Q3 2021 Patch - Filled with Kornhole's screams

We have skipped Q2 this year because I have been kept very busy working through bugfixes, performance updates to the server, and just a bit more undermanned than usual.

General

* added minor weapon/held wear lags for in-combat only. goal is to help everybody keep up with alias use in combat vs human typing
- daggers have no lag
- its 1 pulse for main hand/shield (quick wield can take that to 0), 1 for offhand/held (qw can take that to 0 too). 2 for a two-hander
- there is no lag for removals
* journal - this is a new command players can use to record a one-line note
* showsecrets - can now hide the description string and still get training bonus
* hitroll is based on dex instead of on strength
- very heavy weapons will have a larger edge in weapon advantage

Areas

* solace shops will now accept sovereigns
* gold exploit with training boosts has been closed

Items

Goal here has been to address the most problematic things first, which is the high hitrolls/armor of accumulated end game stuff stacked with smuggler gambled equipment.

* ALL titanium armor class vs bash has been reduced significantly
* titanium armplates have a -2 dex
* titanium tenor AC bonus has been scaled back from 60 to 40 (ie down 20)
* several titanium items were made heavier
* small amount of magic ac added to spiked steel pieces, but with the -10 AC removed from the boots
* cloaks of mist armor class has been scaled back
* cloak of skin gains some save mal but -1 str
* banner of illisidar changed to a hitroll/wis focused light (targetted for illusionists/vainglory user)

Cabals

Knight

* new power "ministry" - knights can now mutually share their combat view with others (identical to oversee.. meant for mentoring)

Warlord

* cognizance will now provide the same damage reduction as protection if the warlord has no tenacity. if the warlord does have tenacity, then it only provides enough damage reduction to put tenacity on an even footing with sanc.
* vendetta has been renamed back to deathmark and requires a challenge placed and 3 minute warning again.
* added a sparring command for practice without duel record. this is no different to using merciful really except that you can yield the sparring session

Legion

* cabal powers have been shook up and internal sects added, so that players can join a sect of legion with powers that properly suit the class without adding on a bunch of stuff that works a little too well (e.g. abduct on a berserker)
- the sects are called destroyer (combat focused), nightblade (spies), occultist (the mage/priest guys)

Classes

Warrior

*it is now possible to double grip some other weapon to change weapon to that. previously this would only cause a relaxed double grip on main hand
*overpower skill attempts dont lag anymore when mistyped out of combat
*elemental damage-based bersrerks now check saves aff

Ranger

* carved arrows no longer decay as quickly. however, you are permitted to carry max of 3 bundles

Paladin

* paladin punish/condemn/etc can now be parried.
* willpower is still gained on parried attacks
* willpower saves over reboots
* avenging angel "haste" is now in line with mania (adds an extra attack, and works better with dual wield - but isnt a full haste)

Thief

* the halfling-only blackjack bonus has been sunsetted - it is now rolled into a bonus to blackjacking stunned opponents. Combines well with tripwire. halflings retain their steal bonuses.
* sidestep /clobber/uncanny can now be parried (you would have weapon adv already so just get a bit more hitroll)
* a thief can now perform flee while lagged by other players (e.g. from bash or bodyslam) - this is not from lag the thief caused upon themselves.
- note that this isn't a practiced skill. this is innate to thieves. there is also a cool off period before this can be repeated again.

Shadow

This class has been given extra specs so that we can broaden the class without making it OP from having too much stuff.

* the ninjitsu gauge is now available at level 1
* instead of gender, ninjitsu specs now require choosing one of blood, acid, fire, ice
* each spec gets a different craftable weapon
* each spec gets one special ninjitsu ability / shuriken spell / shadow art / forgotten art. there are still a couple forgotten arts that everybody gets
* all shadows gain the same base weapons as other specs
* added a new "shadow dance" channeled aoe for high levels
* shadow shuriken and sunken state are now permanently retired

Berserker

These are almost all QoL updated suggested by Bladefury.

* fury no longer fades with mania active
* concentrate now works while raged, but not while dirt kicked (it already didnt work while dirt kicked, and is a bug if you find it that way)
* meltdown now matches the 1 round lag of raging in combat
* bloodbath has been reworked to do bit of healing (awarded if the kill is a good one) helps berserker to avoid a few incapacitation kills and rewards playing a little riskier while levelling
* raged auto-murders will have a chance to auto-attack mobs again, but requires a player in pk in the same room
*elemental damage-based bersrerks and meltdown damage now check saves aff

Dark-knight

* The paladins trademark boring consistency (predictable damage w/ mace, nice tanking, cure serious) is contrasted with the dark-knights favoring RNG. This patch underscores this difference while also reinforcing what they have kept in common even over an oathbreak.

* faerie fire returns
* curse weapon: new way to empower weapon is to incapacitate somebody in pk (use "mercy") and then kill them with the "curse weapon" spell. the item will grow stronger if your victim was powerful enough
- naming cursed weapons requires a max level curse
- cursed weapons are no longer weight 1
* unholy strength is reworked to need windup (which can be cast in combat but interrupted with a bash or something) and require multiple charges to equal bless + inspiring presence's potency
- the dark-knight will be drained if he runs out of movement due to unholy strength
* new skill "shirk" - counterpart of iron will, this makes the dark-knight a prolific tank
* new skill "spiteful strike" - sort of counterpart of reckoning, use this to interfere with heals and fleeing

preview of spiteful strike:

You assail your weapon with icy rage!



(next round)

Pud parries your attack.

Your spiteful strike MASSACRES Pud!

Pud shivers and suffers.

Your slash DISMEMBERS Pud! (regular attack)

note: If the opponent parries all attacks, the DK is SOL. so need hitroll

Vampire

* added fencing from eradication paladin
* added dark gauge (analogous to paladin willpower) this absorbs some sunlight damage from movement (not ticks) and can only be refilled by hibernating in coffins
* new skill "danse macabre" -- this requires an ecstasy'd opponent to be the dance partner, this will periodically damage the opponent unless they dance to prevent the damage.
- note that dancing will lag the victim. pick your poison..

Shaman

* the armageddon "bane" has been toned down a bit.

Please leave your feedback below and just a reminder that the next patch is the Strythmas wishlist.

Strange the weapon switching I complain about and you said it's not as fast as I think but here it is nerfed. Again you are all welcome

I'm actually happy you finally made changes to some thing I have thought were needed probably about 50 characters too late but that's my fault for deleting

Btw how does the weapon lag affect shadows and rangers asking for a friend since they have quick wield and off hand alacrity hopefully you considered that

exactly what we need, more lag on abilities so that slowasses with shit reflexes get a wheelchair to carry them

To compensate for my initial slurs, here's my 2 cents of more constructive feedback

showsecrets - can now hide the description string and still get training bonus

Good, helps to preserve the mystique a bit more. I am only 2 secrets from master explorer so I was hoping for this!

Titanium nerf

I feel like titanium was already a bit overrated, this will hopefully make the tenor-craze a bit more civil.

banner of illisidar changed to a hitroll/wis focused light (targetted for illusionists/vainglory user)

I thought we already had one? Banner of blood is hr and wis

new power "ministry" - knights can now mutually share their combat view with others (identical to oversee.. meant for mentoring)

Hopefully this will breathe a new life to Knights and truly serve as an entry to cabals for new players.

a thief can now perform flee while lagged by other players (e.g. from bash or bodyslam) - this is not from lag the thief caused upon themselves.

Not sure why this was needed, now they dont even need to get purples because they wont die to 1 stun when failing blackjack...

curse weapon: new way to empower weapon is to incapacitate somebody in pk (use "mercy") and then kill them with the "curse weapon" spell. the item will grow stronger if your victim was powerful enough

DKs also take on 1vX fights, so getting an enemy incap and casting curse weapon when having 2 more elves on your ass (probably in same room) is a bit sketchy,
woulda liked to see it work similar to necro's weapon empowering.

new skill "danse macabre" -- this requires an ecstasy'd opponent to be the dance partner, this will periodically damage the opponent unless they dance to prevent the damage.

someone played Shadowlands recently and did Castle Nathria raid once too many :D ?

cognizance is now tenacity - this allows warlords to sleep during duels to catch ticks without that chance of getting hit without tenacity.

wrong, protection is only 33% damage reduction or was it nerfed to 25% - unsure, but wrong as always Ozaru

Just like you are wrong about sliths being "dirt resistant". You ought to think before splurt.

the weapon lag switching is really fucking clunky and stupid and a terrible knee jerk reaction.

I actually didn't code it properly anyway. Its not been active all day. I dont know whats been going on with you but it definitely wasn't that. We have had a bit of lag on dual wield forever though, so I wonder if maybe you just finally bothered to look for it. But there have been a few weird things going on. I basically coded all of Saturday to speed up the ticks and now things are racing and tripping over stuff they didnt before. Anyway I will find out.
edit: sped these up a bit to make sure minimal impact

If you are getting super shit lag I really dont know what is doing it

So, we have that weapon switch thing dumped in a thread elsewhere so I won't bother try to discuss it here anymore.

The thing I see with this patch is I am still just a bit unhappy with the amount of hitroll that can be attained. I have reshuffled some super powerful things. I will make a new thread about that for discussion along with a spell-training thread.

Kinda liked shadow shuriken, seemed like it attacked everyone attacking you, like a target aoe.

Don't know exactly how it worked, but a target aoe that only hits those attacking you may be a good skill. For example, if fighting 3 dryads, a targeted aoe that misses the ranger and nymph in the room would be nice. I think this is how flame strike works.

I will be interested to see if a fencing vampire is viable. INT-based attacks and light armor would be a big downer, but being able to dodge and fence at the same time + hit/dam bonus.. they may even be able to make use of lightning charge and make it seem not so useless again :P

For the DK curse weapon/mercy thing - what happens with the compelled mob when mercy kicks in? There was a log where some DK stunned a warlord then the triton finished the warlord off. Will this just happen with mercy and prevent the curse weapon thing?

lionSpyre, the hit/dam bonus that elf pallies get from fencing is due to the difference between the 18 str and the 25 int they make use of for fencing. For a vamp there would be no hit/dam bonus, in fact they would lose some since they go down to 20 int.

we should probably swap vamp to the light armor deal.

You're right, Rothak. I realized that after I typed it in. Although I could have sworn at some point fencing had a flat hit/dam increase. Vampires would lose out pretty significantly if they fence with their INT? Maybe their Dex? They would still lose out a little, just not as much.

I also agree with the light armor deal.

Shadow specialization, not a fan. And Legion Specs, I can honestly say I can agree with, a cabal with subtle differences in powers is great.

Legion is currently unavailable...?