default modifier would be an increase for 90% of monsters; most have just a fraction of the base value.
base at max level would be around ((20AGL x1.4)+5)x1.5=47
I think I'll work with just 4 modifiers:
-100% for stuff that should be easy to hit (bulettes, golems)
-30% as default = 33 evade at max, so 22 AGL hawk would never miss here, all other need speed up to meet 100% hitrate
0% for e.g. ninjas and birds
100% for ghosts and devils
This is easy to intuit for the player, and effective.
Counter MagicJust a minor bug report regarding Counter Magic (vanilla, and probably still applicable for your patch) -- whenever an enemy uses Counter Magic (Gildervine, Mispolm), they reflect Air, Fire, and Water magic, but not Earth, Light, Dark, and Tree magic. Counter Magic works as intended (reflects all elements) when the player uses it though. I'm not sure why that's the case, since Gildervine is only immune to Tree magic, so elemental weakness/strength doesn't seem to have anything to do with it.
I understand it is not a bug, but the implementation the developers opted for doesn't make a lot of sense, alas. It is not symetrical with the player's spell nor it is coherent with what one would expect. It's minor, but it's a lack of consistency from a gameplay perspective.
Deny enemy counter movesIf I understand correctly, there are two problems here :
- early enemies will counter more often than later enemies, so even without actively increasing luck, the game will become easier
- the cancellation's rate by the end of the game is too high (especially now with instant spell-casting).
I feel that adding a character modifier is a bit arbitrary (inelegant). Enemies's LUCK may need to be attributed new values to be included in the formula (I don't know, but maybe some boss relies on counters, yet has a bad luck).
I was thinking of this, if that helps: player's LUCK / (20 + Handicap), the handicap being 10 for class 2 enemies, and 20 for class 3 enemies.
For ex.
- base Duran vs early enemy: 2 / 20 = 10%
- base Hawk vs early enemy: 6 / 20 = 30%
=> Better chances than in current patch in early game.
- max LUCK Duran vs late enemy: 15 / (20 + 20) = 37.50%
- max LUCK Hawk vs late enemy: 22 / (20 + 20) = 55%
=> Lesser chances than in current patch in late game.
A further handicap against bosses is an interesting tool, if necessary.
Instant spell castingAccording to Red Soul, instant spell casting is too strong right now (will a new formula for counter-cancel help?).
Yet, instant spell casting seems the best solution:
- to improve magic characters, who are too weak compared to melee characters in the base game
- for consistency, as the exploit for instant casting cannot be fixed.
So, instant spell casting is a good start but needs to be balanced (like were critical hits) in the optional patch:
- apply a malus to damage for players' spells?
- increase their mp cost?