Suggestion For Rework For Rune Damage Scaling

Wicked Feedback
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We’ve had rune-scaling balance issues since launch mostly involving 2H weapons. Fire Throw on Climbers Pick is still an easy carry for the game but people from launch remember when it could be on a claymore and suddenly deal 200-300+ damage easy. We have that issue again with stamina runes because these martial art runes can be on everything, which is not a bad idea, I just think the current systems lead to a flawed execution.

Weapons do the amount that they’re stated to output, but with runes that just use stamina giving you the power to scale damage it really quickly hits a point of criticality where everything can be annihilated with enough stacking damage. Even if 2-Handed weapons with martial-art-runes used more stamina than a 1-Handed weapon it wouldn’t change the problem of damage plus this issue can be circumvented via attributes, even a uses % of stamina system. There’s no “cost” mechanism for runes that can counteract the benefits of using them, so here’s my solultion.

TLDR: Stamina runes have their own damage-values-per-tier(an array) of the weapon they’re inserted in but are not affected in any other way.
Focus-cost Runes scale at best by 100%(being equal to) of the damage stat of the weapon they’re in; then gain bonus damage from the weapon’s tier level which corresponds to a value in the rune’s own damage-values-array predetermined by the developers.
EX: every damage rune has something like this - [ [tier 1, 5 damage], [tier 2, 12 damage], … [tier 16, nerd you read this far] ]

  • Give ALL Runes their own upgrade table, stamina runes don’t scale off weapon damage
    • For example drop-kick has an array of damage values based on the level of the weapon it’s inserted in.
    • drop-kick: [ [tier 1,30 dmg], [tier 2, 35 dmg], [tier 3, 42 dmg], etc, [tier 16, 90 dmg] ]
    • all weapons get the same moveset-rune now since that’s what the stamina runes are supposed to be, and it’s predictable across every weapon for easier balancing
  • For Focus-cost/Health-cost based runes to still be worth it, let it off scale off the weapon’s own damage stat but with a 100%-of-damage-stat-ceiling
    • Elaboration: in the old system an attack rune could have 300% scaling.
      • so 5 damage → 15 damage, then 10 damage(doubling the damage of your weapon) → 30 damage.
      • Our damage has doubled, but it’s very unlikely for the enemies to have doubled in health
      • It’s simple math but it being multiplicative is still a giant massive headache to balance especially when the damage values of fellow 2H weapons isn’t always the same.
      • A 2H-hammer could have 30+ more damage than a 2H-sword of the same level.
      • So a 2H-hammer can now attack with the same speed, same cost, but waaaay more damage.
  • Explanation for new system:

    • Again it’s simple give each rune its own damage-path-array but scale its starting damage 1-to-1 MAX with the damage of the weapon it’s inserted in. No more multiplicative scaling, NO 200%, 300%, 400%

    • Example Scenario 1: <weapon 1>, <weapon 2>, crushing flurry rune

      • crushing flurry: <100% of damage stat> + [ [tier 1, +5 damage], [tier 2, +10 damage], [tier 3, +18 damage] ]

      • <weapon 1, 30 damage, tier 2> + rune = 30 + 10(look above) damage = 40 damage total

      • <weapon 2, 40 damage, tier 2> + rune damage = 40 + 10 damage = 50 damage total

    • Example Scenario 2: <staff 1>, <staff 2>, homing frost rune since this rune is multi-hit/projectile

      • homing frost: 10 shards of 25% damage each + [ [tier 1, +2 dmg], [tier 2, +3 dmg], ....., [tier 16, + 20 dmg] ] to each shard
      • <staff 1, 16 damage, tier 2> + homing frost = 4 + 4 = 8 damage per shard
      • <staff 2, 80 damage, tier 16> + homing frost = 20 + 20 = 40 damage per shard

    • This system has the benefit of making upgrading weapons still improve runes AND distinguishes it from the stamina runes

    • Having a higher damage weapon still increases the damage of the rune, not just the level with this system

Now you can play with the math more but my point here is:

  1. Stamina rune’s damage is purely their own/the dev’s choice not an unlimited ceiling for the players to break.
  2. We establish a ceiling for the %-based scaling of runes so damage is no longer multiplicative.
    • Keep ALL damage-based math in the game additive from now on. Except for small buffs in the form of affixes.
    • No more 200%, 300%, 4 shots x 125%, etc
  3. If <weapon x> is higher damage than <weapon y> at the same upgrade level, <weapon x> using a focus-cost-rune will still be stronger than <weapon y>with that same rune and thus worth inserting
  4. DISCLAIMER: I do not want to scale support runes usage off the damage stat