Post by GMScar on Jan 21, 2015 22:05:59 GMT -5
I mentioned making a topic for things that I have planned for the future, and here it finally is. I have taken to the idea of keeping everyone informed on what changes or updates may be coming so I can try to gather some feedback. With that said, even if some feedback comes back negatively that does not necessarily mean that certain things will not happen at all. While I would like to avoid making changes that may upset others, they are sometimes needed for various reasons.
Anyway, without going on about that too much, here are some of the current things I have in mind:
Jarexx's Skills:
I mentioned plans for this before, but I have made some changes since the last time I brought it up.
-Changing Roar back to its default effect.
-Changing Mind Shield back to Roar. Roar MP cost changed to at least 10%.
-Lowering the range on Cyclone now that Roar is being brought back to what it was.
-Changing Unlimited Stamina to Eidolon to prevent multiple characters with the same group buff.
-Initially, I was going to bring War Cry over to his blue skills, but that conflicts with the reasoning above. The new plan is to give him Evasion instead.
-For red, War Cry is definitely getting removed for already stated reasons. Currently, the plan is to replace it with Lavita's Slow skill with a different name and an at least higher MP cost than Lavita's. Possibly a lower radius on the effect as well.
-Other options include completely cutting out a skill for each honor type. The easiest ones to remove would be Eidolon and the Slow skill.
Other Skills:
-Lowering the range on the level 5k skills of Philar and Azlar. This would only really be necessary if they are stronger than all other skills and have better range. More of a minor balance tweak, if anything.
General Changes:
-Making Amnesia Greens always set honor to 0, instead of taking only a fraction off. This would make the item a bit more valuable as an occasional find. Maybe even making them worth buying as well.
-Setting booster prices according to how useful the type of booster is. More useful = higher cost. Seeing as how currency ends up being so easy to come by, a lot of people end up with more than they need. This would help a little bit with keeping currency useful.
-Raising the prices of dyes. As it is only cosmetic differences, increasing the prices should not be a huge deal. Obviously, the Original Dye would end up the most expensive. This may also allow for dyes to be added as drops at a later time.
-Adjusting item drops in certain areas so that moving on to new maps is not just about more experience. Older maps will most likely be having specific drops removed by this. Example: Sky Cities / Dungeons dropping Enhancing Orbs and ATF onward having a chance to drop Strengthening Orbs.
-Changing how unique items work when you die so that people aren't constantly worrying about losing their items they purchase. Due to how the server being as it has in the past, I feel obligated to do something about them fading when someone dies. If it works how I suspect it does, it should be an easy change to implement. Of course, Protections will not be as valuable, but I may be able to figure something out for that as well.
-Extending the non-PK map areas to at least the Downtown zones due to the faster leveling speeds. To be honest, I was never fond of open PK maps, and I've never even had a truly terrible experience with them; however, I cannot justify making every map non-PK simply because I don't particularly care for that type of system. I would like to see other people's opinions on the matter of open PK areas, though.
-Getting the Mystery Bag item set up and rotating the contents of it monthly or bi-monthly. Any unused ones would be wiped before the content changes to prevent holding onto them for a better item pool. That decision is more of a restriction of the game than a personal one, but I feel it would be best regardless. Now, for the items, I would like for a decent mix of common items, a few rarer items, craft materials, and the chance for a unique item or two. The bad itself will be a drop on a few maps, and it will also be sold at the Durability Trader so that people can potentially use up some of the amassed Duras that they possess. This would take time to properly plan the drops and whatnot, but I think it would be a pretty neat idea.
-The Treasure Chest is something else I would like to get working, but it would always have the same items dropped. It would most likely be sold at the Durability Trader as well, and probably also used as a "boss" drop on higher level maps. There would still be a chance of getting something you necessarily don't care for, but it would at least add a little more randomization to killing specific bosses. Again, something that I think would be pretty cool to get implemented.
That's about all I was able to put together from everything I've been thinking on during the downtime. I hope to see some comments on these plans, but I will also be trying to work out how to go about them as well. Having them as ready as possible would make things easier in the end, even if I have to end up tweaking some things due to feedback. For now, my primary focus is on the skill changes. Once I get that all sorted out, I would feel comfortable with getting the server put up in the near future. The only other thing I'd like to work out before then would be possibly making unique items not shade from deaths. How fast I can work those two things out will determine when the server can be put up, and I'm sure mostly everyone around yet would like that to be soon.
Anyway, without going on about that too much, here are some of the current things I have in mind:
Jarexx's Skills:
I mentioned plans for this before, but I have made some changes since the last time I brought it up.
-Changing Roar back to its default effect.
-Changing Mind Shield back to Roar. Roar MP cost changed to at least 10%.
-Lowering the range on Cyclone now that Roar is being brought back to what it was.
-Changing Unlimited Stamina to Eidolon to prevent multiple characters with the same group buff.
-Initially, I was going to bring War Cry over to his blue skills, but that conflicts with the reasoning above. The new plan is to give him Evasion instead.
-For red, War Cry is definitely getting removed for already stated reasons. Currently, the plan is to replace it with Lavita's Slow skill with a different name and an at least higher MP cost than Lavita's. Possibly a lower radius on the effect as well.
-Other options include completely cutting out a skill for each honor type. The easiest ones to remove would be Eidolon and the Slow skill.
Other Skills:
-Lowering the range on the level 5k skills of Philar and Azlar. This would only really be necessary if they are stronger than all other skills and have better range. More of a minor balance tweak, if anything.
General Changes:
-Making Amnesia Greens always set honor to 0, instead of taking only a fraction off. This would make the item a bit more valuable as an occasional find. Maybe even making them worth buying as well.
-Setting booster prices according to how useful the type of booster is. More useful = higher cost. Seeing as how currency ends up being so easy to come by, a lot of people end up with more than they need. This would help a little bit with keeping currency useful.
-Raising the prices of dyes. As it is only cosmetic differences, increasing the prices should not be a huge deal. Obviously, the Original Dye would end up the most expensive. This may also allow for dyes to be added as drops at a later time.
-Adjusting item drops in certain areas so that moving on to new maps is not just about more experience. Older maps will most likely be having specific drops removed by this. Example: Sky Cities / Dungeons dropping Enhancing Orbs and ATF onward having a chance to drop Strengthening Orbs.
-Changing how unique items work when you die so that people aren't constantly worrying about losing their items they purchase. Due to how the server being as it has in the past, I feel obligated to do something about them fading when someone dies. If it works how I suspect it does, it should be an easy change to implement. Of course, Protections will not be as valuable, but I may be able to figure something out for that as well.
-Extending the non-PK map areas to at least the Downtown zones due to the faster leveling speeds. To be honest, I was never fond of open PK maps, and I've never even had a truly terrible experience with them; however, I cannot justify making every map non-PK simply because I don't particularly care for that type of system. I would like to see other people's opinions on the matter of open PK areas, though.
-Getting the Mystery Bag item set up and rotating the contents of it monthly or bi-monthly. Any unused ones would be wiped before the content changes to prevent holding onto them for a better item pool. That decision is more of a restriction of the game than a personal one, but I feel it would be best regardless. Now, for the items, I would like for a decent mix of common items, a few rarer items, craft materials, and the chance for a unique item or two. The bad itself will be a drop on a few maps, and it will also be sold at the Durability Trader so that people can potentially use up some of the amassed Duras that they possess. This would take time to properly plan the drops and whatnot, but I think it would be a pretty neat idea.
-The Treasure Chest is something else I would like to get working, but it would always have the same items dropped. It would most likely be sold at the Durability Trader as well, and probably also used as a "boss" drop on higher level maps. There would still be a chance of getting something you necessarily don't care for, but it would at least add a little more randomization to killing specific bosses. Again, something that I think would be pretty cool to get implemented.
That's about all I was able to put together from everything I've been thinking on during the downtime. I hope to see some comments on these plans, but I will also be trying to work out how to go about them as well. Having them as ready as possible would make things easier in the end, even if I have to end up tweaking some things due to feedback. For now, my primary focus is on the skill changes. Once I get that all sorted out, I would feel comfortable with getting the server put up in the near future. The only other thing I'd like to work out before then would be possibly making unique items not shade from deaths. How fast I can work those two things out will determine when the server can be put up, and I'm sure mostly everyone around yet would like that to be soon.