Hexen Rebalanced - A subtle balance mod for Hexen [Beta 7]

[ReaperAA]

Hello folks. I had been working on a Hexen balance mod for some time and I even created a thread to discuss about Hexen balance suggestion.

 

And now I have decided to release my very first mod named "Hexen Rebalanced" (suggestions for a better name are welcomed)

 

This is a balance mod for Hexen that adds a variety of minor tweaks and balance changes, which make the game less tedious and more fun/engaging. I made this mod after being inspired by Wayfarer's Tome and decided to make a similar mod for Hexen.

 

There are two pk3 files in the package called "Hexen_Rebalanced" and "Hexen_Rebalanced_Modified_Bosses". The first one is the main file and the second one is the optional file which changes the behaviour of Heresiarch and Korax drastically. For playing custom wads, I recommend using only the main "Hexen_Rebalanced_Beta_6" file because the redesigned bosses might not work well in them due to bad balance.

 

Note that my vision of balance contains overhaul/change of some gameplay designs (like reducing Mage's dependence on Sapphire Wand) and is not necessarily an evolution of canonical ideas.

 

Get mod from Here: Hexen Rebalanced Beta 7.zip (Tested with both GZdoom and Zandronum)

 

Older versions:

Spoiler

Beta 1: Hexen Rebalanced Beta1.zip

Beta 2: Hexen Rebalanced Beta2.zip

Beta 3: Hexen Rebalanced Beta3.zip

Beta 4: Hexen Rebalanced Beta4a.zip

Beta 5: Hexen Rebalanced Beta 5A.zip

Beta 6: Hexen Rebalanced Beta 6.zip

 

What wads/mapsets are recommended alongside this mod?

I have played and tested the following wads/mapsets with the mod. This list will increase with more wads that I manage to play.

 

- A New World (ANW)

- Cyrgoth's Manor

- Cyrgoth's Revenge

- Penumbra

- Scourge of Viscerus

 

As the mod is in beta, I would like to get feedback about how to improve the mod's balance before releasing next beta.

 

 

Changes from Hexen (present in the main file):

Spoiler

Inventory Items:
- Fighter's flechettes have more range and travel speed.
- Discs of Replusion can now deflect homing projectiles back at the attackers.

Player Weapons:
- Mace of Contrition's damage increased from 25/35 to 45/55. It kills ettins in 4 hits now. Its range(reach) is also increased to that of Timon's Axe.
- Mace of Contrition can now pushback an enemy when it hits.
- Slightly reduced radius of Sapphire Wand projectile. This means that they can pass through smaller gaps.
- Sapphire wand projectiles no longer have infinite range. The range is roughly the same as Firestorm's projectile.
- Sapphire Wand projectile has missile height fixed so that tracers don't appear lower. The animation of projectile death and tracers also sped up.
- Very slightly increased rate of fire of Timon's Axe so that it still remains very relevant even after Hammer of Retribution is obtained.
- Increased projectile speeds of Hammer of Retribution and Serpent Staff.
- Firestorm's circular side projectiles have increased damage radius.
- Firestorm has its animation sequence tweaked and also slightly slowed rate of fire to compensate for its now increased firepower.
- Frost Shards has its animation sequence revised (Credit to Lord Boarmont).
- Frost Shards cost 2 ammo instead of 3 and its rate of fire + damage is also increased.
- Frost Shard's projectile have readjusted dynamic lights to reduce performance impact.
- Faster travelling and faster damaging arc for Arc of Death.
- Quietus consumes 10/10 mana instead of 14/14 mana and its rate of fire is also slightly increased.
- Quietus projectiles have now "Fire" DamageType property.
- Wraithverge ghosts have their health reduced from 105 to 80. This translates to about 25% reduced duration of the ghosts. Despite this nerf, it is still the best weapon in the game against non-bosses.
- Wraithverge's primary projectile damage vastly increased. This was done to prevent the weapon from becoming too weak against bosses due to above change although the weapon is still not too good against them.
- Wraithverge's rate of fire slowed down.
- Bloodscourge consumes 12/12 mana instead of 15/15 mana.
- Bloodscourge's rate of fire very slightly slowed down.
- Bloodscourge projectiles have been redesigned. They no longer pierce through enemies. Instead they now do damage on a big radius upon impact. Most effective against group of enemies clumbed together.

Enemies:
- Afrit, Chaos Serpent and Bishop have slightly more damaging projectiles (more damage on average).
- Centaurs/Slaughters have a new "Pain.Electric" state so that Arc of Death will not get interrupted by any invulnerability. This will cause Centaurs to be properly vulnerable to electric damage (Credit to Lord Boarmont).
- Centaurs/Slaughters have their shielding duration almost halved (reduced from 45 tics to 25 tics).
- Centaurs/Slaughters have their speed increased from 13/10 to 16/14 respectively and their mass increased from 120 to 150.
- Centaurs/Slaughters make a slight leap forward when performing a melee attack.
- Centaurs/Slaughters take 20% more damage from fire based attacks.
- Slaughters have increased delay after they raise their shield before they fire their projectile.
- Bishops have 20% faster moving projectiles and their homing capability has been slightly improved.
- Bishops have their health reduced from 130 to 110.
- Green and Brown Chaos Serpents have their health increased from 250 to 280.
- Brown Chaos Serpents' projectile do 40% less direct damage on average but they now cause poisoning over time.
- Stalkers and Stalker bosses have slightly increased delay after emerging before attacking.
- Stalkers and Stalker bosses have increased pain chance from 90 to 128.
- Afrits take 30% less damage from fire based attacks and 50% more damage from ice based projectiles.
- Wendigos take 30% less damage from ice based attacks and 50% more damage from fire based projectiles.
- Wendigos have slightly increased firing windup delay.
- Zedek(Fighter Boss) can attack vertically now.
- Heresiarch has following main attributes:
   - Heresiarch's shielding lasts for a single attack instead of always lasting for 30 seconds (Credit to Lord Boarmont).
   - Heresiarch's health increased from 5000 to 6000 (to slightly compensate for his shield nerf)
   - Takes 25% less damage from fire based attacks and 35% less damage from electric based projectiles.
   - Pain chance is now 4.
   - He moves around more and slightly faster.
   - Disiples do not infight with him.
- Korax has following main attributes:
   - Health increased from 5000 to 7000.
   - Takes 25% less damage from fire based attacks and 35% less damage from electric based projectiles.
   - Pain chance is now 4.
   - Speed increased from 10 to 12.

Props:
- Small and Large shrubs do not get auto-targeted. This is to prevent autoaim from targeting them when player did not intend to attack them.
- XMas trees are no longer auto-targetted by autoaim, though they can still be destroyed.

Graphics/Miscellaneous:
- Included Neoworm's widescreen friendly graphics.
- Included Virtue's brightmaps.
- Brightmaps of crystal vials, quartz flask and flechette from Nightfright's brightmaps plus.
- Implemented a KEYCONF lump that adds a section to the Configure Controls menu in GZDoom to let you bind keys for inventory items.

 

 

Boss Changes in Optional File:

Spoiler

- Heresiarch has been completely redesigned. He now has following main attributes:
   - Effective Health increased from 5000 to 10000.
   - Takes 25% less damage from fire based attacks and 35% less damage from electric based projectiles.
   - Pain chance is now 4.
   - His shielding effect has been removed.
   - He moves around more and slightly faster.
   - Disiples do not infight with him.
   - His abilities have been completely reworked. He now has five different attacks/abilities
   - His 1st attack is the stream of purple projectiles like before. Except they now move faster and target the player instead of the ground infornt of him
   - His 2nd attack is firing 6 blue energy balls in a single horizontal patern. Each of these divide into smaller and smaller balls.
   - His 3rd attack is firing 5 lightning arcs of death.
   - His 4th attack is firing a seeking/homing soul.
   - His 5th attack is spawning 2 Dark Bishops when its health is below 50%.
- Korax has been partially redesigned. He now has following main attributes:
   - Effective Health increased from 5000 to 8000.
   - Takes 25% less damage from fire based attacks and 35% less damage from electric based projectiles.
   - Pain chance is now 4.
   - Speed increased from 10 to 12.
   - Now has greater chance of triggering an event/commanding.
   - He has a new attack which is firing 6 blue energy balls from each of his arms one by one. Each of these divide into smaller and smaller balls.

 

 

To Do List:
- Get feedback about balance issues and to further improve balance.

 

 

Known Issues/Bugs: None.

 

 

Credits:

Spoiler

- Balance changes by ReaperAA.
- Widescreen graphics by Neoworm.
- Brightmaps by Virtue.

- Brightmaps of crystal vials, quartz flasks and flechettes taken from NightFright's brightmap_plus.

- Tormentor667, Eriance and Ghastly Dragon for Avator in Realm667 which was used as a base for redesigning Heresiarch.
- Lord Boarmont for some balancing ideas and code.
- R4L for telling me about using SBARINFO to implement custom 4th weapon pieces on HUD/Statbar.
- Not Jabba for making Wayfarer's Tome that inspired me to make a similar mod for Hexen and for also making use of Wayfarer's credits file as a template ;)

Feel free to use anything from the mod. Just give proper credit to the other guys (I don't mind if you don't credit me for this).

Edited February 18, 2021 by ReaperAA

[ReaperAA]

Reserved comment (for future editing reasons)

[ReaperAA]

Beta 2 has been released. I did not intend to release this so early (since beta 1 was released only 3 days ago) but the Quietus item pieces not showing on the HUD really bothered me (I have fixed it) and I have also managed to implement KEYCONF lump for inventory items.

 

So here it is: Hexen Rebalanced Beta2.zip

 

It has following changes from Beta 1.

Quote

Weapons:

- Quietus mana cost further reduced from 12/12 to 10/10.

- Shards projectiles from frost shards do roughly 30% more damage on average.

 

Enemies:

- Reverted faster projectiles of afrits from beta 1.

- Stalkers and Stalker bosses have slightly increased delay after emerging before attacking.

 

Props:
- Small and Large shrubs cannot be targeted. This is to prevent autoaim from targeting them when player did not intend to attack them.

 

Graphics/Miscellaneous:
- Implemented a KEYCONF lump that adds a section to the Configure Controls menu in GZDoom to let you bind keys for inventory items.
- Included Virtue's brightmaps.

 

Bug fixes:

- Fixed Quietus item pieces not showing on HUD/Starbar.

 

Edited May 22, 2019 by ReaperAA

[hybridial]

Hi, I signed up mainly just to say, nice work, you're doing a lot to make Hexen more fun to play, same with The Wayfarer's Tome, its kind of amazing how much better these games are just with some small gameplay tweaks. 

[ReaperAA]

30 minutes ago, hybridial said:

Hi, I signed up mainly just to say, nice work, you're doing a lot to make Hexen more fun to play, same with The Wayfarer's Tome, its kind of amazing how much better these games are just with some small gameplay tweaks. 

 

As a newbie modder, it really makes me happy that u liked the mod. If u have any suggestions to improve the mod, don't hesitate to share. 

 

I am going to release Beta 3 in a few days which will improve boss enemies. I have already revamped Heresiarch and given him new types of attacks.

Edited May 30, 2019 by ReaperAA

[Beezle]

2 hours ago, ReaperAA said:

I am going to release Beta 3 in a few days which will improve boss enemies. I have already revamped Heresiarch and given him new types of attacks.

Ha cool! Look forward to replaying Hexen with this. The puzzles can be a real pain in the ass on first playthrough (I think it took me 10 - 12 hours first time playthrough WITH looking up gameplay vids from time to time lol) but its definitely up there as one of my favorites. Thanks for putting this together:)

[ReaperAA]

Good news for Zandronum users. I just tested it on Zandro yesterday and found 1 bug that prevented it from loading. I have now fixed the bug and mod will now work on it from Beta 3 onwards.

[ReaperAA]

Beta 3 has been released. The 2 main highlights are Zandronum compatibility and redesigned bosses (Heresiarch/Korax).

 

So here it is: Hexen Rebalanced Beta3.zip

 

It has following changes from Beta 2.

Quote

Weapons:

- Fighter's flechettes have more range and travel speed.

- Frost Shard's projectile have readjusted dynamic lights to reduce performance impact.

 

Enemies:

- Centaurs/Slaughters have their speed changed from 15/15 to 16/14 respectively.

- Centaurs/Slaughters make a slight leap forward when performing a melee attack.
- Centaurs/Slaughters take 30% more damage from fire based attacks.
- Slaughters have increased delay after they raise their shield before they fire their projectile.

- Stalkers and Stalker bosses have increased pain chance from 90 to 128.
- Afrits take 30% less damage from fire based attacks and 50% more damage from ice based projectiles.
- Wendigos take 30% less damage from ice based attacks and 50% more damage from fire based projectiles.
- Heresiarch as been completely redesigned. He now has following main attributes:
   - Health increased from 5000 to 10000.
   - Takes 30% less damage from fire based attacks and 20% less damage from electric based projectiles.
   - Pain chance is now 0.
   - His shielding effect has been removed.
   - He moves around more and slightly faster.
   - Disiples do not infight with him.
   - His abilities have been completely reworked. He now has five different attacks/abilities
   - His 1st attack is the stream of purple projectiles like before. Except they now move faster and target the player instead of the ground infornt of him
   - His 2nd attack is firing 6 blue energy balls in a single horizontal patern. Each of these divide into smaller and smaller balls.
   - His 3rd attack is firing 5 lightning arcs of death.
   - His 4th attack is firing a seeking/homing soul.
   - His 5th attack is spawning 3 Dark Bishops.
- Korax has been partially redesigned. He now has following main attributes:
   - Health increased from 5000 to 10000.
   - Takes 30% less damage from fire based attacks and 20% less damage from electric based projectiles.
   - Pain chance is now 0.
   - Speed increased from 10 to 12.
   - Now has greater chance of triggering an event/commanding.
   - He has a new attack which is firing 6 blue energy balls from each of his arms one by one. Each of these divide into smaller and smaller balls.

 

Graphics/Miscellaneous:
- Added brightmaps of crystal vials, quartz flask and flechette from Nightfright's brightmaps plus.

 

Bug fixes:

- Changed the code for Cleric's mace that prevented Zandronum from working before.

 

[ReaperAA]

Beta 4 has been released. The main highlights are bug fixes, coding optimizations and balance chances. 

 

Get from Here: Hexen Rebalanced Beta4a.zip

 

It has following changes from Beta 3.

Quote

Weapons:

- Bloodscourge consumes 12/12 mana instead of 15/15 mana.

- Bloodscourge projectiles have slightly less damage radius.

- Sapphire Wand projectile has missile height fixed so that tracers don't appear lower. The animation of projectile death and tracers also sped up.

- Damage amount and radius of Firestorm's circular side projectiles increased.

- Firestorm's rate of fire slightly reduced to compensate for its firepower.

 

Enemies:

- Afrit, Chaos Serpent and Bishop have slightly more damaging projectiles (slightly more damage on average).

- Green and Brown Chaos Serpents have their health changed from 220 and 300 respectively to 280.

- Brown Chaos Serpents' projectiles have their poison damage reworked and improved. Screen now also becomes green tinted with poisoned.

- Wendigos have slightly increased windup delay before firing. This makes them less BS on skill 5.
- Heresiarch's attacks have increased windup delay before firing. This makes him less BS on skill 5.
- Korax's health reduced from 10000 to 8000.

- Korax and Heresiarch now take 25% less damage from fire based attacks and 35% less damage from electric based projectiles.

 

Bug fixes:

- Fixed dynamic lights of Afrits, Heresiarch and Korax.

 

Edited July 9, 2019 by ReaperAA

[ReaperAA]

And of course I messed up. I forgot to remove the damage line from Sapphire Wand's definition after testing. In Beta 4, it did higher damage than intended. Also I have slightly reduced Firestorm's ROF as a balance change because it felt a bit too powerful. The link in OP and the above post has been updated with Beta 4a.

Edited July 9, 2019 by ReaperAA

[ReaperAA]

Beta 5 has been released. Get it from here: Hexen Rebalanced Beta 5.zip

 

This version is most likely going to be the last version in a long long time. The main highlight of this beta is that I have removed the new boss behaviours/attacks (only slight stat changes remain) as they could cause serious balance issues in custom wads/levels. Instead those changes have been moved to an optional "Modified Bosses" file which can be loaded alongside the main file if one desires the new boss behaviour.

 

The other changes include:

Quote

Inventory Items:
- Discs of Replusion can now deflect homing projectiles back at the attackers.

 

Weapons:

- Mace of Contrition can now pushback an enemy when it hits.

- Frost Shards no longer cause enemies to shatter immediately (i.e reverted to vanilla behaviour). As much as I liked the immediate shattering, it took away the uniqueness of the weapon.

- Quietus projectiles have improved death states, which means that they don't overkill enemies and thus more effective.

 

Enemies:

- Centaurs/Slaughters take 20% more damage from fire based attacks (down from 25% more damage as in case of previous beta).

- Zedek(Fighter Boss) can attack vertically now.

- Heresiarch has following main attributes:
   - Takes 25% less damage from fire based attacks and 35% less damage from electric based projectiles.
   - Pain chance is now 0.
   - He moves around more and slightly faster.
   - Disiples do not infight with him.
- Korax has following main attributes:
   - Health increased from 5000 to 7000.
   - Takes 25% less damage from fire based attacks and 35% less damage from electric based projectiles.
   - Pain chance is now 0.
   - Speed increased from 10 to 12.

 

(older Heresiarch and Korax behaviour relegated to the optional "modified bosses" file)

 

Bug fixes:

- Fixed flechettes hotkey in KEYCONF file.

 

[DwarfCleric]

I registered just to thank you, I can finally tolerate Hexen now, those Centaurs were the bane of my existence... How could I edit enemies even further? And is there a way to disable enemy respawning altogether? I wish something similar existed to get rid of the Slimey thingies in Quake episode 4, that would be awesome.

[Gokuma]

Cool work!   Only thing I don't like is changing enemies' pain chance to 0 so you can never interrupt them, see their pain frame, or hear their ouch.   I would leave some small chance.

 

Heresiarch is normally 10, same as an Arch-Vile.

Korax is normally 20, same as a Cyberdemon.

Maybe lower it to half those or make them both 5?   I think max is 255 for reacting every time, so 5 would be 1 out of 51 or roughly 2% chance for each hit.

[ReaperAA]

10 hours ago, DwarfCleric said:

I registered just to thank you, I can finally tolerate Hexen now, those Centaurs were the bane of my existence... How could I edit enemies even further? And is there a way to disable enemy respawning altogether? I wish something similar existed to get rid of the Slimey thingies in Quake episode 4, that would be awesome.

 

To edit enemies further, you first have to download SLADE which is a wad/pk3 editing tool. Then open the Hexen Rebalanced file from it and you would find the contents stored in it. The DECORATE file (which is a text file) inside has the new monsters/weapons defined in it. You would have to learn some DECORATE modding before being able to define new actors.

 

Regarding disabling enemy respawning, I don't know. I might be possible but I haven't tried it yet.

 

3 hours ago, Gokuma said:

Cool work!   Only thing I don't like is changing enemies' pain chance to 0 so you can never interrupt them, see their pain frame, or hear their ouch.   I would leave some small chance.

 

Heresiarch is normally 10, same as an Arch-Vile.

Korax is normally 20, same as a Cyberdemon.

Maybe lower it to half those or make them both 5?   I think max is 255 for reacting every time, so 5 would be 1 out of 51 or roughly 2% chance for each hit.

 

The reason I reduced the the pain chance to zero was because that the improved frost shards was too good against the bosses with old pain chance values. But maybe u r right that I probably should have halfed them instead of making them zero. I may change this if I make a new version.

 

Edited August 22, 2019 by ReaperAA

[ReaperAA]

Bump. Beta 5A has been released. Get it from here: Hexen Rebalanced Beta 5A.zip

 

This version is just a minor bugfix version so there are no significant changes. The only change is that Korax's base health has been reduced from 7000hp and back to the original 5000hp. However this is compensated by reducing the values of all of the "DamageFactors" in such a way that he effectively still has pretty much the same durability as in the previous version of the mod.

 

The reason I did this change is because previously when Korax lost 5000hp, the exit portal would open up despite him being alive (possibly because due to some weird script that opens the exit if Korax lost more than 5000hp instead of opening the exit when he is dead). In version 5A, the portal only opens when he dies.

 

Also note that I had already discovered this bug many months back, but I didn't release a fix back then because I had planned to release a Beta 6 down the line. However, after realizing that I didn't make much progress at all since Beta 5, so I finally decided to include the fix in a bugfix version 5A.

Edited May 9, 2020 by ReaperAA

[Lippeth]

I've been waiting for this to get bumped just so I could gush about how much I love this mod. It still feels like vanilla Hexen but much more refined and balanced (as the name would imply). The centaur and slaughter animations took me a second to get used to, but the way they push forward and keep me on the defense is quite thrilling. The Heresiarch fight is no longer a chore and I always look forward to his appearance. The Cleric's mace is useful throughout an entire playthrough and just feels nicer to use. In fact, everything feels nicer to use and fight and there's nothing to complain about. It scratches just about every itch I've ever had with Hexen except for my tendency to miss items when walking over them. That might just be my own poor aim though.

[ReaperAA]

Hi guys. Beta 6 has been released. Get it from here: Hexen Rebalanced Beta 6.zip

 

Just recently I discovered 2 more minor issues in the mod. Firstly, the decals were not working with the mod (I play with decals off, so I didn't even realize this issue existed until now). Secondly, the Porkalator hotkey was broken. I have fixed these and also did some other minor changes.

 

The changes from last version include:

Quote

Weapons:

- Slightly reduced projectile speed of Hammer of Retribution from 45 to 40 (still much faster from vanilla).

- Slightly reduced projectile speed of Serpent Staff from 40 to 36 (still much faster from vanilla).

- Tweaked the push-back from Mace of Contrition.

 

Enemies:
- Heresiarch and Korax have their pain chance reduced from 5 to 4. This applies for both main file and also for the "modified bosses" file.

 

Props:
- Small and Large shrubs can be destroyed again (like it is in vanilla). However they still do not get auto-targeted (like in Beta 5) as this is to prevent autoaim from targeting them when player did not intend to attack them.

 

Bug fixes:

- Defined DECALDEF lump to fix the decals not appearing.

- Fixed Porkalator hotkey in KEYCONF file.

 

Edited June 15, 2020 by ReaperAA

[Lord Boarmont]

I had the same idea as this a few years ago, but only really dug into it this year (what with all the sudden free time thanks to quarantine). Just yesterday, I googled "Hexen Rebalance" just to see if anyone else has done this, and it looks like you beat me to this one! Not only that, but your changes nearly universally agree with mine. I only wish I'd have found this project sooner, it would have saved me a bit of work!

 

That being said, there are some slight variations in how we approached this. Your implementation is certainly more complete, but if you'd like, I can share what I made, for the sake of sharing ideas. I won't be needing it anymore, since your project obviates mine.

[ReaperAA]

8 hours ago, Lord Boarmont said:

I had the same idea as this a few years ago, but only really dug into it this year (what with all the sudden free time thanks to quarantine). Just yesterday, I googled "Hexen Rebalance" just to see if anyone else has done this, and it looks like you beat me to this one! Not only that, but your changes nearly universally agree with mine. I only wish I'd have found this project sooner, it would have saved me a bit of work!

 

That being said, there are some slight variations in how we approached this. Your implementation is certainly more complete, but if you'd like, I can share what I made, for the sake of sharing ideas. I won't be needing it anymore, since your project obviates mine.

 

Hello and welcome to Doomworld, Lord Boarmont. I would love to see your take on rebalancing Hexen. Since you stated that your changes mostly agree with mine, so it means that we have similar thinking about how to rebalance the game and there is a good chance that the slight variations in your mod might manage to interest me.

Edited June 16, 2020 by ReaperAA

[Lord Boarmont]

Thanks for the warm welcome :)

 

I've cleaned up the comments on each DECORATE entity, so hopefully they clarify how I came to certain conclusions about balancing. There's also a README where I tried to keep a to-do list of possible changes to implement, ranging from simple damage output changes to brainstorming potentially radical changes. As far as I'm concerned, you may use any of my changes as you like, or you may ignore them - whatever works.

LordBoarmont_HexenUnofficialPatch.zip

Edited June 17, 2020 by Lord Boarmont
Forgot to add a thank you

[ReaperAA]

On 6/17/2020 at 4:43 AM, Lord Boarmont said:

Thanks for the warm welcome :)

 

I've cleaned up the comments on each DECORATE entity, so hopefully they clarify how I came to certain conclusions about balancing. There's also a README where I tried to keep a to-do list of possible changes to implement, ranging from simple damage output changes to brainstorming potentially radical changes. As far as I'm concerned, you may use any of my changes as you like, or you may ignore them - whatever works.

LordBoarmont_HexenUnofficialPatch.zip

 

I finally got to check out your mod. I really like that you gave comments on why you did certain balance changes. Gives useful insight.

 

Also I really love a few of the changes that you did. My favorite by far was the change you did to the animation sequence of the frost shards as the old sequence really bothered me after I had increased the fire rate of the weapon. This change of sequence solves that problem beautifully. The only thing concerning me about implementing this is how other player would react to this change.

 

Another change I like was making Hammer projectile launch from Hammer of Retribution. I already implemented the idea in my mod (albeit to a lesser extent as I kept the time for melee attack same).

[Lord Boarmont]

Excellent! I'm glad you're getting value out of looking through the changes.

 

A buddy of mine joined me last night in playing through Seven Portals using beta 6 (plus modified bosses), and we'll continue all the way through Deathkings. Even just the first hub is much more satisfying with a nerfed wand and buffed shards and mace. Centaurs now feel more aggressive and less like speedbumps, they're much better now and it made me realize that none of the vanilla monsters had previously fit this "aggressive" role that Centaurs now fill.

 

I'll deliver more comprehensive feedback as we play through the rest. Keep up the good work!

[ReaperAA]

I look forward to how you and your friend feel about the mod.

 

1 hour ago, Lord Boarmont said:

Even just the first hub is much more satisfying with a nerfed wand and buffed shards and mace.

BTW I didn't nerf the sapphire wand (yet). So far I only changed the projectile animation a little bit. I am kinda on fence about nerfing the wand. On one hand, it feels pretty underwhelming to use (weak sound, taking 7-ish shots to kill an ettin). But on the other hand, it is overpowered as hell due to it being a ranged weapon + having ripper property and one can beat vanilla Hexen with this thing alone. I will definitely experiment more with the wand in near future.

 

[Not Jabba]

13 minutes ago, ReaperAA said:

BTW I didn't nerf the sapphire wand (yet). So far I only changed the projectile animation a little bit. I am kinda on fence about nerfing the wand. On one hand, it feels pretty underwhelming to use (weak sound, taking 7-ish shots to kill an ettin). But on the other hand, it is overpowered as hell due to it being a ranged weapon + having ripper property and one can beat vanilla Hexen with this thing alone. I will definitely experiment more with the wand in near future.

 

Consider taking a look at Curse of the Lost Gods, which nerfs the Sapphire Wand by diminishing its range. Seemed like a pretty useful change that keeps some of the strengths of the wand but makes it less effective/appealing to grind the whole game with it.

[ReaperAA]

3 minutes ago, Not Jabba said:

Consider taking a look at Curse of the Lost Gods, which nerfs the Sapphire Wand by diminishing its range. Seemed like a pretty useful change that keeps some of the strengths of the wand but makes it less effective/appealing to grind the whole game with it.

 

Thanks for the suggestion. I look into it.

[Lord Boarmont]

23 minutes ago, ReaperAA said:

I look forward to how you and your friend feel about the mod.

 

BTW I didn't nerf the sapphire wand (yet). So far I only changed the projectile animation a little bit. I am kinda on fence about nerfing the wand. On one hand, it feels pretty underwhelming to use (weak sound, taking 7-ish shots to kill an ettin). But on the other hand, it is overpowered as hell due to it being a ranged weapon + having ripper property and one can beat vanilla Hexen with this thing alone. I will definitely experiment more with the wand in near future.

 

Whoops! Without being told and without looking at the code, I would have sworn it was less powerful. I guess it really does just feel underwhelming, especially now that frost shards are that much better.

[ReaperAA]

Beta 7 has been released. Get it from here: Hexen Rebalanced Beta 7.zip

 

The changes from last version include:

Quote

Balance Changes:
- Sapphire wand projectiles no longer have infinite range. The range is roughly the same as Firestorm's projectile.
- Very slightly increased rate of fire of Timon's Axe so that it still remains very relevant even after Hammer of Retribution is obtained.
- Frost Shards has its animation sequence revised (Credit to Lord Boarmont).
- Slightly decreased projectile speeds of Hammer of Retribution and Serpent Staff, though they are still faster than vanilla.
- Firestorm has its animation sequence tweaked and also slightly slowed rate of fire.
- Firestorm does less direct/immediate damage but is compensated by more damage over time from the flames. This change makes it weaker in PvP while still retaining its strength in PvE.
- Quietus's rate of fire very slightly slowed down, but it is still faster than vanilla.
- Wraithverge ghosts have their health reduced from 105 to 80. This translates to about 25% reduced duration of the ghosts. Despite this nerf, it is still the best weapon in the game against non-bosses.
- Wraithverge's primary projectile damage vastly increased. This was done to prevent the weapon from becoming too weak against bosses due to above change although the weapon is still not too good against them.
- Wraithverge's rate of fire slowed down.
- Bloodscourge's rate of fire very slightly slowed down.
- Centaurs/Slaughters have a new "Pain.Electric" state so that Arc of Death will not get interrupted by any invulnerability. This will cause Centaurs to be properly vulnerable to electric damage (Credit to Lord Boarmont).
- Heresiarch's shielding lasts for a single attack instead of always lasting for 30 seconds (Credit to Lord Boarmont).
- Heresiarch's health increased from 5000 to 6000 (to slightly compensate for his shield nerf)

 

Props Changes:
- XMas trees are no longer auto-targetted by autoaim, though they can still be destroyed.

 

Edited December 19, 2020 by ReaperAA

[ReaperAA]

Fixed comment and OP where I accidentally wrote beta 6 instead of 7

[Gez]

While fixing typos:

49 minutes ago, ReaperAA said:

Centaurs/Slaughters

The improved centaurs are called slaughtaurs. Yes, it's a ugly portmanteau that your autocorrect will not like. But it's how they're called.

[Lord Boarmont]

Time to dust off Hexen and Deathkings! I always like a good excuse to revisit Cronos, and this is an excellent excuse.

 

Thanks again for your work on this, I'll be sure to pass along any feedback.