Grim Dawn Grim Misadventures #45 and #46

A 45th and 46th “Grim Misadventures” update await you over on the Grim Dawn forums this evening, with these two entries sharing details on the rogue-like dungeons we’ll be exploring and the constitution/ration mechanics the game will feature going forward. A sampling from each to start you off:

For those not familiar, “rogue-like” games were early predecessors to the modern action-RPG and the name is derived from the 1980’s game Rogue. Rogue-likes are characterized by random layouts and permanent death that made the experience intense and final victory all the more satisfying. Unless you have started a hardcore character, you won’t die permanently in Grim Dawn but we have tried to capture the thrill of rogue-likes in these special challenge dungeons by sealing the door upon entering and disabling riftgates so that there is no escape except by gruesome death or fighting your way triumphantly to the end.

If you have not played Grim Dawn Early Access yet, the Steps of Torment is one of the most challenging dungeons currently available in Grim Dawn, featuring some of the strongest enemies and biggest rewards. However, only the first three floors of this dangerous location are currently available. Those enjoying Early Access will soon discover that there are two more floors that descend even deeper into Arkovia’s dark past.

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Grim Dawn currently features a powerful healing system that activates upon leaving combat for a few seconds. It is commonly referred to as Out-Of-Combat Regen and abbreviated to “ooc regen”. The system was implemented in order to reduce overal reliance on health potions and eliminate the need to drink potions after battles to refill health before engaging the next group of enemies.

However, some perceived the unlimited healing as an exploit that made the game too easy. Since health potions were expensive and ooc regen free, it also “forced” players to constantly leave combat and regen as a means of conserving health potions. This slowed down the pace of combat and was also skewed in favor of ranged characters who, already fighting from the fringe of combat, could more easily access ooc regen and did so more frequently.

Previously, our only means of balancing ooc regen was to reduce or eliminate it. In B17 we significantly slowed the rate of regen. This alleviated the feeling of it being overpowered but slowed down gameplay, increasing the time it took to run around avoiding enemies and regenerate during battles. It also resulted in times where people wouldn’t be fully healed by the time they reached the next group fo enemies and would have to stop and wait.

We realized that we needed an additional mechanic that would allow ooc regen remain fast but not feel cheap and unlimited. The solution was a new long-term resource we called “constitution”.