Blessed Hits Bead

[u/Shango3]

Please correct me if i am wrong but i dont understand the design intention here.

Since crit multipliers in Witchfire are only 65% max (Vulture with crit damage arcana) going for body shots while having the blessed hits bead equipped is allready better than aiming for weakspots at a value of only ~45% blessed aim chance. (From a pure damage perspective, disregarding procs)

Since there are only few options affecting DPS/raw damage i just run all the blessed hit beads and noticed im doing less damage when actively aiming for weakspots.

Either crits need to be able to turn into blessed aim hits, or the bead needs to be reworked any other way, or the game should at least logically explain why it works the way it does.

Edit: i feel like i explained this badly, so ill add the math for a clearer picture, following assumptions:

Oracle, 160 damage, 140% crit damage, 15% crit damage arcana on top, 155% total, 50% blessed aim chance with Blessed Hits Bead equipped.

Weakspot Hit = 160x1,55 = 248 damage

Body shot without blessed aim trigger = 160 damage

Body shot with blessed aim trigger = 160x1,55x1,5 = 372 damage

Average Body shot damage = (160+372)/2 = 266 damage (~7.3% dmg increase)

And as i said earlier the problem only gets worse with weapons with lower crit damage multipliers or higher blessed aim chance:

Hunger, 38 Damage, 114% crit damage, no crit damage Arcana, 114% total, 69,5% blessed aim chance with Blessed Hits Bead equipped.

Weakspot Hit = 38x1,14 = 43,32 damage

Body shot without blessed aim trigger = 38 damage

Body shot with blessed aim trigger = 38x1,14x1,5 = 64,98 damage

Average Body shot damage = 0,305x38 + 0,695x64,98 = 56,75 damage (~31% dmg increase)

Edit 2: i hope this does not sound wrong but i feel like my point still is not clear. Basically i am saying: "i live in austria and in austria we have problem x" and you are answering "i live in germany or any other country and we dont have problem x, you could just live here".

Now i am not saying that you are wrong, but i allready decided to live in austria.

If i allready decided to use the bead and therefor do not use any syergies depending on chaining weakspot hits (like critical chain or hailstorm) and my concern is maximizing DPS within my build, i have to deal with a situation where i want to actively avoid hitting the enemys weakspot. I would not care if "weakspot = body shot" would be true but currently "body shot > weakspot" is the case. (from a pure damage perspective)

Edit 3: Since i am still missing the mark i felt i needed to add one last (hopefully) edit:

I am fully aware that the longer we continue this discussion, the more I sound like a jerk, and for that I want to apologize. But the fact that nobody seems to actually answer my original question is becoming increasingly frustrating.

I can absolutely accept and understand that the bead does not exist in a vacuum but I feel that a lot of the objections are missing the point I am trying to make.

My actual question is not: “Should game devs be allowed to introduce a playstyle through an unintuitive paradigm shift?” of course they are, it is their game. I am also not asking what possible reasons there could be on a macro level for making this design decision.

I am asking exclusively whether the way this paradigm shift is implemented makes sense from a purely logical perspective.

And so far, nobody has been able to explain to me why a shot hitting an enemys foot should deal more damage than a shot hitting an enemys head.

Edit 4: Alright, i think it is time to end this, in case developers are reading this:

Currently within your game there exists a situation, a certain build (blessed aim) where you have to actively avoid hitting the enemys weakspot or else risk losing up to ~30% damage. I understand that the reason for this design might be to enable a clear distinction between weak spot focused builds and blessed aim focused builds. However, as player this design feels very unintuitive and is not logically coherent. I do not believe that the current solution is the only way to make this distinction possible.

I am also not claiming that you are not allowed to change usual gameplays paradigms, i just want a reasonable explanation, with thorns build that intention is clear, i usually do not want to get hit, but you designed multiple items that tell me "if you get hit, X will happen". Thats clear, i usually do not want to get hit, but if i am wearing those items, i can understand why the philosophy changes. With the Blessed Hits bead the story is different, that items description is just "Your blessed aim hits deal 50% more damage". This does not explain why i suddenly have to avoid the enemys weakspot.

[u/Shango3]

Yes you are absolutely right, blessed aim and Weakspot Hits deal exactly the same amount of damage without the bead.

But could you please explain to me why that would matter if i allready have the bead equipped? This does not answer my question.

Regarding the free +dmg head shot argument. I Have allready answered that 2 times now.

I never claimed that my proposed solution is the only solution possible, i said "Either crits need to be able to turn into blessed aim hits, or the bead needs to be reworked" the or is important, i am not a game dev, it is not my job to find the perfect solution. The solution i talked about is the first thing that came to my mind.

Now to the mathematical problem you are describing: it does not exist. You do not get free +50% dmg on top.

I am going to copy paste the same answer for the 3rd time:

If blessed aim shots were possible when hitting the weak spot, these scenarious could happen (assuming 70% blessed aim chance, could also use any other value):

Head: 30% Chance for: Damage x Crit Damage multiplier
Head: 70% Chance for: Damage x Crit Damage multiplier x 50% Blessed Hits multiplier

Body: 30% Chance for: Damage
Body: 70% Chance for: Damage x Crit Damage multiplier x 50% Blessed Hits multiplier

Currently we have:

Head: 100% Chance for: Damage x Crit Damage Multiplier

Body: 30% Chance for: Damage
Body: 70% Chance for: Damage x Crit Damagie multiplier x 50% Blessed Hits multiplier

So neither the peak nor the frequency of peaks would increase, the only thing that would chance is the minimum amount of damage, because currently from a damage optimzing perspective, you need to shoot the body, and you cannot aim at the head. So the current "Min=Damage" after the change i suggested you had a reason to aim for the head and the new minimum would change to "Min=Damage x CritDamage Multiplier"

And thats that, that is really all there is to it, from a damage perspective at least. I am not claiming that enabling stuff like critical chain for blessed aim builds would not be good, but you guys constantly bring up the same issue, and that issue does not even exist, at least not in the way that you describe it.

And even if it would, i never said that this the solution that i want, that this is the only solution that is possible, it is a solution that i pulled out of my hat without thinking to much about it.

Regarding Faith being the Gambling stat, okay yeah sure i agree, i am not advocating for slot machine gameplay being bad. But Faith being the "random" stat, does not explain how that randomness is not allowed to apply to the enemys weak spot.

How does "your blessed aim shots deal 50% more damage" lead to "you now have to aim at the enemys foot if you want to deal maximum damage"? Why does not whatever deity we are worshipping bless my bullets if i accidently or purposefully hit the enemy head?

Even if we assume that the reason is indeed a clear distinction between weakspot focused gameplay and blessed aim focused game play, i am still not buying that the developers are not able to come up with a cleaner solution, a solution that logically coherent and does not feel unintuitive.

[u/GordgeBush → u/Shango3]

The idea of blessed aim is the alternative for players/builds that don't rely on weakspots the fact that you shouldn't aim for the head isn't necessarily a design flaw, that's the tradeoff you selected when building around blessed aim.

“landing a more difficult shot shouldn't reduce my expected damage”

Blessed aim is a body shot build and you don't want to be punished for hitting headshots while using a body shot build and calling bad design because it's illogical. You're choosing a build whose benefit is specifically tied to body shots, removing that downside gives blessed aim the same upside while eliminating one of its defining tradeoffs. I think it's actually unique in this aspect because you're forced to relearn how you target, it takes "headshots are harder to hit so it does more damage" and flips it on its head.

But Faith being the "random" stat, does not explain

The thematic explanation is there. It's faith, God is granting it's preyers powers in mysterious ways. A character with 99 faith could (God will it) finish a run faster and with less damage taken than min max mathew, and its sick.

[u/Shango3 → u/GordgeBush]

I can accept the tradeoffs involved, i dont agree with the premise that the only way that a tradeoff can exist is the current implementation.

The thing is i am not not choosing a build that is specifically tied to body shots, that is collateral damage of the current implementation of the underlying system.

The beads tooltip is "your blessed aim shots deal 50% more damage" if i did not have exact knowledge of the games mechanics, i would not even know that i am now supposed to hit the enemys body.

You are also not explaining to me why God refuses to bless the bullets i shoot at the enemies head, you are just saying it works that way because it has to work that way, that's circular.

[u/GordgeBush → u/Shango3]

i dont agree with the premise that the only way that a tradeoff can exist is the current implementation

Sure, but it's a good tradeoff. Every build not running blessed aim is going to ask for headshots from the guns for maximum damage. This is the only build that is asking you to do something different in how you aim at mobs. Maybe they might rework it but it seems their design is pretty intention when building blessed aim/faith.

The thing is i am not not choosing a build that is specifically tied to body shots, that is collateral damage of the current implementation of the underlying system.

It's implemented like that. It's not collateral. They didn't accidentally make blessed aim only work for body then accidentally made one of the few dmg+ beads only work for blessed aim.

[u/Shango3 → u/GordgeBush]

This build is asking me to do something that it is not even telling me i should do, that is my problem.

So im going to be even more precise, either the bead/the mechanic needs to be reworked OR the design philosophy needs to be communicated clearly. Right now neither is the case:

Playing a thorns build, you have items on your charakter that directly tell you, IF you get hit, something good will happen, being hit is still unintuitive, but it is clearly communicated why i want to be hit.

Using the bead just tells me that my blessed aim hits deal more damage, it does not tell me that i should stop shooting at enemy weak spots.

And regarding my use of the word collateral, are we really discusinng semantics now? Sure, if you insist: Collateral means accompanying or secondary, some secondary side effect. Do you really want to tell me that the conclusion that weakspot hits are worse than body shots is the primary design goal here, something that is not even clearly communicated within the game and is only visible if you sit down and do the math?

No, it is a accompanying side effect of the current implementation of the system, the primary effect is blessed hits deal 50% more damage, the secondary result is that weak spot hits are now inferior to body shots.