In the last beta, select players got the chance to test the upcoming class overhauls! As promised, here is a report on these tests. ![Tests refontes DOFUS Touch]()
As you may know, testing on the class overhauls due this year happened a few weeks ago to collect initial feedback before the beta version goes online in DOFUS Touch Early. We selected 18 volunteers (6 French-speaking, 6 Latin American, and 6 international) to grant access to the new spells.
After being debriefed by the two game designers in charge of overhauls and by community managers, they had over a week to play, gain familiarity with the classes, and form an opinion about their new functionalities. At the end of testing, we collected feedback through questionnaires we had asked them to fill out, which we then analyzed. We grouped the most pertinent and recurring aspects to establish trends on what was the most and least liked about each class.
We then fixed any bugs that were reported and applied modifications based on the most common feedback from testers as well as our own analyses and observations.
You can find the initial devblogs at the following pages:
Regarding the Sacrier class, it was mainly considered easy to get a grasp on, which was one of our goals. Its strength currently lies in its mobility and the variety of spells. However, the vast majority were disappointed with its relative inability to absorb attacks, and with the maximum amount of damage it can inflict. These two issues particularly apply to the spells Martyr Punishment and Vital Punishment.
The array of spells seems to have been used fairly consistently, regardless of the elemental path chosen. In general, the class seemed to be satisfactory for use in both PvP and PvM, albeit with questions raised about two end-level aspects. We hope to address those questions with the changes planned for punishments! We definitely noted concerns, which came up pretty frequently in the feedback, regarding certain overpowered spells such as Transposition and Hemostatic; these will be modified accordingly.
On the whole, the class was apparently fun to play and fairly well balanced, despite being generally a bit weak and fragile. We decided not to change spell damage values or the quantities of shields and reductions applied by spells to focus on modifying punishments, as mentioned earlier, and to look at, during the open beta, whether these changes are sufficient to adjust for this lack.
We've modified the following spells:
To avoid the frustration of facing an opponent whose resistance and power keep going up throughout the battle, we decided to change how punishments work so that these provide higher bonuses but must be used by the Sacrier more quickly. We also took the opportunity to modify the Vital Punishment's base mechanic so that this punishment is more consistent with how the Martyr Punishment works (see below).
The Eniripsa was the class that testers had the hardest time getting the hang of. That said, overall comprehension of the class improved considerably over the course of testing, and it seems to have been better mastered in the end.
Players had a great time playing this new Eniripsa, especially the gameplay involving flasks and mark management. However, they were disappointed with the inadequate amount of healing in the Fire path, as well as the Eniripsa's fragility. The Air and Water paths were very popular, although Water damage seems to be a subject of debate; some players thought this type of damage was a little high, others thought it was too low, and some thought it was well balanced.
Everyone more or less agrees on the Eniripsa's effectiveness in PvM, whether solo or in a group. Its effectiveness in PvP, while good overall, seems more mixed; this is particularly due to the lack of healing observed in the Fire path.
The disappearance of several utility spells was noted; this is a result of the new spells that were assigned to it, with the goal of making the class more active in combat. The more varied gameplay of this class was therefore almost universally noted and praised by testers.
To make certain spells and effects more understandable, we've applied the following changes:
Striking Word: The spell now always steals health. We've reduced its damage to compensate for this.
Word of Altruism: The spell no longer sets the cooldown period for Stimulating Word at 1.
Flasks: The flasks' area of effects are shown on mouseover before casting the spell.
Descriptions: The descriptions for the Remedy Flask, Striking Word, Word of Altruism, and Stimulating Word have been updated so they're easier to understand.
To make the Fire path more effective, we've improved the following spells and effects:
We've adjusted a few Fire path spells in order to balance this path:
Finally, we reduced the power of two problematic effects:
Bugs observed when playing the Eniripsa have been fixed:
With regard to the Cra class, it was initially quite easy to get the hang of, even though the potential of spells' synergy with beacons took longer to grasp, along with the Earth path mechanic involving dual-effect spells. The mechanic of replicating effects on beacons was highly praised for its tactical and offensive potential, although some were unhappy with the beacon placement time, being limited to once per turn.
Both in PvP and PvM, this class seems to have been able to assume a role, mainly with the Fire path for PvM and the Air path for PvP. Certain spells are controversial, such as Pitfall and Explosive Arrow, which some deemed underpowered and others overpowered.
While beacons and the Fire Cra's Burnt state were used by most testers, the Earth Cra's Guardian state was used much less often, due to its requirements and its lacking usefulness at lower levels. For now we don't plan to ease these requirements, but we're considering increasing the associated bonuses to offset this.
On the whole, Cras appear to have been satisfactory in the various roles they can assume, although their interference potential may be too strong at this point. Their complexity and the new depth of their gameplay seems to have appealed to a majority of testers without frustrating those who sought to play their Cra without the beacon mechanic, as they could previously.
We've modified the following spells:
Bugs observed when playing the Cra have been fixed:
All the testers seem to have enjoyed the three classes, beyond the feedback mentioned above, and they all said they were fairly pleased with the overhauls. They told us they were curious to test these classes once a beta version of the update is released, and then on the game servers. We hope all of you feel the same way after completing your own tests over the summer. Additional changes are expected up until the beta, and definitely during this latest one on certain spells. We also want to reiterate that additional changes are expected for certain spells before the update is released on the game servers.
We hope this brief report has allowed you to learn more about this first testing phase we conducted, and about our intentions for these three classes.
We also want to remind you that changes will be applied to other classes and that these will be available in the beta to take place in the summer. You'll also get to see the changes being made to class sets, temple dopples, and the Dopple Summon spell, although the last one may not happen until later this summer.
We'd like to once again thank the players who took part in these tests in their spare time and showed their commitment by providing comprehensive feedback. Their opinions helped us to identify or confirm the potential issues and positive aspects of each class.
As you may know, testing on the class overhauls due this year happened a few weeks ago to collect initial feedback before the beta version goes online in DOFUS Touch Early. We selected 18 volunteers (6 French-speaking, 6 Latin American, and 6 international) to grant access to the new spells.
After being debriefed by the two game designers in charge of overhauls and by community managers, they had over a week to play, gain familiarity with the classes, and form an opinion about their new functionalities. At the end of testing, we collected feedback through questionnaires we had asked them to fill out, which we then analyzed. We grouped the most pertinent and recurring aspects to establish trends on what was the most and least liked about each class.
We then fixed any bugs that were reported and applied modifications based on the most common feedback from testers as well as our own analyses and observations.
You can find the initial devblogs at the following pages:
Feedback and Changes
Sacrier
Report
Regarding the Sacrier class, it was mainly considered easy to get a grasp on, which was one of our goals. Its strength currently lies in its mobility and the variety of spells. However, the vast majority were disappointed with its relative inability to absorb attacks, and with the maximum amount of damage it can inflict. These two issues particularly apply to the spells Martyr Punishment and Vital Punishment.
The array of spells seems to have been used fairly consistently, regardless of the elemental path chosen. In general, the class seemed to be satisfactory for use in both PvP and PvM, albeit with questions raised about two end-level aspects. We hope to address those questions with the changes planned for punishments! We definitely noted concerns, which came up pretty frequently in the feedback, regarding certain overpowered spells such as Transposition and Hemostatic; these will be modified accordingly.
On the whole, the class was apparently fun to play and fairly well balanced, despite being generally a bit weak and fragile. We decided not to change spell damage values or the quantities of shields and reductions applied by spells to focus on modifying punishments, as mentioned earlier, and to look at, during the open beta, whether these changes are sufficient to adjust for this lack.
Changes
We've modified the following spells:
- Transposition: The spell can no longer be cast during the first turn.
- Hemostatic: The spell's range has been reduced. Its maximum range is now 4. This range is no longer modifiable.
- Life Transfer: The Perfusion state can no longer be applied to a Sacrier on the team.
- Flying Sword: Now deals less damage at lower levels and more damage at higher levels.
- Condensation: The attraction system has been modified; an attracted target can no longer go outside the center of the spell's area of effect. We changed how it works to make movement easier to grasp.
- Punishment: The spell's base damage has been increased for each spell level so that it can be used more effectively earlier in combat.
To avoid the frustration of facing an opponent whose resistance and power keep going up throughout the battle, we decided to change how punishments work so that these provide higher bonuses but must be used by the Sacrier more quickly. We also took the opportunity to modify the Vital Punishment's base mechanic so that this punishment is more consistent with how the Martyr Punishment works (see below).
- Vital Punishment: The spell now works in the following way:
- Reduces damage suffered on the current turn each time damage is suffered.
- Can be stacked 5 times.
- Martyr Punishment:
- The amount of maximum power received has been increased.
- The effect duration of the bonus gained has been reduced.
Bug Fixes
- Coagulation: Damage is properly absorbed by the shield generated by the spell.
Eniripsa
Report
The Eniripsa was the class that testers had the hardest time getting the hang of. That said, overall comprehension of the class improved considerably over the course of testing, and it seems to have been better mastered in the end.
Players had a great time playing this new Eniripsa, especially the gameplay involving flasks and mark management. However, they were disappointed with the inadequate amount of healing in the Fire path, as well as the Eniripsa's fragility. The Air and Water paths were very popular, although Water damage seems to be a subject of debate; some players thought this type of damage was a little high, others thought it was too low, and some thought it was well balanced.
Everyone more or less agrees on the Eniripsa's effectiveness in PvM, whether solo or in a group. Its effectiveness in PvP, while good overall, seems more mixed; this is particularly due to the lack of healing observed in the Fire path.
The disappearance of several utility spells was noted; this is a result of the new spells that were assigned to it, with the goal of making the class more active in combat. The more varied gameplay of this class was therefore almost universally noted and praised by testers.
Changes
To make certain spells and effects more understandable, we've applied the following changes:
Striking Word: The spell now always steals health. We've reduced its damage to compensate for this.
Word of Altruism: The spell no longer sets the cooldown period for Stimulating Word at 1.
Flasks: The flasks' area of effects are shown on mouseover before casting the spell.
Descriptions: The descriptions for the Remedy Flask, Striking Word, Word of Altruism, and Stimulating Word have been updated so they're easier to understand.
To make the Fire path more effective, we've improved the following spells and effects:
- Heartwarming Word:
- We've increased the spell's healing by about a third.
- Its minimum range has been set at 0 to allow the Eniripsa to heal themself more easily.
- The spell's damage at level 6 has been increased slightly.
- Revitalising Word: We raised its number of uses per turn from 2 to 3.
- Stimulating Word: The spell now places a Blessed Mark on the caster as well.
- Cursed Mark (Fire): The effect now removes 2 times more power.
- Sparkling Word:
- The spell no longer has a straight-line casting requirement.
- The Range is no longer modifiable but has been increased by 1.
- Unsettling Word: The spell's AP cost is now 4 (down from 5).
We've adjusted a few Fire path spells in order to balance this path:
- Vampiric Word: The spell's damage has been increased slightly.
- Overwhelming Word: We raised its number of uses per turn from 1 to 2.
Finally, we reduced the power of two problematic effects:
- Blessed Mark: The healing multiplier of this mark has been significantly reduced to prevent overuse tied to healing weapons.
- Mocking Word: The spell was too powerful and frustrating for opponents. It can now only be cast once every 2 turns (at level 6).
Bug Fixes
Bugs observed when playing the Eniripsa have been fixed:
- Unsettling Word: The spell now accounts for the Gravity state.
- Cursed Mark: Fixed a bug that prevented the mark from triggering more than once per turn.
- Stimulating Word: The AP gain could stack on the spell caster. This is no longer possible.
Cra
Report
With regard to the Cra class, it was initially quite easy to get the hang of, even though the potential of spells' synergy with beacons took longer to grasp, along with the Earth path mechanic involving dual-effect spells. The mechanic of replicating effects on beacons was highly praised for its tactical and offensive potential, although some were unhappy with the beacon placement time, being limited to once per turn.
Both in PvP and PvM, this class seems to have been able to assume a role, mainly with the Fire path for PvM and the Air path for PvP. Certain spells are controversial, such as Pitfall and Explosive Arrow, which some deemed underpowered and others overpowered.
While beacons and the Fire Cra's Burnt state were used by most testers, the Earth Cra's Guardian state was used much less often, due to its requirements and its lacking usefulness at lower levels. For now we don't plan to ease these requirements, but we're considering increasing the associated bonuses to offset this.
On the whole, Cras appear to have been satisfactory in the various roles they can assume, although their interference potential may be too strong at this point. Their complexity and the new depth of their gameplay seems to have appealed to a majority of testers without frustrating those who sought to play their Cra without the beacon mechanic, as they could previously.
Changes
We've modified the following spells:
- Punitive Arrow: The minimum casting range has been reduced (from 6 to 8; 9 at level 6).
- Grapple Arrow: The spell's Range has increased by 1 at level 5 and 6. The movement distance is still 3 cells.
- Pursuit Arrow: A stacking limit for effects on the caster has been added (1 max) to limit the amount of MP you can gain each turn.
Bug Fixes
Bugs observed when playing the Cra have been fixed:
- Plaguing Arrow:
- The row should be properly deactivated when using the Last Bastion spell.
- The spell should properly trigger the effects of certain spells that activate when direct damage is received (such as the Mecanofoux's Rotapush spell).
- Explosive Arrow: The power gain and the damage when used on beacons will be fixed.
- Bat's Eye: Damage when used on a beacon will be fixed.
- Lashing Arrow:
- The spell will correctly apply Erosion to opponents instead of allies.
- The power gain effect will be properly limited.
- The base critical hit rate has been corrected to 1/40.
- Dispersing Arrow: The spell executes properly even if the center of the area is empty.
- Distant Shooting: The spell bonuses have been fixed; the amount of CH granted was unusually high.
In Closing
All the testers seem to have enjoyed the three classes, beyond the feedback mentioned above, and they all said they were fairly pleased with the overhauls. They told us they were curious to test these classes once a beta version of the update is released, and then on the game servers. We hope all of you feel the same way after completing your own tests over the summer. Additional changes are expected up until the beta, and definitely during this latest one on certain spells. We also want to reiterate that additional changes are expected for certain spells before the update is released on the game servers.
We hope this brief report has allowed you to learn more about this first testing phase we conducted, and about our intentions for these three classes.
We also want to remind you that changes will be applied to other classes and that these will be available in the beta to take place in the summer. You'll also get to see the changes being made to class sets, temple dopples, and the Dopple Summon spell, although the last one may not happen until later this summer.
We'd like to once again thank the players who took part in these tests in their spare time and showed their commitment by providing comprehensive feedback. Their opinions helped us to identify or confirm the potential issues and positive aspects of each class.