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Post by Xan on Jun 2, 2010 19:24:22 GMT -5
I've come up with a few ideas for new abilities. Most of these will probably be black ether unless otherwise suggested. (X is an integer based on the level of the ability. X can represent more than one variable within the ability) - Fire Shield: Enemies attacking target player in melee suffer X amount of fire damage and have a chance to begin burning, taking X fire damage every second for 3 seconds. (The damage from burning should be small, and increase with the level of the ability. The duration of burning should remain small, to avoid stacking of burning)
- Lightning Shield: Enemies attacking target player in melee suffer X amount of lightning damage and lose X amount of Essence.
- Wind Shield: Enemies attacking target player in melee suffer X amount of wind damage. Player gains X AC. (Note that the damage from Wind Shield is probably less than Fire Shield or Lightning Shield, and the AC bonus would be very small, perhaps even 0 at tier 1)
- Earth Shield: Target player gains X resistance to piercing and slashing damage. (This shield is more specialized than the others, and a little more limited. Consider making these resistances a little more powerful than usual to make the specialization worth it.)
- Ice Shield: Enemies attacking target player in melee suffer X amount of ice damage and have a chance to be slowed or frozen. (Note that the damage from Ice shield is probably less than Fire Shield or Lightning Shield. Slow or Frozen effect duration may increase with ability level)
- Water Shield: Target player gains X resistance to fire damage and X weakness to lightning damage. Player also gains X resistance to physical damage [Physical Resistance Cost: 1 Essence for every hit received or Water Shield ends].
- Shield of Vengeance [White Ether]: The next damage target player would take is reduced by X and the source takes X amount of holy damage. (Depending on how defense or offense oriented you want this ability to be, you may make either the damage reduction or the reactive damage greater than the other. Or make them equal and allow players to choose equipment which augments one effect or the other to their playstyle.)
- Shield of Mercy [White Ether]: The next damage target player would take is reduced by X and the player is healed for X amount of HP. (You may consider making this one a matter of conversion: Negating up to X amount of damage and then healing the player for that amount)
And lastly, a suggestion from my friend, Kiniro, who has yet to register on the forums because she is busy with finals. - Shield of Corruption: Every time target player is hit with an attack, the player steals X amount of HP and Essence from the source of the attack. Player is immune to White Ether. (This includes healing and damage from Shield of Vengeance)
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Post by Xan on Jun 3, 2010 5:56:06 GMT -5
My hope with these shields is to add some utility to ether. Also to take into consideration: which of these are self-only casts, and which of these can you cast on party members? It's all open to criticism.
Fire, Lightning, Earth, and Wind would probably be fine for casting on party members.
Ice Shield might be best to keep to self cast. With the chance to freeze an attacker, it can essentially incapacitate foes. That is powerful utility in the way of defense. So unless the chance to freeze is relatively low, some mobs have a way to counter or resist freezing, or you remove freezing altogether and just have it slow attackers, I wouldn't allow it to be cast on other party members.
Water Shield might be best to keep to self cast, unless you can tie the essence cost back to the caster.
The 2 White Ether abilities should definitely be able to target party members.
Shield of Corruption should be self-only... I can see someone dying from a single, slow-swinging, heavy-hitting enemy because some idiot party member cast it on the defending party member, isolating him/her from the healer.
...After thinking about it for some time, I agree that the damage shields should all be caster-only (with the exception of the white ether shields because of their one-hit effect). These *will* be powerful tools, and it could make tanking that much easier, perhaps too easy. If the damage shields are to be available to cast on allies, then they should at least not be stackable.
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Post by Xan on Jun 3, 2010 6:09:33 GMT -5
- Masochism[Black Ether]: Every time you are hit with an attack, you gain X Essence. (Either you can put a duration on this, or you can make it passive with a high AP cost. Either way, this would be good for heavy tanking later on. Probably a little beyond the scale of what anyone's doing atm though)
- Counterattack[Weapon Ability: Any Melee Weapon]:You get an automatic hit on the next foe attacking you in melee, dealing normal weapon damage + X% of the damage inflicted by the foe.
- Staggering Retribution[Weapon Ability: Shield]:You knock down the next foe who attacks you in melee, dealing X amount of blunt damage.
- Shield Bash[Weapon Ability: Shield]: Target foe takes X amount of blunt damage and temporarily suffers X penalty to its attack.
- Weapon Focus: Shield[Passive]: Gain X AC while wearing a shield and deal X more blunt damage with Shield Weapon Abilities. (tier one may provide no AC bonus)
- Feint[Weapon Ability: Long Blades and/or Short Blades]: Your next attack inflicts only 1 damage, but your target temporarily suffers X penalty to its AC. (Try to modify the weapon damage on the weapons equipped for the duration of the ability. Once the ability fires or is canceled, weapon damage is restored. Also of note: For feint in particular (if not all weapon abilities) you might want to have the queued weapon abilities cleared any time the character changes weapons that way you don't end up with weapon errors or a permanent bug in a weapon's damage stats)
- Deft Blades[Passive]: Your Short Blades ignore X amount of piercing resistance or damage reduction. (Intended for clever combatants to find chinks in their target's armor, inflicting greater damage by penetrating the damage reduction, but not changing the damage against unarmored opponents. Don't know if this is possible to code. I have faith in you though)
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Post by Xan on Jun 5, 2010 0:03:48 GMT -5
JOINING PROCESS-Guild leader or other players with the assigned recruitment role can send a guild invitation to the selected individual. -Guilds have the option of not appearing on the Recruitment Roster or they have an option to refuse all applications. Useful in the event of a guild getting spammed with applications. Players can still join if invited. RANKS (or roles, as you put it... guessing you're wanting to use the system from EVE: Online) -While I like the idea of customizeable ranks, it may not even be worth it atm, unless it's really easy for you to put it together. I suggest for now these 3, maybe 4 ranks. Not gonna cry if you don't go with it though - Guild Leadero Can promote/demote Members to/from Officers. o Can invite/kick any rank o Can create/edit a guild message for players to see at start up o Can designate a new Guild Leader in his/her place o If the Guild Leader leaves, the Officer who has been in the guild the longest will be designated as the new Guild Leader. If there are no Officers, then the eldest Member will be the new Guild Leader. If there are no other Members of the guild, then the guild is deleted. o Guild Leader can choose to disband the guild. o Guild Leader can set the security for the guild bank (i.e. which ranks can access it) o Access to and ability to customize guild hall/room (this is of course, if you take Syn's idea of adding a guild hall ;D ) - Officerso Can invite/kick Members and Guests o Can use guild chat (when implemented) o Can create the guild message for players to see at start up o Access to and ability to customize guild hall/room - Memberso Can use guild chat o Access to guild hall/room - Guests (this one's kinda fuzzy, and not necessarily in a huggable way) o This rank lasts for 6-12 hours. o This is a temporary invite, not a guild invite. o May be able to use guild chat? (This could cause problems if they are guests to multiple guilds tho, so probably not) o No access to guild bank. o Access to guild hall/room GUILD WARS ( <3 that game ) o Don't know how high on your priorities this is, but I'd say leave it for later. We haven't even tested PVP thoroughly and this may not even be worth using as it is until some other benefits are created. Just sayin' not a bad idea, but save it for later
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Post by Xan on Jun 5, 2010 1:18:33 GMT -5
Can there be a way to set up a guild? Perhaps a terminal that lets a player register for a guild for X cost. That guild is Player ran and maintained. I feel that this would offer a basic start to the whole factions aspect. Along with the Guild, perhaps a Guild hall or at least a guild room. Inside said room, there would be two items. Item one, would be a notice board similiar to the ones you had on RoTD, so members can communicate with one another if they get on during different times of the day. As well as a Guild Vault. A bank like item that allows guild members ONLY to access the same vault for storage. You can even go about making it so any guild member can upgrade it, for a fee. 500 gold per 5 items or something cash sinky like that. To expand on this, would players be able to furnish their guild halls with other items? It could allow players to either give their guild hall the look and feel they desire, or add some utility (e.g. purchasing an AMP terminal or crafting terminal for use in the guild hall). Speaking of aesthetics, if you're able to create new areas for guild halls/guild rooms, is it possible for the guild to select the tileset? Some may want to feel like they're living in a castle, the woods, on a tropical island, or a feiry dungeon. Also, if we have a guild hall in place, it's probably going to cost us just to get one, no? And it'll probably cost even more to furnish it (especially in regards to expanding the bank). So how about this: it doesn't cost anyone anything to go, "Hey, let's be a guild!" and then gain the benefit of being able to chat with each other in guild chat. If they want more than that, their money's going to go into the guild hall anyway. If you're cautious of people making guilds for the hell of it and then disbanding in a couple days, you could probably keep a startup cost, but make it considerably low. Say, 500gp, as a fee by the local authorities to grant you a permit. In regards to the guild starting up, rather than requiring people to have a certain number of members just to start, to keep the system flexible, why not have the guild created for one individual (since it only keeps one member to remain in operation), that individual being the new guild leader. Then the guild leader can invite everyone who wanted to make the guild. To scale the cost of starting up (and to maintain the guild), you can add a 100gp invitation fee per person that is charged to the leader or officer making the invitation. If you use the guest rank I mentioned above, you could probably keep the guest invite in particular lower, say 50gp. This works for the invitations, but what about when the players apply to the guilds? Charge the same amount then, and if the guilds don't want to be charged then they can come up with some way of handling it (i.e. charging the applicants for the fee after they are accepted ). Besides, the government has to find an income somewhere, so they tax everything. List of furnishings: - At default: a terminal for editing the guild
- If you make it in the Zheckshan City, an ether elevator could be useful for exiting if not for entering (if entering, you'd have to make the elevator convo list every guild hall the character has access to)
- Syn's Notice Board idea
- Guild Vault
- A couple Bank Terminals for players so they don't have to run between the guild vault and the bank
- AMP Terminal
- All 3 types of Automated Stores and Terminals for crafting
- A cargo capsule docking station for if/when you implement it
- Marketing Terminal (depending on how you implement the marketing system)
- A variety of placeables (was thinking FFXI with this xD). Bet the RPers would love you for this.
- Lights or a way to modify the environment lighting, if that's do-able
My thoughts with the ether elevator just sparked another idea. How are you going to move characters to and from their guild halls if you don't use an ether elevator? Perhaps every guild hall has a plot item specifically tied to it which guild members can purchase (or receive through a quest or crafting?) and then use to teleport between the city and their guild hall. Kinda like the item in FFXI that allows you to speak with you clan/guild or whatever it is. Anyway, that's it for now. I'ma crash
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Post by Xan on Jun 5, 2010 1:31:54 GMT -5
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Post by Xan on Jun 5, 2010 3:21:01 GMT -5
I really need to sleep, but.... (Forgive any mistakes in my writing) Ok, so most of us know about aggro. It makes monsters want to kill you by doing things they don't like... usually dealing damage to them or healing to their target. "OW! Ditch this warrior and kill the bloody wizard!" Well, how do you determine when it becomes, "OW! GTFO, we're gonna die!"? Not every mob should be a flesh-hungry zombie without a sense of survival. I'm proposing a system to compliment the Aggro Gauge. A Tactical Gauge, if you will. (I'm not sure what else to call it really) Tactical points are a measure of how much a mob should NOT attack a target. Mobs gain Tactical points on targets for situations like these: - Taking damage by attacking(e.g. a caster with Fire Shield).
- Doing consistently less damage than is usual (e.g. attacking a character with heavy armor or casting ether on a resistant target).
- Missing a target (the point value for this should be relatively low as misses are bound to happen once in a while on anyone).
- Having an ether spells completely resisted.
- Being interrupted
- Every second the mob spends chasing the target (to encourage it to attack someone just standing around instead of charging after the same person for hours This also gives a little more viability to the tactic of RUN AWAY!!! In this specific situation when choosing a new target, the mob should check the nearest foe first).
- Any time they cause some sort of beneficial ability to trigger on the target
Mobs lose Tactical points on targets for situations like these (Tactical cannot fall below 0): - Any time they successfully inflict damage (this should be small... it's just to accelerate the restoration of Tactical points, not to negate the loss of it)
- Any time they cause some sort of negative ability to trigger on the target
- Any time they interrupt the casting of ether
- Dealing consistantly more damage than is usual (attacking an opponent with light armor or casting ether on a foe weak to that element)
- Very slowly, a mob will lose Tactical points on any target it is not engaging.
At the onset of battle, all targets should have Tactical 0 and Aggro 0. Usually mobs will attack the first foe they see, or the nearest foe. As damage is inflicted and healing is given, casters and other damage dealers will increase Aggro. The tank can use taunt abilities to increase his/her own Aggro and keep targets on him. Even if the tank can't keep Aggro though, or if there are multiple targets with the same Aggro, Tactical comes into play. When Tactical surpasses Aggro on a target, the mob will change targets. Alternatively you could combine the two Gauges. A target's Threat level is the difference between Aggro and Tactical, or Aggro-Tactical=Threat. Foes will try to go after the foes with the highest threat. That's all for now. I can't think as well when I'm nearly asleep ^_^
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Post by mercuryman on Jun 5, 2010 18:45:07 GMT -5
Nice effort, gives me some ideas too.
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Post by zunath on Jun 7, 2010 11:34:40 GMT -5
We've talked a lot about this stuff on MSN. Just confirming here that I've ran over it. And I totally agree - great effort Xan.
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Post by Xan on Jun 7, 2010 14:54:02 GMT -5
The guild options must be stacked. Currently if a player is given Co-Leader it is just a title, in the case of Maka for her to accept other guild members I had to give her. Co-Leader, Recruiter. We mentioned this in game, but this is a FYI for remembrance. You've probably already considered this, but because the assignment and use of roles is not very intuitive, you may want to add descriptions for each role or an FAQ somewhere. I suggest putting a choice in the Guild Options convo for Role Descriptions.
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Post by Xan on Jun 8, 2010 15:29:55 GMT -5
Expanded Guild Vault I see this becoming a future issue with the guild bank: for the sake of organization, could you implement the bank in such a way that we can break it up into multiple inventories? As guild resources grow, it'll begin to be a bugger to try to pick out what you need from everything else. It's already troublesome (at least to me, but I'm just grumbling) to lack organization in the private banks. As far as upgrades go if you have multiple inventories, you might make it so the guild bank upgrade is collective (e.g. you have 3 sections, each with 3 items in them. Your guild bank size is 10. You can add 1 more item to another section, but then you're capped out.) Alternatively, you could purchase each section and upgrade them all separately. Again, I see this being a *future* issue. Just a plain ol' guild vault to start with probably won't receive any complaints.
Condensed Storyline It came to our attention recently that the current presentation of the storyline, while extensive and detailed, may not be suitable for players just wishing to get the gist of it. Having a summarized version, if possible, would be advisable. That said, the work Mercury has put into the storyline is amazing, and I'm sure there are curious players who will still wish to read up on it.
In-Game Literature As Mercury expands on the lore, the FAQ in the Rest Menu may no longer be the best place for it. A well-organized bookstore or library somewhere in the city may ease the quest for knowledge.
Update Client Just to remind you, Z, it may be helpful to create a client to download all the necessary files for new players and update the files for current players. You mentioned Java.
Inconsistency The hunter's vest you can initially purchase from the store improves your reload time more so than the crafted leather vest.
The quest to turn in Crushmaw's Communication Orb is available without needing any "fame".
Meta Weapon Tiers Just to remind you, Z, we're looking for something to give us a boost to damage at each tier. i.e. Every tier has a set of weapons with only the enhancement bonus (+0, +1, +2...) and a set of weapons with the enhancement bonus and bonus damage (usually +1d6, I think). Think you're already planning this, and Syn mentioned copper-edged tin weapons. As far as materials go though, it may make more sense if you enhance a weapon with whatever material you'd be gathering with that tier. Example: tin weapons are needed for ASF, so once you do a bit of the dungeon and can get junk metal, allow players to make junkmetal-edged tin swords. For the sake of keeping names shorter though, you may just want a simple label like Advanced. So every tier has a set of standard weapons, and a set of Advanced weapons, which use a little bit of material from the next tier. Advanced tin swords ;D
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Post by Xan on Jun 9, 2010 15:31:32 GMT -5
Quest Reward Choices - Need I say more? When we end up with gear that suits a role different from the ones we like to play, or when we receive blueprints of an expertise we have no skill in, it's a bit of a letdown. Offer a few rewards which cover each aspect of the same field (MW, ME, LW options for crafting rewards & Tank, Guns, Ether options for combat rewards). I realize this is difficult for a player to pick and choose at this point, so you'll probably need to have the npc describe the rewards he/she has available.
A New Quest Type and Reward - To help out the newer players so they don't feel so lost, you may consider adding a few simple go-talk-to-this-schmuck quests with rewards that get a bit of basic gear. Suggestions for newbie gear from the starter quests: A choice (see above) of basic weaponry (including guns and staves) available at the store, a choice of either an organic harvester or a mineral harvester, and probably the recovery ability. Which brings me to my next point - you may consider (if not now, then later) adding Abilities as quest rewards. Think we talked about this early on, how mastery of certain abilities would require the aid of a specific npcs or quest. Just an example and an idea: to gain the third tier of black ether elemental spells, characters must venture to an area of the Savannah that is attuned to that specific element, do battle with a powerful elemental, and then attune themselves to the location. Wouldn't even need an ability disk (which could just be farmed and sold off >.>), but instead have the ability gained directly by interacting with a placeable beyond the elemental.
Weapon Exp On-Hit - Pretty sure we discussed this way back before launch, but just want to bring it up for consideration again because it seemed kinda odd the way weapon exp would be gained as I was writing that section of the guidebook. As it is, you only need to beat the crud out of something your high-end weapon and then finish it off with whatever weapon you wanted to train. Even still, you can train up your weapon skill by hitting once and then just casting ether the rest of the time. And it's also troublesome that if you want to intentionally use a tactic that involves firing at range until your opponent closes the distance then switching to a melee weapon, you only get exp for the melee weapon. Is it possible to make the experience for weapons gained on each successful hit, like with black ether?
Bug You can still attack while casting ether and not interrupt yourself. I did this last night with a pistol.
Reloading Concerns Is it possible that you make reloading time shorter? Either that, or make it so you don't unequip your magazine when you swap to a melee weapon. I understand building up a horde of magazines would make reloading a piece of cake, but as long as you can have one mag handy (and change to individual rounds if moved to the inventory) it'll keep firearms handy in a sticky situation for anyone. Even for a standard gunman this is useful: automatic weapons take a different ammo slot than side arms. In a long fight an gunner with an SMG unloads on a mob, the clip runs out, and rather than standing there waiting to reload, she just whips out her pistol and empties that too. In the event that we eventually run into casters too, it'll be important to have something to interrupt spells at range quickly. All it takes is blind, paralyze, or slow and tanks are screwed... nearly the same thing with gunners or allied mages. Anyway, mull this one over, mby it'll work.
For the love of Crafting There has been a recent call for more MW and LW loving. There has also been some low development in resistances. Eventually, I'm sure you're going to have players start taking elemental damage, which will go right through a tank's soak. My proposal for bolstering crafting and reinforcing resistances at once: LW should be able to cover accessories which augment elemental resistances (which can be expanded upon, especially in the case of omni-resistance), MW can get new accessories which provide resistance to piercing, slashing, bludgeoning, and ballistics, and finally ME can cover accessories which increase resistance vs status ailments like blindness or slow.
Idea for a new AMP Reduces Max Essence, Increases Essence Regen, Increased Attack Bonus, Small HP Boost, Mid-Level AP. This would be ideal for a damage-spec melee or gunner to use weapon abilities quickly.
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Post by Xan on Jun 12, 2010 1:02:04 GMT -5
Synergy: Healing Affinity might be made to affect all Abilities which restore HP, this includes Recover, Regen, Resurrection, Shield of Mercy and Drain. Blind Fire: It's an Automatic Weapon Ability. Rename it to Blinding Fire. Quick Reload I & II: Consider having these require skill levels of (2) and (10) in any of the three firearms (handguns, rifles, automatic weapons). Dodge: It only gives you +1 AC, and against only one target at a time. Consider reducing the AP to 1. Regen: The benefit is so long term and it takes a while for the heal to even take effect, reduce the cast time to something like 2.4 to match the other heals. It'll reduce the time it takes to buff party members, and it's not like it'll give us uber heals in a pinch anyway if it's a quick cast. Elemental Ethers: As they stand right now, they're just straight damage. Pretty boring. Increasing damage should probably be the focus of the affinities. Other Abilities of the same element should probably have some additional effect (and I mean beyond the damage shields I made). Examples: - Earth - Strong Knockdown, Strong Knockback (pushing the target back with a forceful blow)
- Fire - Inflicting additional fire damage over time through burning
- Ice - Slowing movement speed, attack speed, Knockdown (freezing the ground beneath a foe)
- Lightning - Damages target's essence as well (probably by a small amount)
- Water - Reduce chance to hit in melee, Reduce chance to dodge (AC)
- Wind - Knockback, Reduce chance to hit at range
You may even consider combining status ailments with various other abilities instead of just having them be their own abilities. - Paralyze - Abilities that stun, which could include abilities from Lightning (shock), Ice (freeze), Heavy Blades, and Shields
- Poison - A lot of room for combination with martial combat abilities. Probably keep it primarily short blades, as those work best when getting poison from weapon to foe.
- Blind - Lightning (overexposure to bright flashes of light), Wind in combination with Earth (blowing dust, ash, or dirt in the eyes), Water (to blur vision). Secondary melee combatants could make use of an ability (Weapon Ability: Any, or Dual Wield if you prefer) to throw dirt in the eyes of foes as well.
- Slow - Ice, Water, or Earth each acting as binding agents to slow a foe.
- Sleep - Wind (blackout from suffocation)
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Post by Xan on Jun 12, 2010 1:37:34 GMT -5
Ok, so made this HUGE post with all sorts of cool ideas and... well, I had a mess up with the forum and lost everything I typed. Let's try this again.... Concerns on Rez in Combat: At present if someone were to try to Rez a fallen ally in combat, you would need to spend 60 seconds casting (making you an easy target and easily interrupted). If you succeed in casting Resurrection, you've just knocked out 50 of your own ES (can't use any other abilities for most if not the rest of the battle), while your buddy comes up with 1HP (and you thought you were an easy target) and 0ES (can't use any abilities). Without the chance to use packs, your buddy depends on natural regen for ES and on a healer to blow even more ES for recover. It's nearly impossible to use Res in combat for multiple reasons, but if we break it up, we can have a little more versatility and better out-of-combat Resurrection. My proposal for a Rez revamp comes in four new abilities to replace the current Rez. - Quick and Dirty Rez (or "Touch of Life"): White Ether Req Lvl (2), Range (Touch), AP (1), ES (15), Activation Time (7sec), Effect (Resurrects target ally with 1HP and 0ES)
- Middle Ground Rez (or "Revive"): White Ether Req Lvl (10), Range (medium), AP (2), ES (30), Activation Time (18sec), Effect (Resurrects target ally with 20% max HP and 50% max ES)
- Heavy Rez (or "Rebirth"): White Ether Req Lvl (15), Range (short or medium), AP (2), ES (40), Activation Time (40sec), Effect (Resurrects target ally with full HP and 70% max ES)
- Utility Rez(or "Intervention"): White Ether Req Lvl (5), Range (medium or long), AP (1), ES (20), Activation Time (20sec), Effect (Resurrects target ally to your position with 10% max HP and 10% max ES)
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Post by Xan on Jun 15, 2010 1:24:22 GMT -5
I had a thought about having gear or even special abilities require Examples: Make Cyriacs Staff require 10 White and 10 Black ether Why not take it a step further and make all Ether staves require Ether skill since casters are likely not to be (and later shouldn't be) in melee combat. Also, with the implementation of weapons like warhammers and heavy flails joining the Heavy Clubs skill, consider moving martial quarterstaves into Light Clubs.
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