I have been a bad developer, and have not posted recently. Part of this is due to things going on in my life, but more of it is due to lack of incentive on my part. I seem to have cyclical swings, and if I follow the historical pattern I should come out of it here in a week or so. But enough about my problems, let's talk about the game!
Of the major events recently, I'd say the biggest two are quicker movement regen, and the str/dex changes. The movement regen change is really only a net improvement of about 25%, but the important part is that it regens on every prompt instead of every tick. For new players, this is absolutely critical; nothing sucks more than being one step away from a safe room and unable to walk there for the 30 seconds it takes for another tick to hit. It changes the newbie game from a 'move a few squares then rest for 30 seconds' kind of game to a 'move more slowly through a few squares and look at stuff' kind of game. It's definitely more pleasant for me when I'm playing, and I've gotten similar remarks from pretty much everyone else.
Strength and dex are another matter. Several very vocal people have already complained, though since I was expecting it, it bothers me less than it initially did. It also helps that nearly everyone who is complaining has already figured out how to change equipment with the least amount of damage. There are also a handful of people who dislike the change because they feel it hurts their characters, but at the same time see the logic behind it and support it. In their view, it affects everyone equally, so it's fair if nothing else.
I only put in the first stage of str/dex in this last update. This limits the spells to +6 and widens the range of boosting to +8, flat across the board. (It used to be +5 or higher depending on how low your natural stat was.) In February, I plan to lower the limit to +5, and in may to +4. I don't think I'll raise the boost range, as it seems to me that +8 is probably sufficient. I'll have to collect more information on this going forward.
One minor change which is actually pretty major is a sort of 'freak' multiplier for randoms. It's just a single line in the changelog, but it's actually a pretty big deal from an equipment standpoint - it's like getting a really kick-ass unique in games like Diablo II. There's four different levels with about a 1 in 8 chance for each successive level. Each level adds 30 composite points to the total, so if you get all four (about one in 4000 odds), you can add nearly 4 hit/dam to the total of the object. Of course, odds are good you'll end up with most of the points going elsewhere, but it basically allows for 'super' random objects to appear from time to time. I don't think this will break the game, as it will be much harder to accumulate sets, and it's much more likely to happen on bound equipment.
Friday, November 21, 2008
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Well. I have to say I read all of your blogs, on like all 5 of your websites and crap haha. But I would say I disagree with the dex/str thing, but I think the super randoms is a pretty sweet idea. I will probably be playing again soon so I will see what it actually means. P.S. I think we should work out some deal for getting Vivi back. The original plan was if I made it into college, which I did. Also, I work for the County of San Diego, it is known as the best county in all of the U.S. it is not easy to get a job there... I think that is a major accomplishment.
The strength thing makes sense to me, but some people will have to change equipment and they aren't happy about it. It probably should have been done to begin with, that way noone would have noticed.
Yeah, I guess I could see your point. Pretty much the only reason I am disagreeing is because it changes the way the game has been for over 14 years... And people are pretty pissed about having to change gear. New gear will have to be created to fit the needs of good hit sets and so on now.
Well, I can think of 3 pieces of my super stab equipment that are basically useless now for stabbing, which has taken 5 years to collect.
Orge feet (+4 dam AND -3 dex) and 4 dam patches, they have -str on them.
My point is, the lost of those +4 dam items will dent my stab set by ALOT, reducing my max dam by at least 3-4 dam (from about 53 to 49, high difference).
As everyone knows, DAMs plays a huge part in the dmg a stab can do, about the 3rd counter in the maths I think, including the reduction in str and dex spells now its leaving me with 27 dex at max. So when the new 2 changes come I'll be at 25 dex in stab, ie not a stab set = waste of my time.
Well, my point exactly, it is pretty much worthless now. Coming to my point. I think Dentin should possibly rethink this, or edit currently existing gear, so that people who have worked years to get great sets don't get screwed because of a change that came that never existed before. It really is a pain. And some people spent massive amounts of gold on these pieces, or even payed cash, making the damage even more.
First off - the change affects everyone the same so balance is preserved. We're making a global dent to have the game make sense. Seems pretty sane to me.
As far as the super stab sets, I think the consensus is they probably shouldn't have existed in the form they did before anyway. This is the whole point of the change. If Dentin gave us all an extra intrinsic 5 damroll would you think it would make the game better? Really? I'm trying to figure to out how anon got the stab code workings anyway, but thats irrelevant.
Anyway, yes people have to make little changes. Yes, people will have a lower hit/dam. I don't feel any empathy for people who paid cash for eq that's now worthless, and hey, the eq you ran with -str/-dex is as good as it was SUPPOSED to be anyway.
Hmmm. Good point, I agree with you in the view that Dentin is looking out for the good of the game in the long run. He has a much further sight ahead than we do about the game. He has never messed up before. He has made the game we have all grown to love and enjoy. Thanks for the feedback too, Boa. P.S You and I should chat on some sort of Messenger. You can go to Rpgplayers.wtcsites.com to check out my little shoutbox on my test template I am building, and I will tell you my messenger names.
While I can sympathize with your plight, consider my perspective:
- I did not sell you the equipment that you paid so much for
- I did not guarantee that your equipment would always work the same way it did in the past
- The code base has an extensive history of changing and being updated, including changes that invalidate existing equipment
I cannot just hold the mud in stasis for fear that I might possibly piss off some player somewhere who won't like a given change. If anything, I probably care too much - instead of addressing your posts, it would have been more time effective for me to simply blast it all in at once and let the pieces fall where they may. Coddling bitching players takes nearly all of the enjoyment out of coding these days.
Change happens. Sometimes it's good; sometimes it's bad. I can give you no recommendation other than to be glad for the time you had with it, because according to your posts neither you nor anyone else will ever be able to exceed your previous stabbing records. At least not until probably next year or so, when someone will have figured out new tricks.
I would just like to note that I was not complaining about buying stab gear on my behalf, because I haven't. I am just saying other players will be mad. I used to be pissed off at these kind of things, but I can see that you have the further view in good intentions on the mud and what sort of things lie ahead for it.
My point is this - Player A whines about how the change breaks his 1/4 dex -3 eq. The eq isn't broken. It's still 1/4 dex -3. You knew the eq was 1/4 dex -3 when you bought it with gold, eq, cash, ran it or w/e. It is still what it was.
The only difference is you can't abuse something that obviously was broken. I will not feel badly about that.
Agreed. P.S Dentin, I really enjoy reading your blogs. I hope you never stop writing them. I just wish I could enjoy your game. I will be back in action soon enough I suppose.
While of course a lot of current players will be annoyed by the str/dex change, I
really think it's a good one. An obvious implication is more value on +str and +dex
equipment, which was undervalued thanks to strength and dexterity spells. I think about that and 'yay fun' comes to mind. Somewhat shitty pieces of eq are now 'interesting' :).
IMHO I say we should be grateful for those spells to exist, I think AA would be far
more challenging without them (and certainly fun). Now that the balance has been
restored, you can play with your equipment a bit more - the thing that bothers players
is that their awesome 40/45 set doesn't have 30/30 str/dex anymore, heh. That's a pretty weak complaint in my book.
Being able to max strength or dexterity only via special equipment makes a lot of sense
to me, and really makes playing a teeny bit more "realistic". And in the long run, I think everybody will be ok with the change.
this new random change can balance this out. While it is extremely unlikely that one finds something like that, you can have the wonderful dam on your item and you won't have minus dex on it if you get the right random. One thing I'm curious about and it might be a stupid question but it said you can add nearly 4 hit/dam. does this mean hitroll and damroll or hitroll or damroll?
Wuver, the 'almost +4' is a reference to the amount of bonus that can be thrown onto an item. Hitroll and damroll cost around 35 points each, so adding 4 total requires about 140 composite. The freak randoms can have up to 120 extra points to spend on them, which is just shy of 4 extra hit/dam.
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