VN Boards Archive

[VN Boards Archive]

Welcome to the Vault Network forum archive.

This is not a complete archive, time didn't allot us the opportunity to properly backup the majority of the boards deemed "expendable". Most boards on this list have at least 20-40 pages archived (non-logged in pages, 15 topics per page).

Popular boards may have as many as 250 pages archived at 50 topics per page, while others deemed of historical signifigance may be archived in their entirety.

We may not agree with how the board shutdown was managed, but we've done what we could to preserve some of its history in lieu of that.

Please enjoy the archive.
~ Managers, Moderators, VIP's, and regular posters.

Author

Topic: New weapon skills update for February

quren_mt Posts: ???? Registered: ???? Extended Info (if available) Real Post Cnt: 0 User ID: 0	Subject: New weapon skills update for February
	http://forums.ac.turbine.com/showthread.php?t=53246 Greetings. We have been reviewing player feedback for quite some time and we are in the process of designing some changes for the February update in response to player feedback and suggestions. We are looking for early feedback on these changes and posting this early design well in advance of our February update so we have plenty of time to make adjustments. Player Goals and Requests We have rounded up player feedback and the players have, over time, put forth the following goals and suggestions. ~ Address the racial imbalance in templates. ~ Allow a greater variety of weapons to be useful. ~ Allow greater freedom in player templates and racial choices. We realize there are many questions about the small details arising from this post. Our goal for this initial description is to get feedback on the larger design and the ideas presented without micromanaging the specifics. Racial Skills Racial Skills have had balance issues essentially since the game launched. New players are currently able to choose a race and already have an inferior template even as they enter the training academy. Our goal is that races retain their initial flavor, but in the end no race is the superior choice as all races can achieve template parity. All current racial skills will be removed. All races will get Arcane Lore automatically trained for free All races will get 2 additional skill credits to spend at creation All races will get 6 additional points added to the specialization cap Skill/Attribute Reset NPCs and the Temples will have their timers/uses reset to allow players to easily adjust to the new changes. Races will still have their free starting augmentation. Races will gain a free augmentation that provides a small damage boost to one weapon type. Higher level characters can work toward changing this augmentation to any other weapon type so any racial choice can ultimately achieve any template. Characters will be able to change to alternate weapon types that may not be included in the preferred weapon type of any race. Melee Skill Consolidation and Missile Skill Consolidation Due to the varying costs of melee skills, several choices are ignored due to being underpowered. Also, unlike Two Handed, Magic, and Missile combat, each skill is missing/weak in certain elements where as the other combat types have access to all damage types. We feel two handed is a great example of how a melee skill should work. All of the melee skills will be condensed into 2 new skills. One Handed Combat: A 6/6 melee combat skill based off Strength/Coordination. One Handed Finesse: A 4/4 melee combat skill based off Quickness/Coordination. Weapons of all types (mace, sword, dagger) will drop for each weapon skill. Most one handed weapons will use the One Handed Combat skill. Some weapons (stiletto, rapier, etc.) will be designated as finesse weapons and use the One Handed Finesse skill. One Handed Combat weapons will be balanced against each other and competitive with one handed swords. As you might expect from the lower skill cost, finesse weapons will do lower damage than One Handed Combat weapons. Missile weapon skills will also be consolidated. All of the missile skills will be condensed into Missile Combat: A 6/6 missile combat skill. All missile weapons will use the Missile Combat skill. Bows, crossbows and thrown weapons will be balanced against each other and competitive with Bow. With the consolidation of melee skills and missile skills we want to make sure we preserve a sense of flavor depending on the weapon you choose. All melee and missile weapon types will have uniqueness to their stats. Daggers, for example, might all be multi strike, and axes might have lower damage but bigger crits. The racial augmentation will allow each race to favor a specific weapon type by giving the character a small damage boost with that type of weapon. Higher level characters can work to change this augmentation to favor any weapon type. Characters can only have one weapon type augmented at any one time. Existing characters will get one free change to the weapon augmentation of their choice. Shield Skill At the same time as the consolidation skills we will be adding a 2/2 shield skill that uses Strength. This skill will determine how much al/aegis effect you gain from equipping a shield. Specializing in Shields and leveling your skill will provide the full benefit to top end shields. Training in Shields and leveling your skill will provide a lesser benefit. The idea is that Two Handed Combat, Weapon and Shield Combat, and eventually Two Weapon Combat will all have similar 8/8 total cost. These styles will be balanced against each other. Skill Adjustments: Some skills could use a bit of an adjustment to make them more useful. Missile and Magic Defense formulas would be adjusted to mirror the offensive skills. We will be doing a balance pass on all creatures to rebalance Missile and Magic Defense skills to reflect these new values. As a result this should fix defenses on creatures to more consistently reflect the relative power of the creature. We will be doing a balance pass on all creatures to rebalance melee and skill attack skills to reflect these changes. As a result this should fix offensive values on creatures to more consistently reflect the relative power of the creature and make Missile Defense more useful. Gearcrafting would be folded into Item Tinkering with no increase in cost to Item Tinkering. New Skills: Although we are not ready to discuss these with players, the February patch would bring in new skills that would enhance different aspects of combat. Part of the goal is to give the height/power attack options more of an effect. To give a slight tease into what we are considering, a 2/2 Dual Wield skill may be on the table. -----signature-----
	Link to this post
rabbitslayer Posts: 2,547 Registered: Aug 26, '01 Extended Info (if available) Real Post Cnt: 2,537 User ID: 347,811	Subject: New weapon skills update for February
	that post is less than a day old and has close to 10K views and over 25 pages of replies... I for one do not like the changes they're doing, and think it will end the game I've enjoyed playing the last 9.5 years -----signature----- (none)
	Link to this post
-Logan_Conrad- Posts: 6,896 Registered: Jun 14, '01 Extended Info (if available) Real Post Cnt: 6,820 User ID: 154,330	Subject: New weapon skills update for February
	Turbine has gone through the posts and have posted two options: Option #1: http://forums.ac.turbine.com/showthread.php?t=53264 Option #2: http://forums.ac.turbine.com/showthread.php?t=53265 -----signature----- Logan Conrad -MT- 221st Level Combat Archer Kal'Aaron -MT- 183rd Level Deadeye Shadow of Logan -MT- 147th Level Combat Archer "I can't stand pain. It hurts me!" - Daffy Duck AC's Best Resource => http://ac.wikkii.net/wiki/ACC_Wiki_Home
	Link to this post
murron2 Title: Bloom where you are planted! Posts: 18,309 Registered: Jan 6, '02 Extended Info (if available) Real Post Cnt: 18,004 User ID: 595,429	Subject: New weapon skills update for February
	From the looks of it, Option #2 is more palatable to a wider range of people. Tacit and I will not jump ship no matter what but we are pretty certain that Rydia will go the way of the dinosaurs after the February patch. Truly... ~Murron~ -----signature----- PEACE... it means to be in the midst of noise, trouble and strife and still be calm in your heart.
	Link to this post
Drids_Ghost Posts: 1,738 Registered: Jan 20, '01 Extended Info (if available) Real Post Cnt: 1,686 User ID: 63,934	Subject: New weapon skills update for February
	Would be a shame to see such a game staple go. She is almost like Ulgrim, only hotter. I must say, option 1 ftw. -----signature----- CrushRidge - WoW Morningthaw - AC
	Link to this post
Daernwyn Posts: 1,104 Registered: Sep 2, '01 Extended Info (if available) Real Post Cnt: 1,063 User ID: 365,672	Subject: New weapon skills update for February
	Speaking of which, FFII was the bomb, right? -----signature----- Vassal of Ling Mei, follower of Enak Recovering AC-aholic Gimps rock. Buff bots suck. DT, Darkfall: Araanidim, Sokurah EVE: Case Reiderer
	Link to this post
quren_mt Posts: ???? Registered: ???? Extended Info (if available) Real Post Cnt: 0 User ID: 0	Subject: New weapon skills update for February
	http://forums.ac.turbine.com/showthread.php?t=53246 Greetings. We have been reviewing player feedback for quite some time and we are in the process of designing some changes for the February update in response to player feedback and suggestions. We are looking for early feedback on these changes and posting this early design well in advance of our February update so we have plenty of time to make adjustments. Player Goals and Requests We have rounded up player feedback and the players have, over time, put forth the following goals and suggestions. ~ Address the racial imbalance in templates. ~ Allow a greater variety of weapons to be useful. ~ Allow greater freedom in player templates and racial choices. We realize there are many questions about the small details arising from this post. Our goal for this initial description is to get feedback on the larger design and the ideas presented without micromanaging the specifics. Racial Skills Racial Skills have had balance issues essentially since the game launched. New players are currently able to choose a race and already have an inferior template even as they enter the training academy. Our goal is that races retain their initial flavor, but in the end no race is the superior choice as all races can achieve template parity. All current racial skills will be removed. All races will get Arcane Lore automatically trained for free All races will get 2 additional skill credits to spend at creation All races will get 6 additional points added to the specialization cap Skill/Attribute Reset NPCs and the Temples will have their timers/uses reset to allow players to easily adjust to the new changes. Races will still have their free starting augmentation. Races will gain a free augmentation that provides a small damage boost to one weapon type. Higher level characters can work toward changing this augmentation to any other weapon type so any racial choice can ultimately achieve any template. Characters will be able to change to alternate weapon types that may not be included in the preferred weapon type of any race. Melee Skill Consolidation and Missile Skill Consolidation Due to the varying costs of melee skills, several choices are ignored due to being underpowered. Also, unlike Two Handed, Magic, and Missile combat, each skill is missing/weak in certain elements where as the other combat types have access to all damage types. We feel two handed is a great example of how a melee skill should work. All of the melee skills will be condensed into 2 new skills. One Handed Combat: A 6/6 melee combat skill based off Strength/Coordination. One Handed Finesse: A 4/4 melee combat skill based off Quickness/Coordination. Weapons of all types (mace, sword, dagger) will drop for each weapon skill. Most one handed weapons will use the One Handed Combat skill. Some weapons (stiletto, rapier, etc.) will be designated as finesse weapons and use the One Handed Finesse skill. One Handed Combat weapons will be balanced against each other and competitive with one handed swords. As you might expect from the lower skill cost, finesse weapons will do lower damage than One Handed Combat weapons. Missile weapon skills will also be consolidated. All of the missile skills will be condensed into Missile Combat: A 6/6 missile combat skill. All missile weapons will use the Missile Combat skill. Bows, crossbows and thrown weapons will be balanced against each other and competitive with Bow. With the consolidation of melee skills and missile skills we want to make sure we preserve a sense of flavor depending on the weapon you choose. All melee and missile weapon types will have uniqueness to their stats. Daggers, for example, might all be multi strike, and axes might have lower damage but bigger crits. The racial augmentation will allow each race to favor a specific weapon type by giving the character a small damage boost with that type of weapon. Higher level characters can work to change this augmentation to favor any weapon type. Characters can only have one weapon type augmented at any one time. Existing characters will get one free change to the weapon augmentation of their choice. Shield Skill At the same time as the consolidation skills we will be adding a 2/2 shield skill that uses Strength. This skill will determine how much al/aegis effect you gain from equipping a shield. Specializing in Shields and leveling your skill will provide the full benefit to top end shields. Training in Shields and leveling your skill will provide a lesser benefit. The idea is that Two Handed Combat, Weapon and Shield Combat, and eventually Two Weapon Combat will all have similar 8/8 total cost. These styles will be balanced against each other. Skill Adjustments: Some skills could use a bit of an adjustment to make them more useful. Missile and Magic Defense formulas would be adjusted to mirror the offensive skills. We will be doing a balance pass on all creatures to rebalance Missile and Magic Defense skills to reflect these new values. As a result this should fix defenses on creatures to more consistently reflect the relative power of the creature. We will be doing a balance pass on all creatures to rebalance melee and skill attack skills to reflect these changes. As a result this should fix offensive values on creatures to more consistently reflect the relative power of the creature and make Missile Defense more useful. Gearcrafting would be folded into Item Tinkering with no increase in cost to Item Tinkering. New Skills: Although we are not ready to discuss these with players, the February patch would bring in new skills that would enhance different aspects of combat. Part of the goal is to give the height/power attack options more of an effect. To give a slight tease into what we are considering, a 2/2 Dual Wield skill may be on the table. -----signature-----
	Link to this post
rabbitslayer Posts: 2,547 Registered: Aug 26, '01 Extended Info (if available) Real Post Cnt: 2,537 User ID: 347,811	Subject: New weapon skills update for February
	that post is less than a day old and has close to 10K views and over 25 pages of replies... I for one do not like the changes they're doing, and think it will end the game I've enjoyed playing the last 9.5 years -----signature----- (none)
	Link to this post
-Logan_Conrad- Posts: 6,896 Registered: Jun 14, '01 Extended Info (if available) Real Post Cnt: 6,820 User ID: 154,330	Subject: New weapon skills update for February
	Turbine has gone through the posts and have posted two options: Option #1: http://forums.ac.turbine.com/showthread.php?t=53264 Option #2: http://forums.ac.turbine.com/showthread.php?t=53265 -----signature----- Logan Conrad -MT- 221st Level Combat Archer Kal'Aaron -MT- 183rd Level Deadeye Shadow of Logan -MT- 147th Level Combat Archer "I can't stand pain. It hurts me!" - Daffy Duck AC's Best Resource => http://ac.wikkii.net/wiki/ACC_Wiki_Home
	Link to this post
murron2 Title: Bloom where you are planted! Posts: 18,309 Registered: Jan 6, '02 Extended Info (if available) Real Post Cnt: 18,004 User ID: 595,429	Subject: New weapon skills update for February
	From the looks of it, Option #2 is more palatable to a wider range of people. Tacit and I will not jump ship no matter what but we are pretty certain that Rydia will go the way of the dinosaurs after the February patch. Truly... ~Murron~ -----signature----- PEACE... it means to be in the midst of noise, trouble and strife and still be calm in your heart.
	Link to this post
Drids_Ghost Posts: 1,738 Registered: Jan 20, '01 Extended Info (if available) Real Post Cnt: 1,686 User ID: 63,934	Subject: New weapon skills update for February
	Would be a shame to see such a game staple go. She is almost like Ulgrim, only hotter. I must say, option 1 ftw. -----signature----- CrushRidge - WoW Morningthaw - AC
	Link to this post
Daernwyn Posts: 1,104 Registered: Sep 2, '01 Extended Info (if available) Real Post Cnt: 1,063 User ID: 365,672	Subject: New weapon skills update for February
	Speaking of which, FFII was the bomb, right? -----signature----- Vassal of Ling Mei, follower of Enak Recovering AC-aholic Gimps rock. Buff bots suck. DT, Darkfall: Araanidim, Sokurah EVE: Case Reiderer
	Link to this post