Skill level up system re-reshape

[frozen owl]

Suggestion: This suggestion is regarding the change that was put into place not long ago, where the skill level up system and drop rates for knowledge points was lowered, specifically:

"- Experience drop chance 100%

• Experience drop chance 50%

• Attack Power scale point per level 1

• Attack Power scale point per level 0.25

• Attack Speed, Protection, Vitality, Agility, Fortitude, Exploration scale point per level 1

• Attack Speed, Protection, Vitality, Agility, Fortitude, Exploration scale point per level 0.5"

With the changes made, it now takes an incredibly long time to level up, with the actual level payoff being simply not worth it.

Because the drop rates are now halved, it's a 50% slower process to get to a higher level, which gives you very little payoff for the 0.25-0.5 skill increase, which all-in-all makes very little change. I've personally felt it was a pretty drastic change, as at (currently) level 87, I've been stuck on the level for quite a while now, just because of how much exp it requires, while also struggling even more against stronger enemies. I've brough it up before the change, that some enemies were incredibly strong and was told those would be more end game, which - fair, however, now I feel like it's gonna take actual ages to get to a point where you could take them on at all, when I now struggle even against vindicators in half-netherite half-diamond enchanted armor - died to them twice today during a single raid.

So, my suggestion is: Please revert it back T^T

Pros: Faster leveling up leading to a more comfortable exploration style, allowing to actually enjoy the different dungeon mods included in the pack, as well as being able to grow relative to how much you're exploring, instead of it restricting you to relying on mob farms (which is what I am leaning towards doing rn, which I'm not a fan of)

Cons: Returning the "inbalance" of the previous set-up against vanilla mods [which to me I don't think is an imbalance, as it simply makes the game more enjoyable for those of us that are not explorers or fighters, leaving us not struggling against the most basic of mobs]

I will also say, it is incredibly weird that I think because of the fighting mode mod or smth, my fist does more damage than my enchanted netherite sword unless I'm in the fighting mod, which, as an explorer and someone who likes taking on dungeons is incredibly annoying to swap back and forth between the two, and it just makes getting upgraded weapons something that makes barely any sense, so maybe looking into that would be good, too.

and, if it's not a necessary one that takes part in anything else (cuz I dunno) maybe it would be worth considering disabling it for that reason

[icy falcon]

Hey @frozen owl, thanks for taking the time to write all this out! Balancing the combat in the server this season has absolutely been a challenge due to separate mods all affecting things in their own way, so we definitely understand where you're coming from.

The Epic Fights mod was added in to make combat more engaging and interesting as players explore the world and find new and exciting mobs to fights, including larger bosses that are added in with some of the other world-gen mods such as Alex's Caves, etc. It's definitely something to get used to while playing (needing to swap mining/combat mode), but we believe it adds more balance to our modpack by giving players more options and capabilities during fights to increase survivability.

Initially we felt that the skillpoint mod that we've implemented (Memories of the Past) was throwing off the balance of the server by allowing players to do too much damage in the very early game even when not using a weapon (this is what was causing the one-punch mob kills). Under the hood, every point added into attack power adds 1 point of damage to every attack that the player makes, so even having 10 points in attack power increased the punch power from it's default of 2 to a value of 10, which is what was causing everyone to feel overpowered in early game vanilla combat. This is why the value changes were made to Memories of the Past!

So with all this all being said, to help you with combat encounters it's highly recommended to use the fight mode provided by Epic Fights. This gives you access to defensive skills such as "Guard", "Roll", and "Step" which allow you to block melee attacks with any weapon, or dodge the damage entirely. In addition, there are many offensive skills that you can learn that deal large amounts of damage to enemies. If you're having difficulties with the mining/fighting mode, you can look in the mod config for options to assist with this! Two options specifically will help you out a lot here:

• "Auto Preparation" - This automatically puts you into fight mode when you take damage, so you don't have to manually do it when being attacked
• "Auto Switching Items" - This is a list that you can add your weapons/mining equipment to that will automatically switch from mode to mode when specific items are equipped

Between these two config options, we hope that you can find a flow that works better for you as you go out and explore!

Overall, the server is meant to be active for a long time to give many players the opportunity to join, build, and explore. It's our hope that the changes that were made will provide longevity to the gameplay and provide new and exciting content for players over the duration of that time. We'll absolutely keep making changes to balance and features to make sure the server is the best experience that we can provide to all players!

[frozen owl]

As much as I understand wanting things to feel balanced, of course, I just feel like being a bit overpowered for vanilla things is better than dying in a hit when trying to face the extra mods when playing by yourself.

Because while yes, the combat could be more engaging with the mod, it's not really when I can't even live long enough to try it out. Like- how on earth am I supposed to survive any of the dungeons when I'm in full netherite/diamond gear + tools and I die in seconds to a juiced out of their gord wither skeleton in full netherite on a hoglin in a blimp up above the earth T^T It makes it less "engaging" and just more so infuriating to try to experience the mods for yourself.

So while yes, you could probably get used to it, it's difficult to do so when you die almost instantly every time.

• just on a more personal note, it is incredibly difficult to swap back and forth between the modes when looting a dungeon when all I play on is a keyboard and touchpad, since that's all I have available to me, and the game bugs out if I try to hit "R" to swap modes to be in combat when something is constantly hittint me

[frozen owl]

I will add onto this, after playing for a bit more in the last few days:

There are still places on the map that even with the level of 90 I struggle with because of the level-up system changes. I have fully enchante netherite armor and tools and I still die, which to me is just something that takes the fun out of exploring the modded things. Also it's been a moment and even tho I got those 3 levels up it sure does not feel like a difference was made, and with it being such a high level for such low pay-off Imma be honest it's just pissing me off

[frozen owl]

@icy falcon