Q2 2023 Patch: Revival of the Necromancer
Davairus
Posts: 10674
2/26/2023, 7:15:34 PM
Combat
*A new command "cover" (a.k.a. juke) is added, this is used reactively to allow dodging some mob attacks without having to flee the room.
*Tracks are no longer left in the void or shadow grove rooms. they will resume once the player leaves those areas.
*"swap lock" - a delay of 1 round has been added before one can switch weapons again. This is similar to monk style swaps, a little less fluid, please leave your feedback so we can understand if this is good or bad.
*Two-handed bonus damage is now added for all characters with the bonus being an increased damroll contribution from strength, instead of increasing the effect of enhanced damage. The outcome of having enhanced damage with this is very similar to before.
*The consider command will now indicate presence of protective shield, size difference, whether the other person is flying.
Material vuln changes
*Conceptually we changed so-called material "vulns" to "material weaknesses" to keep it distinct from "vulnerabilities".
-Wood weakness was changed to just bypassing resistance, so for e.g. wooden arrows neither deal extra damage to storm giants or do less damage because they are piercing on a resist. they just ignore that resistance.
-Same with the silver weakness - use it to ignore resistance. so undead monsters might resist attacks but not from silver weapons for e.g.
-Iron vuln for elf now means they have trouble actually seeing it, so its a dodge penalty not a damage buff. it pretty much just slightly negates that dodge.
-Updated Jotun to have an adamantium vuln instead of pierce vuln, and make any weapons made of that bypass any resistances they may have.
Areas
*Witch-carving : This is a new way to make weapons, which can be opened up by completing the quest from Levis the half-centaur in the dwarf forest.
*Lectern : This is a new item on sale at Magewares in Timaran. It is the equivalent of "scarecrow" for mage training, you drop this one in a high tower of sorcery classroom.
*Dyes : a new store in Valour allows dyeing of certain items; note - this is a cosmetic enhancement, not power.
*Charm bracelets : there are now various charms to find that can be inserted only into charm bracelets. these impact the stats of the item they were inserted into. Look for them in jewelry stores.
*Added a "skin" command (rangers were already doing this via butcher). Used with our single leatherworking store craft recipe.
*If you have turned on color room descs, you might be able to notice extra descriptions in yellow as long as you "look" while in the room.
*Altar devotions : If you use the devote command while at your temple altar, you can buy a few additional modifiers.
Cabals
*Keepers can now nudge their pendulum.
*Legions can now create spooky trees (occultist only) that spread a visibility-reducing fog in the nearby area.
*Warlords cabal has moved!
*We now have a way to hide inactive cabal members from roster without having to wait til they auto-deleted.
*Knights have diversified their internal structure into the order of the templars and order of the crusader. These groups are both Knights, just with different skillsets.
Race changes
*Treants can no longer fly under any circumstances.
*Treants can now quench thirst rapidly by drenching themselves (druid spells) or slowly by being in fog (slow osmosis)
*Jotuns are now weak to adamantium instead of vuln to pierce.
Class Changes
Shadow / Thief
*There is no longer a hitroll check when sidestepping vs two-handed weapons due to the combat style advantage.
Illusionist
*Time to complete the spell "gate" has been reduced by a second. This was done by reducing the time to transport the character to 5 seconds, of which 3 seconds is lagged due to casting leaving 2 seconds to either sit (to interrupt the gate) or do RP things like wave or say stuff before leaving. After moving through the gate, there are then 3 seconds of lag on the other end, identical to the cast time. Previously, this spell was 9 seconds of lag, under all circumstances. Note that group gate is not changed.
Invokers
*Ice/fire/lightning shield now overload the baseline shield spell instead of being separated from them.
*This means if the shield spell shatters, the ice shield is gone. you can choose whether to let it expire to deal the extra effect or use mystic tendrils to keep the ice shield, or option 3 just get your ass kicked horribly.
*Barrier exchange is now 1 mana per point of damage blocked instead of 1 mana = 2 hp. This change was made to address ease of exploitation of barrier in Winter, but its also because its just the right move to do for this spell to be reasonably balanced (at 1 mana = 2 hp and invoker slowing with mana shield, this is a bargain to use, and the limiting factor is just if you die before the fight ends).
*We will continue to monitor for invoker cake'ing Winter. If it is not addressed we may need to block AOE's with barrier entirely. Hoping we found a good solution here.
*A bug with some skills allowing disarm through weapon ward was addressed.
Necromancer
The overall goal here is to give the necromancer more choices, more dilemmas, more control of their minions, and also to make things just a little less painfully hardcore (we know that is part of the necromancer "appeal" as well). Secondary to that goal is to cement the apocalyptic threat presented by the dark arts of necromancy - specifically, that zombie apocalypse and of course runaway pandemics.
Things that did not change
This is provided to help read the notes and provide reassurance for players who fear necromancers (i.e. nearly everyone..)
*2 golems max, 3 zombies max (at 50)
*The abysmal failure rate of animate corpse is the same as ever.
Changes
General
*Not to be outdone by group gate, the necromancer guildhall has developed a way to ensure all necro minions are now tethered to them. This just means that if the necro and minion are separated for longer than 5 minutes, the mobs will teleport and rejoin the necromancer. A way to do this immediately is to risk a teleport, as that causes the mobs to join you no matter where they are. Just be aware that teleports may cause an unavoidable and non-refundable death.
- Mobs will not rejoin you if they've been entombed.
Golems
*Ghoul frenzy is now just for the golems, instead of just for the zombies. it behaves just like a 1 tick berserk, meaning it can also deal damage when it is cast. while a stone golem is under a ghoul frenzy, it is able to bash, and correspondingly a ghoul frenzied flesh golem can trip.
*Flesh golem is now cast upon body parts, starting with hearts. As you cast again on more unique body parts, you can gradually increase your golems health by up to 2x.
Zombies
*Strength damned causing zombies to eventually fall apart was REMOVED.
-Instead, its the fresh zombies that eventually decay, and the strength damned spell will cause the zombies to be permanent for the rest of the login session. the timer is quadratic so that high level zombies still last a very long time.
-Strength damned can be cast once every 90 minutes, which is just slightly over the TTL of a level 40 zombie, so this means letting zombies croak is left completely to being your decision (or incompetency) to make at this point.
*Entomb will now allow a zombie to be saved across a logout because shit happens sometimes. The grace period is 30 minutes, subject to change.
*Zombies are by default slowed (not new to this patch), but what they can all do now is a basic attack - bite. This has a chance to cause an entire pandemic due to it starting a plague that begins after a delay. Strength damned zombies deal double the usual damage with their bite attack. N.B. The plague can be saved against.
*Zombies are no longer vulnerable to fire. Instead they are simply flammable. They ignite into flames when hit with fire damage, then burn every round for a while. Once a zombie is alight, its melee will become fire attacks (i.e. magic damage) which most likely will make a shitty situation even worse. N.B. This mechanic will be introduced on the mansion's butlers since those are like zombies and met at about the level range that necros get zombies.
Plague!
*vampiric touch is now more effective against plagued targets - it has better damage in almost all circumstances, and vamp touching lowbie mobs can be as good as vamp touching similar level mobs once they have been plagued, as it will use the level of the plague instead. Note that this also applies to the presence of a contagion (i.e. dark-knight spellstrike, and see ossuary notes).
*see notes on new spell APOCALYPSE
Additions
*Souls can now be stored in soul shrouds.
*New spell : banshee form. this will make the necromancer gain a bunch of hp which is influenced by the number and quality of souls they have in their shroud, and also increases vampiric touch by 25%. but they also become nearly undead here - vulnerable to holy attacks and unable to use bloodcasting.
*New spell : phylactery. This turns an everyday household item into a container for the necromancers soul, with the price being, of course, one soul. if you have a phylactery and die, you are revived with 20% hp, though you lose all your minions and mana. if your phylactery is destroyed then you lose that death forever, which means you'd best disguise the phylactery in something innocuous, and hide it well. it is removed from the game during logouts, and only reloaded once you log back in. once chosen, the phylactery cannot be moved again.
-if your necro is undead then it cannot go with phylactery due to there being no soul to split.
*New spell: ossuary. This is an additional golem which you build from corpses, starting from level 1. it is essentially a big damage sponge that tanks and if you cast ossuary with a corpse in the room it'll absorb in the spare parts for healing, and if level of new corpse is greater than current ossuary level, it'll increase in level. Like zombies, it is slowed, punching hard (but not OFTEN). Unlike zombies it spreads a contagion which makes it easier for the necro to land maledictives and makes those vampiric touches more effective. Also, the ossuary has the unique ability to hold mob attention.
*New spell : "wraith summon". the wraith does magic damage and hasted, ala. tired innkeeper, its damage can be improved with putting souls into the soul shroud.
-Note that this is NOT a permanent mob. it lasts for about a minute, and can be summoned once every ten minutes, so you'd need to choose a good time to use it.
-This mob is not on the count of allowed minions so that it wont affect your golem/zombie allotment.
*New spell: funnel health. you can use this to heal your golems. this spell pairs well with making the ossuary tank for you. it is not available for zombies. this is bloodcast, meaning (a) unavailable to undead necromancers, (b) you have to find some way to heal the hp back (Vampiric touch)
*New spell: apocalypse. A necromancer can burst your plague sores with this spell. It will hit hard, and the after-effects cause hunger and thirst to progress more rapidly. Once the affect of apocalypse wears off, the victim will be exhausted sufficient to fall into a coma.
Psionicist
*Added heat metals spell at level 40 (moved from druid). This spell lands much easier after implant visions.
Healer
*Sacrifice can now be used to transfer ghosts to their corpse. Note that this does also unghost them.
*Fly is now castable while fighting (so that it can be used as an offensive spell), and its duration when applied as an offensive spell was lowered to match blindness.
Shaman
*This class gained weapon freeing per player request.
*Kick was made easier to practice.
*The spell dark shroud now suppresses the "consider" command output.
Paladin
*word of recall was exchanged so that paladins instead have group recall. group recall has a 5 second cast windup
Dark-Knights
*Shirk no longer works on mercenaries, however, it does now work on mobs with compulsion - up until that compulsion wears off.
*Unholy strength was moved down to level 30.
*Protection spell "removed". (Actually, it is not). Please see abyssal bulwark notes below.
*The abyssal bulwark is now an automatic ability - you can gain this shield on melee hits. The max shield is equal to 25% of maximum health, to help encourage dkn's to go for better hp gear (i.e. further increase their loot-whoring).
- As a reminder, what this shield does is reduce damage taken by 25%. So the protection spell is redundant. Therefore we retired that from DK.
- That means less affect management, and that reduction of cerebral load allows them more mental room to worry about their weapon style, whether to do fell spark or bash, etc, which means players should find this easier to play.
- Also note, it is important that they keep trading big melee damage to generate that shield, too. So a dark-knight will want to find a balance of hp and hit/dam to make sure they maintain a decent bulwark.
* Fell spark can now HEAL, not refill shield. using fell spark will cost shield, so this is a risky move, but possible nonetheless.
- Unlike every other spell in the game, the fell spark deals damage that is increased by more max hp (which therefore also affects the heal).
- There is a small chance (improving with abyssal bulwark skill) that the DKN can get an unholy affect that allows to cast fell spark without a loss of shield.
*Strike of pains first strike can now be saved (bug fix).
Druids
High-level feedback in a nutshell has been repeating this:
(a) too complicated to understand/play
(b) too many things to practice
(c) too many conditional spells
(d) the specs are not very impactful or useful
This patch addresses all of those things, by what I would describe as basically a complete and total overhaul. So I will begin with introducing the conceptual changes and then we'll get into the skills and spells (i.e. the details)
Conceptual Changes
Spirit bond
Instead of having dozens of spells that require a specific bond to work, we have relaxed that requirement. Instead now we have spirit bond requiring a special kind of location to work, like needing a supply of water for water bond. So you might see a druid run to visit an altar of fire or volcano to bond to fire there, instead of just changing bonds anywhere they feel like, as if it were shapeshifting.
Chanting
Chanting was changed to require being in close contact with the ground. To support this, a "bindings" energy bar has been added. this requires a charm bracelet equipped. each cast of a spell adds +10 to the bracelet
*Instead of "spell combos" , big skills / primal fury etc just require a filled bindings bar.
*If for some reason they are not in contact with the ground (attacked with a fly scroll, maybe?), chants will instead use up bindings. and in a pinch they can empower staff to get half the bindings.
*Continuing to chant spells will now "scroll" the runes on the runestaff instead of it getting stuck in an unwanted status.
Equipment
All the metal items are now allowed to be worn, they'll just interfere with your chanting if they contain iron (because of their ferromagnetism). Also, bindings will not save you from that one.
New skills / spells
*New spell "fey spectacles" combines detect invis and detect magic into one spell (removing the need for them), level 2.
*New skill empower staff added at level 25.
*New spell : warding winds, replaced thorn armor at level 45.
*Gained create spring at level 19.
*New spell : unbinding. this is multi-purpose. it can do cure blindness, cure poison, cure disease, remove curse, cancellation, all at once, and on others, it amounts to being dispel magic. for druids who still want the conditional spells, that is the appropriate use-case of brewed potions, let me know what is missing.
* "New"-ish spell : druidic ritual. level 20. this replaces the three spells of trees/stone/blood . you don't actually use this spell, it ends up changing with your spec choice. When you spec the druid (see notes below), you'll get the appropriate ritual again.
*New spell: transmute fire. level 35. this changes campfires and invoker wildfires into smashable granite rocks (for ore).
Skill update summary
*Lore lowered to level 3.
*Forage raised from level 1 to level 4.
*Druid staff raised from level 1 to level 5.
*Enchant staff lowered from level 17 to level 12.
and
*Forage cooldown was reduced a tad, and is now better at finding seeds.
*Enchant staff now makes a flail instead of an exotic.
Spell update / enhancement summary
*cure light moved to level 3
*faerie fire raised to level 8
*identify moved up to level 8
*leaves moved to level 10
*protection creature lowered to 10
*thunderclap moved to level 14
*might of the oaks moved to level 16
*sanc moved to level 26
*control weather moved to level 28
*call lightning moved to level 28
*wilderness recall moved to level 29
*ironwood moved to level 30
*foresight raised to level 31
*winters wrath moved to level 34
*wall of fire moved to level 35
*bewitch animal moved to level 38
*breath of the wild moved to level 40
*tempest moved to level 49
and...
*Kick and parry were both made easier to practice to relieve practices further.
*Might of the oaks double mv cost has been removed.
*Wild shape was totally rewritten again. it now buffs if used on ones self, or is a malediction when used offensively. also, it blocks all other forms of shapeshifting when used offensively - including pass door.
*One with nature now causes the druid to have all three bonds in effect at the same time.
*Spell damage was generally improved. no more casting 100 mana to use a spell that is weaker than just kicking.
*Control weather now modifies the weather local to the druid instead of the game's entire weather. the druids weather change follows the druid around, unless they go indoors, which breaks the spell.
*casting faerie blast/rainmaker can worsen the local weather as well instead of just leaving that to the control weather spamming.
Removals
*herblore, barkskin, blood worms, faerie flare, cure blindness, cure poison, cure disease, remove curse, cancellation, dispel magic, infravision, find water, stardust, brambles, water walking, ritual of trees/stone/blood, lava burst, wall of fire
But wait, there's more...
Brandishing
*Spark damage has been increased for 2 matching runes, along with mana costs being added though.
*3 rune brandishes now also spark.
*Two runes are still impactful e.g. two W's drench the enemy, two F's engulf and so on. but now it will just look for two of the type instead of enforcing that it has to be your first two runes. for example, W-A-W and A-W-W would both cause drench
- Brandishing two E's now produces a spire of earth from the ground. this can be exploded by casting faerie blast.
Pets
*Pet combos still exist, but the game now attempts to find a best match for you so that you don't need to nail the combo. there are no more "baby beasts" either, the game works a lot harder to find the best possible pet for you to summon
*Instead of summoning pets from their staff, the "produce flame" turns into the pet. They also all deal a standard attack which is like a kick, but matching the element you summoned.
*Also noteworthy - bewitch animal is now a permanent charm until that pet dies or is deliberately attacked or released, so you aren't totally dependent on the staff for pets. Note: this should be one and only one pet, just to be up front about that, so that druids stay dependent on actually casting spells.
Equipment
A druid set was added to the druid guildhall. Also, look out for some druid-only recipes to brew up charms.
Circles
*ALL "racial" skills have been retired. You now pick a circle at level 12 which gives you five spells instead.
- available circles are: trees (herbalist), stone (astrologist), shadows (sacrificial priest)
- these skills will be available to view in the helpfile DRUID CIRCLE once we catch up. the major update is that each spec gets only one ritual
*A new command "cover" (a.k.a. juke) is added, this is used reactively to allow dodging some mob attacks without having to flee the room.
*Tracks are no longer left in the void or shadow grove rooms. they will resume once the player leaves those areas.
*"swap lock" - a delay of 1 round has been added before one can switch weapons again. This is similar to monk style swaps, a little less fluid, please leave your feedback so we can understand if this is good or bad.
*Two-handed bonus damage is now added for all characters with the bonus being an increased damroll contribution from strength, instead of increasing the effect of enhanced damage. The outcome of having enhanced damage with this is very similar to before.
*The consider command will now indicate presence of protective shield, size difference, whether the other person is flying.
Material vuln changes
*Conceptually we changed so-called material "vulns" to "material weaknesses" to keep it distinct from "vulnerabilities".
-Wood weakness was changed to just bypassing resistance, so for e.g. wooden arrows neither deal extra damage to storm giants or do less damage because they are piercing on a resist. they just ignore that resistance.
-Same with the silver weakness - use it to ignore resistance. so undead monsters might resist attacks but not from silver weapons for e.g.
-Iron vuln for elf now means they have trouble actually seeing it, so its a dodge penalty not a damage buff. it pretty much just slightly negates that dodge.
-Updated Jotun to have an adamantium vuln instead of pierce vuln, and make any weapons made of that bypass any resistances they may have.
Areas
*Witch-carving : This is a new way to make weapons, which can be opened up by completing the quest from Levis the half-centaur in the dwarf forest.
*Lectern : This is a new item on sale at Magewares in Timaran. It is the equivalent of "scarecrow" for mage training, you drop this one in a high tower of sorcery classroom.
*Dyes : a new store in Valour allows dyeing of certain items; note - this is a cosmetic enhancement, not power.
*Charm bracelets : there are now various charms to find that can be inserted only into charm bracelets. these impact the stats of the item they were inserted into. Look for them in jewelry stores.
*Added a "skin" command (rangers were already doing this via butcher). Used with our single leatherworking store craft recipe.
*If you have turned on color room descs, you might be able to notice extra descriptions in yellow as long as you "look" while in the room.
*Altar devotions : If you use the devote command while at your temple altar, you can buy a few additional modifiers.
service
/ \
/ \
serenity confidence
/ \ / \
sacrifice vitality vision belief
\ \ / /
\----------- hope --------/
______________|____________
/ | \
success endurance strength
/ \ / \ / \
longevity freedom passion soul courage growth
\ | / \ | /
\ | / \ | /
forgiveness prosperity
Cabals
*Keepers can now nudge their pendulum.
*Legions can now create spooky trees (occultist only) that spread a visibility-reducing fog in the nearby area.
*Warlords cabal has moved!
*We now have a way to hide inactive cabal members from roster without having to wait til they auto-deleted.
*Knights have diversified their internal structure into the order of the templars and order of the crusader. These groups are both Knights, just with different skillsets.
Race changes
*Treants can no longer fly under any circumstances.
*Treants can now quench thirst rapidly by drenching themselves (druid spells) or slowly by being in fog (slow osmosis)
*Jotuns are now weak to adamantium instead of vuln to pierce.
Class Changes
Shadow / Thief
*There is no longer a hitroll check when sidestepping vs two-handed weapons due to the combat style advantage.
Illusionist
*Time to complete the spell "gate" has been reduced by a second. This was done by reducing the time to transport the character to 5 seconds, of which 3 seconds is lagged due to casting leaving 2 seconds to either sit (to interrupt the gate) or do RP things like wave or say stuff before leaving. After moving through the gate, there are then 3 seconds of lag on the other end, identical to the cast time. Previously, this spell was 9 seconds of lag, under all circumstances. Note that group gate is not changed.
Invokers
*Ice/fire/lightning shield now overload the baseline shield spell instead of being separated from them.
*This means if the shield spell shatters, the ice shield is gone. you can choose whether to let it expire to deal the extra effect or use mystic tendrils to keep the ice shield, or option 3 just get your ass kicked horribly.
*Barrier exchange is now 1 mana per point of damage blocked instead of 1 mana = 2 hp. This change was made to address ease of exploitation of barrier in Winter, but its also because its just the right move to do for this spell to be reasonably balanced (at 1 mana = 2 hp and invoker slowing with mana shield, this is a bargain to use, and the limiting factor is just if you die before the fight ends).
*We will continue to monitor for invoker cake'ing Winter. If it is not addressed we may need to block AOE's with barrier entirely. Hoping we found a good solution here.
*A bug with some skills allowing disarm through weapon ward was addressed.
Necromancer
The overall goal here is to give the necromancer more choices, more dilemmas, more control of their minions, and also to make things just a little less painfully hardcore (we know that is part of the necromancer "appeal" as well). Secondary to that goal is to cement the apocalyptic threat presented by the dark arts of necromancy - specifically, that zombie apocalypse and of course runaway pandemics.
Things that did not change
This is provided to help read the notes and provide reassurance for players who fear necromancers (i.e. nearly everyone..)
*2 golems max, 3 zombies max (at 50)
*The abysmal failure rate of animate corpse is the same as ever.
Changes
General
*Not to be outdone by group gate, the necromancer guildhall has developed a way to ensure all necro minions are now tethered to them. This just means that if the necro and minion are separated for longer than 5 minutes, the mobs will teleport and rejoin the necromancer. A way to do this immediately is to risk a teleport, as that causes the mobs to join you no matter where they are. Just be aware that teleports may cause an unavoidable and non-refundable death.
- Mobs will not rejoin you if they've been entombed.
Golems
*Ghoul frenzy is now just for the golems, instead of just for the zombies. it behaves just like a 1 tick berserk, meaning it can also deal damage when it is cast. while a stone golem is under a ghoul frenzy, it is able to bash, and correspondingly a ghoul frenzied flesh golem can trip.
*Flesh golem is now cast upon body parts, starting with hearts. As you cast again on more unique body parts, you can gradually increase your golems health by up to 2x.
Zombies
*Strength damned causing zombies to eventually fall apart was REMOVED.
-Instead, its the fresh zombies that eventually decay, and the strength damned spell will cause the zombies to be permanent for the rest of the login session. the timer is quadratic so that high level zombies still last a very long time.
-Strength damned can be cast once every 90 minutes, which is just slightly over the TTL of a level 40 zombie, so this means letting zombies croak is left completely to being your decision (or incompetency) to make at this point.
*Entomb will now allow a zombie to be saved across a logout because shit happens sometimes. The grace period is 30 minutes, subject to change.
*Zombies are by default slowed (not new to this patch), but what they can all do now is a basic attack - bite. This has a chance to cause an entire pandemic due to it starting a plague that begins after a delay. Strength damned zombies deal double the usual damage with their bite attack. N.B. The plague can be saved against.
*Zombies are no longer vulnerable to fire. Instead they are simply flammable. They ignite into flames when hit with fire damage, then burn every round for a while. Once a zombie is alight, its melee will become fire attacks (i.e. magic damage) which most likely will make a shitty situation even worse. N.B. This mechanic will be introduced on the mansion's butlers since those are like zombies and met at about the level range that necros get zombies.
Plague!
*vampiric touch is now more effective against plagued targets - it has better damage in almost all circumstances, and vamp touching lowbie mobs can be as good as vamp touching similar level mobs once they have been plagued, as it will use the level of the plague instead. Note that this also applies to the presence of a contagion (i.e. dark-knight spellstrike, and see ossuary notes).
*see notes on new spell APOCALYPSE
Additions
*Souls can now be stored in soul shrouds.
*New spell : banshee form. this will make the necromancer gain a bunch of hp which is influenced by the number and quality of souls they have in their shroud, and also increases vampiric touch by 25%. but they also become nearly undead here - vulnerable to holy attacks and unable to use bloodcasting.
*New spell : phylactery. This turns an everyday household item into a container for the necromancers soul, with the price being, of course, one soul. if you have a phylactery and die, you are revived with 20% hp, though you lose all your minions and mana. if your phylactery is destroyed then you lose that death forever, which means you'd best disguise the phylactery in something innocuous, and hide it well. it is removed from the game during logouts, and only reloaded once you log back in. once chosen, the phylactery cannot be moved again.
-if your necro is undead then it cannot go with phylactery due to there being no soul to split.
*New spell: ossuary. This is an additional golem which you build from corpses, starting from level 1. it is essentially a big damage sponge that tanks and if you cast ossuary with a corpse in the room it'll absorb in the spare parts for healing, and if level of new corpse is greater than current ossuary level, it'll increase in level. Like zombies, it is slowed, punching hard (but not OFTEN). Unlike zombies it spreads a contagion which makes it easier for the necro to land maledictives and makes those vampiric touches more effective. Also, the ossuary has the unique ability to hold mob attention.
*New spell : "wraith summon". the wraith does magic damage and hasted, ala. tired innkeeper, its damage can be improved with putting souls into the soul shroud.
-Note that this is NOT a permanent mob. it lasts for about a minute, and can be summoned once every ten minutes, so you'd need to choose a good time to use it.
-This mob is not on the count of allowed minions so that it wont affect your golem/zombie allotment.
*New spell: funnel health. you can use this to heal your golems. this spell pairs well with making the ossuary tank for you. it is not available for zombies. this is bloodcast, meaning (a) unavailable to undead necromancers, (b) you have to find some way to heal the hp back (Vampiric touch)
*New spell: apocalypse. A necromancer can burst your plague sores with this spell. It will hit hard, and the after-effects cause hunger and thirst to progress more rapidly. Once the affect of apocalypse wears off, the victim will be exhausted sufficient to fall into a coma.
Psionicist
*Added heat metals spell at level 40 (moved from druid). This spell lands much easier after implant visions.
Healer
*Sacrifice can now be used to transfer ghosts to their corpse. Note that this does also unghost them.
*Fly is now castable while fighting (so that it can be used as an offensive spell), and its duration when applied as an offensive spell was lowered to match blindness.
Shaman
*This class gained weapon freeing per player request.
*Kick was made easier to practice.
*The spell dark shroud now suppresses the "consider" command output.
Paladin
*word of recall was exchanged so that paladins instead have group recall. group recall has a 5 second cast windup
Dark-Knights
*Shirk no longer works on mercenaries, however, it does now work on mobs with compulsion - up until that compulsion wears off.
*Unholy strength was moved down to level 30.
*Protection spell "removed". (Actually, it is not). Please see abyssal bulwark notes below.
*The abyssal bulwark is now an automatic ability - you can gain this shield on melee hits. The max shield is equal to 25% of maximum health, to help encourage dkn's to go for better hp gear (i.e. further increase their loot-whoring).
- As a reminder, what this shield does is reduce damage taken by 25%. So the protection spell is redundant. Therefore we retired that from DK.
- That means less affect management, and that reduction of cerebral load allows them more mental room to worry about their weapon style, whether to do fell spark or bash, etc, which means players should find this easier to play.
- Also note, it is important that they keep trading big melee damage to generate that shield, too. So a dark-knight will want to find a balance of hp and hit/dam to make sure they maintain a decent bulwark.
* Fell spark can now HEAL, not refill shield. using fell spark will cost shield, so this is a risky move, but possible nonetheless.
- Unlike every other spell in the game, the fell spark deals damage that is increased by more max hp (which therefore also affects the heal).
- There is a small chance (improving with abyssal bulwark skill) that the DKN can get an unholy affect that allows to cast fell spark without a loss of shield.
*Strike of pains first strike can now be saved (bug fix).
Druids
High-level feedback in a nutshell has been repeating this:
(a) too complicated to understand/play
(b) too many things to practice
(c) too many conditional spells
(d) the specs are not very impactful or useful
This patch addresses all of those things, by what I would describe as basically a complete and total overhaul. So I will begin with introducing the conceptual changes and then we'll get into the skills and spells (i.e. the details)
Conceptual Changes
Spirit bond
Instead of having dozens of spells that require a specific bond to work, we have relaxed that requirement. Instead now we have spirit bond requiring a special kind of location to work, like needing a supply of water for water bond. So you might see a druid run to visit an altar of fire or volcano to bond to fire there, instead of just changing bonds anywhere they feel like, as if it were shapeshifting.
Chanting
Chanting was changed to require being in close contact with the ground. To support this, a "bindings" energy bar has been added. this requires a charm bracelet equipped. each cast of a spell adds +10 to the bracelet
*Instead of "spell combos" , big skills / primal fury etc just require a filled bindings bar.
*If for some reason they are not in contact with the ground (attacked with a fly scroll, maybe?), chants will instead use up bindings. and in a pinch they can empower staff to get half the bindings.
*Continuing to chant spells will now "scroll" the runes on the runestaff instead of it getting stuck in an unwanted status.
Equipment
All the metal items are now allowed to be worn, they'll just interfere with your chanting if they contain iron (because of their ferromagnetism). Also, bindings will not save you from that one.
New skills / spells
*New spell "fey spectacles" combines detect invis and detect magic into one spell (removing the need for them), level 2.
*New skill empower staff added at level 25.
*New spell : warding winds, replaced thorn armor at level 45.
*Gained create spring at level 19.
*New spell : unbinding. this is multi-purpose. it can do cure blindness, cure poison, cure disease, remove curse, cancellation, all at once, and on others, it amounts to being dispel magic. for druids who still want the conditional spells, that is the appropriate use-case of brewed potions, let me know what is missing.
* "New"-ish spell : druidic ritual. level 20. this replaces the three spells of trees/stone/blood . you don't actually use this spell, it ends up changing with your spec choice. When you spec the druid (see notes below), you'll get the appropriate ritual again.
*New spell: transmute fire. level 35. this changes campfires and invoker wildfires into smashable granite rocks (for ore).
Skill update summary
*Lore lowered to level 3.
*Forage raised from level 1 to level 4.
*Druid staff raised from level 1 to level 5.
*Enchant staff lowered from level 17 to level 12.
and
*Forage cooldown was reduced a tad, and is now better at finding seeds.
*Enchant staff now makes a flail instead of an exotic.
Spell update / enhancement summary
*cure light moved to level 3
*faerie fire raised to level 8
*identify moved up to level 8
*leaves moved to level 10
*protection creature lowered to 10
*thunderclap moved to level 14
*might of the oaks moved to level 16
*sanc moved to level 26
*control weather moved to level 28
*call lightning moved to level 28
*wilderness recall moved to level 29
*ironwood moved to level 30
*foresight raised to level 31
*winters wrath moved to level 34
*wall of fire moved to level 35
*bewitch animal moved to level 38
*breath of the wild moved to level 40
*tempest moved to level 49
and...
*Kick and parry were both made easier to practice to relieve practices further.
*Might of the oaks double mv cost has been removed.
*Wild shape was totally rewritten again. it now buffs if used on ones self, or is a malediction when used offensively. also, it blocks all other forms of shapeshifting when used offensively - including pass door.
*One with nature now causes the druid to have all three bonds in effect at the same time.
*Spell damage was generally improved. no more casting 100 mana to use a spell that is weaker than just kicking.
*Control weather now modifies the weather local to the druid instead of the game's entire weather. the druids weather change follows the druid around, unless they go indoors, which breaks the spell.
*casting faerie blast/rainmaker can worsen the local weather as well instead of just leaving that to the control weather spamming.
Removals
*herblore, barkskin, blood worms, faerie flare, cure blindness, cure poison, cure disease, remove curse, cancellation, dispel magic, infravision, find water, stardust, brambles, water walking, ritual of trees/stone/blood, lava burst, wall of fire
But wait, there's more...
Brandishing
*Spark damage has been increased for 2 matching runes, along with mana costs being added though.
*3 rune brandishes now also spark.
*Two runes are still impactful e.g. two W's drench the enemy, two F's engulf and so on. but now it will just look for two of the type instead of enforcing that it has to be your first two runes. for example, W-A-W and A-W-W would both cause drench
- Brandishing two E's now produces a spire of earth from the ground. this can be exploded by casting faerie blast.
Pets
*Pet combos still exist, but the game now attempts to find a best match for you so that you don't need to nail the combo. there are no more "baby beasts" either, the game works a lot harder to find the best possible pet for you to summon
*Instead of summoning pets from their staff, the "produce flame" turns into the pet. They also all deal a standard attack which is like a kick, but matching the element you summoned.
*Also noteworthy - bewitch animal is now a permanent charm until that pet dies or is deliberately attacked or released, so you aren't totally dependent on the staff for pets. Note: this should be one and only one pet, just to be up front about that, so that druids stay dependent on actually casting spells.
Equipment
A druid set was added to the druid guildhall. Also, look out for some druid-only recipes to brew up charms.
Circles
*ALL "racial" skills have been retired. You now pick a circle at level 12 which gives you five spells instead.
- available circles are: trees (herbalist), stone (astrologist), shadows (sacrificial priest)
- these skills will be available to view in the helpfile DRUID CIRCLE once we catch up. the major update is that each spec gets only one ritual
Zooka
Posts: 38
2/26/2023, 7:48:44 PM
Any association with swap lock and quick wield?
Davairus
Posts: 10674
2/26/2023, 8:19:06 PM
Hey Zooka, I thought about it. Right now wields already lag a bit. Its about as much as moving, and quick wield is supporting in that area to make that quicker - its pretty obvious this skill is supposed to invoke thoughts of western gunslingers. It seems like a good idea to make quick wield prevent swap lock, but I think the wise thing to do is wait and see what issues bubble up with swap lock so we have a better idea of if it would be a net improvement to the game to have quick wield prevent those issues or maybe we'll decide quick wield ends up only for daggers, or other conclusions. I am not comfortable making predictions this early here, but even if I was, there is a lot to get used to. You can see I did not update the melee classes (warrior zerker thief) that is because the changes in the "combat" section really already shake things up, and swap lock impact seems rather uncertain. Also.. the main reason this patch took so long was really just finding the appropriate change to two-handed weapon damage buff, that's another one to watch.
Xerties
Posts: 484
2/26/2023, 10:08:01 PM
Wow quite a patch! Thank you, Davairus, for all your hard work on this. You've clearly put in a huge amount of effort.
Admittedly I haven't read the patch notes thoroughly yet (there's a lot!), but I would like to offer some feedback about swap lock as it pertains to the issue of combat superiority. Time will tell for certain, but I don't believe this will have the effect we're looking for. In my experience, the problem isn't repeatedly switching for advantage in between rounds, though I suppose that does happen. The larger issue is the weapons swap to advantaged skill chain. That is, one can swap to weapon/combat advantage then immediately hit a skill, hobble being the most frequent. With aliases this is even more prevalent. Being able to have one command to rem shield;dual fiery;overpower hobble makes the strategic value of style advantages somewhat irrelevant.
I think Ashlyn really nailed the appropriate solution in the feedback thread a couple months ago. There should be a one round delay in achieving style advantage. So you can swap your style, but you wouldn't gain the benefits of it until the next round. Quick wield could reduce that delay. This would give your opponent a brief opportunity to react to what you've done instead of just eating whatever style advantaged skill you've got strung up.
I get it if you want time for swap lock to marinate and see how things shake out with all the other changes. And again, many thanks for all the work you put into this.
Admittedly I haven't read the patch notes thoroughly yet (there's a lot!), but I would like to offer some feedback about swap lock as it pertains to the issue of combat superiority. Time will tell for certain, but I don't believe this will have the effect we're looking for. In my experience, the problem isn't repeatedly switching for advantage in between rounds, though I suppose that does happen. The larger issue is the weapons swap to advantaged skill chain. That is, one can swap to weapon/combat advantage then immediately hit a skill, hobble being the most frequent. With aliases this is even more prevalent. Being able to have one command to rem shield;dual fiery;overpower hobble makes the strategic value of style advantages somewhat irrelevant.
I think Ashlyn really nailed the appropriate solution in the feedback thread a couple months ago. There should be a one round delay in achieving style advantage. So you can swap your style, but you wouldn't gain the benefits of it until the next round. Quick wield could reduce that delay. This would give your opponent a brief opportunity to react to what you've done instead of just eating whatever style advantaged skill you've got strung up.
I get it if you want time for swap lock to marinate and see how things shake out with all the other changes. And again, many thanks for all the work you put into this.
Davairus
Posts: 10674
2/26/2023, 11:00:58 PM
I didn't forget that.. I already know that definitely won't work. We did that "delayed advantage" before and withdrew it, for a few big reasons (a) because Thoom didnt find it fun at all, (b) causes a big advantage for rangers with quick draw+ wounding shot (c) overhead has a big wind up anyway. We have already tried and retreated from that. Plus, as I mentioned on the previous post, there are lots of other changes around combat that it seems like it would be playing with fire to try bonkers skill lockouts
dead
Posts: 113
2/27/2023, 12:06:06 AM
Thank you for all the hard work Dav. This is an incredible amount of changes.
BlackWidow
Posts: 616
2/27/2023, 12:18:51 AM
Interesting changes... It seems invokers are still really good in PvE situations.
The vulnerability changes will make a difference in many ways. Jotuns no longer being vulnerable to piercing makes them more viable imo. The change to an elf's vulnerability to iron... I'm not sure I like that since it would seem to buff eradicators.
Regarding the material vulnerabilities... Does the "silver weakness" concept also apply to mithril with regards to drow vulnerabilities?
Necromancers have certainly changed... Whether this is a good thing remains to be seen.
The vulnerability changes will make a difference in many ways. Jotuns no longer being vulnerable to piercing makes them more viable imo. The change to an elf's vulnerability to iron... I'm not sure I like that since it would seem to buff eradicators.
Regarding the material vulnerabilities... Does the "silver weakness" concept also apply to mithril with regards to drow vulnerabilities?
Necromancers have certainly changed... Whether this is a good thing remains to be seen.
Xerties
Posts: 484
2/27/2023, 12:50:33 AM
I didn't forget that.. I already know that definitely won't work. We did that "delayed advantage" before and withdrew it, for a few big reasons (a) because Thoom didnt find it fun at all, (b) causes a big advantage for rangers with quick draw+ wounding shot (c) overhead has a big wind up anyway. We have already tried and retreated from that. Plus, as I mentioned on the previous post, there are lots of other changes around combat that it seems like it would be playing with fire to try bonkers skill lockouts
Fair enough, I didn't know it had been tried before. Interested to see how this change works out. Thanks for the response.
Davairus
Posts: 10674
2/27/2023, 7:16:43 AM
Yeah, I'll be happy to repeat this. Material weaknesses are not vulns.. it is the same thing with drows and mithril. It does not deal more damage. That is not the case with mithril/silver arrows, not the case with metal shards spell, and not the case with mithril spears that may have previously been unintentionally tailored to screw over drows. This is one of the changes that I feel was needed because of vuln damage just going totally overboard with two-handed weapons. When we've gotten our shit together a bit better, it will show up as "Weaknesses: mithril, silver" on the race page / helpfiles. It'll take a while to get through all the documentation. I'm sure that'll make them more appealing to play, but don't forget about the vuln to light damage.. that's not changed.
Dalero
Posts: 114
2/28/2023, 6:44:41 PM
The Devote help file might need to be clarified slightly to avoid the confusion of trying to devote at your deity's altar. I eventually figured you , after reading the help file more carefully that you need to go to your hometown's pit of sacrifice and give those items to the priest there...and not place them in the 'pit of sacrifice'.
Bladefury
Posts: 520
2/28/2023, 6:59:24 PM
*Obnoxious heavy breathing* ooh how I have been waiting.
Davairus
Posts: 10674
3/1/2023, 4:13:35 AM
I can just enable devotes in shrines as well if we want, if thats what feels more intuitive to do. I have no problem with it. I think you'll want it in towns so you can start at low level. It'd probably be nice to allow shrines.
Grayden
Posts: 658
3/1/2023, 5:47:14 AM
#1 (๑`✪̤◡✪̤)◞ღԵհɑղƘÕღ thank you again for the hard work.
#2 Can we get the same vulnerable change for the illithids?
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#2 Can we get the same vulnerable change for the illithids?
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Davairus
Posts: 10674
3/2/2023, 4:56:58 AM
grayden if we de-nerfed illithid slash vuln then it would no longer be possible for us to say we got our asses kicked like it was the illithid slash vuln... and anyway with shock and 4 pracs per level theyre deceptively strong really, plus there is the brain sphere in the psionicist set. illthids are godly psionicists, truly.
thanks everyone for all the bug reports.
thanks everyone for all the bug reports.
Bladefury
Posts: 520
3/2/2023, 6:34:26 PM
love the jotun changes also. i sincerely was pushing so hard for that vuln change because eating 400 damage in a round was scary.
Xenyar
Posts: 690
3/2/2023, 8:02:39 PM
Jotuns have baller stats and are Large size. Vuln was there to balance that out. Fire giants have to deal with ice staffs and double gripped frostbrands, illithids have to deal with two-handed slashing, dwarfs - two-hander staff of storms and so on...But jotuns get a break? I understand why, but don't necessarily agree. Should have kep the pierce vuln but made it a very light vuln, like only one level of damage(multilates to disembowels, instead of mutiliates to dismembers/massacres). Unless you plan changing a lot of weapons materials to adamantium so their vuln can be used against them...if not, jotuns just got OP.
lionSpyre
Posts: 135
3/2/2023, 9:33:51 PM
These are really exciting changes. Thank you for all of the hard work. I redact my recent statement in a graveyard that I don't want to roll a necro.. this looks great. Pleasant surprise with changes to DK and Druid as well.
As for Jotun, I think time will tell here @Xenyar. If I'm understanding the material weakness correctly, that's no joke on hybrids. Just ask Militha eating a silver weapon when she had probably 400+ AC. The thing I like with this change is at least Jotun DK seems viable now. Some Jotun paladins have been successful in the past, but it's been a select few. Jotun DK needed this.
As for Jotun, I think time will tell here @Xenyar. If I'm understanding the material weakness correctly, that's no joke on hybrids. Just ask Militha eating a silver weapon when she had probably 400+ AC. The thing I like with this change is at least Jotun DK seems viable now. Some Jotun paladins have been successful in the past, but it's been a select few. Jotun DK needed this.
Davairus
Posts: 10674
3/3/2023, 10:22:15 AM
[quote="Xerties"]
[quote="Davairus"]I didn't forget that.. I already know that definitely won't work. We did that "delayed advantage" before and withdrew it, for a few big reasons (a) because Thoom didnt find it fun at all, (b) causes a big advantage for rangers with quick draw+ wounding shot (c) overhead has a big wind up anyway. We have already tried and retreated from that. Plus, as I mentioned on the previous post, there are lots of other changes around combat that it seems like it would be playing with fire to try bonkers skill lockouts[/quote]
Fair enough, I didn't know it had been tried before. Interested to see how this change works out. Thanks for the response.[/quote]
Well Xerties it doesnt mean that there isnt still going to be an issue here, it just means that we haven't found an approach that worked yet. Another thing that we havent tried is to make sideswipe and barrage require hobble first... that would make hobble equivalent of the mortal kombat uppercut to setup the air combo. just a thought.. anyway..hopefully this patch helps a lot.
[quote="Davairus"]I didn't forget that.. I already know that definitely won't work. We did that "delayed advantage" before and withdrew it, for a few big reasons (a) because Thoom didnt find it fun at all, (b) causes a big advantage for rangers with quick draw+ wounding shot (c) overhead has a big wind up anyway. We have already tried and retreated from that. Plus, as I mentioned on the previous post, there are lots of other changes around combat that it seems like it would be playing with fire to try bonkers skill lockouts[/quote]
Fair enough, I didn't know it had been tried before. Interested to see how this change works out. Thanks for the response.[/quote]
Well Xerties it doesnt mean that there isnt still going to be an issue here, it just means that we haven't found an approach that worked yet. Another thing that we havent tried is to make sideswipe and barrage require hobble first... that would make hobble equivalent of the mortal kombat uppercut to setup the air combo. just a thought.. anyway..hopefully this patch helps a lot.
Grayden
Posts: 658
3/4/2023, 7:52:55 AM
Illithid ask was completely selfless, none in my current roster... this second.
It would mess up leveling in that area, that vulnerability makes a huge difference.
More to that, can we get something to balance Jotun mobs like half HP for Jotun Paladins in tainted valley and half HP for every Jotun in Redhorne?
Just spitballing I do like power shifts to keep it interesting and we all pray the shadow clans will come back together to give us all shadow options.
It would mess up leveling in that area, that vulnerability makes a huge difference.
More to that, can we get something to balance Jotun mobs like half HP for Jotun Paladins in tainted valley and half HP for every Jotun in Redhorne?
Just spitballing I do like power shifts to keep it interesting and we all pray the shadow clans will come back together to give us all shadow options.
Davairus
Posts: 10674
3/4/2023, 8:10:58 AM
So the idea is to remove the pierce vuln because the race is kinda trash with that vuln. There are pierce polearms. Its bad, and we had much better choices. I dont wish to see every single pally be a joutn either though. Maybe we could make jotuns parry a wee bit crappier vs smaller players so that they're a good choice to roll up specifically to deal with giants.
lionSpyre
Posts: 135
3/4/2023, 2:29:38 PM
Like I said, I think it's too early to tell whether this change broke Jotun paladins. But, if I were to make any changes down the road, it might be something easy and impactful like reducing their dex, int and/or wis by one. This would impact their AC, mana and defenses.
Whenever people go like "great stats? It's broken!!!" I think of Minotaurs. They have really excellent stats, resistance to bash, and a virtually non-exploitable weakness. But they're clearly not broken..
I think for Jotuns, we've got to wait for players to find the right adamantium weapons and then assess how those fights are going in general. I personally don't know what the best ones to use would be, but I'll be looking now.
Whenever people go like "great stats? It's broken!!!" I think of Minotaurs. They have really excellent stats, resistance to bash, and a virtually non-exploitable weakness. But they're clearly not broken..
I think for Jotuns, we've got to wait for players to find the right adamantium weapons and then assess how those fights are going in general. I personally don't know what the best ones to use would be, but I'll be looking now.
Grayden
Posts: 658
3/4/2023, 10:57:38 PM
I agree we need to let it play out a bit, because if it ain't broke...
@Dav if we need a nerf vs small characters it should be harder for Jotuns to hit small category characters. The logic being those races are too close to the ground or fast instead of just Jotuns are a big target.
@Dav if we need a nerf vs small characters it should be harder for Jotuns to hit small category characters. The logic being those races are too close to the ground or fast instead of just Jotuns are a big target.
Davairus
Posts: 10674
3/5/2023, 4:17:03 AM
If you want. we can just do it now if you want, we barely started the patch and I dont see anyone power levelling a jotun paladin.
Xenyar
Posts: 690
3/5/2023, 1:53:11 PM
Nobody is saying Jotun is broke. They have(had?) a vuln, and it was there for a reason. Up to Dav to make sure the availability of adamantium weapons is sufficient to take advantage of it.
Nerf vs small characters? lol. If you did that to jotuns, then you need to do that to all large size. Which doesn't really fit imo.
Add material search to the codex. I'd like to see the progress of the jotun "vuln", and it makes it easier to search for shit.
Nerf vs small characters? lol. If you did that to jotuns, then you need to do that to all large size. Which doesn't really fit imo.
Add material search to the codex. I'd like to see the progress of the jotun "vuln", and it makes it easier to search for shit.
Xenyar
Posts: 690
3/5/2023, 4:13:42 PM
And jotun stats are far superior to minotaur(98 vs 103 total stat points, similar str/con and a 23 wisdom for 4 pracs=more training sessions co convert to HP) throw in arcane and cold resistance, as well as a better parry/shield block over a minotaur. This is why there was a vuln in place to balance these things out.
Again, nobody is using the word "broke" except you. I have valid concerns for the balance of jotun race, that's all...Curious how is comes out in the wash.
As mentioned before, fire giants and illithids have massive vulns too, and are easily taken advantage of, including by two-handers. Fire giant's have shit magic AC which makes the vuln worst in game. Jotuns can be pally/dkn.. which is the class with the HIGHEST AC in the game. Pierce vuln on +400ac, or ice damage on 10 magic ac? I'm certainly not saying remove ice or slash vuln. Those vulns are there for a reason...same as the pierce vuln was.
Again, nobody is using the word "broke" except you. I have valid concerns for the balance of jotun race, that's all...Curious how is comes out in the wash.
As mentioned before, fire giants and illithids have massive vulns too, and are easily taken advantage of, including by two-handers. Fire giant's have shit magic AC which makes the vuln worst in game. Jotuns can be pally/dkn.. which is the class with the HIGHEST AC in the game. Pierce vuln on +400ac, or ice damage on 10 magic ac? I'm certainly not saying remove ice or slash vuln. Those vulns are there for a reason...same as the pierce vuln was.
Solmundi
Posts: 35
3/5/2023, 7:31:51 PM
They don't have a great mana pool.
Xenyar
Posts: 690
3/5/2023, 7:49:31 PM
Pallys don't have a great mana pools, unless you're an elf. I bet you still had between 600-700. Rhoa(human) was 674.
lionSpyre
Posts: 135
3/6/2023, 1:35:53 AM
I agree with most of what your saying, @Xenyar. Codex search for materials would be great, and vulns are in place to balance out stats. I also agree that if you penalize jotuns attacking smaller targets, than you'd have to do the same thing for all giants. I just made the 'broken' comment because, at least the vibe I'm getting from this forum and logs, people's brains are already going there. But you're right, it could be an over-dramatization.
With the examples you gave, I think those come with caveats.
In terms of minotaurs, not all stats have equal value to a class. Take FG warriors versus minotaur warriors. Total stats for minotaur vs FG is 98 to 94, so similar gap between Jotun and Minotaur. Minotaurs have 2 more dex, 2 more int, and 3 more wisdom. Only thing FG beats Minotaur in is 2 more strength. So minotaurs win big in the defenses category, get 3 pracs vs 2 for more health, can more easily one-prac etc. But I think we can all agree FG warriors are stronger than minotaur warriors. At the very least, I've seen more successful FG warriors than minotaur warriors. Giant bash obviously helps, but the point is that the +2 strength is arguably worth more than the minotaur's higher dex, wis or int. So, the fact that minotaur has +1 str and +1 con compared to jotun is noteworthy. Also, think about how much slith improved with just a +1 to strength?
And as for the vulnerabilities... the strongest ice weapon is like a 21 ave (not including Xel Morak which can occasionally pop off an ice attack). Whereas the strongest piercing weapons are what, 2h 33 aves? There are tons of options for really strong piercing weapons. So yeah, you may have 400+ AC with best-in-slot, but you're getting hit with weapons that are 50% stronger than what fire giants are dealing with. It's a tricky balance, and based on previous log boards, all of this was considered when changing the jotun piercing vuln to an adamantine weakness.
With the examples you gave, I think those come with caveats.
In terms of minotaurs, not all stats have equal value to a class. Take FG warriors versus minotaur warriors. Total stats for minotaur vs FG is 98 to 94, so similar gap between Jotun and Minotaur. Minotaurs have 2 more dex, 2 more int, and 3 more wisdom. Only thing FG beats Minotaur in is 2 more strength. So minotaurs win big in the defenses category, get 3 pracs vs 2 for more health, can more easily one-prac etc. But I think we can all agree FG warriors are stronger than minotaur warriors. At the very least, I've seen more successful FG warriors than minotaur warriors. Giant bash obviously helps, but the point is that the +2 strength is arguably worth more than the minotaur's higher dex, wis or int. So, the fact that minotaur has +1 str and +1 con compared to jotun is noteworthy. Also, think about how much slith improved with just a +1 to strength?
And as for the vulnerabilities... the strongest ice weapon is like a 21 ave (not including Xel Morak which can occasionally pop off an ice attack). Whereas the strongest piercing weapons are what, 2h 33 aves? There are tons of options for really strong piercing weapons. So yeah, you may have 400+ AC with best-in-slot, but you're getting hit with weapons that are 50% stronger than what fire giants are dealing with. It's a tricky balance, and based on previous log boards, all of this was considered when changing the jotun piercing vuln to an adamantine weakness.
Bladefury
Posts: 520
3/7/2023, 5:49:57 AM
Uhm I had 900 mana on my Jotun y'all are silly
Solmundi
Posts: 35
3/7/2023, 6:02:22 AM
A mana pool isn't just how large it is, but how quickly it regens.
Davairus
Posts: 10674
3/7/2023, 8:12:49 PM
jotuns are vikings from space btw.
Rothak
Posts: 295
3/16/2023, 12:09:27 PM
For witch-carving, will there be more patterns to carve different types of weapons? As it stands right now, the only available weapon is a dagger.
Dalero
Posts: 114
3/16/2023, 4:46:13 PM
So I'm a smoothbrain and all I can see is awesome and huge relic sink, and I want to see this expanded! I found this by going back to the witch and typing in 'enhance', which I missed earlier.
Tatiana the witch says 'I can provide the following enhancements, depending on the weapon's level:'
Tatiana the witch says 'Level 10. Earth: minor health boost. 10 relics per trial.'
Tatiana the witch says 'Level 10. Arcane: minor saves boost. 10 relics per trial.'
Tatiana the witch says 'Level 15. Tip: add a small piece of metal material. This will require a metal bar and 50 relics.'
Tatiana the witch says 'Level 25. Finesse: strike with slightly better accuracy. 50 relics per trial.'
Tatiana the witch says 'Level 25. Power: strikes are slightly more damaging. 50 relics per trial.'
Tatiana the witch says 'Level 30. Element: strikes are now fire, ice or lightning. 100 relics.'
Tatiana the witch says 'Level 45. Accuracy: strike with much greater accuracy. 250 relics per trial, and a rare item. Stronger rare, stronger effect. Replaces finesse and earth.'
Tatiana the witch says 'Level 45. Might: strikes are much more damaging. 250 relics per trial, and a rare item. Stronger rare, stronger effect. Replaces power and arcane.'
Tatiana the witch says 'Level 45. Blood: greatly increased health and saves. 500 relics per trial, and a rare item. Replaces ALL other enhancements.'
Tatiana the witch says 'Level 50. Adjective: change your dagger from vicious to a word of your choosing. 1000 relics.'
Tatiana the witch says 'Level 50. Etch: etch a name on your weapon. It must have an adjective enhancement first! 5000 relics.'
Tatiana the witch says 'To enhance, just use the magic words, e.g. enhance dagger element fire.
So this is a real crafting weapon crafting system with some amazing possiblities. Changing the material to a metal based weapon? adding elemental damage? Adding hp/hit/dam? CUSTOM NAMING??!?!?! NEAT!
Tatiana the witch says 'I can provide the following enhancements, depending on the weapon's level:'
Tatiana the witch says 'Level 10. Earth: minor health boost. 10 relics per trial.'
Tatiana the witch says 'Level 10. Arcane: minor saves boost. 10 relics per trial.'
Tatiana the witch says 'Level 15. Tip: add a small piece of metal material. This will require a metal bar and 50 relics.'
Tatiana the witch says 'Level 25. Finesse: strike with slightly better accuracy. 50 relics per trial.'
Tatiana the witch says 'Level 25. Power: strikes are slightly more damaging. 50 relics per trial.'
Tatiana the witch says 'Level 30. Element: strikes are now fire, ice or lightning. 100 relics.'
Tatiana the witch says 'Level 45. Accuracy: strike with much greater accuracy. 250 relics per trial, and a rare item. Stronger rare, stronger effect. Replaces finesse and earth.'
Tatiana the witch says 'Level 45. Might: strikes are much more damaging. 250 relics per trial, and a rare item. Stronger rare, stronger effect. Replaces power and arcane.'
Tatiana the witch says 'Level 45. Blood: greatly increased health and saves. 500 relics per trial, and a rare item. Replaces ALL other enhancements.'
Tatiana the witch says 'Level 50. Adjective: change your dagger from vicious to a word of your choosing. 1000 relics.'
Tatiana the witch says 'Level 50. Etch: etch a name on your weapon. It must have an adjective enhancement first! 5000 relics.'
Tatiana the witch says 'To enhance, just use the magic words, e.g. enhance dagger element fire.
So this is a real crafting weapon crafting system with some amazing possiblities. Changing the material to a metal based weapon? adding elemental damage? Adding hp/hit/dam? CUSTOM NAMING??!?!?! NEAT!
Dogran
Posts: 1938
3/16/2023, 11:05:12 PM
That's awesome, but I can't imagine investing 5k relics to name a weapon haha. Not when you can die and lose the weapon.
Davairus
Posts: 10674
3/17/2023, 6:37:45 PM
It is centaur witch so you might expect to see clubs, spears, staff, bows and maybe even axes and flails. However its not a mistake that this opened up with just dagger. The main concern I have for this NPC is that the available products have rare counterparts. It is fine if we add it later but the elemental enhancements should relate to the available rares, otherwise it is going to turn mandatory grind to be competitive. We see that problem already with forged armor exceeding level 50 rares. It should definitely be possible to just get rares instead of this stuff. Even with identical stats its still the better option because it doesn't purge, but when its better than rares it really amplifies the effect of pry/steal, makes the full looting feel sadistic etc. So thats all avoided by being just dagger for now. it still needs a little more TLC to be able to govern the allowed element per weapon type. Once that's in place, it shouldn't be a problem to add more weapons, and of course more quests to earn those stencils.
Davairus
Posts: 10674
3/19/2023, 9:43:35 PM
A bug with damage of zombies both before and after strength damned going back to the first age was fixed today, figured I should mention it here. The bug was pretty much just rounding errors on these calculations. This bug affected the mobs base average damage, not its damroll.