, it should be done via a profiency system where a skill gets better the more you use it, or simply skill upgrades, like Enhanced Bless.

- simplified merged skill trees
rather than many skill trees with similar skills for different weapons, i would like to have fewer but bigger skill trees based on styles.
slash, stab, smash, kick, cast, ect.
in addition to classes, equipment would also have types and attributes.
types define the attack type, such as slash or stab, which limits which skills can be used with that weapon.
attributes would affect certain skill effects, such as attack range and radius.
skills would also be simple and gain additional effects based on equipment class/type/attribute.

for example, the basic combat skill would be Smash, which just hits the target with the weapon.
long weapons, such as rods, halberds, longswords, would get increased range. heavy weapons deal more damage, knuckles and shields would get a paralyze/stun effect, polearms would push the target away.
magic/enchanted weapons could trigger elemental effects on contact.

bows must equip arrows to shoot,
or learn Magic Arrows to conjure magical arrows. otherwise they could only smash enemies at close range.
bowguns may also shoot daggers.

shields can be used by all, but only have half the defensive power when used with two-handed weapons.

the dual-wield skill does not equip 2 weapons, but doubles the main weapon (one-handed short weapons only).

- personality traits
instead of stat points and the personal stat, the player gets personality points at certain levels. these are used to unlock unique personality traits to customize the character.
for example, the Blacksmith personality would boost the power of blunt type attacks and unlock the smithing system.
the Alchemist personality unlocks synthesis and enhances consumable items. each character can only choose one basic personality trait, but those can be upgraded on different paths.
the Alchemist personality can advance into the White Alchemist, which focuses on healing, the Black Alchemist, which specialises in poison, or the Red Alchemist, which uses explosives.

 

Then watch all bow users go magical route and witness the death of magic proration

Same here. Why did they even bother putting it there if there's not much use to it anyway.

 

So I guess you're overlooking the fact that bow is the only viable dps nowadays and it feels like it is a MUST to have a bow char or you wont having any progress in this game.

If bow wasn't op then maybe there will be class diversity. When one class is overpower then what's the point of playing other class.

 

The other build is a fun build. Not a farming build.
Bow is op for farming but very situational and boring.

 

they should make weapon skill restriction in every weapon. and proper balance in low tier skill tree (to utilize own weapon skill tree). like staff/md/sub-md can use magic only, knux/sub-knux can use martial only (making them sub lower their skill affinity). and one of reason why knux is very underwhelming because agi speed growth (they should be a fastest dps since their dmg is lower than other weapon) and one of worst skill is GSW cuz all class can turn into high speed dps (i know this skill is a high drawback but still this skill destroy game balance). the high speed dps suppose only at agi user

also they should make bow/bowgun is weaker than melee. (the lower base weapon is practically lie cuz most of bow/bowgun skill is having higher multiplier/constant that can spar THS/HB which they are suppose to be strongest DPS)

and last hit/dodge should be prioritize balance so dex become more relevant rather being brainded focus in STR (Damage vs Consistency)

 

I think nerfing tanks and the skills they use would be a really bad move, there's already a shortage of tanks in toram and making them harder to play would only dissuade more people to play it.
Actually finding a good tank on toram that understands each boss they fight isnt easy and since u mentioned a boss like volgagon like it's an easy boss to tank,
to interupt it properly actually needs skill and good timing from a tank, try go shout there lfp and see the tanks you end up with 90% of the time even if there's someone ailing perfectly (losing aggro, no interrupts, dying, bad positioning).
My point is tank isn't op and if someone plays the tank role good and tanks a boss/bosses properly it's more there doing than them relying on a skill to be good at it.

I do get what u saying though, it is very easy to hold aggro and just press guard the entire time, those are the bad tanks I mentioned above that end up losing aggro and make runs slow and don't interupt things like gespents spikes/dash making runs 3 times longer or runs not even being complete because everyone dies because all the tank knew how to do was press guard.

Personally I rarely use guard, at 5th anniv I found elegant poise more useful. With some bosses like patissia guard was pretty useful but it didn't make tanking easy to the point it needs a nerf.
But yes on mini boss mass kill it is very op, can't disagree on that and I think that's fine since without guard mini boss mk can also be tanked just fine.

Anyway all my opinion.

 

I just thought of this, what if increasing a stat that is not its main and sub stat will have a negative penalty.

Example
Increasing STR on staff users will reduce its magic damage.
Increasing STR on bow users will reduce it accuracy.
Adding STR on dual wielders will
reduce its dodge and evasion.
Adding VIT will reduce its motion speed.

 

It's the focus on power relative to speed, and equipment, compared to skill sequence and usage. This changes boss perception too; main goal becomes to receive a drop than to experience the battle.

 

I'm currently playing a magic-warrior build and i'm content with it. It's a pretty fun and interesting build, and the only problems are that i'm lacking in skill points while the skill choice range is too wide, and the second is my damage suffers as i don't have any STR. If I were to switch to STR i'd lose nearly half of my MATK so i'm kinda stuck in wondering what to do

 

1.The way asobimo put useless status crap at the status screen, while in reality its the hidden stat that contributes the most
Def/mdef reduce dmg? nah it's Phys and mag res that reduce dmg
Flee makes enemy miss? 1k+ flee and enemy rarely miss, the only one that working is evasion
Critical rate? we have but we don't put it on screen

2.Cancerous boss atk pattern on higher lvl
Seriously, most high lvl and event bosses has some stuff in common: High frac dmg, aoe spam, fatal atk spam
Before i stopped playing, bosses that ignores ail res become much more common, like why you even bother adding that stat if future boss can ignore your ail resist?
God forbid if you have to fight multi boss in 1 round and all of them has one of those 3 traits. So its between repositioning that may get your dps killed, or try to hold your guard risking yourself. In the end, if you failed at either problem, dps will complain that its tank fault
I like challenges, but there is a thin line between hard and cancerous bosses, you can't just slap fatal atk and aoe spam and call it "high diff boss"

3.Str favoritism
Just read Op post

 

I like how you worded that. Bosses like Patissia or Volgagon (if the root exploit wouldn't exist) would enforce such a change. You won't really get anywhere with your high damage number showoff there